Wake Up Call

Isaiah

Day,0

6:27

I wake to my mom throwing my blankets off of me, the sensation of cold air settled on my bare skin makes me shiver. With a grumbly, sleep ridden voice I manage a half hearted. "5 more minutes." Still not looking up from her phone she responds with.

"Fine but you don't get a shower then." she walked out of the room without a glance in my direction. I get up with a strained grunt and clumsily walk toward the bathroom. When I turn on the lights, stars dance in my vision. I made my way to the stained bathtub and turned on the faucet. I glanced in the mirror to see a skinny, bed head ridden teen on the verge of falling asleep again. I check the water and its temperature satisfies me so I got into the tub, sat down and let the water run on me. The sensation of isolation washed over me as the minutes ticked by. I thought about how my parents want me to do good in school but how i have no real motive to do so. I also thought about how I'm going to get weed by lunch and I thought about how Cortez wants us to show our array of weapons to some people even if it would mean expulsion if caught. Why did we think bringing weapons to school was a good idea? To be honest I don't know, after figuring out that I wasn't going to go to the same school as all of my friends next semester all logical reasoning flew out the window for me. I started cutting it closer than usual when I smoked with my friends, I stopped caring about my grades more than I did before - which isn't saying much - and now I'm planning on bringing dangerous weapons to school without a second thought.

A pound on the door woke me from my daze at the bottom of the tub. I yelled an unprepared response in return signaling that i knew that it was time to get out of the shower. I sighed, I hadn't even done anything you're actually supposed to do when your in the shower, so I heaved my somehow still exhausted body up and brushed my frizzy, curly hair through with the help of the running water to get my pristine, well loved curls back in shape. I threw some conditioner on my head and meaded it into my scalp knowing that I wouldn't have time for shampoo. I lathered up in body wash and rinsed off immediately, probably cancelling out the effects of the soap. I got out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, put on some deodorant, and finally walked out of the bathroom in my room. I changed into some gray khakis, black long sleeve, finishing off with a poncho like sweater that I like to call my "drug rug" and a nice leather jacket that my parents bought me just recently . I was going to stuff my mini Snake Eye ™ grip-less tomahawks - sheaths included - in my bag when my mom yelled up at me from the bottom of the stairs." Get your ass down here and get'ch your shit done were getting in the car!" I yelled back down a slightly annoyed "ok" in response and finished sticking the tomahawks in my bag. I proceeded to look around the room for anything else that I needed when I look to see my modified baseball bat hanging from hooks over my entertainment stand. Its painted metallic black with an electrical tape grip at the handle. But that's not even the best part it's far from it. The business end has 7, 4 inch metal All-Threads, which is a length of metal pole with threads like a screw. Each side is tipped with a spike. Each metal pole goes straight through the sides of the bat leaving about a half an inch out each side for the spike. These spikes span the top 3rd of the bat, about every inch and half criss-crossing making sure that they don't touch each other. Doing this makes sure that the bat can keep its structural integrity. To keep the spikes in place we - as in me and my Dad, I would have never been able to make it without him - added nuts with washers and tightened them to point that it wouldn't break the wood but to the point it wouldn't budge. And to top it all off we stuck a 2 inch spike on top of the bat for no reason in particular. I grabbed it off the stand having to reach with the help of my toes and I stuck it in my bag making sure I didn't damage anything in the process. I ran to my parent's bed room and made sure to open the open door quietly and processed to grab my phone and chrome book. I closed the door making sure to not wake my dad then i ran down the stairs, fed my dog and cat ran out the door, not knowing it was going to be my last time in that house in a long time.

I opened the trunk and gingerly put my bag down so I wouldn't harm anything in it. I got in the car only to get back out again, before my mom could ask why I ran to the other side of the controlled chaos-ly messy 3 car garage and grabbed my longboard putting it in the trunk as well. Before I even closed the door my mom was backing out of the garage. "Were gonna be fucking late.", she seethed to no one in particular. I buckled my seatbelt and waited for the entourage of comments from her.

" What took you so long? What were you doing that's gonna make us late. Again!" She glanced at me, familiar fury in her eyes.

" I had to get my stuff out of your guys's room. Dad was still asleep." I didn't even make an attempt to look back at her. She let out a sigh.

" I'm going to be getting you out of the shower earlier so you'll be able to get ready earlier."

"Okay." I said with no emotion really, it was more like an instinctive response. She looked at me with concern in her eyes instead of anger this time.

" What's wrong?" I didn't respond, I just gave her a look of "I don't want to talk about it, ok". She sighed again but this time concern didn't follow afterward, this time it was a mild frustration.

"Fine if you don't want to talk about it then we won't but it isnt gonna help your case if you have any attitude at me for it." She turned her eyes back to the road not expecting me to respond. Which i didn't. We sat in silence for the next couple of minutes giving time for mom to turn off Tower and on the interstate. It continued all the way to the exit off of I-70 on to Central Park Blvd beside the occasional banter between my siblings in the back seat until my mom spoke up when we came to a light.

" Last night i checked your grades and it said that you're failing 4 classes."

I replied with a nonchalant "and". She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and anger that quickly turned into frustration.

"Why don't you care about anything." she almost yells at me. I just shrug not wanting to continue the ongoing discussion of my failing self any longer. We pulled up to the side of the school and we stopped at the drop off. She looked at me with false hope but also disappointment in her eyes. She heaved a great sigh and finally spoke.

"Just try to at least do something, ok?" I nodded and got out of the car. I went to the back and grabbed my stuff. I headed towards the school alongside the chain link fence that circled the construction site of the new building. Before i was even able to put my skateboard down to ride, i heard a honk come from the car. I turn and see my mom give me the sign that we always do for i love you/goodbye its the typical rock star sign middle and ring finger in the palm and the rest outstretched. I give it back and she pulls off from the spot and down the road. I make myself seem busy as she turns the corner and out of my sight. I finally turn around in the opposite direction and head to the tunnel that goes under the main road. As I reach the top of the hill I set my longboard down and jump on. The worn trucks creak as I turn ever so slightly down the sloping hill. The faint smell of weed reached my nose as I grew nearer to the tunnel entrance. When I'm finally on top of them I see who the culprits are - my three friends Cortez, Jacob and Za'ray aka Lil' Head.

"Hey what's up, y'all got any more dough?" I ask as I dap up Cortez and the rest.

"Nah that's all we got left." Cortez answers as he points to the half smoked blunt in Jacob's hand.

"Damn y'all know anyone that's got any?" I ask as I take a hit from it. All of our high brains ponder the question as we pass around the remains of the blunt. Finally Lil' Head speaks up.

" I think Quan has some but I don't know where he is,"

" Fuck bro I have fucking fifty bucks and i need some damn weed." I answer mildly frustrated.

" Bro relax its only the beginning of the day you'll be able to find some dough." Jacob says in his surfer-like voice even though he's from Minnesota.

We sit there for a while until I see the handle sticking out of my bag from the corner of my bloodshot eye.

" Oh shit y'all wanna see my bat I know you've seen it Cortez but the other guys haven't." I set my bag down and gingerly pull it out. Smiles start to form on their faces as thoughts of destruction filled their thoughts. I heft it and do a practice swing, I sway slightly the weed making my motor skills a little off.

" Damn bro did you buy it or did you make it?" asks Lil Head.

"Me and my dad made it. It hasn't seen any real action in a bit ya' have an apple or some' so I can show you what its made of." I laugh at the thought of decimating something so small..

" I got one." says Jacob and he takes one out of his pocket.

"Ight toss it to me." I respond and get in a batter's position.

He tosses it, I swing and miss by a mile. I smile sheepishly.

" Lemme try." asks Cortez and I hand him the bat. I pick up the now bruised apple and toss it to him. The sound of the bat connecting with the fruit echoed throughout the open tunnel. The remains of it splattered the wall and our clothes.

"Dammmmmn!" Exclaimed Lil Head as he tried to wipe off the apple guts off his jacket.

" Ya i love this thing." I take the bat from Cortez and wipe off the rest of the apple off its spikes with my sleeve.

" I also have these." I pull out my tomahawks and pass them around.

" These cut paper with no effort. I have a plank of wood in my backyard that I throw them at and it's so satisfying to watch them stick." I say with envy of my own weapons. They hand them back and I put them in my bag.

"Hey Cortez I thought you brought some weapons too?" I ask as I zip up my bag.

"Oh shit ya I forgot I got these two weird looking machetes that my dad got me for my b-day." He set down his bag and pulled out these two curved blades complete with matching hip sheaths. They were roughly the shape of boomerangs with the bevel on the inside.

"I've never seen that kind of machete before. Does it have a special name?" I ask as I turn the blade over in my hands.

"I don't fuckin' know." He shrugged.

"They're called Kukri." said Jacob as he handed the blade back to him. I looked at him in surprise.

"How do you know that?" questioned Lil Head disbelievingly.

"It's on the blade dumbass, it says its 'a high-quality carbon-based steel kukri by Coldsteel'." He explained, quoting the description.

"Oh…" Cortez laughed at the dumbfounded expression on Lil Heads face.

"I didn't really care about the name I just liked how they looked and how sharp they were." He demonstrated this by taking out a piece of paper and cutting it like it was air. After he was done he put it back in his bag and zipped it up. He pulled out his phone and by the looks of it he checked the time.

"Shit you guys need to go to class, it's 7:55." he exclaimed as he swiftly put his phone away.

"'Ight thanks bro what are you going to do?" I asked questioningly.

"I don' know I'm meeting up with Josef behind target so we might smoke other than that nun really. Oh! By the way could I borrow your board? It'd be a lot faster than walking."

I kicked the board in his direction and he caught it with his foot.

"Ya just make sure you bring it back before 3rd." I gave him a serious glance, because before when I've let people use my board they've forgotten to give it back and it could get pretty annoying.

"'Ight bro." We dapped up and I headed to class with the other guys.