Episode 08:
The morning light was pale and cold when Alok stepped through the rusted gates of Riverside High.
His uniform was neat, but his shoes were worn scuffed from months of walking the long road to school.
He kept his head low, weaving through the chatter and laughter that filled the courtyard.
Groups of friends shared snacks, jokes, and stories about homework that didn't matter.
Alok wasn't part of any of it.
As always, he took his seat in the back corner of the classroom near the window.
From there, he could watch the clouds drift across the sky instead of the teacher's chalk.
The clouds always seemed freer than the people around him.
The first period began Mathematics.
Mr. Dilan's voice droned through the air like a tired machine, explaining quadratic equations to students who pretended to listen.
Alok copied the notes mechanically. Not because he cared, but because writing helped him drown out the whispers two rows ahead.
"He's so weird…"
"Never talks to anyone."
"Probably thinks he's better than us."
They weren't even trying to hide it anymore.
When lunch came, he went to his usual spot beneath the old banyan tree behind the science block.
Few students came this far; it was too quiet for their noise and too lonely for their comfort.
He opened his lunchbox plain rice and a bit of fried dhal and ate in silence.
Then, a shadow fell across him.
"Why are you always here alone?" a voice asked.
He looked up.
It was Meera Senanayake a classmate he had never spoken to before.
Her uniform was spotless, her hair tied neatly with a white ribbon. But her eyes... her eyes carried a spark of curiosity that didn't feel like pity.
Alok hesitated, unsure how to respond.
"I… like it quiet," he said softly.
Meera tilted her head, studying him for a moment.
"Quiet is fine," she said, "but too much quiet can turn into loneliness."
Before he could reply, the bell rang.
She smiled a small, almost fleeting curve of her lips and walked away.
For a long moment, Alok just sat there, watching the sunlight fade through the branches.
Something inside him felt different as if the world had shifted a little.
That night, in his dimly lit room, Alok sat at his desk, the silver pendant his mother had given him resting in his palm.
Its surface shimmered faintly under the weak bulb, and for the first time, it felt… warm.
He didn't know why, but after talking to Meera, it was as if the pendant had come alive.
A faint glow pulsed from its center slow, rhythmic, almost like a heartbeat.