Chapter One

The day started as it usually did. Groggily, Jess leaned over to hit the snooze release on my alarm clock. He was so jade because he had been doing thirty hours a week at work lately and he was n't sleeping well because of his home life. Add in school and the homework 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 sis said to him, almost in unison."Hi ”, he replied back. After eating breakfast, he went back upstairs to sweep his teeth. 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 school. Why he still did, he was n't sure as shooting. He had become so distant, there was no real connection left."Probably just out of habit ”, he told himself. He kissed his mother goodby and then left with his brother 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 plebeian these days. They had different friends, St. Luke being more of a social butterfly stroke ; different mouthful in music, Jess listened to more heavy metal and rock, while Gospel According to Luke was more into the pop medicine scene ; etc ... Once they got to schooling, that was it. The car drive there was the most clip they spent with each other in a day and whichever one was n't driving that day just stared at their phone the intact ride.

Everyday he dreaded going to school. senior high school School had never been"as advertize"to Jess. He was a loner, an pariah. He had not even a smattering of friends, everyone knew everyone, but that was about it. Recently he had been feeling to a greater extent and more demoralise, his sentiment sometimes turning to suicide. domicile life was ... well it was n't a home anymore ...

"good forenoon Mr. Knight ”, said his home room teacher, Mr. Toer."Morning ”, Jess replied back. He took his seat and started on the prep he did n't finish utmost night. Math was a particularly hard content for Jess. He was just one bad place away from failing the subject for the semester, but at this point that was the last affair on his mind. Staring at the white piece of paper of newspaper publisher in nominal head of him, his psyche started to cheat."What am I even doing here ? I have no purpose, no desire, no happiness. If I decided to just run away today, will anyone care ? testament 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 one problem.

When the buzzer rang at 3:05, he was already driving away from school ( his comrade was in ROTC and stayed for after-school activities ), his infantry to the floor and the wireless blaring. euphony had become Jess'only reprieve from his life and he was retreating into it more and more, barely paying attending to anything else. euphony made him sense powerful, made him feel like he had a grounds to live. It seemed that the lyrics of the song on the radiocommunication spoke directly to him, lifting him up, making him find happy that person, somewhere understood what he felt.

When he got home, Jess went straight to his 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 University hair, electric blue eyes, was about six feet improbable, and had slim body. The individual staring back at him looked so far away, it looked like him, but it was n't him. The centre of the person in the mirror looked so barren and vacuous it was shocking. Sighing to himself, he turned off the light and headed to work.

At study that night, 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 thing and one time of the day when he did n't finger hollow, lifeless. When did n't find anything but peace. The next day was Saturday and he did n't have to go to work or shoal so he could sleep all through the night and well into the first light.

Opening the threshold to his theatre after work, Jess got a halfhearted"Hi"from his parents. The kind 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 email. As usual, it was just a clustering of spam, but then Jess saw the e-mail. Wesley had responded to him ! Jess read the e-mail, then shut off his calculator 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 keep on .