chapter 1: Pre-war living

I woke up for work like every other morning. I walked to my closet and swung it open, scratching my belly. I grabbed a black tee shirt with "Wawa" stitched on the right side next to the shoulder. I slipped it on and put on a matching pair of jeans.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the sink, waiting for it to warm up. Once it did, I wet my hair, brushing the part right off my scalp, so most of my hair, to the right side. I put away my brush and brush my teeth, put on my shoes, grab my bike, and left.

I looked around the town of Marcus Hook as I left into Lynnwood. The two towns were right on the border of Pennsylvania and at least a half hour drive from Philly. I arrive at the Wawa and chained my bike to a post outside the building.

I walked in and went to the back room and signed in. I put on my headphones and put on a music playlist I made. I began stacking boxes as my co-worker took certain ones and put them in the fridges. As I finished stacking the boxes I was happy it wasn't delivery day so I didn't have to help unload the truck. I went and started restocking the shelves.

"There, finally. Just gotta wait for something to do now." My Irish accent was strong as always and my brown, curly hair kept falling into my hazel eyes. Today they were green, so tomorrow they would be brown. I brushed it out of the way and went back to the backroom and sat a stack of boxes. The day was slow and I wasn't needed for anything else.

I got home around 7:30 PM and fell straight onto my couch. I called up my friend Josh to see if he's coming over tonight. He says yes and said he'd ask Raymir if he wants to come over too.

Then I call my cousin Mason. "Hey Mason, you coming over tonight? Josh is coming over." I asked him.

"I'll try. I tired as hell right now and feel like sleeping. I might show up." He responded. I could hear the drowsiness in his voice.

"Ok, well if you are coming over, call me when you're out front." He responded with a mumble and hung up the phone. I got up, turned on my x-box, and looked for a game for us. I decided I should wait until my friends show up to choose a game.

Soon I heard the rumbling of Josh's old car. I opened my door and let them in. My house was a mess but I know they'd make it even messier, so I didn't clean.

Josh walked in, Raymir behind him. "Hey!" Josh had a loud, hardy voice and he is the tallest of all of us. He was a Puerto Rican, Cuban mix. He was around 6'4 and he has dark brown eyes and dreadlocks down near his back.

He walked in and Raymir followed him behind. "What's up?" He said to me, walking into my living room. He is around my size, so 5'7, and had a higher pitched voice than Josh. Raymir had almost the same color eyes as Josh, just a little lighter. His hair went straight up then was flat on the top.

We sat and talked, thinking if Mason was even going to show up, then suddenly I got a call on my phone. It was Mason, he was out front now. I opened the door and let him in.

Mason was a mutt, like me, and had most of the same heritage as me. Russian, Irish, Swedish, German, except he had more polish in him than me, which showed since he was blond with blue eyes. He was taller than me, definitely. He was 6'2 and a little chubby.

Once Mason arrived we looked through my games. Eventually, we all decided on gears of war. I stuck the disk into my x-box and waited for it to load. We played till late at night until we just decided to stay at my house. Luckily, I never turned off the TV.