waking up early

The alarm buzzed. He wasn’t used to waking up this early. He was. He was still groggy. He had been having a nice sleep. He grabbed his phone, turned it off, still half asleep, and jumped out of the bed. If he hadn’t, he might have turned over and gone back to sleep. He shivered as he walked around the empty apartment for four. He was the only resident this month. He relieved himself, brushed his teeth, all the mundane things, wore the appropriate attire, grabbed the appropriate item, and walked out. The sky was dark. Soon, there would be the dawn light, but for now, nothing. Not even stars. The streetlights were dim, but in this place, there was still enough glow to see everything. Dim for this place meant bright somewhere else. It was the unofficial capital of the world. There was no official capital. He shivered as a particularly cold gust of wind hit him. He pulled the neck of his hoodie closer, the hood on his head, pulled the strings. It didn’t help. He shivered all the way. It was only a short walk, at least that was some respite. He smiled as he entered the warm pre war building. Creaky stairs. Steel railing. It was on the second floor. He knocked on the door. A smiling lady opened the door, immediately he could feel the warmth, her energy was infectious. But wasn’t this all supposed to be about the energy? He sat down, the mat he had brought on the floor. His OCD rather enjoyed placing it evenly in line with the others. He was in the second row, slowly people began to come in. The session was long, intense. He loved moving along to the soothing voice, the dim lights, the energy of everyone else. They finished in some pose, they called it the chicken or something. Legs folded in, back straight, arms stretching out ahead of him. Any other time, it would have been an uncomfortable position, now it was soothing. He closed his eyes, the voice drifted off. He woke up a few moments later, people were leaving. Some already had. He rose, fresh, rolled up his mat, and walked out. It was chilly, but he was warm. Internally, he felt good. Refreshed. He rolled out his arms, they felt so light. He smiled. He walked casually back. He began to cook tofu in the pan. Veggies sizzling. A dash of oil. The music played loud. There were maybe a tenth of the people this dormitory could hold in it this winter. The rest had gone home for break. He was fine with that arrangement. Aside from his best friend, whom he had moved into this apartment for, he wasn’t close to the other two. He was enjoying having a two bedroom new york apartment to himself. It was one of those moments in life, where he didn’t know if he’d be able to experience something like this later, so he resolved to make the most of this.