The static from the alarm clock is very annoying. By design. I open my eyes and see the blue display with a white digital 8:28 staring at me. A left over from when I still drove to work and wanted to hear traffic and weather. Traffic and weather on the eights and when it breaks. I haven't heard the slogan since my cat ate the radio wires. So now all I hear is static. I hit the off button and hope it wasn't the snooze.

  One bathroom and morning pills trip later, I'm down my two sets of stairs, tablet in hand. I get on my couch and recline the seat and turn on my tvs. The main tv goes to an anime channel that I never watch, I have to set it to the computer every time. The dual monitor tv setup is silly but couches are comfier than chairs.

  After browsing various webcomics, I grab my work laptop and open it up. First ridiculous password in and I wait for the request for my second. I grab my phone, the image on the lock screen is of my niece graduating from elementary school. She has a blue square hat, a diploma in one hand and a cupcake in the other. The smirk on her face suggests she prefers to be eating the cupcake than posing for pictures. She is tall enough to be graduating from middle school, not elementary.

  A finger print opens the phone to the home screen and I go get my random password for the day. That the laptop is still thinking about getting to the second password authentication just demonstrates both the paranoia of the company I work for and their cheapness in equipment. Will the second password cycle or will I get to login. My daily morning conundrum.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Finally in, I check my emails and find nothing pressing. My brother comes down the stairs and heads into the kitchen. We exchange mornings. The morning ritual is complete. He puts a banana next to me. I suppose now the morning ritual is truly complete.

  The morning becomes closer to noon and I work on some programming issue half heartedly. Knives, my cat jumps onto the seat of my exercise chair. It's his chair now, Eldrick, my niece's cat, well really her mother's, has been vanquished to the other side of the window. I look past the overly large black cat and see it has begun to snow. I get up and part the curtains. Watching snow is calming.

  My brother grouses at the sight, he will be driving in it not me. “Burger, Lil?”

  I give him my standard silly reply, “Okay.” Monotone and tired.

  Will it be frozen pucks or fresh this time, we will have to see. It will at least come with muenster cheese and american on top in a potato roll. Only one though, the war against belly fat continues. A thought comes to mind.

  “Do we got any hot chocolate?”

  “Sure Lil, any preference on wine tonight?”

  It's Friday, which means I get to make a fool of myself streaming while drinking. High class content full of mediocre gameplay and foul language. It's hell on the calorie counting though. I keep telling myself half a bottle would be better. That decision is always put off after the first glass.

  My burger and hot chocolate arrive. The burger was gone rather quickly, it was fresh this time. I take the hot chocolate and stare out the window, the snow not even an inch yet. There is an alarm going off on my phone that I wish I could ignore. I turn to the phone to find what the issue is. As I put my mug down and got my right pointer finger to the thumbprint scanner, the lock screen is of Knives this time, a flash of light sears my right eye blind. I turn