The day Sera died was the day she began to live. That may sound strange but it was a truth she couldn't deny. She started the day just like any other, waking up to her alarm at 6 am. Slowly getting out of bed in the dark to turn on her light. Immediately opening the door to her room and walking across the hall to the bathroom to use the toilet and take a shower.
After some time the water was turned off and she stepped out wrapping a towel around under her arms and another around her hair. I standing in front of the fogged-up mirror she wiped it off so that she could clearly see her own face staring back at her. Dark auburn hair hung just past her shoulders in wet tangles around a soft oval shaped face. Almond shaped gray blue eyes were the most noticed next to her hair.
She finished drying off and reached for the clean clothes that she had set neatly on the long counter next to the door. Brushing her hair was the thing that took the longest, struggling with each pull of the brush. After I finished brushing my teeth I made my way to the kitchen and made coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast for myself and my father. By the time the coffee was done brewing my father had walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee for the both of us, he wasn't as strict with me as he probably should be but he wasn't an absentee parent either.
My mother had died when I was three years old. I wasn't old enough to retain any memories of her but my father had made sure that I knew who she was and showed me pictures regularly. I had a few different people in my life that were mother like figures in my life. My aunt Brenda was one of those influential women in my life helping me through the things that I'd rather not talk with my dad about. There was also the mother of my best friend Karla that left a lasting impression on me.
When I finished cooking breakfast I split the food onto two plates and set them both on the table, one in front of my father at the head of the table. I sat to the right of my father with my plate of food and started to drink my coffee.
There was silence as we both continued to try to wake up enough to try and have a conversation. Neither of us were much for mornings but we made it work. We were comfortable in our conversational silence as we focused on the forks that scraped our plates clean. My father got up and took both our plates to the kitchen, rinsed them, and placed them into the dishwasher before returning to his coffee at the table.
"What's on your agenda for the day Sera?" He asked taking a sip of coffee as he waited for me to respond.
I looked at my hands on my coffee cup and inwardly sighed at the blatantly dad question, "All I really have planned is school. I'm not sure if Karla wants to do anything after school or not but if anything changes then I'll make sure to contact you, Marcus."
Hearing me call him my his first name he practically choked on his coffee before turning to look at me, his round sky blue eyes as wide as they could be. His squared jaw had dropped open for a moment as he finally saw the small smirk pulling the corner of my mouth up into my cheek. I started laughing as he heaved a giant sigh, "You know how much I dislike when you call me by my name. It makes me like I'm failing as a father, which is the most important job in my life."
When I had calmed down I went over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Yes, you are doing a wonderful job as my father. I wouldn't be making jokes and laughing like I do with out you." I leaned over and gave him a hug before heading toward the door. "Have a good day dad!" I waved before shutting, and locking, the door.
Walking to school was one of the things that I enjoyed the most, especially on days that were as warm and bright as this one. Spring was in the air and the air smelled clean and fresh thanks to the past couple days of rain. I liked to be prepared so I had brought my umbrella, just in case. The weather report posted that it should be sunny and clear for the next couple of days. In California you expected it to be dry but around this time there was always the chance that Murphy's law, "Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance." I, however, didn't like to give anything the chance to go wrong.
I walked to the end of the block and turned the corner passing by all of the clean cut lawns of the middle class homes. I crossed to the other side of the street after walking a couple more blocks so that I could enjoy the flowers that were blooming wildly in the park. There were soon to be new flowers planted in the gardens by the grounds keepers within the next couple weeks. I enjoyed walking through the park on nice days but it was dangerous at night. I knew of some groups at my school that would go there to smoke but I still didn't trust it. There have been times where people were found severely beaten, or even dead.
After passing the park and crossing the street I went left and and continued on to the school. After going through the front doors I entered the busy hallways and continued on to my locker. There were some couples that that were leaning against the walls, and even some of the lockers. There was one such couple that was leaning against my locker as well. They didn't seem to notice when I approached them.
I decided the best choice was to speak to them, "Could you please move to the side I need to get in my locker." I pointed at the middle locker when they looked my way and snickered. I'm not the most popular person but I also didn't like being ignored.
The couple went back to making out just like they had been when I heard someone yelling just behind me "What the heck do you two think your doing? Do that shit somewhere else, like behind closed doors where you ain't in my way." It was my best friend Karla. She strode confidently over to her locker and opened it hitting the couple with it in the process.
The couple left giving Karla a dirty look as they went. I went to my locker and opened it exchanging some of the books I had in my bag with the ones I needed first. Once I was finished I shut the door and leaned against it and studied my friend for a moment. She had her curly red hair in a ponytail her face was pale beneath her freckles. She didn't cover up the freckles that many people had made fun of she ignored them and flaunted her natural beauty every day. She was tall and slender, part of the girls basketball team as well. She was the girl that people looked up to. Smart. Funny. Loyal. Beautiful in every way.
To say that I wasn't jealous of her sometimes would be lying. She would always listen to me when I started to ramble on about how she had everything I didn't, then she would remind me of all the things I did have. I couldn't help but go through my days being wide awake and fully open to having a new adventure.
Karla was leaning against her locker facing me, just as I was facing her. "So whats on your mind?"
"Why would there be something on my mind?" I questioned looking at her with my brows trying to meet in the middle.
She stood up strait crossing her arms and gave me her best strait face. She glared daggers at me until I broke down, "Fine. I just have a weird feeling about today." I looked at the scuffed up gray floors, rubbing my shoes along them for a minute. Trying to find the right words to say. "Today just feels wrong, like there's a shadow looming over me."
Karla took a step toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged her waist for a minute before we broke apart and smiled at one another as the first bell rang to begin the school day. As we went our separate ways and agreed to meet at lunch.
My first three classes were quiet, somewhat boring, and felt longer than they really were. Karla and I ate lunch on the bleachers next to the football field in a comfortable silence. The only sound that penetrated our ears was the sounds that we were making eating and the distant sounds of the other friends that were outside enjoying the clear spring weather. As I was finishing my lunch I started to stand to throw away the trash. I was two steps from the ground when the schools most renowned bully, Raymond, started up the steps and pushed past me spilling his opened soda all over himself.
"What the fuck, you bitch!" He was one step higher than me and was looking down on me with distaste.
"My apologies you startled me." I handed him a hand full of clean napkins that I had in my pocket.
He slapped them to the ground hard, hurting my hand in the process. "If 'sorry' fixed everything then there would be no war." I couldn't really think of anything to respond with so I continued to walk away. As I was throwing my garbage into the trash can Raymond grabbed my wrist and made me face him, he looked ready to hit me when another young man put a hand on his shoulder.
I had never seen this boy before, so I was guessing he was new. I was somewhat startled when he spoke, "There's no need for that, man. She apologized, just let her be." His voice was soft compared to his looks.
He was tall with a softly squared jaw. He didn't seem to smile much but his emotion could be seen in his deep forest green eyes, but even those were hard to see behind the dark brown hair that hung in front of his face.
Raymond looked at the hand on his shoulder and upon inspection of the other boy, being shorter and slighter of stature, he decided against picking a fight. Raymond leaned in closer to me and whispered "I'll deal with you later, you better watch your back." Then he turned and went to the top of the bleachers to be with all of his friends.
I stood there in shock not even noticing that the new guy had left before I could thank him. Karla stood next to me for a moment before pushing me back into the school. We went to our lockers and grabbed all of the things we needed for our next classes and split ways. We couldn't bring ourselves to recount what had happened yet but I was sure that it wasn't good. We went our separate ways to finish the day only exchanging a glance that spoke volumes.