One of the first things Mike did when he got home was trip over the pair of dumbbells his mom left in his room. He splayed out on the bed. The school year was over. The air-conditioned expanse of summer lay ahead, and he'd be spared the fate of waking up at 7am every day. He made the decision to take a shower. The dumbbells could wait, he thought. He had all summer to be active. Now was a time for celebration, for rebirth, for the hot waters to cleanse away the evil of school. On the first day of summer, his parents reminded him that they were leaving for Mexico tomorrow. Mike didn't mind. Last year, they took him to Europe, but this time he preferred to stay home and enjoy his summer. Don't forget to feed the fish. Check that the doors are locked at night. Oh, and you have an orthodontist appointment on the 27th. He'd be fine. This wasn't his first rodeo. On the second day, Mike played Civilization V. The hours melted away, and when his stomach grumbled he decided to take a break and eat. He read The Old Man and the Sea after, finishing it as soon as it got dark outside. He didn't get it. Seemed a little pointless, he thought. He saw his parents off. On the third day, he played Civilization V again. But his game as Egypt got a little boring, and he thought that Egypt's yellow map color was a bit ugly. This time, he decided to read something less serious. He bought a young adult novel on his Kindle app. He found it a little stupid, but it was an easy enough read. It seemed to get dark even faster that day. On the fourth day, Mike realized that his sleep schedule was already pushed too far forward. He needed to spend less waking hours in the dark. And he needed to actually use those dumbbells in his room. Later, he decided that reading on the Kindle app was too much of an eyesore. He needed to take a break from the computer screen, not switch to a new one. He found himself painfully bored. On the fifth day, Mike began watching Game of Thrones. It was entertaining enough, and the hours flew by mercilessly fast. He wasn't sure when he went to sleep. Shamefully, he refused to look at the time. On the day of watching Season 2, Episode 3, Mike realized that he had lost count of the days. This always happened during the summer. On the day of Season 3, Episode 8, Mike started to feel guilty. He was having a well-earned break from the monotony of school, he told himself. But this was monotony too! He needed to do something productive. On the day of Season 4, Episode 3, Mike had the solution to his despair. He'd found an online writing competition, starting soon. It was the perfect opportunity to do something worthwhile, something productive. As soon as the prompt was released, he promised himself, he would start. He already had a thousand ideas bubbling in his brain. On the day of the Season 4 Finale, the competition began. It was still midday when he finished the episode, and saw the prompt, Leap of Faith. He found that he no longer had any ideas. On the first day of writing, he broke away from his distractions long enough to go outside and think. Finally, he retreated back into his air-conditioned castle, and wrote the opening line. And then a few more. He felt good. He felt productive. On the second day of writing, his ideas returned to him in full force. All it took was a little effort, a little brainstorming beforehand. He found the sentences stringing together, the paragraphs taking shape, almost as fast as the ideas appeared in his head. He rewarded himself with a few episodes for his accomplishments. On the final day of writing, he poured ideas into words with a newfound fervor. He didn't even open Steam that day. He had a goal, a task, a remedy to his pitiful idleness, and he had every intention of meeting it. Finally, after a labor of milky hours, he finished his entry. He was almost too excited to edit. He gave it a few passes, made some corrections, changed a few sentences around. He submitted. On the first day after writing, Mike realized that he'd missed his orthodontist appointment.