What Lies Beneath

Under the Surface

~6:25AM, April 15th, 2013

I wake up to the annoying sound of my alarm blaring at the side of my bed. I grudgingly look up to my calendar and sigh.

Monday...

I throw off my blankets and walk over to my bathroom. I wince as my feet move swiftly across the cold ground. Ever since I was a little kid I was always sensitive to the cold, it's something at ran in the family. And living here in Regina, Canada didn't really help our case any.

I turn my shower on and walk to my sink to let the water get hot. I try to rub the sleep out of my eyes because I only got three hours of sleep last night. I get my tooth brush and tooth paste from out of my cupboard and start to brush my teeth. A few moments later I hop into the shower and do my normal morning schedule. After I get out I dry myself off and finish getting ready for school.

I walk down into the kitchen to find that neither of my parents are awake yet. I walk towards their room and knock on their door.

"Mom? Dad? Are you guys awake? You need to get ready for work."

There's no answer from the other side of the door so I slowly take the handle in my hand and turn it open. I walk into my parents room to find that neither of them are here. Typical.

I walk back out into my kitchen and put a poptart in my toaster. I go to my fridge and get myself a glass of homemade raspberry iced tea. My favorite. I smile to myself and pour a glass and sip from it as I wait for my poptart.

Once it's done I walk to my front door and grab my keys to head off to school.

After the fifteen minute drive to school I get out of my car and walk over to my locker. Once I'm halfway there I meet up with a familiar set of green eyes. Her small body, only a couple inches shorter than me moves surprisingly fast as she makes her way towards me.

"Reighlyn! You actually made it out of bed today! I'm amazed you didn't miss first block like you always do. How are you feeling?" She peeps.

I laugh. "I'm okay Seraphina, just a little tired. I didn't get to sleep until about three this morning."

"Again?" She sighs "I thought you were finally getting back on a regular sleeping schedule."

"That's funny, when have I ever had a regular sleep schedule?" I yawn, opening my locker to get out my history textbook.

"You're right, I was just hoping you were actually getting some sleep for once." She giggles, poking my sides, trying to get some sort of a reaction out of me.

I'm about to respond to her when a voice rings through the halls.

"LADIES!!" Riley, the third member of our tight-knit group calls out from the other side of the hallway.

Seraphina and I laugh and make our way to Riley. His smile radiating with excitement.

"How are you two lovely ladies doing this morning?" He winks and wraps his arms around us.

We go through our morning conversations of how we're doing, to talking about the latest book we have read.

"I definitely think Jem is the best character in the book, he's so intricate and diverse and sounds so adorable!" Seraphina squeals, imagining the character in The Infernal Devices series.

"I don't know, I definitely like Tessa, she's a total badass. Not only is she part warlock, but she has all of the guys swooning over her." Riley points out eagerly.

I listen intently, I prefer to not get into their discussions because things can so easily become heated over the littlest thing.

I start to space out playing with the cardboard-like school breakfast the give us.

"Reigh, REIGH, you're spacing out again!" Riley and Seraphina nudge me attempting to get my attention.

"Huh.. What?" I knock out of my trance and look up at them. Riley's enchanting blue eyes stare back at me with concern.

"Are you all right Reigh? You look like you haven't slept in weeks."

"Yeah Ry, I'm okay." I respond unconvincingly.

He sighs and let's my comment go.

Riley has been my friend since the seventh grade. We've been through so much together, sometimes I couldn't imagine life without him. He's always been about four or five inches taller than me. His lean build makes him like any other teenager. He has short, soft, sandy blonde hair that Seraphina and I love to play around with.

The bell rings indicating first block is about to start.

We say our goodbyes to Riley and go off to our history class together.
We make it into class ten seconds before the bell rings.

Sera and I sit next to Mr. Haynes, our.. Harsh history teacher. Least to say you could forget to put the block number on you paper and he would rip the assignment to shreds.

"Okay class. You had the time to do this presentation all week. Let's hope you don't screw it up." He scoffs in my direction.

I lean to Sera and whisper in a mocking tone "Thanks Doug."

Sera stifles a laugh and puts her head down on the desk.

"Ms. Hart! Is there something you'd like to share with the class." Mr. Haynes calls out to Sera, noticing her laughter.

She looks up to him slowly with a red face and attempts to hide her laughter. "N-no.."

I cover my mouth to contain my amusement.

"All right then!" He yells, "can we have group one come up and present for us."

Three girls walk up to the front of the the class and do their presentation on whatever it is they chose.

They begin speaking as I drift off into a silent nap.

***************************

After school Riley and Seraphina meet me by my Bronco so we can talk before we leave each other for the night.

"You know guys," I say, pulling my keys from my back pocket, "my parents left without word again so why don't you just come over today instead of spending two hours outside of school?"

They get in my car and we start to drive off when I realize a strange figure out of the corner of my eye. I look out my window only to find him looking straight at me. I shudder and pull out of the parking lot and head home.

Once we get to my house, the first thing my friends do is go straight to my kitchen and grab some food.

I take my stuff up to my room to find myself staring at a box on my bed.

I think to myself whether or not my parents could have been home between this morning and now. Though it would be strange, considering once they leave, they don't come back for a week or two.

I let out a breath and walk over to my bed. I grab the box and head back down to my friends.

"Well well well Reigh, what do we have here?" Riley pipes out, taking the box from my hands.

I shake my head. "I don't really know Ry, it was just sitting on my bed."

Sera walks into the living room with a bowl of ice cream in one hand and chocolate chip cookies in the other.

"Wha's goin' on?" She asks as she stuffs another cookie in her mouth.

I explain to her that I found the box on my bed and I had no idea how it got there or who would have put it there.

Riley opens the box eagerly and looks inside. After taking the paper out he frowns.

"Uhhh Reigh?" He whispers "you might want to see this."