[REDACTED]

II

chapter name: 1

⚠️This chapter will have cussing, and a lot of yelling!⚠️

Karl woke up to an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. He yawned and opened his eyes, to see pure black surrounding him. He panicked for a moment before realization hit him and he reached his arm behind his bed to pull back on of his curtains. It was barely daylight outside and the early morning sun splashed across the walls in his room. Karl looked up at the fan, or where it would've been had he not broken it a few days ago. He sighed to himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed that wasn't facing a wall.

Karl opened the slide door to his closet and looked at his clothes hanging there. He had school to day so he simply grabbed a white t-shirt, a neon colored jacket, and some dark gray jeans. He put on his shoes and tried a bit to fix the fluffy brown hair on his head, and he failed. After brushing his teeth and grabbing his bag he made his way downstairs.

Amber, Karl's sister was leaning against the counter with her phone in her left hand, odd because she was right handed. But then she reached up to scratch her neck and Karl saw the bruise on the back of her right hand and quickly remembered how he had accidentally slammed her hand in the door the other day when he was yelling at her to get out of his room. He winced and couldn't even think of why he was telling her to get out in the first place.

"Sorry again about your hand Amber." She looked up at him and smiled, it let him know that he was forgiven and there were no sour feelings between them. It was just then that Karl's mom walked out from the hallway, holding his new phone. She looked at him, "It came in last night once you had already gone to bed. The screen is fixed, please try not to crack it again." He took the phone from her hand and nodded, "I'll try my best." His mom smiled and walked into the kitchen.

Karl reached across the counter and grabbed two apples, one for now, the other for later. He was about to bite the one in his hand when he heard a familiar horn outside his house, the bus was here. Karl and Amber rushed out the door and got onto the bus. Karl went to his seat and sat down near the back, while Amber sat up front with her friends. Karl hadn't made to many long-term friends that were still sticking around, and only one of them still hung out on the bus with him.

Karl smiled when his friend George sat down in the seat next to him. George smiled back, "Did you study for the test thats in math today?" Karl's smile left his face as he remembered, he hadn't studied. "Ugh I'm totally gonna fail this test." George looked at him with a smile showing off his amusement, "Haha totally funny." George just turned and talked to his friend in the seat across from them and Karl put his headphones in.

Karl lifted his head up from his desk and realized the teacher had been calling his name, 'Finally, now what was the answer to 24?" Karl looked down at his paper, he was a smart kid when it came to math, this class at least. The problem swam through his train of thought and he had a number pop out, "negative four hundred fifty-two." He looked at the teacher expectantly to be met back with a surprised gaze. "That is correct, however, meet me after class." Karl just nodded and put his head back down, knowing that the teacher wouldn't call on him again.

The class continued as normal until Karl was again woken up by the sound of chairs moving and people talking. He put his papers and binder into his bag and walked over to his teacher's desk. "So why am I here Mrs.Hill?" She looked up at him and sighed, "Have you been getting enough sleep at home recently?" He looked around the room, at nothing in specific, "Yeah I've been ok." She didn't look convinced. "I know that your home life isn't too well right now and I-" That set him off. He looked at her with pure rage in his eyes.
⚠️"You have no right to talk about my home life! It doesn't concern you and you should just mind your own damn business! "Oh are you ok?" and the "is your family doing well?" It's none of your fucking business so stay the hell out of it!"⚠️

As soon as the words left his mouth he wanted to take them back. Karl knew what was about to happen so he just sighed and went to sit in his desk. Mrs.Hill stood up, "I'm going to the office to get the Principal, and to also call your parents." She walked to the door and rested her hand on the handle before again turning to face him and then looking at the ground. "I'm not proud of what you just did." Then she turned the handle and walked out the door, closing it with a 'thud' that echoed in the room.

Karl knew he should've just kept his mouth shut, and the guilt was worming its way in his stomach too. He didn't mean to say those things to Mrs.Hill, he knew she was just trying to help but he was tired of it. It was always the same questions for which he gave the same answers, nobody cared to truly try and help him so he never gave a reason for him to. It was not like this was the first time that happened, but he had never said anything that harsh and normally he left out one or two of those cuss words.

It made his mouth turn bitter to think about how he acted without thinking. He had broken so many phones and objects, hurt so many people physical and mentally. For christ sake it felt almost weekly that his sister had a new bruise on her body due to his lack of stable behavior. He couldn't stop thinking of these things until it hit him. This wasn't normal. The way he felt was not how others felt. The way he acted was accepted by the people who were used to it. He made a decision right then and there. If he was different and he couldn't change it, then he would NOT let himself feel any guilt that would've resulted from it.

He had promised himself this and then his head turned to the classroom door as it opened and the principal slowly walked in. She looked at him and slowly made his way over to the desk across from his, sitting down in it. "Karl, this is the third time something like this has happened. This month." She searched for emotion on his face. "Why does this keep happening?" Karl just looked at her, not wanting for her to know his problems or reasoning, but also not knowing how to tell her anyway. "I don't know." She nodded and looked at the desk for a moment.

When he gaze came back to his it looked stern. "I can't allow this kind of behavior to continue, you are going to be suspended for a week, and I will also be strongly advising your parents to look into finding help for you." Her eyes and face softened a bit, "Please Karl, you used to be such a good role model for students. What happened." It was a rhetorical question. "Just try and focus on getting help." All he could do was nod. She sighed and then stood back up, "Come with me, your mom is on the way to pick you up."

Karl followed the Principal through the halls and kept his head up as the stares traced his back in the hallway. People were used to people seeing the neon colored jacket track behind a teacher towards the office, but never the principal herself. He could hear the whispers and rumors as they started to spout into the air. A few minutes later he was sitting in the office watching as his mom and the Principal quietly talked before they backed away from one another. His mom smiled, "I will look into it Mrs.Rachel, thank you." Then she faced Karl, but not with the normal look of disappointment, but something else that he couldn't quite place.

They sat in the car silently on the ride home. She pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, facing Karl once again. "Karl-" She looked down for a second that back at him, more sternly "This time, you took it too far."

Wow 1498 thats a lot for a first chapter, jeez. Hope you enjoyed!