I woke up to see crème walls, and curtains lit up by the sun. And to smell the fresh scents of bacon. Real bacon, not ham. Yummy. I heard a soft knock on my door. "Wake up!" followed by it opening. "Did I wake you up?" Clare walked in and sat by my side.

"No."

"Dang it! That was my intention!"

"Well, you have to fail sometime, Edwards."

"Here, I'll be out in a few minutes. I need to go do my 'morning routine'."

"You have a routine?"

"Yes, I have a routine! Just let it go in proper order! Geez, Clare!" I smirked at her, to hint that I was kidding.

"Ok, whatever!" She walked out the door as I climbed out of bed, grabbing my clothes.

…

Ugh. I still feel dirty. Showering in her shower. It's not right. Well, I guess it's the normal thing to do in a shower, but I'm not sure. I guess it's just a bit awkward. Brushing my teeth was WAY less awkward than showering. I guess that's one thing of hygiene that can't go wrong! What IS that on my neck? Oh. My. God. Clare… she gave me a HICKEY. I would laugh SOOO loud right now, but everyone would hear me. It's all purple, and reddish. How am I gonna hide this? Oh! I wrapped my towel around my neck, hiding the trophy of 'sucking'. If anything, I hope her mom doesn't see it.

…

I came out with wet hair, smelling like a—clean person. Clare heard the door open and came walking straight towards me. "My mom went out to church already, so you don't have to worry about getting in trouble! Goody- Goody."

I sighed. "I'm NOT a goody- goody! I just want to make sure your mom doesn't hate me!"

"I know, I know."

"Hey, Clare, you wanna see something that I found?"

"Oh no, what embarrassing picture of me did you find?" I took the towel off from around my neck. "Is this a consolation prize or something?" HAH.

Her face was shocked, eyes widened and all. "I did that?"

I nodded, "Yup! I can't reach THAT far down my neck!"

She rolled her eyes, taking the towel from my hand and wrapping it back around my neck. "I made breakfast, you can either eat it, or watch me eat it. Either one works."

"Uhhh- I think I'll just watch you eat it." I smirked, she gently hit me. "I was joking! Joking! I don't want you to abuse me more, I mean, look at what you've already done!" I said, gesturing to my neck. She moved the towel off of the marking and began to gently stroke it.

"I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm SURE you are."

"Hey! I'd hate to disturb you two lovebirds, but when I smell breakfast, I prefer to eat it." Darcy interrupted by her metabolistic needs of food. "Clare! Did YOU give Eli that marking?" She SAW it?

"Umm—No!" She tried to cover it up with a lie. But she's a really bad liar, I hope she knows.

"You see, I was wrestling, and the other guy hit me in the neck, and made a bruise, and-" I tried my best to spare Clare her embarrassment. She's received LOTS of it lately.

"Yeah, and I'm STILL waiting for the part where Clare jumps in and sucks your neck." Darcy said, dropping a pancake onto her plate.

"Darce!" Clare exclaimed.

"What, Clare? It's not like I'm gonna tell mom! Relax!"

Hmm, I don't think I should get into this… "Um, Clare. I think I should go. But have a good day, and, uh- call me later!" Well, one thing to do when things are getting weird, leave. It's as simple as that! It's EXACTLY what HE would do, except he left us with the house on fire, but hey! Anyways!

"Yeah, that'd be great!" She walked closer to me, and gave me a hug. "And I'll call you later, ok?"

"Yeah, sure thing!" I gently kissed her cheek, trying not to make it obvious to her sister, even though I knew she probably saw, but who cares?

"See, and THAT'S how Eli's little neck thing gets started!" HAH. Wow, Darcy's really into embarrassing Clare! I guess it's a sibling thing, huh?

"Darce!" She attacked back with a raised voice with an embarrassed face. Then she turned to me, "Bye, Eli!" She smiled, trying her best to contain herself. Hah.

"Darcy, Blue eyes." I greeted them goodbye, opening the door for myself, and walking out to Morty myself. Hah. It's amazing how she gets embarrassed so easily.

But where do I go now? I don't really have anything to do! I don't really wanna go home… perhaps I should go to the park… think of some happy times.

…

I remember being here 24 hours ago, except last time around, I came with a beautiful girl, and ended up with a ball being launched into my head. Hah. The most interesting things happen whenever I'm around her, don't they? I laid back, watching the clouds, and their movements. Reminiscing. 'Come on, Eli! Don't be afraid to go down the slide! Mommy will catch you!' 'Just keep pedaling! You're doing it! You're riding your bike!' 'What happened to mommy?' 'She went to a better place- up north.' I sat up. Remembering, weaknesses taking over my strengths, gravity crushing my lungs. Is that who I? Am I hallucinating? Why is she here? I thought she was… dead. "MOM?" The brown haired, green eyed, LOOKED JUST LIKE MY MOTHER, figure looked over. She didn't respond. But she looked away, and continued whatever business she was doing. It's either I'm crazy, or my mom came back to life! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY LIFE? As an instinct, let's walk towards the object of freaking me out, because of the impossibility! She sat down on a bench, and begun to write in a book. Her expression wasn't too happy. Why, WHY, HOW! That's SO my mother! Or I'm hallucinating, OR she has a twin sister! So many possibilities… My head, is about to explode. The nearer and nearer I came to the woman, the more and more she looked like my mom. I finally came to a stop, right in front of her, examining every little detail I could, and matching it to the pictures, and memories. I gulped. "… Mom?" I whispered. My heart skipped a beat. This is too weird.

The woman looked up, at first, her expression blank, looking up at me, then back down, then away, then back up at my face. A slight smile came onto her face. "Eli?" She dropped her pen and book and quickly brought me into a hug. This can't be real. I must still be asleep.

"MOM! I- I- I thought you were- you were-"

"Dead? UGH! I HATE your father!"

"Eh- Please don't call HIM that." I looked down, then back up to her. "What happened, and how are you here, and how is it like being dead? Because, I know this isn't real, so I might as well just imagine that it is." My breathing increased, running out of oxygen, moment is too overwhelming, even in a dream.

"Ok. I think it's time you knew the truth." She sat back on the bench, gesturing me to sit by her. "I come by here as often as my job allows me to, which is almost every other year. And whenever I come, I went over to your father's house to visit you, and tell you that I'm still here, I still exist!"

"So, HOW are you alive?"

"I was never dead." Her voice quivered. "A long time ago, your father cheated on me, with some skank at a club." Of COURSE he did. I rolled my eyes. "I got mad, and stormed off to your grandmother's house, and stayed there for about a week."

"And during the week you were gone… HE told me that you were dead."

"Precisely. He was never the smartest. But he said it because I told him that we were going to get a divorce. I never wanted to see him again. I wanted to take you with me, but he would do anything to keep me away from you." He took a deep breath. "He went to the doctors a few days before, and they told him he had some sort of brain damage, where he had sort of a bi-polar reaction, but he wasn't exactly bi-polar. He would have these HORRIBLE mood swings, then his friend convinced him that the solution was DRINKING, and that kinda helped. Well, not exactly helped, but he was always drunk, so he was always in one state of mind. Wait, no- stupidity. Whenever I would try to come back, I would end up with a couple of bruises, and cuts… But, I knew that one day, you would come back here. ONE of these days. But it only took you about 10 years.."

"But—he told me that you went to a better place- up north."

"Yeah, I was up with my sister, in Winnipeg. But, I decided to move back here. So I knew that I could find you." This is very overwhelming, and confusing- and—freaky. Too unbelievable… "So where have you been living?"

"The same place."

"With who?"

"Well, gramps has been here for the past two weeks. Other than that, I've been there alone for a few months, using his debit card to pay for some things."

"Debit card? Alone? Where was your IDIOT father."

"Mom, if anything, please don't call HIM that. Call him, HIM. Please. The term father is now made disgraceful because of him."

"Ok, but what happened?"

"I got him arrested." I shyly grabbed my neck, looking away.

"WHAT?" Her eyes widened. "Arrested?"

"Yup!"

"That's my boy! What'd he get taken in for?"

"He threw a bottle at me, so I called the cops for child abuse."

"Oh! Smart! I knew you got your wits from me, boy!" She smiled, then looked down towards my neck. MY NECK. OH NO. "Eli, sweetie, is that a hickey?"

My face turned a bright red, I could feel it. "Um-"

"No need to explain, she's probably a very nice girl. Who likes to suck on my son's neck…" She smiled.

"Yeah… she's generally a good girl, but-"

"But she's just bending the rules for my son, I see, I see!" This is one thing that I miss about her, how laid back and 'go with the flow' she is. "Do you want to come back to my house? I moved in a month ago, and you should see it!"

"Hmm… why don't you just show me tomorrow, I need to let all of this sync in…" I sighed.

"Ok, I'll come by your house tomorrow!" I nodded.

"Bye… mom." I haven't used this term in such a long time, it made me happy just thinking about it. Someone's face to look forward to after school, besides Clare, I mean. A role model. But this ALSO means that I have to kill my dad the next time I see him. Good. I guess you could just say that this isn't really your usual happy ending. But my life is just- So Goldsworthy!

The end?

You tell me.