Routine

Marcus had a sleeping problem. As a matter of fact he had way more than a problem with sleeping. The dark circles under his eyes showed his exhaustion, and his hood was always up to hide them or his identity, like a spy. HIs school was no help either. It was the same cycle everyday. Wake up, school, home, homework, bedtime, nightmares, wake up. Consistently, it went the same way for almost 5 years. Marcus thudded downstairs, his black hair hanging in his face. His mom looked up at him, her face twisted.

"Marcus, take the hood off."

"Don't think so..." Marcus said lowly under his breath, stuffing papers roughly into his bag.

 "How'd you sleep last night buddy?" she came up behind him, roughly pulling down his hood, cocking an eyebrow saying "I win". Marcus shrugged in surrender. He responded "Not as well as I never do" He continued what he was doing absent-mindedly, not looking at his mom. She stared at him, her eyes also colored with tiredness. She felt a bit guilty to keep what she had to say to herself. She looked outside in hope that the bus would come along; it did.

"Bus is here" she said just a little too anxiously. Marcus eyed her oddly, and continued to the door. He squinted his eyes in the fake sun, and walked slowly to the bus.

"I'll see you later!" His mom called after him quickly. Marcus turned around. "What?!" He wanted to look her in the eyes, to show her the confusion in his eyes, but her back was turned to him, walking into the house. Marcus' slowed steps had become strong forces of angry gravity, and now was officially pissed off. He knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn't plan on spending his afternoon with another useless doctor or psychiatrist that gave him the same words, prescribed the same medication, only to miss the fact that Marcus' problem was way beyond physics.

 

The girl was holding onto him her face buried in his bare chest, which heaved with fear. She breathed cold air into him, "He's coming..."  He heard dangerous heavy footsteps thumping up the wooden steps, almost as if the man were in a trance. "Why's he coming?" he asked her, though he had a feeling he clearly knew the answer to that. "For me...., for-" her breathing hitched from sobbing bitterly, almost as if her throat were constricting. All of a sudden Marcus had an urge to choke her, to stop her from feeling anymore pain. "He....wants... me.." she stared into his eyes, deeply, and Marcus felt like his soul was burning. Her pain was pouring into his soul, like blood from an open wound. Marcus felt like crying with her, like nothing was worse than such pain that could destroy such life in someone. He heard the door open, and his heart pounded louder, to the point he felt they could hear it. She pushed herself into him, like she wanted  to melt under his skin to hide. A hand came into view, and so did a long, jagged knife....

"Dude, wake up." Marcus' friend, Trey, poked him hard with a pencil. Marcus bolted out of his sleep, and horrified, bewildered eyes passed to land on his friend. Trey pointed to the literature teacher, Mr. Heris, in the front of the room, who was giving Marcus a bad look.

"The answer Marcus." He stared at him hard. Suppressed giggles came from the back of the room, and then another girl's voice that whispered inaudibly for them to shut up.

"Uhm.... I'm not very sure sir." Marcus looked up at him embarrassed.

"You want to tell me why you weren't paying attention?"

Marcus turned around to see everyone staring at him. He eyed Trey angrily as if to say, "why didn't you wake me up before?" Trey's in response, "not my fault, get more sleep" He turned to face the teacher who looked at him annoyed. "I guess, because..." He scratched his head, abashed "-- I was sleeping in class"

"Do I have to  tell you to pay attention?"

"No, not really"

He sighed, to show his impatience. "Meet me after class Marcus." Marcus hung his head, feeling anger built up in him again,  but passed it off for weakness in the core of his body. After 30 more minutes of useless lecture, Marcus stayed last.

"Marcus, I don't understand you. Why does this happen so often, in my class? Are you not interested, or you just don't care? I find that conclusion very impossible, because you are truly bright, but if you don't care I won't take that from you, or for anyone for that matter."

Marcus ran his hands over his jet hair impatiently, mainly because he wanted to be out of there more than anything, and since he wasn't giving him a chance to talk.

"Look, Mr. Heris, the reason why I fell asleep, is because I get no sleep. It's like I'm allergic to sleep. I fall alseep when I hit the bed, and then wake up two hours later, sleepless. I don't mean to fall asleep, I mean your class is very interesting and all..." Marcus' voice faltered over the word interesting. "But I try really."

The bell rang, a clear run for Marcus. He was ready to sprint, where Mr. Heris' voice stopped him again.

"Just don't do it again, and I won't write you up"

"Thanks!" Marcus bolted out the door, away from his teacher, from the snickering classmates, from everyone maybe. Marcus shivered to himself, and tasted the girl's sweat in his mouth. He walked on his way, to his last morning class.