Beep! Beep! Beep!
The high pitched alarm clock woke Nathan from his sleep. It was 6:30 am, and his room, as usual was pitch black due to the thick black-out blind that covered his window. He turned onto his back and grabbed the alarm clock, still beeping incessantly. He turned the damn thing off, before pulling back the covers and swinging his legs back over the side of the bed. It was the day after his 17th birthday, and he had been up until later than usual, playing on his new Playstation 4. He was feeling worse for it this morning.
He rubbed his eyes, standing up and pulling up his blind, letting the early morning twilight cast a blue glow into his room. He stepped out through the upstairs landing and into the bathroom, undressing and getting a quick shower. He finished, pulling on a robe and brushing his teeth. He dried his curly hair and pulled on some clothes, a pair of skinny jeans, a white t shirt and leather jacket, and a grey beanie hat that only just about sat on the top of his head. He grabbed his backpack, and headed downstairs, to see his mother and stepfather having some breakfast. He grabbed a bowl of corn flakes, filled it up with milk and sat down.
“Hey Mum, could I uh, have 5 dollars? There’s this thing that I need for school that I’ve lost and it’s 5 dollars for a new one. It’s like an ID card type-thing.” He said, hoping he was convincing enough.
“Alright, fine, just be careful not to lose this one, right?” his Mum said, handing him 5 dollars.
“Thanks Mum! See you later, Gary.” He said, nodding to his stepdad as he placed his bowl in the sink, and headed out through the front door.
Nathan actually had a fairly good relationship with his stepdad. Him and Nathan’s mum had been together for 8 years now, since Nathan was 9 and pretty much straight after they had moved from England. He had hated Gary at first, but within a couple of years came to realise that Gary was a good person who loved his mum. Gary also had a strange quality of being able to be firm, and in some ways a father figure, but never seeming like he was trying to act like he was Nathan’s dad.
On the way to school Nathan stopped by a convenience store, the only one in town, he had found, that would serve him without ID for the habit he had picked up from old friends last summer when he was staying with his dad in England: Cigarettes.
“ 10 Marlboro Reds, please mate. Oh, and this chewing gum.” He said, handing over the 5 dollar bill his mother had gave him and taking the change and the white and red packet of Marlboros and the small green packet of gum. He left the store, and from a small zip pocket in the inside of his leather jacket pulled out a disposable lighter. He pulled a cigarette from the packet and lit it, putting the lighter and cigarette packet deep inside the bottom of his bag where he hoped they would not be found.
He continued on towards the school, stopping on a street corner just before the school to finish his cigarette. He dropped the butt to the floor, popped a chewing gum in his mouth and pulled a can of deodorant from his bag, spraying himself lightly. He threw the can back in his bag, zipped it up and headed into school.
The day drifted by, he got on with his work. Nathan was not a kid to mess around, he cared about his education enough to focus in school, but certainly wasn’t the king of extracurricular activities. Still, he got mostly B’s, and more often A’s than C’s, so he did well enough. As third period came around, and some dumb bitch was stood – actually fucking stood on top of the desk arguing with the teacher, he suppressed the urge to tell the dumb bitch to sit down and shut the fuck up. He had his head facing downwards, looking at the desk, and heard it before he saw it. Hearing the gasps of surprise coming from around the room, and looking up, he saw that Mr Phillips was nowhere to be seen. He watched as Selene, a girl he knew rather well due to his mother and Step Dad working with her Father at the plant, step forward to the front of the class.
" I am going to have to say that...school is most likely out now?"
Nathan stood up himself.
“ Err, excuse me, I had my head down, I wasn’t looking. Where did Mr Phillips just go?” He said, slightly confused. A couple of different kids in the class started saying how he had just disappeared, how they had been looking right at him and then he was just gone, other kids confirming it.
“ Nah, seriously, where’d he go? Selene, where’d he go?” He said, turning his head to Selene with a confused look on his face. He thought the other kids in the class were just bullshitting him, but he knew Selene would be straight with him.
The high pitched alarm clock woke Nathan from his sleep. It was 6:30 am, and his room, as usual was pitch black due to the thick black-out blind that covered his window. He turned onto his back and grabbed the alarm clock, still beeping incessantly. He turned the damn thing off, before pulling back the covers and swinging his legs back over the side of the bed. It was the day after his 17th birthday, and he had been up until later than usual, playing on his new Playstation 4. He was feeling worse for it this morning.
He rubbed his eyes, standing up and pulling up his blind, letting the early morning twilight cast a blue glow into his room. He stepped out through the upstairs landing and into the bathroom, undressing and getting a quick shower. He finished, pulling on a robe and brushing his teeth. He dried his curly hair and pulled on some clothes, a pair of skinny jeans, a white t shirt and leather jacket, and a grey beanie hat that only just about sat on the top of his head. He grabbed his backpack, and headed downstairs, to see his mother and stepfather having some breakfast. He grabbed a bowl of corn flakes, filled it up with milk and sat down.
“Hey Mum, could I uh, have 5 dollars? There’s this thing that I need for school that I’ve lost and it’s 5 dollars for a new one. It’s like an ID card type-thing.” He said, hoping he was convincing enough.
“Alright, fine, just be careful not to lose this one, right?” his Mum said, handing him 5 dollars.
“Thanks Mum! See you later, Gary.” He said, nodding to his stepdad as he placed his bowl in the sink, and headed out through the front door.
Nathan actually had a fairly good relationship with his stepdad. Him and Nathan’s mum had been together for 8 years now, since Nathan was 9 and pretty much straight after they had moved from England. He had hated Gary at first, but within a couple of years came to realise that Gary was a good person who loved his mum. Gary also had a strange quality of being able to be firm, and in some ways a father figure, but never seeming like he was trying to act like he was Nathan’s dad.
On the way to school Nathan stopped by a convenience store, the only one in town, he had found, that would serve him without ID for the habit he had picked up from old friends last summer when he was staying with his dad in England: Cigarettes.
“ 10 Marlboro Reds, please mate. Oh, and this chewing gum.” He said, handing over the 5 dollar bill his mother had gave him and taking the change and the white and red packet of Marlboros and the small green packet of gum. He left the store, and from a small zip pocket in the inside of his leather jacket pulled out a disposable lighter. He pulled a cigarette from the packet and lit it, putting the lighter and cigarette packet deep inside the bottom of his bag where he hoped they would not be found.
He continued on towards the school, stopping on a street corner just before the school to finish his cigarette. He dropped the butt to the floor, popped a chewing gum in his mouth and pulled a can of deodorant from his bag, spraying himself lightly. He threw the can back in his bag, zipped it up and headed into school.
The day drifted by, he got on with his work. Nathan was not a kid to mess around, he cared about his education enough to focus in school, but certainly wasn’t the king of extracurricular activities. Still, he got mostly B’s, and more often A’s than C’s, so he did well enough. As third period came around, and some dumb bitch was stood – actually fucking stood on top of the desk arguing with the teacher, he suppressed the urge to tell the dumb bitch to sit down and shut the fuck up. He had his head facing downwards, looking at the desk, and heard it before he saw it. Hearing the gasps of surprise coming from around the room, and looking up, he saw that Mr Phillips was nowhere to be seen. He watched as Selene, a girl he knew rather well due to his mother and Step Dad working with her Father at the plant, step forward to the front of the class.
" I am going to have to say that...school is most likely out now?"
Nathan stood up himself.
“ Err, excuse me, I had my head down, I wasn’t looking. Where did Mr Phillips just go?” He said, slightly confused. A couple of different kids in the class started saying how he had just disappeared, how they had been looking right at him and then he was just gone, other kids confirming it.
“ Nah, seriously, where’d he go? Selene, where’d he go?” He said, turning his head to Selene with a confused look on his face. He thought the other kids in the class were just bullshitting him, but he knew Selene would be straight with him.