Beep beep beep - three beeps sounded. Maru took a deep breath as his eyes stayed shut.

‘My nose feels dry. I should watch out.’

He sat up, feeling the air that was quite chilly. He had put his phone on top of the shelf so that it was out of reach from his bed. That was done in order to prevent himself from turning it off while half-asleep. He reached out and grabbed his phone. The time displayed on the screen was 6.

He turned off the alarm and did some light stretching around his neck. After that, he lied down on the mat he laid on the ground before sleep and started stretching his muscles, which were still half-asleep. He stretched his legs out by locking his fingers and pulling on his knees, then turning around to do a cobra stance to relax his waist. He felt his dull senses wake up one by one as he breathed consciously. Maru’s mornings were always systematic.

After stretching, he went out to the living room. As it was Sunday, the house was still dark. He took a glimpse at the skies between the closed curtains and saw that it was still purple. It was winter, so there was still some time until the sun rose.

He washed his face and changed his clothes. He took out his trainers from the shoe rack and put them on before leaving the house. When he went down the stairs, he saw that the snow hadn’t melted yet. He walked past the snow that had been blackened from all the surrounding dirt and grease and took the path to the...