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Josh sat awake his knees clutched to his chest. The darkness no longer loomed in the room casting a shadows on the action figures, toy trains and cars that lay on the floor looking like a messy 5 year old had left them there for his mum to clean up. And that's exactly what it was.. apart from the mum never came to clean up the toys.. and the boy never came back to his room to play again.
The room had always been a painful reminder to Josh. It reminded him of what he was missing. What he wanted more than he'd ever wanted before at this time in his life. Something the phantom had stripped him of all those year ago just as a innocent little boy.
The room was filled with a warm orange light glow as the first sun ray slithered it's way through the old dinosaur blinds. It shed light on the shadowy corners, melting the demonic faces off of the action toys and showing the display of colourful dinosaur toys on the walls.
Josh looked around clasping a small plastic dinosaur in his hand. Josh sighed pushing the small dinosaur into the pocket of his jeans. Slowly getting up gripping onto his leg which stung with pins and needles from sitting there on the ground for so long in the same silent position. The all to familiar sense of numbness kicked in as he brushed dust off his jeans. He gripped the cold metal of his crutches that acted as a replacement for his non functioning leg. The doctor said 'It'll only be temporary you'll up and walking on your own in no time'. You'd think there was nothing wrong with that if that hadn't been when Josh was 7. He is 17 now. A whole decade had past and nothing changed his leg. Still as useless as always.
He stumbled along his cold metal crutches too cold for his liking as he placed himself on top of his own bed letting the door spotty shut over not close just shut over to let the hall way air get into the stuffy little room. He barely slept in his bed, scratch that he barely slept full stop, that's why it looked untouched and fresh all the time, because he didn't actually use the bed at all.
"Joshy?" A little voice said from behind the door "Mama said you should get ready for school today" the little voice said sticking their small tanned hands through the gap in the door and the doorframe. "Okay okay I'll be down in a minute" Josh sighed. The small hands disappeared from the door and the child the voice belonged to let out a small giggle before skipping down the hall.
'Today's gonna be nothing short of shitty' Josh thought as he pulled off his hoodie replacing it with a nice yellow shirt. His mother and auntie always said that yellow suited him. It made sense it was the same tone his honey coloured eyes were and contrasted nicely with his tanned skin. Plus yellow was just a nice colour sure it didn't help the bullying but yellow was a happy colour surely he'd get something good happen to him, right?
But until that happens he was left alone. Josh sighed pushing himself out the door his crutches softly mimicking eerily small footsteps as he trudged down the hall. It was time for the daily struggle of going down the stairs. It was fine to go up with support but going down was a cause for chaos. People always take their ability to go up and down stairs for granted. Josh used to. Not anymore he missed the freedom he had back then, but it's only a tiny droplet of freedom now.
After a struggle and a few slip ups he was finally at the bottom of the stairs at least at school they had lifts which made getting to and from class the slightest bit easier. A tiny child waited for him at the dinner table.
"Joshy!" The child exclaimed slipping off her chair to hug him. "Good morning to you too Jenny" Josh laughed a little as Jenny wrapped her arms around his working leg. "Can I go sit down now Jenny?" Josh said trying to loosen the grip of the child's hands around his legs. 5 year olds are way stronger than Josh could remember but then again he was probably a flimsy 5 year old.
"All right all right, Jenny back to the table for breakfast" My auntie called as she walked into the room a plate of eggs and bacon in hand for Jenny.
"Ah, good morning hun" my auntie smiled to me "You ready for your first day of school for the first time in a while?"
I gently shook my head knowing that she'd send me anyway no matter what I protested. She'd already let me stay off to miss inductions that I'd always take to practice the new routes to my new classes but I didn't feel like going this year. She just let out a small laugh "C'mon silly you better get some food and get out to the bus or you'll be late on your first day!"
I give her a confused look peering down at my old yellow children's watch '6:45am' it read. "It's only 6:45. I won't be late"
"Knowing your luck you will be late, now go sit. I've made bacon and eggs for breakfast"
Josh let out a sigh of defeat laying the crutches on the ground next to his assigned chair at the dinner table. Knowing his luck he was probably going to be late despite the early start. He didn't even sleep most nights just sat or lay wide awake and he was still late. It made no sense really but whatever Karma was just out to get him and ruin his life.
Josh glanced up at the now eating Jenny. For a 5 year old she had a ravenous appetite. She could probably eat 5x more than what he could eat in a day. The next thing he knew a plate of bacon and eggs was placed in front of him. The food had been arranged to make a smiley face. He couldn't help but smile at the fact his auntie tried so hard to make his experience less painful than it was as best as she could. And he respected that. Even if it ment serving him meals in the shapes of faces in hopes that maybe he'd at least eat half of it. He probably wouldn't be able to hold the food down later though. He was always torn at a crossroad.
Crossroads were always there they always loomed there. Josh experienced these crossroads everyday ones that if not handled carefully would result in chaos and pain.. just like they did 10 years ago 'but there's no time to think of that now' that's what his last therapist told him anyway. Crossroads loomed just like the twisted face of karma in the mirror holding a moving picture of a boy he'd imprisoned and taken away from the life that he once knew. The phantom of karma a demon in his mind Josh couldn't stomach the feeling of the demon watching his every move.
Everyone has a demon. Bound to them from birth. Only sometimes the demons win and take over. When a demon takes over they can cause tragedy. Despite seeming all powerful demons are repressed by happiness and love driving the demon out of someone is loving them with all your heart and having the love returned. But the phantom demon creature can always return to feed and play. It's just a game. A game that everyone is in. One nobody knows about. Apart from the odd ones out the freaks of society. A collective few that know they're there and some can even see them but usually by demon choice of course. It's especially weird when they start talking to you. It creeps me out anytime Karma tries to start a normal conversation right before causing chaos it's weird-
Josh felt a light tap on his shoulder snapping him back to reality
"You better eat up hun it's gonna be a long day today" his auntie smiled ruffling his hair with the same affection that a mother would have. Josh sighed putting some of the egg in his mouth before catching a glimpse of the phantom who he'd only ever known as Karma forcing him to swallow down the egg hard. It wasn't often that Karma was visible to him but sometimes when something bad was about to happen to him he'd catch a glimpse of the twisted phantom it was his way of telling him that something was going to change.. for the worst.
Thoughts filled Josh's head as he slid the plate of his food to the still hungry Jenny. What was this demon going to do now? Was he going to embarrass him in front of the whole school? Make a scene in front of the cool kids? There were millions of possibilities out there and this demon was capable of it all no matter how sinister or wicked it was.
Josh grabbed his crutches slinging his backpack over his back. 'Time for school' he let out a sigh 'Time to see what Karma has prepared for me today'.
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YOU ARE READING
Good Morning, Daisy
Teen Fiction«* ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ *» Josh isn't like the other teens his age. He wasn't good at sports, he was skinny and weak and couldn't even write a single word no matter how many letters. But Josh has always had a talent with acting. It was a language that he'd know...
