My Life As I Know It

Chapter 1: First Day of School

Moving on was never something Madison Wells wanted to do. She was so used to clinging to the memories of her past. The sky looked dark and gloomy, which foreshadowed the impending storm. It unfortunately matched her mood as well. Tears poured from her blue irises just like rain on a cool fall day. Being deleted from someones life hurt, even with each passing day. Madison checked her alarm clock. It read 6:00 A.M., which meant no time to worry about what cannot be undone. She focused herself to get ready for school. She got herself ready in record time. Her dark brown hair still slightly disheveled, but with her mood, it was good enough for today. Madison wore her favorite 5SOS white hoodie with Youngblood written over it in purple, dark wash jeans, and black converse. 

Today wasn't going to be easy, but she knew she'd have her best friends Katie and Sam to get her through the day. Madison was grateful to have these two by her side. They'd been best friends since Middle School, and they were her confidants whenever things got tough. Madison checked her phone to see some new text messages. One from Katie and one was from her mom. Katie texted her, "Hey want a ride with me and Sam?" Her mom's text was, "Hey sweetie I hope you have a good first day of school! :)" Madison declined the ride with her friends as she felt like a mess today. She needed to just be by herself for the drive to school as she had a lot to think about. Madison thought about her mom's optimism and really hoped some of it would rub off on her, but she had doubts it would today of all days.  She grabbed her blueberry Eggo waffles from the toaster and devoured it along with some vanilla chai tea. The large black hallway clock read 7:20 A.M., which meant she needed to leave immediately to make it to school with some spare time. Madison always had a tendency to run late for practically everything, but with everything on her mind lately she knew she didn't need the added stress. With her books, backpack, and keys in hand she made her way outside to her red Chevy Malibu. 

On her drive over to school, Madison let herself daydream a scenario of a perfect oasis. Since her recent heartbreak, her dreams and unfortunately her nightmares started to become more vivid. More real than she ever thought possible. She didn't understand why, but something lured her to this place she daydreamed about.  A place where pain was tolerable, and life was manageable. The beeping of a car horn brought her back to reality. The street light had just turned green and apparently she waited a little to long to react for another driver's liking. Madison was just a few blocks away from West Lake High School at this point. She didn't know how she felt about that. Just as that thought hit, she caught a glimpse of something dark in visor. It looked like the shadow figure from her nightmare. Panicked she pulled to the curb as quickly as possible, and turned back to look at it. As soon as she did though, it was gone. Madison said to herself, "What the hell, am I losing my fucking mind right now?!" To try to confirm this she examined the seat where she saw the figure. Black soot was left behind in the seat. Madison was shaken by her discovery. She sped off and made it to her school in record time. 

School was a blur, but overall it went fine. To be honest, a lot better than Madison expected it to go. At least until lunch period. Her ex-guy friend David sneered at her from across the lunchroom. Katie saw this and being the friend that she is she shot the boy the middle finger, which made him scowl and look away. "Hey Maddy, don't worry about that dip shit. Real friends don't turn their backs on each other,"Katie replied as she placed her long blonde hair into a ponytail . Katie had a good point and as much as Madison didn't want to admit it David and her were never really true friends. He just enjoyed the praise and attention she gave him that was all, and when she didn't want to do that anymore he unfriended and blocked her out of his life. Katie waited for Madison to reply with concern visible in her hazel eyes. Madison still lost in thought responded back, "I know, but it'll take time for me to completely get over it".  Of her two besties, Katie and her were super close. She was the one to always voice her opinion. She was bold in what she had to say and also in her fashion choices as she donned a bold leopard shirt with black leather leggings.  Sam wanting to ease some of the tension piqued up, "Hey guess what bitches, we're all going to my Aunt's beach house in Florida during winter break, so no more sad faces okay. Time to start planning what stuff we want to do there girls". Unlike Katie who was always ready to take on drama, Sam was more likely to keep the peace. She was a good friend with a positive outlook on life regardless of what was happening. Her auburn hair styled in a pixie cut, and her kind eyes a light shade of green. She wore a simple purple v-neck tee and white skinny jeans.

The girls starting trading ideas of what stuff they would love to do in Florida during their break. The beach was a must on the list even though Katie interjected, "Isn't gonna be a bit cold for that?" "Katie why do you always gotta be pessimistic about everything? We're going to Florida so we gotta check out the beach! If anything we'll just get our feet wet rather than taking a dip in the water", Sam replied. Thinking about all the fun stuff they were going to have, Madison felt herself smile for the first time in what felt like forever. She hadn't realized how much of herself she lost in trying to be David's companion. Just then the bell rang announcing the end of lunch. Two more classes to get through: English and Science. At least the day was almost over, which was reassuring news for Madison. As soon as school was out she needed to see if she could figure out why she's seeing ominous dark shadows in her dreams and now her waking life. 

Madison rushed to get to her locker so she could change out her books. It was a pain in the butt lugging around heavy textbooks, so the possible change over to tablets was refreshing news for everyone, especially Madison. She grabbed her Science and English books with ease, and headed to upstairs to English. A minute after she found her seat in the middle of class, the 3 minute warning bell rung out. Although they were given 6 minutes passing time, it surely didn't seem like much when you had to make your way through 3 separate levels. 

English was Madison's favorite class of the day. They would start their poetry lesson tomorrow that ranged from Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson to Robert Frost. It also helped that Mr. Fillmore made English fun and interesting. He believed the first day of school shouldn't be strenuous so instead of worrying about lesson plans today they would just color and write about the fun stuff they did on summer vacation. She heard from the upper-class men that he was an awesome teacher, and she would definitely agree with that. She decided to put her English textbook away since it wasn't need today, but as she did she noticed a strange drawing peering out from the book. Madison pulled it out to further examine it. It showed a dark figure with bright white eyes peering back at her. A messy but unmistakable message was etched below, "WE ARE WATCHING YOU". 

Madison tried really hard to not have a panic attack right then and there. She placed the frightening message in her pink journal to deal with when she was alone. The only bad thing about English is that her two best friends were not in it, but at least next hour she'd have Sam in her class. Hopefully having one of her besties by her side would make her feel less freaked out. Madison proceeded to finish the assignment at hand, and tried to think about the good things that happened over summertime. Her favorite memory had been when she went to MN State Fair with Katie and Sam. Riding the tall swing ride that spun you around and eating Bananas Foster at Hamline Church dining hall were two of her favorite things from going there. Madison chuckled at the memory of Katie saying," I hate this ride so much and I think I'm gonna be sick. Why in the world do you enjoy this torture." She stayed on that train of thought and her bad omen started to feel less important. At least for the moment anyway.

The class seemed to end a little too soon just as Madison was finally starting to forget all the bad stuff happening in her life. Next up was Science lab. Madison spotted Sam on her way there, and went over to walk with her the rest of the way. "Maddy I'm so jealous of you right now. You got the best English teacher and I got stuck with that old, grumpy fart Mr. Evans", Sam said with a frown. "That sucks Sammy, I've heard he's a really tough teacher", said Madison with concern for her friend. "Yep you got that right. I was asking someone for a pencil at the beginning of class and he snapped at me, and said you need to be more prepared Ms. Lynch. I won't dock you for today, but in the future I might", Sam said with a frustrated tone. "That's ridiculous Sammy, I'm sorry you got to deal with him for the year," Madison replied with a hug. 

Science went by without any issues for either of them. Mr. Gavin was a serious, but fun teacher. The main task for today was finding out our lab partners for the semester. Luckily for both Madison and Sam they were going to lab partners, so that was a major relief. "Thank goodness for some good news today", said Sam with a sigh of relief. Madison was thinking the same thing as everything else in her life seemed to be turning upside down.