sonder

Week 15

"LIFE & ZOMBIES"

 The day started off completely normal; the sun rose, the alarm clock rang, and Morgan dragged himself out of bed to drink his daily cup of coffee. Orange morning light filled the kitchen. It was silent in the house, just as it always was at this time. Completely ordinary.

Morgan popped a piece of bread in the toaster and took a sip of his piping hot coffee, mentally preparing himself for the day ahead of him. High school was certainly draining for him, but he managed.

Math test today, finish Spanish homework, work on History project, he mentally noted. Today was gonna be a busy day; he had to prepare so he could get everything done. Having some sort of to-do list in his head helped him be more productive.

A few minutes passed when the toaster dinged and the bread popped up. Morgan grabbed a plate, a knife, and a jar of peanut butter and went to town. This, too, was a part of his morning ritual; peanut butter toast was essential to his sanity. This was just a fact, and everyone around him knew it. It was never a pretty sight to see a hungry Morgan.

Eventually, the rest of his family flooded into the kitchen, one by one. First was Mom, hair tangled and glasses on crooked. Next was Fiona, the literal other half of Morgan, whether they liked it or not. Twins can't really change that, of course.

"Did you take my headphones?" she questioned as she stormed into the kitchen, makeup half done.

"On my desk," he replied, taking a bite from his toast. His twin rolled her eyes and stomped back upstairs.

"Women, am I right?" Dad joked as he made his way to the coffee pot.

"That's very sexist, dear." Mom tapped on Dad's shoulder and handed him a cup of coffee.

It was so utterly ordinary that morning. How did it all go so wrong over the course of 24 hours?

Morgan's little 12-year-old brother, Thomas, woke up late that morning. That, of course, was not out of the ordinary. Fiona yelled at the youngest member of the family to get up and get dressed, or else he wouldn't have a ride to school.

And so all of the siblings got ready. Fiona, of course, took an hour in the bathroom so she could get ready, much to the dismay of her brothers; Morgan didn't have it in him to wear anything other than sweatpants to school; Thomas rushed to finish last night's homework. Typical stuff in the Quinn household.

"Get in, loser. We're going shopping," Fiona yelled from her place in the driver's seat, key in the ignition and heat blasting. February always seemed to be especially cold in Somewhere in the Suburbs, USA. Tom rolled his eyes and ran down from the porch to the car, nearly slipping on a patch of ice.

"Cool it with the Mean Girls references, could ya?" he complained, shutting the car door behind him. The older brother nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, it's getting old real quick."

"You know what's getting old real quick? Your complaining," she shot back, backing out of the driveway.

Fiona and Morgan dropped Thomas off at the middle school and then drove to the high school, just as they did every day. Then, they went to class. Business as usual. It was already lunch period by the time one of the kids strayed from the daily schedule. Morgan left his lunch in the car, so he ran out to the parking lot to grab it. Oddly enough, it felt like the temperature dropped since 8 AM. Maybe it would snow. He always liked snow.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It was a text from his twin:

Left chem book in car can u grab it for me, it read.