A New Skin

Chapter One

        I will set the scene. Everything happened so strangely, which I never understood. I can't wrap my mind around the whole meaning of it all, but it surely snapped me into being more self-aware. 

        Melissa was an ordinary girl. She put her pants on, one leg at a time. She even ate breakfast quite plainly. You would think that doing this sort of behavior every day would invoke some kind of feeling inside of her bones, or even a slight nudge from her sub-conscience, To change her monotonous ways. Nope. Not one slight inkling of a notion would snap her awake from her redundant daze. This was true for a very long time, until the incident. 

        But was this little routine of repetition so bad? 

        Everything in that bubble of repetition became so strong, she started to fade away. Away into the static of the same day. The same week. The same month. The same Holiday. The same everything. 

        Was fate going to have that? Absolutely not! 

        Imagine waking up on the same side of the bed, using the same temperature to shower, wearing the same materials or colors of clothing, eating the same exact meals. It surely would drive you crazy! Originality was not my strong-suit. Ever.  If there were classes for being different, I would have failed by a landslide. 

        In grade-school, I was given the nickname "Plain Jane".  My outfits were not very colorful. My hair would always be in a neat ponytail right behind my head, my hair itself as straight as a pin. Dull, dull, more dull. I didn't even have a middle name, and my initials were just boring. My height and age were the only things that changed about me throughout high school and beyond. 

        Thinking about it now, I want to scream at my past self. At my past life. 

      "Why do you insist on being so boring?" My mom would say, "Why don't you go out and party or go do something...social?" 

         I would look at my mom with a raised eyebrow. "Me? Come on, mom" I'd shake my head. She'd then get so done with the way I am, that she would just walk away and leave me alone in my room.. 

      Fine with me. She was probably disturbing my time for studying anyways.

         In high school, I was the typical "A" average student. I also was the quiet one in the back of the class. The only two things people would ask me was for pencils or any other type of supplies, and then they would sometimes ask me for my homework to copy off of, which I usually said no to. I would usually then get a response of either someone sucking air into their teeth, or even the famous sigh, followed with the chastising "fine". I was accustomed to such behavior, since this was the common thing almost every day. You get used to the lazy people of the classroom. 

        When I was called Plain Jane, it wasn't even in a mocking way, just more of an attempt at a prick to my concrete heart. People usually tried their best to get to me about being very plain, which didn't really bother me at all.

      I never really had the ability to express emotions, nor did I envy the others who could. I was always content with my passive attitude. I wasn't a mute, because I answered when I was spoken to, but I didn't talk much to the other students, or even the teachers, for that matter. I just never related to their giddy attitudes. That just wasn't me.

    It seemed as if I didn't change since high school at all. My boring life had caught up with me, hadn't it? 

                                                                    ~~~~~~

      Fast-forwarding into about six years, I live in a city with lots of loud cars, rented apartments, and the daily commute to your job via subway, due to the terrible traffic. This was my daily transportation for years, and still the same on a Monday morning in April. The uprising of Spring. A natural break from the harsh weather. 

     Waking up the same way, I get ready for another long day at work, or so I thought.

      It was a normal day. Abnormally normal, in fact. I commute onto the train every morning, but I enter an abnormally quiet track this morning. As I step off, my mind trails off to what I have to do at work that same day. The supervisor had been grilling almost everyone in the workplace, which gave me a sense of stress, at the same time, giving me disadvantage because I couldn't suit his quota.

      As I make way to the building, I realized how I used to think of other things rather than work. Rather than what my monotonous life had dragged my thoughts into. At that point in time, I even realize that I haven't been in a relationship since high school, due to my focuses on work and bills.

     Any advice to upcoming adults? Don't skip out on college, just because you don't know what you want to do in life. Trust me. It bites you back.

     As I start to think of what life would be like if I went to university, I make a shortcut through an area with a wide canopy above me. As I begin to walk, I suddenly feel a drip on my forehead from the ceiling. Undeniably, I begin to ask some mental questions, one prominently being why I felt a drip under a canopy! I look up, and to my surprise, a crimson stain began to seep through the roofi- what dripped onto my forehead was blood!

    Another drip falls, but ends up on my shoulder. The metallic smell hits me immediately, pushing me aback for a short moment. I back away from the canopy, trying to observe the whole scenario. Before I can even see anything, a body drops right in front of me, making a terrifying sound onto the pavement. I stoop down to try and see how much damage the person took, but as soon as I touched the body, it was ice cold.

      I'm touching a completely dead body.

     For a moment, I can't find my voice. I can't even make inaudible sounds. I can't even think. I stand in front of the poor victim, staring at its corpse, hoping that the cause of this wretched act isn't anywhere near me. As I slowly look up for an answer, I notice a figure on the top of the roof, peering at me, knife in hand. Then, as this figure makes its way down. Then, as my feet start to back me up. Then, only then, I realize that as the suddenly male assassin makes his way toward me, I suddenly am aware of my voice, as well as my legs catching up with reality.

    I open my mouth, turn around, prepare for a long run, and finally, I scream. Between the whistling of the wind and the rapid sound of my heartbeat in my ears, I almost couldn't hear the pounding footsteps of the figure running for me, for my blood.

                                                                    ~~~~~~~

    Car horns and flashing lights resonate through my ears and eyes, Making my feelings a blur. I don't think I'm getting tired. Can I get away from him? I scream "help" for the third time, as I run for my life. 

    Eventually, I begin to slowly run out of steam and my lungs start to burn, along with my legs tingling. I feel myself get dizzy. I try my best to stay running, but I can't move. I have to move. I have to move. I have to move. Have to move.... Those same words begin to circle within me, and they are the last things I hear within my mind...

                                                                ~~~~~~~~