I woke up from my sleep dreary. The covers were hiding all parts of my body excluding my legs. I wiggled my toes to wake myself up. It didn't really work. I turned my head to the side and looked out of my window. The sun was beginning to show over the horizon, the brightness dulled by the thicker part of the atmosphere. I diverted my vision to my clock. It read 5:58. I sighed, hating waking up so early after staying up so late, but it was worth it.
I threw the rest of the covers off and swung my legs over the bed. They dangled, the tips of my toes barely touching the carpeted floor. Pretty soon I was making my bed and putting on a t-shirt, leaving my pajama pants on. I walked down the stairs of my apartment into the small kitchen. I grabbed the cereal and the milk from the fridge and poured myself a bowl. I used a spoon to eat it. Upon finishing the breakfast, I put it away in the dishwasher and sat down on the three seated couch in front of the television.
"Wow, I've got a lot of catching up to do," I said to nobody. The screen in front of me was my recorded list. I had missed a couple of episodes of my favourite show, My Little Pony. Second favourite show Doctor Who, third favourite Sherlock. I would be able to watch only two episodes before I had to get ready to leave for work. I started from the beginning of the recorded shows and leaned back, getting comfortable.
I skipped the end credits after I realized I had to get ready for work. I turned off the television and rushed up the stairs. I went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. I had brown hair that went down above my eyebrows. I liked it somewhat of a mess so I fixed it a little bit then left it be. My green eyes had bags under them from lack of sleep. I had some freckles on my face, sometimes when I was younger, I'd make shapes connecting them, I still do. My body was kind of noodly. I picked up my toothbrush and brushed my teeth. I walked out of that bathroom hygienic.
I went back into my room and shuffled through my clothes. I walked out wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt with the words '20 Percent Cooler' on it, it was my favourite shirt. I had bought it a couple of weeks back at a store in the mall. It was a good buy. Sometimes people would look at me weird, or whisper something to their friends. But I did not care, I was at peace with it.
I grabbed my keys and phone and went out the door. I shut the door behind me and looked around. The sun had risen more, but it was still somewhat dulled. I diverted my eyes away to the world in front of me. A few cars passed by, but not many, I had gotten an apartment away from the town, I didn't like the lights. I turned back to my apartment, there was two buildings with four apartments in each one. From the outside, it made shabby apartments look less shabby.
I pulled out my keys from my pocket and went over to my car, a black Mercury Sable GS. It wasn't much of a car, but I enjoyed it. I had gotten it a few years back, with the help of my father. He payed for half. I shook my head of those thoughts.
I climbed in my car and turned it on, the radio coming on immediately. I turned it off and took my phone out. I drove away as my favourite song was playing. "Children of the Night." For about three weeks I began every day with that song. It's melody so enticing, the voice so beautiful, and the music video was brilliant. The animation was amazing. Everything flowed together perfectly.
As I drove along the road to the town I looked out towards the sun. It looked so beautiful from this angle. There was a large field of grass that stretched out for three acres. Then, at the end of the field, there were trees that were beginning to turn orange. And right in the middle there was a small clearing. This clearing shown the sun in all of its brilliance. It was simply a giant ball of gas burning at extremely high temperatures. And yet, the reds and the yellows and the oranges made it look so regal. Like a pastel painting sitting up in the sky.
I turned my attention back to the road and sat through the rest of the drive in silence.
I entered the town and turned into the nearest Starbucks. I didn't like coffee, so I never ordered it. Caffeine never did me good, and I never acquired its taste. I entered the building and waited in line. In front of me were three people, each with their money in their hand. They obviously wanted to get their drink and leave as soon as possible. I shrugged to myself and took a seat. If I'm going to wait, I'll wait comfortably, I thought to myself. As I sat down I thought about my schedule for today. I have to be at work by nine, which gives me about an hour to get there, and a thirty minute drive at the most. I'll get off of work at five, which will leave me four hours until sundown. And I have to go grocery shopping, which will take me about one and a half hours. That'll leave me with three and a half hours until sunset. Then I'll just go to the gym or something until then.
"Excuse me, are you here to order?" A voice said. I awoke from my thoughts, surprised I had been so distracted by them. I looked up and saw the cashier looking at me. Nobody was in line, they all left.
"Oh, sorry, yeah," I said, getting up and walking over to the counter. "May I get sweetened iced tea? No lemon?" I asked.
"Sure, I'll get you that," she said, typing stuff into a computer. I looked at the price and pulled out the correct amount of money, plus a tip for the cashier.
I liked the cashier, not in a "love" sort of way, since she's seventeen. I liked her because she was nice to me, she was patient, she was always smiling, and just the fact that she's seventeen and is working. Not a lot of teenagers work around here, hopefully she'll make a difference in this world, she's got the potential. She had blonde hair that extended just below her shoulders, and she recently got highlights, they looked good on her. She had green eyes, too. She was wearing a Starbucks shirt with light blue jeans. She came back with the tea and I payed her, telling her to keep the change. She smiled to me and thanked me.
I exited Starbucks and got back into my car. I drove away listening to the Pegboard Nerds and sipping my tea. More driving later and I ended up at Best Buy. I locked my car after I got out and walked inside. The people there, which there wasn't a lot, looked tired. I went through the door marked employee. I came out wearing a Best Buy tag reading "Electronics." I began to walk to the electronics section when I ran into a friend of mine.
"Hey, Benny," I said to a guy with black short hair, blue eyes, and teeth as white as freshly fallen snow. He looked over to me and smiled.
"Hey, how's it going?" he replied. He and I walked over to the electronics section, where we worked together.
"I'm alright, little bit tired, though."
"Stayed up late again? Same thing?"
"Yeah, but it's worth it, Benny, you should join me next time," Benny chuckled and stepped behind the checkout counter. I took my place with him and sat down in the chair, hoping work won't be that bad today.
Work went by smoothly, I answered questions, gave opinions, and stuff like that. One person asked me what kind of laptop she should buy for her children, one asked if the computer he wanted to buy was a good one. Just normal stuff that I dealt with everyday. Then a father came in with his son.
They browsed through the electronics section before the boy's father left for the mini refrigerators. After a while I went over to the kid to see if I could help. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He had some acne on his face. He was wearing a shirt with a cool and twisty design on it. He was wearing black shorts with a pair of earphones sticking out of one of the pockets. I walked up next to him and got his attention.
"Can, I help you?" I asked him. He turned towards me. He scanned me from head to toes.
"Sure, I'm looking for headphones," he said. He looked around, looking for the headphones.
"Okay, well, the headphones are on the other side of this row, I personally use Skullcandy, but others like to use-" I stopped as I noticed he was staring at my shirt, not listening at all. "Excuse me?" I said, waving my hand in front of my shirt. He disregarded my gesture and kept staring.
"What's the shirt from?" he asked. I grabbed it and flattened it out.
"It's from my favourite television show."
"What show?" he asked. I used to be embarrassed or nervous when telling people I watch My Little Pony, but after a while I became used to it.
"My Little Pony," I answered. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.
"You mean that show with ponies? The one with rainbows?" I nodded and he half smiled. "Isn't that kinda... gay?" he said. I internally rolled my eyes. Using "gay" as an insult was really overused.
"I don't think so, I like it, it's pretty good when you are willing to give it try," I answered.
"Nope, seems pretty gay," he responded. I tried to get the subject back to the headphones, but the boy ignored me. "How can you like that show? It's for girls, little girls. Are you a pedophile?" he asked mockingly. I sighed.
"No, I'm not a pedophile, I just enjoy the show, aren't you here to buy-"
"Do you live in your mom's basement?" he asked, smiling now. I became angry at him talking about my mother.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"I'm fifteen," he answered.
"You are a teenager, and you're spending your time teasing a 25 year old man that went to college, has a job, lives in an apartment, and has money. Grow up, kid. You're wasting your breath," the kid looked at me, probably thinking of another insult. Then, his father called him over from the movies section.
"Coming!" he said over his shoulder, then he turned back to me. "You want me to grow up? At least I'm not a fag that jacks off to a show meant for little girls," then he walked off, determined to have the last word. I groaned to myself and went back to my seat, thinking about what that jerk said. Am I as sad as that kid really thinks I am? I thought to myself. Surely not, like I said to him, I'm 25 years old, I went to college, I have a job, a home, and money. I'm not... sad. I smiled to myself, happy that I don't hate myself. I looked at the clock, it was almost 3:30, which meant Benny was about to come off his thirty minute break and I would get mine, then we'd both work for another hour, then I'd leave. And soon enough Benny came out of the break room and sent me off.
I entered the break room and opened the mini refrigerator and took out the rest of my iced tea. I sat down in the chair and joined other employees to watch soccer, or as I prefer to call it, football. It was a friendly between Doncaster and Birmingham. I took out my phone and began to play Tetris. The thirty minutes ended quite quickly, and I was back out there, talking to Benny about the match.
"Birmingham's keeper couldn't catch a ball even kicked by you," Benny said to me, jokingly, nudging my shoulder. We both laughed, causing us to get some looks. A few more people required help, and we gave it to them. After an hour, I bid my farewells and left for the grocery store listening to "Lullaby for a Princess."
I entered my apartment at seven o'clock, with two plastic bags on each hand. I placed them on the counter and began to put them away.
"Milk in the fridge, tacos on the counter," I placed the tacos I bought from Taco Bell on the counter, I planned on eating them while I stayed up late. "Cereal on top of the fridge, bread on the counter, peanut butter in the cabinet, and grape jam in the fridge." I placed everything where they were supposed to go, according to me, and sat down. I looked at the clock again, it was 7:15. I decided to take a shower, change my clothes, and go for a walk until sunset. I went upstairs in my room, picked out my clothes, and went to the bathroom. I took my shower and reminded myself to buy shampoo. I climbed out and checked my facial hair. I had shaved yesterday, and I checked to see if it was coming back, it wasn't, not yet.
I put on my clothes and locked the door behind me, I walked down the driveway and contemplated which direction to go. When I did go on walks, I went right, opposite the town. But this time I wanted to go somewhere else. Not left but, not right. Either forwards or backwards. If I were to go forward, I'd run into an old abandoned factory, and I've drove past it before, nothing very interesting about it. There isn't even a way in. I turned around and went behind the apartment. I had never gone this way before, never even drove by it before. Maybe I'd find something interesting.
There was a small field of grass and woods at the end. I chose a path to take and I walked towards it. There was a small opening in the bushes and I pushed them aside, revealing a small dirt path. I began to walk down it, looking around me. There were trees as far as I could see. The farther I looked, the denser the woods became. There were some bushes around me, and I could hear animals scurry out of sight. I looked up at the sky, of which I could not see. The trees were very close together, showing little signs of the sky. From what I could see, it was beginning to change colour. I tried to tell the time by looking at the sky colour, but it didn't work. And I didn't expect it to work either. Only a pro could figure something like that out. And I'm certainly no pro.
"What time is it?" I asked aloud. I pulled out my phone and checked the clock. 20:38, it read, 8:38. "I should be getting back," I said as I turned around. I jumped in surprise. I slapped my forehead and cursed. "My wandering mind." As I was looking up and trying to depict the time, I was still walking. Now I somehow got off the path. Instead of a dirt path, there was a wide tree. I looked around, searching for any sign of the path. I found a tiny clearing, and I nervously convinced myself that was the way. I pushed my way through and got a cut on my leg from a sharp branch. I watched it begin to bleed. The cut stung like a bee. I cursed again and pushed on. I knew that this was indeed not the way to the path, but I forced myself to continue, trying to trick myself into believing I was on my way out.
After about ten minutes of walking and frantically jogging around, I began to feel nervous, after five more minutes, I felt extremely nervous. I checked my phone.
"What! No signal? Ten percent battery?" I shouted. I knew I shouldn't have listened to music so much and played Tetris so much. I checked the time. 8:53. The sun had already set and the woods began to darken quickly. I sat down and thought out loud. "Okay, okay, okay, okay. Let's asses the situation. Okay, I'm lost in the woods in the back of the apartment, I'm cold, hungry, tired, and my phone battery is at eight percent." I stuck my hand out in front of me. I cursed loudly. I couldn't even see my hand, even though the sun had set a couple of minutes ago, the dense woods had already darkened. "Okay, if I'm going to walk, I'll have to use my phone as a light, but its at seven percent now!"
I began to become extremely paranoid. Every noise I heard was a demon about to wring my neck like a wet towel. Carve my skin off like a potato. I shut myself up, I can't think like that. I started to breath heavily, and by doing so, I noticed something.
The air seemed... better, in a way. Like it was cleaner, not polluted. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, clearing my mind. My eyes shot open as I thought of an idea.
"Yes!" I shouted, alarming many squirrels. "I need to go uphill. If I can find a way to see above the trees, I will be able to see the town's lights," I checked my phone, six percent. A chill of worry flushed over my body, but I didn't let it deter my spirits, though deep down, I doubted I would find a hill taller than the trees. Still, I had to hurry. I jumped up and turned my phones' LED light on. I caught a chipmunk in its ray and it scampered away. I swung the phone around, looking for any incline of the ground. I found one and jogged in that direction, scanning for a hill. After two minutes of following inclines, my phone beeped. My first thought was that it was a notification that I had gotten service. But when I checked it, it was only a notification telling me I had five percent battery left, and to connect my phone to a charger.
Now I was running. Disregarding any sounds I heard. I was in total frantic mode. I tried and tried to control myself, but my mind kept imagining my body, lying on the ground, dead from cold and hunger. I kept telling myself that if I just calmed down I could build a shelter and eat berries. But my heart was beating so loud it was all I could hear. It might have exploded out of my chest. My eyes began to water from pain and fear. Not seeing where I was going, I tripped on a fallen tree and flipped onto my back.
I laid there a held my eyes shut, horrified. I began to think about my parents, I thought of Benny, I thought of that fifteen year old boy that teased me. I thought about the girl from Starbucks. I started to give up, thinking that maybe it would be better to die. My life wasn't going anywhere. I lied to that kid.
I dropped out of college the second year, my apartment is terrible, my job is boring and cheap, and I don't have as much money as I like to think. I'm just a college dropout with a shit apartment, a terrible job, and only enough money to just get by. If I make it out of here alive, the first thing I'm doing is killing myself. I became hysterical, no order in my mind. At that point in time, committing suicide seemed like a brilliant idea. But... something willed me to open my eyes, to continue going on. A voice telling me to open my eyes. And when I did, my hopes were lifted.
There was a hill. It looked like the biggest hill ever. And as soon as I saw it, I was bounding up the side. I heard my phone die, but I didn't care. I kept climbing. Finally, I reached the top.
The hill looked so big while on the ground, but when I got to the top, it was only halfway below the tops of the trees. I didn't know what to do, but for some reason, I felt nothing. I should have felt dead, defeated, but I didn't. I just laid down on top of the hill and stared up at the sky. I didn't even react to the fact that there was a huge clearing of the trees. I just stared up at the night sky.
"Well I had planned on doing this at the apartment, like I did last night, but screw it. The sky is clearer here, anyway." I said. Every night, I climb on top of the apartment roof and watch the stars until I'm about to pass out. The latest I stayed up was four in the morning, two hours before the sun would rise. I thought about the tacos I would be eating right now. My stomach grumbled. I began to study the sky.
The sky was black, blacker than any time I had ever star watched. The contrast of the sky and the stars was beautiful. I must have been miles away from the town, because there was no trace of light pollution. I felt like I could see everything. My eyes began to tear up again. The beauty of the sky brought me to tears. The first thing I noticed was the Moon. It shined like a landmark in the sky. I could see the face created by craters, to me, it looked like a nuclear sign. Some parts of the moon had lines stretching across it, like spider legs. I could see the dark spots of the Moon, the maria. Formed by ancient, solidified pools of basaltic lava. Then there was the terrae, the brighter spots of the Moon. Made of minerals and rocks. The Moon was full, and amazing. There were countless amounts of craters on it. I remembered looking up at the Moon when I was a kid, asking my father questions. The thought of my parents warmed my heart. I looked at the space around the Moon. I quickly found the constellation Leo, the lion. It was above the Moon and in what looked like a sitting position. Below the Moon I could see Hydra, the snake constellation. It extended across the sky, and all I could think about now was how beautiful the sky was. How I could see all the colours of the stars. The reds, whites, blues. I could see the planets of Mars and Jupiter. They looked beautiful I must have looked it over ten times, maybe twenty. I had never seen the night sky like this. I watched as a meteor shot across the sky like a fiery bullet, aiming for Earth. I sighed in bliss. If I were to die, I'd want to die like this. After a couple of hours I began to feel tired. I had trouble keeping my eyes open to look at the sky. Soon I just gave up. I shut my eyes. I thought about what my last words on Earth would be. But only four words came to my mind. I wanted my last words to be in honour of the night sky.
"Thank you, Princess Luna," and then I fell into unconsciousness.
And for some reason as soon as I fell asleep... I woke up.