“Asscrown," I muttered under my breath as I headed to my next class. I wasn't proud of swearing at a complete stranger, no. but he started it.

Noah matched my pace. "Don't you mean 'assclown'?" He looked amused.

"No," I said, louder this time. "I mean asscrown. The crown on top of the asshat that covers the asshole of the assclown. The very zenith in the hierarchy of asses," I said, as though I was reading from a dictionary of modern profanity.

"I guess you nailed me then.”
Michelle Hodkin

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Chapter 1 (Apt 408)

The day started with his alarm blaring in its usual screechy and annoying tone. Kaden opened his eyes briefly to check the time and turned over almost immediately assuming that he could sleep in for another 5 minutes without harm.


A second passed before his eyes opened quickly and he sat up in his bed with a start; looking back to the dusty black clock with its crude red numbers he re-read the bright blinking digits.


8:55am.


Crap, he was SO late to picking up Mona from the bus stop. She was going to have his head on a spike if he didn't get there within the next 5 to 10 minutes.


Kaden threw the covers off his body and threw on a pair of grey joggers and a sweatshirt from some college his dad once wanted him to go to. He didn’t bother to check the news, weather, or even bothered to brush his teeth as he sprinted to the elevator of his apartment complex Dreamwood Terrace; He was then on his way out to the back parking deck. As he fumbled around in his sweatshirt pockets for his phone he realized he left his phone on the bedside table along with his wallet...and the car keys to his borrowed silver 1999 M3 BMW. It was his dads.


He began to slow down and sighed heavily, mentally face palming himself. As his head lolled back he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.


Idiot. Take a breath, go back upstairs, and get your goddamned life together.


Once his thoughts had been collected, he began to make his way back up to his apartment on 4th floor; until he realized how cold and damp his feet felt.


Looking down he realized he wasn’t wearing socks or shoes...in the middle of December...in this foggy ass town. He groaned out of irritation and trudged back through the lobby and back to his room , the first on the left on the fourth floor of Dreamwood Terrace.


~*~


Some hours passed since he had picked up Mona from the bus, she had been locked up in her room since 9am and here he was heading down to the sub level of CCC (City Community College). His last lecture was over and it was now 6:45pm.


College sucks.


Pulling out his phone he began to check to see if the party was on for the night. The secret club under the school was great, but it wasn't active every night. As soon as he opened the rusty door that lead to the lowest level he felt the pulsing of the house music in his bones.


He smiled and felt the days stress evaporate he began to see the blinking lights and dancing bodies huddled and jumping to the electronic beats of the music. He takes of his own shirt and finds himself becoming one with the mass that has somehow taken on a life of its own.


They all move as one.


And then the power goes out.


The dancing stops. The laughing halts. The music cuts off.


The energy that was once going through the room is no more...


and then the hand lasers come on. One by one people pull out their phones and other devices and start to light the room up. The DJ grabs his phone and connects it to a speaker and the music is back on.

They might have just drained the city of power, but that doesn’t mean that their party is going to stop. Here, Kaden feels at home again.