The Ripple Effect

Simple

Daniel woke up on the cold morning of December 3rd to the sound of his blaring alarm, as he did every morning that he had school, extending his arm out to turn the obnoxious device off. The boy sat up before mentally composing himself and beginning the day. First, as always, was to get dressed, followed by breakfast, then brushing his teeth and gathering his school supplies before running out to the bus stop to be taken to school.

Nothing on this morning differed from Daniel's norm and everything, for more or for less, was the same aside from a feeling of guilt inside of him. Daniel wasn't sure on what had brought this feeling to him, whether it was because of ditching his friends to talk to Acacia the day before or if he had forgotten something very important and his subconscious was the only thing aware of it. He tried to simply ignore the feeling so it wouldn't eat him alive on the way to school.

Daniel arrived at school seconds before the bell rang, as usual, and began to walk to his biology class with his new biology partner. He arrived at the class on time and sat in his spot, waiting for Acacia to arrive. She wasn't much later than him, but as she walked through the door and Daniel made eye contact with her, he could feel unspoken conflict between them.

"Hello, sir," Acacia said brightly as she sat down next to him, "How are you this fine morning?"

"I'm good, thanks for asking," Daniel said as the feeling of guilt grew inside of him, "How are you?"

"No need to thank me," Acacia said with a smile, "I'm doing good, as well."

"That's good to hear," Daniel said with a tint of negativity in his tone. Acacia clearly picked up on it, though she chose not to say anything as whatever was plaguing the boy seemed to be something he wanted to keep to himself.

After the two greeted each other class began and happened just as it did before, a normal class with the occasional requested assistance from Acacia. Save for a slight off feeling throughout the period, overall, class was normal.

The rest of the day went as per normal, and eventually the feeling of guilt inside of Daniel disappeared leaving him to the usual way he felt. Eventually lunch came and Daniel paid for his usual smorgasbord of inedibility and met with Acacia at the table the two were at yesterday.

"Hey," Daniel said as he sat down, across from the girl. She had a different lunch from yesterday, but was reading the same paperback book as the day before.

"Oh, hello," Acacia said in surprise, as she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings while reading.

"What book are you reading?" Daniel asked out of curiosity.

"Oh," Acacia started showing him the cover, "It's called 'Sideways in Time.'"

"What's it about?"

"Hmmm," Acacia hummed, "I wouldn't want to ruin any of the story for you. It's an excellent read, so I'll lend it to you when I finish it and you can read it to find out."

Daniel lightly laughed to himself, "Sounds fair."

The two then went through the same motions normal people go through during conversation, never touching on any out of the ordinary topics. They talked through the entire lunch period until the bell to return to class rang.

"Hey, ummm," Acacia started as Daniel picked up his paper tray with leftover food and started walking towards the trashcan. Her face was down, but her voice made it clear that something was distressing her and she was about to confront it.

"What's up?" Daniel asked, stopping in his tracks upon hearing Acacia. There was a long silence between the two. People bustled around them, going to class as they should. Finally, Acacia looked up with a fake smile.

"Never mind," she dismissed, "It's nothing."

"If you say so," Daniel awkwardly agreed before resuming.

The rest of the day went like usual with the two going to the remainder of their classes and eventually boarding their respective vehicles to return home. When Daniel arrived home he felt like he was missing something inside. He continued to go throughout his normal routine upon returning home, but when it came time to sleep he lay in the darkness thinking. No specific topic came to his mind, but he was unable to sleep regardless of how hard he tried. "What the hell was up with me today?" Daniel whispered to himself in the darkness.

Every last thing seemed off. In reality everything was normal, but to Daniel nothing was normal. His emotions seemed to twist at their own will throughout the day, regardless of what was happening. He was left in the darkness, thinking about everything that happened and what could have provoked his random bipolar fits, until eventually he felt a release. With that release, he closed his eyes, and was finally allowed to fall into a slumber.