DREAD (BOOK 1 OF THE DREAD TRILOGY)

Chapter 9

Before the apocalypse I was a miserable teen. I never felt like I belonged and I didn't do very well in school mostly because I was too tired from working night shift at the shopping centre. I really hated that my brother was getting better grades than me, He is better at most things. My father also had just passed away from a work related incident. I was close with my father and losing him almost destroyed me. That morning I had gotten up for school, he had greeted me with a smile and put breakfast on the table in front of the seat that I usually sat in. My father was a good man, he worked with a construction company but he had never really said much about his job. I think he was disappointed that he didn't become the engineer or scientist that his classmates of his graduating year thought he would be. It was my fault that he hadn't become more than just a construction worker. I was born when he was nineteen, he had to leave college and help my mother take care of me. I have always wondered what he would have been if I wasn't born and I think he wondered about it too.

My father sat down at the table with his own plate of bacon and eggs. I sat down in my seat that was next to him. My father was smiling; he was always smiling and to ever see him frowning would mean that he was truly upset. My father had the type of smile that met his eyes and you would know if he was faking a smile when it didn't. I stared down at my plate thinking about how much I didn't want to go to school. I picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it, it was cold so I put the piece of bacon back down in disgust. "What's wrong bud?" My father asked. He always called me Bud and he called Luke mate.

"I don't want to go to school, I'm sick" I murmured. He let out a chuckle and pinched my cheek. He always did this when I said I was sick. If I smiled, he knew I was faking it and when my lips curved up his smile went wider. I wasn't really sick and I knew this but some days I just couldn't be bothered with school. What was the point of it? If I ever thought I would be where I am now then I would have quit straight away.

"Hang in their bud, I know school sucks but life will get better. I promise you that"

"I like school though" Luke's voice filled the air, His orange hair was spiking up all over the place and he was wearing glasses that weren't even proscription. He was wearing the most ridiculous clothes that made me want to burst out laughing. He had plaid shorts on and tie dye shirt. His shoes where the best part, he wore two different pairs of vans with one having a flower pattern and the other having a different type of plaid. He doesn't wear stuff like that now but back then he was trying to act cool and that meant trying every single bit of fashion even if it was the ugliest thing ever.

"Oh for you mate, Life will suck after school" My father joked. Luke poked out his tongue and took the bacon from my plate and took a bite. "I made you bacon"

"But it tastes way better when I take it off Ali's plate" Luke said before walking out the front door with his bag propped on his shoulder. He looked back with a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth and a massive smile on his face before leaving our sight. I stood up and picked up my school back with a sigh, just as I am about to leave my father stops me.

"Come give me a hug" my father said with a grin. I laugh and give him a hug and kiss his cheek. "have fun bud, I love you"

"I love you too" I said before walking out the door. My father's last words to me were 'have fun bud, I love you'. Life had never been the same after my father died, after I got the phone call from my mother telling me that he had gotten into an accident. I had felt total misery, which reminds me of the misery that I feel right now. It's not the same type of misery but it's definitely misery.

The leaders didn't believe me when I told them that I am the leader of the dreads. They thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Rick pulls me aside after the meeting, he looks at me angrily. I can understand the others not believing me but Rick is like an uncle to me and the way that he is looking at me right now makes me feel like a misbehaved child. I hate when people look at me like that, it makes me want to prove them wrong.