It all began with a loud bang. Tyler woke up rubbing his temples, trying to fight off the light that was violently pervading his eyes. He shifted and sat up in bed taking a glance around the room. Something was off. It was hard to tell what, but the colors seemed a hue off, the blues were more teal and the reds more orange. Confusing as it was, Tyler forced himself past it and towards his dresser to rummage for today's outfit. A grunge-y, outdated band reference and a hand-me-down pair of hand-me-down jeans. Pair that with threadbare Converse and the Seattle cliche was fully accomplished.
The morning all together was very confusing as Tyler fought through his faded memories trying to recollect what had happened last night. He sat down at the table glaring so intently at his bowl that to an outside observer it looked like he was trying to move it telepathically. Something had happened, but he couldn't remember what and there were no clues as to what had happened and what is currently happening. Why were the colors so off? And why did his mouth taste steely? Frustrated and angry, he threw his empty bowl into the sink despite never putting anything in it and took his phone out of his pocket to investigate.
Blank screen after blank screen popped up no matter what he opened. Texts, Facebook, e-mail, no matter what Tyler plunged into he always came up empty. Just what the hell was going on he growled. Angrily, Tyler shoved the phone back into his pocket and grabbed his backpack, walking out the door and turning towards school. No messages from friends or even his girlfriend gnawed at the back of his mind ceaselessly. He wasn't super popular, but he had friends and people to talk to. Reaching up and rubbing his throat as the dryness made a bad enough itch that even a hard swallow didn't do anything to soothe it, Tyler's anger quickly subsided into nervousness and panic. Had people figured out what happened?
At school things grew even more off, instead of the cacophony of shuffling feet and useless teenage chatter all that could be heard was what sounded like people trying to talk underwater. It made less and less sense as he progressed forward, he was used to being ignored or glossed over but this was a new extreme. Tyler stopped near his locker and stared down the hallway with the look of a man who's been through war. A vacant face and slightly agape jaw as his sanity was slipping away that day. Can anybody hear me? He called out into the hall and was returned with nothing but the loud silence. Clutching his head in confusion and pain he shuffled to his locker swapping books from his locker with his backpack and headed to class, slumping down in his chair. Focusing was impossible since he couldn't understand a word.
All day his head was swimming. Tyler couldn't tell if this was real or just one big dream, but it seemed to elaborate to be either one. He could hear people talking, or at least the muffled sounds that he assumed where talking, but no one could hear him. Class after class went by, silence after silence, burrowing deeper and deeper into his chest until everything in him resonated with a silent echo. The vibrations felt like they were going to tear him apart from a molecular level and by the time lunch rolled around he had reached that tearing point. Clenching his fists and digging his nails into his palms he sat at his table looking like he was building up energy, body shaking in tension. After a moment of charging, Tyler released what can only be described as a primal scream, no intelligent meaning or thought behind it. It was just a shout into this emptiness, a pouring out of not emotion but energy. Energy that was searching for some sort of resonance, something that it could bounce off of and acknowledge it's existence. Something that wasn't meant for fear or intimidation, but a desperate plea for help crying out for someone to look it's way.
He sat at his spot shuddering a bit from exhaustion. Tyler eventually slowly stood up exhausted, grabbed his backpack, and exited the school. His head was pounding furiously in it's own desperate attempt to make itself known. The throbbing started throwing flashes of light, brighter than what came off of atomic bombs, in his eyes. Cascading flashes and bangs inside of his head grew in intensity until Tyler collapsed without so much as a faint warning. It just grew and grew in mere moments before dropping him. What little color was left slowly faded out, the light flashes themselves eventually grew dimmer as Tyler's eyes dropped and closed.
Suddenly and violently Tyler stiffened and shot into an upright sitting position futilely fighting for air. Everything was still silent except for his lungs screaming out in pain and it took a few moments for Tyler to realize he was back at home in his bed. He clutched his head again and shutting his eyes tight hoping that he could somehow force restart his brain and make everything normal again. It was hard to focus on the reboot though because his hands were shaking, fingertips rattling against his forehead. Nervously he opened his eyes again, finding the color had returned to his world. Shuddering and fidgeting he shifted his body out of bed ready to try standing until his foot kicked something on the ground. Once again things felt silence and all Tyler heard was the pounding of his chest as he stared at the ground. A now empty bottle of medications lay at his feet and everything came back to him.
Well not exactly everything, but enough fragmented memories to make a collaborative narrative that pieced together the last few days. His breathing suddenly became shallow and his muscles weak. Tyler grabbed the bottle and stood up, tightening his grip around the bottle and gritting his teeth as he felt the plastic start to give a bit. He didn't know which felt worse: the knowledge that he actually tried or the fact that even in this he couldn't do it right. The bottle was quickly thrown away as Tyler went to his mirror hoping to find a reflection other than his own in their. For better or worse what he saw was something else, it wasn't quite a reflection of himself, but more of a ghost wearing his body. Haggard eyes and skin that seemed like it was barely holding, not drooping but clinging to his face listlessly as if it's only reason for hanging on was so it didn't have to exert the effort of getting back up if it were to fall.
It was hard to tell if this was a hallucination or if this was what Tyler had really become. He knew things had slipped in the past few weeks, but with his reluctance to face it he had no idea how far he had slipped. He couldn't even remember if the school experience was real or what day it was, everything was a blur. His reflection held his gaze as if they were two separate people looking at each other through a window, an unnerving stare that wanted to remind him of his sins and weigh him down with it. Tyler turned from the mirror with no real sense of what to do or where to go. Standing there in silence, he was lost in the truest sense of the word. No idea where he was, where he was going, or even who he was anymore. Something had changed and snapped inside of him, but he didn't know what. He swung his heavy head to the side looking out the window, hoping for maybe some sort of sign from some sort of God. When his plea was again returned with silence he opened the top drawer of his dresser pulling out the small pistol his father had gotten him for "safety reasons".
Click. It all started with a loud bang.
