Chapter One: Sleep Occurrences

 

        There was a slam from behind, then blood coming from my back. The space between all comprehensions blew my mind. I didn’t understand what was happening. Hadn’t I been sleeping just moments before.

      Another blow to the back caused my insecurities to flourish again.

     Was it Marcus? But he’s gone!

      I’ve been told those words so many times in my live it’s the punch-line of every family joke. “Well Marcus would…” “Oh dear, who was that one cheerful bloke? Marcus…” “Do you still talk to him… Marcus?”

      But of course, my parents had to make a joke about the worst-case-scenario. Even if they knew about him and what he did.

      The pain only increased in my back, leaving me wonder, Why the hell can’t I move?

      Had I been paralyzed? (This was my absolute worst fear back then�"something that would’ve hindered my occupational desire.)

      My second thought was: Have I already lost enough blood that I’m just slowly dying?

       Then, there it was. The breath that held the mint tobacco, night-before booze, and strange humidity that it always held. “Why don’t you stand up, c**t?”

      I’d like to’ve believed that if Momma would’ve heard this line come out of Marcus’ mouth, she would’ve castrated him herself. But I couldn’t ever be so sure. What if she didn’t mind?

      “I can’t…” I muttered, as pathetically as I could.

      “Sorry, Doll. I can’t hear you.”

      The mint and booze intoxicated me. I felt gross, nasty, cold.

      “I.. I…”

 

 

      “I can’t,” I mumbled.

      My eyes pealed open.

      Of course, my first thought is (and how so naïvely) It was just a dream. But it managed to calm me for the next few minutes.

      Every morning (not approximately, but literally: every morning) I wake up realizing once again that I’ve graduated high school. It isn’t a melancholy thought, or a blissful thought. Even after I’d purchased my apartment, I woke up with that realization.

      I didn’t miss high school. I wasn’t glad I was out of it. It was just… another fragment of life that I knew I had to get through.

      I yawned. My toes stretched to the edge of the bed and curled back up as I held my knees against my chest. The thin film of blanket was over my head, only rejecting the teensiest bit of light.

      The dream/nightmare/whatever-you-want-to-call-it didn’t really affect me. The�"let’s just call them “sleep occurrences” for right now�"sleep occurrences hadn’t really bothered me before. He was in jail. I was far away. Simple as that.

      My mind tensed up at the thought of getting up.

      A fourth-grader’s voice caught up in my mind, whining, “But I don’t wannnnnna.” (exactly how I felt)

      I raised my hand to see the alarm clock from under the sheets.

      The laser beam aligned numbers stated it was seven thirty. I had to get up…

Reviews

[Forevermore]

U know wht i really like this, its got a constat dialogue to it, and the chapter isnt a brain buster( a 10 minute read) lol. u crambed this into a small wrigh and did well

[Max]

very good, but a few random quotation marks.

[Reaper]

Very good chapter. Im very interested on what this whole story will entitle. But I really like it so far.

[Chris]

...and so it begins...

[Distant horizons]

Okay, you got me intrigued as to what happens next. Great start. New beginning, haunted by the past and you dropped the c bomb on page one. I like :-)