[i]December, 14, 2014

07:30 a.m[/i]

"Right, left, right, left, right, left!", The boy counted, panting as he kept dodging the colorful pillars falling down from the sky. The world presented to him was bleak, yet irresistibly charming. Bleak as in, white, for the better part, while it's charm stemmed from the blocks the black hole that circled above his head brought down. What Ethan had created was a Tetris-inspired setting. It wasn't his most creative work, but he was bit tight with time at the moment, having just arranged his stuff for school. Disconnection or day-dreaming, as everyone referred to it, wasn't part of the boy's morning routine, but it just so happened that he was, to some extent, addicted to it. Besides, it's not like he would lose track of time that fast.

"This is getting boring. Let's have a little fun!", Ethan uttered, a great dose of determination detectable in his tone. If only he would be that invested in improving his real life. It was then that the blocks started diving in faster. Even though not as effortlessly as before, Ethan still managed to barely skip through the oncoming blocks, until a blue horizontal one had him tumble down the white abyss below. The rules of the universe didn't apply to Rorke, as he asspulled a jetpack and flew to the direction of the black hole, the source of all evil in the dimension he had created. All he had to do is wish, and voila! An oversized red plunger appeared. It was the size of a building, yet Ethan could hold it effortlessly. He lunged at the hole, dodging the onrushing rainbow of pillars before finally sticking the mega-plunger in the hole's entrance. There were no more blocks coming out.

"A job well done!", a floating Ethan spoke, brushing the imaginary sweat off his eyebrows. Suddenly, a screeching noise was coming from somewhere. It wasn't part of the teenager's fantasy setting. It was coming from the outside - something, somebody, was creating an overflow. The high-pitched voice released shock waves which in turn shattered the plunger's wooden handle into pieces. Just as a sharp piece was about to hit the blonde boy, he got out - reconnected. The high pitched voice was now less high-pitched, but not any less annoying. It was his six year old sister, Karen. That was her way of greeting good morning.

Ethan rushed out of the closet, now facing a seemingly unfazed Karen. "You know, one of these days, I'm gonna sweep you off your feet, roll you down a rug and throw you off the window!", he spoke angrily. But her brother's empty threats weren't affecting the little brat. Even though six, she knew that the threats were meaningless and that they would still have to get along with each other by the end of the day. She was pretty sly.

"Mom sent me to tell you that if you don't get your ass moving, you won't be able to catch the bus", Karen spoke fluidly while doing her trademark fast blink that she knew Ethan hated. Those words stroke Ethan like a heart attack. His grades were shambles and he already had enough absent notes to warrant a face-to-face meeting with the principal himself. He rushed down the stairs and directly into the kitchen, where his mother was sipping on a coffee mug. “What took you so long?”, she asked in a motherly tone, eyeing his choppy, hurried motions. “Sorry. Won’t happen again!”, Ethan came up with the best excuse as he emptied a glass of milk and devoured his morning pancakes in the blink of an eye. He knew how to be resourceful when his ass was on the line. On his way out, he kissed his concerned mother’s cheek and deliberately bumped into Karen, who responded by sticking her tongue out. 

Several curse words later, Ethan had finally arrived at the bus stop. He was so pleased to see that yellow noisy monster hadn’t departed yet. Climbing up the stairs led to the bus driver making a statement about how he was late again, one which Ethan easily ignored. He was way out of breath to respond to every rebuke he heard on his way out. There were two empty seats near the end of the bus which Ethan spotted as he pranced his way through the students. He took the seat near the window. While there was no sight of snow, it was real chilly outside. The pressure Ethan had to deal with from the get-go sort of distracted him from that.