Chapter One

A Mind worth Mentioning

Most people never really see the world. It’s more or less just there to some. In truth what is the world when no one ever really wakes up and sees it? I suppose in some way, it’s just a dream, and a crazy one at that, but if it is in fact just a dream then it really is not real and all in our heads. Which brings me to another question, if dreams are all in our head, which makes them unreal, does that in the end make all the thoughts, dreams, ideas, and so forth not real, and in turn not worth following? Why put this much thought into it you may ask, it’s just a thought, which only means one thing, it’s not really anything.

          Chris was one of those kids often called a loner. He grew up in a small town. He went to school with the same group of kids for 12 years. He had blonde shaggy hair, dark green eyes, tan skin, skinny, tall, and was a thoughtful, kind looking man. Something was strange about him though, he was different, but no one could ever point out what exactly wasn’t right with him. Chris was a handsome 17 year old, all the girls loved him, but he pushed them all away. Maybe, he was gay. Guys like that always turn out gay right?

          Chris woke up at 4:00am like every morning. He never got more than 4 hours of sleep, he was used to it though. He sat up in bed, stretched, and gave a long drawn out yawn. Gliding his hands through his hair he got out of bed and walked downstairs. It was the same thing every morning he’d bump into his sister’s doll house in the hallway, cuss, kick it to the side and keep walking. Tiredly he marched down the stairs for the thousandth time. He trudged to the fridge barely picking up his feet, opened the door with the usual squeak of the rusty hinges, and grabbed the milk. He pulled back a chair at the table and sunk down into it. Glancing at the old newspaper on the table, he read the headline, “Coner Escapes from Jail,” boldly written on the front page. With dull interest he pushed it to the side. “Another wonderful note from mom.” Rolling his eyes he picked up the yellow sticky note and read aloud:

Chris,

Take out the trash and water the plants don’t forget to pick up your sister’s friend up. Kelly will be spending the night with Tara. I’ll be home late so cook dinner, just warm up the leftovers in the oven, thanks.

Love you,

Mom

“Great, the famous BBQ chicken again.” He frowned at the thought. He re-read the list pissed at the thought of baby-sitting two 13 year olds. He hated Kelly she would never leave him alone.  She was always following him, talking, asking questions. He knew she had a crush on him, but she was so annoying! Kelly was chubby, red hair, braces, the whole nine yards, but he was nice to her. That was his mistake, but he didn’t feel like getting yelled at by his mom anytime soon, so he kept up the nice brother act around her and any of Tara’s other friends. He finished off the small bit of milk in the jug got up tossed it in the trash and walked back upstairs. His sister was still sleeping so he banged on the door, “Tara get up the bus will be here in 20 minutes!” He stood at the door listening, “Still no signs of life…” he chuckled. Opening the door he peered inside the dark crowed room. He saw his sister still sleeping soundly under a pile of blankets. “Tara, school, get up and get moving!” She moved a bit and he decided to encourage her by quickly pulling off the covers. “What,” she yelled. Quickly he took up a deep fatherly voice, “Tara

You now have 10 minutes until the bus comes, I can’t take you to school this morning, get up!” She glanced at her clock, “its only 4:30 school starts at 7:30,” she groaned. Chris gave a confused look at the clock, “Oh my bad.” Walking slowly out of her room he starred at the floor a bit embarrassed by his sudden stupidity. Walking back to his room he quietly opened the door and walked in. He flopped down on his bed suddenly extremely tired. Starring at the poster on his wall he started to drift back to sleep.

          Chris quickly opened his eyes to the sound of water bubbling he jerked his head to his desk and saw a glass of water. The water in the glass was bubbling like it was sitting on a stove boiling. The next thing he saw disturbed him all the fish in his fish tank suddenly floated to the top of the water. The water in the tank started to boil, making one fish flop out. He could see it straining for air. He quickly got up and picked it up. He searched for a place to put it. Seeing the glass’s contents no longer bubbling he placed the fragile creature in it.

          “Chris wake up!” “Huh,” he jerked awake. “Its 7:18 you have to get up or you’ll be late.” He was dreaming? It all seemed so real. “What’s wrong Chris you sick?” He looked at his sister more confused than anything. “No, no just tired.” “You sure,” she asked not believing him one bit. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he got up almost falling back into bed when he looked over at his desk. There sitting on his desk was the cup of water with the little beta swimming soundly in it. He got up and put the fish back in the tank, put the glass down, grabbed his book bag, and jacket, and pushed his sister to the side closing his door loudly. He watched his sister as she walked to the bathroom. Glad that she hadn’t asked anymore questions. Slowly he put on his jacket, “That was a dream,” “It was, I was just sleep walking maybe,” “Yeah,” he thought, “Sleep walking.” He slung on his backpack and raced down the stairs. “I’ll pick you up from school don’t miss the bus see yah” he yelled up the stairs. He waited for a reply, but didn’t get one so he grabbed his keys and walked outside. Walking to his car he shivered and frowned at the crunch of snow under his feet. Getting in his car he sat there with the heat full blast trying to get the thin layer of ice off the glass. He had a red Honda, 2005 in decent condition. His grandfather had sold it to him for $900. It was supposed to last him through high school and college. He was sure it would if he kept up with the oil changes. He watched the ice slowly melt away and felt his body finally getting warm. He was reluctant to put the car in drive, he wasn’t very fond of school. He made decent grades and didn’t have any problems with his teachers, but school was just annoying with the constant crowds of people, and the pushing and shoving to get to other classes.

          He put the car in drive, feeling the car jerk to a start. Backing out of his driveway he slowly headed to school only going about 40.

He was extremely cautious of the snow on the ground. He turned the radio on smiling when his favorite band came on; by the time he got to school he was in the third verse of one of Sublime’s songs. He parked his car and grabbed his book bag and locked the car up, jerking on the handle to see if he did it correctly. He walked to the doors at the front of the building. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder he walked through the doors. The first thing he saw was his principle yelling at two kids for smoking. He laughed when he saw Brandon run past him and trip. Walking over to him  he placed his hand out and helped him up. “You okay?” Brandon shot him a smile and dusted himself off. “Ha yah man I’m cool, thanks for the hand!” Chris smiled back and started off to class with him. He had known Brandon since 3^rd grade. He was sort of a friend. Brandon was the hyper senior everyone knew. It wasn’t hard to like him, he was funnier than hell. He and Chris talked here and there. “Man I got the okay to go to Duke” “Already?” “Yeah, they said my hockey was good enough” “Nice man I haven’t even thought about college yet, Chris said with a slight shrug. Brandon laughed, “Well you should you’ll be turning 18 in what 3 months? He shook his head, “Yeah kind of crazy,” Brandon laughed and patted Chris on the back, “Everything is crazy in this damn town.” Laughing Chris opened the door to his math class. His teacher looked up and said, “You’re late Mr. Linx and Mr. Jay.” “Sorry ma’am,” they said in unison. Chris walked slowly to his seat in the back, smirking when Brandon gave him an eyebrow raise and an odd smile. Chris dully turned his attention to his math teacher more interested in her dark brown hair and long legs than the problems she was writing on the board.

          Chris started to draw on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He scribbled out his name, and started to draw a rose on his paper. He shaded in the petals while Miss. Lynn rambled on about calculus. Suddenly he heard a screech and a terrible scream come from outside the window, he jerked his head towards the window and saw a woman lying on the ground. Her golden hair was covered in blood, as well as her face. His jaw dropped in horror as the whole scene played out before him. He saw the car flipped over on its side, the girl lifeless lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. He tried to yell help but the words escaped him. “Mr. Linx, excuse me Mr. Linx!” Chris jerked awake, “Huh what?” He looked around, confused, and full of horror. He jerked his head towards the window and only saw snow begin to fall. “I suggest you sleep at home Chris not in my class,” “Sorry,” he muttered. Miss. Lynn shook her head and turned back to the board. The girl sitting beside him turned towards him, “Are you okay?” His eyes widened as he looked at her.  She had beautiful blonde hair, matching perfectly with her features. His eyes made their way down her soft neck, and widened more when he saw the rose pin on her collar. “Yeah, just haven’t been getting enough sleep I guess,” he turned away from her and starred down at his paper, where he saw the little rose drawn out. “What’s happening to me?”

          The rest of the day went by so fast it was all a blur. He wrote down the homework in his 4^th period class and slowly made his way out when the bell sounded for the end of the day. He walked slowly down the hall, feeling every bump and push on his way out. Standing at the steps of his high school he stopped and looked at the street where the accident he thought he saw never happened. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around where he saw a beautiful blonde standing behind him smiling. “Hi I’m Rose, I just moved here” she held out her hand, and he shook it. “I’m Chris,” he said awkwardly. “I just moved here just wanted to introduce myself, you looked a little freaked in class are you sure you are okay?” He glanced down, “I’m good like I said not enough sleep,” “Try getting some more you had me scared,” she smirked. “Wouldn’t want that to happen again,“ he smiled back and began to walk down the steps. “So you are new here?” “Yeah I just moved from Alabama, trying to get this whole cold thing down.” “You’ll get used to it,” they both made their way down the steps and stopped at Chris’s car. “Well this is me,” she smiled, “Well see you in class tomorrow?” “See you there,” he watched her walk away. He turned back to his car and started to unlock his door. He froze when he heard the tires screech and a girl scream. His keys dropped to the ground and he just stood there looking at the frosted window. Slowly he turned around and he saw the crowd of people standing around a girl. It was Rose. He closed his eyes and slid down the side of his car. He stayed there until the ambulance came still frozen in spot, watching Rose’s limp body being loaded unto the stretcher. He felt so sick as they pushed her lifeless body into the ambulance, he could hardly bring himself to pick up the keys and lift himself up off the ground.

……..To be continued…

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