"Here she comes!", I yell down to Jake. Mom's car is just coming down the driveway. Even though I love playing stupid tricks, I feel somewhat uncertain. But I plop myself down on my bed and pretend to be texting my best buds. I hear the front door open and mom steps in, lugging about twenty bags of groceries. She dumps the bags onto the floor and walks into her room, sighing loudly. Then silence for a second, before "It's freezing in here! What's going on, guys?" For some strange reason, she sounds upset. Wonder why... Uh oh. She stomps up the stairs and stops in my doorway, giving me the 'you're in trouble, missy' look. "Do you have something you'd like to tell me, young lady?" "Erm, well, you see.......uh, we......." She squints. " Grounded. Two weeks. Get to cleaning. And don't think you're getting away without punishment, mister." She says the last part to Jake as he tries (unsuccessfully) to sneak by behind her. We groan in unison. " But mooooooooommmm!" "We were just playing!" " Come onnnnnnn!" "We didn't mean to......" She holds up a hand. "Forget it, kids. No mercy.", she smiles slightly,"I've been hoping to have the house cleaned for a while now." 

This is my sad existence. Housecleaning. Like a common maid. Ugh!

Remember how I said our house was a mansion? Cleaning a normal size house is hard enough. Now try imagining having to clean ten bathrooms. Gross-gusting! 

I spent the next six hours scrubbing away at the tile floor and then stomped back up to my room to sulk. I sort of enjoy rolling in my own misery. Mumbling about the injustices of adolescence. But even that gets boring after a while. So I go downstairs for some cold pizza. Yum.

My father's car parks in the garage and after a moment's contemplation, I decide I will be better off not hanging around to see what he does when Mom leaks the news to him. So again I retreat to my room, closing the door silently behind me. Safe from the wrath of my parents. I can hear them talking quietly, but I can't quite make out what they're saying. Not hard to guess though. I sigh. Drawing soothes my boredom. I pull out my sketchbook and work on my latest picture. I was aiming at drawing my favorite clearing in the woods, but for some reason I just can't get the lighting correct. I'm too distracted to capture the scene. 

So after my parents head to bed, I slip on my lucky black sweater and favorite sneakers, open my bedroom window, and rest for a moment on the windowsill. Time for a run.

P.S.- Sorry about the wait, guys!  I've been a bit busy lately, but I thought I should let you know that I'm still here and writing! Hope you haven't all died. 

P.P.S.-"Stay alive. It's worth it. I promise." -Tyler Joseph