Matthew Harrison's Story

Jessica's alarm went off but the blonde girl was far too gone in her dozed sleep for the device to serve its purpose. She merely flinched at the loud beeping sound going off by her night stand. Perhaps it was her body's reaction to her sleep deprivation, she had barely gotten but two or three hours of sleep the night before. It wasn't her fault, well it was, but not entirely; school had her most busy during the past weeks. In between her A.P classes, applying for different universities, writing several essays for scholarships, and school tutoring; Jess could almost feel the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was thankful she had the day off from her part time job at the coffee shop or else she doubted she would have been able to catch up with her shows and get some sleep afterwards. She had already missed too many episodes and the suspense was almost killing her; they had left a cliff-hanger on the last episode but she knew herself too well to know she wouldn't be able to stop herself and then she'd probably pass out in class.

It wasn't until she heard her mother's voice calling that she barely opened her eyes with difficulty. She mumbled a few words cursing her school, the only thing keeping her from her warm bed and deep sleep. Before she did anything else, she did as most mornings; she began her day by stretching on her bed like a feline of sorts. At last, she got up rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawned a little unable to shake her tiredness off. "Let's go Guys. The Cereal is getting soggy!" said her mom, which was more than enough motivation for Jessica to hurry down the stairs. After all, Jessica knew exactly that there was enough 'trix' for one more bowl, it was that or the 'cocoa puffs'. She had doubled checked the night before knowing they'd would probably have cereal in the morning. She rushed down the stairs like she did when they were children, hoping that her older brother would not beat her to her favorite cereal. Both siblings clashed at the stairs bumping with each other, Matt was the first one to get to the cereal.

Jessica shoot a deadly stare his way, "jerk" she said to her older brother. He simply gave a victorious smile to his youngest sister as he began eating the colorful fruity cereal. Jessica focused on her mother now, "morning, mom" she said still upset about the cereal situation.

Matt shoot a semi apologetic, semi playful smile to his mother; he knew she wouldn't like them fighting, even if it was harmless. "Dad left already?" he asked. They talked for a little longer before both siblings left to their rooms again to get ready to start their day. Matt had a morning class and Jess was barely on time for hers. It didn't take long for her to get ready, she had already prepared her outfit the previous night. Before she headed to the shower she she placed one of her custom made CD's on the music player and turned it loud enough for her to her to jam through the shower. Finally, after changing into her outfit and applying make-up she looked at herself through the mirror. Jessica gave an approving nod before she headed downstairs again where she bid her mother goodbye for the day at least until she finished school and tutoring hours. At last, she turned her impala, making the engine roar as she stepped into the accelerator.

Beth smiled as both her children ran downstairs, racing as usual. It brought back the old memories of when they barely reached her waste. Of course always won, being that he had a little competitive streak especially against his sister. It was times like this that Beth was truly thankful for having her children around. Though she didn't much like it when they both left the house as it could become rather lonely.


It didn't take long for the two to wolf down the cereal, in fact Beth was only half way through the dishes before they had finished.

Once both kids were ready and gone Beth began getting ready herself. It was grocery day, though she liked to do a little shopping for herself whilst she was out.
She took a quick shower and brushed her teeth, then threw on some jeans and a baggy t-shirt. No use dressing up when it was likely anybody was going to see you.

Grabbing her keys she locked the door and headed out into the small suburban town. She decided to walk down to the small local store, the fresh air would do her good.
She passed her neighbours houses one by one. It was an unusual collection of people and most were just the typical 'American' Family but there was still something that didn't sit right with Beth.

She passed the small town shops and decided to stop for Coffee before braving her shopping list. Beth entered and took a seat,wondering whether to have Coffee or tea.

Matt was still inside the house when he heard his sister's impala roaring and soon vanishing at the end of the street, he saw her disappear as he moved the right curtain from his window and saw her take off to school soon enough his gaze change its course and landed on a small woman with his even smaller dog a dalmatian, he paid no mind to the woman even when he had found that she had recently moved in, it was his recent knowledge that there were several new residents which he found eerie. Though their neighborhood was better than others, Matt could not quite understand why the sudden popularity in the place or why would anyone want to move in in such an ordinary town.

Strange as it was, Jess was always ready much earlier than he was; he didn't mind though, he was not one to be punctual anyways. All set up and ready to leave to his dreadful English class, he turned to see if his cellphone had enough battery after he had forgotten to charge it the night before. He let out a sigh at the flashing screen showing merely forty percent when he felt his phone vibrating and heard his phone's message notification, it was no surprise to see it was none other than Anna the nerdy girl from his history class. They had taken a few courses together, talked a couple times and hung out a couple more but somehow the girl had a thing for Matty; something she was found of reminding him as she often texted him. This time she had asked him if he had finished the eight pages essay that Mr. Black had asked of for that day's class.

"Holy shit!" Matt said almost throwing his phone to his recently made bed. He had barely managed to do but four pages and though he had a very good memory he had forgotten the assignment as he had been working on a new project for his Modern Poetry class that he had completely forgotten to finish his essay. Finally, looking at the time he hurried down the stairs, bid his mother farewell and headed to his pickup. He could only hope that Mr. Black could have fallen ill with some rare disease and would give them at least one day more to work on their essay. Quickly he threw his backpack to the passenger seat and stepped on the accelerator but before he did he scanned one of the houses of the new found neighbors.