I wake up early, in time to watch the first rays of sunlight shyly reach the wall. From the bed, I can see the bright blue sky through the window, almost as if the snowstorm that threatened the city last night was just an illusion. I get up and walk over, curious to assess the damages. My eyes hurt with all the white reflecting the sun — everything is covered. The back garden looks more like a cloud. I dress up quickly, skipping over coffee, and go straight to the front porch. A shiver runs down my spine, more due to the eeriness of the sight than the cold itself. I don’t feel the cold. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
“Jesus Christ,” Annette gasped as she entered the room. “How many decades has it been since you’ve been here? Yurik laughed but also gasped when he saw the amount of stuff there. “Brother…” Nikolai let out a low whistle. Natasha and Andrei made similar jokes as all of them crammed into Yurik’s attic. He was glad his friends accepted to help him but also regretted spending such a beautiful afternoon stuck in there. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
“Ethel! Ethel!” Emmet yells-whispers into his sister’s ear. She doesn’t wake up. Or, rather, she does, but pretends she didn’t as she usually did when Emmet tried to wake her up in the middle of the night. She knows this can only mean one thing — trouble. “Come one, Ethel, it’s a serious matter this time!” With him, it’s always a serious matter. Like when he decided to hide a stray dog inside his room. Or when he thought it was a good idea to climb on the roof to see a meteor shower. Ethel doesn’t move and, when the room becomes quiet, she slowly opens just one eye to see if her brother has decided to walk away. He hasn’t. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
Just get it. I sigh, slipping a finger into the space between my jeans and my belly. I should stop this delli escapades, stress-eating will not help my degree. Nor the fitting of my clothes. Come on. Who cares? You could use a few more pounds, anyway. Just get it. I sigh again as I pay for the chocolate muffin and latte. My inner voice always wins, somehow. That and the chocolate muffins of the coffee shop in this corner. They make the half-mile walk from my apartment totally worth it. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.