Ava didn't wake up quietly, she quickly rose but forgot the low ceiling and struck her head. ''Fuck'' She said mumbled. She was still distraught from the events that just occured, did she make that all up? Was that seriously all a dream? She couldn't rationalise it and that's why it disturbed her so much. If she told someone about this they would claim she was insane.
She got up from her bed, right leg first, into her breakfast. ''Fuck!'' She exclaimed, loudly this time. 'Ugh, dad must've put that there.'' She hopped on one leg to the shower and washed parts of her sandwich off in the bath. She then completely undressed ready to hop in the shower, but glanced in the mirror. She was getting fatter, or atleast, that's what she thought, she didn't gain a pound whilst sleeping. She grabbed a bit of fat and sighed ''I really need to start running again.''
She turned the shower knob and hot water poured over her. It refreshed her, she was less weary of the events that just happened in her dream. Maybe it was just a nightmare, nothing to really worry about. When she was done showering she grabbed a cute crop top and some simple jeans. ''No need to go all out today.'' She said to herself. She didn't waste much time styling her hair and putting on make-up, she wasn't really a fan of taking that much effort to look good anyways.
She grabbed the plate by her bed which she stepped on and brought it downstairs where her dad was sitting at the table. ''Did you enjoy your breakfast, honey?'' Ava just turned away from him and scoffed. ''No, I stepped in it because you put it next to my bed like an idiot. Like what, was the desk not to your liking or something?'' Ava's dad just looked at her with a large grin, he was trying to contain his smile but couldn't hide it. ''Are you laughing?!'' This was the finishing blow to Ava's dad he busted out in laughter. ''Serves you right for yelling at me yesterday!''
His laugh was like a jet that was taking off, it was pretty silent at first but when he gets in the groove the whole house starts shaking. ''Well you know, what happens, happens, Murphy's law and all'' He finally regained composure after nearly falling off his chair. Ava just stood there annoyed by her dad, making fun of her at 7AM, who does he think he is. ''No need to bring Murphy's law in to it just because you were so stupid to leave my breakfast right beside my bed.'' Ava said angrily, she turned around to her dad, grabbed the plastic plate and threw it at her dad. ''Wow! Cool it cowboy.'' You know you'll lose in a fight. Her dad started grinning again which just aggravated Ava even more. ''Hmph, whatever.''
Her dad regained composure once more and asked ''How's that science project working out for you, have you integrated Cole's law yet?'' He put down his cup of coffee and looked at Ava. Ava's dad loves science. He couldn't stop talking about it. So when Ava had a science project he always wanted to make sure she got everything right. ''Cole's law? I haven't heard of that one yet'' Ava replied. ''What? You haven't heard of Cole's law? It's thinly sliced cabbage.'' The jet engine started taking off again as Ava's dad spit out his coffee because of his own joke.
Ava merely looked on in disgust at the sight that just formed. A mixture of peanut butter sandwich and coffee was spread out all over the table, whilst her dad just couldn't stop laughing. Ava glanced quickly at her watch and saw she was running late for the academy so she quickly grabbed her stuff and said one last snide remark to her dad.
''You best clean that, because I'm not doing that''. Ava's dad looked up again with coffee coming out of his nose. ''Yes yes, I will honey.'' Ava was just about to open the door and go out when her dad said ''One last thing.'' ''Yes dad?'' Ava replied. ''Love you honey'' he said in the sweetest voice he could with his dirty face. ''Love you too dad.'' Ava replied.
She might find her dad one of the most annoying human beings on the planet but he was always sweet to her and convinced her she could do and become anything. He wasn't always like that, he used to keep to himself a lot. He was forced to be an army technician for the war against the Coalition of States.
The Coalition of States is a very different country compared to the Republic of Americas. The CoS is very religion driven, they think the Ink is caused because of loss of faith. So they pray, and pray, and pray. It's not been working though. Hasn't been the case for 100 years. The RoA is very science driven and that's where Ava and her dad live. The war is still in a stalemate and both sides are running out of resources, but Ava believes the RoA will win in the end. They'll develop some new tech to edge it out.
When mom left Ava's dad became very protective of her. It wasn't like there was a big gap to fill, her mom was always very absent. She was very frightening especially in the last days before she left she kept repeating words. She couldn't really remember clearly what she said but it was somewhere along the lines off ''At day's end is where the Ink ends.''
Ava looked up to the sky. There wasn't much to see but pitch darkness, and of course the Moon. Scientists said that there used to be days where there wasn't darkness all the time but only for half the time. They also say that was a lot more land available to us. These days there's only 20% land left of the so-called 30% that used to be here.
They say it's because the Moon's orbit gets wider every year, others say it's because of the constant solar eclipse. It is a mystery to most scientists what happened. It seems like the earth stopped rotating around its axis but that shouldn't be possible. The moon didn't appear to be rotating anymore as well, otherwise it wouldn't be a full moon constantly.
Ava snapped out of her train of thought when the bus finally arrived. It was a very shabby bus in bumblebee colors. Most of the windows were shot so you always had a breeze it didn't matter where you would sit. That's why she hated taking the bus. When she got in and took her usual seat at the back. (It was one of the least dirty seats) Her thoughts drifted off to her dream again. She never had a dream like that, she barely dreamt at all, but this time she could remember everything that occured.
She was deep in thought until she heard someone yelling at her. ''Hey dumbass what are you thinking about?'' Ava quickly turned her head towards the rude voice and was just about to give that person a piece of her mind when she saw it was Dave.
''You scared me.'' Ava replied, she took a quick breath and continued ''I was just about to knock your lights out.'' Dave just laughed it off and sat next to her.
Dave has a very handsome face with freckles with dark brown eyes. His eyes are a sort of abyss, Ava doesn't like looking at them because she ends up staring. He has a smooth jaw line accompanied by a thin face structure. His nose is not too big but also not too small. He has curly hair but doesn't let it grow out because he doesn't like his curls. ''Did you study for the exam today?'' Ava looked at him in shock. ''There was an exam today?!''
Dave pulled out his sandwich and continued ''Yeah I even gave you notes dumbass.'' Ava could smack herself in the face, of course, the exam, how could she forget. ''I knew I forgot something it was all because of that weird dream I had last night'' Dave stopped eating and looked at her ''What? That one dream you had last night prevented you from studying the day before?'' Dave had a smug look on his face, he knew Ava wouldn't have studied anyways. ''Yeah you're right I just forgot. I really hope I pass.'' Ava did a quick gesture with her hands, a sort of spell for good luck like her mother always used to do.
''You'll do fine, you always ace your test, you have your father's brain'' Dave said confidently. The bus started losing speed, they were nearly at the academy. Ava didn't like the academy that much. It wasn't a fair system, if you got low grades you were thrown in the slums or sent to some boarding school where people rarely returned from.
This was the case because there was a shortage of resources, so they could only let the smartest enjoy the privileges of schooling. The goal of these academies scattered over the country is to solve the mystery of the Ink and end the war of course. Ava would rather have the two sides to make peace and try to solve it together.
Ava and Dave got out of the bus and were walking to the academy when she saw a figure standing beside the door. No one was looking at him but he was staring at Ava. When Ava got closer she got chills and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
It was the old man from her dream. Adrenaline was pumping in her veins, she didn't believe it. Dave saw Ava standing still and looked at her with a worried expression. He walks up in front of her and grabs her by the shoulders. ''What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost.'' Dave asks with a concerned look on his face. ''T-T-There's a man by the door'' Ava stutters. Dave turns around to look but he doesn't see anything. ''Where? I don't see anybody.'' This frustrates Ava and points to where she saw the man. Her finger is pointing at nothing, there is no man.