distorted dreams

chapter one;

the house was silent, at least the upstairs portion was. In a little room on the far end of the house was the only noise. and that noise was the sound of nimble fingers tapping against a keyboard.

a teenager sat cross-legged on their bed, the bed sheets ruffled up and scattered around. their eyes darted to their bedside clock, nervously checking the time.

friday, december 8th. 6:45 am.

the teen bit their lip, a bad habit of theirs, and looked back at their computer monitor. the black cursor blinked, beckoning for them to continue writing. usually, they would continue. they've even skipped school days just writing. but they decided they really ought to go to school on this particular day, and shut their computer.

as though she had predicted the choice, the teen's mother called immediately after. "JAY? TIME TO GET UP-" she shouted, her voice echoing up the stairwell.

jay groaned softly, rolling their eyes in annoyance. they slowly pushed them self out of bed, watching as a pillow and blanket dropped to the already messy floor. they made a mental note to pick it up later, but that'd probably never happen.

jay shuffled over to their closet, yawning loudly. they didn't even have to change however, since they had already slept in their clothes. In fact, they did such every day. it wasn't very sanitary most likely, but that's the way they did things.

"you're a mess, jay-" a whisper echoed in their head. jay shook it off, trying to just proceed with their daily routine.

they grabbed a dark grey sweatshirt off of the closet floor, hastily pulling it over their head. their hair stuck out in all directions, looking more like a dark brown porcupine rather than a human's hair. they knew their mother would have a fit if they saw it this way, so they started searching for a hairbrush.

they passed a lot of things on the floor- a dress that hadn't been worn since jay was a little kid, many empty coffee cups and bottles, half eaten bags of candy, but never a hairbrush. jay sighed heavily, laying their face on a stray throw pillow.

they reached under their bed, which was usually not a good idea, and began patting around for the brush. after brushing up against some unknown objects, jay finally felt the handle of a brush and smiled.

they pulled it out from beneath the bed and began ripping it through their hair. while it did end up removing all the tangles, jay's appearance wasn't any better. their hair was incredibly fluffed up now, and it made them want to scream.

they stood up, dragging them self into the bathroom and running their hand under some warm water. they slicked their hair down as best as they could, staring at their reflection with a frown. the dark bags under jay's eyes were becoming more and more visible, meaning their mom would probably get onto them for it.

jay sighed again, which seemed to be a reoccurring sound they were making this morning. they didn't bother doing any other hygiene routines, instead just walking out of the bathroom with an annoyed expression.

they walked downstairs, looking around for any of their family members. they spotted their face as they walked over to her.

"morning mom-" jay said, trying their best to make their voice sound cheery.

their mother turned to face jay, giving her usual warm smile. "morning jayleen!"

jay cringed at the use of their full name, but tried not to let it bother them. "are we having breakfast this morning or...?" they trailed off, looking behind their mother.

she shook her head. "i was going to stop at a donut shop on the way to school. you can have a coffee or something-"

jay frowned, blinking. they knew that the drive to school wasn't nearly enough time to finish a coffee and eat enough to not feel sick. and they couldn't take their food into class, or their teacher would get all uppity about it.