New Eden- The New Eden series book#1 (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 1 "Bad day confirmed."

Day 1

I hated the day the moment I opened my eyes. My chest felt heavy. Like a pro wrestler had sucker punched me in the diaphragm. But I knew that it was just my asthma acting up.

I sat up in bed and inhaled. I felt my throat tighten as air tried to fill my lungs. It hurt.

I reached under my pillow and pulled out my inhaler, uncapped it and put it to my lips. I pressed the plunger and inhaled the medication. My body relaxed as the pressure in my chest suddenly lightened. I could breathe again. I hated my asthma. It was my biggest weakness and usually it spelled the start of a bad day if it struck me so early in the morning. I sighed and rolled out of bed.

I'm not a morning person. The sun seemed to know this and shone bright rays of sunshine onto my face just to piss me off. It was seven twenty-eight. Great! My alarm didn't go off. Class started at eight-thirty. I was going to be late for school.

Bad day confirmed.

It took me twenty minutes to shower and dress. I pulled on a Star Wars T-shirt and jeans and checked my reflection. My hair was cut low and brushed neatly. My reflection showed brown skin burned a tinge darker by the sun over the last week. By the time I reached downstairs mom was already dressed and on to her second cup of coffee.

"So you finally woke up." she said plainly. She sat at the kitchen table behind her Mac browsing through an online designer magazine.

I noticed that the sink was piled with dirty wares. She cooked, I realized. Mom rarely cooked. After Dad died, her job as an interior decorator took up a lot of her time. Being a single parent left her with the responsibility of paying off the mortgage and putting food on the table. As the only child, everything else fell on me. I did the cooking, most of the chores and any home improvement task that came along the way. For Mom to cook meant that she got a break from her busy schedule and was in a good mood. Good for her, she deserved it.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I grabbed a mug and halved it with coffee. I took a gulp of the dark brew and grimaced. It was strong, with no sugar. Just the way my mom liked it. I would've sweetened it, but I was already late.

"You're almost an adult. I shouldn't have to wake you." she replied matter-of-fact. I grumbled something sarcastic under my breath. My watch read a few minutes to eight. I didn't have time to talk. I grabbed a granola bar from the cupboard and was halfway out the door when mom called out behind me. "You didn't cut the lawn again. Make sure that you cut it when you're back."

What was she talking about now? I did mow the lawn. But as I stepped out the kitchen door and into the yard, I saw what she meant. The lawn grass stood a good five inches out of the dirt.

The hell!

This didn't make sense. I DID cut the lawn the day before. There's no way that it could've grown back so fast. Short of someone coming in the middle of the night and ripping up the fresh cut lawn and replacing it with their over-grown mess of a yard, things didn't make sense.

I looked around suspiciously, almost expecting a camera crew from some prank tv show to be lurking by. Nothing. However, I did notice that the Thompsons, next door, and the Laks across the street seemed to have the same problem.

By the time I walked out to the bus stop I was convinced that something was wrong. Every yard I had passed was overgrown.

I would've put more thought into it, I mean, it was definitely weird. But the bus came and I boarded. Almost instantly my mind drifted to the day ahead. The drive to school was fifteen minutes long and I usually spent the time planning. I had a French test. The vocabulary part was going to be a breeze. I was a natural with the accent. The grammar part was going to be a bitch though. I also had an essay due in English class, which was already done. I also had math-