A World Just Out of Reach

Chapter 3

I wake up the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock. "All right! I'm up! You can shut up now!" I yell at it, smacking the top of it a few times before I hit the correct button to silence it. "Great. Six A.M. and I have to wake up for classes I barely learn from. I hate school." I groan, then force myself to get out of my messy bed. Walking to the mirror, I take in my zombie-like appearance and breath into an awful smell. Definitely shower first.

I slide the shower curtain open when I finish washing up. Showers are amazing, hot water, thinking time...it's just relaxing. Wait. Thinking time. I forgot about the poster.

Mentally face palming, I quickly wrap a towel around my wet body and hurry into my room. There it is, eyes still normal, mouth normal...no evidence of what happened yesterday. Maybe it was all in my head? Well, it must've been, because I don't see anything that would cause me to believe that it was real.

After getting dressed and ready for school, I head downstairs to make myself a quick breakfast. Chocolate dynobites, to be specific. That cereal is literally the best ever, I'm addicted. Pouring myself a bowl, I grab the remote for our kitchen television and turn it on. The news is the first thing to pull up.

"Local rumors are going on about.." The rest fizzles out. What the heck? Suddenly a strange laugh comes from the static of the screen and I see a flash of red before it turns back to the news. I stand there, eyes wide, mouth dropped open, and cereal getting soggy from the milk I poured in it.

"Shut your mouth or you'll catch flies." My mom says from behind me, causing me to jump and turn to her.

"Heheh...sorry. I was just..really good news." I laugh nervously, gesturing to the screen that now had Elmo on it. What? Then I hear giggles coming from near the tv and look to see Kara holding the remote. "Kara, I was watching the news."

"But isn't Elmo better? He's red and sings songs." She smiles at me then focuses her attention back on the show. I laugh and shake my head, quickly eating up my now soggy cereal, grabbing my backpack, and heading out the door to catch the bus.

"Bye sweetie! Have a great day!" My mom shouts to me from the front door.

"Will do!" I yell back, heading to the end of the street to await the dreaded, school transportation.

--------

A few minutes after I arrive at the end of my street, the bus pulls up and a few other kids get on along with me. I head straight to the back of the bus, my favorite place to sit on this thing, and sit beside Lanie. Lanie is my best friend. No, we have not known each other our whole lives, just since we got into high school. We clicked immediately.

"Hey." She says, brushing her blonde hair our of her face as she replies to a text.

"Hi." I reply, pulling out my own phone and checking my notifications. Oh, new follower on Twitter...and a text from...who is that? I click on the unknown number and read the text.

???: Where are you, Cassie.

My eyes widen and I quickly lock my screen as I feel Lanie's eyes peering over my shoulder.

"Who ya texting?" She asks, wiggling her eyebrows. "Is it Trent?" My eyes automatically roll at her assumption.

"No, it's not Trent." I answer, shaking my head. Before you get all like, 'Girl, who the heck is this Trent guy!', let me explain. I've known Trent for about a year. Trent is attractive. Trent is really nice. I happen to like Trent. End of explanation.

Anyway, I have much more important things to focus on at this stage of my life. School, a job, money...dang it, that poster. Ever since yesterday, it has somehow managed to sneak its way into my thoughts constantly. Yeah, not a very long time, but I barely got my homework done last night, and only got about five or six hours of sleep. It was entirely normal this morning, so I'm going to assume that it's fine. Right? Yes. No. Sure? Ugh. Oh and let's add something to the list of things to panic about, an unknown number texted me and apparently the person knows my name. I have so many reasons to be paranoid, right now.

/////////////

So so so so so so soooo sorry for not updating sooner!! Yes, I know, it's been like a week and that's reallyyy really bad. I will try to update every day or every other day from now on! Comment what you thought of this part and please vote! Thanks!

-K.N.