Stream of Colors • Josh Kiszka

1.

Vienna's P.O.V

The obnoxiously loud fighting continued, filling the small space of my room. I forced the pillow against my ears, attempting to drown out the sound, but the method showed minimal use.

I quickly tossed onto my side, glancing at the glowing clock on my messy nightstand. The bright letters read 4:02am. A groan left my lips as I realized I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. My hands fell from the pillow, making the plush material fall behind my head. Immediately, my finger tips reached up to rid my eyes of the accumulating drowsiness.

After a few seconds of continuously hyping myself up, I swung my feet out from underneath my sheets, getting annoyed with not being able to fall asleep. The second I felt the cold ground beneath my feet, a shiver quickly ran through my body. I shook the feeling as fast as I could, as I walked to my door, grabbing the handle and slowly opening the creaking wood. As soon as it was wide open, silence filled the old house.

"Go back to bed, Vienna." The deep voice of my father said to me from down the hall.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that it'll only make it worse. I've learned a few things after having to go through this everyday for almost my entire life.

"I've been trying to since 11 o'clock." I told him.

I heard a loud sigh come from my mother, before she mumbled something I couldn't hear, but it was evident that he had heard her because the arguing started once again, but even louder this time.

My hope that I would get any sleep faded away as fast as I did from the dark hallway. I made my way back into my room, closing the door and lazily flopping onto my bed. As I was attempting to make myself more comfortable, I reached over and grabbed the wad of earbuds I had nonchalantly put there earlier. Without anymore thought, I shoved them into my ears and turned on a random playlist, shutting my eyes and trying to think of anything else.

The Next Day

The music slowly faded as the sound of my blaring alarm rang through my ears, making my body jolt awake. My eyes quickly opened, as I tore the earbuds out of my ears. As I sat up, I rubbed my face, realizing I had only gotten around two hours of sleep. A groan fell from my lips, knowing that today wasn't going to be great.

I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed, groggily walking into the bathroom across the hall, turning on the light, which almost immediately blinded me. My hand flew to my eyes, shielding them from the obnoxious white color.

I stumbled my way to the shower, turning the faucet so that hot water would spew out. Once the room started filling up with steam, I hopped in, actually being able to enjoy the quiet for once, knowing that it wouldn't last very long, but still soaking in every second of it.

Once I was done, I made my way back to my room, closing the door and looking around for some clothes.

After a few minutes, I settled on jeans and an old sweater. I slide the items of clothing on, put a couple of my rings and my necklace on, not really caring much.

My hands then gripped my backpack, lifting it onto my shoulders and setting it down, so all of the weight was on my back.

I once again left my room, making my way downstairs. As I got to the last step, my whole body came to a halt as my eyes fell on my mom, who was sprawled out, sleeping on the white couch, broken things laying all around her. I let out a sigh, going over and pulling a random blanket that happened to be draped over the side of the couch over her body.

Once I knew she was okay, I attempted to clean up some of the shattered glass and pieces of random home decor items that had been demolished. As I continued to sweep the hardwood floors, my mind began to drift into endless thoughts.

Even though they had bad fights, nothing ever got violent. I'm just hoping that it's not what it looks like and that something terrible didn't happen. But, luckily for me, I won't ever know because they rarely acknowledge me anymore, unless I'm an inconvenience, which then I get yelled at.

I snapped back into reality, as I realized I had swept everything up and I was just involuntarily sweeping at nothing. A sigh escaped me as I put everything away, and made my way into the kitchen where I put the sweeper away and grabbed a granola bar that had to have been in our pantry for months, but I unwrapped it and bit into it anyway, the food almost hurting my teeth.

I continued chewing the stale snack as I walked out of the house, grabbing my keys and locking the door. The air felt particularly warm for Michigan during early Spring, but I didn't mind. It felt nice, plus it meant that walking to and from school wouldn't be so miserable. So, with that, I turned my heel, and started walking down the steps.

My eyes wandered as I subconsciously continued my walk to school. I looked at all the pinks and yellows sprouting in the grass, the birds flying freely with no care in the world, wishing that I could be like them and just wander away with no worries, but knowing that it was just a wish and that I couldn't dwell on it anymore than I should because I would only end up disappointed.

After a few turns, I finally approached the brick building, automatically walking up the couple of steps and opening the door, which lead to also holding the door for the teenagers behind me.
After they all went inside, I followed behind, gently smiling at the vice principal who would always greet every student before the the first bell.

Once I got to the main hallway, I took a deep breath, seeing the separate groups of people talking, laughing, and some even arguing. I moved past all of them, making sure I kept my eyes down until I found my respectable locker. I turned it a couple times until I felt the lock snap open, to which I opened the metal door. The loud noise making my face scrunch in disgust.

For the second time today, my hands found the straps of my backpack, I slung it off my back, sliding the notebooks and few text books I would need for the day into the black bag. Once they were all settled in, I zipped it up and closed the locker.

As I started my walk to my first class, I heard the familiar and very loud voice of the one and only Joshua Kiszka. I watched as he turned the corner with Jake by his side, making wild motions with his hands as he spoke about who knows what.

I gently shook my head, turning away from the boy who always seemed to get on my nerves, with his outlandish personality. He always had something to say, whether it was needed or not and it never sat right with me, but I dealt with him either way.

As soon as I couldn't hear them anymore, I trudged my way to English class, and it was just my luck that Josh was the only person sitting in the brightly lit room as I walked in. He turned my direction, a smile plastered on his face as I sat my bag down right behind him, plopping myself down at my seat.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?" Josh asked.

I gave the boy a light nod, just wanting to stay quiet and get through the day that already seemed to be way two weeks long.

After one of the longest pauses I've ever heard Josh take, he finally spoke, "You know, Vienna, I've had this suspicion for the longest time and I just need to voice it. I have a feeling you don't like me very much."

"That's one's opinion."

"But I'm right aren't I?" He asked a slight smile on his face, like was trying to embarrass me.

Before I could come up with a reply, the bell rang, causing Josh to turn around, leaving me to drop my head into my arms, already wishing the day could be over.