Making his way upstairs, Jon made his rounds to each of his family's rooms. He couldn't shake the conviction that it was up to him to get everyone up and moving, and really why not? He was up already, and his mother had apparently slept through her alarm, so everything worked out nicely.
First was Zoe's room. His sister was definitely not a morning person, and given her temper Jon would normally think twice about waking her. But he had things to do, and so without really thinking about it he cracked open the door and announced, "Morning, Zoe! Big day ahead."
His sister sat up in bed, shoving aside her blankets and glancing around her room blearily. For a long moment Jon was afraid she'd snap at him as soon as she came to her senses, but instead she smiled and said, "That time already? Sorry, must have slept in."
Jon was shocked. That was the first time he'd heard his sister apologize in years, and over such a casual thing. Well, best not look a gift horse in the mouth. Masking his surprise with a smile of his own, Jon nodded. "Not a problem. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."
Zoe nodded, already out of bed and rummaging through her drawers. For some reason she wasn't quite feeling her usual style today -- she wanted something a little less intense this morning. She swore somewhere in here was an old pleated skirt. "Sounds great. Thanks, Jon!" she chirped, with an upbeat that surprised both Jon and herself.
Deciding to move on before whatever strange luck decided to break, Jon continued on to Mikey's room next. To his surprise, his younger brother was already up, gathering up his various action figures and video games and putting them back in their places about his room.
"Oh," Jon said, not sure what to say. Zoe happy was definitely weird, but Mikey picking up? Either this was the stone's doing, or this was the end of the world, because that never happened. "You're already up."
Mikey looked up as he put the last of his games. "Uh, yeah," Mikey said, seeming equally puzzled. He had been putting his room together since he had gotten up this morning, and it was only with the interruption that it occurred to him how odd that was. "Time to get ready?"
"Yeah," Jon said, a little hesitantly.
Mikey nodded. "Sounds great. Are you making breakfast or did you want me to?"
Jon almost burst out laughing at the thought of that. Mikey hardly had the attention span to put together a bowl of cereal, and now he was offering to cook. "Uh.... no. I think I got it this morning," he said. He decided to leave then, before things got any weirder or he couldn't hold back the laughter with whatever Mikey said next. His brother was definitely acting weird, though he was he to complain if he was doing some chores for himself?
Next Jon passed his own room. He knew it was empty, but something made him hesitate at the doorway for a moment. A presence of someone absent. Then he shook off the moment, chuckling at his own ridiculousness. He must be imagining things, with the stone having him on edge. Surely that musky smell is just some of his own dirty laundry.
Finally came Linda's room--that is, his mother's room. Knocking on the door, Jon was about to open the door when a call from inside said, "in a minute!" Checking himself at the door, Jon waited patiently for several long moments before the door swung open, revealing his half dressed mother. "What?" she grumbled, clearly still half asleep. Not hostilely, but abruptly. Certainly not like her usual self.
"It's morning, mom," Jon said, automatically softening his tone to sound more amenable.
Linda checked the hall beyond, then looked out the master bedroom window, as if to check for herself. "Well, shit," she mumbled. Jon's mother only rarely swore in front of her children, but this came out almost casually. "Yeah hold on," she said, before closing the door in Jon's face.
Deciding not to pursue the strangeness any further, Jon left his mother to her business and retreated downstairs, lingering again as he passed his definitely empty bedroom. Back in the kitchen, he automatically started up on a fresh batch of waffles, tallying up automatically how many his family would need. Despite the chore, the simplicity of the task, of being helpful to the family so easily, pleased him. Jon found himself humming to himself some tune or another as he went about cooking. Once he was done, he piled them all on a large plate, then set out the breakfast table with plates and silverware. By then the others were all here--and Jon noticed he was not the only one who had decided to dress a little differently today.
