I sat on my bed watching the little clock I'd purchased. If I put my ear
close enough I could hear the ticking. To most people, this would be an
annoyance. But I'd always found it soothing to hear it. It never stopped.
Just a constant rhythm. I figured that in constancy, all problems
dissolved. And when I listened to clocks, mine did, for a little while
anyway.
I heard a rustle across the room. "Hey um, Amber are you up?" said the shy,
overly nice voice of Juliette. I was scared of her. I couldn't say why.
But I was.
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, I can't sleep either. Do you um, wanna talk about anything. I mean I
know its hard getting settled in at Horizon. If you ever just want to talk
then I'm here for you."
Somehow you'd figured she would have said that eventually. You guessed it
was nice, but still. Something scared you about her. She seemed too
familiar.
Finally I fell asleep to the ticking of my clock. Trying to keep thoughts
of Juliette leering over me in my sleep out of my head.
"Goodmorning sunshine!" declares Daisy suddenly as she's standing in the middle of the dorm. You look up at her. She must be on crack! "Oh go to bed, and quit trying to scare the newbie," Shelby yelled from underneath her pillow. "What Shells, have a bad night? Is Scott turning you down in your dreams now too?" replies Daisy. "Oh fuck you, you know I gave up on that clueless idiot years ago. I don't want the princess' leftovers, even though there is so much left," Shelby remarks smugly. Juliette tries to ignore them as she gets up and starts brushing her hair. I lay in the bed and stare at the ceiling. More logs. I'm almost missing the speckled sheet rock that was my bedroom. I looked in my bag and pulled out some miniature glow in the dark stars and started tacking them up next to my pictures. It was beginning to look like a shrine already and I'd only been here less than a day. Shelby comes over and starts glancing at the pictures. "Mmmmmm. Who's he?" "Oh well he's uh, my ex/best friend. We were starting to get back together before I left. But that's history. There's no fucking way he'll want a screwed up girl like me, stuck up here when he could have anyone he wants there." "Don't you just love resentment and how cruel timing can be?" says Shelby. You look at her peculiarly. She's so beautiful. You almost want to kiss her.
During lunch Daisy fills you in on why everyone else is there. Now you've figured it all out. Now you know why Juliette creeps you out, Shelby intrigues you, and Scott still has really nice hair. The food is half edible, so you eat half. You figure by the time your outta here you'll have lost all the weight you could dream of. "So, your life back home. I mean from what you said before... well. It just didn't sound like things were that bad," says Daisy. "Yeah, well, I dunno. Its so hard to explain. I think if I could explain it, I could extract it from myself, be over it, and out of here. This may sound silly, but I'd give anything to see my cat." "Oh no, we hear that a lot, except you substitute cat with crack or various other narcotics," Daisy jokes, "But seriously, describe the inner Amber... or else I'll have to do some rummaging of my own, and I don't think you want that." "I am the girl along the side of the road. She searches for truth. She searches for the reasons. The reasons to why everything happens. She's never satisfied. After biting into an apple she throws it away and asks for a new one. She's greedy, but not to keep. She's inconstant, indefinite, and yet thrown off by the simplest fork in the road. She is the opposite of perfection." "Oh do grace us with more words, for we peasants live for a poetic mouth to feed our starving souls," replies Daisy with a laugh. You know she was kidding, but somehow it hits you a bit deeply. You opened up to her, why is she laughing. You hate it when people do that. Your parents always did that. Maybe that's why it started.
"Goodmorning sunshine!" declares Daisy suddenly as she's standing in the middle of the dorm. You look up at her. She must be on crack! "Oh go to bed, and quit trying to scare the newbie," Shelby yelled from underneath her pillow. "What Shells, have a bad night? Is Scott turning you down in your dreams now too?" replies Daisy. "Oh fuck you, you know I gave up on that clueless idiot years ago. I don't want the princess' leftovers, even though there is so much left," Shelby remarks smugly. Juliette tries to ignore them as she gets up and starts brushing her hair. I lay in the bed and stare at the ceiling. More logs. I'm almost missing the speckled sheet rock that was my bedroom. I looked in my bag and pulled out some miniature glow in the dark stars and started tacking them up next to my pictures. It was beginning to look like a shrine already and I'd only been here less than a day. Shelby comes over and starts glancing at the pictures. "Mmmmmm. Who's he?" "Oh well he's uh, my ex/best friend. We were starting to get back together before I left. But that's history. There's no fucking way he'll want a screwed up girl like me, stuck up here when he could have anyone he wants there." "Don't you just love resentment and how cruel timing can be?" says Shelby. You look at her peculiarly. She's so beautiful. You almost want to kiss her.
During lunch Daisy fills you in on why everyone else is there. Now you've figured it all out. Now you know why Juliette creeps you out, Shelby intrigues you, and Scott still has really nice hair. The food is half edible, so you eat half. You figure by the time your outta here you'll have lost all the weight you could dream of. "So, your life back home. I mean from what you said before... well. It just didn't sound like things were that bad," says Daisy. "Yeah, well, I dunno. Its so hard to explain. I think if I could explain it, I could extract it from myself, be over it, and out of here. This may sound silly, but I'd give anything to see my cat." "Oh no, we hear that a lot, except you substitute cat with crack or various other narcotics," Daisy jokes, "But seriously, describe the inner Amber... or else I'll have to do some rummaging of my own, and I don't think you want that." "I am the girl along the side of the road. She searches for truth. She searches for the reasons. The reasons to why everything happens. She's never satisfied. After biting into an apple she throws it away and asks for a new one. She's greedy, but not to keep. She's inconstant, indefinite, and yet thrown off by the simplest fork in the road. She is the opposite of perfection." "Oh do grace us with more words, for we peasants live for a poetic mouth to feed our starving souls," replies Daisy with a laugh. You know she was kidding, but somehow it hits you a bit deeply. You opened up to her, why is she laughing. You hate it when people do that. Your parents always did that. Maybe that's why it started.