For We are Blind

Chapter One

Italicized: Flashback

Bold: Texts and Notifications

~

Notification: Doctor's Appointment at 4
~
First day of school, the worst time of the year for everybody. Maybe not everyone, but definitely for me. I don't know, it just kind of makes me sick to my stomach, the whole idea of going back and seeing all of the people from last year. Just makes my stomach churn.

"For God's sake, Natalie, you're going to be late for your first day of school if you don't start getting ready." My mother shouts from downstairs. I roll my eyes and swing out of bed, letting my feet touch the cold, wood floor.

"Yes, mom, I know." I mutter to myself. I drag my fingers through my thick hair, untangling the knots and then pull it back into a messy pony tail. I stare at myself in the mirror, the dark bags underneath my blue eyes becoming more prominent by the moment, my thin cheeks seeming more hollow by the minute. After a few moments, I look away from my mirror and change into my clothes. My pajamas find a place on my cluttered floor in between a stack of books that leans to the side and a box filled with things to get rid of. I give myself time to put makeup one, dragging lines of black ink around my eyes and blending nude colored paint onto my skin. The mind of an artist, always making art out of anything possible.

"Hurry up!" My mom yells again from the living room.

"I still have ten minutes!" I say and leave my room to brush my teeth in my bathroom. The counter is lined with an assortment of containers holding toothbrushes and allergy medicines that I have to take. I check myself out in the mirror one more time before going downstairs to where my mother waits on our couch. She sits, her elbow, which holds up her head, resting on the arm of the couch, a book in her free hand. Her glasses are placed lazily on the tip of her nose, and her green eyes scan me up and down when she finally notices that I'm near her.

"What are you wearing?" She asks and looks me up and down again. Her eyes bore into me. I feel like my skin is so translucent and pale that if she stares any harder at me then she'll be able to see all of my insides. Gross.

"Clothing." I say sarcastically and glare at her while pulling my backpack onto my cold, bony shoulders. She rolls her eyes at me and nods "I realized that, but..."

Her voice trails off, and her eyes continue to bore into me.

"Just..." I think about what to say, but then decide against trying to say anything "I'm going to school, I'll see you later."

My mother doesn't reply as I walk out of the house, closing the door behind me. She's been like this since my dad left. Distant, cold, rude. I try not to think about it too hard.

I climb into my old, red car, setting my black backpack on the passenger seat beside me. Here I come, school, get ready.

~

First Period. World Cultures.

Second Period. Algebra 2.

Third Period. Physics.

Fourth Period. French.

Fifth Period. Lunch.

Sixth Period. Miscellaneous.