Lonely Hollow

Smoke

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I knew my alarm was going off. I just kept laying in bed though, pretending it wasn't. 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I thought about pressing the snooze button and sleeping for just a few more minutes, but every time I do that I always sleep much longer than I want to. I kept urging myself out of bed in my mind. "You have a lot to do today, Turner, come on get up."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Finally I sat up straight, rubbed my eyes and gently pressed the 'OFF' button on the top of my electric alarm clock. I blinked a few times, struggling to adjust my eyes to the bright, green digits on the clock. 

5:30

"Just another regular day." I whispered to myself, sighing and grabbing my contacts case off of my nightstand.

I had no idea how wrong I was.

I stood up, and walked across the hard wood flooring to the door that led out of my bedroom. My eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, I couldn't see a thing. However, I knew my room very well, I had lived in it since I was a baby. So you can imagine how I knew where to go after 15 years of walking from my bed to the door.

I grasped the chilled, metal doorknob and swung open the door, I was surprised that it didn't creak this time. It was cold in the hallways, as I expected. My room had the best heating in the house, so it was always a bit of a temperature change exiting into the narrow halls. I entered into the bathroom and turned on the lights, flinching at the sudden brightness. After my eyes adjusted and I was able to see, I pulled back the old, used shower curtains and turned on the water. I changed it to the shower setting and instantly a freezing cold blast of water streamed out of the shower head. It didn't hit me, but I could still feel the icy vapor filling the room.

I took off my huge, baggy pajamas, which was just one of my dad's shirts that was too big for him, and a worn pair of shorts that were surprisingly long. I unstrapped my watch and put it on the sink's counter. After the water got warm, I stepped into the shower and just stood there. I had a terrible sleep, I kept waking up and I had trouble going back to bed. My legs were sore from gym class yesterday, so I decided to just lay down, and let the warm water pour all over me...

I woke with a start. I was wet and freezing cold. I looked up and cold water washed into my eyes. I had fallen asleep! And the water had gone cold! I quickly stood up, leaned over and shut off the water. Rubbing the water out of my eyes, I pushed the curtains open and stumbled out of the shower. I picked up my watch off of the counter and read the clock. It was 7:42! School started at 8:15! I was gonna be late again!

_______________________________________________________________________

"Bye, mom."

"Bye, Turner, Love ya," My mom replied, handing me my lunch she had just finished for me.

I turned around and threw open door, shutting it behind me and bursting into a full sprint down the street. Lonely Hollow was just a small town. It was named that because it was built in the middle of a huge forest, the first one to be. So they called it a lonely town. Lonely Hollow. There was only one school, that went all the way from kindergarten to a senior in high school. There was no college, so there weren't many education opportunities here. That's why so many people stayed here, they never got enough education to move out and make it in some other big city, and there were simple, easy career opportunities that many people took with pride. Either a small family business owner or a lumberjack, since there were plenty of trees.

My jacket was just a simple hoodie, which had lost its tightening strings and had a hole in the right sleeve, but at least it was pretty warm. It was always cold and moist in Lonely Hollow, especially this time of year, so my hoodie was always a good idea. Other than my hoodie, I was wearing my common white T-shirt, fingerless red wool gloves, mismatched white ankle socks, blue sneakers, and brown cargo pants. I lifted my left wrist and glanced at my watch. 8:12. Good, I might make it on time.

It was a cloudy day, complimented by the dark circle of green trees that surrounded Lonely Hollow. All of the small buildings and houses raced by my view as I ran and turned the corner of an intersection, sprinting down the street and feeling the wind blow back my short, brown hair. The school was only a little farther, it was in sight. It was probably the second biggest building in the whole town, only smaller than city hall, which really wasn't that big anyway. Despite being considered a smaller town, it was quite large in physical size. It was basically a giant circle of small houses and businesses, some of which were never used and in disrepair. There were quite a few small stores, that looked for any excuse to be a business. 

Suddenly, something caught my attention, something big and dark out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw it. Smoke. At first I was confused, only a few people still used fireplaces in their houses, and none of them lived over here. I stood there, watching the steady plume of smoke rise from the chimney of an undetermined house, I couldn't tell which one it was exactly, it was kind of far away, but I knew I had never seen smoke from this part of town. My attention returned to school, I panicked and looked at my watch. 8:16. Dang! I was already late!

I raced down the street, heading to school and completely unaware of what was about to happen to my regular, safe life. Everything was about to take a turn for the worse. Way worse.