Sleep.

I absolutely love sleep.

Why? Because it's the only time when I'm not aware of the world around me. When I'm oblivious to all that's happening. Heartbreak, cruelty… deceit.

I sound really negative, huh?

Well I suppose it's best if I expound further. My whole family consists of only guys. I'm the only female. I've got no cousins, relatives, grandparents even, that are female. All of them were either ditched or got ditched.

Even my brother.

Zack, my brother, is older than me by two years. He's got the looks, the charm, and the 'atheletism'. In other words, he's the perfect son, brother, boyfriend, date, friend, et cetera. Thus the one who does the dumping is always him.

Me? I got the reject genes. Well, maybe except for the pair of brown and green eyes I probably inherited from my unknown mystery enigma of a mother who ditched my dad and us for a wealthier guy twice her age. Dad had always told us she was very pretty.

But back to the point. Apart from the multi-colored eyes, I also somehow got really, really fair skin from my grandaunt, who is albino. As for hair color, both Zack and I have really light blonde hair from Dad. I also took after my Aunt's size, small but strong. My Aunt was this really broody woman who started smoking at the age of twelve. She died from lung cancer at the age of thirty-five. That was two years ago, the same time Mom left Dad with nothing but an empty shell.

So currently, I'm the only female in the entire extended family, and it's kind of depressing, with so much of heartbreak and drama and deaths. Surprisingly enough, Zack and I both managed to pull through, and though I didn't turn out to be this popular jock like him, at least I'm not all sad, moony and black.

Well, enough of the adversity.

The weather always had a knack for expressing my feelings, as seeing how it was on its way to a thunderstorm now. I tightened my jacket around me, and picked up my pace a little. The street was empty. Everyone had withdrawn into their own homes, safe and away from the harsh winds which were currently flogging against my face, whipping and whisking my hair into a gargantuan, tousled mess.

I rounded into my street, and a droplet of rainwater smacked onto my nose. Cursing, I sprinted down to my house. It's not that I hate the rain. Far from it, in fact. I love rain, as much as a person who just came out from a desert, just as long as I'm not in it.

I'm not scared of it or anything, too. I mean, it's just rain. How scary can water be? It's just… this feeling of chaos comes onto me, like I'm in the middle of a raging war. Don't ask me why. I guess it could be the infinite amount of raindrops that incessantly keep dropping onto me that sends me into this light bout of dizziness.

I kicked the door shut and leaned against it. OK, now that wasn't too bad. Pushing myself off the door, I slowly trudged up to my room. The house seemed empty as usual, not because no one was in it, but more because everyone was already in their own rooms doing entirely different things of their own.

Like my brother, for example. Right now, if I wasn't mistaken, he would be doing his routinely 1500 sit-ups. To keep fit-and his abs- you know… Guy things.

'Hey, Zack,' I said in a weary voice. It was a custom of mine to bid him 'Good Morning' and 'Good Night' at least once everyday. He looked at me from the floor, and flashed me a smile. 'Hey, Ally.'

His upper torso was covered in a thin layer of sweat. 'So, what are you at now?' I asked, just for conversation's sake. He went back to doing them, and counted for me to hear, 'One-two-two-four… one-two-two-five…' and continued counting silently.

I've always wondered how people like him did it. I could barely survive fifty, let alone a thousand five. Sighing, I got up and decided to take a bath before 'retiring' for the day. 'Night,' I bade him. He just waved his hand in my direction before I left for my room.

I stepped into the shower and a cold blast of water hit my face, immediately sobering me up. My fingers were still throbbing from where I had tried to play the guitar. It was my first lesson, and I used my sister's old guitar for it. I was learning with my friend, Kyla, and she even said she wanted to form a rock band after this.

After I got out of the shower, I applied about a gallon-okay, I'm exaggerating here-of lotion onto my hand, and fell asleep with my hair still sopping wet.

Top reason for liking sleep?

I'm actually at peace.