; to the golden guard ღ

Chapter Three

"So, you two skipped school. Again."

She brought the matter up without beating around the bush. There was no, "So, where have you two been?" Or, "What time do you call this?" Or anything along those lines.

Their mother—Odalia Blight was her name—stood directly parallel to her two oldest children with her arms crossed. Dressed in her usual violet blouse, white petticoat, navy pants, and grey boots that she often wore, her piercing blue eyes glared daggers into the twins.

Edric and Emira stood in silence, shamefully staring down at their respective shoes. They'd had this conversation with their mother a million times, but it never got any easier to form a response.

"Uhhmm... Mayyybe?" Edric forced a grin and shrugged, hoping to lighten the mood. It didn't work, unsurprisingly. It never did. "Maybe," Odalia repeated. There was silence before her calm demeanor snapped.

"What do you mean, maybe?" She hissed, balling her hands into fists. "What in the Boiling Isles is going on with you two lately?! You both used to be so well behaved! You used to be perfect role models for your sister! Now what are you doing? Goofy around, playing silly pranks?!" Her face was getting red with anger.

Edric and Emira tried not to make a fuss of the spit that had attacked their faces during their mother's rant.

"WE. ARE. BLIGHTS." She continued. Her voice suddenly got louder, if that were possible. It wasn't easy on the ears, that was for sure. "We have a reputation to uphold! Nobody is going to take us seriously when you two're out here making our name look like a joke!"

The female twin glanced at her brother for a moment, biting her lip. "M-Mom, we're really sorry. Honestly, we are—"

"Sorry means nothing when your actions don't prove it." Their mother gripped the bridge of her nose, "Neither of you will get into a coven at this rate," She muttered, mostly to herself, "Go to your rooms. I don't want to see either of you for the rest of the night."

With some quiet murmurs of agreement, and apologies, the siblings headed to their individual bedrooms. Once Edric's door had shut, he slid down it and hugged his knees to his chest. "Man, this sucks." He grumbled, "We aren't allowed to have any fun."

He stared blankly at his bedroom floor, at the random specks of dust and disregarded clothing. He rose to his feet and quickly gathered up the dirty laundry with the intention of putting it in the laundry basket. Can't be perfect with a messy bedroom, right? He thought, exiting his bedroom after checking the hallway to make sure his mother wasn't roaming nearby.

He made his way across the hall and to the bathroom, opening the door and tossing his clothes carelessly into the basket. He paused as he was about to leave, staring at the basket for a few seconds. With a sigh, he walked over and tucked his clothes in neatly, only then did he feel it was acceptable for him to leave.

He turned and exited the room, closing the door behind him before promptly returning to his own bedroom. When he was back in the privacy of his room, he removed his concealment stone. With a poof, he went from his "perfect" self to his real self.

His green hair had been messily pushed back with a black hairband, a similar shade to his black-rimmed glasses that sat near the bottom of his nose. He was still dressed in his sleepwear; a yellow shirt with a campfire on it and grey sweatpants—He hadn't been bothered to get dressed that morning, or any morning, for that matter.

Edric sat down at his desk, which had a conveniently placed mirror for him to stare into while he got lost in thought. Why do we have to be so perfect all the time, anyway? He wondered, I get we have a reputation, or whatever, but at this point I barely even feel like a real person anymore. I feel like...

He blinked a few times and frowned. He stared at his reflection and felt his insides bubble with disgust. Titan, he really didn't like himself. He hated his pathetic excuse for facial hair that he had been too lazy to shave off—He hated his laziness. He hated how he looked with his stupid glasses. He hated how his hair never looked right, so he gave up trying. He hated how tired his eyes looked. He hated himself.

One thing he did like about the whole "being perfect" thing was the fact that he got a concealment stone out of it. He could just hide away his insecurities and pretend they didn't exist!

The thing was, all of these things about his appearance weren't even inherently bad. If it were anyone else, Edric wouldn't think twice. He may have even gone as far to say it was slightly attractive. But because it was him, he just couldn't stand it. It all looked so wrong, so ugly, so imperfect.

The teenager brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes, stealing a glance out of his window to see how dark it was and quickly deciding it was time for bed.

He climbed onto his mattress without bothering to change out of his previous night's sleepwear, grabbing his scroll to quickly check his Penstagram notifications before he went to sleep. He replied to a few messages and comments, then paused, biting his lip.

I wonder if... He went to the search bar and slowly typed in the username of the person who dumped him a while back. Of course, they blocked me. He thought, feeling defeated but not exactly surprised.

Ed closed his scroll and let his hands fall onto his stomach. He stared at the ceiling and sighed heavily. "Just let it go, Edric. It's your own fault that they're not interested in you anymore." He told himself, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart.

With one final sigh, he turned over onto his side and tried to get some sleep.