Nuke and Bob

Chapter One - The Beginning

Nuke Harrington's room is messy, like any other 18-year-old's room is. Nuke scans his room with his droopy, freshly-awoken eyes to spot the source of the obnoxious beeping that leaked into his pleasant dream of him and the love of his life, Angel Rose, thus awaking him from his soon-to-be reality.

He blinks.
Nuke's fist slams onto the SNOOZE button of his alarm clock, which reads 7:03AM. He swings back around and buries his head in his pillow.
Maybe if he thinks hard enough, he can piece together the fractures of the already-fading dream and fall back into his world where everything is perfect.

...

Fuck.

He tries his hardest to fall back asleep, but the blinding morning light seeping through his curtain can only tell him one thing.
It's time for school.
The last day of school before winter break, in fact!
Nuke is dreading it.

He takes Bob out from behind his head - a childhood stuffed animal that was gifted to him by his late Aunt. It's shaped like a mushroom cloud explosion. She always thought it was funny making jokes about Nuke's name.

One of Bobs's button eyes is falling off. Nuke has been wanting to fix it, but he feels like it gives it character- he likes it when items look worn and used. It means they are well-loved. He tightens the loose string, adjusts the eye back into its place (even though it will loosen again anyways), and looks at Bob for a few seconds.
Its soft bright-orange plush makes it a perfect pillow, and a nice friend to hug when he needs one.

He pulls himself out of bed, slowly regaining control of his body from the dark of the night. He takes a sip of water from the half-full half-empty glass of water sitting on his nightstand, which has slowly collected a tiny thin layer of dust at the top.
Nuke opens his closet and pulls out a t-shirt - one of the many exact same thin light-blue short-sleeve shirts he has hanging up.
He grabs a pair of blue jeans and a pair of underwear. After examining his groggy morning face in the mirror, he takes a step backwards and leaves his room.
He knocks on the door of the bathroom to make sure it isn't occupied.

"I'm in here!" Nuke's Dad yells. After a few seconds, Nuke hears a flush, followed by the sound of running water, and a door handle clicking.
Nuke steps out of the way to let his father pass through the doorframe.
Nuke's Dad has a full head of wavy black hair - ignoring the bad case of bed-head. He's wearing his normal Friday morning attire - a baggy black t-shirt, and a pair of dark grey sweats.

"Jesus. Did you drop a bomb in there?" Nuke covers his nose with his shirt and grabs a can of air freshener.

"I feel 20 pounds lighter," Nuke's Dad laughs as he heads for his bedroom. "Don't take too long in there. I'm already going to run late for work."

"This toxic gas you've released into the atmosphere may kill me. And you know it's going to be even worse when I turn the hot water on!" Nuke cries.

"Ha ha!" Nuke's Dad taunts as he swings his door shut.

Nuke opens the medicine cabinet and takes his morning medication - two tiny white tablets smaller than a penny.
He sets his clothes down and turns the shower on.

Nuke's father squeezes by with his nicest casual-Friday flannel as Nuke leaves the bathroom, a trail of hot steam following him as he walks down the hallway and down the stairs.
He grabs his backpack and shoves an arm-full of loose sheets of paper into it, making it even heavier than it already was. Homework that he waited until last minute to do.
Homework that should've been passed in weeks ago.
Homework that he could've completed if he wasn't such a lazy piece of-

...It's too early for this.
Nuke shakes his head and grabs his dark green jacket off of the coat-hanger. He pushes his arms through the sleeves and buttons up the front, leaving one button at the top undone. He ties up his dark-brown shoes and rolls up the bottom of his pant legs.
He runs his hand over his smooth freshly-shaven head and lets out a deep exhale. He looks at the time.
7:24 AM.