Complete and utter silence filled the world. A boy sleeping with his back against the rough bark of an oak tree stirs in the morning light. Slowly his eyes open to look at the world around him. Atop the hill he could see for miles in all directions. The grass green, but slowly turning brown as the seasons change. The trees swaying slightly in a gentle breeze. He stands up and stretches, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The sun had risen a bit above the horizon already, but he hadn't missed much of the day. The world around him still fresh and new, basking in the morning light.
Smiling at the view, he began his day.
***
Spencer woke up to the sound of the alarm clock blaring. After a full night's of sleep, he still felt exhausted. Moving to the bathroom, he splashed some water on his face and brushed his teeth. He hurried out of the house to the bus stop with no time to stop to eat any breakfast. Dew hung on the grass in his yard causing it to lay flat against the ground. Spencer could only stare at it in jealousy, wanting to lay down himself. Living on the corner meant that Spencer could be out of the house and to the bus stop within a minute, so he almost never ran late meaning that he also never bothered to give himself much time in the mornings. The bus arrived shortly after he got there and Spencer took his usual seat four rows from the back. He leaned against the window and began to drift off.
***
It had been a long day. The boy had managed to fashion a small structure for himself. A crude lean to made from a nearby fallen tree and branches he picked up from the area. Covered in clumps of grass, he was able to finish a basic shelter, but it wouldn't do for very long. He tossed fitfully in his sleep and woke. The wind was blowing along the side of the hill. His shelter shook slightly but otherwise kept the wind off of him. The grass in the area had grown fairly long and made sufficient bedding for now. He turned around and went back to sleep.
***
The bus rumbled to a stop around the side of the school. Jostled awake by the stop, Spencer reluctantly opened his eyes and stared at what would be his prison for the next few hours. Lazily clambering off the bus, he headed towards his classroom to start the day.
"You look as rested as ever. Going to fall asleep in class again today?" a teasing voice said from behind Spencer.
Spencer jabbed right back, "Yeah, yeah. Are you going to bet with Amanda on how long it'll take for me to pass out in history today? Whatever you bet, I'll just make sure I make you lose."
"No rigging the bets. We'll have to keep it secret from you. See you in 3rd period." Mike ran off to get to class on time.
The day passed fairly quickly and 3rd period passed by without a nap or a conclusion to the bet. Heading home, Spencer knew that it would be the same as most days. Sit down at his computer until dinner then return after and stay there until it was time for bed. Stagnation. There wasn't anything he could do to change that. He hated it, but he didn't have the opportunity to do what he wanted. His dreams of the future kept him going. He longed for a world he could build the life he wanted.
***
Sunrise had passed, but the world still sat in long shadows. Blocked by the hill, no direct light shone into the boy's shelter, but he woke all the same. He had no direct needs right now, so the next few days would be spent improving what he could and planning for the future. First was his shelter. Improving the lean to wouldn't do much for him beyond the next little while so he decided to scout out a new area to live. The lone tree on the side of the hill wasn't a bad spot as the hill blocked the wind from two directions and the tree would help keep the shelter dry, but it wasn't a place for anything permanent.
Walking down the hill, the boy headed for the tree line that started a little ways away from the base of the hill. He wandered looking for a spot with plenty of oak trees he could use for building. The junipers of the area were short and scraggly so they wouldn't provide too much structure to build on. There's a lot he had to do before he could actually build the shelter he wanted, but finding a location would help with the planning. The ideal would be a roughly square area between trees. He planned on using fallen trees or long branches to bridge the gap between the trees and use these as the tops of the walls. The ground here was much less rocky than on the hill so he could dig to place posts for the main part of the walls.
The boy still needed a lot to make it all work. An axe to help cut wood so he wouldn't have to rely on fallen and possibly rotted wood. He needed to make a sort of rope to lash the wood together unless he wanted to put a lot more effort into cutting it all to fit together. A shovel would help dig holes for posts as well as to dig around the area so water doesn't flow into his planned structure. There was a lot he would have to do and he'd have to spend every waking hour working on it. He had time though. This world was a blank canvas and it all belonged to him alone to work with. He didn't know how he knew this. He just did. Just like he knew that he couldn't get hurt when he tripped and rolled a bit down the hill. Or like he knew he didn't need to eat or drink anything. It was natural for him to know. Almost like an instinct.
Satisfied with the plans he made that day, he started walking back to his shoddy shelter. There wasn't much daylight left and it would be hard to find after dark so he hurried back.
***
Spencer groggily woke up. It was Saturday, but he woke up at 7:30 in the morning starving and thirsty. He had fallen asleep early last night after fighting to keep his eyes open for a while. After fighting to go back to sleep for a while, it got too much and forced him out of bed. He needed some breakfast and a glass of juice or milk, whatever was left in the fridge.
His dad saw him come down and saved him from eating cereal. Already at the stovetop, his dad didn't mind making Spencer breakfast as well. Eggs, bacon, and toast all washed down with orange juice was a better start to his day than most.
"I'm surprised to see you up this early in the morning. Actually the fact that you are up in the morning at all is new." Spencer's dad would see him up this early during the summer, but that was because Spencer would stay up all night, not waking up that early.
"I was too hungry to go back to sleep. This is just what I needed." Saying thanks was awkward for him. It never sounded natural to just throw it in there so he never did. His family understood when he meant it, but that was a learned skill so others frequently missed it.
Spencer headed back upstairs to his room. He walked down the hall noting that he probably needed to work on his sleep schedule a bit. 'I also need to exercise more too,' he thought, 'And do more homework. And clean my room. Oh and I can't forget to get an axe and a rope-' Spencer stopped. 'Where did that come from? Why would I need those? Am I losing it? I need to get more sleep or this will be a regular thing, won't it?'
Heading straight to his room. Spencer plopped right back in bed and closed his eyes thinking again about the axe and rope. Never in his life had he has an absurd and intrusive thought like that.
'Maybe I'm still half asleep and dreaming.' That was his final thought before he closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep.
***
The boy woke. Checking outside, he realized it was still night. He sat there lost in thought for awhile. He must have just had a weird dream because he felt confused, but he couldn't remember anything of it. Like there was something he needed to do but forgot. Shrugging it off, he tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. After tossing and turning for about an hour, he readjusted the grass bedding and finally was able to go back to sleep.
***
Spencer woke up about an hour after laying back down. He no longer remembered the axe or the rope. All he remembered was his longing for a blank canvas of a world to just do whatever he felt like. One that belonged to him alone.