Morning arrived the same way it always did, quietly and without a ceremony. Sunlight slipped through the window and stretched across the floor, warming the edges of the room before anything else had a chance to move. Outside, the world was already awake. Footsteps passed by, distant voices murmured, and the steady rhythm of life carried on as nothing unusual was waiting to happen.
A bear with an odd hue of yellow fur covering his entire body stirred awake, the sunlight bearing down his face. The light caught in his cyan eyes as they slowly opened, giving them a brief bright gleam before he squinted and turned his head away. He released a low breath, somewhere between a sigh and groan, as if waking itself was already tiring.
He lay there for a long moment, staring at the ceiling. Lean and slim for his kind, his frame filled the bed—and at a five-foot-seven he looked almost unremarkable at first glance. Many bears of his species were... different from him. Most were more taller, bulkier, more imposing—but not him. He had been born this way, with his two parents—or atleast one parent—passing along with his smaller frame. His expression carried a constant weariness, one that never quite left him—even after a full night's rest. It wasn't sadness exactly, nor anger, just the look of someone who has seen enough days blur together to stop expecting them to be different.
With a slow movement, he rubbed his eyes and sat up, shoulders slightly slouched, preparing himself for whatever the day had already decided to bring. Today, however, carried a different weight—his first day of college at a different state. He glanced at the clock, then at the neatly packed bag; he still had some time on his hands. Soon, he would have to leave, catch the train, and step into a world larger than the quiet apartment he had known all his life.
The journey will soon begin.