Labyrinth of Life

Chapter 8

I wake up to the sunrise beaming through my blinds. It takes me a moment to remember what day it is today, but when I realize that it's Sunday, I'm overjoyed with the thought that I get to sleep in a little bit longer. Because I wake up at the same time every weekday, my body naturally wakes up on its own around the same time that my alarm would normally go off. I'm usually able to fall right back asleep after I wake up, but today seems to be the complete opposite. Despite shutting my eyes and attempting to fall back asleep, about fifteen minutes later I still find myself very much awake. Normally, I spend my Sunday mornings at church, but today has been the first Sunday, in my entire life, where I hadn't been rudely awakened and forced to attend mass. I must admit, a part of me feels guilty for not going to church. I can already hear my mom's voice in my head asking, Do you understand how big of a sin it is, that you missed church? I subconsciously sigh at the thought of how angry she would be right now if she knew. Being forced to go to church and sit for an hour, while the priest preached us the same homilies every week was quite annoying. Despite that, I hadn't realized how monotonous it was.

I decide to lay in bed for a little longer before I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Right now, because of how quiet it is in the house, I'm not too sure as to who is home or not. And the last thing I want is to be home alone with Greyson, especially after our encounter a of couple nights ago. He ended up being the complete opposite of who I thought Greyson would be and everything that Simone described Parker to be. So, if our next encounter is anything like our last, I'd rather do what I can to avoid it from happening. It helps that he's usually at work during the weekdays and that I barely get to see him. But because I moved in on Monday, I'm unsure of what his work schedule is like on the weekends.

I turn my attention away from the ceiling and onto the window, where the light peaks through the spaces in between the blinds. The curtains in my old room were a dark red, so I didn't get as much morning sun as I do now. But I must admit, I'm not opposed to seeing the sunshine through the darkness of my room.

Instant sadness washes over me as the thought of my old room transitions over to the thought of my parents. Are they going to stop all communication with me because I don't want to get married right now? This has officially been the longest we've gone without talking to or seeing each other, and it's honestly starting to make me very nervous. My mom is a very stubborn woman, so I know that she won't talk to me unless I'm the one to initiate it, but the one thing that comes as a surprise to me is the fact that my dad still hasn't said a word to me. I've never really gotten into a serious altercation with my dad before, which means that the two of us have never gone an entire day without talking to each other. So, the fact that he hasn't reached out to me makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong when in reality, I know I'm not. At least I think I'm not.

Once I finish brushing my teeth, I decide to make myself a lazy breakfast instead of making something complex like I normally do. So, for breakfast, I ended up eating a bowl of cereal with a mug filled with tea on the side. While I eat my breakfast on the island table, in the kitchen, I watch an episode of Naruto on my phone. But before I press play, I notice that the only set of keys hung up on the key-holder are mine and Simone's, which means that Simone must still be asleep and that Greyson isn't home.

When both my breakfast and episode are complete, I contemplate whether or not I should watch one more episode or begin to clean. The sooner I clean, the less I'll have to think about it while I spend the rest of my day binge-watching Naruto to make up for all the episodes I didn't get a chance to watch. Although I know I don't need to spend my Sunday cleaning, it's become routine for me to spend the weekends, normally Saturdays, making sure that the home is tidy. It's a concept that has been taught to me by my mom on a repetitive weekly basis and has become instinctual, for me, at this point. But because I didn't do any cleaning yesterday, I might as well do it today, since I have some free time. Thankfully, everything is already tidily stored away. So, all I need to do is wash the dishes, tidy up the bathroom, and sweep and mop the floors. And since the place is much smaller than what I'm used to cleaning, to my surprise, it only takes me about an hour and a half to finish.