Yesterday Never Ended: The Nostalgic Season

Prologue V: The Overwhelming Return

I lay in bed, unmotivated to so much as blink. I'd been awake long before the sun had risen and was cursed to the torture of unrest. I'd heard my father stir as he prepared to leave for work and was greeted by the still morning silence after he'd departed. The thought of saying good morning to him had not even crossed my mind as the chance arose for me to do so. I know it would have been the same for him if our circumstances were switched. We nearly live on differing planes of reality and there would be no use in attempting to change that. Although it had been only a handful of hours since the realization had come to me, I already accepted fate full and readily. It's best that we'd both keep to ourselves. Life would be simpler like that.

*****

Once I manage to surmount the gravity of my bed, I finally decide to declare myself up for the day. In moments I arrive at my brother's room where I give a quick but successful search for academic materials. I find a messenger bag filled with pencils, binders, and empty notebooks; nearly all the basic materials that I need.

Although I had found what I was looking for, I had also happened upon something else. In my brother's closet sits a box filled with many ties that he'd collected over the years. As I looked over the extensive and colorful patterns an idea came to me. Hiram wore a tie nearly everyday he attended school, it was truly a factor that set him apart from every other person. With this, I'd decided that I'd make it habit to go with a tie around my neck everyday. It would make me one step closer to being like Hiram. My own personal dream. I select a silky red tie with blue roses scattered across it to complement the blue dress shirt I'd picked earlier. With the day's clothes in hand, I travel to the shower.

*****

My brother had always been an unending wealth of knowledge. The best part about that was that he openly shared this wealth with anyone he could. I'd learned a great deal of what I know from him. Apart of this gifted knowledge was various different ways to tie ties and here, years later, it hadn't faded or failed me. Upon my neck I had flawlessly secured a Windsor knot thanks to his prodigious guidance years prior. Now ready for a day among peers, I gather my belongings and take my leave.

*****

The school I'd be attending once more is a measly five or some blocks from my house. Easily within walking distance. As such, I had walked everyday to classes when I'd attended the school during my freshman year, and so I do now. As I walk, I enjoy the crisp autumnal morning that gently nips at my still damp skin and assures me that my senses are yet whole. Morning birds singing their salutations to the new day sound about the atmosphere as an anthem to life under an unblemished capri sky. Block after block, I watch as the structures become more elaborate and the lawns even greener until before me stands a large building set on lands of pattern cut grasses, elaborately arranged flowers spelling the acronym 'HHS', and a great statue honoring a man by the name of Halyn. Many youths file into the building all the while chatting amongst themselves, filled with fervor and smiles shining brightly on their faces. Halyn High School proudly stands before me.

*****

Halyn High School is a well-known private school of Allard. Its architecture is unrivaled in its artistic beauty and its grounds are among the most well-kept in the county area. Key selling-points of the school include its plentiful and flexible range of classes offered to students for broader horizons and possibilities, the fact that the student council is highly involved in the school's inner-workings and is not an empty position, and the advanced programs for sports and the arts which are celebrated elaborately by the academy. In addition, the student and staff body is very diverse in culture and talent and many a unique individual can be found if sought. Although there is a tuition to enter, it is affordable to many and not as exceedingly high as one might expect. Therefore, there is more opportunity to many for a brighter future offered by the school.