Unique Beauty

Unique Beauty. Chapter 2

Chapter 3

School.

The word arose on the tip of my tongue, like it was taunting me. The curtains on my window were a bright orange, light dancing through the gaps around the edges. It was still sunny, still smiling It was welcoming me to a new day. A new day that was ruined.

It wasn't that I hated school, or that I wasn't very good at it, but why did it have to be today? Horrible dreams had invaded my sleep. My beauty sleep. My sheet was somewhere on the floor from being kicked away, and my pillow was awkwardly positioned between my face and my arm. Under the lids of my now closed eyes, flashes of memories were upon me. Not knowing where they had come from, or why they were there, I tried to shoo them away. But they stayed, they always stayed. Just waiting for me.

I sighed when the alarm clock sung, like a tone death morning bird. It was telling me it was eight, and time to get up. I hurled my pillow at it, sinking lower into my mattress and praying that someone would invent a time machine already, just so I could go back and get more sleep.

Sleep, I thought, the noise as soothing as the actual thing. All I needed was sleep. Uninterrupted, unremitted sleep.

And I knew it would never come.

"Turn that thing off!" Was the greeting words from my brother, Lucas. He couldn't even be bothered to come and yell in my room.

"Turn yourself off," I muttered, but rolled over to hit the OFF button. The room was once again filled with that peaceful silence, but now I couldn't stay in it, as much as I wanted to.

"Hey," Mum said brightly when I stumbled out into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes. Her greeting was a lot nicer than Lucas's was, who was currently watching some television show in the other room. She took one look at me, then back at making sandwiches. "Not a good sleep?"

"When do I ever get a good sleep?" I mumbled, plopping myself down on a chair and trying to get used to the light. I was never a morning person.

"Don't just sit there like a plate of eggs, get yourself some breakfast," she was still whirling around the kitchen, her steps as lithe and as beautiful as swans. The house was coming alive now that she was up, readying itself for a brand new day. Curtains were pulled back, which was why I was finding it so hard to see. Bloody sun. The refrigerator was humming in the background, and Lucas's show drifted into the kitchen. My mother's long hair was back in a low pony, and she was dressed for a brand new start to her day. As a single mother, she had to work extra hard to take care of us, of the house. It was a struggle at times, juggling so much with so little. Like building a house with only a hammer. It was a hard job. But Mum was strong, and she told us that as long as she had us kids, she was sure she could manage.

"Well," I said, hesitating at the door of the fridge. "Speaking of eggs, wanna make me some?"

She stopped what she was doing and turned around to give me that look, the look that only mothers can give. Like a oh-no-way-you-didn't-just-asked-that kind of look.

"Please?" I pleaded. She could usually make her eyes water when she did it, which I found impossible, instead I just looked up at her, my own eyes wide and beseeching.

"Morning!" Came another bright voice from behind me. My older sister Amelia took one glance at my face and scowled. "That never works, Sydney."

"Well, will you make me some eggs?" I asked hopefully, stretching out from my position to face her. Amelia, beautiful as always, was dressed her all black, which meant she was ready for her work at a local hairdresser  Her hair (which was currently dyed red)  was slick and straight, something only a straightener could manage. I knew she had been up since five this morning getting ready, because she had woken me up. Again.