I woke up due to an annoying voice coming from my right side. The alarm had been ringing for the past 10 minutes, but I had made no attempt to turn it off. With a final beep, the alarm gave up and set off to snooze again.

I sat up and tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. Now I regretted staying up all night watching horror movies.

I checked the clock, which showed half past nine. That’s when I realised that school had started an hour and a half ago and I had probably been marked absent. I stood up abruptly and started getting ready in a hurry.

As I combed my hair, I wondered why nobody had noticed that I was getting late for school? I decided to push the thought aside and focus on tying my shoelaces.

As I hurried down the stairs, I tripped over something and fell flat on my face. I expected my mother to run over and start fussing all over me but she didn’t. Instead, I was met with silence. I slowly stood up to realise that all the lights were turned off, which made the lounge unusually dark. I brisk-walked to the kitchen, fortunately, there was a streak of sunlight coming through the window.

I scanned the house for my mother, but found no trace of her. Various possibilities ran through my mind and I couldn’t help but freak out. I strained my ears to hear something, anything that could calm me down, but heard nothing except my heartbeat which was beating furiously inside my chest. At this point I didn’t even care if I was getting late for school.

Just as I was about to scream for mum, I heard something behind me which changed my decision. I turned around (which happened to be the best thing I did the whole day) to find my mother in her usual sleepy-morning state. I blinked once, then twice until I was sure it was her. I couldn’t have been happier.

After I had composed myself, I asked her where she had been and why she didn’t wake me up for school.

“What do you mean?” she asked. I had a feeling that she was just as confused as I was. I told her I was getting late for school and I couldn’t find her anywhere. Her reply made me feel like the most stupid person on the whole planet!

“Darling, today is Sunday and you don’t have to go to school on Sundays, remember?

“That’s why I didn’t wake you up!”

I smiled and walked back to my room, embarrassed, while I knew my mum was smiling at my absent-mindedness.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 7th, 2017