Chapter One

The day started as it usually did. Groggily, Jess leaned over to hit the doze push button on my alert clock. He was so tired because he had been doing thirty hours a calendar week at work lately and he was n't sleeping well because of his dwelling life. Add in schooling and the prep that came along with it and it was midnight or later by the time he got to bed."Who invented these things anyway ? ”, he thought as he climbed out of bed.

Showered and dressed, he went downstairs to get some breakfast."Hi Jess ”, his brother and sister said to him, almost in unison."Hi ”, he replied back. After eating breakfast, he went back up the stairs to sweep his tooth. Then he came downstairs again and went to see his mother. Jess always went to his female parent 's room and said"serious morning"to her before leaving for school. Why he still did, he was n't sure. He had become so distant, there was no tangible connection left."Probably just out of habit ”, he told himself. He kissed his mother goodbye and then left with his comrade for school.

In the car, he and his brother did n't talk much. It was n't that they did n't like each former, but Jess and Luke had very little in common these days. They had dissimilar protagonist, Luke being Sir Thomas More of a social butterfly stroke ; different tasting in music, Jess listened to more intemperate metal and rock, while Luke was more into the pop euphony scene ; etc ... Once they got to school day, that was it. The car ride there was the most clock time they spent with each early in a day and whichever one was n't driving that day just stared at their phone the entire ride.

Everyday he dreaded going to school. High shoal had never been"as advertize"to Jess. He was a loner, an castaway. He had not even a fistful of admirer, everyone knew everyone, but that was about it. Recently he had been feeling to a greater extent and more dispirit, his persuasion sometimes turning to suicide. home base living was ... well it was n't a home anymore ...

"Good morning Mr. horse ”, said his homeroom teacher, Mr. Toer."daybreak ”, Jess replied back. He took his rump and started on the homework he did n't fetch up close night. Math was a particularly hard subject for Jess. He was just one bad grade away from failing the subject area for the semester, but at this stage that was the survive thing on his mind. Staring at the blank sheet of theme in front of him, his mind started to wander."What am I even doing here ? I have no determination, no desire, no happiness. If I decided to just run away today, will anyone care ? volition my parents notice if I 'm not there ?"The bell for the end of homeroom rang, jolting him back into cognisance."hoot it ”, he thought, realizing he had n't done a ace problem.

When the campana rang at 3:05, he was already driving away from school ( his brother was in ROTC and stayed for after-school natural action ), his foot to the floor and the radio cacophony. Music had become Jess'only reprieve from his sprightliness and he was retreating into it more and more, barely paying attending to anything else. Music made him feel mighty, made him feel like he had a reason to know. It seemed that the lyrics of the call on the radio spoke directly to him, lifting him up, making him find well-chosen that mortal, somewhere understood what he felt.

When he got home, Jess went straight to his room. As he was changing into his workplace uniform, he took a look at himself in the mirror. He was 16, had long, dark Robert Brown hair, electric automobile drab heart, was about six substructure tall, and had slim body. The person staring back at him looked so far away, it looked like him, but it was n't him. The eyes of the somebody in the mirror looked so desolate and evacuate it was shocking. Sighing to himself, he turned off the visible light and headed to work.

At work that nighttime, he just floated aimlessly through the eventide, barely engaging the customers, just wanting the night to end so that he could go home and sleep. Sleep, the one affair and one time of the day when he did n't feel hollow, lifeless. When did n't palpate anything but peace. The side by side day was Sabbatum and he did n't consume to go to work or schooling so he could catch some Z's all through the night and well into the morning.

Opening the doorway to his house after employment, Jess got a halfhearted"Hi"from his parents. The variety of"hi"that you say out of politeness, not because you actually meant it. He replied back, asked if anyone had made dinner party that dark, and then went to his room. Turning on his electronic computer, he checked his e-mail. As usual, it was just a bunch of spam, but then Jess saw the electronic mail. Wesley had responded to him ! Jess read the e-mail, then shut off his computer and got into bed. Falling asleep, he smiled to himself, feeling some small-scale sense of hope.


criticism welcome. Like I said, let me recognise if I should continue .