Finding Scarlet

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Toby

I wake up with the feeling that my childhood has been swept out from under me.

I don't really understand why I am having this feeling now, considering I'm no longer the little scrawny boy with floppy brown hair that I was. I'm way past that time in my life, and clearly I have transitioned into the years of a teenager. Not so scrawny anymore, not so little, but still floppy brown hair. I should really get a haircut.

So why exactly is this such a big deal for me, and why now?

Oh, that's right. It's because I'm turning 18 next week.

The number 18 shouldn't really be a big deal. Technically, I'll still be a teenager. It sounds like I'm a teenager. But the fact that the big and terrible one-eight expects kids to act like adults and obey the rules of the adults is what scares me. It's not because I can't get away with things anymore because frankly, I wasn't doing drugs or drinking alcohol or entering private properties or being rebellious at all. I'm still not.

It's the part where I have to have adult responsibilities is what concerns me.

I don't want to deal with taxes, or jobs, or college—which I'm not even ready for. Hell, I can't even drive yet. I want to savor and enjoy my childhood until I am ready to be an adult. But clearly, that's not going to happen, and I only have a week to enjoy the freedom I have left.

I better make it last.

"Toby, honey?" My mom says as she raps her knuckles lightly on my bedroom door. "It's almost eight."

I fumble my hand lazily across my dresser, grasping my phone and illuminating my lock screen. It's 7:52. And once again, I have failed to set the alarm.

I groan into my pillow, dropping my phone onto the carpet floor as I try to crawl back into the depths of sleep. But I know I can't. I shouldn't.

"I have to go and take the early shift again. Poor Barbra just came down with an awful flu and can't come in this morning." My mom says. "Lunch money is on the counter, and please remember to take the keys. I wont be back until later tonight."

I groan again, and I hear my mom sigh. "I love you honey. I'll see you later, okay?"

I don't give her an answer, and she doesn't give me the time to. The front door slams and she's gone.

I lie there and gaze up at the ceiling, the sleep slowly starting to leave my system as I prepare for another endless day. I click my phone awake again. It's 7:54.

Sighing, I throw the covers off my body and rise up into a sitting position. I stretch once, then stand, and make my way over to my dresser to find a fresh set of clothes. I glance at myself quickly in the mirror, only to find that my brown hair is disheveled severely, and not in the way that is attractive. I run my hand through my hair a couple times before it looks decent enough. My blue eyes are still a little puffy from sleep, so I rub at them. I check my jaw for any fuzz that needed shaving, but there wasn't any, so I turn my attention back to what I am going to wear. I decide on the basics: white t-shirt, blue jeans, and a green parka. It's high school, not a pageant show.

I dress quickly, slipping on my faded blue Vans with a hole at the toe before I leave the house, grabbing the twenty sitting on the kitchen counter and my backpack that was casually thrown onto a chair as I walk towards the front door. I slip outside, mount my bike parked on the porch, and push off the ground as I pedal towards school.