Static music was playing. I could not process the source of the sound as it brought me to reality. I could not open my eyes or I just didn’t want to. My mouth was dry. The sound came from my alarm clock as it mocked me with happy tunes. “Creak.” My sister, Meara, pounced on the clock across the room on the cabinet, silencing it. She walked out and down the wooden stairs. The stairs moaned of the early hour under her feet. I can’t even process the thought of moving. My heavy eyelids cracked open. I wanted to go back to sleep. My body is heavy as I slowly rose to a sitting position. Cold air stings my back as it peeled away from the warm blankets. How does she do that? I wonder as my little sister is already making a bowl of cereal. The sound of cheerios clinking against bowls can be heard from the kitchen below. Reluctantly grabbing the thick bed sheets I peeled off the fleece blankets. My body was screaming against the shocking chill. Aimlessly I grope the floor around my bed searching for the lumpy sweatshirt. There is a wall of clothes around my bed mostly made of sweats and pajamas. Somewhere below I know I left a sweatshirt waiting.

I touch thick material. Bringing the sweatshirt from the floor, I blindly slip it on in my dark room. This isn’t helping, I thought, it’s like I’m trying to bring my bed with me. At the foot of my bed, I grab my cell phone that was charging. What am I checking? Emails? News? I know it’s going to be cold. I just want to get my mind off the fact that I have to go to school. As I sit in bed I hear my little brother, Cormac, make his way to the boy’s bathroom down the hall. I look down at my phone. The screen was the only light in the room. I have to make my way down stairs eventually or my siblings will drag me down. I hear a toilet flush and a squeaky bathroom door open as my little brother makes his way downstairs. I am the last one still in bed. I get out of bed.

In the hallway to my left is the “girls” bathroom and down the hallway to the right is the “boys” bathroom. There is nothing different between the bathrooms just that girls use one and the guys use the other. I hear an alarm in my older brother’s room next door to mine. My older brother, Kyle, gets up around the same time we do to go to work. Sometimes he will work out in the mornings with his removable pull-up bar in his doorway. Other times he has a delayed start like me. I never ask him about his normal morning schedule and he doesn’t ask about mine. I tread over to the bathroom. I turn on the lights and am blinded. Being used to the blindness in the mornings, I forced myself to memorize the floor plans to the bathroom.

Out of the bathroom I make my way to the stairs through the dark hallway. I stand at the top of the stairs. Below facing the stairs is the front door which illuminated a grey, distant light. The glow peaked through the opaque window and pooled on the cold tile. It is still winter so the sun rises around seven. I woke up at 6:30. I make my way down the stairs allowing the worn steps to creak under my weight. In the middle of the stairs to my left is the tile floor leads back to the kitchen. When reaching the bottom of the stairs my feet are robbed from heat by the ice tile floor. Shoes are scattered throughout the front hallway of the front door. I gingerly step over the skewed boots and tennis shoes. My foot finds a left over puddle. Being used to the cold weather and its snowy remains in the house, I walk on with a cold wet foot. I turn left so that I am facing the doorway into the kitchen. To my right is the living room which glowed dimly from the morning light creeping through the curtained windows.

In the kitchen I find my siblings sitting at the main dinner table. The table had cereal boxes, bowls and spoons waiting to be used. Meara sat on the bench that lined between the side of the table and the wall. She was already digging into her bowl. Cormac sits next to Meara at the head of the table. I look at my cereal options. Plain Cheerios, Apple Jacks, Life. What happened to the sugary cereal like Reeses Puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch? I crunch up my face with disappointment and look through the cereal cabinet for better options. Only healthy cereals were in sight. Ugh! I look over at Meara’s bowl to see what she was eating. I was not inspired. Sucking up, I take the Apple Jacks. I see that Cormac chose the same. I look into the box to uncurl the cereal bag.

A shower of orange and green trickle into my bowl. The bowl filled more than half – way. I don’t want to be sick. Picking up the bowl, I shovel the excess cereal back into the bag. Just right. I look around for the milk carton. It is laying on its side defeated. The fridge should have some. I get up from the table and open the heavy door of the fridge. Nothing. The garage should have some. I immediately close the door before the annoying beeping tells me to. I walk over to the garage door in a little alcove. There is another pile of shoes before this side door and the key rack dangled above head. The garage will be cold, I’ll be quick. Without any shoes on my feet I leap through the garage door. I land on a cold asphalt floor. This floor made the tile seem comfortable. The fridge door swings open and doesn’t stop as it hits the tool rack behind it. The fridge is old but still does its job. The light bulb is burned out. Losing patience I flip multiple light switches to turn on a light in the garage. I find one and I can see the fridge’s contents. I grab a gallon and dash into the house.