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"Alice! Five o'clock! Breakfast!" Was the first thing Alice heard the morning she met him.
The morning that particular day was brighter and sunnier than usual-any other morning would've been as dark as the night before.
Alice, only fourteen, was a military daughter. Her father was in the army for years and years before finally retiring to be with his family. He greatly enjoyed being able to go places and seem like a normal, middle class group.
As he aged, he grew a hunger to own a business as he always did when he was young.
Finally, at a ripe age of forty-six, he bought a convenience store.
There, he made his only daughter, Alice, work day and night over the summer.
In true military fashion, the household grew alive at five a.m. sharp. In silence and with precision, Alice and her two older brothers would get dressed, brush their teeth, and make it over to the kitchen in a matter of ten minutes.
Alice had never known anything different. The day after she was born she woke up at dawn even though she was no more than an infant.
Never, in her life, would she ever do anything different.
In the next few minutes, Alice dressed herself in her usual cutoff shorts and a black t-shirt-the employee uniform.
She ate her cereal as always-frosted flakes with no added sugar (her father didn't want them eating anything unhealthy... or so he thought).
Alice was usually the first one out of the house, even though girls were supposed to take the longest to get ready. Having never found the time or reason to do her hair or wear makeup, the only style anyone ever saw her in was in her work uniform
Before she slammed the door behind her, her two brothers-twins, I might add, yelled after her to be safe. As always.
The two brothers were named quite old titles that nobody had heard in years. When was the last time you heard a couple of kids being named Ulysses and Hank?
The twins' mouths were always full of food, yet somehow, they were skinnier than twigs. Their hair was always under three inches in a buzz cut, even though they were never going to step foot in the armed forces in their lives. You could barely tell them apart; their hair was the exact same color as a trees bark and their skin was paler than a cloud's.
Yet, nobody ever mixed the two up because they were too different to ever be mistaken for each other.
At six am Alice pedaled her bike to the store every day. By the end of the summer vacation, her legs would be sore from so much movement every day.
As she walked in to the buildings back door, the immediate sound of beeping of fryers and the citrus scent of slushies enveloped her. She always loved that smell.
