Changes In Life

Chapter1

Chapter One

 “I give up,” I said aloud into the empty room, my voice dim and emotionless. I’ve had these thoughts of giving up for as long as I can remember, but saying them out loud made a new feeling. I let my mind wander for a while on the thought, before being interrupted by the sound of my name being called. I sighed, sat up, slowly uncovered myself, and began to stand. I hear the sound of the floor boards creak as I walk upon them and over to my bedroom door. I walk at my normal pace, usually slower than others, and open the door. “Yes mom?” I ask in a loud voice to be heard down the steps. I step out of the doorway as I await her response, placing my bottom on the top of the stairs.

 “Alex, breakfast is ready. Tell your brother it’s time to come downstairs,” my mother replies in a tiredly happy voice. As I am about to stand and go to Shain’s room, I see him already on his way to the stairs. He goes down the steps at a fast past, beating me to the bottom, and I hear the creak of his chair as he sits at the table in the dining room. I meet up with him after I take my time on the walk down and I sit in front of my plate.

 Mother sits down by the kitchen door, as Shain and I sit on either side of her, my seat being closet to the opening leading to the front room, then the stairs. Picking up my fork, I eye the food before me; I see scrambled eggs, sausages, and mush. I eat the mush first after adding syrup, the sweet taste lingering on my taste buds. I nod to my mother in approval of her cooking, stabbing a few eggs with my fork. I chew slowly, savoring the taste and taking my time. I eat only half of the fluffy, yellow eggs before eating two sausages. With food still on my plate, I ask to be excused, and stand up after whipping my mouth with a napkin.

 “Aren’t you going to finish, dear?” my mother asks after swallowing a bit of sausage. I shake my head and explain to her that I’m not very hungry today. I pick up my plate and hold it in my left hand whilst I push in my chair with the other.

 “She just doesn’t like being around us,” my 10 year old brother says with fake hurt in his voice. “But I’m fine with that,” he says as he happily snags the last 2 sausages from my plate. Mother gives him a look and he shrugs and bites into the meat with a smile.

 “Its fine mom, I wasn’t going to eat it anyway,” I said as I walked into the kitchen. I heard my mother sigh and Shain say something, but I toned it out. I scrapped the last bit of my scrambled eggs into the trash and rinsed off my plate before I washed it and set it into the strainer to dry. “I’m going up to my room to get dressed,” I say to my mom as I make my way to the stairs. “I’ll be back down in a bit.”

 I didn’t hear her reply, but I knew she heard me. I walked up the carpeted stairs; the feel of the soft, blue fabric felt nice between my toes as I would lift my foot off to step up, and it would tickle the bottom of my feet as I set my them back down to repeat. My hand glides up the railing, leaving an invisible trail as I stroll upward to my room. I walk in the open door, the carpeting ending and clean wooden floors beginning. The boards creak once again as I add my weight to them while walking to my bed, the door shutting behind me by the push of my foot.

 I open my dresser and pull out my grey cardigan, a white tank top, and blue jeans. Stripping myself of my pajamas, I toss the baggy, blue t-shirt, black night pants and undergarments into the hamper beside my dresser. Stark naked, I make my way to my bathroom and set my clothes down on the marble countertop. I walk over to the tub and turn on the water, pulling up the plug to turn on the showerhead, and adjust it to the right temperature. I step up; pulling shut the ocean curtains, I stand still as the hot water pounds onto my back, relaxing my muscles. I sigh pleasantly as I allow the feeling of relaxation to linger in my limbs. But all things must come to an end and I begin to move to wash my body.