Hothead

Chapter Two: The Dream

I was on a roof. Tall and gray was the building to which the roof belonged. Then, I saw it. The sun. Bright and warm and welcoming. It filled the night sky with a brilliant orange light. I took a step towards it. Then another. Soon, I was running for the sun, trying to get away from my past and look to the future. I bent my legs and jumped for it. I had so much hope to start all over.

I floated there in the sky, basking in the sun’s light. If I could just touch it, I thought, if I could just reach the sun I know I will be alright. I leaned toward it, an overwhelming amount of peace filling me. But that didn’t last very long.

I started falling out of the sky, all good feelings gone; they were replaced with fear. I stopped falling about ten feet above the ground. I looked for the sun for comfort, but it didn’t help. The sun exploded! There was fire everywhere, all the other things were gone; the fire had consumed it all. I was next.

Everywhere I turned, there it was. My father’s voice, big and scary, was surrounding me. “You ruined everything! You are worthless!”

Then my mother's voice came. “I should have gotten rid of you sooner! I hate you!”

Tanya’s voice was next. “You can never go to school like me because you are a freak! Nobody will ever love you!”

“No, it’s not true!” Tears clouded my vision, but I blinked them away. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean-”

"Worthless piece of crap! We should have thrown you in the trash!" They all chanted in unison.

“You burned down our house, you monster!" My mother screeched. I really was crying now, letting the tears stream down my face. Suddenly, I was on the ground, the fire was on all sides of me, except the back. I stepped away from the fire, and before long, I abruptly fell down a hole. It was pitch black, I couldn’t see a thing. I continued plunging down, never to stop. That's when I woke up.

The impact of rolling out of bed onto the ground hurt, almost getting the wind knocked out of me. Meanwhile, the cold stone floor reminded me of how lonely I was. Wait a second, did I say bed? I really meant cot. Oh, and remember that dude who took me away from my family? Yeah, the thing is, he took me to a prison. And no. I am not exaggerating. I got taken to an actual prison. At the age of six! Like, who does that?

Anyhow, where was I? Oh right, my cot! The legs of the shorter sides were arranged in an "X" pattern with holes on the bottom and the top of the X to hold the canvas. Atop The cot, there was a worn-out white pillow and a grey fleece blanket.

The room is shaped like a rectangle. The shorter sides of the room are about 8 feet long. The longer sides however, are about 10 ft long. Near the foot of my cot, there is a toilet. The toilet is metal, so it's really crappy. About three feet away from the toilet is a metal sink. My toothbrush and a comb are sitting next to the faucet. In the other corner across from the sink, there is a drain. Near the drain, there is a bucket with a bar of soap inside. Yes, this is where I clean myself. I have no toothpaste, no shampoo, and no conditioner. Life is "great". In between the toilet in my cot, there is a wooden crate where I keep my clothes. The walls are plain and gray. What a poor excuse of a living space. I thought.

A guard knocked on my door. My door is big and metal with an opening near the top. It has three bars and a slot thingy. The slot thingy is about a foot long with that much on either side of it. There's a thin metal slider apparatus so I can have some privacy and close the window in my door.

"Yes, hello?" I said to the guard. I walked over to the slot thingy and opened it. It was Bella the guard. She had big brown eyes like melted chocolate chips, a face full of freckles, ginger hair tucked away in a bun under her guard cap, and a gray uniform but was way too baggy for her. She was kind of short; anywhere from 4,9 feet to 5 feet in total. I was at least a head taller than her.

She smiled big and asked if I was ready to go. You see, every single day without fail a guard unlocks a prisoner cell and escorts them to the kitchen for breakfast. Yeah right! I thought. Like I would want to be taken to the kitchen every day just to be watched eating Cheerios!

"Yeah sure. Ready as I'll ever be, I guess" I replied.

"Wonderful!" Bella exclaimed cheerfully.

"Easy for you to be happy, you're not locked up!" I grumbled as I walked out of my cell.

"What was that, hon?"

"Nothing."

"Oh okay, good!"

"Argh! You know what? I'm sick of you acting so happy all the time! it's okay to be happy, but not so much to the point where everything is cupcakes and rainbows and you sound like a phony! So shut up with that!" I screeched at Bella. Only, that happened in my mind. I could never say something like that to a guard. Why? The metal donut, which I call my collar, would shock me for "acting out". Also, I'm way too polite to say things like that out loud.

It's not that I have a short temper, even though I do, it's that I've been locked up for over seven years. After repeating the same routine everyday, seeing the same people, having no friends whatsoever, life kind of sucks. But hey, I could be freezing my buttocks off in Alaska with no food anywhere except for snow, so I shouldn't complain. Oh well. Sometimes it is nice to know what to expect every day. But at the same time, I'm alive but not really living. I'm just here. No more, no less.

~

We walked to the cafeteria from my cell. A right, two lefts, two rights, then straight. I dragged my feet past the tables to the bar and grabbed a small bowl of Cheerios. Josh, the prisoner who was in the cell across from mine, was sitting three tables away from me. I smiled slightly and gave a small wave. Josh scowled at me like I was something his dog left in his yard, rolled his eyes, and left. His guard Marcus, followed.

Bella sat down next to me with a plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes, all of it smothered in syrup. She also had some freshly squeezed orange juice. How dare she mock me so? The prisoners only get cereal, apples that taste like sour dirt, and dry muffins that crumble if you pick them up! The guards do not have a hard job! They only unlock cells and walk with prisoners who don't even talk to them! Prisoners are the ones with special abilities here, so guards should not be treated like royalty.

I glared at Bella's food as she started eating. Reluctantly, I started spooning cereal into my mouth. I ate my bland Cheerios, stared at the bland wall, and thought about my bland life. Why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong! Well yes, I did accidentally burn down my family's house because I was sad I couldn't go to school, but still! People don't send ovens to jail if they got left on and end up burning down the house, so why me? So what if they’re inanimate objects... that could burn down with the rest of the house…? I wish I was an oven. Then I wouldn't be here. But I would be dead, because my house burned down…. It wouldn't be burnt down if I didn't start the fire though.

We finished our food, Bella taking a lot longer than me, and we cleared our dishes. Bella suddenly beamed at me and said “We will be doing something a little different today.” Excitement danced wildly in her big, brown eyes.

~

Bella snatched my hand and we took off... somewhere. From the cafeteria we went right, then right, then we went and some other directions that I didn't keep track of. We halted at a door that I had never seen before. “Annabelle”, she sounded mysterious, all cheerfulness gone, but replaced with this really serious look. More serious than a heart attack. “You're 13, which means you're finally ready.”

“Yeah, duh, I know I'm 13. What else would I be a cow?” I blurted out, “Uh… ready for what now?” She reached up to my collar. I flinched. Ugh, when will I ever learn to close my trap? Now I'm going to get shocked because of it. She pressed a button and the collar dropped to the ground. I gave her a questioning look, but she only nodded and pushed me through the door. I was alone again. Or so I thought.