SOPHIA BELDOTTI

EGGS AND TOAST BY DANIELA RYNOTT

Aurelius Devereux was a common man. When the alarm went off at 6:00 AM every morning, he woke up without hesitation. While he squeezed his tweed suit over his broad shoulders, his wife Margaret would make him two sunny side up eggs on buttered toast She always brushed down the one hair that stood up compared to the other gelled ones, but it never did anything. Margaret had been his neighbor growing up, and their mothers were best friends that had tea every Thursday afternoon. Not marrying her was never an option. As for work, the outside world didn’t know what his job was, so Margaret would rotate between calling him a doctor, lawyer, and surgeon All of the ladies in the orthodontist’s waiting room were impressed with these answers, and would even put their magazines down to hear more about his occupation. As for Aurelius, he didn't know what he did either. Every day, he punched in his card for attendance, plugged numbers into paper forms, drank two cups of decaf coffee, and then came home at 5:00 PM for dinner Nothing ever seemed wrong or out of ordinary until one extremely odd day

Aurelius woke up at 6:13 AM, which started the whole frenzy. His alarm clock hadn’t gone off! “That darn thing,” he growled, waking up Margaret. Startled at his out-of-the-ordinary grumpiness, she stroked his arm and whispered, “Don’t you fret, dear. I can buy a new one today while you’re at work ”

As Aurelius looked at Margaret’s face, he was suddenly repulsed and even jumped back so far that he fell off the bed. Everything about her seemed wrong: the way mascara residue had built up on the roots of her eyelashes, how she now had three intruding strands of gray hair, how there were batches of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes that he had once thought cute but now seemed abhorrent, and how her once-hazel eyes now were now dirt-brown and dull As his head hit the floor, he felt no love towards her all of a sudden - in fact, he was angry at her. He hated how calm she always was. Could she not feel a goddamn thing?

“Honey, are you alright?” Margaret squeaked from above. Rubbing his head, he gritted through the gap in his front teeth, “No. I’m not ” And just like that, he stood up and glided out of the room It wasn’t until he reached the bright red front door that his wife trotted after him in her flowing white nightgown.

“Sweetheart, where are you going?”

Her breathy housewife’s voice was more annoying than a Chihuahua's high pitched barks, and he wished she would just shut up already. “I’m going to live my life, which I have never done. Good day to you.” Hastily, he slipped his beige trenchcoat over his plaid pajamas, grabbed his top hat off the coat rack, tilted it towards his wife politely, and then slammed the door behind him, leaving a cool breeze to whip Margaret in the face If it was even possible, he felt more hatred towards her as she didn’t run after him. It was just like her to accept whatever he said and just go along with it. He walked faster.

More adrenaline pumped through Aurelius’s veins than blood, and it felt great but also terrifying. He didn’t know where he was going, but he let his feet carry him to the correct destination As he strolled along the neighborhood of identical Brownstone houses, he started breathing heavily and his nostrils inflated and deflated to a rhythm and beat.

I’ve spent my whole life in a useless routine. My existence means nothing. How could I have let this happen? I am able to determine my own path and I allowed it to slip away like sand. Who knows how much time I have left? I could die anytime Hell, I could die today!

Just as Aurelius thought this, a two-seater car slammed into him, knocking him to the ground in the middle of an intersection. Countless pairs of eyes were staring at him behind car windowpanes, so he didn’t want to make an even bigger show. Dusting his pants off, he stood up and limped away.

I just got hit by a car Aurelius turned this thought over and over in his head But I kept walking and that kid kept driving So no one really cares, do they? I bet he’ll go home and tell this story to his parents, but they’ll all forget about it in a few months or a year.

Suddenly, Aurelius felt a stab of pain in his leg. He stopped for a brief moment only to look down and see a red syrup oozing out of his right calf, where the rubber pattern of the car tire was imprinted on However, Aurelius knew he couldn’t return home to his wife, who would bandage him up like an infant. In fact, he didn’t want help from anyone - not even a doctor - and so he took his handkerchief out of his trenchcoat pocket and

Wrapped It Around The Wound

Freedom. People say America is free, but it really isn’t unless everyone inhabiting it feels the same type of liberty as I am experiencing right now. Maybe it’s good that some people will never feel this. It is quite painful. Now, where to go?

Aurelius had reached a fork in the road and couldn’t choose which direction to follow Bare skeleton trees enveloped him, their branches seeming to want to strangle him. Like a child, he chuckled as he kicked around the yellow leaves that buried his shoes. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both. Finally, Aurelius decided to go on a diagonal route in between the roads This was a result of the indecisiveness that comes from freedom, as well as the fact that he always liked diagonals rather than horizontals or verticals - they were more unpredictable.

After about a mile of following this grassy and unpaved direction, Aurelius gained a heightened awareness of his gash. It had bled through the handkerchief long ago, and his leg was now spurting out blood that pooled in his leather shoe The world appeared shaky as dizziness overcame him.

Just as Aurelius was about to lie down in the grass and surrender his life, a miracle came about. Only a short distance away, he caught sight of a building. It was brick and colorful Christmas lights shone through the windows, even though it was only November He trudged his way to the house, desperate to sit down somewhere, but it was too late. He looked down at his feet and realized he was on a gravel road, and when he looked up, a car was backing into him.

“Aw no,” he grumbled as the trunk smacked into his face, causing a snapping noise in his nose However, the car didn’t fully run him over, as the driver seemed to gain awareness of his presence

The driver stepped out of the car and rushed towards him, only to stand over him and smile, hoping Aurelius could see through his swollen eyelids It was Margaret

“Hello, husband,” she slurred with an air of superiority She was wearing a leather jacket and low rise jeans, something she always talked smack about before. “Only people who cheat on their husbands wear those,” she’d claim.

“Margaret, help,” Aurelius gasped, although he knew his attempts at getting her help would be fruitless

With a smirk, his wife pulled an egg out of her pocket - why it was there in the first place, he knew not - and cracked it over his face, the orange yolk trying to make its way into his pupils. “You forgot to eat breakfast,” she said, a psychotic smile playing on her face, and then she ended the final act. She stepped on his face with her platform leather boots

One must imagine him happy