The Faith of a Mustard Seed

Chapter Four

     BONG....BONG......BONG.....BONG......shh...what time is it? BONG......BONG.... Gah just shut up already. I don't wanna get up...too early. BONG...BONG.....BONG.......

      KNOCK....KNOCK....

     Go away I'm sleeping

      "Nathaniel Christopher Sea, It is past time to get up you are going to be late for school." Nathan's Mom shouted from the doorway of Nathan's room.

      "Five more minutes." Nathan mumbled into his pillow. Nice warm blankets, nice soft pillow, nice warm bed I am one of you. I'll not move, yep, yep, yep.

      Nathan lay submerged into his bed when all of a sudden THUNK. Nathan opened his eyes and glared bleary up at his Mom who had pulled the pillow out from underneath his head. "Mom, why did you do that?"

      "Don't give me that look young man. You may be getting by sleeping all day on the weekend, but it is Thursday morning and you have school so get up, get dressed, and get headed that way. If I have to come in here again I'll be bringing a bucket full of ice cold water, am I understood?"

      "Yes, Ma'am." Dream crusher.

      "Good, now get a move on." His Mom then turned and left the room.

       Nathan laid there and was almost back to sleep when.....BONG....BONG.....BONG.... Ugh....fine I'm up, I'm up. He reached over grabbed his phone shutting off his alarm. Stupid alarm, stupid phone, stupid school, stupid, stupid, just stupid. Nathan grumbled to himself rolling out of bed and getting ready for school.

     Once ready for school Nathan stood in front of the his bedroom mirror trying to find some sign that his sleepless nights were making him look on the outside like he felt on the inside, but to his surprise he couldn't find any. All he could see was his messy brown hair, dark blue eyes, and slightly freckled skin.

     There were no shadows underneath his eyes that reflected he hardly ever truly slept without nightmares. His eyes looked normal almost peaceful instead of showing how much at war he was with himself torn between crying all the time and being strong for the people that he cared about the most. Even though he rarely ventured outside of his room his skin still clung to its slight tan that he had gotten that past summer with all the trips he and his cousin had taken to the pool.

      Standing there Nathan wished something would look amiss. Wishing that somehow somebody would see that even though he pretended that everything was okay, it wasn't and he didn't know how to get to where it was. How do you move on when everything you ever cared about in the world is ripped away from you? How do you just pick up and keep going? How can you forgive yourself for killing the person you loved the most in the world? How?

      Sighing knowing that no one would ever understand or even see his inner struggle Nathan grabbed his backpack and headed out of his room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where his parents were already gathered eating breakfast. Both looked up and smiled at him when he entered.

      "See dear, he got up without the bucket of water." Nathan's Dad chuckled looking sideways at his wife. "Morning Son, rough night?"

      "Morning Dad, Mom. Yeah it kinda was. I got woke up in the middle of the night because of our new neighbors moving in." Nathan yawned stretching. Well that's not the only reason, but I'm not telling them that.

      "I thought I heard something last night. Didn't I tell you I heard something last night Chris?" Nathan's Mom looked expectantly at his Dad.