Fawkes

High School: An Unexpectedly Sticky Place

That night, I was up with my thoughts for a long time. I was up until the watch on my wrist read 2:30 and I decided that I couldn't stay in my room any longer. I got up and headed to the training room, where I began throwing knives at the target.

I started close, but gradually did it from different angles and heights to make it more difficult for me. I threw knives until the target was full of them, at which point I glanced at the giant tunnel made for zeta tubing.

I could leave. Right then I could leave. I could zeta across the city and run. I could maybe pull it off and be free. Maybe, in the dead of the night, I could escape.

But did I want to? I hadn't really given this life a chance. I hadn't started school yet. I hadn't started regular training. I hadn't even gone on a mission with the team.

I said I'd give this a chance, and I was up for it. I wasn't about to throw this all away.

By 3:30, I was hungry, so I found the kitchen and ate some cereal directly from the box. I searched through all the cupboards and drawers and memorized where everything was.

I was procrastinating against sleep, but I knew that I should probably get a few hours since I had school tomorrow. I dreaded sleep, it was an endless abyss of darkness and nightmares. It was an opportunity for my messed up brain to dig through my worst memories and create an illusion in my head. It was a chance for the Joker to come back and haunt me through thoughts. It was a time where I got sucked into the troubles of my rotten past where I couldn't defend myself like I could in real life. There wasn't one night I could remember that didn't end up with me waking up from a nightmare, coated in cold sweat with a scream at the tip of my tongue.

Nevertheless, I headed back to my room and flopped onto my messy bed. It was the softest bed I had ever slept in. Even better than the one at the Manor. I felt as if I'd sink right to the floor, and as I pulled the covers over my body, sleep caught up to me and I let my mind drift. It wasn't long before I was out, visions of haunting grins and pale skin flashing behind my eyes lids.

*****

I woke up two hours later, a breath caught in my throat and my eyes snapping open. The image of the taser that had been flying towards my stomach disappeared as I rubbed my face and threw the covers off of me.

I let the nightmare slip from my memory, because if I focused on it then it wouldn't leave my mind for the rest of the day. I picked the sleep out of my eyes and grabbed my stupid school uniform from the floor. It was just past six o'clock in the morning, so I took my time with my shower and changed reluctantly. It was a weird look on me, considering I hardly wore anything that would draw any sort of unwanted attention. The white shirt made me realize how dark my hair really was, and it took me a while to figure out how to put the red tie on properly.

At seven o'clock, I made my way through the halls and into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Connor and M'gann were there, chatting quietly with each other. I ignored both of them, because I was still angry at M'gann for invading my thoughts, and Connor wasn't someone I wished to have a hearty conversation with this early in the morning.

M'gann gave me a sorrowful gaze, but didn't say anything, for which I was grateful. Connor was glowering at me, and I also didn't look his way as I crossed the kitchen to grab an orange.

My chewing was the only sound in the kitchen. M'gann was staring at her hands and Connor was scowling at a space on the wall across from him. The silence was awkward, and it made me smile. After finishing my orange I threw the peels on the table in front of Super-Baby and stalked out of the kitchen smugly. My annoying dress shoes clicked unceasingly against the hard flooring as I collected my stuff and brushed my fingers through my wavy hair until it wasn't as tangly.