Section 1

Beep, beep, beep. The annoyance of the noisy alarm clock had no effect on the sleeping Nathaniel Matis. He laid, unconscious under his flannel, checkered sheets, shifting only slightly in the wake of the noise. The alarm went off for at least three minutes until the sleepy boy yawned himself awake. Stretching in bed and rubbing his eyes his mind was fogged with all the things that were supposed to happen today. He sat at the edge of his bed, his feet hanging off, slumped over in exhaustion. Reaching for the noisy alarm, he fumbled with the buttons until he found the one that shut it off.

"Nathanial, are you awake, sweetheart," his mother called from the bottom of the stairs. Nathanial had been visiting his home in Glenview, Illinios for the short Thanksgiving break. "Yeah, I'm up," he yelled down while he rose from his bed and oriented himself with his childhood bedroom. Nate hadn't lived at home for the past five years. For both undergraduate school, and now graduate school he attended universities in Michigan, only coming home for holidays, weddings, deaths, and special occasions.

Fuck he thought to himself as he hurried to pull a pair of yesterday's jeans on over his plaid boxers. He reached for his favorite shirt, pulled it on and ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Nate was supposed to be meeting his best friend, Adrie. They'd been friends since middle school, but he only gets to see her when he's home, or on the very occasional trips she made to Michigan. "Mom, I'm taking your car. I was supposed to meet Adrie at Hamilton's for lunch," Nate yelled down the stairs while he pulled his winter coat and scarf on. "God dammit, I'm so fucking late," he thought to himself out loud. Nate's mom handed him the keys as he rushed past her, grabbing an apple out of the basket in the middle of the table. While taking a bite of the apple, "Thanks mom, I'll be back around 6. Don't forget that Adrie is coming for dinner tonight," he said, while chewing furiously. With a stressful look, his mom responded, "Alright honey, but don't be too late, we aren't going to wait for you two to eat, I don't want the food getting cold." "I know, I know," he responded as he opened the garage door, tripping over himself, and catching himself on the car. "Later," he yelled.

Nathanial knew the streets of Glenview like the back of his hand. He had lived there his whole life. He pulled out of his driveway and turned left onto Glenview Rd, from Bette Ln, a lane he always played hockey on until the streetlights came up as a kid. Passing by Glen Grove Elementary School he couldn't help but think of Adrie, whom he'd spent every recess with on the plastic play structures, hanging from the monkey bars. As he turned onto Pfingsten Rd, he past his ex girlfriend's house, a girl he had dated for two years in high school, a girl he had a lot of firsts with. He couldn't help but feel nostalgic about the whole thing, especially since she was the only real relationship he had ever had.