10:00 AM: The sun hit Cyprus in the eyes, making him wake up suddenly. It felt hard to move. Something felt off. Maybe just low energy. They closed their eyes and went back to sleep.

11:00 AM: They shot back up again. This time, they pushed their covers back and swung their legs to the side. He felt goosebumps form.

"Shit," they said to the room. The chill in the air made it hard to get going still, but he stood up and walked to the bathroom.

After brushing their teeth and washing their face, they went downstairs to eat breakfast; he could already hear the girls downstairs.

11:30 AM: Making Hazel and Mahogany breakfast was always something that made Cyprus smile, but it meant putting off his own breakfast until they were taken care of.

After finishing with making them eggs, bacon, and toast, he sat down at the table himself and started wolfing down the last bit of what he'd made.

"Hey, big bro," Mahogany said while picking up her and Hazel's plates. "Slow down; we don't want you to choke."

Cyprus looked up at them for a second, then continued his assault on his food as the girls washed their dishes and ran back upstairs. As their footsteps got quieter, he pulled out his phone and began reading Wattpad again.

1:00 PM: After finishing a few chapters and cleaning the kitchen, Cyprus went back to his room to grab his notebook, pencil and ruler. Every weekend, he would log the growth or decay of the sunflowers and daffodils on his desk.

He started with making a new table on a sheet of paper, separating the flowers by number and type, and writing down today's length and how many leaves or petals they have. Each flower was poked and prodded carefully by his pencil, making sure not to damage any of the stamens or petals.

After checking a flower, he would draw a small sketch of it just to remember how it looked that day. They didn't look great, but it was fun. Then, he would move on to the next. Meticulously inspecting every individual flower.

2:00 PM: After spending an hour tending to all of his plants, Cyprus decided to lie back in bed. The lack of energy started catching up with him as he decided to read more Wattpad. Before starting, though, they pulled out their headphones and decided to listen to some Mitski.

The melody of the music made him start tapping his foot to the indie rhythm as he began another book binge.

5:00 PM: The hunger began to crop up, but he ignored it and kept reading. He didn't deserve food, anyway.

6:00 PM: A loud knock rang out from their bedroom door.

"Yes?" Cyprus muttered tentatively as they pulled one of their earbuds out.

The door creaked open, revealing his mother. She was dressed in a diner-style outfit with pink accents. Her soda jerk hat sported the word "Lucille" on the side in large pink letters.

"Hey, C-Man," she spoke in a musical cadence. She walked over to the bedside. "How was your day?"

"Fine."

She put on a frown. "Aww, baby. What's wrong?"

Cyprus set his phone down and squinted at her. "Nothing."

"It's something," she knelt down. "Tell me."

"It's nothing, really."

She sat down instead. "Nothing?"

"Dad's...busy."

"I know, sugarplum, but the bakery's a little slow since a lot of our popular items are out of season. Especially the pies."

Cyprus sat on his bed, staring at the wall. "It's like this every year around the same time. He's busy. You're busy."

Mom tilted her head. "We couldn't have got this big house if we didn't."

"Sure, but it's not as great without you or Dad in it. Think of Hazel. Mahogany."

His mom suddenly stood up and started walking out. "We'll make this work, baby, I'm sure of it. You want dinner?"

"No."

"I'm making dinner."

After watching his mom leave, Cyprus rolled his eyes and got back to reading.

8:00 PM: Five more chapters left to go. Cyprus heard the garage open and close as his father arrived home from his shift at work. They sighed, knowing they'd find him asleep on the couch if they went downstairs.

10:00 PM: Cyprus was lightly snoring, phone in hand. The light from the screen cast a shadow over everything in the room. All was quiet.

Then the door started creaking open again. This time, Tommy and Lucille were standing in the door, watching their child sleep peacefully.

Tommy sighed. "Is he gonna be okay? I don't want to make this any harder for him than it has to be."

"I'm sure he'll be okay, honeybun," she responded softly. "He'll just need to get used to it is all. Especially with your new manager role."

They smiled at each other and closed the door.