Hexus

)6( Charge

[5:03:AM, January 1, UTC ±00:00]

“Linus! You’ll be getting ready for church now, eh?”

Linus hissed at the sound of his mother’s voice and turned to look at the bedside clock. It was just after 5AM. He grumbled and rolled out of bed. He wasn’t in the mood for church. He was never in the mood, but he also knew better than to piss off his Mum. He grabbed the first Sunday clothes he could find and hurried downstairs.

“Morning Mum,” he muttered in the most cheerful voice he could manage.

“’Morning Linus, you…” She stopped when she looked at him. “Ah, darn it Linus, get in the tub first. Your hair’s needing a washing.” She shooed him out of the kitchen and motioned back up the stairs, adding under her breath “Wish you bairns quit playing outwith the house so much…”

He huffed and walked back upstairs, carefully taking off his clothes and placing them on his bed. He looked to the other bed and saw Ian, still covered by his blanket, snoring like a bear. He wondered how he had missed him earlier, or why Mum hadn’t called Ian up yet. Then it dawned on him.

Yeah, that’s my job.

He sighed and used his foot to nudge the sleeping mass. Ian didn’t wake, so Linus kicked him harder and he cursed as he pushed down the blanket.

“Shove off, Linus.”

“Mum said you should get ready for church.”

He looked out the window. “Bloody hell, Linus, it’s still dark out.”

“Probably wants to catch the early Mass. Get your clothes ready, I’ll be going into the shower now.”

“Yeah, your hair looks a wee fankle. I’ll be waiting on you then,” he huffed and pulled the blanket back over his head. Linus kicked him once again to let him know that he wouldn’t be amused if he went back to sleep and received a kick in reply from beneath the covers. He sighed, wrapped himself in his towel and walked towards the bathroom, going past the girls’ room. He stopped at their door and knocked once. There was a muffled response and he sighed in relief.

“Esther, get the girls up.”

“It’s still really early, Linus.”

“I don’t want them scrambling for the bathroom and arguing in an hour.”

He heard the door unlock and Esther poked her head out. She glanced down the hall and then at him.

“We’ll be going for morning Mass then?”

“Yes.”

“Bloody hell.”

She hissed, went back inside and slammed the door. Linus grumbled in disbelief but he was happy she was up, at least. Saves me a headache, he thought. He got into the bathroom and turned on the lights. It’s so bloody cold, he cursed; someone had left the window open last night. The freezing winds of early January filtered into the room and he shuddered as he shut the window properly. He considered whether or not to actually take a shower, then looked in the mirror to see if his hair was really that bad. It was. It stuck out in different directions past his ears and there was a bit of brown on one side from when Ian had tackled him to the ground yesterday. Should have washed up before going to bed, but he was really tired and the twins kept going down the stairs for one reason or another so that also kept him up. There were bags under his eyes and he knew he was going to look terrible even after the shower. He walked to the temperature controls and turned it up to 40 degrees. It was going to be scalding hot but he needed it if he hoped to wake up. He was barely managing to keep his eyes open.