May These Noises Startle You in Your Sleep

The rain was falling down at an alarmingly fast rate, the storm was at full force and the anxiety was hitting hard. Neither Mike nor I had ever liked storms; there was never a time in my life when I ever really enjoyed any sort of rain. It was probably because of the things I had associated rain with; mostly funerals, breakups, bad days, etc. The media had played these things in my head, making me hate rain and I’ve never been able to see the brightness or beauty in things. Mike told me countless times before. You’re a cynic, he would laugh at me. That’s the only thing I know, I would laugh along with him and agree even though it was the truest thing he’s ever said.

I sat down on the couch across from him in the living room, he patted on the birch table lightly, his drumsticks had gotten ratty and old, a new pair was long overdue. My mother was out, probably busy at work or trying to scrounge up some more money while my dad was off who knows where doing god knows what. The only times he’s ever around is for a few hours at night to drink and pass out for a while before getting up and repeating the same dead beat rituals. He would always slur some terrifyingly evil words to anyone in his path when he was home, the bitterness had made me a cynic, it was hard to be positive when someone in your own home would hiss venom in your ear at any chance he could.

A lightning bolt crashed through the sky, the thunder was quick to follow, almost instant. I felt my heart rate increase, the beats nearly skyrocketed and I flinched in my seat. Mike peered up through his fringe at me just to make sure I was okay even though he knew I had my simple rituals to keep me calm. My fingers were tangled up in my hair, it calmed me down but sometimes I just got lost in my thoughts and had to do something with my hands. He went back to his simple tapping, he must be learning a new song, I thought, haven’t heard this one before.

“Whatcha thinking about?” He asked me without looking up from that damned oak table; there were no emotions on his face.

“When is this storm going to end?” I avoided his question; he already knew the answer to it, so why should I bother with answers? He kept tapping, the beat increasing.

“Not for a while.” He said with a quiet voice, it was almost hard to hear above the storm. At this point, the power was already out and we had candles lit so we could barely see the room surrounding us.

“When do you think mom will come home?” He stopped tapping and looked up at me with big eyes, curiosity laced them.

I settled back into the couch and ran a hand through my hair again, another lightning bolt hit, the thunder was almost exactly on time. I flinched again and tried to calm myself down quickly but it was hard to keep composure during a storm. “Probably not until late, Mike. You know how these things go.” He nodded knowingly and picked himself off the couch. He went up the stairs and shut himself off in his room, leaving me down in the dark living room by myself. I curled up into a ball and counted the seconds between every strike of lightning and every crash of thunder. It didn’t necessarily help but there was nothing else to do with the power out.



I woke up later, the lightning was gone and the only thing left was the sound of the rain patting on our roof. I wasn’t even sure what time it was, the only thing I knew was how hungry I was feeling. My feet carried me groggily into the kitchen and I unknowingly flipped the light switch, surprised when the power actually came back on. I checked my phone to see that it was already pretty late, midnight to be exact and mom still wasn’t home. Mike was upstairs, sleeping. The only way I knew were his loud snores complicating any other noises in the house from being heard. I chuckled and checked the fridge, nothing really stood out which was the downside of being stuck here. We never had anything good to eat, no snacks or anything I could quickly make.

I climbed the stairs and pulled myself up with the railing. The house was cold and all of the lights were turned off in order to save money in case the power came back while we were all asleep. I walked past Mike’s room, his snores seemed to be growing louder and louder with each passing second. I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes before I finally reached my own room. I didn’t bother to flip off the light switch or change into different clothes, I just flopped onto my bed and went back to sleep. Besides, I had school in the morning and there’s no way Mike would let me stay home.




I was shaken awake by the force of Mike’s arms. My eyes fluttered open and he towered over the side of my bed. He was fully clothed in his jeans, shirt, and shoes. “Get up,” he pushed me one last time then took a step back when he saw that I was awake. I rubbed my eyes and blinked at him for a while before I finally responded.

“What?” I grumbled.

He rolled his eyes, “It’s time to get up asshole.” He walked out of the room and shut the door on his way. I got up and decided that I might as well get ready for the day. I picked out a simple hoodie and skinny jeans for the day along with my vans and favorite beanie. It was my usual outfit and it was always predictable, but I loved my comfortable clothes because I didn’t feel like wearing anything else.

Mom had already left for work, dad was still gone but we were used to this routine already. It’s not like we wanted him home anyway, but we needed mom to take a break and relax. We never saw her during the week because she was almost on a 24 hour work cycle for six days a week. Mike was either downstairs busy making breakfast or outside for a smoke. I went downstairs to get something to eat, just a little something to tide me over until I got home from school.

Mike came in from outside and he had the same flat line plastered on his face, no smile or frown to be seen. He sat down at the table and picked out the toast he had set out earlier. I joined him in silence, slowly eating away at the apple I had taken out of the fridge. After a couple minutes of silence I went out to the car and he followed. I have driven the two of us to school for a while now, nothing had changed in the past year except that I finally got my own car, courtesy of my uncle.

We pulled into the school and my heart sunk when I saw the people. I was an outcast at this school, it might be my fault considering that I don’t bother to make new friends but it didn’t matter anyway. Mike on the other hand was nearly mister popular. Everyone was so nice to him and always complimented him on his drumming, asking why he couldn’t just start a band and take over the world with his skill. I obviously agreed with them, Mike was wasting his talent by sticking with his few friends, Jaime and Tony. They had tried to make a band before but they needed a singer and no one fit the profile that they wanted. He always tried to get me to join, but I refused each time.

We each got out of the car and I locked it behind me. At school Mike tried to get me to hang out with him and his friends, but as usual I didn’t. I went straight to my locker and pulled out the books I needed. It’s not that I actually needed the books, I didn’t do any of the work in school and I was already failing most of my classes but mom wouldn’t let me drop out already. I went to my first class and sat in the back of the room, I only had five minutes to burn before kids started pouring into the class to disturb my peace.

A girl walked into the classroom and she was someone that I’ve never seen before. She had long red dyed hair that faded to an almost blonde color at the ends. Her skin was pale and she wore jean shorts over a pair of ripped, sheer tights. Her arms were covered in an old velvet jack that was layered over a tank top and her combat boots fell softly against the floor when she walked. She went straight up to the teacher’s desk and took faced him, her back to me so I could see the black beanie that sat on top of her head. They spoke for a minute and she turned back around, taking off her gold framed sunglasses, staring at me with piercing blue eyes and her dark red lips twisting into a smile. As she walked toward me I noticed her jewelry, she wore a choker around her neck and a series of necklaces with stones and crystals that could pull me into a trance. Her wrists had bracelets stacked up, the same thing I used to do. Her nose had a golden loop through it and it suited her well.

She stopped in front of the two person table and placed her hands flat on the wooden surface. “Is this seat taken?” Her voice was soft; the opposite of her appearance but damn was it appealing. I shook my head and she sat down beside me, just before a couple people started to come into the room. I was quiet the entire time she sat next to me, as others entered the room she didn’t even look at them. Her eyes burned a hole into the side of my head and it was actually kind of nice. The class went on for a while until he assigned something that I wasn’t paying attention to and the class went into an uproar with their ridiculous collaborations.

“What’s your deal Ponyboy?” She cocked her head to the side, her gaze meeting mine while she tapped her finger against the wood. I shrugged and kept her gaze. “Well c’mon, don’t you talk?” She smirked and ran a finger over my sweatshirt. “For someone who dresses so bright you don’t seem to be too colorful yourself.”

I scoffed and looked up at the ceiling to break the eye contact. “What do you care?” I asked.

“Well I sat by you because you seemed interesting, so please humor me.” She rested her chin on her hand and got me to look back into her gaze. This girl was trouble, there was no denying that.

I shrugged. “What do you want to hear?”

“Name, birthday, all your dirty little secrets.” She whispered the last words in my ear and when she settled back into her seat and continued the trance she had me in.

I gulped and shrugged, it seemed to be the only thing I could possibly do around this girl. “Vic, February 10th.” I leaned back in my seat and looked ahead at the teacher, his face was buried in paperwork.

“C’mon now,” she cooed and ran her fingers over my shoulder. “Tell me something that even your mother wouldn’t know about you.”

I cringed and let out a deep breath. “That would be a lot of things, are you sure you have time for a pathetic story like that?” Her smirk faded and she held out her hand.

“The name’s Steph.” I shook her hand and we went back to silence. She kept her gaze but I ignored it, just looking at the front of the class. “So what other classes do you have? I’d like for you to share your sob story with me.” It didn’t take long for her sympathy to nearly slip away and she went back to the same smirking bitch that had come to me before. I briefed her on my schedule and we had the same classes. It looked like today was going to be bittersweet.

Notes

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