Fairly Normal People

-Chapter Two-

Andy meditated absentmindedly as the dawning sunlight reflected onto the sky from over the horizon. He was deep within his own mind as he drifted among the abyss of his swirling thoughts and memories. Purpose and stagnation, despair and joy, good and evil, hopes and dreams, life and death. The light of dawn drew closer. Sandra, Tim, Murph, Krundle, Mrs O'Donovan. Rays of orange peaked through the buildings from across the ghostly silhouette of the city. Responsibility, duty, power, restraint, gilded cages, deportation. Dawn illuminated the streets like orange rivers as it rose into the cobalt sky. Janice.

Andy's vision suddenly refocused with a snap and reality quickly sank back into him. His form dispersed in a shimmering cloud of sparkling light which then scattered in the wind. Andy woke up in his chair, withdrew his tongue and closed his jaw with a little resistance. He gently opened and closed his mouth to reduce the stiffness and stood up with a start in defiance of the numbness. He twisted and stretched, cracked his back and rubbed his head. Andy hated mornings. The sun was far too bright and sharp and there was nothing to do, especially on a Saturday. Even though he had long awaited plans later, it was the wait he hated. Eating that nightmare had put him in a foul mood as if he could finally see clearly and hated what he saw. But most of all Andy hated the sight of his apartment. It wasn't in shambles, everything had its place and every place had its thing but that wasn't it. It was the stillness. The near deafening silence. It felt like the kind of place where some poor weak creature shuffled off to to die in, or somewhere where something had already died. The pictures hung like windows that gave glimpses into a much kinder past, like reminders of what this life-size carefully structured diorama was meant to commemorate. The fireplace stood like a decorated headstone. Andy no longer felt the welcoming inner glow he usually felt when he viewed his apartment, instead he felt it's weight, he felt the cold and he felt the loneliness that seemed to emanate from everything. This wasn't a living space, it was a dusty decrepit mausoleum that housed the remains of a hollow attempt at human compassion, an empty exhibit for his most recent and haunting of failures. He felt sick to his stomach from this renewed perspective, a feeling perfectly accompanied by an irresistible compulsion to leave. He snatched up his coat and hastily made his way to the stairs though at his destination he turned and found he had left the door wide open for all to see. He begrudgingly made his way back, sadness swelled his sick feeling, and with a wash of shame rushing over him he closed and locked the door before he left again.

Andy flew down the stairs as a bellowing roar echoed through the shaft. Tim was a snorer and with enough talent at it to be an olympian - gold medalist. An irony given Tim's chronic aversion to loud sounds and surprising sensitivity towards any other noise. A step creaked under Andy's foot, a mental note he had forgotten about in the rush of his fleet footed descent, and there was the ripping sound not unlike a record scratch that signified a snore's early end. It was followed by a shuffling sound from below like too much skin being dragged gently across concrete.

"Shut up..." Tim's voice said weakly before it trailed off into another bout of earth shaking sonic attacks for which the small circular shaft seemed only to amplify.

Andy winced and flew down the rest of the stairs, careful to dodge the other squeaky steps and not to trod down too hard so as to avoid causing any more noise. He silently burst into the entrance hall and his sense of urgency finally faded away. The hall was abuzz with noise and people assumedly getting ready for or making plans for the weekend ahead. Andy strode through the crowd being careful not to step on anyone or disturb any others. His exit went mostly ignored apart from the occasional glance or nod and Mrs Nyugem thanking him for his understanding with her two boys and she reassured him that she spanked them raw for not being more careful, which seemed a tad unfair seeing he himself had almost tripped over her at least a dozen times this morning included. No mail like always, Andy thought to himself as he double checked his mailbox as he had forgotten to check the day before. He tossed a handful of junk into a bin nearby which already overflowed with the same junk mail then made for the door.