Dave slowly opened his eyes to… nothing. No loud, ringing bells, no jungle monkeys screeching, and not even the sound of some drunk idiots. It was only silent right now, and his hand reached for his phone, which was currently sitting on the nightstand beside his bed. Most mornings he would just tap on it, but now that would have done nothing. Now he needed it in front of his face.

 

3:12 A.M.

 

Dave smirked a little at the phone that was dwarfed by his hand. He had slept in a little. Or had he not slept long enough? That was something he was going to have to figure out. He knew he normally got up this early on his weekends, but now that every day was a weekend for him, should he keep doing that?

 

He shook his head, deciding that he didn’t have time for that right now. Retirement wasn’t about to make him some lout after all, and he bet he could still find something to do with his time.

 

Step one: Making a list

 

1)Eat Breakfast.

2)Go for a jog.

3)Repair the table Brandon smashed during the retirement party.

4)

 

Dave tapped the pen he had on his chin scratching the thin, greying stubble there. He tucked the pen behind his ear, brushing some of his short, messy, brown hair out of the way with it. Three things like that was more than enough to take care of the morning, and by then he bet a hundred other things would have presented themselves to him. That was how it went with any other time he had to himself after all.

 

So, after putting on a tight fitting t-shirt over his muscled chest and blue jeans that were a little snug so they didn’t get caught on anything, he got up to get his work done. Not that he minded the fit of his wardrobe much. He was used to tighter clothing, because you didn’t want your t-shirt suddenly being caught by a piece of construction equipment and suddenly leaving you without an arm. He’d take a little loss of circulation instead.

 

His breakfast was a quick affair. Scrambled eggs, a tortilla, and some sausage, all packaged together so he could start his run while he ate. His run was the same as it was every morning. Three laps around the park, with the sun basking everything in its soft glow, before heading back home. Just a nice, brisk, ten mile jog to begin the morning like any normal person.

 

Dave then got home, went to his garage, and began working on the now crushed table. It was a fairly simple job, as it was just a coffee table. Four legs, nice wide, round surface, and thick enough to take some two hundred pound idiot getting thrown onto it. All it needed was a few new legs, which were a simple task for a man as skilled as Dave Ogson.

 

And so, as he stood up from his simple task, he checked his phone and saw… 6:23.

 

…

 

Dave swallowed hard as he looked back to the list in his hand. The number four still taunted him to do something about it. Taunted him to fill the time.

 

“Maaaaybe one of my friends can suggest something. I just hope Connor is up by now.”

 

And one quick call later, and an annoyed man getting woken up by his now ex-boss, Dave set out for the local Home Depot to see what he could come up with for the future.

 

======+++++======

 

“Asa. Asa. Kell saw big strong guy again. Didn’t attack big strong guy. Can she have a one of those syrupy sandwiches again?”

 

“Do I have to remind you that Sarah was fired last week again?”

 

“But… Kell did good, didn’t she?”

 

“Kell would do a lot better if she shut the fuck up.”

 

The girl that first spoke looked down at the harsh words, before glancing at the door. Asa had been like this all week since Sarah lost her dancing job, and Kell was getting tired of it. She could have one of those yummy, syrupy sandwiches if she wanted to. Then again, Sarah would get angry at her if she stole, and Asa would get angry if she got caught…

 

Then again, maybe that big hunk of muscle would be willing to buy her one if she told him about how good she’d been? Yeah, that would work!

 

And so the thin, lithe, pale as snow girl set out, leaving her two friends as she went to go back to where she knew the big strong guy had gone.

 

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Hello! This is Michael Hudson, the author of this, and it’s a pleasure to have you here reading my newest project. It will be updating on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week at Midnight, so look forward to all of this continuing over the coming weeks, and hopefully well into the next few years!