//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Morning Comes // Story: Misery // by ImpendingDoomxXx //------------------------------// Misery Chapter 4 My alarm. I hit snooze and roll over. Five minutes later, my alarm again. I hit snooze and sit up. I look around the room. My head is heavy, and all I can think about is laying back down. My alarm makes me notice that I fell asleep sitting up. I turn it off this time and get out of bed. My head is so heavy, I can barely hold it up. I stumble to the bathroom and turn on the shower. Hot water first. Then the cold. Now to get the mix just right. I lean against the shower wall. 'I wonder how long I can sleep in here for' I think to myself. My foster dad wakes me up by knocking on the bathroom door and saying that I've been in here for thirty minutes, and that I need to get out. I finish up with my shower and turn it off. I step out of the shower and get a towel. I dry off. I walk back to my bed and look at it. I long to just lay back down and sleep for a week. Then My foster dad brings me back to reality one more time with, "If you don't eat now, you're going to miss breakfast," 'Yum'...Breakfast seems good right now. I walk downstairs and into the kitchen. Only my foster dad is there. 'Where is my foster mom? Who cares, I need food. Maybe then I'll wake up more'. I look in the cabinet. Only some dry oats and oatmeal mix. I look in the refrigerator. Some assorted vegetables, a daffodil sandwich, and an apple. But isn't an apple a vegetable? Then why didn't I count it as one? Hmm...I wonder. Maybe it's a fruit? It has its seeds on the inside right? That makes it a fruit, right? I don't even care, I'm going to eat a salad. I slice the vegies and put them in a bowl. I put my favorite salad dressing over it and I sit down at the table. "Where is Cindy at?" I ask. Not that I care, I don't, I just needed prompt. "She left for an emergency business trip last night after you went to bed. She won't be back for another two weeks." He said. "So it's just you and me?" I ask. "Yep, for fourteen days." He said. 'good' I thought to myself. I don't know why having just my foster father there made me feel better. "Why did she have to go so...randomly?" I ask diving into a topic that I didn't even care about. "Some sort of merger is taking place with her company, and it seems as though things aren't going in favor." He said in a low tone. "Isn't two whole weeks a bit long for just a merger?" I ask truly wanting to know this answer. "I don't know, corporate dealings were never my strong point. Though two weeks sounds a bit ridiculous to me." I know how he feels, but there is a difference between us at the same time. He misses her, and I can already tell it. I don't miss her. I don't know why, but I don't feel as if she really cares about me, not just for my happiness, but for my well being in general; and this wasn't just the four years of abuse talking. "So did you get back to sleep ok?" He asked. "Not really, I didn't sleep that well afterwards." I said. "If you don't mind me asking, what was it about?" He asked. That was it, for some reason, I felt like crying again. But I held my composure and stated, "It was the night that my parents were killed." I felt a tear come through, but I blinked it away. "I'm sorry, I know I can't do anything about it, but I really am sorry." He was actually calming me down now. "Don't worry about it." I said, dismissing the conversation. I didn't feel like eating anymore, I didn't feel like going to school anymore for that fact either. I just felt like laying down. Just laying down and doing nothing. Just watching life go by for a while, just idly lying there, doing nothing. "Well you had better get outside to the carriage stop. It should be coming through anytime now." He said. "Alright, I'll see you tonight, after school." I said, not really wanting to leave. *** It wasn't uncommon for me to have a nice sit down with my foster father, but it was highly uncommon for him to share his feelings, or show that he cared deeply about me. It was usually only him that showed that he cared at all. Sometimes I wonder why they agreed to take me in. With only one kid they weren't eligible for financial aid, so it definitely wasn't that; plus they didn't need it, they were quite well off. Could it be that they were looking for someone to mistreat? No. It couldn't be that. My time would have been much worse if that had been the case. They didn't just beat me to do it. It was just that the punishments got really out of hand, most of the time. Look at me. I'm trying to convince away from something I've believed for four years. And for why? Because my foster mom wasn't home and my foster dad hadn't beaten me for directly disobeying him? Those are hardly grounds for a statement change. I'm standing here at the carriage stop, thinking about my life. I want to smile, but I don't know why. "I guess I'll see what today has to offer." I say to myself. The carriage stops in front of me, and I board it and sit down. I look off the side, into the sunrise. There is a beautiful cherry red with hints of orange and pink splashed across the sky. I can't help but smile now. 'I guess today won't be too bad.' Again, I would like to thank bandgeekjim for editing this story for me. You have been a big help in making this as good as it is.