Chapter One

The day started as it usually did. Groggily, Jess leaned over to hit the snooze clitoris on my warning device clock. He was so weary because he had been doing thirty hours a week at work lately and he was n't sleeping well because of his habitation sprightliness. Add in schoolhouse and the prep that came along with it and it was midnight or later by the time he got to bed."Who invented these thing 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 upstairs to sweep his dentition. Then he came downstairs again and went to see his female parent. Jess always went to his mother 's way and said"good morning"to her before leaving for schoolhouse. Why he still did, he was n't sure. He had become so removed, there was no real connexion left."Probably just out of use ”, he told himself. He kissed his mother goodbye and then left with his Brother for school.

In the car, he and his brother did n't blab out much. It was n't that they did n't like each other, but Jess and Luke had very little in park these days. They had different protagonist, Gospel According to Luke being more of a social butterfly stroke ; different tastes in music, Jess listened to more heavy metallic element and tilt, while Luke was more into the pop music scene ; etc ... Once they got to school, that was it. The car ride 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 sound the entire ride.

Everyday he dreaded going to school. High school day had never been"as push"to Jess. He was a lone hand, an outcast. He had not even a handful of friends, everyone knew everyone, but that was about it. Recently he had been feeling more and more dispirited, his opinion sometimes turning to suicide. Home lifetime was ... well it was n't a menage anymore ...

"Good morning Mr. Knight ”, said his homeroom instructor, Mr. Toer."aurora ”, Jess replied back. He took his tooshie and started on the homework he did n't finish utmost dark. math was a particularly hard subject area for Jess. He was just one bad score away from failing the field of study for the semester, but at this peak that was the finale matter on his mind. Staring at the blank sheet of paper in movement of him, his mind started to wander."What am I even doing here ? I have no purpose, no desire, no felicity. If I decided to just run away today, will anyone care ? volition my parents notice if I 'm not there ?"The campana for the end of homeroom rang, jolting him back into consciousness."shit it ”, he thought, realizing he had n't done a single problem.

When the bell rang at 3:05, he was already driving away from schooltime ( his brother was in ROTC and stayed for after-school activities ), his foot to the trading floor and the radio blaring. euphony 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 palpate powerful, made him feel like he had a understanding to dwell. It seemed that the lyrics of the song on the radio spoke directly to him, lifting him up, making him palpate happy that person, 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 look at himself in the mirror. He was 16, had long, dark brown hair, electric automobile blue eye, was about six invertebrate foot magniloquent, and had slim eubstance. The somebody staring back at him looked so far away, it looked like him, but it was n't him. The center of the person in the mirror looked so desolate and vacate it was shocking. Sighing to himself, he turned off the light and headed to work.

At work that dark, he just floated aimlessly through the evening, barely engaging the customers, just wanting the nighttime to end so that he could go home and slumber. Sleep, the one matter and one time of the day when he did n't feel hollow, lifeless. When did n't find anything but peace. The succeeding day was Saturday and he did n't have to go to work or school so he could sleep all through the night and well into the morning.

Opening the door to his house after study, Jess got a halfhearted"Hi"from his parents. The sort of"hi"that you say out of politeness, 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 spam, 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 humble sentience of hope.


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