Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A crack of sunlight broke through the trees, shining radiantly through Affinity's window and onto her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, having to squint due to the brightness of the morning sun. She rolled onto her stomach and hugged her pillow close to her face while she listened to the gentle breeze rattle the tree branches outside. Outside her bedroom door, she could hear 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' playing on the record player and her dad singing along.
Affinity pushed herself up from the comfort of her bed and leaned up against the headboard, rubbing her tired eyes. Sleep didn't come to her last night. Her mind was too busy overthinking and of course, the storm didn't help, but it wasn't much different from the normal. Affinity struggled with sleep for as long as she could remember, only receiving five hours of rest each night if she was lucky. She never knew why though. Maybe her body got used to the late night studying or the voices of her parents arguing and yelling just wouldn't leave her head alone.
She stretched her arms out and reached over to the notebook and pen that rested on her nightstand next to her. She flipped open to the first blank page and clicked the pen, titling the top of the page: WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A POGUE and underlining it. Below the title, she drew a small box and wrote 'a tragic past' next to it. A heavy sigh escaped her as she checked the box. She tapped the pen on the notebook a few times before setting it to the side again. The girl finally pushed herself to her feet and got dressed, pulling on a pair of shorts, a cropped tank top, and slipping her feet into a pair of sandals. Affinity slowly walked over to her window, her eyes flickering over the piles of broken branches and other miscellaneous debris that littered the yard. The canal was polluted with manmade crap but it looked like most of the boats survived, meaning that their harmful chemicals shouldn't have entered the water.
Affinity threw her wavy hair up into a bun and opened her door to find her father dancing and singing along to the Beach Boys as he was cleaning up the kitchen.
"Morning, peach!" He screamed over the music.
She smiled at the other nickname that her father had given her when she was a baby. "Morning!"
He walked over to the record player and turned it down. "I don't think your mom knows I took this old thing," he snickered. "But I'd have no idea what I would do without it." He dramatically rested the back of his hand on his forehead. "I would have to listen to...modern music!" He gasped. "How preposterous!"
Affinity giggled and shook her head. She started to make her rounds through the rest of the house to see the kind of damage that was done.
"How bad?" She finally asked.
"Not bad actually," he responded. "She's old but she held up well." He banged his fist onto one of the walls which caused a strange sound to emerge. It almost sounded like fluttering wings.
Mr. McCormick cocked a brow at her and hurried outside to the backyard to put his ear up against the house. "There's a damn bird in the walls," he muttered as he pulled away. "That little bastard ain't gonna come out easy either."
