My eyelids were heavy, but I mustered enough energy to force them open, even if only a little, just to be met by the blinding sunlight coming through my bedroom window. My eyes burned and I quickly shut them. I was lying on my stomach, and I felt a sticky wetness between my cheek and my pillow. I groaned quietly, "what woke me up?" I thought. "I could have sworn I heard something, or was I dreaming?" Then I heard knocking at my bedroom door. "Amy, did you hear me? You gotta wake up, we're going to the pediatrician. I let you sleep in as long as I could." Keeping my eyes closed, I raised my head off the pillow just enough, "I'm going, mom."
My arm felt like it weighed a hundred pounds as I slowly raised it to grab a corner of my blanket. I made a single half-hearted throw, only uncovering one side of my body. I then resumed lying still on my stomach, feeling somewhat satisfied that I made at least some progress in getting out of bed, but then I heard the metallic turning of a door knob and the squeaks of hinges. "Amy don't you go back to bed, come on we have to go, you don't even have to put clothes on just go in your pajamas."
"Well that sounds easy enough, I thought to myself." I took a deep breath and pushed my torso up and swung my feet around so they were dangling off the bed. I used my hand to shield my eyes from the light and got to my feet. I took slow, heavy steps through my room, with my eyes still half closed. I slipped on some slides as I passed them. I briefly walked by a mirror and saw my long, knotted brown hair, as it was flipped over itself weirdly atop my head, with the rest cascading down my back without any order. I was wearing baggy grey sweat pants and a large sky blue t-shirt, which is my usual night time attire in the winter months. But my exceedingly petit size only accentuated the clothings bagginess.
"You look like a homeless person", my mother said, chuckling. I didn't respond, but I couldn't agree more. I resumed my trudge through the house, following my mom to the car. "You probably shouldn't have stayed up so late honey. I know you're in 6th grade now and it was a Friday night, but you still gotta get sleep." I huffed out a groan in response, as my mind was still foggy. I was solely focused on the task of getting into the back of my mother's car so I could fall back asleep.
Walking outside my front door, my face was slapped with the full force of the morning sun light. My head flinched back as I quickly raised my hand as a shield. I had one eye fully closed, and the other eye open just enough to see where I was going. My mom was already starting the car, "hurry up Amy, we're going to be late!" I widened my stride, more motivated by the sun than my mother. I beelined for the back seat door and felt my body relax a little as I felt the satisfying pop of the door handle. The hard part was over, I can finally go back to sleep, even if only for 20 minutes or so.
I took a seat and closed the door, and not a second later my mom began reversing the car out of the driveway. I felt the rear axle bump as we drove over the gutter that lined the road, then the front bump soon after. I felt something else too, and my eyes fully widened for the first time that morning. My mouth fell slightly agape as I moved my fingers between my legs and gave a firm squeeze. I had forgotten to change out of my night time pull up.
