Masked Facade

Chapter 29: The One

Ryan's POV

Six years ago...

I always had a high opinion when it came to karma. But being on the receiving end of that shit without indulging in anything evil was freaking hell. For the last few months, I had only one person to torment rather than the entire student body. Well, torment in the sense, few technically harmless pranks here and there. I wasn't mother-flucking oblivious to that fact but what irks me the most is that the time period between then and now was two damn years. No one in their right and genius mind would dare to pull some shit with me after all those years.

The day started very merrily when an alarm clock, which isn't mine but was present in my place, went off at one a.m. in the morning. My entire neighborhood was enjoying the end of the day with a night of freaking good night sleep. While I was searching through my home frantically to cut off the damn alarm.

In my sleep induced haze, I traipsed from my bedroom to the living room downstairs. Flipping the couch didn't help the constant ringing of the alarm clock that rhythmed 'Jingle Bell' tune repeatedly. I looked inside the bookshelf, under the table that holds the TV, and no luck aided me when I made a mess out of the shoe cabinet.

Then ever so calmly, I stood there, in the middle of the living room and really listened to the annoying tune and to pinpoint the source. It was quite difficult at first because of the volume range of the same, but then I concentrated firmly enough to reach inside one of the drawers under the kitchen counter to find the devil.

The mockery with which the clock glared at me was more than enough to set my nerves on fire with ire. Lifting it, I inspected for any sort of clues to reach out to the damnable culprit but to no avail. And if I didn't give in to my slumber then probably I would kick a couple of asses in the field tomorrow.

I watched as the clock smashed against the wall with so much force that I was certain I did wake a few assholes from my neighborhood. My actions weren't justifiable a bit and I was aware of that. But the need to bring down whoever that son of a bitch was who messed with me was overpowering my senses from thinking straight. At the very last moment, my gaze fell on a piece of paper that appeared blank from the upper side. Picking it up and sliding my forefinger along the edges, I examined the sharp corners and when flipped, a kind of scenic image regarded me. Like it was cut out from an original image of a place with greenery standing out as the main aspect.

In a sleep induced haze, I dragged myself against the gravity pull and when my butt landed on the fluffy and comfy bed, my brain started scrutinizing the piece of paper with a partial image. Deciding to contemplate it the next day first thing in the morning, I let it stay on my nightstand and found my way under the duvet.

I slept peacefully meanwhile pretending as if I had no care in the world whatsoever. As if my head wasn't a chaotic mess after I ran away from Alice. As if I didn't complicate everything that I wanted with her. As if I didn't jeopardize any chance of being with her. So, I fell into a deep slumber for exactly 3000 seconds while kicking my ass mentally for ruining a life I always dreamed of.

"Ah, shit! At least you could have gone for better music, dammit!" I groaned into my pillow which was acting as a shield but not really as I could still hear the blaring of Justin Bieber's 'Baby' right inside my room from its source inside my Goddamn house.

Following the same routine, I found the next alarm clock inside the closet situated in my Dad's bedroom. Good thing, he wasn't present in the house. Otherwise, my old man would have grumbled like a kid denied his favorite candy for an entire day. The Rodriguez treasured sleep as if it was their possession. You mess with their precious sleep, then you mess up big time with them and the result wouldn't be pretty in any manner.