The light started to shine through the crack between the window shade panels, and the way Gabriel’s bed was positioned made this stream of light his own natural alarm clock. Gabriel did not want to get out of his bed, where he was covered in blankets that provided a warmth not found outside of his current position. It seemed like the light was shining brighter as he tried to get comfortable in his bed, it was at this point he knew he had to start getting prepared to go to his ceremony.

               Gabriel pushed himself up and sat on the side of his bed, his feet on the ground next to his bed as he sat gathering his thoughts. He knew he needed to do a lot of things to get properly prepared for his becoming, today he learned what his outlook would be. He sat at the edge of the bed looking at the scattered items along his floor. His new clothes hung neatly on his door, a note from his mother congratulating him as well as scolding him for his room being in a state not fit for habitation. He sighed and went to his equally messy bathroom and cleaned up a bit as he washed and fixed his hair.

               As he left the bathroom, he looked at the pictures he had adorned around the elegant bathroom mirror. Pictures of him smiling as a child, his parents throwing him in the air. It felt like something that would have been drawn in a picture book, but it was not the case. It was what his childhood was genuinely made of picture-perfect memories of his mother and father loving him. He went to the clothes hanging on his closet door, and dressed himself as he had been instructed to since he was a toddler. Putting his clothes on in an order which had become ingrained in his memory so well that he could do this all with his eyes closed. He finished putting his clothes on and then went to put on his boots, the boots which were on the floor. The floor, which was a giant mess, because he had not cleaned it like his mother had told him.

               Not panicking yet, Gabriel looked across the floor to see if he could find the shoes, but he was unsuccessful. He started picking items up and throwing it in the rubbish bin or putting it where it should have been. The more he cleaned up, the more he panicked because his boots were not to be seen. These boots had been passed down for generations, tailored to the specific size of the wearer. These boots were not only made to be worn to his ceremony, but also to be worn as he ascended to his birthright. He was to be a king, and these boots were part of the process. These boots were worn by his ancestors during some of the greatest battles in the history of his kingdom, and he knew he could not tell his parents that he had lost them.

               His entire room was cleaned, he got to the floor and looked under his bed. He started pulling out random items from under his bed, including dirty clothes, books, papers he had written and never finished, and random rubbish he had not thrown in the bin. As he pulled out a pair of pants that had been torn during sword training, he saw the glimmer of silver that only came from one thing. His boots were sitting under the bed to the back against his bedroom wall. He reached back and grabbed the boots with the laces and dragged them out. He cleaned up the new mess he made looking for his boots and sat back on the edge of his bed, he then put his boots on to complete his preparations to get his day started. His door burst open, and a woman walks in.

                “I told you to cl… well this is unexpected. You are awake AND your room is clean? There is hope for my son yet!” exclaimed the queen, his mother, Queen Rita.