Face Your Demons

Part 1 - Chapter 1

The year was 1969. It was the year of Woodstock. Three months after the end of the well-known festival, its effect – and by effect, yes, I mean LSD – was still well in the system of some certain fourteen rebellious individuals who decided to set the then Clawstone High School on fire. Not stopping at that, the doped up teens even chained themselves on the school's front metal gate, to block the fire brigade from entering the flaming school grounds. Needless to go on any further, by the time the fire-fighters began gashing water, three quarters of the school were burned to the ground. Yes, this is a pretty random story but, I am entirely confident that the administrative authority and project planning people back then were like, "Screw 'em youth! Let's build the new high school on Lewes Hill."

And that's where the now Clawstone Regional Secondary School (CRESS for short) is situated present-day, on top of the tallest hill in this small town. It covers education from Grade 7 to 12. This makes it rather unfortunate for those few who were enrolled for a total of five years - five years of trudging up that steep hill. Clawstone town is surrounded by flatland corn fields and stinky pig farms, the majority of the students simply follow the family career in agriculture, that's why Clawstone has turned over the years, into a very technical school with a vocational-oriented curriculum rather than a college-prep one. For those few 'ambitious' enough who were in pursuit of higher education, Clawstone was unbearably restrictive, their destination to college had two paths; one through the one-hour drive away Brighthelm High School and the other through the successful yet unlucky, always-state-finalists-but-never-champions for the past decade, swimming and water polo teams. Quite a few athletes were able to earn athletic scholarships to some of the state's prestigious universities.

It was still early in the morning and the soft light of dawn smoothly glided on the windows of the school. The summer break was ideally long – ideally long in altering my sleeping habits. After doing a month of part-timing at my neighbor's son's bakery, during my second half of summer I fell into an irrepressible hibernation, waking up only to pee, to eat, or to drink water. Once, a whole day passed without doing any of the three, an entire day spend entirely in bed. I don't get it either, why I felt so tired and sleepy during the entire summer. When my smartphone snoozed for the hundredth time, I finally pushed myself, with every last ounce of determination and self-respect I had left, out of bed, dragged my sorry-ass to the shower and sprayed myself with icy water. In retrospect, not a very appropriate action when there is a wind blowing everything right and left, just outside your front door (sniff sniff, runny nose). 

My hands gently capped my steamy daily dose of caffeine as I sluggishly stared at the Lewes Hill's 600 feet long pathway. The weather had gotten unexpectedly chilly lately and the warm coffee helped into warming up my naturally cold fingers. Here comes my last year of high school. And I am late. As always. The ascending hill-road was roughly a hundred or so yards ahead, and the last group of notoriously belated students was quickly approaching the main entrance. The bell had already rung ten minutes ago; homeroom will be over soon. Way to go Sophie, a great start in your final senior year.

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Hey guys, thank you for checking out my story, it really means a lot to me. I never really had anyone to read and comment on my story, my friends and family don't know good English xD (#nonenglishspeakingwattpaddersunite)

I've broken down the chapters of my book into smaller parts for easier reading (and editing). I keep my parts to roughly 600 words but I always make sure to upload at least twice a week.

Thank you again for checking out my story, I'd love to know what you think of it so feel free to leave any comment at any part you want.

Over and out xx