A Simple Life (pt24)

Coleen was red.


Well, then it was Coleen. It was all Coleen.

She had been trying so hard not to think of Elizabeth.

Continue reading “A Simple Life (pt24)”

Until the day it stops and then what

A child’s birthday is a joyous celebration of beating the odds. An adult’s birthday is a stark look at how much to society they contribute, how much they consume.

He realized this when he was sixteen. His sister had just turned five. The happiness which suffused his family was in stark contrast to how they treated him five days before, when it was his birthday. Time to do what his family always wanted him to do. Take on the mantle, get married to the girl they had chosen, all of those things.

He hated it. More than he hated his sister. It wasn’t fair, she would soon enough be thrown into this cycle as well. She ought to enjoy birthdays while they still meant happiness.

“There you are!” The woman, his fiancée, grabbed his arm. He tried not to physically recoil.

His duty. His duty. He forced the most genuine smile on his face. It fooled everyone but himself.

When they did, there was more paperwork involved than they liked

“Do you think, after all of this is done, you and I could rule the world?”

Okay, there were two things about that statement. First of all, they had no idea how tempting that offer was going to be until they had heard it. The very thought was delicious. A point of preference: power. Finally, where no one else could tell them what to do, where to be, who they were.

The second aspect of that statement was the fact he had said that. The person they had expected it from the least. And they looked him over, wondering when he had become the strong willed individual who would say that by their side right now.

They looked down at their hands. They liked that idea. Liked it very much. They tried not to smile too widely. “Let’s finish weeding your dad’s garden first.”