Nightwalker

After I got done eating my delectably impeccable meal, I walked up the stairs to my room, grumbling quietly as I aimed to escape Sarah's unnerving glare.

All this bullcrap I had to deal with today, and now this? Yeah, I definitely have to go somewhere far away from this brat of a sister.

Once I got up the carpet laid staircase, I took the first room to the right side of the wall (which is where my room was obviously) and waltzed inside.

"Home" I exhaled, letting free all of my previously built up tension in one deep breath. I was finally back to the place I longed to return to over the course of the entire day: my room. 

The thing about my room in particular that I love so much about it,  isn't something as simple as it just being homey and me considering it as intimately nostalgic due to the amount of time I've spent in it's spacious domain. It actually has to do with its immaculate polish

More specifically, well, at least from my perspective, it's clean. Like, very clean.

Far more clean than the rooms of most other boys my age, that's for certain. The reason for this is probably partially attributed to the fact that I live with 3 different women (my mom and two sisters), which (in my case at least) means I have to up with obsessively tidy clean freaks 24/7. I'd also just like to think that I'm inherently a bit more particular in terms of my organizational standards, but I could just be conflating that particular quality in this instance.

Speaking of my room, I guess it couldn't hurt to describe it in a little detail...I'll try not to get too off track this time.

The room is decently sized, about twice the size, maybe a bit more of an average bathroom complete with a small bookshelf that comes close to my lower torso in height placed to the left side of the entrance door (though not close enough for the two objects to collide in a normal scenario) and a 72 inch tv installed on the same wall, though it's farther away from the door and closer to (if not in) the midway point between it and the window.

The walls are lined with grey lime plaster and a dark toned overlay, the ceiling of the same color only differing with its inclusion of a Sap Cherry fan spinning leisurely around the large area in it's own small dominion, the gentle circles ventilating the room with a cool breeze.

I mean, even down to the chic silver lining of its baseboards and...wait..why the heck am I gushing about this so much?! Man, I really need to get my act together. Didn't I literally just say I'd keep it brief?

Anyway moving on from that superfluously descriptive dialogue, let me just hurry up and finish talking about the rest of my room.

I have a desk right below my tv, lined with laminated glass accompanied by a basic electronic lamp. My leather chair (yes I have a chair in here too) is on the left side of my bed, next to the window. Speaking of my bed actually, it's a standard queen size, mostly made of cotton and some other integrants I'm unfamiliar with. The floor is just plain old carpet, and the closet is on the right side of my door.

Alright, NOW we're done with the explanation. 

 So, after I fully entered the room and shut the door, I took off my school uniform jacket and pants (yes, we have uniforms at school, though wearing them is optional), slipped on some white shorts and a red shirt,  then quickly after laid down on my gray comforter bedsheet and breathed deeply.

"Finally" I thought.

"Rest.." I said, beginning to close my eyes and relax. After about an hour of laying comfortably on my amazingly soft (yet firm) mattress of humble abode, I sat up and stretched my arms, legs, and back for a couple minutes.

This whole little routine of mine doesn't actually happen very often. I rarely take cat naps (if you can even call it that in this instance..I didn't even sleep), and when I do it's only when I'm particularly exhausted. Or, in rare circumstances, when I find myself under a cumbersome amount of stress (but the former actually happens a lot more often than the latter just because on most weekends I stay up late playing video games or watching tv till 2am, sometimes even with Mark).

Once I finished, I sat back down on my bed and turned on the tv to watch it for a few minutes. Once I got bored of that (which did not take long at all) I went back downstairs to go and chill outside on my front patio, sitting down on one of the wooden chairs cushioned by a comfy pillow. 

After sitting there for a while (literally thinking about nothing, probably for about 30 minutes or so), I saw a red Camry pull up into the driveway. "Who is this person?" you ask? Well, remember how I said before that I had two sisters? Yeah, this is the second one. 

My second sister, or my first technically, is about 3 years older than me which made her 15 (I was 11, but I have a really late birthday). Her name is Piper, and she (unfortunately) is somehow even more annoying than Sarah is, and that says a lot about her already if you ask me. Now again, I know you're all probably wondering what exactly makes her such a despicable nuisance to the point of even attempting to compare her to my little sister (and most likely at this point why I'm also so snippy about it) , but luckily enough, I won't have to make a three page thesis or something specifying the exact minute intricacies of her integrant aspects related directly to her character and why those traits make her a snobbish elitist (okay-"elitist" may be going a little to far, but you get my point).

No no, nothing like that.

The reason she's irritating is simple: she's stuck up.

"Hey" she said plainly disingenuous after getting out of the car and walking to the house door. See that? She doesn't even call me out by name! 

I nodded in response, refusing to give her a proper one. No way am I about to not reciprocate that with a bushy tailed, cheery eyed greeting after she gave me her ill-affectioned hello.

After she walked into the house, I decided arbitrarily to go for a little walk around the block.

At this point it was already about 5:30, so I could only stay outside for about an hour or so before the sun started to set. Normally around this time of year it would take at least 3 or 4 more hours for darkness to settle into the sky, but for some reason this year even though it was still summertime, it started to go down much earlier than usual. I usually like to go for a little stroll at least a couple times a week or so to relax my mind and think about something other than the dreadfulness of schoolwork (cause boy was it stressful) or the other typical seeds of anxiety that comprise themselves in the many plethora of situations life confines itself in.

This day however, was particularly special.

"I can't wait to see Penny tomorrow..maybe I'll drop by her house for a second" I said creepily, with a scary smile on my face (evocative of the one Mark made earlier if I'm being completely honest).

Hey don't judge me! Penny is way too hot to NOT think about at random intervals of the day and unnervingly lust over!

I was really looking forward to seeing her tomorrow especially so I could finally try and have a normal conversation with her instead of standing around hall corners watching her like you probably think I do (and to be honest you're not completely wrong). 

What? Stop looking at me like that!

Moving on from internal monologues that portray my true moral compass (most particularly regarding that girl), I ended up deciding to immediately give Penny's house a quick visit. Not to stalk or anything, I just wanted to drop by since she doesn't live too far away from where I live (okay-it's much less creepy than it sounds-I swear!). 

As I started heading over there, I thought about all the potential ways I could greet her with if I actually bumped into her outside for some oddly convenient (or just as likely inconvenient) reason. 

"Hey, wassup baby?" I said out loud to myself.

"Agh no! that'd be stupid and embarrassing" I grumbled quietly.

"Ugh, okay..how about..'yo! how ya doin' Pen-cake?'"

"No- that's just as bad you idiot! I sound like some corny incel spouting garbage crap like that"

As I continued on my hapless pilgrimage (or peregrination, which I actually learned means 'journey' but it kinda sounds pretentious to me in this context) to Penny's house across my route forlorn with inevitable devastation of all my hopes and dreams revolving around her (my nerdy way of saying the quick road to her house) I began to doubt myself, but immediately dismissed it since I convinced myself that I was just taking a quick little look, just as I had told myself before.

Just as soon as I had that thought however, it happened.

Ironically, an unironic conclusion had been reached.

I was already right next to her home.