Wonderland Weirdness

Week 1

The day before the city shut down I got into a fight with my friends. The things that gave me peace weren't peaceful anymore. I thought that even if I screwed up, I could try and fix it. Damien taught me otherwise. He was always the one to snap me to reality. Especially  a month into quarantine, I started losing my grounding. 

                                                                                         DAMIEN   

ME: Hey 

                                                                                                                  Hi  :DAMIEN                                                

     ME: Can we call

                Sure I'm not doing anything important. Biology can suck it :DAMIEN

My phone buzzes rapidly on my bed. After about the third ring, I answer, still typing up homework. 

"Hey, did you see Armani's work? She has me drowning in equations." 

Damien looks unamused, at me, raising an eyebrow at my question. Apparently it was a stupid one. 

"Yea,  I got it done on Monday.  I can help you if you want it."

I just roll my eyes and continue working on the current problem. "Ya know, not everyone can be a genius you know?"

He just stares for a minute then turns his head back to whatever he's watching. We both sat there in silence for a while. 

He didn't really even speak much. 

Damien is practical, no funny business kinda guy. He likes action and mob movies and his favorite color is red because he thinks it's a dominant and aggressive color. (He's not wrong about aggressive, I don't know about dominant)

Me on the other hand, I love impractical jokes, and goofing off. I'm self conscious half the time because I think everyone hates me and I should give up trying to be a functioning human. (Not that I will or won't. That's undecided between the voices in my head. My angel and demon more accurately known as).    

But, we've been best friends...kinda. Take best friends with a grain of salt because we weren't always friends. But it doesn't matter. It won't matter. 

"Kip...Kip!" My eyes snap to the screen with staring eyes, my mind taking its' time catching up.

"Y-yea?" 

He looks concerned, almost frightened. "You were out of it for a few minutes. I almost had to start screaming. You okay?"

I just nod and refocus on the stack of homework against me. "Kip don't ignore me. I know you have a lot to do but, c'mon. Please talk to me. You only do that when something's wrong. So what's wrong?"

I just nod and continue typing. I don't really focus on the work in front of me. I just follow the instructions numbingly to the letter. 

I hear Damien shouting my name through the headset. He knows I hear him. I keep ignoring the shouts. 

"Kip...Kip I know you hear me and I know things are wack so, please talk to me." 

I finally can't take it. "You want to know what's wrong?" I murmur. "Everything is backwards, I can't catch a break with the constant work piling up and since my parents are working from home..." I don't finish. Silently tears are rolling down my cheeks. 

"They're yelling again...aren't they?" I just nod and look down at the keyboard. 

  "Kip, do you want to come to my house? You know my parents are more than accepting to have you here. They wouldn't mind you coming over. They love you like their own kid."

I just shake my head no. I really couldn't put him and his parents through that.  For some context,  our families are middle class, so technically, Damien's parents could take me in. But with the way my parents are,  even though they yell and scream sometimes and, make it up with material items, and are sometimes confusing beyond belief...they'd still call the police if I went missing. 

Either way, I don't want to be a burden. 

"Kip, I know your head is in the clouds so, put your anchors on and come back to me." 

I shake my head and return to see Damien staring with wide blue eyes. 

"You know I can't do that. You know what'll happen." I turn my eyes away from the screen.

"Alright well, get off the computer Kip. It's almost 3 am. We all need sleep. And you especially because, you're burning yourself out."

I looked at him puzzled. "No I'm not. I'm just a bit tired. I...-"

"You have a lot of work, I know but I see that glazed look over your eyes. You are stressed and overworked. Now turn off the computer or so help me I will come over and turn it off." 

I slightly chuckle "Fine, fine. I'm off." The blue screen turns to black as I get out of my desk chair and collapse face first on my bed. "Good now, set up the phone and fall asleep."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me. Fall asleep on the phone Kip."

I slightly tilt my head like a dog. " Why?"

"To make sure you're actually sleeping instead of working your ass off like you have for the past month. Now, SLEEP!!"

"Fine, fine." I say with a slight smile. 

I slowly crawl under my blankets and turn off the light. My T.V. is still playing a cartoon of something. I'm not sure what it is at this point. 

I don't remember when I fell asleep but I'm pretty sure it was almost 4 am. I don't even remember closing my eyes. I just remember blindly watching the T.V. and then black. But as cliche as that sounds, it's what happened and at this point, this shit needs to work out.

I don't want to keep staying in this house longer than I have to. But I'll be okay. It'll work out eventually.