Aletheia

Chapter 2: Claire

SOFT LEAVES TICKLED THE SIDES OF Claire's ears as she slept. By the time she woke the entirety of her shoulder length dark brown hair was covered in daisies, all intricately woven in with small bits of grass and leaves. She half opened her left eye, staring up at the clouds above her in confusion.

"What..." she mumbled, rolling over, away from Ebony's outstretched hands.

"Noooo! You'll ruin it!" Ebony moaned, leaning back on her heels, pouting.

"Ruin... ruin what?" Claire asked, her eyes still half closed. Her hand carefully patted her hair, grimacing, "Ebony!"

"You fell asleep!" Ebony said, crossing her arms, "What else was I supposed to do?" Claire reached up and began pulling out the flowers.

"Wait! Don't take them out!" Ebony moaned.

"Don't take them out? You do realize I'm going to have to see other people with this in my hair right?" Claire said, carefully pulling out one of the flowers and examining it.

"Plllleeaasseee!" Ebony said, sticking her lip out. Claire sighed, there was no way around Ebony's pouting face.

"Fine, fine, I won't touch the rest of them." Claire rolled back onto her back, staring up at the clouds. Such a beautiful day and all she wanted to do was sleep. She could already feel Ebony's little fingers sticking the flowers Claire had pulled out back in her hair.

"Where's Will?" she asked, still staring at the cloud. She swore it looked like a tree, but then it shifted and morphed into something completely different and Claire gave up.

"I dunno, he went off somewhere in town or something," Ebony said getting up.

"Is it time to go?" Claire asked, not actually wanting to know the answer.

"Mom said be back before dusk and the sun is already setting," Ebony said, crossing her arms as if she was the older, more responsible one.

"Okay, okay! I am getting up! I am getting up," Claire said, rolling over again. She thrust herself up into a sitting position, but only fell back down into the grass. Ebony erupted with laughter. Claire threw her arms up with her, and got enough force to pull herself upwards.

"Right, let's go back," Claire said, handing Ebony her two baskets of strawberries, then picking up her own.

Claire trudged behind her sister as Ebony sprinted away, jumping back and forth between the bushes of half ripened strawberries. Claire remembered when that had been her, frolicking through the fields, not having a care in the world.

Soft drops of rain began to fall on the top of Claire's head. She brought her eyes up to the sky, watching carefully as the clouds clumped above her and released every drop of water they had. They used every ounce of strength to squeeze out all of their existence. Claire had often dreamed of being a cloud, drifting lazily above the world, without any worries.

Shaking the droplets from her hair Claire quickened her pace to catch up with her already distant sister.

~

"What did he say?" Will's muffled voice called from the kitchen. Claire answered with a groan, not moving her head from it's supine position on the raggedy couch. The couch was older than even Will, it had been the first thing their parents bought when they moved into the house. It was the only furniture they had for almost a year. In truth, it was probably one of the most expensive things they owned.