The Vortex

3

Camila Smith

I laid in bed for a while even after waking up, my eyes closed as I turned to lay on my side.

As my head turned towards the window I could feel the stinging rays of the sun on my eyelids. I was never a morning person.

I squinted my eyes at the feeling, and rubbed them as I gently opened them to see the sunlight seeping through the curtains. It seemed bright outside, too bright actually.

What was the time?

I extended my arm along my side table to grab ahold of my alarm clock. I grabbed it and pulled it towards me to see the time.

8:10

Why did my alarm not go off?

I checked the clock to see if I had slept through the alarm. My head plopped back into the pillow as I realized I never set the alarm last night.

This wasn't the first time, I was way to familiar with this feeling of urgency. It was not often but I did get late sometimes thanks to my insomnia.

I groaned in frustration and propped myself up on my elbows, knowing I had to get up if I had to be at school at 9:00.

I sat up on the bed and looked around the room for a moment aimlessly, then I got out of the covers as I put my slippers on and walked of to the bathroom to get started on getting ready.

I was so frustrated with myself, and when I looked at my face in the mirror my frustrations only grew bigger.

I had bags under my eyes like I suspected, my hair was messy and running wild in all directions. I looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

I pulled my eyes away from the mirror and washed my face to atleast look normal to some extent.

After I finished washing my face I dried with a towel and picked up my brush and toothpaste from the stand on the counter.

My movements were fast as I put the paste on the brush and put it in my mouth.

I walked out of the bathroom to pick out my clothes while I was brushing to save some time. I walked over to my closet tasting the minty paste in my mouth as I brushed my teeth.

I moved the hangers back and forth to find an outfit that I could wear, my eyes skimming through my collection of clothes.

My eyes landed on a white t-shirt as I took it out, it was one of the t-shirts that I was very comfortable in wearing and it looked decent too.

Then I took out a pair of black jeans and a half denim jacket to complete the outfit. In this amount of time the best I could do was this and it looked okay.

I ran back to the bathroom to spit the foam out as I washed my mouth, the minty taste still on my tongue making my taste buds feel disgusting.

As I went back to the room I glanced at the clock again go check the time. It was 8:30 now.

Well great.

I had to really pick up my pace now, it was a 10 minute drive from my house to the school and if I didn't make it in time I wouldn't hear the end of it from my mom.

I grabbed my towel from the chair and ran back into the bathroom, almost tripping on the mat outside it.

As I was about to close the door, I heard a knock outside my room followed by another.

"Are u done? We're gonna be late Cam." My mother's voice spoke from the other side of the room.

Shit.