You wake up before you're alarmed.

No sunlight picks through your window.

It's far too early for that.

You're confused for just a moment, and then you hear another explosion.

It echoes in the night, rattling the walls in the window of your apartment.

This is not the first bomb you've heard, and it sounds far enough away that you know

the danger isn't imminent.

That surprises you a little bit, the fact that you recognized it's not close.

You realize you've now heard enough explosions to have a pretty good ear for them, and

when they're close enough to worry about.

It's weird how quickly life in a war zone with them is just life.

You get up, there's no sense trying to get back to sleep.

As you stumble over to the kitchen to grind some coffee, you hear the crack of rifle fire.

It's distant too, far enough away that it sounds almost like firecrackers, but you know

it's not.

You fill the grinder, put on the top and press down.

Nothing happens.

You realize, belatedly, your sleep fogged brain that the powers out again.

You wonder which of the dozen different rebel and insurgent groups in your state might be

responsible.

You don't even bother to get at your phone and check the news.

It doesn't really matter, and you've got shit to do.

...