Red Clouds

𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒊𝒖𝒎

"It's not a phase Mom!" Eden tosses her mascara bottle at her mother. "I am depressed and truly emo". Her mother, Zuri tells her husband, Aaron how messed up this family is. Eden Green was never meant to exist; she was a mistake leading to Zuri becoming a teen mom. Back at the ranch, Eden laid down on her bed staring straight into the eyes of Emilio, one of the Martinez twins on the poster above her. Downstairs, large, white, cotton candy clouds gently exit the mouths of the Greens. "We should sell her" mutters Zuri. "Bet" replies Aaron as he exhales a final puff of steam and moves towards the stairs. Her brother, Jule stealthily moves away from the stairwell having heard their entire conversation. "Whatever" Jule thinks. He never liked Eden anyways, and he couldn't wait for his 2 new twin brothers, Pod & Pen to be born. 

The next day at school, Eden contemplated whether on not to ask out her crush, Chad, to be her date for the semi dance in March. Chad was a tall, athletic, smart and hilarious guy with dark, lush hair that smelled of one of the most seductive smells, Axe Apollo. His eyes were a clean sky blue with golden specs although during the warm weather they took on a more greenish tinge. She knew this from long hours of staring straight into his eyes although her view occasionally glided down to what was south of his belt. It was no secret that she was unfocused and it comes as no surprise to anyone when she came home with a 53% average. Upon seeing her marks, her parents had a surprising reaction. "That's 53% higher than my average in High School," said Aaron, smiling. Her parents exchanged a glance that reminded her of how she looks at Chad. The tension in the room was so thick at dinner, could mistake it for Kim K. They all finished a delicious dinner of No Name Ramen Noodles with extra sodium and the kids began to clean up and load the dishwasher while Zuri pulled Aaron to the edge of the room. 

"I can't keep living like this" she explains. "Wut broski" he replies. "The trust fund is almost finished, we are gonna be broke" Aaron lifted his Supreme hat to get a better look at his wife. He smiled, exposing his gold grille "Imma take care of that" he said in a nasty smoker's voice. "We gonna sell..." His eyes glazed over for a second and then he blinked back to the real world. "Imma sell Eden" He adjusted his Lois Vuitton belt, checked the time on his Rolex and took a huge hit from his diamond-studded vape. "Aight, see ya later bish," he said with his head in a cloud and moved away from Zuri. Aaron moved up the stairs slowly, the wood creaking with every step he took because of his immense weight. He reached Eden's room and threw open the door. 

He was surprised at what he saw. The lights were off and the only source of illumination was the candle on a small little cupcake. Eden sang in a shaky voice "HaPPy bIRtHdaY tO mE" her throat catching on the last few notes. She then turned her head towards the monstrosity that was her father. Aaron, the nicotine-dependent lifeform that he was, forgot why he came in the first place, so he simply hit the WHOA and exited the room. He vaped as he walked down the stairs and then sat down on the couch. He was just beginning to change his pod from Cotton Candy to a CBD oil extract pod (his favourite) when Zuri entered the room with an enormous blunt in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. "Did you tell her Aaron?" Aaron nodded giving the impression that he did, when in fact, he was just letting Zuri know he approved of what she was holding. The dope couple smoked the night away, Eden cried her eyes dry, and Jule just watched. 

The next morning, Eden and Jule walked together to school in complete silence as opposed to the constant squabbling of most days. They approached the school and the two went to their respective classrooms, Eden into Mr. McDadi's Gr.8 class and Jule to Ms. Thompson's Gr.6 class. Usually, Eden loved Day 4's because then she could see Chad first thing in the morning. She was right. Chad stood in the doorway, his girlfriend Nadine standing beside him and holding his hand. Chad didn't notice her staring but Nadine did. "What are you looking at Egg?" Eden diverted her glance from the couple and stared at the ground. Her pulse quickened and she clenched her fists. Jule, observing as always, knew what was about to happen. "Eden hated being called Egg," Jule thought, shaking his head. "Let the games begin, and may the odds be ever in your favour" he quoted, then he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his ears as Eden took a deep breath in and opened her mouth.