The Light-Spider

Walk It.

Slowly drifting into the world of the conscious, I'm surprised to not hear a blaring alarm in my ear. Shifting in my bed, I looked at my nightstand. Along with a bottle, half-filled with water, I see my alarm clock.

The clock read "5:45". I smile to myself and return to my more comfortable position. I have to wake up at 6 A.M. for school, but I woke up early and now I have 15 extra minutes. And what am I gonna do for these gracious minutes? That's right, sleep more.

Despite how drowsy I am after waking up, the bed simply rejected my presence. It's like it wants me to get out. But I'm not going to give up on my precious minutes. Every couple of seconds, I would look at the clock. The worst part was that it felt like seconds were passing, but entire minutes went by while I tossed and turned.

Eventually, I lost the battle of time against my bed and I had to get up. I looked in the mirror and pulled off my bonnet, realizing my afro is extremely matted down onto my head because of my bed struggles.

I decided that it would all be situated in a quick shower. I simply rinsed my hair and it returned to its natural volume. After being dried, that is. I put various products in my hair to keep it luscious and curly and put lotion onto my dark skin.

I pick out the outfit I prepared yesterday. Green khakis and a black t-shirt with a green jacket, despite it almost being summer. Most of the school material we didn't need, since exams were over and we only had the H.I.G.H.s to pass.

I grab my bag and walk down the stairs. My mom is dead asleep on the couch, her hand halfway stuck inside a plastic bag full of cereal. I gently put covers on her as to not wake her up. After that, I turn off the TV, which was playing one of her favorite movies. It was a romantic drama about this CEO of this company romancing his secretary despite having a wife. It didn't really interest me, it was all propaganda anyway.

The sound of a thunder clap nearly made me jump. I open the curtain of one of the few windows we have in the apartment and saw that it is raining furiously. I groan to myself. Despite rain being my favorite weather, I hate walking to school in it.

I took an umbrella out of the compartment next to the door and walk into the hallway. I saw an older lady sweeping the floor of the hallway. When I walked by, I bowed to her and she stopped for a moment. She waves her hand, signaling me to rise. "Don't get into any trouble now, Ayinde."

"I wont, Baba." The old lady is the unofficial caretaker of this floor. She woke up extremely early in order to clean and handle affairs with the landlord on behalf of us.

Seeing that the elevator requires a pass or an entry of $5, I turn to the stairs and begin my descent. I saw a group of men of various ages playing dice at the bottom of the stairs. I nod at them and they parted ways for me. I hop over their entire game and began walking to school.

The dirt path is the only thing separating my side of the street from the other. The sky is a deep orange in the morning, and usually stays that way till noon, when it turns purple. I've heard that the sky used to be a bright blue before the Rot.

Along every block were little side-shops. They usually sold food, but some sold utility items. The nearest grocery store is miles away, so we had to make do with what we had. People rode bikes across the road.

Various people of different looks, ethnicities, cultures and communities walk by me, and I eventually join into a group of my closest friends.

"Yo, Ayinde, my brotha." My best friend Miles Morales clapped me on the back. He had an afro just like me, but much smaller. "You got rid of the twists?"

"Yeah, they were starting to look rough. Decided to rock it out for the last couple days of school." I reply, turning to the others.

Walking right next to Miles is his girlfriend, Gwendolyn Osborne. Most people call her Gwen though. She is often regarded as one of the prettiest girls in school, though she hates the title. She has bright blond hair with one side of her hair shaved off. "Y'all ready for the H.I.G.H.s? Maybe this year you might be in the top 5."