BRUTAL (Simon Kalivoda)

1

Sydney Nova watched as her mom placed her plate on the table. She sighed deeply seeing the same meal that her mom knew she hated. "This is torture." The girl groaned under her breath, her mom raising her eyebrow. "Be grateful." Her mom said and she nodded. "I am, but fish? Mom you know I don't like fish. It's....fishy." The girl said and her mom rolled her eyes as she walked over to her side of the table, sitting down. Sydney almost laughed at her horrible excuse, but thinking of eating the fish made her smile drop.

"So does dad not exist anymore? He hasn't been home in days." Sydney asked her mom, finally deciding to speak up on the situation. She watched as her mom grew stiff once the topic was brought up. Sydney raised both her eyebrows, growing worried. She looked down, not meeting her mom's gaze anymore. "We're taking a break." Her mom spoke suddenly. Sydney head shot up back up. "And you guys didn't plan on telling me?" She asked as her heart started to pound. The teen girl had seen movies where married parents would take a break and the next thing you know, they were divorced.

That was the only thing that Sydney was thinking of as her mom tried to explain the situation. She could feel the tears burning her eyes as they tried to fall out. She shut her eyes closed as she pushed her plate away. "I'm going to excuse myself." She mumbled as she got up, walking up to her room. She sat at her desk, getting on her computer to text her best friend.

You are in: nerds

SYDTHEKYD: Hey Josh, I know you are probably texting that Queen Of Darkness girl or whatever. So I'm just going to say that another shitty thing happened and I think it's better to talk about in person.

HORRIBLE8ILENCE: Are you okay? You don't seem like "SYDTHEKYD" right now. You seem boring.

SYDTHEKYD: Yeah I feel like SYDTHESHYT right now. That was a horrible joke. Don't speak on it please.

HORRIBLE8ILENCE: Yeah, your joke sucked.

SYDTHEKYD: Ouch, I tried my best - - Anyway, I'm going to bed early tonight so have fun doing Shadysider detective things or whatever it is that you two do. Make sure to catch me up with all the things you connected!

HORRIBLE8ILENCE is typing

HORRIBLE8ILENCE: Of course I will, Syd. Goodnight!

SYDTHEKYD: Goodnight, Josh.

Sydney rarely had long conversations with the boy on her computer because Josh wasn't really able to be on the computer at his house because it wasn't his. But he did whatever he could to do research on this town. And the teen girl would never take away his research time when she could easily walk a couple of blocks down. They lived about five minutes away from each other, so sometimes Deena would pick up the girl.

Shrugging off the short conversation, Sydney changed from her regular clothes into shorts and a tank top. She cuddled into her covers as thought of her parents, hoping that they would stay together.

That was the last thing she thought of before closing her eyes.

"Sydney!" She jumped at the sound of her mom calling her. She had a terrible nightmare about being chased by an unrecognizable creature, it was like she was moving in slow motion and she could barely get away from it. She was glad that she was awake now, it was torture. "Time for school. I made you favorite breakfast." Her mom said as she exited her room. She sighed deeply as she turned to the clock to see the time.

6:38am

She got in the shower and started getting ready for school. She played her radio, listening to the news report. A murder spree had went off at the mall, ages sixteen to forty-two were the victims. Sydney knew that Josh was going to be talking her ear off about this. She didn't mind at all. She just didn't like that innocent Shadysiders were dying for nothing. She wouldn't lie if she said that she hadn't thought of being a Sunnyvaler every once in a while. She hated hearing about people she once knew being found dead the next day. It was the worst feeling ever.

Little did she know, her days were going to get a lot worse, with a little bit of a big change along the way.

edited: yes ;)