The sun slowly crept into the darkened room through the gaps in the curtains, birds tweeted from a nearby tree, and there was a slight movement from the human form lying in the bed as it tried to unconsciously, move into a more comfortable position. Looking closely at the human’s face, a smile crept onto its face as it appeared to be enjoying the dream that it was currently having.
All of this, however, was interrupted when a loud, feminine voice called out. “Zoe! Breakfast!”
There was a groan from under the covers, as the form rolled over, trying to ignore the voice that had just called out.
“Zoe Gibson! I will not tell you again, it’s time to get up!”
Groaning, the form threw off the covers and reluctantly replied.
“Alright, I’m getting up!” Sitting up, Zoe rubbed his eyes as he tried to adjust to the dimly lit bedroom. Reaching over to his bedside table, he flicked his lamp on. It momentarily blinded him, but it was better than stumbling around in the darkness.
Swinging his feet off the bed, Zoe stretched before standing up. Slipping his feet into a pair of slippers, Zoe grabbed a towel that was hanging off his bedroom door and trudged slowly towards the bathroom that he shared with his siblings.
To his surprise, the bathroom was currently unoccupied. Normally, his sister beat him and would take forever to get ready. Zoe decided to relish in this rare opportunity and quickly took a shower.
After he had finished, Zoe stepped out of the shower and dried off, quickly tying a towel around his waist before returning to his bedroom. To his amusement, his sister Jon was waiting impatiently outside.
“Took you long enough,” she mumbled before pushing past him.
Zoe chuckled at the irony before continuing to his bedroom.
Closing the door behind him, Zoe threw his towel on to his bed and then proceed to get dressed. Being a boy, it didn’t take him long to get ready as he simply threw on a t-shirt, some underwear and a pair of jeans. Hanging his towel back on the door, Zoe then went to grab some breakfast.
Passing the bathroom, Zoe wrinkled his nose in disgust because, typically, Jon had left the door open while she stood to pee. Making a frustrated noise, Zoe slammed the door shut before getting an irritated response from his sister.
“Sorry!”
Zoe just grunted and shook his head.
“Every time,” he muttered.
“Mom! Tell Jon that she needs to close the door before she takes a piss,” Zoe requested as she entered the kitchen.
“Language!” his mother retorted before turning around to face her son.
“Sorry mom, but it is disgusting! I don’t want to have to see my sister’s privates everytime I pass the bathroom.”
His mother chuckled. “I understand, son. I’ll talk to her.” She placed a bowl of cereal in front of Zoe as she looked at her watch. “I’ve got to head out to the office. Do you mind waking up Mia when you’re done?” Zoe nodded as he tucked into his breakfast.
“Sure thing, mom.” His mom smiled as she picked up her briefcase and travel mug before heading out the door.
Zoe finished his breakfast and sighed. He was always the one waking Mia up. It wasn’t his mom’s fault or anything: she worked at a busy law firm, and as a single mother, she didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her kids. It just frustrated Zoe that women tended to dump the responsibilities of raising the family on the men, no matter how old they were.
Sighing, Zoe put his bowl in the dishwasher and then headed upstairs to wake his brother up. As he had guessed, his sister was still occupying the bathroom. Zoe resisted the urge to bang on the door and tell her to hurry up, but he knew that would only irritate her. So he continued on and went to wake his brother.
