Band X

Chapter 3: Suicidal Snowmen

When I open my eyes again it's dark in my room with the exception of my alarm clock which tells me it's now 5:30 pm. I glance at my windows and see that it's dusk. The sun is almost down and my corner of the world has taken on a purplish hue.

I slowly rise from my bed, giving my stiff joints and sore back a chance to gently get used to movement again. Everything on my body starts to pop and crack as I twist back and forth, rotating my joints, hoping to loosen them up before I stand.

My bones sound like someone is stepping on a bunch of dry, brittle twigs, the kind you find on the forest floor in the fall. I start to feel relief from the pressure in my back as one big stretch releases an audible pop in the upper portion of my spine. I stare at my floor, putting one foot down at a time, and slowly get to my feet. I stand and reach up in one final stretch that brings about a flurry of snaps and creaks.

That does it. I'm finally upright, and make my way to the door. I hear raised voices and clanking pots and dishes from the first floor of my house. From the smells making their way up the stairs, I'm guessing chicken parm is on the menu tonight. The family is home. I sigh and descend the stairs to join them for dinner.

I arrive in the kitchen just in time to see my younger brother pull a fully cooked pizza out of the oven. He hardly ever eats the dinners my mom makes. This irritates both my dad and me to no end but, for some reason, it doesn't seem to bother my mom much. He's the pickiest eater I've ever met. The kid eats about five things, total. My mom insists that when he's older he'll travel the world and eat exotic dishes none of us would ever try. Like coconut curried shrimp which is the most exotic thing I've ever tried but hated so I'm not eager to give it a second chance.

I stand in the doorway viewing the chaos in the kitchen for a minute. My brother slices his pizza and heads to the couch in the connected family room. My mom spies him before he can make a clean getaway and steps in front of him.

"Nope. Sit your ass down at the table. We're eating together like a family that actually likes each other."

I forgot to mention. My mom swears all the time. It's like she can't help herself but she really only swears around us instead of at us, so we don't mind so much. That doesn't make sense to my grandma who hates my mom's "potty mouth" as she puts it. Other kids have it way worse than we do so we'll take our mom who loves us but swears like a sailor on leave-another one of my grandma's terms for my mom's vocabulary-over other parents who don't take care of their kids.

Michael yanks his earbuds out of his ears and sighs like this might be the end of the world. He starts to argue but glances to his right, sees our dad glaring at him, and trudges back to his chair at the kitchen table. Our dad has an epic glare and uses it when he wants us to do something but doesn't want to yell. Not that he doesn't yell sometimes. All parents yell, I think. And we're a loud family so yelling is kind of second nature to us. It might even be genetic, although I'm not sure how that might work.

It also helps that our dad looks really stern when he wants to. He's bald but has a beard and the beard helps his frown really stand out when he's mad. You don't look at my dad and wonder "Is that guy pissed off?" No, you know by just looking at him that he's not exactly thrilled with what you're doing at the moment.

He also looks like a younger version of the guy who made all the meth on Breaking Bad. We joke that he should use his white tech van to actually sell meth because there's a lot more money in that than in fixing computers. If you knew my dad you'd know what a big joke this actually is. He's the most honest, trustworthy guy out there.

My brother is sitting hunched over, stuffing his pizza slices into his mouth, eager to get back to playing his newest video game. Both he and our dad are gamers. I like playing Mario Kart and sometimes I play Minecraft with Michael but other than that, I'd rather use my laptop to watch Netflix.