My alarm clock wakes me up with a ringing that can only be described as the screams of my nightmares. I climb out of bed and get dressed before standing in front of the mirror staring at myself. I'm not skinny but I'm not too muscular either. I'm a happy medium. I'm a little bit taller than I was last week and my hair is a smooth black with the ends died navy blue. Whereas my eyes are a gray color, I've only ever seen on my mom. When I'm done staring at myself I hear the bus stop outside my house.
I sprint out the door as the bus starts to pull away from my bus stop. Giving me no choice but to jump over a white picket fence as I rushed through my neighbor's yard. I dodge an angry pitbull and jump over the low wire fence on the other side. A chill breeze accompanyihg the quickening of my pulse while I run. One breath in as I pushed off the ground. My bookbag hitting my back as my lungs begin to burn. Another fence. I could hear the bus coming to a stop as I leaped over the last fence and came crashing down. Knocking over my one and only friend.
"Sorry Avory," I muttered as I help her pick up her now unorganized school supplies. I handed her a jumbled mess of papers and her pencil pouch as everyone began to get on the bus. She had the other half of her stuff. In her hands was a sketchbook that was thicker than every textbook the school had ever given us. I had seen her drawings and they were something to be marveled at. Which made it less surprising when she opened an art gallery using the last of the savings her grandpa had given her. She had more than made it back in the year since then. When I finally got the chance to look at her I realized she had chosen to wear her black hair in a neat ponytail. It let me see her eyes which changed on a regular basis. Today however they were a beautiful purple that seemed to see right through me. Avory was a swimmer and you could tell. Her back and legs were much stronger than most boys at our school. She had a slim physique that made a lot of people underestimate her. Much to their disappointment and her enjoyment.
We climbed on the bus and sat all the way in the back. Where she opened her sketchbook and I saw many drawings of the sea and a boat I had only ever seen in my dreams. A small black boat with a woman standing under the mast with a rope wrapped around her hand. It's one of the only drawings she's never told me the story off. I open my journal and begin to write. I'm about halfway through a story I've been writing and I start halfway down the page. As we ride the bus in silence I finish a few pages by the time she's finished her drawing. This one is an eye that reflects a universe. It's colored using purples and blues. Before I can look at it in more detail she closes the sketchbook and turns to me.
"Now that our 10 minute tradition is finished. How's your mom doing?" Avory asked.
"She's on a business trip," I replied before I pulled half a dozen donuts out of my bookbag. To which Avory winced. Avory doesn't like foods that are too sugary. So the next thing that came out of my bookbag was a tupperware dish full of sausage, eggs, and pancakes. Which I swiftly handed to Avory. Before giving her the note my mom left her.
"That's for you," I tell her as I begin to eat my donuts. When the bus hits it's last stop. I've finished one of the donuts. Then we drive through the maze we call a city and pull up to our school building. A three story building big enough to fit a football field on top of it. The first floor is all our core classes. Second floor has the auditorium and basketball courts and the last floor is the floor used for all clubs and extracurriculars. It's where me and Avory are part of the E-Sports, MMA, and Self-Defense clubs.
My mom pays for the MMA and Self-Defense clubs. While my dad forces me to attend them.Avory just decided to tag along with me and ended up enjoying it. I mean why not she beats me most of the time. We get off the bus and rush to first period. For me it's Creative Writing, for her it's Studio Art. We're across the hall from one another. I'm almost finished with the book I've been writing in the class and the teacher, Mrs. Nunez is Avory's mother. She's been helping me with my work and is extremely positive when giving criticism. Though it's a little sad that she's not as supportive about Avory's art.
"How have you been Brennan?" She asks me with a smile. She stands right next to me as I log into my laptop and start typing the story. It's 157 pages long and I still have more to write. The story is about a guy who's friend can see the future when she draws. It was only able to think about it because of Avory and her drawings.I look up from the story and think of a response.
"I saw you yesterday, Mrs. Nunez," I respond to which she frowns.
"Are you and Avory doing alright?" I ask "She wasn't too excited about my mom's cooking, which is already a red flag," I continue. She doesn't respond as she looks around the room and walks over to another student. I continue working on my story for the rest of the class period. When I leave the class I walk into the art room and see what Avory's working on. It's a clay goblin with a bag of gold twice it's size. Under it is the word "Avarice". We have the rest of our classes together for the rest of the day and one of them is a class about the history of art and literature. We get college credit for taking it.
Our day flies by without much trouble until we see a student named Cassius being picked on. He's a short, skinny boy with curly brown hair. He's so clumsy that he's known around the school as Kite because of how often he flies across a room. The guy who's bullying him is none other than the resident jerk Zane. He's average height and build but is as dangerous to himself as a runaway train. He is also the leader of a small group of bullies who all fight dirty. Whether it be throwing something in your eyes or hitting you with a hard object, they don't care. It makes it unbearable to be around him and makes me want to punch him so much more than the smug look on his freckled face. This isn't the first time we've caught him bullying Cass and isn't the only time we've stopped him. Last time required a little bit of violence.
"Zane, how many times are we gonna have to tell you to stop?" I sigh as I look to Avory. She just shrugs her shoulders and grabs the nearest chair to sit in.
"When are you gonna stop caring Brennan?" He retorted. Only further adding to my irritation with him. He took a step towards me and pushed Cass behind me where he tripped and landed hard on his hands and butt. Zane stepped closer to me and placed his face in front of mine. He had a sly grin on his face before pushing past us. I helped Cass to his feet and looked him up and down.
"How many times have I told you to hang around us?" I ask him. He guided his head to the ground and started staring at his shoes.
"I don't want to be a pain, but -" He started
"Your not a pain," I interrupted. Which got a little chuckle out of Avory. I quickly shot a glare at her and she looked away.
"Look Cass, you just need to tie your shoes, and wear pants that don't touch the ground."
"Easy for you to say!" He shouted before running away from me. He tripped when he turned a corner. Making Avory start laughing. It was so bad I couldn't get her to stop. She was crying by the time she was done.
"Avory we still have the MMA club today," I point out as I make my way up the stairs. She gets up and smirks before sprinting past me.
"Last one up has to wear the brown gloves!" She shouts. I sprint after her and manage to pass her just in time to dive through the door and into the instructor.
"Hi Mrs. Beril," I managed as I lept away from her. I looked at Avory and she was trying to hide a smirk. I ran to get ready and grabbed black gloves. Avory was wearing the brown gloves. A pair of gloves that have been wrapped in more tape than any of the other gloves. They even have little dark green spots on them where someone stained them.
Today Avory is sparing with someone else. So I get to sit back and watch someone else get their butt handed to them for a change. Avory starts the first half of the bout using some of her boxing but she can't get a solid hit in so she switches to karate and lands a roundhouse that sends her opponent flying off the mat.
Now it was my turn, My opponent is Zane. He walks onto the mat and adjusts his gloves before taking a kick boxing stance. I decide on a Muay Thai stance. Zane starts the bout with a side kick that I blocked with a kick off my own and move in towards his chest. Where I land a few quick jabs into his sternum. My hits make him lose his balance a little. So I use a push kick on his other leg. To make him fall over. He gets up almost instantly and starts throwing jabs as fast as he can. I block one after another until one hits me in the chest. It makes me lower my guard for just a second but that's all he needs as he lands a hook on my chin and makes my jaw shake. I rebalance myself and go on the attack. I hit him with a quick jab in his teeth and follow up with a quick hook kick in his hip. Causing him to stumble to his right and get closer to the edge of the mat.
He responds with a quick jab and an uppercut. I dodge both and hit him in his ribs. He kicks at me and I grab his leg and push it back at him. He stumbles backward and lands outside the mat. Mrs. Beril calls the match and I go sit next to Avory. Where I spend the rest of the club before we head home.
"Hey Brennan, I have another gallery event soon. You can come if you want," She started. I looked at her and she was looking at the sky. Probably looking at the darkness blanketing the world.
"When is it?" I asked. I ran a little ahead of her and turned around. Making sure to walk backwards as we continued the conversation.
"Three days from now, On thursday," She replied. I continued walking backwards and almost fell backwards because of a rock. Avory looked at me for a moment before laughing.
"Oh, come on." I chuckled before making my way all the way up the hill. I looked down the hill at Avory and began to see little tendrils of blue and purple light radiate from her. The tendrils appeared for just a moment before fading into nothing. When the tendrils faded I got a headache that felt like my head was being torn apart. I fell to my knees and tried to scream or shout. But nothing would come out. Nothing but silence as if there was no air in my lungs. Avory ran over to me and placed her hand on my back. A faint warmth radiated from it and ran through me. Helping me and allowing the pain to subside. But with the warmth came a sense of relief that quickly turned into fatigue. After a few short moments I fell asleep.