Prologue
Have you ever had a bad day? Now, I'm not talking about your average 'bad day' where you might be late for work or your family pet might leave an unpleasant surprise when you wake up in the morning - I'm talking more along the lines of everything in your life has been rigged against you and your aspirations have been destined to be crushed by some higher power, whom of which is controlling your entire town like one giant marionette show. Well, that's how I felt on this particular day...
I had recently turned 18, only a few days had passed since my birthday. Adulthood was not proving so kind to me, responsibility had been dumped on my head like a ball of concentrated arsenic. I lived in a small town named New Southwood, situated in the 'grand 'ol' state of Montana - isolated from the rest of the USA like we had invented the plague. It was more of a hamlet than a town really, the population barely scraped past 2,000 people. It was forever decreasing due to the fact that the old were dying and the young couldn't wait to escape its retched confines. It was like a tumour on the brains of everyone who knew it existed - a black hole, devouring all sense of hope and aspiration it could suck into its clutches.
Looking from the outside in, it must've looked pleasant; everybody knows everybody, so there was always that feeling of community spirit; the local economy stimulated itself, no need for the land-hungry chain brands to come and absorb the small businesses; and the town was generally happy with the mayors who came and went, mainly because they were all from the same family (The Merricks) due to the title being passed between two brothers for years and then onto their children once they were old enough, it was more of a monarchy if I'm to be perfectly honest. I didn't mind, they did a pretty good job for the most part.
I worked at the only fast-food joint in town, GoFast-Burger, it was run by an Italian immigrant named Joe Pecciano and his son, Junior. Joe was a rotund guy with jet black hair, he towered over everyone at 6'7. He was a jolly guy and ran the business more for himself to feed the townsfolk his original recipes which he held so dearly. He was pretty much treasured by the entire town. I had started working for Joe when I was 16, he would always provide some wiggle room when it came to shifts as he knew it would be hard for me to get from Point A to Point B with my mother not being able to drive and my father being away in the military. However, once Joe decided it was time to pass the business onto Junior, the whole atmosphere within the restaurant changed. Although Joe would work from time-to-time, Junior held down the fort most of the time and, let me tell you, he went power hungry really quickly. There was no more wiggle-room when it came to shifts and he would not hesitate to fire anyone who answered back or compared him to his father, doing either of those was treated like a cardinal sin in GoFast-Burger.
On this aforementioned day, I was on my bike, peddling as fast as I could from my house to work. I was late because my older brother, Lincoln, decided to go out with his girlfriend and not come home to take care of our little brother, Teddy. I ended up arriving late, much to the dismay of Junior. After a stern lecture, he informed me that I would be in charge of the fry station all evening. This meant I had to lug heavy boxes of fries from the freezer to the vats, where I would have to put them into the fry hopper which would then dispense the fries into the baskets, of which would then have to be dropped into the sizzling grease vats in order to cook them. It was tedious and absolutely soul-destroying. for 9 straight hours, I stood over the grease vats, cooking and bagging fries until finally, at 11:30 pm, I was allowed to leave.
I flew out the front door, saying a swift farewell to the few co-workers I could stand to look at and rapidly hopped onto my bike once again and flew home like a bat out of hell. I lived in the largest suburb in town, a few houses spanned across one continuous road - aptly named: Mawr Road. My house was quite large, my father's military pension allowed for us to have a sizable house with enough rooms for my parents, my two brothers, and a guest. There was a garage where my father's car would sit while he was away - my little brother and I would often sit in it and pretend as though we were driving away to California to surf. My room was situated in the attic, it was relatively large but had quite the low ceiling. I was into a lot of British bands like The Smiths and The Cure, so naturally, my walls were covered in their merchandise - everything from posters to T-shirts. There always seemed to be a record playing something new, my mother always broke her back to buy me one every paycheck she had. I always insisted on paying for them myself but I think she saw it as her giving me something physical to always remember her by - music was my saviour and so was she.
After hopping into the shower as quickly as humanly possible and getting changed into my nightwear, I raided the pantry for some snacks and then headed straight to my room. I bid Teddy and my mother goodnight before realising that Lincoln wasn't home193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30ORES0Ii4
"Where's Link?" I asked inquisitively 193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLdRvtwliN
"He's at Coamihe's house, he called earlier to say he wouldn't be home" my mother replied.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmahFdsFrvG
"Oh, ok. How's Teddy?" Teddy was only 9 so I always felt as though I would ensure he was feeling okay when Lincoln wasn't home, just to be sure he hadn't been too lonely while his older brothers were away.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeN8byJ4fp
"He's fine, his little friend Zach came around earlier and he went home around 9, he fell straight asleep not too long after"193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek7v1CIOnz
"Oh good, as long as he's been having fun"193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlL4QhfnRI9
"How was work? Was Junior in?"193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NI0aieN1C
"Junior was in, I'll allow for you to take from that what you will"193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQM0tWlqoAn
"Just don't let him get to you" my mother approached me and dragged me down to her level (I'm 5'10, she is only 5'0) and kissed my forehead. "Now get some rest."193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3j6vCs0YK
"Ok, mom, love you" I gave her a warm hug.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdY1QzbJoT
"I love you too, honey".193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoU5nv15Vf
I retracted from the safety of the loving embrace and wandered sleepily up the two flights of stairs to the attic hatch. I pulled the piece of string dangling down from the ceiling and watched as ladders unfolded. Making a powerful creak as they did so. I lugged my body like a lead balloon up into the attic and unhinged the latch so that the ladders could retract, I slid the brass bolt along so that they would stay shut and turned on my bedside lamp.
I took a few minutes to sit at the edge of my bed to look out the window. The night's cool air had begun to create condensation on the inside of my window, it warped my reflection into another world - a twisted world, where time meant nothing and silence reigned supreme. I would often think about what a warped world would be like because, albeit strange, my problems wouldn't fair too well as I, too, would reign supreme.
I lay down on top of my blanket and stared at the ceiling until my body could not work together with my mind in order to hold my heavy eyelids open any longer. I drifted to sleep soundly, without a single disturbance to my dreams.
ns3.15.148.168da2
