A Firefly's Glow

Chapter One: Part Two

A faint beeping sounded through the room, and I let out a frustrated moan.

“No!” I groaned, burying myself deep into the covers. “Give me ten more minutes! I’m still sleepy!”

The beeping continued to drone throughout the room.

I whipped my hand across the shelf beside me, searching for the contraption responsible for disturbing my sleep. I slapped my palm firmly against the small clock that sat on the shelf. The beeping immediately ceased.

I sat up on the mattress and stretched my arms as high up as they would go. I rolled off the mattress and slumped onto the carpet.

My stomach began to groan and grumble. I immediately clutched it with my arms. “Food!” I gasped as I crawled to the small refrigerator in the next room. I whipped open the door only to find it empty, and I sensed a strange sensation of déjà vu.

“Oh, that’s right!” I sighed, relief rolling down my back. “I bought groceries yesterday! I’ll just cook up what I bought for breakfast!”

I hopped onto my feet and skipped towards the bed that sat in the corner of the next room. I skimmed my gaze towards the rusted, cracked walls of the apartment and the dull carpet that covered the floors.

The facts were: I lacked having lots of money, so I wasn’t exactly living a luxurious life. Since I lived alone, I had to maintain all the money myself to survive. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t exactly easy either. Wouldn’t life be so much more convenient having to expect something without having to work for more money in return?

My life wasn’t absolutely perfect, but I didn’t have a problem with working and supporting myself. If I spent all my time sitting in one place and ordering things before me, life would be tedious and I’d grow fat. Somehow, my lack of famousness and luxury allowed me to have real friends who didn’t befriend me just because I had something admirable. And though, I admit, that I dream a lot about suddenly becoming a princess and living in a luxurious castle, I reminded myself that fairytales like that didn’t happen to just any average 15-year-old.

I felt a squeak of deflated cheerfulness echo out of my mouth as I caught sight of the wrinkled bag streaked with dirt that sat at the foot of the mattress. I hurried over towards it and pulled out a random package to find all the rice balls concealed behind plastic squished onto one side.

“My rice balls . . .” I squeaked, slumping my shoulders. They weren’t really rice balls anymore. It was more like they had morphed into one large slop of rice. And trust me, if you wanted to eat rice balls, you’d enjoy them more in ball form. (hence the name “Rice-balls”.)

I figured this happened the day before, when I dropped my belongings onto the wet concrete the moment I dived into saving that boy from getting run over by that giant car—

I let out a gasp as I immediately jumped back onto my feet. “Where is he?” I whispered cautiously, glancing from one side of the room to the other. It would be extremely awkward to find that he was still in the apartment, watching me linger around aimlessly and sulking over squished balls of rice. I glanced towards the mattress before me.

“Come to think of it . . .” I whispered, glancing up at the ceiling in thought. “Wasn’t he sleeping on my bed last night?”

Glancing at the alarm clock sloppily shifted out of place on the shelf beside my mattress, I recognized that I was the one who woke up from my mattress this morning.

I whipped my gaze towards the front door just across the room. The thin, rusted lock above the doorknob was turned horizontally unlocked.

Dropping the package of soggy rice balls onto the mattress, I sauntered over towards the door and twisted the lock vertically. The door released a faint clicking sound.

I let out a long sigh. His missing presence and the fact that my door was unlocked enunciated the fact that he was no longer in my apartment.

“I wonder what his name was.” I whispered, turning on my heel back towards the food that sat beside my mattress. I silently admitted that when I brought him home, I was eager to speak to him.

I hadn't forgotten the fact that once he woke up, he might have ordered men to arrest or slay me, but still. I figured that it would be another while before I saved another rich and handsome boy from getting run over by a car. Besides, lugging one extremely heavy dude back home was more than enough. If I did that daily, I'd have a hunchback in no time.

My eyes slid their gaze onto the red fluorescents of my alarm clock, and they watched the lights blink into the numbers “6:50”.

I immediately forgot the thoughts that droned through my head of the mysterious boy and the squished rice balls, and I shrieked in terror as I hurried around the corner. “I’m going to be late!”

I pulled on a wrinkled navy blue tee and a gray pair of sweats. Ruffling the bundles of hair that statically clung onto the edge of my neck, I grabbed the large tote bag that sat beside the front door. I slung the bag over my shoulders and dashed out of the door, slamming it back into place.