Empire of hearts

Miri’s POV

"Miri! MIRI!!"

I hear someone yelling my name, but I feel way too sleepy to actually focus on whose voice it is. Well, I’ve never been a morning person, and I made the painstaking decision of not starting now, so I snuggle deeper into my very cozy blanket only to feel it pulled right off me.

My eyes widened.

"Well, now I’m awake, all than—"

I swallow the rest of whatever I was about to say as I see that it’s my mother. But I stopped too late; she had already understood my earlier discontinued statement and flicked my head.

"Come downstairs, you lazy creature. Don’t tell me you forgot what today was, right?"

I hear my elder brother, Torven, snicker from the door, already able to tell from my facial expression that I had indeed forgotten. My mom just sighs and, with a shake of her head, repeats her earlier command:

"Come downstairs."

Then she walks away.

I quickly gather myself and head downstairs.

My father, Jack Morvain, sat at the single armrest chair in the living room, arms crossed but with the same gentle gaze he always has on his face, making him look younger than I can actually give him credit for.

My mom, Lisa Morvain, sat opposite him in the matching chair, with a sweet smile plastered on her face. The earlier scowl from trying to wake me had already vanished, which made me smile in return.

And then lastly, I see my brother Torven laying lazily on the couch, ever the jerk he is. But me, staying true to the role of his beloved sister, decided to be a bit troublesome, so I sat beside him and rested part of my body on his thigh.

At first, in a moment of insanity, he gently strokes my head before his brain seems to reboot and then he flicks my forehead.

I yelled indignantly, "What was that for?"

He has the actual audacity to shrug… and even stifle a laugh. Well, so did my parents but that is beside the point.