The explosion of the universe began with one of the most highly regarded noises to ever be considered annoying, the sound “Beep,” from an alarm clock beside J.D’s bedside. That alarm clock has been on the same nightstand for exactly sixteen years. Not once has the clock been moved or even picked up. It sits there because that is where it is supposed to be.
Like every morning before, J.D waited for four beeps before turning it off and in his exactly five minute daze routine, he laid there on his bed starring at the fan attached to his ceiling. He’s not necessarily thinking of anything. Watching the fan blades, he processes his life and the day to come, that it is happening and he does have to go through it, whether he likes it or not.
J.D is young with only sixteen years under his belt. In stature and in features he is thin and pointed, though his brown eyes are round and walnut shaped, against his clear, pale skin.
Once his five minutes are up, J.D sits up and swings his legs around to the bed’s side, letting his feet land in a spot on his wooden floor that has been worn and stained by his feet being placed in that same place for so long.
On cue, a bird outside his window chirps and he stands up, going for his closet.
Everything move and action J.D makes has control to it. These actions are soft and gentle. There was a time when he simply moved. For a while now, all he has known is control. Because if he doesn’t control himself, people will notice the difference and differences are not something aloud in this world.
If it he could, if it were up to him, J.D would be screaming. He’d be screaming his brains out, jumping up and down, and ripping out his hair. However, the moment he would imagine doing all those things, he only became sad, like his whole body had become numb. He realized it wasn’t worth it anyways.
When these feelings first started, he wondered if that was what loneliness felt like. Was that was he was? Lonely? No… as he goes back to those thoughts, all he feels is cramped.
From his closet he pulled out his school uniform, a simple black blazer, trousers, shoes, and thin tie with his shirt tucked in. In the mirror he fixes his black hair perfectly across his head, his hair barely touches his forehead.
He now sighs watching his posture deflate and hunch over.
This is when he takes his leave out of his room and down precisely sixteen stairs. Grabbing his leather suitcase from its hanger, he strolls into the kitchen. Being of no surprise, there are no movements in the house and no sounds to be heard. It’s only him.
Well, and the standard note his parent place on the identical spot on the fridge that only reads, “Stay J.D.”
Just as he was, they were worried they’d lose him.
To a “Tee,” J.D fixes his lightly toasted Pop-Tart and eats it from the outside in. He finished and left his house in the same amount of time as yesterday.
The only thing that has ever changed in J.D’s life is Marie Kinsley Fuller.
She died.
No one would give him specifics about her death. The police said that it was too horrendous how odd the situation was. J.D couldn’t disagree… he hadn’t known of anyone to take their own life.
“There’s that cramped feeling again,” J.D thought and walked onto the side walk, having to instantly join in the stream of other people.
Everyone else walks in a perfectly symmetrical line, while it’s the same on the other side of the road, though people are walking down instead of up like he is. They're all cleaned cut people; no one is standing out more than the other. J.D knows he walks in the same place every day because he makes sure to walk on this one long crack. His feet go left, right, left, right, and over and over.
"It's the same thing day after day," He thought, which surprised him and just feeling that alone is a surprise.
His loss of Marie changed him while everything around him seemed to be indifferent. He had imagined the whole world crumbling down, people collapsing on their knees, crying and screaming in their hands... but no. Nothing changed. He had expected change to be something like a domino effect. "If one thing changes, shouldn't more things change, being affected by the first? It's almost disappointing."
At the end of the side walk, J.D turns left, halting in place for a second. Fear shoots through his veins, down his arms, making him hesitant. By the same stoop and under the same tree are Randy, Austin, and Brad, smirking that—sadly—familiar wickedness. They're twice the size he is; their feet are the size of his head.
Still, J.D moves forward, this is part of the routine.
"Hey J.D," Austin eases in, the closer J.D became.
With that control, J.D's expression doesn't change. He simply continues to walk, at least until Randy grabbed his forearm. His hand is monstrous compared to J.D's pencil thin limb.
This monster jerked him, making fun of him with a less than pleasing smile, "Didn't you hear him freak? When people say hello, you say hello back or are you too stupid to understand that?"
Swiftly, J.D thrashed and retreated from his hold. J.D makes it a habit to never give them eye contact or react to their abuse. Once, a while an ago he pushed Randy back after being pushed himself and in the end, J.D was left with bruises hidden under his uniform.
"Someone is in a bad mood,” Austin pointed out from under his grin.
Brad nodded, “You need to show a little respect.” Open palmed, he shoved J.D back against the tree. He stumbled and hit his back hard against the bark.
As he looked up to be ready for attack, he realized something... everyone is just walking by him. This makes him nervous. Panicked, he spouts “Fine! Hi! Okay? Hello, good morning. Are you guys happy now?”
“Nope,” Brad smiled, grabbed his bag and like every morning before this one, Brad tossed his suitcase in the tree.
J.D watched them snigger and joke, leaving hints of their hate for him linger in the air. It hurts. It sucks how jerks like that can make him feel so filled with crap, but they do.
“Oh my,” A more friendly voice emerges behind J.D, “They’re a few inches off today.”
“Yeah,” J.D chuckled and began reaching out for his bag, “After doing this every morning since I was ten, you’d think they’d have the sense to throw the bag in the same place.”
“I mean they’ve just had so much practice.”
“Oh Thomas,” J.D sighed, bubbling with bitter sarcasm and turned to his friend, “You always have the right thing to say.”
Thomas is his age and dressed the same, though he fills it out better and is a tad taller. This boy has dark maroon hair that’s bangs almost cover his dark eyes. He speaks uncaringly, “It’s a gift… let me help you.”
Walking to an alley next to the stoop, Thomas pulls out a small step ladder and retrieves the bag, making his comment. “I don’t understand why you always jump for it. I constantly have to get the ladder.”
“It’s what I always do,” J.D snapped and snatched the bag from his friend, which only amused him and made J.D glare at him. Then, J.D noticed something odd, Thomas’s lips seem red? Too red. He points this out, “Did you eat a popsicle or something? Your lips are like cherry red.”
Thomas’s eyes grow wide and in obvious alarm, he quickly wipes his mouth. He nervously mutters this under his hand, “Uh, yeah, um. I couldn’t find anything to eat.”
J.D decided not to mention that Popsicle stained lips wouldn’t be able to come off just by wiping your lips… he’s probably wrong, but he’s almost certain he was wearing lipstick.
The two walked the rest of the way to school, talking and making jokes at each other, dismissing Thomas’s odd actions.
At the school’s gate, J.D watches Thomas wave to another student, a broad shoulder guy that was reading a book. The guy waves back to Thomas, smiling.
As Thomas puts his hand down, J.D tells him, “That’s the twenty-seventh morning you’ve waved to him.”
“I think we’ve become friends.”
“Really? Isn’t he a transfer student… we’ve never had one before.”
“Which is why no one would partner up with him in chemistry?”
“Is he nice?”
“Well, he’s shy and when I made fun of him he didn’t react like you do, so yes he is nice.”
That only made J.D chuckle, while the two go into the school. Classrooms are perfectly symmetrical and have nothing on its walls. The students stay in one classroom, the same classroom they’ve been going to since preschool, keeping the same teachers. Really, the only thing that has changed is the desk sizes.