Johnathan, a boy of 16 was working part time at a fast food joint, mindlessly making what the customers order, waiting for it to end so he could go home and sleep
Hours pass by, the outside had been blocked out long ago as his imagination ran wild in his head, a world of fire, or maybe dandelions, his imagination running wild, changing endlessly as he got bored of a single topic, only for his imagination to be interrupted by the manager tapping him on the shoulder
"Hey, are you alright? I've been trying to tell you that your shift is over for like 5 minutes" the manager was clearly a bit concerned at the fact that Johnathan had been so out of it
"Uhh... yea, I'm fine, completely fine, just thinking" Johnathan said, not entirely lying but not telling the truth either
"Alright... just clock out and go home" the manager said, he was concerned, but he didn't want to pry so he simply told him to clock out
Johnathan nodded and went to clock out, his mind more grounded in reality now that the manager had talked to him, leaving the fast food joint he looked up at the sky, the bright blue of the summer a calming light as he walked
Johnathan was walking home, absent-minded as usual, not paying attention as he let his muscle memory guide him, a dangerous game he had played many times before, thankfully never getting hurt
Johnathan turned to a crosswalk, just a few meters left before getting home, suddenly a truck flew by, nearly hitting him, that had snapped him back to attention, he had to calm himself down from the realization of how close he was to death, he gazed at the winter's snow, a stark reminder of how cold and dark the winter had gotten, it didn't help, he looked both ways before crossing and with a few more long strides he opened the door to his house, getting greeted by his mother
"How was work?" She asked
"It was fine, nothing special, always the same" Johnathan answered half-heartedly, giving her the same answer as he always had, before going to his room, closing the door softly
His room was a mess, clothes not in the closet and pillows thrown about the room, seeing the mess, he picked up the pillows and set them back on the bed, tired from the day's work, he went to bed