Earth Can't Hold Us All

Clementine's POV: A Piece Of Yarn

June 2nd, 2080

Grounded coffee starts to smell repulsive after inhaling its sent for hours on end. Hinge looks at me with envy over my plush job, probably because I get to pour savory dark liquid into a clean mug over and over again, while he's sweeping crap off the bridges. But, I'm currently scrubbing a strange and stubborn stain off the inside of a toilet. I'm starting to regret not being grateful for having to smell coffee all day, now having to inhale the fresh sent of this business bowl.

He's probably meeting up with his pusher right now. Stan is the loser's name. His job is making this poison my boyfriend can't get unhooked from. Apparently he is the best pusher in the village, makes the best Grit than anyone else Hinge has told me. That's probably why he has such a high price on a mug of it. Hinge doesn't care though, he still blows all his money from hard work on a good high. Whatever. I should take my focus to this nasty stain that won't leave no matter how hard I scrub. Maybe I just need my mom to do it instead.

"Mom!" I shout, no reason to be quiet. The customers have left, so we've closed up for the night.

"Mom!" I try again.

"What?!" she shouts back from what sounds to be the kitchen.

"Come here!" I yell, my voice seems to echo from the walls of the toilet bowl.

"No, you come here!"

"The toilet needs you're expertise on cleaning!"

"Fine, I'm coming!" Mom shouts, ending with a sigh loud enough for me to hear. Her dragging footsteps drawing near.

"Look at this mystery stain. It won't go away," I complain. I'm still crouching in front of it.

"Move out of the way," Mom's face looks bitter and worn out, like her day was worse than a Slum-Side civilian's.  She happens to be a drama queen, over exaggerating on the little problems in life. She ruthlessly scrubs and pours soap on the stain, using all her muscle that she can muster. Her mouth curled in concentration.

"Jeez, so serious," I judge. "Need help?"

"Just go home, get to bed," she demands. "You're off work, it's late."

"Kk," I smirk, now I'm free to roam this Floating Village. I turn my heels to leave the bathroom.

"Hey, one more thing, Clementine," she stops me with her stern voice. She looks me in my eyes and stops scrubbing.  "You are not allowed to 'visit' Hinge tonight."

"I wouldn't go see him so late, mom," I raise my voice's tone to seem offended. "That would be lecherous!"

"Yes, it would." She gives me a suspicious glare, then turns her back to me, continuing her toilet cleaning.

I calmly walk out of the café, letting the sound of my shoes walking to the door sound gentle and sleepy.

"Goodnight, mom!" I yell before opening the glass door. The smell of the salty ocean travels through my nose, the fresh air and the subtle wind fill me up with a sense of freedom. I cling to that feeling as I run down the bridges. No one passes me on my way to where I'm headed, everyone has gone to their homes for sleep and I'm out here all alone. The moon and a few bridge lights brighten my dark path ahead of me. I run up the bridges for a bit, stopping at a shoe shop because this building is two stories and has a ladder running up its side. The owner likes to sit on his roof in the mornings, and I like to use his ladder at night, it is quite helpful when its my time to be a member of the Girl Gang, that is when I stay at my mom's house on weekdays. Tomorrow is Monday, today and yesterday I was supposed to be at my dad's house in the Slum-Side of our village. But we got in a fight about how I didn't want to work in his run-down restaurant, and I stormed out of his place the moment I became worried that I might stab him with one of his fish butchering knives while full of malice.