Chapter 2 - Meatloaf

Sun rays relentlessly shon through the curtains, landing upon a mound of blankets and The sleepyhead laying on a fluffy pillow.

Eyes twitching from the sudden brightness, they groaned and tried to cover their eyes.

“Ugh, five more minutes…”

“Wake up! Wake up! It's time to get up homie!”An alarm clock rang in a Spanish accent.

Why did I buy such an annoying clock? The person frowned as they moved to cover their ears, deciding to ignore the annoying alarm.

Despite their attempts however, it was useless. They would need to leave the comfort of their blanket fortress to slay the evil demon known as the alarm clock.

They ripped the blankets off like a wild beast and awkwardly tumbled out of bed.

The cold air attacked its barely protected skin, and the harsh sunlight revealed a plain-looking girl who was shivering uncontrollably.

I should have worn pajamas instead of just my underwear...

After a large sneeze the girl started getting ready for the day. She took a shower, fixed her hair, brushed her teeth, and put on her everyday clothes.

Just another average morning to another average day...The house was quiet except for the sound of her feet plodding along in the kitchen as she made scrambled eggs and bacon.

Yet another normal breakfast...

The girl finished her food without a sound and got her shoes and backpack on in preparation to head over to the bus stop. Nothing happened along the path, and the bus came at the correct time.

Just another average bus ride to school...

Finding a free seat in the middle, the girl put her backpack on the seat next to her to make sure no one would sit by her. Staring out the window, the girl silently watched people walk along the streets.

People dressed up in business suits, their expressions plain and unchanging as they walked at a calm pace. The pavement and buildings that passed her by were an unrelenting pattern of gray, brown, and black, utterly devoid of anything remotely colorful.

Watching the people along the streets, wearing masks of civility caused the girl to half close her eyes, bored of the play on the stage. Day in, day out... every time she left the house nothing ever seemed to change.

Watching people pretend to be who they weren’t, put on fake smiles, and watching the gray world pass by uneventfully day after day made her wish to cause a scene just so that something would change. Something would happen to make life worth living.

The normalcy of the world was driving her mad, but she couldn’t cause trouble for her parents. Not after finally escaping the boredom of the farm and moving into the city of Taltimore.

At first everything was new and exciting to her, a change that made her soul shake with joy. But that was it. Just new surroundings. Despite Taltimore being a city it was exactly the same as the farm town where everyone hid behind a mask. The only difference was that here no one knew the people walking along the streets next to them. At least in the farm town, everyone knew everybody.

Stop after stop people came and left yet she remained, watching people come and go until finally, after half an hour of excruciating boredom, the bus came to her stop. She got off the bus, turned left, and started walking while staring at the ground until she arrived at her school building.

West Ivory High School. A school she was once excited to apply to and join but now it only felt like an eyesore.

“Selling magical items! Need a good luck charm? A protective charm? Or even a love potion? Come one come all, I guarantee my products work 100% of the time!”

Across the street, a hooded figure sat with their arms spread wide. Judging from their voice and figure they were female. The girl stood just outside the school's gate staring through her large rimmed glasses across the road with a strange expression.

‘Street vendor?’

It was a strange moment for the girl. Finally, a rare sight in the city, but... Someone selling magical tools in broad daylight was an eye-opener for her.

She stood there watching as the crowd grew bigger and the hooded figure kept talking, “Do you wish to change fate itself!? Do you desire something new, for a chance to break away from this iron cage? Come check out my wares and you might find the answer you seek!”

As the hooded girl talked to the crowd with a smile, her words tempted the girl standing at the gate.

She desperately wanted to escape this trap of a life, to escape this boring gray world. The desire to do so clawed at her in waves, slowly crushing her sanity.

Entranced by the hooded figure her legs unknowingly started to move. She walked across to the other side of the street in a daze. It was as if fate was driving her forward, wishing her to meet this person. Telling her that if she crossed her path with theirs, everything would change. That she would escape this drab gray world.

Her pace quickened and her heart beat faster. As she got closer to the stall she could feel the change in the air and knew that soon a door to a new world would open up before her very eyes.

“You're under arrest!”

Those three words shattered the path before her, ruthlessly awakening her from her dreams of escaping her unchanging everyday life. Her blood grew cold and her legs stiffened as she watched the hooded figure be handcuffed, have her items confiscated, and finally taken away in a police car.

The feeling of loss made her dizzy. She numbly crossed the street once again, dragging her feet without purpose.

In the end, she’s still stuck in the birdcage. Back to her meaningless life. She entered her school building downtrodden, slowly making her way to her locker and putting her stuff away.

No one greeted her in the hallways, and no one bothered to make eye contact with her. It was almost as if she didn't even exist.

She moved to her classroom and sat down in the middle row next to the window, staring at a brick wall with blank eyes. The girl let out a self depreciating chuckle.

What a life.

She was one of the first people in the class, despite the earlier distraction. She knew that class wouldn't start for a while, so she opened up a book and began to read.

The book was the second in the series of the Magical Girl Trilogy. It was her only joy in life to read fantastical stories like the one written by the mysterious author, Wicker W.

While she waited for the class to start, the girl read the story of Magical Girl Quest. Time flew by as the seats in class slowly filled up. Finally, the bell rang.

Despite the chatter around her and the ringing bell, the girl was entranced in her reading. Not a single word entered her ears as class began.

Minutes turned into hours as teachers changed from one to the next. The girl was about to reach the climax of the story when a hand suddenly smashed down onto her desk, startling her out of her trance.

“Ms. Alexandra Hatchet! Are you listening!? I asked you a question!”

With a dull glaze in her eyes, Alexandra looked up from her book, “Eh? What was the question?”

“I asked you who the leader of the eleven hero magical girls was and in which battle did they first fight!” The teacher huffed and puffed with anger written all over her face as the surrounding children chuckled at Alex’s misfortune.

Not batting an eye Alex promptly replied, “The leading magical girl was codenamed Reaper. The first battle they entered was at Stalingrad. They were a secret American gathered force deployed on August 30th, 1942. The other core members of the squad were codename Duchess, origin of birth: unknown, codename Knight, origin: England, codename Warlord, origin: Brazil, codename...”

The teacher's anger receded and she waved off Alex’s machine gun like answers, “Enough! I expect you to pay more attention in class instead of reading those fantasy stories from now on.”

A sour look appeared on Alex’s face as if the teacher was asking her to cut her arm off. Still, not wanting to cause trouble, she bookmarked her place and faked a serious expression to keep her teacher satisfied.

The teacher turned away with a smile on her face and as soon as her back was turned Alex moved her gaze to stare though the window at a much more interesting subject, a brick wall.

As time passed the teacher rotated out once more. Assignments were given out class by class and soon the school day was over. Alex left the school without a word.

She went to the bus stop and headed home, idly thinking about what to make for dinner tonight.

Thinking about it made her stomach growl as she entered her cold and empty house. Even here, nothing ever changed.

Alex rubbed her arms to stave off the cold air as she set aside her backpack and figured that she would make a hearty meatloaf. Most girls would have frowned at what she was about to eat but Alex took great pride in knowing no matter what she ate, she would never get fat.

With a small laugh, Alex got to work crushing crackers, meat, and spices together. She put the soon to be delicious loaf in the oven to cook for a few hours and sat on the couch to wait it out.

She flipped through the channels on the tv and eventually landed on the news channel.

“Next week a solar eclipse will take place cutting through parts of the United States, Europe, Russia, and Asia! It’s an exciting development taking place in the stars! However, you need to make sure to order your glasses in advance so you can watch it yourself!”

Sinking lazily into her couch, Alex went back to flipping through the channels, waiting for her meatloaf to roast and using sheer willpower to fight the urge to snack on some chips. She sighed and got a glass of water to quench her hunger for a bit.

Finally, after what felt like ages, the timer went off. With drool dripping from her lips, Alex carefully ripped the meatloaf out of the oven and placed it on the table. Yet as she got out a plate a sudden realization caused her to fall to the ground with a pale face.

“Fuck! I’m out of ketchup!”

How could she eat meatloaf without ketchup?! That was like asking someone to not dry off with a towel after a shower. Simply inexcusable!

A crossroads opened up before poor Alex. On one hand, she could eat the meatloaf without ketchup and regret doing so for the rest of the night, or she could head out into the wide boring world and travel to the convenience store to buy some.

The choice was a no-brainer. Alex needed that ketchup even if it was late at night and her precious meatloaf might get a bit cold. There was no choice in the matter, none at all!

After putting on her coat and grabbing her purse Alex rushed outside and made her way to the nearest store.

Despite the darkened sky, the store was still open and Alex was able to obtain some delicious ketchup to grace her lovely meatloaf. She headed back home with a smile on her face thinking about how great her dinner was going to taste. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice two figures walking along the path in the opposite direction, gradually coming closer to her.

“Hey girl, come play with me and my little sister~. It’ll be a good time, I swear~!”

Tilting her head upwards in bewilderment Alex looked up to see two strange girls standing side by side, blocking her path forward.

“Eh?”