Dawn Hollow

III

The day had disappeared just as fast as it began. There was a fiery glow to the setting sun and night sky. Mass pieces of cotton candy floated through the sky while the gorgeous twilight blanketed the sleepy sky. Yes, the day was over but that only meant that the night was beginning. And this theory was further proven by teenage traffic rushing down each and every street. People going to the park, the movie theater, and hitting up the diner before the old people of the town crowded it and rambled forever about memories nobody was ever sure were true or not.

But after a long day such as the one he had, PJ was lying on his bed, eyes peacefully shut and his breathing slowed with the sounds of his favorite bands drumming in his sore ears. Locked away in his room was how his night was inevitably doomed to end ever since he came home that evening. He suspected just as such. His father had a meeting with more press representatives and important business monkeys. And on those nights, PJ was pretty much-gifted leftovers and a kiss from his mother before being ignored for the evening. But PJ couldn't care less. He was exhausted, not only from the confrontation of the morning but from everything that happened afterward. It wasn't abnormal by any means, it just truly amazed him how spent he could be just from doing something so secondhand.

The boy started to squirm in his slumber. His skin sizzled like fire, the memories flashed, not only the memories of the day, the memories of everything. The eyes. The pain. The press. His father. The sinking feeling and whirlpool that was making his brain feel like it was traveling down a tub drain after a long bath. He shut his eyes tighter together as he could feel his brain being thrashed around the pipe of the drain as he was sent further and further down. PJ felt like he was spinning in circles, a rollercoaster he was locked into. And he wanted to get out. He wanted off the ride. It wasn't fun anymore. Sure, it seemed fun from the outside but looks are so deceiving. His stomach was in knots and queasy beyond belief. Off. He wanted off. Off. Let him off. Get him off. Take him off. Off. Off. Off. OFF. OFF! WAKE UP!

The sudden sharp buzz filled his mid stomach which in turn caused his head to violently jerk up as his nightmare faded from his mind. His eyelids sprung back like recoiling blinds, exposing his deep dirt eyes. His disoriented thoughts cluttered together in the hope to try to make sense of whatever was happening. After blinking his eyes a few times more his room came back into view. His backpack slung against his bedpost with his jean jacket lazily tossed over it. He still had his homework strewn around his desk with fresh ink from pens scribbled over the pages filled with doodles in the margins.

Around now came the time when his senses started to wake up too. The first thing he noticed was a warm, sharp pain in his ear and the sounds of Fall Out Boy blasting into his ears at a low volume. He didn't entirely remember falling asleep. He recalled the events of putting his headphones over his ears and laying on his bed going down internet rabbit holes; everything from interviews with former murderers to conspiracies of Michael Jackson's death being a hoax to make room for a new generation of superstars.
At some point or another, he obviously fell asleep, leaving his world behind to travel into a new one filled with darkness and bliss.

With the puzzle complete in his head, the fuzzy feeling registered again. His eyes passed over to the back of his phone as it danced out of tune to the default ringtone. PJ slowly reached for the phone. On the screen was an old picture of him and Noah together, replacing his normal lockscreen. The continued vibration made him finally realize that Noah was calling. The panic of potentially missing the call set in as PJ shot up and quickly answered.

"Mmmm, hello?" PJ yawned into the phone, failing to keep the grogginess out of his tone. Noah seemingly noticed this as he gave a small scoff.

"Did you just wake up?" He asked anyway.

"What of it? What do you want?"

"Well, I overheard in a few of my classes today that Zayn is having a party tonight. You wanna go?" PJ couldn't help but roll his eyes so hard it nearly hurt.