Chapter One

The day started as it usually did. Groggily, Jess leaned over to hit the catnap clitoris on my warning device clock. He was so tired because he had been doing thirty hours a week at work lately and he was n't sleeping well because of his home lifespan. Add in school and the preparation that came along with it and it was midnight or later by the time he got to bed."Who invented these matter 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 brush his teeth. Then he came downstairs again and went to see his female parent. Jess always went to his female parent 's way and said"good morning"to her before leaving for schooling. Why he still did, he was n't sure enough. He had become so distant, there was no real connexion left."Probably just out of drug abuse ”, he told himself. He kissed his mother sayonara and then left with his Brother for school.

In the car, he and his brother did n't utter much. It was n't that they did n't like each other, but Jess and Luke had very minuscule in common these days. They had different Quaker, Luke being more of a social butterfly ; different tastes in music, Jess listened to more weighed down metal and rock and roll, while Luke was more into the pop music shot ; 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 phone the entire ride.

Everyday he dreaded going to school. High School had never been"as advertised"to Jess. He was a loner, an pariah. He had not even a handful of supporter, everyone knew everyone, but that was about it. Recently he had been feeling more and more depressed, his thoughts sometimes turning to suicide. plate sprightliness was ... well it was n't a home anymore ...

"goodness cockcrow Mr. knight ”, said his homeroom instructor, Mr. Toer."Morning ”, Jess replied back. He took his seat and started on the preparation he did n't finish go night. Math was a particularly concentrated subject 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 nous. Staring at the blank sheet of paper in front man of him, his mind started to wander."What am I even doing here ? I have no aim, no desire, no happiness. If I decided to just run away today, will anyone care ? Will my parents notice if I 'm not there ?"The doorbell for the end of homeroom rang, jolting him back into consciousness."shucks it ”, he thought, realizing he had n't done a exclusive problem.

When the bell rang at 3:05, he was already driving away from school ( his brother was in Reserve Officers Training Corps and stayed for after-school action ), his base to the floor and the radio clamor. Music had become Jess'only reprieve from his aliveness and he was retreating into it more 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 lyrics of the song on the radio spoke directly to him, lifting him up, making him feel 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 oeuvre uniform, he took a look at himself in the mirror. He was 16, had long, saturnine brown haircloth, electric blue oculus, was about six metrical foot tall, 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 eyes of the somebody in the mirror looked so desolate and empty it was shocking. Sighing to himself, he turned off the light and headed to work.

At oeuvre that Nox, he just floated aimlessly through the evening, barely engaging the customer, just wanting the night to end so that he could go home and sleep. nap, the one thing and one clip of the day when he did n't feel vacuous, lifeless. When did n't feel anything but peace. The following day was Sat and he did n't birth to go to work or schoolhouse so he could sleep all through the Night and well into the sunup.

Opening the threshold to his sign of the zodiac after workplace, Jess got a tepid"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 spam, but then Jess saw the email. 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 little horse sense of hope.


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