Another day had begun. Irritated by the morning light, he changed positions hoping to fall back to sleep. After a while, he finally found the perfect spot far from the sun’s annoyance decided on sleeping a bit more. A memory of his father’s wise words interrupted him.

“Get up, Trash!!” A man of few words but wise indeed. Moving to a house in New York City was a mistake because of the excessive pricing of just living there. They stabilized their money problem in just two months, but the time zone was killing them. As soon as he got the motivation, he planted his feet on the floor, suddenly he froze. Feeling something was off about today, he shook it off his thoughts as if it was nothing. Even though he hated mornings, he loved Fridays, and that fact alone gave him the boost he needed to leave for work. Likewise, his trusty alarm consistently wakes him...

Wait, he woke up because of the sun’s light. Why hasn’t the alarm gone off? He was sure that it happened around this hour. It was out of the ordinary. It consistently rang without a miss until he recollected the only occasion his alarm didn’t go off. “How could I forget… it’s not a workday cause it’s a Saturday. IT’S SATURDAY!!” he thought. He would have jumped and celebrated if it wasn’t for his wife sleeping beside him.

Happy to know today was not a weekday but the weekend instead. A break from waking up and fighting for his life for fifteen hours. He propped his feet back on the bed with only rest in his mind. He began drifting into the dream world but ceased recollecting a promise to Maria. A trip to the beach, just thinking about it made him regret making it. Maybe he should go back to sleep, forgetting about the promise. As he shifted to his right, ready to stall from keeping his promise, what he saw stunned him. What could have shocked him? Well, it was none other than his wife’s sleeping posture. She had a wild look to her—bedraggled hair while in a starfish position. He wouldn’t be shocked if she ate a bug at night because of her open mouth. She almost looks like a witch. He couldn’t say it to her face.

Yep, Susan in her greatest. He met her 15 years ago in math class and became close friends. Their friendship grew. They became high school sweethearts as time passed. After that, they got married and had two children. At 28, he realized his definition of happiness was a good job, bagging a beautiful wife, and forming a happy family.

He leaned closer to her ear. “Sweetie, time to get up.”

She whined, “5 more minutes, Mom.” She was in her half-awakened state, which means it’s best not to disturb her unicorn dream. He hopes it’s unicorns. He’ll take on the challenge of waking her up later.

Soon after that, he got up to check on his daughters. Strolling down the hallway, then making a right to enter their room. He didn’t expect to be blinded by the girlishness: bright pink bed, crib, and walls. Almost everything is pink. He regretted allowing her to paint her room pink; he glanced at the wardrobe and dresser decorated with stickers. Dolls littered the floor. He made a mental note to remind her to clean up her room later. Immediately after reeling from the shock, he approached Sarah’s crib to check up on her one-year-old daughter as healthy as ever. She is the spitting image of him inheriting his brown eyes and black hair. She was sleeping starfish position.

“I wonder where she got that from.” he thought sarcastically.

Unlike Sarah, Maria had silky long blond hair blue eyes as beautiful as the sky. Traits from her mother, he started walking out of the room as soon as he left.

“Daddy, what are you doing here?” said Maria. He turned around to be greeted by his daughter’s exhausted, tired state, barely clinging on to reality. Yep, just like her mother.

He approached her and kissed her on the cheek. “It’s time to keep my word, Maria.” She looked puzzled at this.

“What word, Dad?” He grinned because now he got her where he wanted her now.

“Oh well, it looks like we can forget about going to the beach. It’s not like we had better things to-” I said smugly.

“No, wait, I remember dad, I remember now,” Maria said rather hastily. He chuckled at her quickness to cut him off like all drowsiness left when she heard the beach.

“Well, go take a bath, for we can head off,” I said playfully. Immediately after she heard this, she quickly leaped off the bed, excited at the prospect of going to the beach. Before she continued to the bathroom, she stopped, turned around, and flashed him a smile.

“Thank you, Dad. I love you,” she said.

He smiled back. “I don’t.” 

This answer got a pout from her and a frown for a moment, but then she erupted into giggling, knowing they were goofing around. Afterward, he saw her enter the bathroom with haste. This got a smile out of him, no longer regretting the promise he made. Now that Maria is out of the way, it’s time to face the most major obstacle yet waking up Susan.

After collecting and readying his mind to enter the beast’s den, he walked down the hallway and entered the main bedroom. Preparing to strike and scare the beast as soon as he took a step.

*Creak*

“What the fu- I mean, I swear I had these boards fixed” he realized that an average pace wouldn’t work this time. So, he went for slow steps instead, but the world had other plans.

*Creaaakkkk*

Instead of hoping the board wouldn’t make a sound, it prolonged it further. Since the boards made noise no matter how he stepped, he tiptoed. He saw his wife seemingly lifeless; he still had a shot.

*creak* *creak* creak* *creak*

Finally, he reached his goal, Susan. As he menacingly looked over, just smiling at the thought of seeing her surprised face. After staring at her, he positioned his hands over her head, blocking the light from landing on her face.

“You know, I might be oblivious to things, but not deaf,” Susan said.

Instantly realizing her famous temper was stirring, he had to develop something fast. “What… surprised you?” he asked.

“Umm gee, I don’t know ?? It’s not like THE BOARDS WERE CREAKING!” she answered.

Oh no, the situation was getting out of hand fast, but he had a plan—a line from his favorite manga.

“Susan, you’re beautiful! Beautiful skin like fresh snow. A sculpted body like a statue and loved by the god of knowledge a wise mind,” he said.

“You didn’t get that from a manga, did you?”

“No, no, no baby, you know I love you,”

He kissed her cheek, which rewarded him with a smile coming out. After seeing her smile, he lifted her out of bed and kissed her lovingly. It’s incredible that after 15 years, that smile never once changed.

“Now that’s the man I married,” Susan said in his arms.

“But you’re not the woman I married,” he answered.

“I hate you ??”

“I could drop you, Susan,”

“Then I would beat your ass.”

After their little playful arguing, they continued making out when...

“Mom, I clogged the toilet!!”

“What are we going to do with that girl? Coming sweetie!” Susan said.

After 2 hours, everyone got ready to head to the beach, but they took a picture before leaving their home. They all hugged and shouted.

“CHEESE!!.”

He couldn’t have known at the time this would be the last time he could hug his family, making them feel protected. He would have never left the garage if he knew what this trip would bring.