Numb ~ Dreamnotfound

Chapter 1

The whir of my air conditioner filled the silent void of my bedroom. I laid on my completely stripped bed, facing the ceiling. The bright sunlight made its way into the room through the partly closed blinds, making me turn onto my side away from the window.

I winced as I turned, remembering too late that the bruise on my rib cage hadn't been healed yet. I sat up, letting my legs hang off the side of my bed. The floor had not been visible from the mess I kept ignoring, letting it get worse. My backpack sat among the mess, containing the weeks of homework I still hadn't done, that being the reason my grades were so low.

I stood up and made my way over the mounds of dirty clothes, and into the hallway. Before stepping down onto the creaky wooden steps, I looked at the closed bedroom door that sat at the end of the hallway. It sat collecting dust, untouched since my older brother Jack had left without warning. Three years ago.

I still had no idea where he had went. He turned 18 and left me behind, never speaking to me again. I closed my eyes briefly, remembering my dads hand striking him across the face days before his birthday. My mom had sat and watched as she popped the cap open to another bottle of Vodka.

Part of me wanted to hate Jack, for leaving me alone with our parents, yet I knew that I would never be able to bring myself to hate him. Although growing up had been a nightmare, Jack was always there to help. He threw himself in front of me, to stop the torture. He always ended up with bruises, yet he continued to keep me safe as much as he could. Now, he was gone without a trace, not even texting me to see how I was.

I sighed as I made my way into the kitchen for dinner. My dad was outside grilling burgers for us, so I sat at the kitchen table with my mom, who had been playing a game on her phone. She didn't look up at me, so I pulled out my phone to see my best friend, Nick, had texted me.

Nick:
PLEASE TELL ME YOU DID THE HISTORY HOMEWORK

I rolled my eyes as my thumbs hovered over the keyboard on my phone. He should really learn to stop asking me.

Me:
You really expected me to have it done? I haven't touched my backpack all weekend.

Nick:
Understandable, i'll get the answers from someone else

Me:
Or you could just do it :)

Nick:
Very funny Clay. FaceTime?

Me:
Let me eat dinner really quick. I'll call you in 10

As I was shutting my phone off, my dad walked in from the back deck, holding a plate of burgers in his hand. He set them down in the center of the table, making my mom look up from her phone.

"Would you get off that goddamn phone for once Clay? We're trying to eat dinner as a family." My dad said to me as he grabbed a burger and brought it onto his own plate.

I shoved the phone into my shorts pocket and reached for a burger, before having my wrist grabbed by my fathers firm grasp.

"Let your mother get her food before your dirty fingers get all over everything."

I winced as he held on, waiting for my mother to grab a burger for herself. As she placed it on her plate, my dad let go of my wrist. I quickly grabbed a burger for myself and took a bite.

"You're not even going to apologize to your mother, Clay?" My dad raised his voice, startling me as I swallowed the food in my mouth. "You just ignore us all the time. You don't even speak to us. So disrespectful."

With that, I picked up my plate and ran up to my room, locking the door behind me. I knew he would try to use something against me, and it would escalate quickly.

I sat on my bed and grabbed a blanket from the floor, propping my phone up on it. I scrolled to Nick's contact and hit the FaceTime button, and waited as it rang.

He picked up after a few seconds. He was wearing his gaming headset, but took it off and set his phone down.

"You ate quickly."

I held up my burger to the phone as I took another bite. Nick had now propped his phone up against his monitor.

"Did he give you a hard time again?"

I nodded as I chewed, setting the hamburger back down onto my plate.

"Well good job getting to your room before it got worse, how are the ribs?"

I lifted my shirt to show the purple and black bruise that spread across the side of my body. Nick winced as he moved closer to his phone for a better look.

"He got you pretty good huh?"

I nodded and let my shirt fall back down. I ate the rest of my burger as Nick talked about his day. It always calmed me down when Nick called me. He always had something to talk about in order to take my mind off of things.

We continued to talk about random topics that came to mind until it started to get late. I yawned as I stretched my arms above my head.

"Alright well you should get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow Clay, love you."

"Bye Nick, love you too."

I stood up and went to my dresser, pulling out a different pair of shorts and a t-shirt to wear. I threw my dirty clothes onto the floor and walked into the hallway towards the bathroom.

I looked up in the mirror to see the bags under my eyes. I brushed my teeth quickly and headed back to my room, shutting the lights off and drifting off to sleep slowly.

                   —————————————

My loud alarm startled me awake, making me sit up quickly in bed. Nick had set the alarm for me to prevent me sleeping in, which I used to do a lot. I stood up and changed into a plain blue shirt with black shorts before making my way into the bathroom to fix my bed head and brush my teeth.

I unplugged my phone from the charger and opened my messages with Nick.

Me:
I'll be at your house in 5.

Nick:
Sounds good

I grabbed my backpack out of the pile of clothes and slipped on my worn out sneakers. I ran downstairs, grabbing the keys off of the small table next to the front door.

The old grey car sat in the driveway. It had been my dads old car, before he had bought his truck. Although it wasn't the best, I was just glad to have something to drive.

The warm April sun was already beaming down onto me, despite how early it was. I sat down and started the car up, a Taylor Swift song blasting through the radio. I didn't bother switching through the stations, so I backed out of the driveway and made my way towards Nick's.

Nick had been waiting on his front stairs for me as I pulled into his driveway. The front door opened and his mom waved at me through the doorway. I waved back as Nick opened the passenger door and sat down.

"Good morning sunshine." He laughed as he buckled his seatbelt.

"Don't call me that." I responded as I backed out and made my way towards our school.

"I'm gonna do it anyway." He laughed, lightly punching me on the arm. I hit back playfully, making Nick laugh harder.

We parted ways as we walked into school, Nick making his way towards the gym and me making my way to English. I sat down in my seat just in time before the bell rang.

A boy who I had never seen before then walked in and made his way towards my teachers desk. She smiled and stuck her hand out for him to shake before looking up at the class, scanning her eyes across the students sat in front of her. Her eyes stopped on me, motioning for me to go up to her.

I stood up hesitantly and made my way to the desk.

"Clay, this is our new student. Since we aren't doing a new lesson today, why don't you show him around."

The boy had darker hair and seemed shy. He gripped the strap of his backpack as he looked up at me.

In a quiet voice, he spoke.

"Hi, i'm George."