Prologue
Prologue
Everyone knows not to call me early in the morning unless someone is dying or something is on fire. If I wake up because someone calls me, everyone knows I will wake up startled and that will lead to a migraine that will blind me for the rest of the day and nobody wants that Rea around, she’s grumpy and hogs all the snacks. So with that in mind I don’t know why my phone is ringing before my alarm goes off. It’s Saturday, or at least I think it is, it is the one day I can sleep in a little, and I barely slept last night so I would have loved to have the extra hour I let myself sleep in on this one glorious day.
I can only manage 5 hours of sleep a night, but on Saturdays I try to make it six, but the shrill ringing of my phone, different from the calm sounds of my alarm, is not playing good on my nerves.
Rude.
Why do people have phones anyway?
Right, death and fire.
Basically the only good call that wakes you up earlier than your alarm is when the postman calls to tell you your package has arrived, even though I can’t say I always remember what I ordered.
Makes for a good surprise though.
I wake up with a crick to my neck and try to answer but my voice doesn’t come out, so I clear my throat and try again.
“Hello?”
“Hello, this is PulsePoint research, a consumer research company regarding streaming and entertainment habits, grocery shopping, travel preferences, online shopping, brands eating out/takeaway habits, and how advertising influences purchases, are you free for a few questions?” the devil voice says.
That was a lot of words for who knows the time in the morning.
I make a noise and I guess they take it as a yes and they continue talking. They ask me questions and for some reason I answer haphazardly instead of hanging up because of course I can never say no to anyone. I have no idea what I am saying to them and mostly because the ringing in my ears and the headache brewing makes it hard for me to understand what they are asking me. As soon as the line goes dead I throw my phone to the empty side of my bed and keep my eyes closed, hoping my body didn’t wake up enough to realise it is time to get up.
Maybe I can trick into thinking it was all a dream and managing to fall asleep again.
My eyes open a few seconds later when I realise there is no going back to sleep and that my bladder will not even take a few minutes without attention.
I get up to go to the bathroom and glance at the clock on my nightstand, it’s 8:00 o’clock.
As I take a few more steps to the bathroom my migraine decides to also impose her presence and it blinds me for a second as I feel like I have a crew of workmen inside my brain.
“There goes my Saturday” I mumble to myself as I make my way to the kitchen to look for the one thing that makes my day better.
Coffee.
