Stars on Fire

Dark yet darker

6   M O N T H S   E A R L I E R
2am, Monday, New York

The streetlights outside Amelia's bedroom window creeped in and poured onto her floor and bed, turning them an ugly orange. She could hear the loud clanging of yet another beer bottle thrown into a bin by the drunk neighbour next door. He was always up at this time, drinking away the memories of his ex wife. She could hear the distant honking of an angry driver, most likely stuck in the famous New York traffic. She sighed into her cold pillow and closed her eyes.

Loud voices echoed down the empty city streets and bounced off Amelia's window as she drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep. She dreaded waking up at 6am again, but she knew she had to. The thought of her alarm blaring triggered a dream about the inescapable sun rising up into the sky. One of her friends once told her, a new day, a new dawn, but every day seemed the same to her. Like a record, playing over and over in the distance, never stopping, never getting quieter, never changing.

6:15am, Monday, New York

Amelia woke up with a jolt. Her dreams replayed in her head one last time and then faded into the depths of her memory and were lost forever. She wondered why they disappear, why we forget the escape we create in our minds every time we fall asleep.

She looked at the time and sat up, looking out her dust- covered window. The sun was a plain white again, and the sky was a revolting grey. She got up and went to the bathroom to have a shower. The bathroom floor was cold, ice cold, and she shivered as her bare feet rested on it. She opened the shower door and stepped in, and turned it on. The freezing water hit her pale skin and then soon warmed up. The steam clung to the windows like snow to a floor, and she drew a small heart into it.

5 minutes later

She stepped out of the shower onto the mat which covered a small part of the dirty cream floor, and grabbed the towel. After she was dry she went back to her room and put on her uniform: a grey loose skirt, a button up white blouse and a navy blue jacket, along with a navy blue and grey tie. She went downstairs, had a small breakfast and left the house.

On the way to school she saw a cat, with terrific orange eyes and smooth black fur. It looked like it was better treated than her. She decided to leave the cat alone, but it stared at her tauntingly as she walked by. After about 10 minutes of walking while listening to music, she saw Britney and Jonathan waiting for her by the park which they used to play on as children. Amelia smiled and waved at the pair, and they waved back. They walked the rest of the way to school together, chatting about how strange the last two days have felt to them.

As they reached school, they noticed the gates, which were once a cheerful purple, had been painted black. Amelia knew something was up, she just didn't know what yet.