1 Chapter One

When I was eight, I knew something was different about me. At the time, I didn't know how. It didn't start getting worse until my early teen years. That's when I really started to notice. I started to notice how I was constantly in a daydream and wasn't focusing on my school work so my grades started taking a dive off the deep end, and I didn't understand how. It was always hard to focus but when I wanted to escape from reality, I just accepted the daydreaming and let it become part of who I was. When I wake up, when I eat, when I'm watching movies or reading, it's always happening. Sometimes it's really cool but sometimes it could be absolutely terrifying because even though I can still see what's going on in the 'outside world' or as we call "reality," there are still things playing in my head. If I'm in a bad mindset, sometimes things can take a turn for the worst and turn sad or turn into a complete nightmare and it's not like I can just 'turn it off' because it doesn't work that way.

Here I am, now in my early twenties, and still struggle with it. Though, if I could get rid of it, I don't think I would because I honestly have no clue what I would do without it. I guess it's more so like a drug now. I mean, everyone has wanted to escape reality once in their lives, right? At least having this issue, I can. Like I've said, it has its ups and downs. Some days are better than others but then again, some days are also worse than others too. It's not as simple as changing a channel, it's more so you have to like 'ride it out' for a bit before it decides "hey, let's change it back to something good rather than this hell we're currently creating." Even though it does have the ability to make even my daydreaming a living hell, I still don't know what I would do without it. Ironic, isn't it?

"Hey dork, you daydreamin' again?" I look up, slightly startled by the voice, only to see my best friend since highschool looking down at me with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. I roll my eyes at him, fake annoyed and he just lets out a low chuckle before sitting down in front of me. "You do also know your lunch break is almost over, right? You've been sitting here staring at your food for almost fifteen minutes lost in god knows what." When he said that, I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket to look at my watch. Low and behold, he was right. "Shit, you're right," I paused for a moment before looking up at him with a questioning look. "Wait a minute, have you just been staring at me for the past fifteen minutes and not said a single thing?" He raises his hands up in defense. "Listen pal, I thought you would notice me but you didn't. Also, you were making some interesting facial expressions while zoned out and it was too funny not to watch. Don't shoot the messenger man, don't shoot the messenger." I sigh before standing up and grabbing my tray. He follows suit and we both dump them into the trash bin before setting them on the rack.

We both work at the factory about thirty minutes from the town we currently live in. Not only is he my best friend, he's also my roommate who helped me out when I needed it. We've lived together for about two years now. I look over at him and see him looking down at his phone like normally. "Seriously, Ray? Always on your phone." I shake my head at him and he just holds up his middle finger without looking away from his phone before we both start walking to the doors of the cafeteria back to the main factory part of the building. The cafeteria is the only place in the entire building that seems to actually have a normal temperature to it. Everywhere else feels like the gates of Hell have opened and not been closed in at least a decade. I guess that's what we get for working at a steel factory, though.

"Hey, Cassius?" I look over as my name is called only to see Ray looking over at me with a hard hat on his head that seems a little too big for him. I chuckle before answering. "What do you want, nerd?" He rolls his eyes at me, jokingly. "After our shift is over today, do you want to go home or go out and grab a few drinks?" I raise my eyebrow in confusion at him. "Dude, it's Friday. We have the weekend off, remember?" I made the 'o' shape with my mouth in realization before celebrating a victory in my head. After working nine hour shifts all week, having to get up at six a.m. everyday so you can be on time, any days off count as victories in my department. "Uhhh, if I'm not ass tired when we leave, yeah, that sounds good to me." I say in a matter-of-fact tone, is if he didn't already know my answer. He does a small victory dance knowing that even if I was tired, I would still go out and drink with him.

Now that our shifts are over, him getting finished five minutes before me, we both go clock out and get our things from our lockers before heading out to his truck. He loves that thing but man, I feel like just breathing on it would cause it to fall apart. It's in rough shape but it still does it's job. He does plan to get it fixed up when he saves up enough money, and I, being the best friend that I am, plan to help him and he doesn't even know about it yet. I've been saving up what money I can in a little shoebox under my bed that he doesn't know about, for awhile now. It's the last thing he owns of his father's. His dad gave it to him as a birthday present when he turned sixteen. He didn't actually believe it was his at first and he thought his mom, sister and I were in on it too. It took us all a week to convince him that it was actually his. "Dude, what are you chuckling about?" He asks in a curious but confused tone when he unlocks the truck and we both get in. "Oh, you know…, just remembering that time it took us a week to convince you that this truck was actually yours." He huffs, embarrassed at the thought. "Listen, I didn't know! I thought you all were pulling my leg. I've tried so hard to forget that memory, why must you continue to remember and laugh about it? You're going to be the death of me Cassius." He sighs in defeat and all I can do is laugh. He lays his head on the steering wheel while I continue to laugh for about five more minutes before he raises up, starts the truck and starts pulling out of the parking lot. He - of course - already had his seatbelt on and I just remembered to put mine on. Don't want us to accidentally end up with a ticket again. That was an awkward time. I got a scolding of a lifetime from him.