The Guest Room Pt. 2 - a short story

*****This is the 2nd part of a story, reading these sections in order is advised. Take me to the first part of the story!******

In what seemed to be only a moment later, the alarm jarred him uncermoniously back to consciousness. He was still exhausted but he had obligations. With a deep, heavy, soul bearing sigh, Joshua got up from the bed. It was still dark outside, daylight savings time... he sighed again. He shuffled in his house slippers to the coffee pot and started measuring the ingredients. Several heaping coffee grounds scoops into it he realized he had no clue how many were actually in the machine. He had been too tired to count. His coffee would either peel the paint off the walls or be nicely heated brown water. Either way he needed to get in the shower as his time was rapidly being sucked away.

The warm water flowing over him was not helping him wake up but it was warming him up. The shower felt good this morning, soothing somehow. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall as the water fell on him. He saw her face again... and his eyes shot open. He turned off the water and stepped out to towel off. He had already decided to skip shaving today, his employer would have to deal with the scruff. He dressed in the mirror fogged bathroom, never bothering to check his appearance or even glance in the mirror's direction. He knew what he looked like, a zombie, and a hair style or a shave would not change that.

He poured the coffee into the commuter cup, grabbed the work he had brought home to fill his night with and headed out to his car. Traffic was always a nightmare when he headed to work. He used to listen to books on tape and had even been trying to learn Japanese for a trip he and Sarah had planned for Japan. He no longer bothered with that stuff, he didn't even listen to the radio. Instead, he sat in the car for almost an hour listening to the sounds his car made, secretly hoping that the sounds were actually a bigger problem that could keep him from work. In his haze of bad thoughts and pointless dreams he suddenly remembered it had been a year ago today. Sarah had disappeared unexpectedly one year ago today. The tears finally began to fall, she was really gone.