Bad Habits

two

Yukio Lee

*******

Why is it so dark? I don't remember the world being this ominous.

"Hello?" I wave my hands around in the darkness. There are little white speckles all around me. It's almost mystical, being this dark. I hear a dark voice calling to me. I can't tell where the eerie sound is coming from.

I frantically spin around, trying to calculate where the noise is calling.

I can't speak.

I feel like I'm being suffocated.

I want to scream...but I don't know how.

I can feel something touching me...but where?

I'm trapped. There's a dark, red light, oozing from the darkness. It's coming for me. I want to run away but my feet feel like they are stuck in quicksand.

I can feel myself slipping from this abnormal reality.

"Yukio, darling. Wake up. Breakfast is ready." A warm hand shakes my shoulder gently. I gasp for air, trying to recollect my thoughts.

I nod at the figure next to my bed. "Okay, Ty." I slowly sit up, leaning on my older brother's hand for support.

"Did you have a bad dream, sleepyhead?" He rubs my ebony hair, ruffling it into little knots that sit on top of my scalp. I nod, jolting up not wanting to fall into the alternate reality that just held me captive.

"I'm fine." I wave him off and he nods, running out of my room and presumably down stairs for the food that is most likely sprawled against the kitchen island.

I search for my phone, making a mess in the white sheets. Finally, I grasp for the hard, black rectangle that is my phone and check the time. I am almost blinded by the harsh light that the phone shoots out of it's barren screen, but I am too quick to judge and harshly turn the brightness down.

7:10

Why in heck was school supposed to be placed in the early dawn of morning? It's bad enough that it is dark and gloomy outside, let alone no one in their right mind wants to wake up at this ungodly hour.

I scratch my head and squint my eyes closed, my headache reminding me of what I have to go through today. It's the second week of freshman year and I already want to drop out. It's too bad I'm an olympian at note taking.

I lean on the black headboard of my bed, contemplating what to wear. Stalking slowly to my monumental closet and open the clean, white cabinet.

I decide on a deep grey pullover, black jeans, and a pair of black sneakers. I tread downstairs, and round the corner leading into the kitchen. I sit down at the island table and watch my brothers down their food. "Thanks for waiting for me." I look down at my own plate, the pancakes slowly getting soggy; for I took too long to eat.

Tyler, who is sitting to the right with me, shoves one more bite full before slinging his basic backpack over his shoulder. "You snooze, you loose, my dear sister." He kisses the top of my head and sprints out the door, his friend clearly annoyed with him, as he continuously honks the horn of his white Hummer.