suffocation

Chapter 1

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~Don't look back, don't make the turn, they told me that these red shadows burn. Red shadows, ho-oh-oh, red shadows. Tell me now, is it true? Are these skies really blue? Tell me, well is it a lie? Because I don't see any sky at all. Just red shadows, ho-oh-oh red shadows..~

(Red Shadows - T.S.O.L)

A slow and faint light comes into focus, song lyrics blasting into Zachary's ears. He wakes up with his surroundings blurry and out of focus, his body overheated and sweaty under his blanket. An arm tangled in earbud wires, reaches out towards a blurry lamp, grabbing a pair of glasses. 

The coolness of the frames of the glasses on Zachary's face awakens him. His vision now clear once again, adjusts his head to face his left, to find the bright sunlight sneaking behind the living room curtains. He arises from the once cool couch, and sits up straight, ripping out his earbuds blasting music and frees his arm from the tangled mess of the earbud wires. Zachary stands up from the couch and makes his way towards upstairs.

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Zachary takes out his black and gray striped shirt, along with baggy, ripped jeans. He takes off his clothing and switches to the outfit he had chose. Zachary leaves his unbrushed fluffy hair the way he woke up with and tied his ripped converse on. 

Zachary goes downstairs to the fridge,  to find a notebook page attached to the fridge door that hadn't been there when he woke up. He reached out towards note and reads out loud. 

"I've gone out of town for a business training, I'll be gone for about a week, but Eric is coming to the house to watch over you. Please be on your best behavior, Zachary. Call me if anything happens, xxx-xxx-xxxx. Love Mom." Zachary sighed then scoffed. "Why Eric? I don't want to be near him.. out of all the people you could think of mom.." Zachary said throwing his head back, sighing deeply.

Zachary crumbled up the note, threw it in trash and made his way to the front door. He grabbed for the house keys and placed it in his jeans pocket. He checked for his phone in his pocket, exactly where he put it and went outside. 

Outside, he felt the heat wave of the summer afternoon hit his face as he walked to his bike. The metal of the bike was burning, but Zachary didn't care for the hot sensation, and grabbed the hot handles of his bike. He picked up the bike, got onto the seat and started driving toward the park. 

Zachary had only drove for a few seconds when a 2021 gray rav4 started driving slowly beside him. The window rolled down to expose a face which caused Zachary to start driving faster.