The Life of Brenna Normal [NANOWRIMO 2014]

➀ Rise and Whine

      / Rise and Whine \

                                                             ❝You might be a big fish in a little pond.❞

Each alarm clock rang at exactly six-thirty am. Not a minute earlier, not a minute later. It had to be at six-thirty. 

After all, that had been the Normal family's wake up time for four decades. 

All of the six members of the households clocks marked the start of the day. Once the eyes of the members were open the steps of the day were ready to be preformed. Every day was paced in steps. On Sunday there was four steps to complete in the morning. Getting up, washing up, clothes for the day, and breakfast.

Anders Normal was always the first to hop out of bed. Being at only the age of nine he had much energy to help him get up in the morning. Once the alarm sounded next to him he sat up quickly and pulled the Hot Wheels blanket off his small frame. He never turned the alarm off until he finished his daily get up routine. It was as if the ring of the alarm spurred him on to get ready for the day. Next he would throw is legs off the side of the bed so that they dangled barely above the carpet. When he got up he would pull the blanket up till it covered his flat pillow. With a sweep of his hand the alarm would be silenced and part one of his morning routine would be finished. 

Arlo was the opposite of his brother Anders when it came to the alarm. Each beep made him cringe and coil. As soon as his mind became even remotely awake his fist would pound down on the clock turning off the blood curdling sound. He tended to swing his legs off the bed then sit up. Next his Thomas The Train comforter would be lifted off his body before hopping out of bed. Arlo preferred to lay his comforter under his pillow so that the bright pillow covers would be proudly shown to all who entered. 

The last of the triplets to wake was Crew. Crew, though the most responsible of the three, was slower in his morning routine. He sat up in bed his mouth open wide as yawns escaped him, his fists rubbing the sleepys from his eyes, and hair rumbled from rolling around. The alarm was turned off then. He would tiredly crawl out of bed pulling his blanket away while he stood up. He folded his blanket below his large pillow neatly, still dragging his feet. 

For the triplets, that was the first part if their day. It was always done in the same way. Nothing in the way they got up was ever changed for as long as they could think back to. 

The Normal parents weren't big on cuddling. In their king sized bed they each had their own side they stayed on. It wasn't as though they didn't want to show signs of affection, they just couldn't sleep if they were near someone else. So in order to get a good night's rest they respected each other's space and slept on opposite sides.  Elvis was the fourth Normal to wake. He used no alarm to make his eyes open. After growing up with the same wake up time his body was accustom to waking up and six thirty each morning. His first action he always preformed was turning on his side and scouting towards his half asleep, half awake wife. After placing a small lingering kiss to her forehead he would climb out of bed. Tansy, his wife, would keep her eyes closed until her husband got up. She gave a small satisfied smile at the contact of his lips on her skin but would make no effort to move till his feet touched to floor. 

Once both of them were standing tall they walked to side their spouse slept on and reached for the heavy comforter resting there. It had became part of the routine to always make the bed on the other person's side, making it perfect for them to sleep in later.

One Normal still stayed sleeping through the first part of the family's day.  Brenna Farris Normal was the last member to wake up. Her ears had learned to drone out the loud alarm to where she slept on right through it. Quiet snores escaped her mouth as she laid sprawled out on her twin sized bed, limbs falling off the side. Each day she had to be woken up by her mother who would not allow her to sleep during breakfast.