Quick Note: Before you begin reading, I would like to ask that if you stop reading my story for any reason please leave a review before going off to another story. I'm writing this for myself because as an artist I know that only practice helps you improve and my writing needs much improvement. So let me know if my story has a bad plot, the characters annoy you, the writing is bad or you think I know nothing about Egyptian Mythology. I want to know my weaknesses so I can work on them. Thank you~

Prologue: Boring Routine

Life is kind of dull isn't it? Well, at least that's how I felt every day. Boring town, boring school full of boring people. Everyday it was the same.

So, just like every other day I've wasted away in this dismal town, I woke up to my Aunt falling down the stairs. I know, it sounds strange, but having it happen every morning for the past 6 years… well, it got old after a while. My aunt Sophie doesn't really walk like you and I do. It's more like stumbling from point A to point B. She will fall on anything and everything in her path, whether it exists or not. My uncle says that they can't afford to move somewhere else, but I know he really just doesn't want to downsize to a smaller house. The thought has crossed my mind that he might just be making it easier for her to kill herself so he won't have to do it himself.

I keep this to myself.

When I heard the coffee maker to confirm my aunt has survived another morning, I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the shower. As I showered and got dressed, I heard the same things as though my life has been recorded and is being played on loop. Clashing from the kitchen rang through the house, my uncle closed his door, and a few minutes later you could hear jazz music playing loudly from his room as more things fell to the kitchen floor.

I looked into my reflection as my hair dried. I always wished I had uniquely colored hair or eyes, but they are both a regular brown color against my pale skin. At least I have large eyes that make up for my boring genetics. My skin isn't as dark as the other girls in school which can mean getting teased sometimes, but I really don't find getting a tan is worth it. Once I told my friend Molly that my skin was ivory white and she laughed saying there is a fine line between ivory and pasty. By the time I finished in the bathroom, the jazz music stopped and my uncle appeared carrying his iPod. He's one of those people that can't handle a lot of noise. How he fell in love with Sophie I will never understand. Least to say, for him it's a necessity to have either headphones or earplugs on him at all times as aunt Sophie is a walking noise-maker.

I went downstairs to the kitchen to eat breakfast. And, of course, as soon as I appeared at the doorway, my aunt screamed and dropped everything she was holding.

"Oh dear, Malinda, you scared me! Oh no, the milk…" she groaned.

Internally, I groaned too. My breakfast. I came in just when she was pulling the milk out of the fridge and now it was all on the floor along with a broken bowl and an empty milk jug.

"It's ok, Aunt Sophie. We have cereal bars, at least. Let me pick it up. There's glass everywhere."

With a one last sad look at the floor, Aunt Sophie staggered out of the kitchen to the pantry. She's broken enough glass to know that she's no good trying to clean it without hurting herself. I swept up the glass shards off the wet floor. I had just grabbed the mop when Uncle Dan walked in. He headed straight to the fridge as though everything was normal. Well, for this house it is, except for the broken glass.

"Why did you use a glass bowl, Aunt Sophie?" I asked.

Uncle Dan's head popped out of the fridge at the mention of this. Sophie came into the room and I had just enough time to stop her in the doorway so she didn't slip on the floor.

"Oh, well there wasn't any clean plastic bowls left so I thought I could use one of the top shelf bowls. It's such a shame I dropped it. They're such cute bowls and we never get to use them. There are still 3 left for us to use at least." She smiled and plopped down at the kitchen table. Uncle Dan and I exchanged looks and had a silent agreement to hide the glass plate set somewhere that she won't find them. Even with all the accidents my Aunt has daily she doesn't realize how clumsy she is. We've tried to explain to her, but I guess she considers 10 near death experiences a day to be normal.

After finishing the mopping, I grabbed two cereal bars and headed back upstairs to my room. I quickly got my school books together and my shoes on. Cleaning up the kitchen left me behind schedule so I bolted out the door before Aunt Sophie caused another mess.

I may joke on Uncle Dan plotting his wife's death, but he's actually pretty cool. He works with computers and makes a decent living with it. When I first arrived on their doorstep when I was 9, Uncle Dan acted very enthusiastic on playing the role of the guardian. He taught me all about computers from all the parts in the computer to how programs work. I guess he was trying to help me down the road so that I wouldn't have to pay the Geek Squad for a computer repair. But he probably didn't keep my high school reputation in mind. This doesn't bother me so much. I'll stay out of the social network if it means getting paid whenever someone needs a computer fixed or an iPhone jailbroken.

10 minutes later, I was already at school. It's convenient living two blocks away from school. There are no hitching rides from your parents or friends, no waiting for the bus, and I can leave the house when I want. I headed straight to the gazebo in the center of the school. It's my friend's favorite place to hang out. It sits right next to the two tallest trees in the school campus. The trees sit right next to each other making them easy to climb. On nice days we'll climb up into the trees and eat lunch there till the teachers catch us.

Molly was already there and came running when she saw me.

"Malinda! I totally forgot about the math homework and I've been freaking out! Can you let me look at yours? Please, please, please?"

I sighed. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Yay! You've saved me! I don't think Mr. Bagniefski will forgive me if I miss another assignment this week."

I gave her my math homework and she bounced back to the gazebo as I followed. Molly is pretty hyper so it's not uncommon for her to forget things. She's the only one I let look at my school work. Even if she never does the assignments she always aces her tests. She's smart, but she doesn't sit still.

More of our friends drifted in. High school is full of a lot of cliques, but if you were to label our group, it would have to be "other". None of us really have a trait that defines us all and you wouldn't expect so many diverse people to be friends in High School. But even as close as they are to each other, I'm still a bit of an outsider here. I just hang out here so I'm not alone, but I never get invited to do anything with them outside of school. I don't know if you can really call that friends, but I don't know another name to use.

The bell rang and Molly gave me back my homework with a stream of compliments. And the torture began. The schedule is the same every day. I see the same faces. Hear the same lessons. Molly was my group partner in math and, just as I predicted, she already found our current lesson too easy. I tried to keep up with the activity but my stomach was growling too much. Finally the bell rang for lunch, but when I got up to leave there was a lot of commotion at the door.

"Hey Andrew! We can't let you through."

"Somebody has to stop you from cutting yourself."

The jocks were at it again. They like to bully Andrew Darnell because they think he's "emo". I'd love swing a bat or desk at them, but Molly is terrified of being bullied by them. If it weren't for that, no piece of school equipment would be safe from my hands.

"Don't block the doorway," Mr. Bagniefski said after realizing no one had left yet. "Break it up now."

"Hey emo! We tried to help you."

"If you kill yourself, you can't blame us."

Andy pushed through as their laughter rang through the hall. I got enough of a glimpse to see the anger in his eyes. I always felt sorry for him when he got picked on. I have invited him to the gazebo before, but he never replies when I try to talk to him. I have a feeling that he knows just like I do that the rest of my friends wouldn't really want him around. Though, it can't be any worse than it is for him now.

With my appetite suddenly squandered, I went to the cafeteria, grabbed a slice of pizza, and sat in the gazebo. I sat in a daze as everyone chatted happily with one another. This is my favorite thing about hanging out here. I can get along with everyone, but if I don't feel like talking, no one will try to engage me in conversation. I can just fade into the background.

Before I knew it, I was heading to my next class. The rest of the day sped past me. School's out before I knew it and I walked home. I did get another glance at Andy Darnell as he turned around the corner in front of me. He seemed to be in a hurry, but I guess I couldn't blame him. Part of me thought I should follow after him, but I didn't know how much good it would do since he never responds to me. And he did seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

As soon as I got home, I started cleaning the house. My aunt and uncle work full time so I always do the house work. It's the least I can do for how much they have sacrificed for me, anyway. I remembered to take down the glass dinnerware Aunt Sophie broke the bowl to this morning. I can just put them in Uncle Dan's office so that he can find a nice spot for them. I put a frozen lasagna dinner in the oven and went upstairs to work on homework before everyone got home.

Dinner's nothing special. Afterwards, I finished my homework and read a book till I had to go to bed. And another boring day of my life was finished.

This is how my life is every day. And this is the last day I will live this life.