The day started with a ticking. It was the same ticking that started all of my days... and ended them too, i suppose. I rolled over, feeling the cheap mattress crunch under my weight. I could hear the faint snoring of Jim on my other side. Closing my eyes as tight as possible, I tried my hardest to squeeze every aspect of him out of my head. It wasn't working.
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As most nights, my eyes remained glued to the clock. I watched the minutes pass, praying they would do me a favor and move a little faster. Finally, it struck seven. I lay there in relief as Jim, without a word, grumbled and climbed out of bed. As usual, he made his way to the dresser, slipped into a pair of torn-up jeans, and pulled out a cigarette. Cigarette number one. The smell of smoke twisted and swirled around the room and made it's way to my nose. I cringed as his footsteps found their way to my side of the bed. Maybe if I just lay here, he'll go away. He sat down at the foot of the bed and I could feel his eyes set upon me. Just pretend to be asleep.
"Baby...", he whispered.
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"Alice." He tried again. I felt him reaching towards me. My skin began to crawl, as his rough hand brushed the hair from my face. I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping.
"Get up."
He leaned closer and the smell of stale whisky surrounded me. Giving in, I slowly opened my eyes to see him looking down at me.
"What the hell is that awful smell?" he demanded. You? I looked at him in silence.
"The only thing I ask from you is to clean this fucking place. You can't even do THAT right!" He got up and began pacing the room. I didn't know what to say or even what he was talking about. Jim kept flicking his cigarette onto the floor.
"Baby, I think it's coming from outside. I can't do anything about that...", I tried. He shot me a disapproving look and stormed off into the other room. I just sat there as he marched through the apartment, knocking things over and yelling. In what felt like forever, the front door slammed shut and all was calm yet again. My shoulders relaxed and I took a breathe.
I turned my head to glance around the empty apartment.
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"It's alright, " I said to myself, "it's just another day."
