Recycling Bin :)

Chapter One: Waking Up

I spun around from my shut locker to face my best friend, Merrill, who was making a face at me.

“What?” I ran a hand over my hair just in case it had decided to frizz up anyways.

“You slammed your locker like it was your little brother,” she laughed while curling a black strand of her hair around her finger.

Merrill and I had been best friends for a couple of years now, both being quiet outcasts. We formed a bond quite easily after sharing grade nine art class together. She was the artsy type while I was more of a nose-always-in-a-book type. We both shied away from large crowds and lots of people. We didn’t even eat lunch in the cafeteria since I had gotten a spot on our school’s newspaper. We ate in the newspaper office by ourselves. No one else seemed to understand us besides each other. I had a few friends; Grace, the editor of the newspaper, sometimes ate with us. Merrill had a friend named Neil that came and ate with us a few times but I was a third wheel when he did so Merrill didn’t invite him again.

“Yeah, well, I’m just picturing his face there instead of a locker. It really takes out the anger, y’know?” I shrugged and pulled my bag over one shoulder.

“You look tired,” she blurted out. I raised an eyebrow. “I mean, not like you look bad or anything, but you just look really tired.” She put up her hands in defence.

Normally, after waking up from Tehall, I would feel fully rested and raring to go. But lately it’s been making me tired. Some days, I feel more tired when I wake than when I went to sleep. Almost as if it’s wearing on me. My muscles hurt more as well. It might be from all the manual labour Peter’s family has started to put me through. Micah, his father, has even started to look for a husband for me. I don’t plan on getting married anytime soon, even in my dreams.

“I just- haven’t really been sleeping all that much. It’s just a bit of insomnia. I’m worrying about universities and stuff,” I mumbled as I hitched my bag up onto my other shoulder. “It’ll pass.”

“Okay, whatever you say. Let’s get to class, I’m sure the bell is going to ring-” She was interrupted by the bell. She rolled her lips inward and gave a raise of her eyebrows. “-right now. Alright, let’s skedaddle before we get caught in the horde.”

I sent her a small smile before following her small frame down the now crowding hallway.

                People were pushing me from both sides, and I sighed. Just another day in high school. I couldn’t wait to get my butt out of this tiny town Little Falls and into the real world. I never really could be in the real world, though. I’d always have Tehall holding me back from that.

                Suddenly, I was pushed forcefully into a locker. I hissed in pain as the lock pierced my arm.

                “Oh man, I’m so sorry,” a male voice gasped from in front of me. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before opening them and looking into a pair of brown ones. He was Nora’s kid. “The halls can be pretty intense in the mornings.” He chuckled while picking up his books that had dropped on the floor. I hadn’t even noticed that. Before I realized what I was doing, I knelt down and helped him pick up his last book.

                “Tell me about it,” I muttered as I handed it to him. He flashed me a smile that I suppose made all the girls weak at the knees. It did nothing to me. Maybe I was immune to pretty boys. With his blonde floppy hair, rounded cheeks, and his polo-sporting torso, he was sure considered one.

                “Right, well, got to get to class,” he said breathlessly, taking a long stride away from me and back down the hall. I rubbed my arm where the lock had hit, wincing as my hand put too much pressure on the tender area.

                The second bell rang overhead and I jumped into action, racing down the hall to my first class- Biology.

                As I sat in English class second period, thoughts of Peter were suddenly plaguing my mind. Lately, Peter had been more and more distant towards me. He was at the ripe age of 22, right about time for him to be getting married. I figured that was what was putting the rift between us. Even if he wasn’t real, I considered Peter one of the closest friends I had ever had. Without him I would probably be a homeless person in Tehall. Maybe I would’ve become a slave, sold to the richest old man in the village, cleaning and helping the man. I shivered just at the thought of it.

                A memory decided to hit me like a brick.

                Yesterday, or last night (I never knew how to describe my days in Tehall), Peter had confronted me about his father.

                “Father is trying to find you a husband,” he had said casually as I swept the barn floor. I raised my head to look at him.

                “I know, he’s told me,” I muttered before getting back to work.

                “You do realize you’ll be paired off with any old man in this village because you have no dowry?” He pushed himself off the hay he was sitting on and took a step towards me. I raised my head again and sighed.

                “He can’t. I’m not his daughter.”

                “But he will kick you out otherwise! He will not allow you to stay in his house forever. The only reason he still allows it is because I force him too.” He walked forwards and took the broom from my hands. By then I hadn’t known what do because he was staring down at me with those intense blue eyes, making my mind go completely blank. Then he dropped the broom and stomped out of the barn. Not too soon after I went to bed and woke up here.

                Sometimes I couldn’t remember exactly what happened in Tehall until a few hours after I woke up. Just like when you wake up from a dream and can’t remember it. When I went back to Tehall, reality only seemed like a dream. A lot of the times, memories would come to me at random times. This just happened to be one of those days.

                The lunch bell rang and I slowly drifted out of my classroom, abruptly having a strange desire to take a nap in the library instead of joining Merrill for lunch. Sure it would be night-time in Tehall, but maybe Peter would still be up and I could talk to him.  

                I shook the very thought from my head. It was dangerous to become too attached to this alternate reality because I’d never want to live in my real life otherwise. 

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thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed :) 

let me know what you think so far? it would help me a lot :)

-natalie ♥