Alt always felt a bit different. It seemed so easy for the others in his class to chat with each other and laugh. No one ever gossiped to him about who was the latest couple to kiss at the party over the weekend. In fact, the only way he ever got this news was by quietly doodling in his notebook and tuning his ears to the conversation happening at the desk behind him.

The only time when he really felt like things made sense were when he could escape into the hills behind his house. It never seemed to matter what others thought when he was up there. He would walk up through the woods and brush, eventually ending up in his favourite spot: a little clearing in the trees. He would sit in the grass looking down into the valley. Sometimes he brought a book, but he never felt like reading much. It might cross his mind how Ciara had whispered something to Zoe, not-so-discreetly pointing towards him and laughing, but it never seemed to bother him as much up here as it did when he was in class.

It was quiet in the hills. Sure, you could hear the faint whooshing of cars down on the highway, but at least up here, the rustling of leaves could be heard equally well. When the sun was out it was perfect. Alt felt like a tree himself sometimes. Motionless in the gentle air, warm in the sunlight, feet and ass firmly rooted to the ground.

Really Alt shouldn’t be so surprised that he felt so right when away from the town, amidst the grass and leaves. If he had lived a millennium earlier, there would have been many more just like him, all happily leading quiet lives in the forest. Wood nymphs the city dwellers called them. Shy creatures of whom a traveller might catch a fleeting glimpse amongst the tree trunks.