Marks

Chapter 1

BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! BEE-

Rolling over on my bed, I flailed my arm and smacked my alarm clock with such force that it got knocked off my nightstand. It stopped its shrieking when it noisily clambered to the floor. I didn't even care if it was broken.

I hated alarm clocks, but they always got the job done, so I never complained. Well at least out loud. There wasn't really anyone for me to complain to anyway. I lived with my grandparents because my parents were MIA (or KIA for all I knew at that point), and I couldn't remember anything that happened to me before the age of 5. Like most people's grandparents, my grandparents weren't young. Their loving yet stubborn brains didn't accept or understand most modern technology. If I told them that I was in need of a new alarm clock, then they would squint their eyes, shake their grey heads, and give me a lecture about how "that gosh darn beeper" was ruining the world one household at a time. I smiled at the thought of them.

I threw back my comforter and got off my bed to start getting ready for school. With that I changed into a random outfit and some converse and headed downstairs.

My regular breakfast of cereal with milk was perfectly fine with me, so that's what I had. Afterword, I grabbed my lunch from the fridge and stuffed it in my backpack. I smirked, internally cracking a joke about how much I was wasting my life away. Slipping my jacket on, I grabbed my backpack and walked out the front door, locking it behind me.

I turned around and breathed in the autumn air. It was November, and the last leaves of the season were helplessly fluttering to the ground. They swirled and their colors blended together in reds, browns, yellows, and oranges. There was also a particular smell that came only in Autumn. It was of slowly decaying leaves and aging plants that were lost in the progression of time. No matter how long I lived I would always love the smell of autumn.

"Come on Mia we're going to be late!" Hollered my boyfriend from his car in my driveway. I looked over to see Marius smiling with his head sticking out the window. , I walked over to the passenger seat and got in.

"Late for what? You're like-" I checked my digital watch on my wrist "-15 minutes early." I replied as he backed out and began driving to school.

"No I'm not..." I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.

"Shut up!" He said playfully and interlocked our hands, grinning. I took a second to examine his attitude.

"Why are you so..." I paused to think of the appropriate word "chipper?"

"Oh no reason I just finally got more than 4 hours of sleep last night." I narrowed my eyes.

"Alright." I said and looked out the window at the blur of scenery passing by. Before long we turned into a small shopping center and parked in the lot. He got out of the car, and me, being very confused, I followed.

"Where are we and why are we here?" I asked when we met in front of the car. He cocooned his large and leanly muscular frame around mine from behind, but didn't say a word.

"Where do you think we are?" He asked, sliding his arms around my waist.

It looked like we were parked directly in front of some sort of café. The shop didn't have a name, it just said some illegible words in script on a chalkboard over the entrance. It seemed so small and isolated from the big-time stores around it.

What was odd was that even though there were not many people there, nobody seemed to see it, and nobody went in. It was in excellent repair, though. The brick exterior made it seem homey, and the shop windows were filled with books and pastries. The smell of old pages and warm bread filled my nostrils.