Life As I Know It

【 Chapter 1 】

— 8:00 AM —

Naldo woke up to the sound of his alarm going off. His eyes had just barely opened when the sound hit his ears, blasting at full volume. He was wondering why his alarm was on, but then he remembered that he had forgotten to turn it off before going to bed last night.

With a groan, he rolled over onto his side and reached over to grab his phone to turn off the alarm; and with that being done, he decided to drag himself out of bed and get ready for the day, finding it pointless to go back to sleep since he was already awake.

After some quick stretches to release the knots in his back, Naldo started to get ready for the day, performing his usual daily morning routine of brushing his teeth, taking a shower, putting some clothes on, and then, to top it all off, placing a fedora on his head. He could never leave the house without putting a hat on.

When he was done, Naldo left his room to go downstairs and eat breakfast. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, he went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. His mom was sitting at the breakfast table and reading the newspaper, while his dad was sitting at the breakfast bar and drinking his coffee. Mornings at his house were never anything but quiet when Daisy wasn't there, as both of his parents had a tendency to avoid conversation — not to mention, they always sat apart from each other.

"Morning, mom. Morning, dad." He politely addressed his parents upon stepping seeing them, to which his mom responded with a simple, "Good morning," in return.

As for his dad, he just groaned and muttered, "What's so great about it?"

This response was typical to hear from Mr. Montoya, who was usually cranky until he finished his morning coffee. Naldo chose to just ignore his question as he took an apple from the fruit bowl in the kitchen — although his mom was scowling at him, which lead to a quick little side argument as she criticized his pessimism.

Since Barry was expecting Naldo to be at his lab within the next hour, according to the text he received while he was getting ready, he didn't have much time to eat a full breakfast.

Going to his lab was something Naldo did every day, for two reasons. One, he liked seeing Barry and doing experiments with him. And two, he didn't really like staying at home with his parents. Once him and Barry are old enough to move out, they planned on buying an apartment together and becoming roommates. For his sake, he was hoping it won't be much longer until then,

After taking a bite out of the apple, Naldo quickly told his parents, "I'm going to Barry's lab now. I'll see you later," before walking towards the front door and leaving the house, where he then headed in the direction of the Marcus's house.

When Naldo had finally arrived, Mr. Marcus was just leaving his house to go to work. Naldo could tell because he was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase — not to mention, he always looked distraught whenever anyone saw him like this.

Sticking a hand up to wave, Naldo called out to him, "Hi, Mr. Marcus!"

Mr. Marcus looked up at him as soon as Naldo had begun to speak, a confused look first displayed on his features. But once he noticed it was Naldo, he relaxed and raised a hand to wave back.

"Hello, Naldo."

"Going to work, I see?" Naldo pointed out after they greeted each other, despite how obvious it was; he was just trying to engage in conversation.

In turn, a heavy sigh could be heard from him, followed by a rather bleak answer.

"Unfortunately... Enjoy life while you're still young, Naldo. It gets hard when you're an adult."