A Little Far From Ordinary

New Beginnings

I watched as the sun spilled out over the horizon. The first thing to pierce the seemingly endless darkness.

The torch of a new day.

In more ways than one, I have always associated this particular moment with my life. I was constantly waiting for the warm light of a new opportunity... a new chance.

That chance had finally made its grand appearance.

Today was the day I had been waiting for since the grim realisation dawned that life was not as generous as I had wanted to believe it was.

If I could stand out during my time at SS Enterprises, universities would come knocking at my door. As sad as it may be, scoring a high-paying job in this society entailed getting into a good university.

And so, I have made it my personal goal to ensure I proved my worth.

My nerves overtaking me, I wasn't able to get a wink of sleep. As the clock struck seven, I thought now was a good time to stop trying. Getting up to prepare for school, I decided to take a quick shower. The water was unable to wash away the tingling feeling spreading throughout my body.

My shift started at six in the afternoon and I was thankful for the extra time to come back home for a necessary makeover. Putting on my standard attire, I headed down, shivering as the chilly September wind found its way beneath my sweater. Our heating system never seemed to like us very much. As I stepped off the last stair, I found my mom sleeping on our living room couch, still in her scrubs. She had probably arrived a few hours ago, and she'll probably leave soon again.

Heading to the kitchen, I made her some sandwiches, laying them down on the coffee table in front of her so she wouldn't forget them. She's struggled too much in life to still be trying to make ends meet raising a child on her own. I wrapped her in a blanket and gave her a quick kiss before leaving.

-

Today's walk to school seemed immeasurably long.

Strolling through the gates, I didn't bother looking at anyone around me. The same people were around that same person, talking about the same things they always talked about. No one really knew anything about Collin, hence the unnatural obsession with him.

His good looks may have been another factor, but I'd rather spend my whole life cleaning up animal shit than to ever have to admit that.

"Katie Walters, where have you been!"

Looking up across the communal grass area, my eyes land on Alexis.

As someone I had spent the majority of my teenage years with, this gave her the right to scream out to me in front of more people than I could count. Quickly rushing to her, the smile on my face naturally grew. Seeing that I had always been a bit more composed, I found her behaviour very amusing.

Going in to hug Lex's small frame in a failed attempt to diminish her blue-eyed glare, I was greeted with crossed arms. "Your phone has been off. Knowing you, I was prepared for the worst. Finding your dead body cause you picked a fight that wasn't yours, or even getting run over by a car because you were too stuck in your head to realie that it was going to hit you. The scenarios were endless. One simple text informing me that you got home safe would have been enough."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing her arm and dragging her into the main building. She hated it when I disappeared, and I guess it was understandable.

She was just a tad bit pessimistically fatalistic when it came to me.