Falling Slowly

Chapter One: First Day of School

Chapter One-First Day of School

Four years later…

“Anya! You’re going to be late for school!”

I sighed, taking one last look in the mirror before I grabbed my bag, and rushed down the stairs – almost tripping on the last step. I caught myself on the banister, and looked menacingly down at my untied shoe lace.  Kneeling down I quickly tied my shoe and checked the other, making sure that it was also tied. Tripping would not be the best thing to do on the first day of my senior year. It would mostly likely deem me as a klutz along with the many other names I’d gained throughout the years.

“Anya!” My mother called again from the kitchen. “You’re going-” She stopped mid-sentence as soon as she saw me standing in the foyer, her shoulders relaxing in relief. “All set?” She asked as she continued to wash the remaining dishes from last night.

I sighed, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She smiled. She put the dishes away in a clatter and turned on the dishwasher to run its cycle. Her eyes were warm and joyful as she enveloped me in a hug. “Look at you! You grow more beautiful each year like the roses in the garden.”

“And that is a fact,” my father chimed in kissing me on the forehead.

I smiled. They never tired of giving me compliments no matter how much I protested. That’s parents for you; They loved you, suffocated you, annoyed you, but at the end of the day they were still family. They were my family and I loved them nonetheless.

My father grabbed his thermal full to the brim with coffee and gave my Mom a quick peck on the lips before he was out the door. A second later he said, “C’mon, bug. Don’t want to be late to school, now do we?”

“Nope,” I said, popping the ‘p’. Dad was always running late, but we got me to school safely even if he did have to break a few traffic laws here and there. He used to be a ‘daredevil’ as my mom called it before he settled down to have a family of his own. He traded in his motorcycle for a sensible Ford Taurus and his leather jacket was now tucked away in the back of the closet, covered by his suits and ties.

I draped my messenger back over my shoulder and gave Mom a quick kiss on the cheek. I turned; ready to leave when she grabbed my elbow, her eyes assessing mine. “Did you take your medicine?”

I nodded. How could I forget? It’s a pattern that I’d been adapted to my whole life, but I’ve been taking it on my own for the past four years – ever since I found out that stormy day. It wasn’t entirely a bad thing. There was still hope, and that is what I’ll always have – no one could ever take that away.

Hope is what made people stronger everyday; sometimes, it was all that people clung to.

“Anya! Now, we’re really going to be late for school!” My father called from the garage breaking through my reverie. I shook my head from my thoughts and quickly gave Mom another kiss before shooting out the door in frenzy.

***

The cacophony of voices, lockers being shut, and the occasional shriek of shoes scrapping against the linoleum pierced my ears as I walked through the halls of Velmont High. I treaded carefully through the hallway, weaving my way through my peers as I made my way towards the end of the hall where a list of homerooms was taped outside the theater.

I accidentally bumped into someone - my shoulder colliding with a girl’s. I winced from the contact – certain that I would have a bruise the next morning. I muttered a quick “Sorry!” and continued onward.  But my apology wasn’t accepted as she called, “Watch where you’re going, vampire!”