Seeing more now than ever before

Ch.1: The last sunrise

Somewhere in a small suburban town lives a young adult male named Charlie James Johnson who is of average appearance. His hair is a mucky blonde color, with pale blue eyes being his only outstanding feature. Charlie never had much ambition to go for his dreams which reflected in his personality. Most people would call him lazy, clumsy, or a general slacker. Charlie's only desire was to fit in with his old friends from high school, the boys he had always considered cool. Charlie often found himself in situations alone without anyone else out to help back him up due to his habits of wandering off at all hours. Today was no different than every other day though it was slightly colder than normal; the lack of sun seemed to lower the temperature even more as the cool morning breeze airbrushed across his pale face. The morning breeze drew his attention to the dark sky. The sunrise was usually his favorite part of his day accompanied with a run around the block. For some reason, he was having trouble finding the energy to keep up his usual pace. Charlie played it off as having trouble waking up. So he stretched to take a deep breath and tried to set a pace beyond a simple mosey. While a jog should have been easy after no more than twenty-four feet his body became exhausted. It was time to go home. Charlie looked around the cul-de-sac, not a person's insight as it was far too early. As he surveyed the streets he had lived on for years he figured it would be easier to reach his house if he just kept going around the block. Plus he still wanted to see the sunrise and this was the best angle. So he pushed his tired body to keep going putting in his headphones, turning up his music which normally wakes him up. While it didn't seem to be waking him up it did seem to help with his pace. Charlie's feet fell in line with the beat of the music. With each step, he took a strange humming that occurred inside his left ear which seemed to overpower his loud blaring music. Charlie shook his head trying to clear the irritating hum, he even took off his earphones. Still, the hum remained. Charlie realized that even after he took off his headphones the strange hum was still there but before he had time to really think about it. His eyes began to twitch causing him to rub under his glasses. He stopped his walk a few houses away from his home and cleaned his glasses which were filthy and covered in soot. While he was contemplating why his glasses weren't coming clean a violent sneeze overcame his whole body causing his head to hurt like the worse migraine he had ever had in his life. A small pop occurred in his ears then all the intense pressure and humming were suddenly gone. Charlie felt as good as new for a moment that was until he opened his eyes he tried his best to make sure they were really open blinking them, waving his hands in front of them but nothing but a tiny amount of light. Charlie rubbed his eyes repeatedly then panicked and dread set in. Momentarily he stood there completely alone his mind raced in a hundred different directions. His heart began to beat fast as anxiety took hold. Charlie took a few deep breaths and tried to remember the last thing he saw. From what he could recall he was a few houses away from his own home but no one was home that could help him. His whole family was away at work and school. So he felt along the old rusted chain link fence to one of his oldest and most long-standing neighbors. She could help him. Charlie fumbled his way past the bushes and up to the door, making the transition between bush, empty space and bumpy wall in a clumsy leap of faith and blind luck. He stumbled up the three steps he had climbed many times as a child being babysat. Charlie found the door that was always decorated according to the season, he could feel the strings from the decoration tickling his hand as he knocked against the hard door.

"Mrs.Robinson!" Charlie called hopeful a bit of his worry seeped into his voice as he heard several locks turn accompanied by the sound of a rusted old creaking door.

"Charlie boy," She greeted with a warm tone.

"Why in the heavens are you up so early it's freezing!" Mrs.Robinson said in a motherly tone that made Charlie feel like a little kid. At first, he wasn't sure what to say this wasn't a common occurrence.