Grumbling, I pulled my head pillow over my head and rolled around on my mattress as the sunlight blinded me and robbed me of my sleep. I didn't find the time yesterday to set up my bed.
"Anthony get up!" yelled Howard up the stairs.
I overcame myself and sat up. I rubbed my face sleepily; it had been late yesterday. My best friend Rodney had thrown me a farewell party that had lasted well into the night. Surprisingly I still remembered a lot, well at least that I had been roughly dragged to the car by Howard as soon as I had disappeared from sight of the others. Yes you heard me right I called my father by his first name, this man did not deserve to be called a father. I pulled my sleeping shirt a little to the side and looked at my upper arm, there were clearly five blue lines "Just perfect, it's getting warm and I can't wear short sleeves" I thought annoyed. Even though I didn't know how it could get any worse, but Howard's reputation was very important. However, it was all but destroyed after the events of the last few weeks. The board of directors had thrown Howard out of his own company and taken almost all of his money in a lawsuit. That's why we had to move, the villa in the more expensive New York had simply been too expensive. Now we lived in a two-story house on the outskirts of New York. I ran through my brown hair to tidy it up a bit and put on a pair of sweatpants before I went into the bathroom. Unlike the one in our old house, this one was small, but for the area around here, it was probably rather larger. Right after I walked through the door was a modern shower, a silver handle was attached to the glass door. Inside the shower was a container for shampoos. In the middle of the bathroom was a large area that was simply laid out with white tiles, diagonally opposite the shower was a double vanity above which was a mirrored cabinet, under the vanity were two drawers for towels. In the very back was a toilet. After a quick look in the mirror I opened the upper drawer. Everything was lying jumbled, just thrown in. I would have to clean it up, Howard hated mess. I finally found what I was looking for and pulled out a wound ointment from the mess. Carefully I applied it to my arm, almost immediately a cooling effect set in. After I had brushed my teeth, I started to bring order into the upper drawer. Neatly I put down shampoos and shower gels, put various tubes in a container, and put Howard's shaving cream and razor up in the mirrored cabinet. A thump came from downstairs; Howard must have bumped into it somewhere. I sighed and decided not to go downstairs for the time being, the days when Howard started drinking in the morning usually didn't end well. I could only hope to avoid him for the rest of the day. With quiet steps I went back to my room. There was enough work to keep me busy all day long. All my old furniture was standing around unassembled on the walls, my things were still packed in boxes. I put on a short-sleeved T-shirt and a red plaid shirt, rolled up its sleeves and decided to start with the bed.
After a few hours I had it done, all the furniture was in place. I didn't have to move them anymore, because I had put them in the place where they should be. I had placed my desk directly under the window, to the right of it was a bookshelf. It wasn't quite complete, at the top the lid was missing because even though I had stood on the desk and stretched through it, I was too short to put it on. But you couldn't really see it from below anyway. Opposite the desk was my bed, and to the right was the closet. Against the east wall was a small dresser, about two meters long and one meter high. Satisfied with myself, I looked at my work.
My stomach contracted painfully, I looked at my watch. It was already after four o'clock. Briefly I weighed the risk, but then decided to quickly go downstairs and make myself something to eat. Quietly I went down the stairs, I could see that there was a light on in the study. As long as Howard was not disturbed while working, he usually sat in there for hours. I took a plate from the commode and made myself two sandwiches on which I put some ham. Finally, I took a bottle of water with me and crept back up the stairs. Arrived in my room I opened the window and sat down cross-legged on the desk. With slow bites I ate my dinner. As I leaned forward a bit, I spotted something. From the window it was possible to reach a flat part of the roof. I wiped the crumbs from my hands and climbed out of the window. Without difficulty I reached the ledge and settled down on it. The warm spring wind brushed my hair from my face, I relaxed, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Tomorrow was Monday and I would have to go to the new school. I was dreading it without exaggeration. Changing schools was bad enough in itself, but surely the people there were judging me because of the name Stark before they even knew me. I hated that, people labelled me as arrogant and spoiled even though they didn't even know me. Suddenly there were rumbling footsteps, I scrambled as fast as I could through the window back into my room. I was sitting on the desk when Howard yanked open my room door and came in swaying a bit.
"Anthony, what have I told you a hundred thousand times!" he looked at me angrily.
As fast as I could I got down from my desk " I am sorry Howard." I mumbled, guiltily. That's when I felt a burning sensation on my cheek.
"You're not sitting on the furniture!" with those words Howard left and with him the stench of whiskey disappeared.
I held my aching cheek and took a deep breath to expel the tears that had welled up in my eyes. My cheek throbbed a little as I removed my hand from it and set about putting my stuff away. First I arranged my books about engineering and physics on the shelf, then I sorted my closet. My box in which I stored my tinkering, including tools I put in the corner of the dresser. The last thing I did was put my photos on the dresser. Most of them showed Rodney and me doing something stupid. But one had Mom in it. She had died four years ago. Since her death, Howard had gotten worse, drinking more and flipping out more easily. I gently stroked my fingers across Mum's face "I miss you Mum." I whispered.
A glance outside showed me that the sun was already setting. It bathed the blue sky in orange, pink and red colors. How I would have loved to climb back up on the ledge and watch the sunset there, but I was afraid Howard might come into my room again and catch me. So I went to take a shower instead. Cold water splashed over my head and cooled my cheek, which was still throbbing a little. I turned the water off again and pulled a towel from the holder on the ceiling. Briefly I rubbed my hair and then shook it to dry it a bit. After drying off, I slipped into my boxers and shirt and quietly trudged back to my room, careful not to leave any wet spots on the wooden floor with my feet. Once in my room, I packed up my things for the next day and threw them into a black backpack, which I placed next to the desk. I yawned profusely. Building up all the furniture had made me incredibly tired. I quickly closed the window, climbing a bit on the desk, plugged in my cell phone and crawled into bed. With some grips I crumpled my pillow and closed my eyes. But although I was very tired, I couldn't sleep, the fear of all the looks and sayings tomorrow kept me awake for a few more hours, until I finally lost the battle against fatigue and fell asleep.