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Magenta

November 28th, 2019

BEEP! BEEP!

Grey reactively rose from her bed and touched the precise section of the phone on her nightstand to shut it off, having heard the same early wake up call thousands of times. The time on her phone read 6AM, as she couldn't risk getting up later for fear of missing school. The only days where she could really sleep were holidays and most of the summer, weekends were a possibility, but never a guarantee. The reason why her phone remained set to the school wake up hour on November 28th, a holiday, was because Thanksgiving Day held much responsibility for Grey. 

Ever since she turned thirteen, Grey was assigned new responsibilities by her parents that had only increased as she aged. This included taking her hourlong walk to school and back because the bus didn't travel to her area deep in the snow and fog, making everything nice around the house for family that her parents never wanted Grey to meet, and the occasional extra chore such as Thanksgiving dinner. Her father Vito and mother Scarlet were always involved in something important, ranging from maintaining their lifestyle to pursuing their own interests. Either path would leave Grey stranded in the crossroads, reassuring her that the beliefs she had about her birth were true. 

Those beliefs all centered around one reality, the truth being that Grey was a horrible mistake. 

That belief was centered inside the girl's brain like a tumor, suckling away at her image over mountains of time. The demands of her parents were sometimes to "build character," or to "help her gain a sense of responsibility," but every perceived unreasonable task was an extra acupuncture needle to her skin. If at any point she expressed a single shred of concern, Vito Caliendo would step forward and remind Grey about how he personally assisted in "building the house she now stands in," he "assembled the bed where she sleeps," and how he and her mother have done everything in their power to make life for their daughter the best that it can be. 

Sometimes her father's remarks would convince Grey temporarily, but for the Thanksgiving of 2019, she chose to block out any attempt at connection that Vito or Scarlet tried. The only thought that stayed in her head was one of clock hands slowly descending, eventually signaling that she could go back in her bed and force herself to sleep. The seemingly always exhausted Grey slowly crawled out of her slumberous state, holding a blanket to cover herself in case she was being observed. She extended her leg to close the bedroom door before dressing herself, covering her bare body with an oversized white shirt and a pair of sweatpants. 

Assuming that her parents were nowhere to be found, Grey freely roamed around the house in her minimal layers, beginning to set everything out for the once upcoming event. She would usually retreat upstairs once the family arrived for the big feast, Grey's presence being unknown to most of them as they ate "her mother's" yearly improving dinner. Vito and Scarlet would buy the turkey and accessories when they drove out to the popular markets near Denver, but Grey would usually be asked to make the meal for over twelve people. It was knowledgeable to the immediate family that Grey's cooking abilities far overshadowed Scarlet or Vito's, which made the latter two eager to add another task to their daughter's list. 

After preparing the turkey for roasting, Grey chose to take a break and play a few rounds of Armed Reaver, checking the team's group chat to see if anyone was online. The first thing she saw was that Juicyclit had been active, which meant that everyone was most likely up as well from his constant messages and pinging of Morgan.