A Bundle of misfortune

I can just barely hear faint music coming from beside me. I roll onto my side and blindly feel around for my phone. When the cold metal makes contact with my fingers I swipe the screen effectively silencing the alarm. I quickly try to get comfortable in my bed but a soft paw followed by sharp claws my toes wake me up. “Ouch!” I stare around my room confused and groggy. I look down to see a shape underneath the covers chasing after my legs. “Thanks for waking me up Anna.” I raise my arms above my head bending them so that the touch my shoulder blades; after releasing the tension I sigh loudly. Light sneaks through the blinds illuminating the small room. I glanced at my phone “seven am huh” Anna hops off the bed and goes to lay in a large sunbeam. Her usual matte grey fur appears silvery in the light. Her pupils simply a straight line of black running vertically through the center of her striking blue eyes. I reach over to touch her, gently scratching under her chin as she purrs lightly.

After having my fingers licked raw, I finally leave the warmth of my bedroom. I stop at a hall closet to get a fluffy purple towel, then I head into the bathroom. It's tiny and decorated with cream subway tile, I turn on the shower and listen to the sound of water hitting the fiberglass tub and wait until the water reaches my preferred temperature. Every few seconds I hold my hand against the water once it's thoroughly hot I step into the shower and began washing my body. I take several pumps of shampoo for my wavy purple hair. Only a few minutes into to my shower the bathroom mirror is already covered covered in condensation.

After showering, I walk back to my room wrapped in the -now damp- towel leaving wet footprints behind me. I gently comb through my towel dried hair and open my dresser. My hand reach for a pair of dark blue jeans and a light sweater. After I was satisfied with my choice I picked up a large silver locket with the initial -L- on international into fancy text. Inside intense a photo of me when I was eleven and my family. Before closing the box I look at a matching locket with -S- on it. I give Anna a final goodbye before grabbing my coat, the trash, and an gold apple from the grey laminate counter top. I open the door and am greeted by a light crisp wind. Before I leave I say, “I’ll be back” to the -not so empty- apartment.

“Do you mind if we sit with you guys?” We all look up to see Onyx and some other boy standing at the end of our booth.

Rose looks him over then looks to see the others expression. “Go ahead, it should be fine” he thanks her and sits.

Ivory was the first to make conversation “So how’s it going? You interested in the new first person shooter that came out?”

Strangely enough Onyx’s friend was immediately interested despite his appearance. He was a textbook definition of a jock with a muscular frame, a spiky crew cut and a sports jersey with matching Adidas sneakers. “Yea man I’ve already pre-ordered it we should totally do some co-op together.” So we ended up eating together; Onyx was talkative and asked a couple of questions about me and the rest of my group.

Ivory cancels on his normal walk with me to talk more with Night Arrow, Onyx’s friend; he knows he owes me though. After school ends, I wander, dragging my feet behind me, hoping to prolong the time till I have to go back to my apartment. It's not a bad apartment; it's a small, -sparsely decorated-, two bedroom apartment. It’s easy to keep clean because of its size, but even with the small amount of room, it feels cold and empty, it doesn’t feel lived in. I still sleep there regardless.

The sun rises on yet another day other students start appearing as I get closer to the school. I make it to class early, Onyx isn’t here yet. I set down my backpack and reach in to grab my English notebook. Then, I see him walk in, wearing a simple red shirt with dark jeans and a colorful belt. He walks right up to me and asks if I could help him study for the upcoming grammar test. I would have invited some friends but only Scarlet and Rose we're free and while I loved them I didn't want them focusing on each other rather than helping us study.

We chose to go to the school library and study quietly there until it closed. Our school library was relatively small and always had at least one couple and a group of girls that’d make noise no matter how many warning they got from the librarian. This librarian was a middle aged woman with blonde hair that was always in a tight bun on top of her head. She wore fashionable red glasses and a blouse with a long pencil skirt; when it was especially cold she'd also wear a thick cable-knit stockings. She was a fairly nice woman who memorized all the regulars names and could easily tell you where any book was. I always made sure to greet her when I came in; briefly asking her about her young daughter and husband before heading off to choose a table.

The table we sat at had a slight wobble and was covered in graffiti on top and had gum stuck to the bottom; but it was made of a nice dark wood that was similar to what the bookshelves were made of. Onyx sat next to me rummaging through his black camouflage backpack for his English textbook. It was cute watching his brows furrow and his movements gradually become more and more frantic as he dug through his unorganized backpack. The bag was filled with crumpled paper that had been haphazardly stuffed into any and all available space. In the end, he wasn't able to find it in the mess; we decided to share mine between the both of us.

After a few hours of half studying half goofing off, we went our separate ways. The walk home was quiet and normal, my path was brightly lit by numerous streetlights. However, if you paid attention, you could hear heavy breathing coming from the shadowy alleys and see drunk men dressed in business suits with flushed faces lying against the building walls. Occasionally I would pass a group of men smoking and joking around with friends or I'd see a small late night food joint with men clinking beer glasses together. A group of five or so women passed by me wearing skimpy clothing and stumbling over their own feet; they'd probably just came from a club or bar nearby. Some of them still wore their stiletto heels while other walked with stocking or bare feet.