Alex Abelson awoke with a start. His arms flew to his side as he sat straight as a rod in his sweat laden sheets. His dreams from the night before lingered in his mind and the dark circles around his clouded eyes seemed to grow deeper as lingering childhood memories faded into the background while weak strings of morning orange sunlight streamed in from semi closed blinds. His room was not much to look at, plain white walls only broken by an old bed and a single small dresser holding his clothes which were only a bit out of style. The white door which appeared to be an indistinguishable part of his similarly colored walls was still locked which seemed to give Alex a tiny bit of relief as he sent a quick practiced glance at the well-worn lock.

As he raised his hand to his head which held the last remnants of a brutal headache his thoughts drifted to what this day would bring. It was an ordinary Wednesday just a bit into his junior year of high school; however, the lingering effect of his recent dream seems to suggest that perhaps this Wednesday may not be so ordinary. He slowly got out of bed as the gentle warmth which once surrounded him slowly faded from his skin and he readied his addled mind for the start of his day.

He left his room to go to the bathroom across the hall, his thoughts likely still lingering on the dark dreams which plagued his nights. Looking into the bathroom mirror surrounded by bright white lights only enhanced his belief that the dreams were affecting his mental health. He almost seemed gaunt in his reflection, the dim lighting in the bathroom added to the effect. He looked at his average face with brown eyes a bit too small and a nose a bit too big, his short messy hair the same color as his eyes was always difficult to manage, and his unremarkable body a bit too skinny without displaying muscle; he gave a slight smile, though it was probably in self-loathing at his boring genes. His gentle brown eyes and dark circles making him look older than he would normally appear, he got to work on cleaning himself up and starting his day.

After a quick shower in an almost trancelike state and brushing his slight white teeth he took a final seemingly painful glance into the mirror and mumbled a resigned, "Good enough," then threw on whatever clothes were laying around and started down the worn carpet toward the stairs. Each step down the stairs seemed to shake him a bit more awake. His thoughts probably lingering on his bleak average future in a world where he is the perfect background to a good story. Luckily there was someone in his life which was the paste that forced his life together for better or worse, his mother Jillian.

Her always bright voice melodiously drifted up the stairs as she shouted "Breakfast is ready Alex! If you aren't down here soon it'll be your lunch!"

His eyes widened and his slight smile grew as he rushed down the remaining steps, skipping the last two with an excited hop. He rounded the corner of the stairs and rushed toward the warm light coming from the kitchen.

"You must be in a good mood today if you're up this early for breakfast mom." Alex said to his mother, the hint of a smile still played on his lips.

She was a natural beauty with a face of a model that had some signs of age and an obvious tiredness that, along with a dreary security officer outfit, led to an odd dichotomy between two extremes.

"I took off a bit early last night, Eric said he needed money for his daughter's birthday, so I gave him the rest of my shift." His mother bright voice barely betrayed her lack of sleep.

Alex felt it was better to let her take care of him instead of insisting she go to bed so he sat at the table with a bit of discomfort, not sure what to talk about. He was elated to see his mother but concerned with how much hard work she put into her recent job. It did not help that she decided a gun toting security guard of some boring warehouse was a good fit for a woman who worked in retail her entire life, but Alex tried his best to hide his evident concern.

"Alex how have things been at school?" Jillian asked while bringing a plate loaded with slightly overcooked bacon and flawlessly cooked eggs to the old wood table before turning back around to continue cleaning the mess of pans on the counter.

"I hope you have been doing a bit better in Algebra, I know how hard math is for you." Jillian said with concern evident in her voice.

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"Things have been a bit rough at school mom, one guy keeps bothering me for no reason and he keeps distracting me in Algebra." Alex admitted with a small sigh.

"Don't worry too much though, things like these have a way of coming back to bite people." Alex said with a light smile, but his eyes gleamed with a dangerous light displaying his true thoughts to the unseen observer. His mother paused her cleaning to turn and look at Alex with a questioning gaze.

"And just who might this boy be?" His mother's voice floated through the air with a lightly threatening but gentle tone.

Alex responded readily with no emotion betraying his calm bravado, "He is just some dumb held back senior named Roger Coney that thinks he owns the world. He lives a bit down the road in Oakwood, remember where Joseph Coney lives? He's his older brother."

His mother turned back and kept cleaning the dishes confusedly asking, "I thought you and Joseph were friends why is his brother bothering you?"

Alex gave a questioning glance at her back and responded a bit bewildered, "Mom you do remember that Joseph died last year, right? Ever since then Roger has turned from a friend to a stranger and now, he's getting hostile."

His mother's voice seemed a bit taken aback as she said, "Well hopefully you are right, and he stops, but if he doesn't, please, make sure you tell me." Alex gave a sound of affirmation and began to eat the quickly cooling food in front of him with gusto. His mother hummed to an unknown tune while Alex ate as fast as he could in mostly silence.

As Alex finished his plate and gave it back to his mother, he began his long walk to his parked car. His car was parked in a nearby lot since his home had no driveway, living in a somewhat secluded area definitely has its disadvantages. Alex finally seemed to take the time to notice what he was wearing, a bit slow isn't he? He was dressed in a brown t-shirt with no design and green khaki pants covered his legs down to his dirty white pair of old sneakers the only accessory being his worn backpack clinging to his back, his style was another boringly average part of his character. The man lacked a posh or an ostentatious bone in his body and it added to the averageness he so rigorously seems to display. His drab averageness was contrasted by the scenic mountain skyline that stretched further than the eye could see, vivid greens played about the white of snow topped mountains. His small one-story home with walls made of a brown brick sat solitary on top of a green hill with a dirt walkway leading down the hill to a parking lot that could barely be seen from his home.

The crisp winter air scraped Alex's lungs as his eyes took in the familiar view on the way to the parking lot. This was the last bastion of peace Alex had before the loud hallways of a tightly pack school building stole away the burgeoning peace that grew in his solitude. His warm breath played on the frigid air like a phantom of his departing peace as each step damned him further to the monotony of his unremarkable academic life. Walking down the hill the tall trees made shadows dance in a macabre display that instilled a sense of foreboding that Alex seemed more than familiar with. Alex's brown eyes held no fear even on this lonely dirt path. The quiet hike downhill to his car was coming to a too sudden close as Alex reached his car, one of only two cars in the parking lot. His car was a twenty-year-old red coupe its paint marred with flaws, it was left to him by his father after his untimely demise. His mother's slightly newer white sedan sat demurely next to his, a few paint chips showing a previously black coat of paint beneath.

He hopped in his car which was left unlocked overnight. The vague scent of old cigarette smoke lingered in the air as he started the engine which sputtered and eventually turned over, Alex slumped in his seat as his last reason to miss school disappeared. The lot was a fifteen-minute drive from the school through gravely backroads on mountain paths. Patches of lingering snow clung diligently to mountainsides; a cloudy sky filled with slightly grey clouds hid the sun from Alex's focused eyes as his car trudged slowly along the still snowy gravel path. All it took was a single mistake to send this drab protagonist plummeting down the steep cliff on the side of the road, which didn't happen unfortunately for me. He was still new to driving so his speed settled just below the limit while he navigated the uncomfortable path. Luckily for Alex, only the first quarter of his drive was precarious as the rest was a peaceful journey between a twin peaked mountain and down into Platford, a quaint town which held his high school on the outer edge. The only thing he had to worry about now was the biting cold that seeped into his bones as the heater in his car stopped working years before.

Pulling up to Platford High, Alex's modestly sized school and home of the Platford Pumas, he was greeted by the sight of many different vehicles of varying quality filling the parking lot outside the school almost to capacity. A few yellow buses drove off hurriedly as they dropped off tired students a tad earlier than normal. Alex quickly found a spot a bit of a distance from the school and carefully parked his car. Letting out a soft sigh he left his frigid car to walk in the equally frigid outside air toward Platford High.