Another Life

1

I woke up feeling groggy, an unsettling feeling washing over me as I sat up in bed and looked around the room, trying to place my eyes on my phone. It wasn't on my bedside table as it usually is, making me furrow my eyebrows as I look for it, running my hands all over the comforter in hunt for the small brick of technology.

As I lift the comforter off of me I find the phone beside me on the mattress. I'm not sure how it got there, if I had possibly fallen asleep whilst on it last night - I can't remember putting it down so that might be a real possibility.

Pressing the button at the bottom of the phone reveals the bright light of the screen, causing me to squint my eyes. It wasn't dark outside, it was still at the point of the year where there would still be a little light outside in the early hours of the morning - there would still be another month or so of early sun-up mornings left to go yet - but the sudden brightness did seem to strain my eyes at first. I read the time on the phone when my eyes had adjusted to the sudden burst of glow, 5:40 am, making a groan climb up my throat at the extra early hour.

Knowing I still had another at least thirty minutes before my daughter woke up for the day, I roll my feet out from underneath the comforter, being careful not to wake Jay beside me as I got out of bed. I might as well use this empty time I have to wake myself up with coffee whilst I still had the chance to, rather than lie in bed until either Jay or Macie woke up.

I grab my robe from the back of the bedroom door, tying it around myself and putting my phone in one of the pockets before making my way downstairs, pulling the kitchen door closed as I walk inside the room, knowing from experience that the coffee pot makes so much noise in the silence of the house first thing in the morning.

I wipe any evidence of sleep from my eyes as I wait for the liquid in the pot to heat up, before moving to slow pacing around the room, but I find myself getting very dizzy after walking in circles around the island counter a few times so I stop, leaning myself against the counter directly next to the pot. I stare intently to the light at the top until it turns green, meaning the coffee was heated.

Whilst grabbing a mug from the cabinet above the pot, I grab hold of the jug, barely allowing time to put the cup down before I pour the liquid into the mug, setting the pot back into its stand after I had filled the cup up.

I contemplate whether to add the cream and sugar to the hot drink, I felt as though I'd been hit with a truck of exhaustion despite just having woken up and I just wanted to fill myself up on the caffeine so I didn't feel this tired, but the strong scent of the black coffee had my nose burning and stomach churning in all the wrong ways so I reached forward to add the necessities to the drink.

I manage to take a few small sips before I have to put it down, a heavy enough wave of nausea rushing over me that it takes everything in my being to stop whatever contents in my stomach from coming back up again. I have to lean up against the counter and push the mug across the top away from me because the strong scent of the coffee is still invading my nose from the counter top and it's still making my stomach churn. Once I get over the worst of the feeling I stand up straight again, picking the mug into my hand and moving over to the sink quickly, tipping the contents inside down the drain - I wasn't going to brave another sip.

Jay's sleepy voice coming from the kitchen doorway brings my attention up from watching the brown liquid fall down the drain, bringing an unconscious smile on my face when he greets me on his trek over to where I was stood.

"Good morning, wife." He grins.

It was still weird to hear him refer to me as his wife, as equally weird as it was to refer to him as my husband. We had only been married a month, but after the longer-than-your-average-engagement it felt as though we had been married longer than just a month, in all the best ways possible.