Blinded

Chapter 1 - New Day

A young man, around the age of 16, laid peacefully in his bed, starring through the sleepiness in his eyes as the alarm clock before him buzzed with excitement. He clenched his face and slowly raised one arm from under the covers, slamming his fist down on top of the obnoxious cacophony. He struggled to lift his head off of the pillow underneath him, and rubbed his mucky eyes to better see the clock. "7:01" he read to himself in a deep, groggy voice. As the time on the clock settled into his freshly awakened mind, a sudden burst of anxiety struck him. "OH MY GOD... I HAVE TO GET TO SCHOOL." He threw the crinckled up, warm sheets off from on top of him, and tossed himself out of bed. One foot after the other, he ran over to the bathroom to freshen up for the day ahead. He stood, restless, in front of the slightly scratched mirror in front of him. Before him, he saw a thin, yet fit boy, with ear length, dark wavy hair tangled up in a mangled mess at the top of this head. He ruffled it around a bit before gelling it just a bit in a backwards motion.  He moved his eyes down just a bit until he met his own two,  soulful green eyes. They were still glistening with tears from just waking up, and he rubbed them once more to rid of the substance. He moved his eyes down to his lips, which were reddish, and wounded. He rose his left hand up, meeting it to his lip and gently tapped the area around it, then flinched at the stabbing pain that followed directly after. He dropped his hand lifelessly and took one more look at the reflection in the mirror before groaning and trudging out of the bathroom. He turned his head over to his night stand, where he saw a pair of khaki jeans, a black, short sleeved button up shirt and his favorite pair of boots patiently waiting for him. He snatched the clothing items off of the bed stand and quickly started to change. He carefully lifted his night shirt off of his slightly tanned body,  revealing a series of bruises. He refused to look down at the injury and continued to carefully remove the rest of his clothing. After throwing on his shoes, he grabbed the bookbag leaning against his night stand, and swung open his bedroom door, leading to a perpetual hallway, which eventually connected to a series of spiralling stairs. As he made it halfway down the stairs, a very familiar voice called out to him impatiently. "Donovan!! C'mon, the bus will be here any minute now!" Donovan increased his pace down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mothers voice was echoing from. He leaned over the counter top across his mother, reaching out and grabbing an apple from the bin on the table. "Im walking today." Donovan then tossed the apple in the air, catched it in his hand and turned away before breaking eye contact with his mother, taking a bite out of the apple. He started towards the door, then looked over his shoulder as he was walking out, raising his free hand in the air, "Bye mom, love you." His mothers expression lightened up and turned more sympathetic. "Today's a new day sweetie, I love you too." She waved as Donovan turned his torso around to face her. His hand was on the doorknob as he smiled at his mother and nodded, before heading out the door to face the new day.