Sometimes Alec Lightwood felt like slamming his head against a wall until he smashed his skull in and died. His first day of college was one of those days. He woke up to his sister Isabelle screaming while looking into his empty closet. Alec sat up in bed, slightly dazed, and looked over at Izzy. Her long black hair fell down to her wrists, and she had silver and gold bracelets all over her arms, matching her white shirt and tight black skinny jeans with combat boots well. "What the hell, Izzy?" Alec asked, still groggy from sleeping so late. "Your room is so dull, Alec," she replied, turning away from the closet. Alec glanced around, silently agreeing. His white walls were bare, other than the various holes from years of thumb-tacking posters to the walls. His bed was stripped of everything but a blanket he had borrowed from his adopted brother, Jace - all of his sheets were packed away in the black suitcases lining the wall to his right. He had been shocked, initially, at how little he owned; but with his overbearing parents, he supposed he should have expected to be allowed even fewer possessions. "That," Alec informed his sister, "is because I am leaving." His sister frowned, and threw herself onto his bed, bouncing a bit on the mattress. "Do you have to go?" she whined. He sighed. "We have been over this, Isabelle. If I ever want to get a good job, I have to go to college." "What was wrong with your job at Winn Dixie?" "I got paid approximately seven cents an hour." "That's illegal." "I think my point came across." Alec gently shoved his sister off his bed and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Izzy let out a frustrated groan and punched Alec in the arm. "Ow." "That actually hurt?' "No." "Get up." Alec eventually slid out of bed and tugged off his pajama pants, slipping them into his suitcase. Then he looked over the the floor next to his bed at the outfit he had laid out for today so that he didn't have to dig through his suitcase later - a navy blue sweater and black jeans. Alec carefully slipped the clothes on, and headed downstairs into the kitchen. "MORNING ALEC YOU LOSER" Jace yelled out as Alec entered the room. "Fuck you too." "LANGUAGE, Alexander." Alec's mother scolded, entering the kitchen. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, and her clothes were covered in flour. "Pancake?" "Sure." Alec slid into a chair at the kitchen table were his two siblings and father sat. "Morning, son," his father greeted. "Morning, dad," Alec replied. In a few minutes, a pancake slipped onto the plate in front of him. "Thanks, mom," he said, and stabbed it with a fork. "I don't understand how you eat pancakes without butter," Jace said, his mouth full of half chewed food. "Swallow before you speak, uncultured swine." Alec accused. Isabelle laughed and slid him a cup of coffee the way Alec liked it - black with a ton of sugar. Nodding thankfully, Alec sipped the drink, feeling the caffeine fill his veins like fire.
An hour later, Alec threw his last suitcase into the trunk of his black Camry and slammed it shut. 'This is it,' he thought. 'I'm finally leaving.' After tearful good-byes and sarcastic comments from Jace, Alec climbed into his car and put it in drive, leaving his childhood home behind, and speeding away toward the New York School of Architecture and Design.