Chapter Text
The sound of static greeted my ears as I woke up.
My heavy eyelids open to a blank tv screen in front of me, black and white dancing on the screen. Without much thought, I lift my arm to grab the tv remote and press the “off” button.
The room immediately turns a golden yellow due to the sun set shining through the window. God how long was I asleep for?
The recliner I was sitting in groaned as I stood up to stretch.
The digital clock on the busted old microwave in the kitchen read 5:21 in bright green numbers.
Great, I took a two hour nap AND didn’t call in for soccer practice.
My heavy feet carry me to the dining room and to my school binder that held my health check form. My fingers grab the leaf of paper and my (still) tired eyes scan the sheet.
“All students are asked to submit this form as soon as possible to their home room teacher.
With the new discovery of Island Nemo this spring, our school is asked to submit the best students to go on a field trip to said island. We are taking only the best male and female of each grade.
By checking this box you give the school consent to take your child to Island Nemo. If you check this box, an interest packet will be mailed to your house the week of September 27th. Forms will need to be turned in a month from that date.”
I take a pen and sign my name on the student signature line and put the paper back in my binder.
“This is such bullshit…” I think out loud. My legs take me to the fridge.
“Oh, we’re the totally trustworthy government, and we want YOUR kid to gamble their life away for this random ass island we caused to come up from the most secluded place on earth!” I say in a mocking voice kicking the fridge door closed after getting a water bottle out.
Placing the glass down on the counter, a clink sounded before I thought aloud once more:
“Oh yeah! We are the same government that heated the world up 30% in the past decade!” I roll my eyes and twist the water bottle cap open.
“Dickheads. Every single one of them,” I take a sip from the water, “a kindergartener could run this country better than them…” The glass emits another clink as I set it down again.
I stood there for a few minutes more, speaking my mind about the world at that point. As time passed, the house slowly became dark due to our natural light setting in the west.
.
I heard gravel crunch outside my bedroom window an hour later, then a knock, then a holler.
“Aster, you home man?”
The voice I recognized better than anyone else’s. I jump out of my bed and pull my tennis shoes on and run to the front door.
It was on instinct I acted like this. Ever since we were little, I had always rushed to meet up with him.
As I swung it open it was only a second of long brown hair I could see before my wrist was grasped in his hand and we were off.
“Torren-“ I couldn’t breathe due to the fast paced events that had just occurred.
My legs were struggling to keep up with Torren, even though he was wearing a thick sweatshirt in this heat.
We soon rounded a corner into town and came to a halt in front of an alleyway.
We stood there for a moment, my wrist still in his hold. This part of the city smelt of cigarette smoke and gunpowder. I cleared my throat.
“Torren, you can let go now.” My wrist finally fell free from his hand and I sighed, rubbing the area where his hand once was.
He looked at me. I raised my eyebrows waiting for him to start talking. “Aster, did you read my text about this?“ He asked.
“You texted me?”
That got me a sigh and I held back a snicker.
“You really need to check your phone damn it… So basically-“
I leaned into my hip as I listened to him talk on about the inspiration he had once he passed this alley.
Well, more half listened. My eyes were traveling on their own up and down the street, looking at everything but him.
After a while my ears finally tuned back into Torrens monologue as i heard my name.
“Huh?” Confusion flashed onto my face. “Sorry I was spacing out.”
Torren muttered something under his breath I couldn’t make out and turned his back to me, pointing up at a ledge on a brick wall of the alley.
“If I could get you up there, do you think Ms. Dames would enter that for the art comp?” I blink at the back of Torren’s head.
“Uh huh, go for it, sure…” Unsure of what I just agreed to, he turned around to face me, staring at me with a toothy smile on his face.
“I thought you said that you wouldn’t me a model in any of my pieces after the beach photo shoot?” Shit he was right..
“That was a lie. Obviously-“ I mean climbing up onto a wall seems less painful than an umbrella to the balls.
His laugh took me out of my thoughts.
“Sure Aster…” He grinned at me before turning back to the wall, “I’ll get stuff set up for you. Meet here tomorrow ok?”
“K, see you.” I turned on my heel and set off back to my house. Where, hopefully, my aunt and uncle were already making dinner.
My mind wondered on what i had agreed to back there.
It was common for Torren to come to me as a model for his paintings. But this time felt stranger than usual. I can’t put my finger on it though…
I started nudging a rock on the pavement with my foot and kicked it into a trash can lying open on its side.
I decided I was going to just brush it off. It’s Torren, there’s no art project he does that doesn’t end up good. This strange feeling is probably just the after effects of the nap i had earlier.
I finally stepped onto my house’s deck and opened the door. Leaving everything strange at the doorstep and walked into the home.