Get up

December 15th, 2025

5:59 a.m. He set all his alarms one minute before the hour - or the half hour, or any round time. It was still dark outside, bitter and quiet, as early hours tend to be in winter. He could almost feel the silence seeping through the window as he breathed the air in the room. He should get up.

6:04 a.m. He should make coffee. He was lying on his side under the bedsheets, knees drawn up without thinking, as if to make himself small, as if to fold into nothingness, to vanish. What was the point? Coffee could wait.

6:07 a.m.

6:12 a.m.

6:20 a.m. He should get up.