The loud, consistent beeping on my clock wakes me up at exactly 7 a.m. It's Friday and remembering that makes me groan as I sluggishly slide out of my bed onto the floor. My sore body is attacked with the beating of a thousand hammers throughout my body as I fall and hit the ground. I hold in my groans of agony to assure that my mom, who should be awake by now, won't hear me. My mom opens the door and peaks her head inside. She looks down at me and shakes her head in disapproval.
"Liam get up and get ready for school!" she exclaims as she buttons up her shirt, getting ready for work. I groan in both pain and in agreement to her demand.
"Love you, see you later." she grabs her purse and hurries out of our apartment to her car to head to work.
I plant my hands on the ground and push myself up. I stand on both feet and walk over to my bathroom which is down the hall. I close the door even though nobody is home, and disrobe. I place the clothes on the toilet seat and toss my towel over the shower curtain. I turn on the water and step inside, letting the warm water stream down my body as it wakes me up and relaxes my tense, sore muscles due to last night.
When I finish with my shower, I step out, confronted by the cold air. I quickly dry myself and put on my boxers. I walk back to my room and quickly grab a pair of black jeans, a white shirt, and my only black hoodie from my closet and get dressed. After putting on my sneakers, I walk to the kitchen and grab myself a banana to quickly snack on before heading off to school.
I enter my classroom and the clock hits 7:58. I have two minutes till school starts so I sit in my assigned seat and start reading a book on my phone. My friend comes behind me and pats me on my back.
"Liam! How's it hangin' bro!" he slaps my hand that I've extended out and sits in front of me. He turns his body to face me with a smile on his face.
"What's up with you Dimitri? You seem a little too happy..." I squint my eyes, looking for anything new about him but find nothing.
"You remember that chick Jenna? Well I asked her to hang yesterday and let's just say things went a bit better than expected." he smirks and turns around as our teacher goes to the front of the class, preparing his lesson for today.
I've known Dimitri since we were in 1st grade. Now we've had a complicated relationship since he and I used to not get along. We used to get in many fights, especially in middle school, causing us to get many referrals and suspensions. But we eventually found common ground and became best friends since.
"I'll let you know more about it later." he states and pulls out his notebook. The teacher walks up to the board and starts writing down some problems from the homework. See, our teacher Mr. Winston doesn't care if we do our homework or not, but he does want us to know our stuff. So he always calls on random people to solve some problems on the board to make sure we know our stuff. It's effective in ways but I hate being called cause I never know what to do. I'm the type of kid who studies the entire night before the test and passes. Luckily he doesn't pick me which gives me time to finish my chapter and start drawing. I keep my brightness down and my phone hidden behind Dimitri's back so Mr. Winston can't see it.
The final bell rings and I just finish sketching my next drawing. It shows a few bodies surrounding one body that is on all fours, struggling to stay up. The big guy standing up has a gun, pointed down at the man. There's broken pieces of glass surrounding them all and blood is splattered everywhere. Dimitri sees my drawing as he packs up and pulls it away from me, into his hands.
"Dude this is sick! How do you do this?" he asks me, astonished by the detail in my hour-long drawing. I shrug my shoulders and take it back.
"I don't know, I just see the image in my head and I put it on paper." I tell him the partial truth. I do see these images in my head but it's not as though I want to see it. It kind of pops into my head and stays there, not leaving until I put it onto paper. I've told my mom about it and she says it's just my inner imagination trying to escape but these things just feel too real.
Dimitri and I exit the class together and start heading down the hallway, then down the stairs.
"So dude, I still needa tell you about last night." he says, growing that smirk on his face again. I roll my eyes right before he turns his head to me and I nod my head.
"Spill it then." I pretend to be interested.
"Aight so I picked her up at like 7 and we headed over to Dave and Busters where we played for like an hour and a half. Then we went to the movies and bought tickets to some random movie." he chuckles as he reminisces over last night.
Luckily we get to the point where we go our seperate ways. Without hesitation, I let him know I'll see him later and walk away. He shakes his head and let's me know he was about to get to the good part.
"I doubt it." I say under my breathe. I shake my head and enter my second period classroom.
School ends and I walk out to the garage where my car is parked. I sit inside and let the air run for a while, cooling down the car. I pull out and drive out the exit of the school. My mind drifts off to random things as I navigate my way home. I remind myself of the homework I have for Monday, my plans for the weekend, and my 'job' I need to do tonight.
I arrive home and find my mom talking to someone in an army uniform. She seems to be crying and I immediately know what has happened. I step out my car and walk to the front door, my heart sinking deeper and deeper with every step I take. My mom spots me and starts to sob harder. My eyes fill with tears and I run to her, embracing her in my arms.
"I'm sorry for your loss." the man says as he hands me a letter and walks back to his Jeep. I hold the letter in my hand and read it silently.
'Dear Mrs. Cooper,
We regret to inform you Andrew Cooper was killed in battle at 16:30 on the Morning of February 18th when an enemy force invaded our base and gunned down many of our soldiers.
Sincerely,
Commander Davis
United States Military Army'
I drop the note and it slowly drifts to the ground. My mind goes blank, my eyes stay fixed into nothingness and I can't move a muscle. Suddenly all the memories of my brother come flooding in and it makes me fall to my knees. My older brother, the person I looked up to the most, is dead.
YOU ARE READING
Blade of a Broken Glass
ActionLiam Cooper is just an average 16 year old kid... Or is he? When living in a small apartment in Queens with little to no money, there's certain risks you need to take. Some of it may not be very pretty but you have to do what you need to in order to...
