Dawn

It was one of those scary nights in a big city when most people would long have finished eating dinner and would be getting ready to go to sleep, have a shower and go to dreamland. They would kiss their children and spouses goodnight, thinking about the next day, how they'd get up in the morning, go to work, come home and so on. But this wasn't everyone's kind of day. Reesa's day was just starting when most people's was ending. She was living in a small modern apartment in a big city with her mother. The part of the city she was living in was close to the city park and everything always smelled like flowers. The sun hit her window every morning and the birds were singing like one was listening to a perfect recording of relaxation music. Her mother always made coffee and she could smell it in her room. Every morning in that apartment was the kind of morning everyone wants to wake up to.

But these mornings were far from perfect to Reesa. Her mother had known something was seriously wrong with her daughter, but she had repressed it a long time ago. She just wanted a normal child and Reesa was aware of that. She was a teenage girl with long, curly, flaming red hair, ocean blue eyes and the brightest smile one could have imagine. She resembled her mother who looked very young for her age and most people would usually think the two were sisters.

Reesa was a girl who craved darkness. She needed it to be able to be herself instead of something others wanted her to be. Perfect mornings were not something she would look forward to or enjoy at all. Every morning she would sleep until lunch time and slowly and painfully crawl out of bed to make lunch. She tried to take care of her health so she usually prepared a plate filled with vegetables for herself and wrapped another plate for her mother when she'd return from work in the evening. Her so-called mornings included getting up, having lunch, brushing her hair and then looking out the window. If it was cloudy she'd smile. If it was raining one would be able to feel her joy miles away. But if it was sunny she'd lower the blinds and keep herself busy as much as possible until sunset.

One evening on a painfully sunny day she was sitting on her bed, waiting for the sun to go down. She applied her makeup as usual and packed her school bag and left. As always she left her mother a sweet note on the table letting her know she loves her. She loved doing little things to keep the people she cared about happy. She waited for the sun to go down and left the building. She couldn't wait to get away from the part of the city she lived in and a smile was starting to form on her face when she was entering the dark part of the city. It was the kind of area that had a lot of abandoned buildings, all the colors were washed off so everything appeared almost black and white. What she liked most about the area was that there were barely any people there. Her school was pretty much the center of that abandoned area and it had shattered windows, the walls had holes in them and plants were starting to grow all over the building and inside as well.

As she entered she heard one of her classmates sing a sad slow song and she followed the voice in the basement where her class was. She entered the classroom and sat down where she was usually sitting.

"How was your morning," asked a girl sitting behind her. Reesa turned around and looked at her best friend Aurora, who was smiling at her like never before. Reesa smiled back and replied "Clearly worse than yours. I had a headache when I woke up to that crazy sunshine." Aurora looked at her and frowned: "I'm so glad we met. No one understands me the way you do." Reesa smiled. She felt the same way. They were the best of friends, not because they had a lot of things in common, but because they had one very important thing in common. "So they're not here yet?" asked Reesa. Aurora shook her head: "Usually they show up when I sing, but maybe a lot of people were around today."

"If you've had enough chit chat I'd like to start teaching," said a familiar, but a very strict voice. The two girls turned towards the blackboard and noticed the teacher arrived. They took out their pens and notebooks. "Why aren't the other students here yet?" asked the teacher. "You didn't bring any people with you, have you?" she asked, still using that same strict voice. The girls said no. "Good," replied the teacher. After a few minutes of silence other students were starting to walk in the classroom. The teacher was just sitting there, waiting for all the students to arrive and hear their explanation why they were late. One of the students stood up. Her voice was very mild and quiet, it was almost like she was whispering: "I'm very sorry, miss teacher. We came out of our rooms about 30 minutes ago, but we all heard a screeching nose so we were afraid to move." The teacher's strict look turned into a woried one: "I see. I do hope everyone's alright."