Chapter One

The day started as it usually did. Groggily, Jess leaned over to hit the snooze push on my alarm clock. He was so tired because he had been doing xxx hour a week at work lately and he was n't sleeping well because of his home animation. Add in school and the preparation that came along with it and it was midnight or later by the meter 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 mother 's room and said"good morning"to her before leaving for shoal. Why he still did, he was n't for sure. He had become so aloof, there was no real connection left."Probably just out of habit ”, he told himself. He kissed his female parent sayonara and then left with his brother for school.

In the car, he and his comrade did n't talk much. It was n't that they did n't like each other, but Jess and Saint Luke had very little in common these daytime. They had unlike champion, Luke being more of a social butterfly ; different perceptiveness in music, Jess listened to more dense metal and rock 'n' roll, while Luke was more into the pop music fit ; etc ... Once they got to schooling, that was it. The car drive there was the most time they spent with each other in a day and whichever one was n't driving that day just stared at their headphone the intact ride.

Everyday he dreaded going to school. High shoal had never been"as advertised"to Jess. He was a loner, an Ishmael. He had not even a handful of friends, everyone knew everyone, but that was about it. Recently he had been feeling to a greater extent and more down, his view sometimes turning to suicide. Home lifetime was ... well it was n't a home anymore ...

"good morning Mr. Knight ”, said his homeroom teacher, Mr. Toer."dawn ”, Jess replied back. He took his seat and started on the homework he did n't cease shoemaker's last night. maths was a particularly intemperately study for Jess. He was just one bad grade away from failing the subject for the semester, but at this point that was the last affair on his psyche. Staring at the blank sheet of paper in front of him, his mind started to cast."What am I even doing here ? I have no design, no desire, no happiness. If I decided to just run away today, will anyone upkeep ? Will my parents notice if I 'm not there ?"The bell for the end of homeroom rang, jolting him back into knowingness."Damn it ”, he thought, realizing he had n't done a individual problem.

When the bell rang at 3:05, he was already driving away from school ( his brother was in ROTC and stayed for after-school activeness ), his foot to the floor and the radio blaring. medicine had become Jess'only reprieve from his life and he was retreating into it to a greater extent and more, barely paying attention to anything else. Music made him feel powerful, made him feel like he had a reason to live. It seemed that the lyric of the vocal on the radio spoke directly to him, lifting him up, making him feel well-chosen that someone, somewhere understood what he felt.

When he got home, Jess went straight to his elbow room. As he was changing into his work uniform, he took a spirit at himself in the mirror. He was 16, had long, dark brown hair, electric car disconsolate eyes, was about six feet tall, and had slim trunk. The person staring back at him looked so far away, it looked like him, but it was n't him. The eyes of the person in the mirror looked so desolate and empty it was shocking. Sighing to himself, he turned off the light and headed to work.

At work that Nox, he just floated aimlessly through the evening, barely engaging the customers, just wanting the night to end so that he could go abode and sleep. Sleep, the one thing and one time of the day when he did n't feel excavate, lifeless. When did n't feel anything but peace treaty. The following day was Saturday and he did n't throw to go to exploit or school so he could sleep all through the night and well into the morning.

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


Criticism welcome. Like I said, let me know if I should continue .