Waking up was always such a chore for me, and today wasn’t any different. My bed’s soft mattress and heavy blankets enveloped me, but the alarm going off forced me to struggle and squirm my way out.

“Lloyd! School!” My father’s voice pierced through the house.

“I know!” I replied. My voice didn’t seem to be able to get downstairs, however, because he yelled back, ”What!?”

I inhaled before screaming in frustration, “I said I know!”

My chest expanded as I took a deep breath to calm myself before forcing my lethargic body to start getting ready for school. Honestly, school was such a joke; why would I need to know how to solve for x in 30 years when it seemed my life was heading towards a job at some gas station in the middle of nowhere. I took in another deep breath.

My droopy gray eyes stared back at me in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, my untamed brown hair falling all sorts of places around my head. I gave it a few quick brushes with my hand before slapping on deodorant and walking downstairs.

“Good morning to you,” father’s cheery voice broke the gloom surrounding me. I plastered a smile on my face and replied in the same cheery tone.

He continued to converse: “Anything special going on today?”

I kept my face frozen in that smile and shrugged. “Not much. Same old same old.”

I continued to carry on the conversation with my father, wearing my ragged and used mask of excitement, happiness, and all those other positive emotions everyone else always seemed to have. Hearing a bus honk outside, I abruptly left the conversation and walked out the door, dropping my mask as the door closed. I wouldn’t it now that I could stay hidden and invisible amongst the crowd of teenagers.

I walked onto the school bus and plopped down in one of the seats, slumping against the window in exhaustion. My eyes slowly closed to the music the bus driver played on the radio; the small bumps that the bus exaggerated making my attempt at rest difficult.

When the bus pulled up to the school, I could hear the raucous teenagers talking loudly in their cliques, groups, and clubs. The most prominent thing I noticed, however, the thing I always noticed, was simply how gray the pavement below our feet was. And then a checkerboard of slightly different grays, which almost seemed brown in the hallways and classrooms. Ah, Meadow’s High School was so lovely.

As school started, and my math teacher Ms. Everett started speaking on variables and equations, I slumped my head on my desk in defeat. The day started the same and was going to continue that way until I fell asleep again, only to repeat the process. I had been living the same day of my life, every day, for as long as I could remember.

When lunch rolled around, all of my classmates started making their way over to the cafeteria, talking and laughing with each other. I slowly walked to my locker, dropping off my stuff before finding an empty corner to read the chapter I was assigned for homework, due right after lunch.

“Lloyd.” Probably my imagination.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Lloyd.” Definitely not real.

“Lloyd!” I looked up, replying, “What?”

Lacy, the girl trying to grab my attention huffed in what seemed to be frustration. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for like the past 10 minutes.”

“It definitely wasn’t more than a couple of seconds,” I corrected her.

She shook her head in annoyance before claiming, “We forgot to do the science project.”

“Nope,” –I shook my head– “It’s due next week.”

“Are you sure? All my friends say it’s due today.” She raised an eyebrow. I remained silent and reached in my backpack for my planner. Flipping to next week, I turned it over to her and pointed at the day it was due.

“So you knew it was due this week?!” She slammed the planner out of my hands and back into my lap. “Are you just purposely sabotaging us?”

“Umm… no. This is next week,” I slowly explained to her.

“You fucking idiot.” She shook her head and pointed to the day the project was due. “Today is the 5th.”

She flexed her fingers and made a screeching sound of frustration before storming away, leaving me in surprise. The surprise turned to worry. And that nervous worriedness traveled its way down to a knot in my stomach. And in frustration and anger to myself, I put my book back into my backpack and just sat there, in the corner, anticipating and envisioning the future hours. Every future moment from there blurred together in worry, and that’s how I made it to my last class of the day, science.

Science class was always the worst for me. The teacher, Mr. Nevaro, seemed to have it out for me. His class was the only one of mine with a seating chart, and I just so happened to sit front and center.

“Okay people!” He clapped his hands, instantly silencing the crowd in front of him. “Today is the day you present your projects on the history of the atom.”

Shit, I thought that was due next week. My head fell to my desk. If I failed this project, my grade would drop and I wouldn’t hear the end of it from my father. He may even call my mother in New York.

My heart started to race and I could feel a flush of heat rise from the gray pavement to the top of my head. I raised my hand. Mr. Nevaro paused for a second, acknowledging it, before visually moving past it with his eyes in an attempt to display his dominance.

“First up, we have Spencer and Josh, and then Lloyd and Lacy.”

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I spoke, negligent of his attempt to brush me off. The seat moved behind me as I pushed off of it and walked down the hall.

The alternating gray and lighter gray checkered floor started to fly past me as my steps started to hit the ground faster and faster. I could hear my heart beating in my ears as if straining to free itself from my body. I practically ran into the bathroom door, forcing it open.

I slammed the stall door behind me, rattling the plastic walls. My head fell to my hands and my knees came up to the toilet with me, placing me in the fetal position. I could faintly hear the bathroom door open between my short, staggered breaths.

“Are ye okay?” A deep voice spoke from above me. The sun framed his round face, his long black hair leaving everything on his face covered except for his eyes and forehead. Standing above me, his beard tickled my nose, making me shake to rid of the feeling.

“What the fuck?” I heard a vaguely familiar, feminine voice speak off to the side. It was Lacy.

That’s when the moment caught up to me and I felt the grass below me, and the breeze through my hair. I copied her words, my previous short breaths stopping in the confusion.

“Ding!” A blue screen popped up in front of my face.

Earth has now started its fusion with the world solis. Beware, this new World is filled to the brim with danger and reward, friends and enemies, Love and Hatred. Welcome to the Realm of Solis!