Picking Up The Pieces

2. It happened after eight

Elias's POV

My eyes shoot open, and I sit up straight. I look around to find myself in bed. Sunlight is streaming into the room through the windows, brightly illuminating the room.

"It's just a bad dream, Elias," I tell myself as I get out of bed. My sweat-soaked shirt clings to my chest, so I pull it off and walk into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

I'm still very shaken up about the dream when I enter the bathroom, so when I step into the shower, I accidentally knock over the various shampoo bottles April deposited at my house the last time she stayed over.

I curse under my breath, hoping the ear-splitting noise of the bottles hitting the stone-tiled floor didn't wake her.

I re-organize the bottles on the built-in shelf and start showering. At first, I just stand there, leaning against the wall and letting the water run over my face, but after a second I pull myself together.

Once I'm all done, I dry off and step out of the shower. I wipe away the fog on the mirror just to see the yellowish bruises over my ribs that haven't completely faded yet. They are just another reminder of what happened in my nightmare, so I direct my eyes elsewhere and sigh. I quickly put on some clothes before leaving the bathroom.

I do feel a lot better now that I showered, but the nightmare still lingers in the back of my mind, and, knowing myself, the memory of it won't fade for at least a couple more hours.

On my way to the kitchen, I see April's door is closed. Good, she's still sleeping.
In the kitchen I make a beeline for the coffeemaker.

It's been a couple of weeks since I last had some coffee, so making myself a cup of it now is my number one priority.
While the coffee brews I grab a bowl and some off-brand cereal I have stored in one of the many cupboards.

I pour milk over the cereal and right before sitting down on one of the barstools next to the kitchen island, I walk over to the coffee maker to pour myself a cup of the dark beverage.

I look up from my phone just after sitting down, swallowing the sip of coffee I just took, to greet April who stumbles into the kitchen.

"Good morning!" I say cheerfully.

April waves me off, grumbles in response and walks around me to grab some cereal. She's still wearing her pajamas and looks awfully tired with her hair in a messy bun and dark circles under her eyes.

"Why didn't you sleep in?" I ask.

"Couldn't sleep." Is all April says as she opens the fridge to grab the milk. She pours it over her cereal and puts it back before slurping through the kitchen into the living room.
She lets herself fall onto the couch and starts eating the cereal with closed eyes.

I watch her for a few seconds just sitting there, munching her cereal before joining her.

"What are your plans for today?"

April opens her eyes and looks around, her eyes landing on my coffee. She reaches for it, and I give her the cup a little hesitantly, not really wanting to share.

"Nothing really." Is what she says after taking a sip and spooning some more cereal into her mouth. I make a move to get my coffee back, but she holds it out of my reach, shaking her head.

"Hey! I made that!" I complain.

"So? Ever heard of ladies first?" April asks which prompts me to huff in frustration. We eat in silence for a few minutes until both of us drop our spoons into our empty bowl.

"You know what?" April starts as she slides her bowl onto the small coffee table. "Why don't we get changed and surf a little? It's been a while since we've done it together."