Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep
The sound of the alarm startled Francis awake. Groaning, he reached over to his phone to shut it off. His fingers scrabbled at the black screen to no avail. Cracking open his bleary eyes to fumble at the buttons he turned the screen on. It read 5:33 a.m.
"Bwaah?" Was the first sound Francis made that could reasonably be called a word. "The fuuuck?" he mumbled out. His alarm wasn't set to go off until 6:30 a.m.
It was then that Francis noticed the beeping noise was still happening. Beep Beep Beep still coming from somewhere. It's muffled noise just near enough to be maddening, but not immediately obvious as to where.
Sitting up, Francis shook off his blankets and shook out the cobwebs still in his sleep deprived head. Light would help with the search, so he flipped on the lights to his room.
The dreaded incandescent bulb burst on and sent a wave of blinding pain into Francis' eyes. Blinking away the spots and rubbing his eyes, he set about searching for the source of that beeping noise.
Cocking his head, Francis truly focused on the source of that sound. Finally awake and able to see, he could now pinpoint the noise as coming from his pillow.
The hole! The mirror that Francis and Maddie had 'used' last night. The memory of which sent an excited thrill down his spine. It was there, laying next to his pillow. Showing a pitch black darkness.
Or it only seemed like pitch black darkness when Francis reached over to pick the hole up. He could see the black fabric of a blanket pushing through. Maddie must have rolled over during the night and the cloth was being forced through.
The beeping was still coming through. Faintly for sure, but still coming through. Francis tried pushing on the blanket to see if it could be moved out of the way. Slowly, a fingers length at a time, the fabric bunched up and shifted to the side.
When the hole finally cleared, the beeping increased in volume. Maddie's alarm was still going off. Francis called out softly through the hole. "Maddie. Your alarm is going off."
"Mmnmnmnsnmgmmh." Mumbled Maddie. There came the sound of blankets rustling and the creak of bed springs through the hole.
Frantically whispering now, Francis tried a little bit louder. "Maddie! Time to get up!"
An annoyed grunt came from Maddie. "Not yet Francis. Five more minmnnmmmnm." Her voice was further muffled as she pulled the blankets up over her head.
"Come on Maddie." Francis started pleading with her. "Your alarm is keeping me up as well."
"Mmmnnooooooo." Maddie moaned and stretched. She let out a yawn that ended abruptly. The sound of rustling sheets suddenly stopped. "That you Francis?" Came Maddie's suddenly clear and awake voice.
"Yes, now shut that alarm off." Francis spoke softly.
Maddie scrambled upright. Slapping at her phone to silence the alarm, she stumbled around her bed breathing heavily. "Sorry about that." She looked at her phone in surprise. "I've never actually gotten up this early before."
"So you just have several alarms going?" Francis asked in a manner suggesting that he only ever needed one.
Maddie rubbed her face to get the sleep out of her eyes. "Just gotten used to it." She reached over to the hole and picked it up. Brought it up to her face and looked through to see Francis. "Good morning."
They shared a secret smile. "Good morning." Francis scratched his chin. "Did you want to talk about... it?" the It being everything they did yesterday.
Maddie stiffened. "Yes, desperately, but not right now." She let out a yawn and Francis was treated to a vivid closeup of the roof of her mouth and an assault on his nostrils from morning breath. "Going to get dressed, coffee, breakfast. Talk to you on the bus."
"Same, but tea for me." Francis agreed.
"When you going to give up that sissy drink and be a real man for once." Maddie chided.
"When you make me into one." Francis spoke faster than his brain was able to process what he actually said.
Maddie had a look of shock on her face. Colour quickly rushed to her cheeks. "Well fuck, that's a good one." Her eyes suddenly could not look through the hole into Francis' own. "We are going to talk about that, but not now. Later... Soon... Bus..." She sputtered out those last few words and dropped the hole face down onto the bed.
Francis' own face had a wide grin on it. Finally getting one up on Maddie these days was worth it.
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"You're up early." Francis' mother, Debra, was standing in the kitchen. She was dressed for work in her business suit, pouring hot water into a mug from a kettle. "What's the occasion?"
"Just felt like it." Francis reached past his mother to pick up the mostly empty kettle. "Woke up early, didn't want to lay in bed much longer." He filled it with water and set it on the stove to boil.
"So you've got some time now then?" Debra had sprung the trap. Picking up her mug and bringing it to the kitchen table. "How about we talk." She sat down with the finality of a judge.
Francis moved a little jerkily, shoulders tense. Preparing a bowl of cereal while his water was starting to boil. "I was just going to take my cereal back to my room..."
"Sit." Debra pointed towards the other empty chair.
Francis sat in his executioners chair, his last meal in front of him. "I don't suppose this is about what university I should apply to?"
Francis' mother gave him a withering look. "No. It's not." She took a sip from her mug. "I gave the Callahan's a call last night. We had an interesting conversation."
Francis tried to mask his apprehension by stuffing his face with food. "What about?"
"Miss Madeline." Debra's eyes drilled into Francis. "They told me that the two of you were having some fun."
"They... had the wrong impression." Francis laid his spoon down. "We were cleaning up our chemistry homework. Nothing happened."
"So you said last night." Debra kept her gaze level. "But last night you said you two were taking a break. Not cleaning up."
Francis' whole body froze.
"And there was a banana?" A single well manicured eyebrow was raised on Debra's face.
"Would you believe that the banana was there purely because we were hungry?" Francis had a nervous tick going through his leg right now that was causing it to tap uncontrollably.
"No." Debra's voice was completely deadpan. However, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "But I'm proud of you for finally moving forward."
"Please don't give me 'the talk'. Mr. Callahan already gave me it on the ride home last night." Francis pleaded with his Mother. "I don't know if I can handle that a second time."