The Average Nap [North]

When he had woken up this morning, everything was quiet. Not a mouse scattering beneath the floor board or even a whistle of a broken dog. Those noises were reserved for the real morning when there was no veil of darkness hanging down from the sky. The noises from Callum echoed through the still house as he emerged from my bed, a jolt of morning electricity greeting his bones as they creaked and cracked in the cold. Bending to his will as his legs shot out from under the woolen blanket and hit the floorboards. Sending another echo down the still house that trailed off along the walls.

His joints complained from the burden of more work that was pressed on his shoulder yesterday, an unfamiliar strain of carrying a heavier load of food. A newer but harder job assigned to him from a older worker. Even the beautiful melody sung from the girls flying up in the tree would not lift his dampened spirits as they dropped to the ground. And when he marched home his eyes gave up so easily that he was alseep the minute his head hit the pillow. With a morning yawn, he headed to the kitchen and turned the rusty stove on. Heating up black swirl in minutes and allowing him to boil water needed for tea.

Tea had always been his favorite, along side with coffee. But with no milk or sugar to add to the coffee, he would not be able to bear the bitter taste of plain coffee lingering in my mouth until his next drink. Bored, he watched the bubbles boil. Pop and squirt, until he could no longer focus on the bubbling water. And by that time it was done. He continued on with his morning rountine that started with pouring the tea into a chipped cup and bringing it to the table. The cup was a gift from an elderly gentlemen who every so often would stop him along the road and ask him a few questions. Without so much as a another thought, the red haired boy lied his head onto the table, forgetting the need for tea and letting his mind take over. Leading him into a foreign world until an unexpected tap on his head startled him back up. With a shake he erupts, another morning jolt coursing through his body. His eyes lay on the culprit as soon as he glances up.

“Dammit Asiling, you could of just of let me sleep,” He mildly complains, the tea cup still clapsed in between his work spoiled hands. The warmth has long since leached into the frozen air. His hands loosen and he places it back down, ignoring the urge for a frozen sip. He listena closer, hearing the unmistakable silence of a empty home. “The triplets out again?”

Aisling, Callums sister. Just another example of another Strekker, blazing red hair and a personality to boot. But to Callum it was just another sister to look after, no boyfriends or anyone remotely close would touch her without his permission. Their father was never there anyways, who else would look after all the girls? “You know, you spoil them all. But they deserve it with reaping day coming up soon,” Callum sighed as he rubbed his joints, rubbing it carefully to not disturb a healing bone. “Maybe you should make me a shirt too, being the only Strekker boy to stand in the reaping pool,” He joked as he watched her hands handle the needle. Handled with such persuasion, he would never be able to use such a small thing with his bruised and blistered hand. The needle caught a glint of a ray of sun, the tiny shadow danced across the table.

The sun was just rising up, seeping through the window. The small dust unseeable to a human eye was floating through the dim light, everyone of them in sight. Just like her working hands, this was another thing Callum always found him self drawn to, a warmth spread down his back and suddenly the tea he wanted to heat up was out of his mind. “No not really any dreams, been more of a blank or blur that passes through my head,” He explained, he took a sharp intake of breath as he hands hit a sensitive spot, with a huff he relaxed again. “What about you, do you have any sorts of dreams lately? I’ve heard the triplets talk about how they have been having bad dreams around you know this time.”