Lelijk, slim en jong zijn
Goedemorgen Maya!
Maya lay in her bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling and lost in nothingness She couldn't for the life of her fall back to sleep and making the "bed creak", as Mymy might say, wouldn't give her the help the girl needed to go back to dream island. Hoping for a distraction, she reached for her phone, but the time on her lock screen caught her attention instead. Monday, 5th November, 5:50 AM. Normaly she would sleep until 7:50, Coco or her Mom would wake her up if her 2 Alarms failed to do the Job, but right now? Now, Maya felt this strange energy to do something, especially with that even stranger rumble in her stomach. When was the last time she'd eaten a proper meal instead of snacking on kruidnoten or chips? She couldn't remember. And breakfast? That was another mystery she didn't want to dwell on, whether it had been too long ago or she was just too lazy to bother with it.
An strange Idea formed in her head. A silly one, now that she thought about it. Before she could second-guess herself, Maya was out of bed. She pulled on her favorite hoodie, tied her hair up, and tiptoed to her bedroom door. Maya pooked her Headout, looking back and worth making sure no one was awake, only to be met by a half darkened hallway. If her memory served her right, her dad had already left for work twenty minutes ago, which meant the house would stay quiet for at least another hour. Her gaze fell to the stairs. She paused, calculating her next move, until the memories from a few months ago hit her, when she had tried to throw herself down those very stairs to avoid attending Coco's birthday party."I'm such a pussy..." Maya whispered under her breath, her voice barely audible in the stillness.
Carefully, she descended the stairs, making sure not to step on any creaking floorboard.
"Why does everything creak in this fucking House" Maya thought bitterly as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. She pulled out her phone and switched on the flashlight, keeping it at the lowest setting as to avoid drawing attention. She had learned that lesson the hard way.
25th December 2017, 1:33 AM.
After an intense and exhausting Sims 4 session, Maya had decided to take a bathroom break. To navigate the dark hallway, she had used her phone's flashlight—unfortunately, at full brightness. Somehow, that had been enough to wake Mymy. The ginger-haired girl, convinced Sinterklaas had arrived early, launched a surprise attack on Maya. The resulting chaos woke the entire household, and it took twenty minutes of frantic explanations before Mymy finally let go.
Back in the present, Maya shook her head at the memory and turned her attention to the wall near the kitchen. It was adorned with several picture frames. One photo showed Coco in her rugby uniform, proudly holding a trophy she had won. Beside it was a similar picture of Mymy, beaming as she clutched her korfball trophy. The rest were photographs taken by their mom. Artsy shots of landscapes and a few abstract paintings. Maya always assumed she wasn't included in any of the pictures on the wall, a fact she had long accepted. But to her surprise, her eyes landed on one near the kitchen entrance, a old family portrait. There she was, standing alongside her mom, dad, and their cat.
For a moment, she lingered, staring at the photo. She remembered those times fondly, when it was just the four of them. No annoying stupid, adopted sisters, no useless stupid school, no stupid anything. Just them and it was enough, atleast that's what she thought. The Photograph showed Maya with a huge Smile, not faked or forced. A real geniune smile that came from the heart and was full of life, captured forever in that glossy paper, mocking her now melancholy demenour. With an annoyed grunt, Maya tore her gaze away and stepped into the kitchen. Her rumbling stomach agreeing with that choice.
Making her way to the Breadbox she looked for some bread, but she struck Gold instead. A box of unopened Stroopwafels, lied there untouched. Was this a prank? Usually "Pippi Longstocking" would have devoured them by now, leaving Maya with no chance to enjoy any. She pulled the box out, careful not to make too much noise and popped a couple of the stroopwafels into the Toaster to make them a bit warmer. The scent of Carmel, cinnamon and Vanilla hit her noustrils all at once, which made her stomach growl even harder.
Needing a distraction while waiting for the waffles, Maya turned to look out the window next to the toaster. It was still mostly dark outside, but the sun started to show it's face a bit. The driveway was empty, as expected. The only vehicles left were her mom's bike, her own, and the ones belonging to her sisters, all neatly locked up and arranged side by side. For a moment she let her thoughts wander, but the toaster's sudden ping brought her back to reality.
The loud sound startled her, making her heart skip a beat. The ping echoed slightly in the quiet house and made her froze, she hoped and prayed to god that it didn't wake anyone, especially not that Dutchcosplayer. The Girl listened for any signs of movement upstairs. When none came, she let out a relieved sigh and carefully removed the steaming waffle from the toaster.
She took a bite, the heavenly explosive combo of flavours send her into a nostalgia Trip. She couldn't couldn't think of the last time she had one of these, not since Mymy moved in. The dark haired girl recalled a time when her mom made these fresh for her every morning, making them in all kinds of shapes and forms. Those stroopwafels had been made with care, with love. These store-bought ones, while tasty, felt hollow in comparison, no love had gone into making them and Maya could taste the difference.
While she was fishing out the second Waffel, she lingered on the thought of love. Did her Mom even love her anymore? Since her Adoptedsisters had joined the family, there hadn't been any daughter-mother time. Maya tried to recall the last time they had talked or done something fun together. But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't remember anything.
Finishing her waffel on a sad note, she looked to her phone. It was 6:40 am, her mom and coco will be getting up soon. The thought of facing either of them right now felt unbearable, Maya needed to do come up with something and that fast.
An idea, an even sillier one than before, sparked in her mind. Without hesitating, she went upstairs, grabbed her laptop bag and slowly made her way out of the house.
As Maya stepped out of the House, she took a deep breath of the crisp, invigorating morning air. Her nose wasn't quite used to it yet, so it pulled a strange move and made her eyes water. For a moment, she wondered if this was more of an emotional response rather than just a normal bodily reaction. Turning her head to where the byciles were located at, she rumaged through her laptopbag pulling out a small red Key. As she made her way to her bike, a shiny red one, she noticed how much newer it looked compared to the other three. She couldn't decide if she should feel proud or miserable about that fact.
Unlocking her bike, she sat down on the cold, damp saddle, shivering as the chill ran down her spine. After adjusting herself and securing her bag, Maya started pedaling. At first, her movements were slow, but she quickly gained momentum, the bike gliding faster and smoother with each push.
It was about a 15 to 20 minute ride to school by bike. Maya normally relied on Coco to lead the way, but she had made it a point to memorize the route for the days when the blonde was sick. As she pedaled through the quiet streets, Maya found herself appreciating the peacefulness of the early morning.
Without the pressure of keeping up with Coco or Mymy, she could take her time, stopping occasionally to admire her surroundings...and to catch her breath. During her third break, she examined the neighborhood a bit. All the different kinds of houses caught her intrest in that moment. One house, in particular, caught her attention. It was a freshly built, small home, that looked really out of place next to the old buildings and houses left and right to it. In front of the house was a small silver car and an older woman busily carried boxes in and out, clearly in the process of moving in. Maya watched as the woman returned to the car, said something in a foreign language, and tapped on the roof of the car. Moments later, the car door opened, and a boy stepped out. He was wearing a blue hoodie and holding a copy of… "Boku no Senpai"?
Maya blinked, stunned. What? In this Town? In this Country? In this Continant? She couldn't believe her eyes. Her gaze lingered on the boy, her curiosity burning, until it was clear both he and his mother had noticed her staring. Her face flushed red like a tomato. Embarrassed, she took off on her bike at full speed, pedaling harder than ever before. She made it to school in record time, although not without stopping four more times to catch her breath.
When she arrived, she locked her bike and checked her phone. It was 7:16 AM. Her mom was probably awake by now, and the last thing Maya wanted was to make her worry unnecessarily. She quickly typed out a message.
Hoping that would satisfy, she put her phone back in her bag and pulled out her headphones. With music playing loudly in her ears, she walked into the school building. To her surprise, the classroom was empty. She went straight to her usual seat, settling in and waiting for the others to arrive. The adrenaline from her earlier encounter began to fade, and the weight of only four hours of sleep crashed down on her. Her head dipped forward, her eyelids growing heavy. It wasn't long before she succumbed, drifting off right there at her desk. Finally, she had found her way back to Dream Island.