Monday August 7th, 2056

Light of the bright sky shines into Andrew's room. The sun is opposite of his window, but even still, his room gets lit up. Andrew opens his eyes but flinch at all.

[What time is it?]

He looks at the clock.

[Eleven. It's already eleven. I slept more than twelve hours, and… I still don't feel hungry.]

He gets up sluggishly, puts on new clothes, and heads downstairs. His hair is uncombed, and the dark circles under his eyes are still present. Melissa is in the living room. Andrew turns his head around the corner.

"Don't you have work?" Andrew asks.

"No. The dorms of Clifftell high opened today." She replies.

"What does that have to do with it?"

"Nothing."

[Then why would you add it?]

He turns his head back and goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. A simple bowl of cereal and a glass of water is all he makes, and he heads to the living room, settling down in a chair, opposite of Melissa.

"There isn't any milk in your cereal." Melissa comments.

"Don't need it." Andrew replies. A moment of silence falls upon them, as per usual.

Melissa gets up and heads to the doorway. Before exiting the living room, she turns around.

"I was wondering…" She starts. Andrew's eyes turn her way, but he doesn't move his head. "Have you read her letter yet?"

"No." Andrew replies.

"I see. Don't wait too long with it." Melissa says, after which she heads upstairs to her office.

[And why would you know what's written inside? I'll read it when I feel like it, Melissa.]

Andrew places his hand on his pocket, where the three letters are. He takes them everywhere he goes, in his right pocket. Hastily, Andrew finishes his cereal and puts on his jacket and shoes. He places the empty bowl, spoon and glass in the dishwasher and turns it on, after which, he heads outside.

Andrew closes the door behind him, and locks it. He exits Melissa's porch and turns around to look at her house.

[Doesn't really look like the house of a Mayor, does it? I really doubt her statement.]

He takes a deep breath in through his nose, and starts to walk into town.

[Fresh air is well needed, looks like the clouds from yesterday have cleared up as well. Summer can be truly odd here sometimes, it's more or less a combination of spring and fall. You really can't predict the weather at all. At least, I can't. Meteorologists probably can.]

Andrew continues his walk throughout town, unfocussed and looking at the sky all the time. When passing the bakery, he bumps into an old lady.

"Oh, sorry." Andrew says after stepping back.

"Watch out young man!" The lady says in a creaky voice. "You have to look in front of you at all times, or you won't know what's coming." After she finishes her sentence, she coughs, waves, and passes Andrew. She was carrying a brown paper bag, most likely with the things she bought at the bakery.

[You should look out too, you know. It was obvious I was walking there.]

Andrew passes a few other stores, and at a cross section, he walks onto the street and almost gets hit by a cyclist. He jumps back onto the sidewalk. The middle-aged man on the bike yells some words at Andrew but continues cycling. Andrew stares at him for a while, but shrugs it off and crosses the street.

[Everyone in this town is on edge it seems. You could've just apologised, mister cyclist.]

Andrew leaves the rural part of town, and heads to the docks. He arrives at his father's shop, and looks up at the hill.

[From here, you can perfectly see the graveyard. It's aligned way too well. A detective show on television wouldn't see this as just a coincidence. Melissa's house is visible too, making it a triangle. Well, I have no idea if you can see the graveyard from her house.]

He faces the sign above the store.

[Even if you're not here anymore yourself, your legacy still lives on in this building, dad.]

A slight grin forms on Andrew's face.

[And that sounds like something straight out of a cringy movie scene, so let's not repeat that.]

After a long, tiring walk, Andrew returns home. When he opens up the door, he stumbles upon Melissa, who just placed a box on top of another box.

"What's that?" Andrew asks.

"Not your business, yet."

"Yet?" Andrew replies, but Melissa has already gone back up the stairs. He hears her office door being closed and locked.

[Yet, why yet?]

Andrew closes the door behind him and takes off his shoes and jacket. He passes the two stacked boxes and heads up the stairs to his own room. The empty boxes are still there, with all the plastic bags inside.

[Looks like they weren't mine, though that 'yet' would imply they were.]

He falls onto his bed while letting out a loud sigh.

[Maybe I misunderstood.]

He sits up.

[I've fallen onto my bed like this countless times now, just tired after the day. Melissa had lunch already, most likely. I don't want to eat. I'm not hungry. I'll eat again at dinner, or maybe take a snack in the afternoon.]

Andrew sits and lies on his bed, for hours without doing anything. Dinner time arrives, and Melissa calls him from downstairs.

Andrew takes place in a chair behind the table, with a bowl of soup in front of him. Tomato soup. Melissa also baked a baguette to go with it.

[This soup and baguette. It's just like the ones we had in France, on vacation.]

"It's a bit simple tonight, didn't have much time." Melissa says.

"It's fine."

The bell rings, and Melissa gets up and speeds towards the front door.

"Stay there." She says to Andrew, before turning the corner.

[Okay, I'll just stay here.]

After a few minutes, Melissa returns to the living room, and she continues on her soup.

"Who was it?" Andrew asks, after Melissa has settled down.

"No one in particular." Melissa responds.

[Another vague answer. Could be that it really is 'no one in particular', but after yesterday, I can't easily think that about her anymore. She always keeps something behind her.]

"Melissa." Andrew starts. "What are you keeping from me?"

Melissa puts her spoon down and rests her arm on the table. She looks him straight in the eye, with a hateful expression visible all over her face. Andrew isn't fazed. He returns the glance straight at her. Melissa closes her eyes and finishes her last spoon of soup.

"I will tell you tomo-" She starts, but she is silenced by Andrew noisily getting up from his chair. He picks up his bowl and glass and heads to the kitchen.

"That's good. See you tomorrow." He says as he walks out of the living room. After filling the dishwasher he heads upstairs to the bathroom, and takes a shower. Melissa continues on her soup in quiet, with the mean expression still faintly visible on her face.

Andrew pushes the last bit of shampoo out of the bottle, and strokes it across his hair. He rinses it out shortly after, and turns off the shower. He picks up his towel from the rack.

[Tomorrow this, next week that. How can you live with yourself like this?]

Andrew dries himself, puts on his underwear, brushes his teeth, and heads to bed. He throws the covers over himself with one messy movement, and glances at the alarm clock before turning around and closing his eyes.

[It's just past eight. I feel like I'm going to bed way earlier than usual, but that's fine I guess. No problems here, with getting a little extra sleep. I should be grateful being able to go to bed this early.]

He waits, but sleep does not befall him.

[Why?]

He looks at the alarm clock again.

[I've been awake for more than two hours since going to bed. Just fall asleep soon, body.]

Nothing happens again. A single tear falls down Andrew's face, but he flips it away quickly and doesn't give it another thought. He lays there, waiting for the sun to rise once more.