A/N: Hey! I wrote this in twenty minutes, so...yeah. I'm going to put a little more effort into the next chapters. This was the runt of the plot bunnies, so I don't even know where I'm going with this, but oh well. Hope you enjoy!
Call stared up at the hazy glow of the moon through the kitchen window of the house he shared with his family. It had been thirteen years since he had graduated from the Magisterium. When he was in prison after Aaron's death, the masters of the Magisterium and the Assembly had put him on trial many times. He hadn't expected to ever get out of that cell. It was Master Rufus that had gotten him out. After Call's fourth trial, Rufus had somehow managed to convince the Assembly that Call was on their side. It had been reported that Alex Strike had been found dead, but the assembly still didn't know for sure that he had been defeated.
This was often how he spent the time before he went to bed. Just leaned up against the window sill staring at the moon. Tamara walked into the room. She stood next to him. They had been married for ten years now. Their anniversary had just passed.
"Hey." She said.
Call looked over at her and sighed. "Hey."
"You coming to bed?" Tamara asked.
"Yeah." Call said in reply.
He followed his wife up the spiral staircase that led to the master bedroom, being careful not to put much weight on his bad leg. Their room was the only room upstairs. The other bedrooms were downstairs and occupied by their two children, Sarah and Aaron.
Tamara went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Call got into bed, pulling the covers up to his neck. Tamara followed soon after. Call drifted into a restless sleep filled with strange dreams, as he did most other nights.
In the morning, Call awoke to unbearable hiss of his alarm clock. He hit the clock, hoping to make it stop ringing. It just kept going. Tamara groaned next to him.
"Turnifoff!" She mumbled sleepily. Call couldn't understand what she had said. He sat up in bed. The persistent alarm kept ringing. Call turned and leaned over the clock, trying to find the off button. When he had finally gotten the noise to stop, he got out of bed and got dressed for the day. He groggily headed downstairs, Tamara following close behind.
About an hour later, Tamara was fully awake and on her way out the front door. She was a third grade teacher at the elementary school their children attended. She gave Call a quick peck on the cheek and rushed out the door, murmuring to herself about how late she was going to be. Call was currently unemployed. He had worked as a waiter in a close by diner for about a month, but the owner had fired him because his limping often resulted in spilled food.
It was now 6:00 in the morning. Time to wake up the kids. Sarah and Aaron were twins, both in the second grade. Call tapped on Aaron's door before carefully pushing it open.
"Time to get up," Call said.
Aaron moaned. "Why do I have to get up so early?" He asked this every morning.
"The same reason you had to get up yesterday." Call answered with a sigh. "The bus comes at 7:15." Call reminded his son.
He walked out of Aaron's room and over to Sarah's door. He tapped as lightly as he had on Aaron's door before going in. She was a heavy sleeper. She often slept through alarm clocks. She had even slept through a smoke alarm once. Call walked over to her bed and gently shook her awake.
"What time is it?" Sarah asked sleepily.
"6:10" Her father replied.
She sat up in bed.
"The bus will be here at 7:15," Call added. "You need to be ready by then.
Sarah nodded groggily.