A Rainy Day

Micheal:

Slapping myself awake, I blink a few times to make sure I stay awake.

"Oh man," I say, bending back and hearing a few bones crack. "Today is really not my day."

Holding out my hand, a bunch of droplets hitting it, I shake off my dripping wet hand and put it to my side.

Yesterday, right after snapping all those pictures, and taking Brian home, I headed to my secret base; an abandoned hotel.

Over 20 stories tall, the hotel is crumbling, literally, every brick covered in cracks. The windows, what few windows are left, are broken and shattered and coated with layers of dust layers. Due to the dust-covered windows, the inside is dark, and cobwebs are everything, from the corners to the suitcases that were left behind in the middle of the room. In other words, the best spot to have a secret base!

Finding it only a few months ago, I have since then taken over the basement, adding all sorts of things like drawers for later stuff and practice dummies for really obvious reasons.

Jumping over the chain-link fences, and making my way through both the lobby and the staircase, I find myself in my beautiful, secret hideout. Turning on both the generator and the lights, I pull out my cell phone and walk over to my desk.

"Okay," I said, zooming in on the pictures. "Let's see what I've got!"

Going well into the night, reading everything the police have on Run-and-Gun, I learned a lot, but I've also lost a lot. I've lost a lot of sleep. Realizing what time it is, I slap myself in the head before running out of my base and driving home! Having to sneak in, not wanting to explain to my parents what I'm doing up at five in the morning on a school day, I somehow succeeded.

"Yes," I quietly screamed, shooting my fists and jumping around. "Yes! Yes! I made it! I made it! Freak yeah!"

A yawn creeping up, I was about to fall onto my bed and try to get some last-minute sleep but even before my head could hit the pillow, the phone alarm went off and told me it's time to get up!

"Oh joy," I yawned, letting my head feel the cold, refreshing pillow before changing. Getting some clothes from my drawers, I went into the bathroom to change before running downstairs to greet my family.

"Hi mom," I said, waving to my mother as she turned around to wave back. A tall woman with beautiful skin and short black hair, my mom pulled out some waffles from the toaster.

"Hello son," she replied, handing me a plate of steaming waffles.

Grabbing the bottle of maple syrup and pouring it on, I stopped when I noticed my mom staring at me.

"What," I asked, putting the maple syrup down. "What is it?"

Before my mom could say what was on her mind, the sound of running footsteps grabbed our attention, and we both turned to see my little 'brother' Alex run down the stairs! Jumping over the last few steps, 'he' landed with a loud thud before running to the breakfast table!

Alexis 'Alex' Peterson is my little 'brother'. He is also really a 'she' but if you ever call 'him' her, you won't live to see the next sunrise. Wearing a grey and black jacket with jeans, 'his' black hair is spiked up into a mohawk for some reason.

"Hi mom," 'he' yelled, "Hi Micheal. What are you wearing your P.E. clothes?"

"What am I wearing my what," I said, looking down and seeing my P.E. clothes, and not my P.E. clothes from high school, but my P.E. clothes from middle school! Surprisingly, it still fitted me. A little tight in a few areas but overall, still fitted.

"Excuse me," I said, putting up a finger, "But I need to change. Be right back."

"Wait," my mom said, grabbing my wrist. "Micheal, you can't change! Don't you remember?"

"Uuhhh," I start, racking my mind for what it is I'm supposed to be remembering.

"Hello," I start, "Anyone in there? A little help here?"

"Go away," my mind says, "I'm sleeping."

"Awesome."

"You have to take Henry and me to school today Mr. Forgetful," Alex said, taking one of my waffles and chowing down on it. "Dad is working and mom has to go out soon. You promised yesterday."

"Ooohhh," I say, the lightbulb above my head turning on. "I did."

"Well come on," Alex yelled, bumping me in the stomach. "There's something I have to do at school so we need to leave early!"

Literally dragging me away, 'he' dragged me to Henry's room, my other little brother, and then dragged the two of us to my car, where I am both, ordered and forced, to drive them to school.

"Well that was weird," Henry said after Alex ran out of my car. "When is Alex ever excited to go to school?"

Henry, the youngest out of the three of us and smartest, is wearing a short-sleeved, red T-shirt with shorts. He is also eating a waffle he managed to grab before Alex tossed him out.

"I don't know," I reply, "But I really don't care at the moment. I'm sleepy and I'm hungry."

My stomach growling, it only got worse when I see Henry take a bite.

Quietly moaning as I drive to Henry's school and drop him off, I then drive over to my school. For the next very long seven hours of school, I have people asking why I'm wearing my P.E. clothes, and honestly, being so sleepy, I came up with a few weird stories. I can't exactly remember what most of them were, but I think one of them was 'I got into a fistfight, in which my clothes were so torn up, I had to wear this'. I don't think anyone bought that.

To make matters worse, it started to rain toward the end of the school day and just as I was about to leave, my car ran out of gas, and oh look, I forgot my wallet at home because I was in such a rush. Now, I'm waiting under a tree for my mom to pick me up.

"Don't fall asleep," I told myself. "Don't fall asleep. Do not fall asleep."

Holding out my hands, making a sort to bowl for the rain to fall into, I then splash it against my face.

"Yeah, that didn't really help."

Shaking off my hands and rubbing my eyes, I stop everything when I see someone standing not too far away.

"Whoa," I say when I see the person. She's standing by a lamppost, her short, wavy, blond hair standing out in the grey-filled rain. Wearing a dark-blue sweater with tight blue jeans, I also notice she had on a pair of glasses. "Who is that?"

My eyes stuck on the girl, I quickly turn around.

"Don't seem creepy," I say, "Don't be creepy. Don't look creepy. Just, be calm. Relax. Don't be something you don't want to be. Wait, what on Earth does that mean? What am I talking about again? Okay, calm down! You're going a mile a second but you can only do something. Oh boy, I'm losing it."

Shaking my head, I look over at the girl again. Clearly, she's also waiting for someone, the way she keeps on turning her head up and down the street.

Without overthinking it, I walk over to her.

"Uhh hey," I start, waving at her. Turning back, she smiles and waves back at me. "Uh, you know, there's a tree over there."

"Um no," she replies, "I'm fine.

"Okay."

Walking back under the cover of the tree, I pat myself a little.

"That could have gone a lot better," my mind comments, "But it could have gone a lot worse. Always remember that. It can always get worse."

Nodding my head, I watch as a massive black SUV pulls up a few minutes later. The girl getting in, I can see her one more time through the window. Waving and smiling at her, she smiles and waves back at me.

Looking at the back of the SUV as it drives away, I put my hands into pockets and wait for my mom to pick me up.