"Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep, dreaming about the things that we-"
I smash the snooze button on my clock and bolt from the bed. I was already awake hours before from a nightmare again. It wasn't that bad this time but still, I never risk to fall back asleep after one.
I pick at the bottom bunk and find my brother, Adam still asleep with his mouth open. Laughing, I reach down and shake his shoulder gently. When he doesn't move I try calling out his name a few times but the reaction is again nonexistent.
I jump from the bed with a sigh and land on the floor next to him, reaching to pick up the glass of water placed on the nightstand.
Oh he is so gonna hate me for this.
I try one last time to say his name so if he is really mad I can at least tell him that I tried a lot but he didn't budge. And that's the truth because Adam remains sound asleep. I don't even think it again before I empty the glass of water on his face.
I watch amused as he immediately sits up from his position on the bed, looking around him startled and scared. His hands move to his face and hair and when he fills the cold water on there he turns to look at me with a threatening look.
"This is getting old." He complains but I shrug at him causing him to sigh.
"That's it I'm getting my revenge." He announces all of a sudden and I widen my eyes before starting running across the hall to the bathroom.
Once inside I lock the door and proceed to get ready for school, ignoring Adam banging on the door. After washing my teeth I realize that he has given up and he is no longer outside the door. I carefully unlock it and take my head out, looking around for a possible threat. The coast seems clear and I quickly make my way out the bathroom and run to the bedroom, knowing Adam will be probably eating breakfast.
After I get dressed I go down the stairs only to find my brother picking up an empty bottle of aspirins that was on the floor. He looks at me for a moment and I nod at him.
"I'm going to get ready." He calls from the base of the stairs as I make my way towards my mothers room.
"Hey, are there any Cheerios left?" I ask him and I can hear him laughing as he replies with " at the supermarket sure, here, I don't think so." I roll my eyes at him and enter the dark room at the end of the corridor.
When I close the door behind me the first thing that I notice is the mess that the room is currently at. There are scattered clothes all over the floor along with some folders and papers.
"Mom?" I call out at the figure laying almost lifeless on the bed under the covers.
"Mom, you have to wake up." I insist as I approach her bed, watching my step in order not to step on something. The only response I get from her is a groan and I sigh as I move to shake her shoulder.
"You have to go to work today." I try again but she sighs.
"It's fine, I can call in sick." She replies with a raspy voice and I shake my head even though she can't see me.
A wave of a strong smell fills the room and I swallow hard trying to block it. I look under the bed and sure enough a bottle of vodka is laying there half empty.
I swallow the lump forming in my throat and turn to look at her again.
"No you can't. You have already done that twice this week. If you continue like that you are going to lose your job and you know we can't afford that." I say more sternly and after a moment I can hear the bed shifting and she stands up, sitting at the edge of it.
Since I've made sure that she woke up I leave the room and go to grab my bag.
Adam enters the living room as well and with no other words spoken we leave the house.
Once at school I go immediately up to my locker, where I find Alice waiting for me.
Alice is basically my only friend, and our friendship only consists of sitting together in some classes and exchanging notes. Nothing less, nothing more.
I'm not really the type of girl who has a group of friends and hangs out with them, actually I have no friends at all. My day only consists of going to school, returning home, studying and going to sleep. No time for friends and parties and gatherings. I'm perfectly happy surfing the internet on my own, silently dying on my bed while watching a season of a tv series a day.
Pretty simple and the way I like it.
"Did you study for hudsons test?" Alice asks me when I reach my locker. I open it and take some books from there while shrugging.
"Sure." I reply. She already knows however that I studied for the math test, I always do. She just tried to be polite and not jump into the favor she wants right away.
"Great, you have to let me sit with you , I have a feeling that I'll totally fail it."
And boom. Here it is. I look at her and notice she is giving me the look she always wears when she wants something, she has widened her blue eyes and her lips have formed a sweet smile.
It may work at any hormonal teenage boy but to me she looks ridiculous.
"Okay, sure you can sit with me." I agree, not because the puppy eyes convinced me or anything, but because I don't really care if she is going to sit beside me or not.
When the bell rings Alice waves goodbye and heads to her English lesson as I go the other way to my AP biology class.
After a boring lesson, filled with things most of the class already knew from previous years miss Stenson announces that we are free earlier today, not before she gives homework.
The rest of my classes goes pretty much like this too, and after we've taken the test and after Alice copied the whole thing from me we are finally starting our last period, French.
Which means sleep, except if kreg is in a happy mood today, which means him talking nonsense for forty five minutes because he is probably high. Turns out that it's one of kreg's lazy days however so we both rest our heads in our desks and fall asleep.
Not after ten minutes into the lesson and that beautiful, precious nap my phone starts ringing waking me and the rest of the class up. I look at the callers id only to find out that Adam is calling me.
"Excusez moi, mademoiselle sky, but no cell phones our allowed ici." The teacher exclaims, half English, half French and I nod before excusing myself, packing my things and leaving the class room. It's not like I was going to pay attention to it anyway.
I call Adam back as I make my way towards the parking lot. "Hey, where are you?" I ask him once he picks up and I can hear him panting from the other side of the line.
"So, I'm home, because we had practice last period and coach cancelled, well listen something happened and I don't know, I think I'm losing my mind, I mean I'm definitely losing my mind..." he races but I stop his rant.
"Woah, one thing at a time. Slow down. Tell me what happened." I try to calm him down in order to understand and I can hear him sigh.
"Okay, so basically I tried to do the laundry and when I opened the dryer...."
"wait." I stop him confused.
"You, did the laundry?!" I exclaim surprised and he groans.
"Concentrate sky." He complains and I nod my head as I sit at a bench under a tree.
"Okay, go on." I encourage him.
"Okay, so the thing is that when I opened it something totally crazy happened, like there was some kind of portal or something and it was shining, full of colors, and at first I was like what? Adam you are hallucinating but then I tested it and placed a sock inside and the thing completely sucked it. Like goodbye sock." He finally explains and I am beyond confused.
I straighten my position on the bench and fiddle with my hair for a moment too long before answering back to my brother, who by the looks of it was completely losing it.
"Are you trying to tell me that you ripped a portal to another dimension through our washing machine? Are you on drugs?" I question him slowly like I am talking to a mad man, which I probably am doing.
"For the record, it was the dryer." Adam argues with me and I widen my eyes as I stand up and throw my bag over my shoulder.
"That's not the point!" I snap at him and start to walk back home to see for myself what he is talking about.
"I don't even know sky, just hurry cause I'm kinda, completely fricking out." He complains and I rush to get on the bus. When I take a sit I lower my voice, making sure that no one hears and answer him.
" I'm on my way, don't do anything dumb like open it again, or telling someone else about the magic dryer okay? We will figure this out. I will take you to the best doctors." I whisper at the phone and when he answers back he doesn't sound amused at all.
"Just hurry." He simply says before he hangs up.
Okay, what the hell is happening? Portals? Sock sucking portals? What the fuck? There has to be an explanation for all of this right? Everything is normal.
Little did I know, everything was far from normal.