Blob Fish!

Registration

Mom was a tad displeased when she learned I wanted to be registered at Sinial High. She asked, "Why? I thought you weren't interested in going." But after using my rather impressive persuasive skills she finally (albeit begrudgingly) complied.

It took a while to get registered seeing as we had to document all of the places we had moved. It got to a point where one of Barnes's computers that we borrowed was literally stroking out and we had to use a different one.

At the end of the long process, though, I was told to begin school next Monday. Not a lot happens in our family that's worth celebrating besides holidays and birthdays since nothing really happens in our lives. So as a toast to starting new school year in a new home I decided to make us dinner (and unfortunately Barnes as well.)

To put it simply, Barnes'- our kitchen is a mess. The cupboards are filled top to bottom with pots and pans, and if you open the doors too quickly appliances will tumble out in an avalanche of metal and plastic. It's a war zone every time you enter the kitchen.

The pantry is stuffed with canned and junk foods, and the fridge has so many old cartons of milk it wreaks. Does milk even have a scent? Barnes' is defiling the laws of nature.

The wooden counters are smooth but stained in odd patterns. Whenever I come in here I see Cool-Aid stains and think someone died.

I grab a chicken from the fridge and smell it. There's a bit of mold but I can easily scrape it off if I try. I pop it in the oven after preparing it and head for my room, bringing the chicken's timer along with me, all the while wondering what this school would be like. Were the teachers nice? Would the classes be boring? Would the students be as God-awful as I've heard from Barnes?

I decided I'm not going to take his word for it. Who knows what else goes on inside his head. I'm sure the proper information gets jumbled around.

I plop myself on my bed, my bundles of blankets nestling around me. I stare up at the ceiling, sighing so deeply it's like I'd been holding my breath for hours (which I kind of had been, sitting so close to Barnes during lunch).

I observe the plastic planets hanging from the white plaster above me, Jupiter swaying in the breeze. I close my eyes and my mind begins to wander.

Laying there

Could there be different forms of life far out?

All alone

Maybe. I mean, the universe is infinite, there's gotta be something out there.

Everyone's downstairs, maybe you should join them.

I begin to drift off.

But he's not

It feels as though gravity has abandoned me as I float into sleep; into space.

He won't ever be there. Not anymore.

Life outside of earth runs around in my head.

It's your fault, you know.

In my dreams my dad is with me. And as we sit together on top of the moon, we admire the universe together side by side.

But my dreams leave me as always and I'm left awake with tears in my eyes.

He did it because of you.