One More Minute

At least today, things were supposed to be normal.

The room was still dark. Only the gap in the curtains had begun to lighten.

He was asleep under the blanket.

At seven, I would wake him. I was ready.

One minute before that, a loud sound rang beside me.

It wasn’t a sound I recognized.

He moved a little. A hand came out from under the blanket.

As if searching the usual place, it touched around the pillow several times. But the sound was not coming from there.

His fingers caught the edge of the pillow, then lost their strength again.

The sound kept ringing.

I could not stop it either.

The screen of the smartphone beside me was glowing white.

6:59.

The night before, after a moment of hesitation, he had put it here.

Usually, it was by his pillow.

Today, it was next to me.

He still had not come out from under the blanket.

Normally, I was the one who woke him. That was why I was here.

It was not time for me to ring yet.

But the sound beside me would not stop. Like something in the room had woken up first, only the white screen was bright.

I advanced the display by one minute.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep.

He finally opened his eyes.

This time, he looked at me. His hand reached out and settled on top of me.

The sound stopped.

Then he stopped the alarm on the smartphone beside me too.

The room became quiet.

The screen showed 7:00.

It was the usual time.

Under the numbers, small letters had appeared.

“I made it in time today.”

He looked at them for a while, then gave a small nod.