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Curse the idiots who came up with daylight saving time. Every year, when it ended, it turned everyone’s sleep schedules into a hot mess. And this year? Clover Ewing was no exception.
She’d tried to be proactive—set her clocks back to 7:30 and climbed into bed at 8:30, thinking she’d trick her body into a good night’s rest. But nope. The second her head hit the pillow, her brain went rogue.
First, there was a dream—a chaotic mash-up of aliens and Naomi Turner from Elena of Avalor sporting braces for some reason. Then, an utterly bizarre shopping trip where every food item had her name written on it in colored pencil... that was somehow magic? Oh, and of course, in classic Clover fashion, she ended up ballooning back to her weight during the Passion Patties fiasco.
When she finally woke up, heart racing, it was only 2:16 a.m.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, dragging herself to the bathroom. She tried rolling over, fluffing her pillow, counting sheep, deep breathing—every trick in the book. But sleep wasn’t having it. The hours dragged on as she tossed and turned, feeling more awake with every passing minute. By the time her clock blinked 4:00 a.m., she gave up.
“Fine. You win,” she groaned, throwing off the covers and stomping out of bed.
Checking her email at this hour felt absurd, but she did it anyway—nothing interesting. She fed her cat, who was thrilled by the early breakfast, then knocked out a few core exercises, hoping to burn off her restlessness. Still, no dice.
By 5:00 a.m., Clover admitted defeat. Daylight saving time had bested her again.
“This is ridiculous,” she grumbled, flopping back onto her bed. “Who even likes this? Just get rid of it already!”
She sighed, staring at the ceiling as her cat curled up beside her. It would be days before her sleep schedule felt normal again.
“The hell with daylight saving time,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “They should just nix the whole thing so people can actually sleep.”
Her cat purred softly, the only one in the apartment who seemed unbothered by the madness.