Not a Reunion

Chapter 1

Six years later
Thea

I wake up to my alarm, which I set ten minutes earlier than the normal time I needed to be up at. I needed the ten minutes to sit in bed and think about the things I hadn't been able to do last night. There were a few things that I needed to go through in my head before I could wake up and face the day that was laid out for me.

I turn to my side to find the spot empty; the person who had been sleeping next to me is gone. I guess that wasn't new; he hadn't been in bed when I woke for a while now. I turn away from the depressional sight and toward the window.

There was a large, almost full-length window that faced my side of the bed. The apartment buildings could be seen from here; the view is marvelous from even where I sleep. The weather was starting to get better after the brutal snow that we had faced this year. Half of my work was done at home whenever the snow hit and the New York streets weren't safe for us to be on.

I liked the weather here; I liked that we got all four seasons, but I also hated the fact that the winter months seemed to have lasted too long. The weather is something that could pull my mood down. I hadn't had that realization until a few years ago. If the weather was set to be gloomy and dark, then my mood would follow. It was hard to keep my mental health in check for these seasons that seemed to last too long.

As I close my eyes again, I'm pinching my arm just so I'm not put to sleep. There would be no good for me to fall asleep when I only wanted to get a moment to think. A moment, probably the only one I would have today, to breathe. I needed to breathe; it was something I seemed to have lacked during the day. Breathing properly, that is, breathing that isn't forced or the ones that get too hard at the end of the day,.

Once I'm done with that, I take myself out of bed, and before I can think twice about it, I make my bed. I needed to do it now because if I came back from work to find it messy, I would want to take my full routine off and hop into bed.

Take control of your own productivity, Thea.

After making my bed and smiling at the fact that I had done one thing on my list already, I head to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I have to take another shower, even though I took one last night and there was no way I was dirty. I just needed the energy—I needed to fully open my eyes. It takes ten minutes for me to hop out of the shower and head toward my vanity to get ready.

As I get ready, I think about how long my hair has gotten again and how much that thought is unwelcoming. I had cut it to my chin a few years ago, but now it was already cascading down to my waist, a few inches shy of being the length it was before. I make a mental note of wanting to cut my hair again before moving on to makeup.

Getting ready in the morning is fine; it's a mundane task that I do not hate. I take this moment to plan out my day from morning to end. From the first task I did this morning (the making of my bed) to the last task I will be doing (putting away dishes from dinner),.

Once I'm done and my eyes are shining with the new eyeshadow palette I bought for myself, I get up. I headed to my closet to find an outfit that was similar to yesterday's. I find a pencil skirt and a jacket that would do, but I cannot seem to find a button-down that would work.

It's okay, Thea. No one will know.

I sigh as I head over to my laundry basket and dig out the shirt I abandoned yesterday. It was my only black button down, the only one that would look good against the dark of this suit. Or maybe I could use white, but I had already done my makeup, and there wasn't any way I could avoid getting makeup on it.

My sighs turn into groans when I find that the shirt, I got out has some kind of makeup on it. I pinch the bridge of my nose as I shake my head. I head over to my bathroom and once I'm out, I take a piece of tissue paper, wet it, and start to swipe at the stain. It takes quite a bit of wiping, but once I'm done, I look at my work.