The alarm made a shrieking noise that jolted Dan out of his sleep. He flagged his left arm several times till he hit the snooze button on his side table. If his memory serves him right, the last time he had to wake up this early was the day he got fired at work 3 months ago. That moved him to remember he has an interview by 10 AM today. Just then he heard a cock crow. He groaned, resenting having to wake up so early to prepare. He sat up in his bed, placed his face in his palms, still groggy from not sleeping early enough.
Dan dragged himself out of bed and up, on his feet. First things first, He needs to brush his teeth. He walks into his bathroom, dabbed his face with some water, and made to pick his brush up in the bathroom cabinet, but could not find it. He sighed. Dan has a bad habit of not returning things from where he picked them from. He closed his eyes a minute, trying to visualize where he might have dropped the toothbrush yesterday when he used it. In the past, that’s a trick that has helped him find things he’s misplaced. That did not work this time. All he remembers was brushing while standing and watching the TV yesterday morning. He has no clue where he must have dropped it.
He went back into his bedroom and switched on the light. There were things littered all over the rug, along with some dust There was one leg of a pair of brown socks, his towel, he bent to check under them for his brush, no luck. He noticed a travel mug near the foot of his bed. He picked it up and opened it. He squeezed his face as his nostrils got hit with what one could only imagine as the smell of a dead fish. The mug was filthy and crawling with maggots. He scanned the room for a minute, his eyes landing on the rotting half-eaten carrot on his bedside table he has pretended not to see for a week. He then glanced at the fridge and his eyes flicked in recognition. He opened the appliance, which he rarely ever cleaned, and found his toothbrush sitting on an expired jar of mayonnaise. He picked it up while smiling with delight. “Ha, now my day can begin.”
Dan took the brush to the bathroom and passed it over running water to clean it. Then he glanced around for his toothpaste and also could not find it. “Oh not again!” he cursed as he threw his brush in the sink with a force.