“One! Happy …”
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Fuuuuuuck,” Sergio bemoans into his pillow as he rolls onto his side, cradling his freshly smashed balls in his hands while Gus hisses underneath the bed before bolting out the bedroom door.
“It’s time for breakfast.”
“I know, buddy,” Sergio says, his face still obscured by his pillow as he tries to catch his breath. “I’m sitting this one out.”
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Goddamn it.”
“Hiss…”
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Fuck!” Sergio yells out in pain and jumps out of bed, missing Gus by an inch as the cat runs out from under the bed and through the bedroom door.
Henry looks up at him, frightened.
“I’m sorry, buddy,” he says hastily, leaning back over the bed to muss up Henry’s hair. “Go wake up Adrien. I need to go talk to your dad.”
Henry, still stunned, blinks at him and makes no attempt to move.
“Go on,” Sergio encourages, and watches Henry get off the bed and make his way slowly out of Sergio’s room, looking over his shoulder once as he goes. Sergio gestures for him to continue with a few flicks of his hand. Once Henry’s gone, he turns on his heel and runs out of the room and down the stairs, not even listening for the telltaleoofof Adrien being awakened.
“Good morning, shithead!” Holden beams.
“We need to talk,” Sergio grunts out, tripping over Gus, then grabbing Holden by the shoulder and pulling him towards the back door.
“Hey!” Holden tries to pull it from his grasp. “What the fuck, man? I’ve got breakfast going.”
“I know.” Sergio huffs. After all, it’s not like he hasn’t been through this before. With more force, he tugs Holden halfway out the door. “But I need to talk to you.”
Holden tosses the spatula in his hand onto the counter. It bounces off the granite and lands on the floor as the back door clicks shut. The cold air outside gives Sergio a sobering shock, but it’s not enough to jolt him back to a timeline that makes sense.
“Alright, what the fuck is up with you?” Holden asks as he rubs his exposed arms. Like Sergio, he’s outside in only sweatpants and a T-shirt. Unlike Sergio, he’s at least wearing slippers.
Sergio peers over Holden’s shoulder and can see Rose peering out the glass at them. He starts walking them further away from the house, moving them more towards the barn. “I know this is going to sound crazy,” he says, yanking at his hair. “But I’m living the same day, over and over again.”
“As in, your day-to-day life is monotonous? Sergio, that’s called being an adult. Why are you so bent out of shape?”
Sergio stops in his tracks and rubs harshly at his face. “No, not like that. I’m literally living the same day over. This is the sixth time I’ve lived today.”
“Well, yeah,” Holden says, giving Sergio a fleeting moment of hope. “This is our sixth New Year’s all together up here.”
“No!” Sergio shouts. “I mean, I keep waking up on the same day! Today. New Year’s Eve. And no one else seems to notice.”
“I’m still not following. Do you want to go back to bed or something? We can talk about this tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you listening? There is no tomorrow. Tonight the clock will strike midnight, and I’ll wake back up right here.”
“Well, yeah,” Holden says again. “That’s kind of how going to sleep works. One tends to wake up where they fell asleep. Unless they were drugged.” He pauses and looks at Sergio, furrowing his brows. “Are you on drugs?”
“No! I don’t know what I am! All I know is that I’ve woken up right here at your house for the past six days.”
“That’s impossible, though. You only got here yesterday.”
