Beep. Beep. Beep.
The alarm hadn't hit its fourth chime when it was cut off with a sharp thwack.
"Again," sighed a sinewy figure as he tugged his shirt and swung his bag over his shoulder. "I always get up before this stupid thing goes off, so messy."
Riven Wright, your average high-school kid, had a sharp set of blue eyes, a light tan and hair that immediately stood out: the left side was as white as snow with a black streak, while the right side was pitch black. Being born this way attracted attention, good and bad.
"Riven! Hurry up or you'll be late." his mother called out.
"Coming." he replied as he opened the door.
The first thing he encountered was the hideous face of an ogre, its sickly yellow eyes, wearing a fiendish grin that showed off its terrifying teeth.
"FEAR ME, MORTAL!" it bellowed.
"WHAT THE—!" Riven shrieked as he tripped on his feet.
There was silence before a howl of familiar laughter erupted from the figure. "Gotcha, again."
The figure took off the mask revealing a boy —who looked a bit younger than Riven— with blonde hair, blue eyes and the smuggest smirk on earth planted on his face.
"Seriously man, you fall for this every time it's almost getting old…almost." said Duke Wright, Riven's little brother who was younger by three years was a bundle of joy — if joy meant terrorizing the neighborhood with pranks.
Riven heaved a tired sigh as he got up, straightening his collar. "Why are you such a pain in the ass?"
"And why are you always so boring?" Duke smirked.
Riven scoffed, "Boring…Is there anything wrong about upholding order? I am not boring…I am orderly!"
Riven stood upright in honor.
Duke blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"You're a real weirdo, ya know that?"
BONK. Riven's fist landed heavily on Duke's head.
"OW!" Duke screamed as he clutched his head, rubbing the sore spot "The heck is wrong with you?!"
"That's for pranking me, gremlin."
Duke was about to start when their mother came into the passageway, holding a wooden spoon like an instrument of justice. "That's enough you two."
Alice Wright, with her petite figure, long black silky hair and beautiful brown eyes, she was a sight for sore eyes.
"Riven's the one who started it!" Duke retorted.
"Who? Me? I would never." Riven said putting up an innocent face.
"You little piece of –"
"I said enough…" warned Alice as she narrowed her eyes at Duke.
"But –"
"Don't want to hear it," she waved a dismissive hand. "Now both of you hurry up and go to school right now. Am I clear?"
"Yes ma'am." The boys said in unison, heads hung in embarrassment.
Their mom sighed mumbling something about 'raising wolves instead of boys'.
Duke got his bag. Gave his mom a small kiss on the cheek and bolted out the door.
Riven was about to leave when—
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Mrs. Wright asked her arms crossed with that knowing smile.
"Doubt it," Riven said as he went over his mental checklist. "Notebooks, Pens, Pencils, Lunch…yep, didn't forget anything."
Mrs. Wright rolled her eyes, "Oh for the love of— c'mere."
She cupped his cheeks and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.
Riven's entire face went as red as a rose.
"Is…Is that…really necessary."
"Uh-huh, it's a family tradition."
Riven arched a brow "Since, when exactly?"
"Since now. Now get going before you're late."
Riven knew better to argue, so he just waved goodbye and left.
This was a normal day in Riven's life, it was monotonous and peaceful. To him it was all he could ever ask for, his family meant everything to him.
He remembered when they were younger, their mom's voice would soften when telling stories about their dad; he was a reckless daredevil, who was lively and fiercely protective of the people he loved, but one day when Riven was three, he just disappeared without a trace.
Riven stopped in front of the school doors. "Here we go."
The moment he stepped in the chatter and buzz of the school filled his ears at once, the noise didn't bother him; he was already used to it to being an annoying but inevitable price that comes with education — although, the noise wasn't what bothered him the most.
"Good morning Riven~!" a bunch of girls squealed as he passed by but he ignored them and kept walking and that seemed to make them squeal even more.
Due to Riven's able build, his dynamic hair and his quiet reserved nature, he became the dream guy of every girl in the school and that won him death glares from boys every P.E session when girls cheered his name.
Ignore them and you'll live longer
He got to his locker and put in the key combination, hoping to finish up quickly before any girl tries something crazy.
"Hey, it's the hotshot of the century." a voice said from behind Riven.
Riven groaned as slowly turned his head, and somehow he preferred a crazy girl to show up right now.
In front of Riven stood, the school's brute of a bully and occasionally thorn-in-one's-side, Drake.
"How you doing, girlfriend stealer." Drake growled menacingly.
Unfortunately, a few days ago, Riven and Drake's girlfriend were caught in the library seemingly having a date and laughing together and when word got to Drake, he lost it.
"Listen Drake," Riven said pinching the bridge of his nose "I told you this a million times, she wanted me to tutor her, we got some snacks and cracked some jokes, that's it."
"BULLSHIT!" Drake roared so loud it attracted the eyes of other students. "You're just saying that so it doesn't seem like cheating!"
Riven blinked, "Cheating?"
"Don't toy with me Wright!" Drake snarled as he leaned closer into Riven, his hot breath washing over his face.
"Trust me, I won't gain anything if I did, now please get out of my face."
"Did you just insult me!?"
"Depends, how much of your brainpower did you use to translate that?"
There was a lot of stifled laughter, when those words dropped. Drake's face turning red with anger and he swung a fist at Riven, but he didn't dodge.
He just tilted his head, letting the punch whisper past his ear. Drake didn't even realize that he had put so much force into that strike and before he could find time to regroup.
Riven's fist collided with his face dropping the brute down with a humiliating thud and a bleeding nose.
"About time someone put you down," Riven said as he crouched close to a dazed Drake "Your girl wasn't my type anyways, we were hanging out. Try to keep your emotions in order next time, K?"
All Drake could do was let out short gasps that sounded a lot like curses.
Students weren't even that surprised after all Riven was known for being one of the top athletes in the entire school.
__________________________________________________________
Ring.
As soon as the bell went off, the doors of the school swung open as dozens of students rushed out, all pairing up in group and ready to go home — well all of them except for one.
Riven was a loner, and he honestly liked it that way. There was no one to chip into his perfect delicate life.
Alas, like all fragile things like a row of Dominoes, at the slightest mistake…it all breaks down.
Duke's probably gonna kill me for being late.
As Riven trudged home he was completely oblivious to the small jewelry box that had fallen from his bag.
And thus it begins…the end of a Fairytale.