Adam started his day like any other. His face buried in a pillow, he reached next to the bed. Feeling around for a moment,  he grabbed only the surface of his bedside table.

"Urghh?..." he grunted, as he raised his head, blearily opening his eyes and leaning forward. Still, his quarry eluded him.

Adam squinted at the table, stupefied. His slowly forming thoughts were interrupted by a quiet "Mrrrow," from the other side of the room. He could only make out an orange blur by the door, with some dark shape on the carpet in front of it.

Adam was struck by a moment of wakefulness, and he was able to form a complete thought. Sitting up and swinging his legs out from beneath the covers, he asked huskily "Charlie, were you playing with my glasses again?"

His cat's only response was to pad up and rub her face against Adam's leg, leaving the dark shape of his glasses by the door. 

Adam snatched them from the ground on his way to the bathroom, stepping carefully to keep Charlie from getting under his feet. He noticed the soft gray light coming from the windows, and bent down to scratch at the cat's back. 

"It's looking like a writing day to me, Charlie," he said. "If I'm ever gonna get started, I have to stop putting it off. No time like the present. Urgh."

Leaning his arms on the countertop, Adam bent over the bathroom sink to examine his reflection in the mirror.

Average,  he thought. The word had dominated his life as long as Adam could remember. Above average in school, below average in sports, but not ever enough to stand out either way. His looks were plain, his style was safe and boring, at least according to his ex.

Adam felt a wave of apathy rising from the back of his head. He shook himself, focusing a keen edge of frustration against the apathy. He focused on what he wanted to accomplish, thinking about what he wanted the day to be. He knew, if he let it, the uncaring lethargy would consume his day, leaving him drowning in distractions as time passed him by.

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 As the silent battle waged in his brain, Adam sighed and stood up straight. He raised his arms in front of him, bringing them above his head, before leaning back to finish the stretch. Adam slowly worked out the tension in his body, feeling his mind settle into a more relaxed state with the flow of constant movement. It was almost meditation, focusing on the nerves of his body instead of the neurons of his brain. It wasn't perfect, but by the end of the routine, Adam's head was settle with a far healthier foundation.

When he had finished with his morning bathroom routine, Adam felt lighter, clean and prepared. He stepped into the kitchen and swung open the door of the fridge, only to be met with swiftly growing disappointment. 

The fridge was full of food, there just wasn't anything Adam wanted to eat. He picked up the milk jug and gave it a little shake, noting there was enough milk left for a small glass, but definitely not enough for a bowl of cereal. There were leftovers aplenty, from Italian to Chinese, but none seemed appealing to him now.

"Oh, well... I'll make something when I get hungry."

Adam grabbed a can of cat food from the fridge, pulling off the lid and grabbing a plastic teaspoon from the drawer. He made his way over to Charlie, who was watching him expectantly while sitting in front of her food bowl.

As he crouched to drop the cat food in the bowl, Adam said, "Yeah, yeah, you've trained me well, kitten. Even if I don't eat, you'll get yours like clockwork."

Charlie only purred in reply, padding lightly as she ate her breakfast.

Building his resolve, Adam went back to his bedroom and sat at his desk. Spinning the chair side to side, Adam settled into the cushioned seat. After tapping his fingers together in a quick rhythm, he leaned forward, reaching for the mouse with one hand while pushing open the laptop screen with his other.

As Adam cracked open the laptop, he watched the electrical glow lighten the space around him. He tapped in the code to unlock the computer, then pulled up the empty document that had confounded him for years.

He sat there. Staring. First it was a minute, but it quickly stretched into two. 

But Adam was not procrastinating, as he had so many times before. No, his mind was alive, stretching and reaching out for people, places, and worlds unknown. Searching for a story untold.

He felt a current in his head, a connection so vast and deep he could be lost in it. As his fingers stretched over the keyboard, lowering to tap the first key, he felt himself being pulled, pushed, twisted away. He felt crushed from all sides by an immense weight, only to be pulled apart the next moment.

Suddenly, he was somewhere else.