The Boy in Blue

Chapter 7

Light grew steadily outside until the curtains glowed just the same as stained glass. Eden stuck her head behind the fabric to survey what the day might bring. The road was slick with water, though the puddles remained quite still, no hint of rain still falling. Above the clouds were still grey but without the denseness of yesterday, allowing the tiniest patches of blue to form. She slipped off the screws of the window pane, and pulled it out, getting a faceful of misty air.

After a quick check that the bedroom door remained locked, she hopped out, almost slipping on a puddle she landed in. It heightened her consciousness, the little slip.

Her mind was buzzing as she steadied herself on the crunchy gravel and made her way up to the roof. It was foggy that dawn, the clouds diffusing against the first feeble rays of daylight to form a soft gentle yellow full of sweetness; even out on the roof she felt cozy, like she was under a blanket of honeysuckle dew. The clouds moved like the ocean, showing the first blue amid the whitish dove-grey and yellow, a medley of silvers that rippled outwards to adorn the sky.

She stifled a little yawn and took out her drawing pad, the A5 book once nestled deep in her pocket exposed to the damp morning. She brushed a little water off the plastic cover and flipped to her current page, pencil whipped out from the same pocket and placed onto her lap. She lifted her arm to check the time, before realising she had left her watch in her room.

She sighed, drawing a line at the corner where she usually wrote the date and time.

She would have to make do with her judgement.

She rested the sketchbook on her knee and stared at the sketch she had drawn a few mornings ago, the face framed with roughly drawn silky hair looking up at an angle, perhaps spotting something in the sky? She added a few more dishevelled strands of hair to the sketch, admiring her work. It wasn't perfect, but she thought it looked moderately alright.

She pondered about the model of her sketch, wondering if he was dreaming peacefully, warm under his blankets. She looked on Lucas as a mystery, one she wanted to figure out, but also one she was cautious of. They hadn't spoken much, the occasional light conversations and detentions together marking their friendship as maybe a little more than trivial. She hoped to get to know him better, maybe they could even reach a more admirable peak of friendship? She didn't know what it was about him.

A bird's cry alerted her of reality, the sun fully risen and the honeysuckle tone gone from the air. She scrambled off the roof and scaled down halfway, skipping the rest and hopping down onto the gravel. She rushed a few steps and tumbled down after her foot got caught, immediately pushing herself up. She eventually made it to her window, brushing off the gravel on her knees and palms before climbing back in hurriedly.

The phone bounced on her bed, perilously close to falling off the edge. The lock screen was still on from before she had thrown it, '7: 39' displayed on the front before it slowly darkened. Eden rushed to get dressed, pulling off her raincoat and stuffing it into her closet, slipping on the regulation senior uniform. Noises came from out the door, Eden grimacing as she realised her mother was home. She hastily opened her bedroom door, where she smelled Weet-Bix immediately. Nate was ready to go, her mum brushing Evie's hair and tying it into cute little pigtails.

"Go put your shoes on, hurry now"

Eden sat down at the island table and started eating her breakfast, sensing her mother standing up from her seat behind her.

"Eden"

She hummed in response, trying to finish her breakfast as fast as she could.

"Tell me. What's the time now?"

Eden clutched her spoon, glancing at the clock. Her face burned as she reported to her mother.

"8:00"

"And what time are you supposed to be getting to school?

"8:15"

The atmosphere in the room tensed, the sudden silence deafening. She tightened her grip on the cool metal, head down anticipating what was coming next. Her mother walked until she was behind her, stroking her hair.

"Respectful children...wake up early"

A tug. Pain flashed through her head, but her mother kept pulling.

"Especially if you are a girl. With a girl child as old as you are, I shouldn't have to do any of the work around here. At your age, I was waking up at 5, doing the work for my mother and looking after my useless brother till I made it to school."

She tutted and gripped harder, Eden's chin being lifted to the ceiling before eventually being let go. Her face remained motionless as her mother kept talking, no sense of emotion present.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying?"

She watched as her Mother stalked away and tended to her siblings, hugging them and helping them with their shoes.

She lifted her hand up to her face, using it's coolness to ease the heat on her face.

The sting barely registered, but she knew it would leave a mark soon. She found a small cut on her cheekbone from where her mom's nails had scratched her, most likely caught up in the middle of the slap. She returned to her room and started brushing her hair, smoothing it and forming it into a ponytail. The white ribbon was tied a little wonkily, but it served its purpose.

She sighed and began packing her bag, no use pondering about the impossible.

But sometimes she just desperately wanted to cut it all off.