My eyelids weighed down to the ground and I was sure gravity had gained enough strength to drag me into an inferno. It was 10PM and I had been slouched up in a four-legged chair for what would be more than four hours. I didn’t dare leave. My stiff spine remained in a deformed version of a curve and it was intensely uncomfortable. I shouldn’t even be worrying about an inferno because I was already here. As predicted, my hell was a carbon copy of the four rotting walls that I returned to at the end of each day. The moss in the corners of my room showed signs of decay and it was as if I was deteriorating with my habitat. I repeated the algorithms in my head as my fingertips graced the edges of the brightly colored cube in front of me. In a set of swift motions, left, right, up, right, rotate, I was still nowhere. The cube taunted me. It took pleasure in my emotional suffering. It consumed me and it was now all that I had. It’s simple! My father’s words stained my mind like dark ink. Step 1: create the white cross. The white cross, cross white, white crossing,  it was all meaningless jargon. I carried out the attack just like Father had shown me. My fingers gripped the solid figure more intensely than ever before. White square to the left blue square to bottom red square to the corner green white orange blueredyellowdeadendstartoverwhitebluegreenbuzzzz.The insects must be taunting me too. Buzzz. The buzzing continued and I finally moved my eyes to the other side of the room. My phone rang. It must be Father calling to let me know he was right about me all along. I dashed towards the phone using all my strength, I needed more time, I could do it. 7 Missed calls from Caroline, 3 Missed calls from Danny. The brightness from the phone ached my eyes, but I continued to glare at the screen hoping it would give me a solution. I placed the phone back on the desk in its exact position. The tree branches outside knocked against my window and I remembered it was fall. How come everyone just knows what to do? What is this? The branches knocked louder against the glass as if cheering my rage on. The wind joined in on the action and the entire scene was almost cinematic. The mixed colors of the cube infuriated me and for a second I wanted to launch the cube at the now beige turning walls. I noticed a stench that had loomed over my room for a while and I realized that it was my shirt stained with yesterday’s lunch. I made my way over to the sink in the bathroom and scrubbed away at the spot on my shirt. I noticed another minor spot and began to scrub again. Within a few seconds, my entire shirt was drenched with water and I was scrubbing feverishly. I set the shirt out to dry and sought out another shirt in my chamber. I made my way over to the chair, my eyes glued to the cube. It whispered my name, it understood what I needed. I began a series of moves again. A million permutations, I sarcastically thought, which outcome will I receive this time? I rotated the top layer with my index finger slowly, then followed with combinations of up and down motions, then there it was, a whole surface entirely bleach white. I took a deep breath and began solving for the blue squares. I am finally doing it. The whites shifted out of place and I no longer had the reassuring uniform surface. I restarted my sequence and put all the whites back together. I tried a different sequence, but the more I fiddled with the cube the more disorderly it became. My phone buzzed again and I became agitated. I didn't care what Caroline, Danny, or anyone for that matter was up to. The buzzing continued until I couldn't take it anymore. I took the same route to my phone on the other side of the room and the buzzing stopped when I picked it up. I quickly read the text from Caroline. I can’t believe you missed Dad’s funeral.