The Soul Bounder

chapter one: headspace

chapter one: headspace

It was a naturally crisp, cold morning; a typical Monday morning in the wintry climate of Utah. The streets were unnaturally quiet, roads slick with thin plates of ice. The recent time change had thrown numerous off, one full hour returned to all to gain at least sixty more minutes of sleep before their day begins. Alas, Daylight Savings was a strong pain in the neck for the Parkers, who lived in a quaint suburb neighborhood, within the busy region of the city.

At the very crack of dawn, the father figure of the Parker's household was preparing his departure from their warming home, on his way to work. He was a caring and loving father to his only child: Serenity. He and his wife were bestowed the greatest blessing, their only daughter, born in 2001.

 She was a seventeen year old girl, whose birthday was approaching on the 31st of January.

As of today, it was the first of December. But for the chilled state of Utah, December has been present since mid-October.

"Tess, I'm about to leave for work!" Mr. Parker called out to his wife.

Tess, or Tessa, was the first name of his beloved soul mate. The twentieth day of December, this year, would mark their twenty-third year of marriage.

"Alright, Christopher. Did you get the lunch I packed for you?"

Due to Mr. Parker's generous income, Mrs. Parker was given the privilege of owning the title as a stay-at-home-mom, or the traditional homemaker. It was useful for the both of them; a rather fortunate way to spend more qualitative time with each other and their daughter.

"Ah, yes." Mr. Parker answered his wife, snatching up his briefcase and the brown paper bag that contained his lunch for the day.

Mrs. Parker approached her husband, smoothly giving him a quick kiss upon his age-weathered cheek.

"See you soon, Tess." He smiled to her, returning a smooch to her forehead.

Of course, the two did love each other; The three simple words of affection didn't always occur to their minds, at times. Yet, they knew in their hearts that they didn't need to express it to each other, to realize that they loved each other.

"Good-bye, Chris."

It was almost time for Mrs. Parker to awaken Serenity, she usually took too long to get herself ready for school. Therefore, the extra hour was a splendid addition for her mornings that school fell on.

"Serenity, time to get up."

No answer.

Mrs. Parker continued with poking her index finger within the side of her daughter's stomach, hoping to earn some kind of response. Either positive, slowly getting off of her lazy butt; or simply not budging at all, the negative.

"Errrrrmommm." was all that could be deciphered, along with a shortly- timed chuckle being sounded by Tessa.

"Sorry, sweetie. But you know what time it is." She answered, matter- of- factly.

For Serenity, school was nothing but a constant annoyance; a daily chore. A chore, that consisted of: two honors classes, and two advanced placement classes. The remaining of her schedule was dedicated to the fine arts: Photography and orchestra.

Alas, she did occasionally enjoy ownership to the bragging rights of being enlisted into the higher curriculum classes. Yet, the aches and pains of the traditional high school was not the least bit enjoyable. Especially, the minor detail of arriving at the strike of eight O' clock.