Rolling on a big porcelain plate. On and on this heaven’s apple went, following a fix path along the thick red rim. Not stopping, but rather speeding up. Three sisters were busy watching it, not breaking eye contact, they waited.

  “How much longer will this thing be loading,” Hel said. Her browns furrowed, her facial muscles tensed, in particular her jaw.

  Next to her, her twin picked up a clean tablecloth. Simultaneously, Persephone's hand hesitated mid-air, closing into a fist the closer her hand got to her chest.

  “It’s getting there,” the oldest said wiping the small drop of sauce from said plate, being careful not to disturb the apple on its path. Making Persephone a bit sad, she wanted to lick the last bit of tasty supper. Only several seconds ago this was a plate full of Nachos. Their auntie, the original owner, would have had a heart attack if she were to find out of this. Her precious handiwork praised for being so ahead of its time back in her day, was being used as a mere plate. That was utterly preposterous.

  “Aren’t there any new technology developed over the past several decades?” This was the youngest, getting impatient. “Seriously, why do we still use that vestige from the past?”

  She had a point, in the age of AI, using something so old fashioned just felt wrong. There was zoom, FaceTime…Skype, for fans of older platforms. All of those would have been able to provide the video and voice transmission of the archaic plate still loading the image. Anything modern would have been much better. The processing power of this device was WAY TOO SLOW. But, there was one aspect where this antique had an edge.

  How else would those three be able to effortlessly peak at somebody without their consent and not be noticed? Although old, this plate still functioned, and soon an image appeared on its previously white concave surface. Fortunately, the video quality and transmission were decent the moment it loaded.

  “I am afraid, I might not be able to do this. I think I already lost the golden opportunity.” A sound came out as soon the image became more clear.

  “Yeah and you will waste even more time contemplating how pitiful you are,” said raven as plate zoomed into him.

  Like any touchscreen, Dolya slid her thumb and middle finger towards each other on the middle portion of the plate to zoom out. The scene shown was unfolding in real time. In a bedroom, stuck in the corner between bed and window, she sat, panicking. She promised herself to do better, but messed up again. At least she was alone. Ok. Not alone alone as in in she was the only one there; however, her mom and grandma were temporarily away. It was only her and her newly made acquaintance, a raven.

  “It will unfold soon, right?” Hel asked, her eyes sparkled. There was even a hint of smile. She was excited.

  Next to her, was the oldest sitting quietly only her heart was pounding, getting louder by the minute. Her hands were getting sweaty and shoulders were starting to hurt from all the tension. Dolya, unlike her twin, was visibly anxious. “There is still one more day left,” she said.

  *

  Change is hard. It always is. On one side you know your life will be so much better if you just do it. Yes, all you need is to start. Start, please just start. Why is this so hard to do? On the other side, there is a beast called habit. A hard beast to beat indeed. There is only one way out. Get another stronger, fiercer beast, to fight the old.

  Today is the day. I will—no, I need to—begin today. I'll start. In an hour. Yes, an hour sounds reasonable. I can afford to relax for just an hour, can't I? After all, there's still plenty of time ahead of me. Everything will be okay.

  Ten hours later…

  “What the,” she said. Surrounded by trash, literal trash unfortunately, Mara managed to waste time, AGAIN. If only she spent this time doing something productive. There was a lot she needed to do. There was an exam tomorrow. Plus the exams she missed. That reminds me, she was still to come up with an excuse as to why she wasn’t able to make to those exams. After all, hiding from Licho wasn’t something she could explain. Not to mention all the other little things adding up from the past few years. Tomorrow’s exam was particularly important. She was about to be kicked out of uni due to poor performance. Somebody like her was supposed to study and study only. Not, stay locked in her room doing who knows what. Nothing productive nor useful for her future that’s for sure.

  The bed was still unmade and woolen blanket was on the ground. Being all alone at home the whole past six days was enough to land her in the mess she was in right now. It wasn’t just her room. Previously worn clothes were spread out on the ground, which did have a sort of order to it, albeit, not conventional to most.

  The dirty dishes and cups throughout the house placed at random locations were more of a problem. Kitchen sink was filled with dirty dishes to its capacity. Stove top was all scratched up and full of half burned food. A garbage can was knocked over, which was from the time Mara moved it over to clean, but before she could finish vacuuming, she was distracted by the smell of burning pasta. Fire alarm followed, so she had to abandon her task. That was how she eventually knocked over the recently moved trashcan, which she successfully forgotten about. This was but one of the stories. In the end, half the room had perfectly vacuumed carpet, while another was full of used paper towels, remains of food and everything that was in that trashcan pretty much.

  “Uhm,” said Mara running her fingers through the hair. Smoothing out the tiny fine wrinkle on her forehead as she pulled on the skin in the process. That wrinkle was annoying too. She was so stressed out and sleep deprivation didn’t help her skin condition.

  With no malice, rather helplessness and desperation she said, “Hey!” That came out almost as a sigh. Just when Mara was contemplating how to clean this mess, he threw the remains of pods from soybeans on the ground.

  “What?” Phobos, that damn bird said. He was so nonchalantly about everything going on.

  Not having the strength to reply or argue, Mara just sighed. What could she even do? Mark my word, this could have been easily avoided.

  “Buzzz…vzzz,” it was Mara’s phone vibrating on the kitchen counter. She put it on silent before. Glad she saw it, after all it was her mom calling, Mara answered.

  “Alo”

  Turns out her mom was trying to reach Mara since this morning. There were 44 missed calls. That wasn’t the worst news tho. They were coming.

  “Oh shit!” Mara was careful not to say instead replying, “Ok, have a safe trip!” Her mom and grandma will be here in 30 minutes.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Here we go then,” she smiled, “no choice now I suppose.”

  Those news were sudden, but they did manage to kick her into immediate action. Mara was in a hurry to make this hoarder’s dream of a house into something presentable. Semi-presentable would suffice as well, as long as it didn’t look like that. With sponge in her hand, she got to work. This would have been so much easier if she just did a little bit at a time. Why couldn’t she do this sooner?

  “I think I am starting to figure out how your brain works”

  “Aha,” Mara had no time to deal with Phobos anytime soon. Do you now? “I swear I will kill you if you try to say anything along the lines of you just need to try harder,” was what she really wanted to say.

  “I am being sincere,” it was brief, but Phobos maintained a prolong eye contact with Mara. Those glossy eyes didn’t seem to be lying and his tone was genuinely authentic.

  Not wanting to acknowledge any of this, Mara turned away, returning to that pile of dishes in sink covered in grease. There was still so much to clean.

  Ten minutes remained before her end. Mara had this problem for as long as she could remember and to this day couldn’t get used to it nor foresee it. Time was running way too fast. 10…she finished vacuuming…9…wrapped the cord around…8…abandoned the vacuum, who cares that it was in the middle of the room, there were dirty clothes on the ground…7…she stuffed the pile under her bed, so what if it’s dirty, the washing machine was already full…6…5…4…passed by so fast…3…shoot why is there garlic on the bed…2…aaaaa they are coming…1…

  “Ding-dong,” Did they have to be so exact with their timing?

  *

  Not sure if any of you were wondering, but yeah…ah…I didn’t study at all. I did get out of my house. That is somewhat an accomplishment. Pathetic, but an accomplishment.

  A start to a new day. Maybe, just maybe, today will be the day I finally get out of this vicious cycle. To be fair, I had the same hopes for yesterday. Yesterday. That reminds me, I need to clean and organize the doom pile under my bed. I have to make sure I don’t forget, but who am I kidding, I probably will.

  “Cheer up!” Phobos was probably the only one among us with such a happy demeanor. Made me want to kill him. “Sun is shining and it’s not hot,” he said. “What more do you want?”

  I want peace of mind, but immortality would also suffice. I need more time, I am sure I can succeed if I just have more time. Can’t I just be hit by truck-kun and begin my isekai journey? I am tired of this world’s reality. I am tired of my life. Instead, all I get is a useless and annoying bird plus a hungry magical being chasing me as buy one get one free deal. I suppose there was also that pretty coin, which kept following me around, by no means a fair exchange for my precious phone and jacket. That jacket was so comfy and made me look fierce, I loved that vibe, it was new too. My phone had so many open tabs, now forever lost to me. Those were maxed out, but I was planning on revisiting them. They were important…probably. That wasn’t the point though. I took out that coin from the back pocket of my jeans. Hate those jeans, probably why I would only wear those on a day like this. I looked horrible today or at least worst then I usually do.

  My sneakers were all worn out, which was successfully overshadowed by mismatched socks. What? Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t have time today, I am kinda late for class now actually. I think that’s the class I have an exam in. Let just hope, I remember where the classroom is and how my professor looks like. It’s been so long since I’ve been there.

  Normally, I would run, but the raven on my head made this harder to achieve. He completed the look. I officially looked like a crazy lady. The only neat part about me were my two braids, now doomed to look horrendous after this bird’s craws. He even had the audacity of moving my hair to his liking just to make himself more comfortable.

  I have a feeling that I forgot about something…Oh right! The coin. I looked down. It was no longer in my hand. I probably dropped it as I was going up the stairs.

  “Ahr”

  I waived my hand, dismissing it. That wasn’t important at all. This coin kept returning to me no matter how many I tried to get rid of it. Pretty sure, it will show up somewhere around me soon. And if it doesn’t. Not a big loss.

  “Oh well…” I opened the large hundred year old door of chemistry building. “I am…” my breathing was heavy. “…here.” Never knew I was this out of shape.

  Bathroom, I need to get to bathroom first. Drinking two liters of water before forty minute drive to uni was a mistake. Hold it, hold it. With shorter steps, I hesitated to make any sudden movements. Almost there.

  Straight, down the stairs and a sharp right turn. Sweet relief. Definitely late for class now. By what ten, fifteen minutes. Hard to notice, but there was writing on the wall within this stall.

  “Be the leader,” it said. I would have loved to be one. The whole I am an introvert concept was getting tiring for me. Actually talking to people could have solved so many of my problems.

  I heard a voice that was not my own:

  “How much longer will you be there?” It said.

  “PpphOboS? Although said in questioning tone, I knew exactly who that was. “What are YOU doing HERE?” This is a women’s bathroom. What did he forget here? Not to mention, he is a bird. A freaking bird! Who, mind you, has no right being here. Right before running into the bathroom, I shook that bird out of my head. So why?

  His feet, I could see them, his tail and torso were becoming more visible from under the enormous opening in the stall’s door, which, by the way, are a horrible design choice. I saw him get closer, about to…

  “Don’t you dare,” I said loudly.

  I knew it, he was a perv, so was the designer of American toilet stalls making them perfect to get peaked on.

  Done with my business, I pulled up my pants. Just as I was about to flush the toilet with my foot, I saw another scribble with black pen.

  “If nothing held you back you WILL,” was written by somebody. A survey of a sort. Funny, someone did end up replying. It was just one word “dropout.”

  “Flush!”

  Time to go.

  Washing my hands and forcing Phobos to wash his feet, after walking on that dirty public bathroom floor, took me long enough. Harder yet, was convincing that bird to stay in my backpack for the next 45 minutes. Could have been less by now, considering how much class time I already missed. Goodbye good grade, hello disappointment. The beginning was promising, alas. Nothing new. What can I say, I am a true loser to the core. I would probably be forced to dropout, not getting this degree in the process.

  No time to dwell on the past, I must act in the present to change the future. So I shoved the raven inside. Yes, it was a small bagpack, but it was exactly the size of an average notebook. This raven should have no problems getting in there. My iPad was in my hands, so there was even more space left in said bag. In this long hallway, a lone clock caught my attention. The time was 8:50. “Чорт,” I swore. RUN, I needed to run. My class was scheduled to start at 8:30.

  First, there were the long ass stairs I had to climb to uni from the parking spot, then there was this insane marathon within a building. This was a challenge, but I made it. “Ahhr,” I breathed out.

  There was a cocky voice from within my backpack:

  “You don’t sound so good?”

  “ Shush!” I whispered right when I entered classroom.

  Strange, the classroom is empty, not a soul in sight. Starting to wonder if perhaps I got the wrong classroom, hesitantly I backtracked to look at the classroom number. “404,” it read. Looking down on the schedule in my phone, it was correct. I was in the right place. Next, I checked the class website, looking for date of exam.

  In stereotypical fashion of my punctuality, I was either too late or way too early. Today was the later, I was early, one day early, to be precise. It was a mystery as to how my mind looked at the calendar, clearly seeing that today was Saturday, and was still fully convinced I had class.

  I walked out. The feeling of sun touching my skin was pleasant. “Did I put on sunscreen today?” I wondered. “I don’t think I did.” With this realization, I rushed to hide in the nearest shadow, a comfortable spot on the bench. An oasis surrounded by chemistry, physics, and mathematics buildings. Three subjects weighing on my mind. It wasn’t just them, but they were art of the reason for my misery. I was unsure as to why I couldn’t be successful in them. In particular math, the reason why I was still alive. I loved this subject, so why just why did I not attend the final exam for this class. I had the means too, I was even given so many chances to make up for my mistakes.

  Now, I had to face the consequences of my actions. If I don’t solve it by the end of this spring quarter, I will be blocked from registering for classes needed to graduate. “Would I even be able to do anything?” I thought, looking at the branches of tree above me. After all, there were only 4 weeks left.

  The sun was persistent, bit by bit it was eating up the beautiful shadow over me. My cue to just go home.

  The breeze blowing in my face was nice, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was forgetting something.

  “Ah,” I shook out the thought. It probably wasn’t that important if I couldn’t remember it and if it was I would remember eventually. I just wanted to enjoy the rare peaceful moment.

  *

  Here I was, walking down the stairs, on my way to my car. And I saw him. Expect the unexpected when you are most relaxed was all I could tell you about this situation.