Rocks Painted Gold

The darkness began to fade as the sun rose, bathing the city in the golden light Huntington always had. The dark apartment filled with light, making the sun glare off of the bottles and trash that scattered the living room. Through the doorway that lead into the bedroom, a figure lay sprawled out on a mattress that lay on the floor. A sheet covering his lower body, his bare back warming up as the sun hit it through the uncovered window.

And this is where Shadow comes in.

"Forest! Foooorressstttt! Wake your ass up. It's time to wake up. As your personal alarm clock I think it's time to wake up. FOR-EST!" Forest groaned and covered his head with a pillow, trying to block out the sound of the man standing over him.

"Come on! It's almost six thirty! If you're late to work again someone will kill you." The mattress moved as Shadow kicked it three times.

"I'm up!" Forest yelled, sitting up as he yelled it.

"Good morning star shine!" Shadow greeted him cheekily.

Forest flipped him off and stumbled up off the mattress and towards the door that lead into the bathroom. His reflection looked back at him when he passed the mirror to get in the shower. But he didn't look like himself, even though the person really was him. His hair was a light brown now, a difficult thing to pull off with no money and natural dark black hair. But he managed it, with much harassment from Shadow in the process. Who insisted that he dye his own hair blue...

"No one will fucking see me man, and plus, I don't need that smancy hair dyeing shit." Shadow stated.

Forest still didn't know why he was even asking for permission in the first place, or why he was refusing.

"No! You'll look stupid as hell."

"So will you! And you'll be in public! The eyes of America will be on you!"

"Shadow......you're a dumb-ass."

"And you're a fag, don't see me holding you back from expressing yourself." Forest rolled his eyes and walked into the bathroom to wash the dye out of his hair.

When he walked back out he looked at Shadow, his hair blue with a little black, and rolled his eyes.

"See, what'd I tell ya?"

"What?" Forest asked.

"About you. Looking like a fag."

"Get the fuck outta here!" Forest yelled, throwing his shoe at Shadow.

Shadow laughed hysterically as Forest turned to look in the mirror, and when Forest looked back, he was gone.

"It's six twenty nine in the morning Forest. You're going to be late for work!" Shadow called through the closed door.

Forest groaned and stepped out of the lukewarm water, wrapping a faded yellow towel around his waist. He wasted no time in drying off and pulling his jeans and black t-shirt on. He couldn't be late again or he would be fired for sure, and that meant no money, which meant no apartment, which would eventually lead to no food for himself. Forest just hoped that the shipyard wasn't as busy as usual since it was Memorial day.

Hazel woke up to the sun shining in her eyes. Her face scrunched together at the discomfort and she rolled over in bed, facing the wall she had pushed her bed up against. She sighed and tried to drift back to sleep, after she looked at her cell phone and it read nine in the morning.

The next time she woke up it was past noon, the normal time she woke up, and she pulled herself out of bed and shuffled towards the bathroom. Her hair was a mess, sticking up in various places, and her make up was smudged, making her look like a train wreck. She sighed and grabbed a brush off the counter and started pulling it through her hair.

The kitchen was full of people and as Hazel walked in they turned to greet her.

"Hi Hazel!" A chorus of people yelled, well it wasn't all the same but that's what she heard the loudest. The loudest, of course, being Jimmy.

"Hey everyone," she stated cheerfully, going over to the fridge and pulling out leftover pizza from the night before.

"So how goes the job hunting?" Matt asked. Hazel shrugged as she shoved the plate with pizza on it into the microwave.

"I mean there's a bunch i'm sure I could get but none of them sound....right." she said, turning and resting her back against the counter.

"Don't worry, you're barely twenty. And you know we'll always be here to help." Zacky said.

Hazel smiled and looked over at the people she called family. They were all sitting around talking and laughing, seemingly having no worries at that moment. Hazel loved these little moments she got when everyone was there.

"So are we having a barbecue or what?" she asked, just remembering it was a holiday.

"Helllll yes!" Jimmy yelled. Hazel laughed and returned the hug he ran over to give her, not once having thoughts of her brother cross her mind.