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07
THERE IS A sharp knock against Scott's bedroom door, jolting the punk boy awake from his dreamless sleep. It takes him a few moments to comprehend how early in the morning it is before he buries his head under his pillow. Once again, there is a loud knock with the calling of his name right after it, but Scott ignores it all, deeming it illegal to wake up before sunrise on a Saturday morning. However, that doesn't stop both his parents, even though he's told them not to wake him up so early a billion times.
"Scott, my boy," the deep voice of his father sounds through the door, which is followed by another knock, "It's time to watch the sunrise and revel in the fact that you're still alive."
That stops Scott from chucking his alarm clock at the door. In fact, he slides out of bed with the thought of yes, I am alive, and I should be fucking grateful.
"Scott?"
As an answer, he groans with a slight twinge of annoyance and says in a tired voice, "Calm down, Dad. I'm coming."
"Your mother and I will be on the roof," his father, Benjamin Akers, replies in that same low, gruff tone of his, "You have ten minutes, kid."
Lethargically, Scott freshens up, disregarding the fact that he needs to dress accordingly to play his part of being a punk. Because as of right now, his black hair is limply falling into his eyes, his long fingers are ringless, and the shirt he pulled on a few seconds ago is surprisingly not black. Usually, Scott cares about keeping up with appearances in public, but there is nothing out there this morning besides the zooming cars, his parents, the roof, and the raw beauty of the sunrise.
And like the raw beauty of the sunrise, this is what is called the raw beauty of Scott Akers.
On his way to the roof, he has to climb over this gate, which stupidly doesn't cover the whole entire stairwell. The first time Scott had ever went up to the roof at the age of twelve, the idea of the gate actually daunted him. It was obviously put there for a reason -- to stop anything bad from happening (but what the fuck, it only covers half of the area). Although that was the original purpose, people just seemed to stop caring about what happens. That is what Scott now fears -- the carelessness of others.
With that thought in mind, he skillfully pulls himself over the gate and lands on his feet with a thud. He climbs the remaining flight of stairs and pushes against the heavy door, making sure to leave it propped open, or else Scott will definitely die in the hands of his parents. At last, he turns and breathes in the polluted air.
This roof is a place full of stories and memories. From afar, it looks like nothing special, but there are plenty of hidden details. There are carved initials on the ledge of the roof, beer bottles strewn in various places, graffiti on the walls, parents waiting for the rising sun.
Scott joins his mom and dad on the ledge, sitting right in between them. There's a sort of exhilaration of sitting up so high. He feels like he's on the top of the world, like these buildings are actually what hold up the sky and everything beyond that.
"Good morning, Scott," Meredith says in a soft tone, throwing him a motherly smile, "You look absolutely dapper this morning."
His fingers twitch to run his slender fingers through his hair, but his father beats him to it, affectionately ruffling up his already-messy hair. Scott rolls his eyes, and the corners of his lips lift in the slightest way at him. Because of his usual appearance, a lot of people think that he's someone to go against his parents with any given chance, but once again, that isn't the case. Scott proudly loves both his parents and laughs at whoever stereotypes him.
"Good morning to you, too," Scott jokingly grumbles, "This better be a damn good sunrise because I woke up early for this."
"It doesn't matter," Benjamin says, "You'll still get to see the fascinating golden hour, right? Just after sunrise?"
"Yeah," the younger man shrugs, "I guess so."
"Speaking of fascinations, tell your father about Camille," Meredith says, nudging Scott with her elbow with a sly smirk on her face.
"We still have a minute or two to spare," his dad agrees, checking his watch before looking put to the horizon, "Tell me where it began, yeah?"
"Dad," Scott groans, burying his head in his hands.
Scott isn't even sure as to why he's so embarrassed to tell his parents more about a new friend he made. If anything, he should be excited that there's at least one more person -- out of the four -- that he can spend time with. However, Camille West, well, she's different to Scott. He doesn't understand why, but that's just how it is.
"What?" Benjamin innocently asks, "I haven't even met the girl yet."
His next few words are just on the tip of his tongue, but the first signs of sunlight begin to peek through the horizon, managing to captivate all three of them. There's a certain beauty that renders all three of them speechless, leaving them to swing their legs over the edge of the building and watch with glittering eyes, as Roald Dahl put it.
So many people have the ability to get up and watch the sunrise, but so little actually do it. It only takes a little waking up to experience such a magnificent view. It could change lives for all he knows.
"That was a pretty damn good sunrise to start off the day," Scott finally decides to say with a grin, breaking the silence. His parents laugh just as the sun basks them in a golden light, making this experience so much better than before, "But it's probably going to get ruined because I have to work even longer."
"But there's a good chance that you'll see Camille," Benjamin suggests, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows. Scott almost mistakes his father as a twelve-year-old.
"Sure, sure," he casually says, dusting off his clothes and following his mother, "Maybe you can come meet her."
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Lol sorry this took so long. This is a book that I want to experiment description and such.
