The Roommate.

She pulled the blankets over head. Had she been dreaming before or now? It sounds like mom and her cousin but when, that was the question as her brain came fully back online.

The sun was up and invading her personal space. So this isn't a dream, she was kind of sad. She had so many memories from home as a kid that she hoped she'd get to relive one today.

The fridge door opened and stayed open. That could only mean one thing, mom was inspecting the contents and passing her judgement. She meant well and just wanted to make sure they wern't going to starve to death. She counted and heard the normal plop of a bag of left overs being put inside and then the sound of some kind of argument about vegetables.

"Oh David" she thought to herself and rolled over pulling the blankets over her head.

If only she could hide under the blankets. She knew that just about now mom would be asking where she was. This new contract of hers was killing her sleep schedule. And she had all these boxes to unpack.

Nicodemus the cat was pawing at the door and meowing to come in. The longer she stayed in bed the more things she could hear begging her to come out and join humanity. Her blankets begged her to stay warmly in them and wait for the day to really start about noon. About the time her brain was awake enough to realize this was never going to happen her bladder finally won the argument and pushed her out of bed.

As she got up and went to the bathroom she clicked on the light and got assualted by the image in the mirror. "Oh gods!" she said and looked at her image. Her hair was pulled up funky on one side where the ponytail had migrated in her sleep. Her face had a line in it from laying on one side of the pillow and it left that crease in her skin. "I look like a zombie..." she thought to herself.

Moving back in with David had been a no brainer. He was safe and comfortable. Living on her own had turned into a disaster. One bad roommate after another or one bad land lord after another. She wasnt home much so people came and went and she payed the bills for them. Her house felt more like a spare bedroom in someone elses home.

At least with David it was a home she already knew. And she didn't have to keep up airs with him. He was her cousin and they were raised together like a brother and sister. They knew each other. They knew each others bad habits, the buttons to press and the things they liked. It was comfortable.

When she was done taking care of the call of nature she walked back to the sink, looking at herself again and pulled the holder out of her hair and let the hair fall back into a tangled sort of mess. It was going to require a shower and brushing since this was the longest it had been since middle school. She normally cut it just above her shoulders but it was almost down to the bottom of her shoulder blades now since she worked during the rest of the worlds normal off hours.

Her name tag and uniform was on a hanger in her bathroom. The steam from the shower would drop all the wrinkles out. She hated the name on the tag. "Ae" No one ever pronounced it correctly. They always say "Aye" like they are pirates agreeing to each other instead of the "A" sound of say or pay or hay. Her full name was worse but her parents were hippies and thats why. Trying to explain her real name "Aelith" to people was harder than just going "Ae" instead of going through the full explanation of what it was and why her parents gave her such an odd name.

Ae brushed her teeth and used a wet wipe to clean the dirt from sleep from her face. She pulled the covers back up on her bed so it would be half made and mom wouldn't come in and redo it herself. She gave one last look around the room and the clock on the nightstand. "Well time to go see mom and say hi..." And she opened the door.