Author's Note: Happy day after the apocolypse! I hope you had a good one!
The cold wind rushed to meet my face as snow flakes pelted my skin, feeling like ice shards. If I ever got curious and wondered what the sensation of being in an opening portal was like, I would simply have to recall this exact moment. Wind pushed and whipped at me before coming to an abrupt end.
I kept my eyes shut, but nothing happened. The air was slightly cooler, I did admit. The scent of cookies was gone, replaced by the smell of somewhat stale flowers. Even the light felt somehow different on my skin.
One of my eyes slowly opened. I was standing in my bedroom. Not the one at my cabin. My actual bedroom! The one in my parent's apartment in the city! I twirled around with joy, temporarily forgetting myself.
This was not home.
Well, technically, it was. Where I put when I had to sign something, where I put my head down most nights, where I would drag my feet after each day. Why I even still lived there was beyond me. Deep down inside, the answer lurked.
My smile and joy was gone in an instant. As I looked around the room, I felt all of it seep away. The room was well furnished, with plenty of books on the shelves, a comfortable bed and a wall covered in photos and notes from years past.
I could take a moment to reminisce.
Feeling like a man on death row looking over why he was there, I examined my room with fresh eyes. Eyes that had now seen wonder and magic. In a body that had actually felt a jolt of energy that made the fear worth while. With a mind ready to see so much more.
That all now seemed minute next to all of what my life had led me up to.
The books on the shelves were all for school. None of them made me smile from the stories within them, but shudder for the years in which I forced them down. The bag by the door was filled with nothing but trash now. My closest was worth nothing to me, as each thread inside of it was heavy with nothing but wicked memories.
I swallowed. At this moment, I was being far too bitter and harsh on it all.
The wall of photos was next. This is what caused me to drag my feet so much as I looked at everything else. Although I didn't want to, I knew it had to be done.
Most of the photos were of me with a few friends. They all looked like they were having so much more fun than me, which I had been fine by before hand. I was always next to them, but never on the statue, never in the wild pose with them, and never in the arms of some random guy. The stories for them all had some great wild ending, while mine ended with "then I went home like a good girl".
It was no wonder they suddenly, with no warning, dumped me. I still recall it like a fresh wound, too.
We had been at a mall. I had come along, and they went to go run into a store. I decided to sit outside, as I knew they were pretty much only going in there for Angelica to spend some time (aka play a game of tonsil hockey) with her boy friend and for the others to flirt with the "cute" guy that worked there. He looked a bit fake to me.
When they came out, Angelica was sobbing. She was not even trying to hold it together. I swear, she was even making herself wail louder than she really would have been doing naturally.
"What happened?" I asked as I stood up. The other girls already had their arms in a blanket around her, trying to calm and comfort her. When I stood up, they glared at me.
"Her boyfriend was kissing somebody else," one of them snapped at me.
I glanced over their heads. Her boyfriend and that cute guy had always seemed a little too friendly for some reason. Now I knew.
"It's okay, Angie!" Natalie chirped. She was right next to her, rubbing her back in a comforting manner. "You can come with the rest of us on our ski trip!"
"What ski trip?" I found myself asking.
Everybody went quiet. They all looked at me, except for Angelica who had big watery eyes. Some of them were surprised, some were shocked. Angelica was angry.
"Nothing," Angelica snapped. I should have known then and there was when it was all over.
They went out to the parking lot with me in tow. We said goodbyes, and I went home, stupidly thinking that everything was going to be okay. That there was some hope and salvation for it all.
When I got home, I had gotten a text. It had sat there for awhile, but I was never one to text and drive.
"You don't go well with us. Delete this number and don't talk to us again."
It was send by Natalie.
I stared at the message for what felt like hours. Then I would stare at the wall. Then at the message. Then at the wall. When I finally got up to go eat, my father was getting ready to leave for a business dinner.
"I had another really long day," he warned me. It sounded more like a statement, which is probably why I mistaken it for something like that in my weak state.
I nodded. "My friends dumped me," I croaked out. Why it was coming out then, why it was coming out there, I didn't know.
He shot me a glare. "You know, when somebody is trying to communicate to you they had a bad day, you don't try to one up them." A few other things were muttered under his breath as he straightened his tie and threw on his coat. I didn't have to focus in to know he was muttering about 'the rotten child' he had reared and how 'worthless she was amounting to be'. By the time he was on me about how my only chance at salvation was my schooling, it was white noise. Things get to be like that when played on a broken record.
I tore myself from the wall and shuffled to my bedroom door. Sooner or later I would have to face the nightmare which was my family. Maybe I could fabricate some lie as to how I had gotten into my room four days before Christmas.
When I opened the door, I was met by silence. No cheesy country covers of christmas tunes filled the air, or anything else of that sort.
They were gone.
They were gone! I said a silent prayer of thanks before I made a beeline for the door. If they were gone, there was no way I was going to get caught red handed in the house.
As I passed by the living room, I had to take note of the tree. Initially, I had been told I was going to spend Christmas at home. They let me go to the cabin because they figured I should enjoy it one last time before they sold it.
My christmas gifts were strewn everywhere. Some of them had been violently ripped open, while others stood perched next to the fire place. I saw a shred of wrapping paper sticking out from the ashes of the fireplace.
A letter was sitting on the table. My college informing my parents of me dropping out, mostly due to me failing every class.
I glanced around.
At least I got to see the inside one last time. With that sorrowful thought weighing me down, I left the building.
Author's Note: So, I wanted to go into Summer's life, hopefully to explain her emotional issues. And, believe me, there are some people that actually have lives like that, so please don't think of me poorly for having a character with that life. There will be plenty more next chapter, but then with plenty of plot movement. Please remember to review!
