12.

"Excuse me? Old enough? Do what you want? Can't tell you what to do?" She looked at me, giving me the intense 'what did you just say?' look. She scoffed, "You must be joking, Edson. Gilbert. Francis."

I gulped, "Don't use my full name so easily. And you know exactly what I just said, I will do what I want to do because you're not someone who can tell me what to do."

"Yes I can-"

I interrupted her, "No, you cannot. You're not my actual mom, you are just Clarence Francis. A random woman who married my dad." I let out a big sigh, "You're not actually committed to this family all your lifetime like my dad and my actual mom."

She stayed quiet for a hot minute, her eyes looked teary. "I love your dad and I love you and your sister, Mary. As if you two are my own children. And this is what I get from marrying your dad?" She swayed her one arm that wasn't occupied.

She walked out of the aisle, wiping her eyes. She walked to the front of the store, now at the checkout. I followed her of course, we both didn't say anything to each other. She looked like she gave up on everything. I regretted saying such things towards her, but it was all true, so why ignore it?

The drive back home was awkward, in the car all you could hear was: the car itself, breathing, and stuffy noses. All of it was toxic, I felt like I could die at any second if I tried to say anything at all.

As soon as we got back, dad was sitting at the front porch. We both got out of the car, Clarence opened the door of the car, leading to the backseats, to grab the three grocery bags.

Clarence walked towards the front porch, dad stood up to give her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled weakly, "So, did you guys get to bond at all while at the store?" He rested his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded, "yeah, we sure did. I'm quite excited for tomorrow, just as much as he is." She said, the bonding thing started when we first entered the grocery store but broke back down after that fight we had in that one aisle.

He nodded his head slowly, "That's good, and I'm sure that we are all excited."

"When does Mary get signed out of the hospital?" Clarence asked, "This friday sadly." He answered along with a sigh. "So. She won't be able to come to the carnival tomorrow?"

He shook his head as a response, "Well- she doesn't need to know that we went to the carnival when she gets signed out." Ted patted Clarence on the shoulders, "I will take those bags from you." Ted lowered his upper body to get ahold of the handles of the three bags.

"I'm fine carrying the bags inside." She pulled the bags away, "I insist." He answered back, grabbing the bags from her this time. They walked inside of the house, stocking up the cabinets and fridge.

I was already inside of the house, in my bedroom to be more specific. I sat on my bed to take off my shoes, placing them beside my nightstand. I leaned forward, resting my head between my two hands.

I sighed, hearing clocks working away with their clock hands. Clarence and my dad fiddling with plastic bags, and the complete silence in my room. They all made me feel tense. I feel like death, the type of death that tends to drive people insane. There wasn't much for me to do anymore, I guess school was the only place and thing that kept me sane all this time without actually noticing it.

I straighten out my back, gliding my fingers between each strand of hair. I took a glimpse of my surroundings before getting out of my room.

"Dad." I called out, seeing dad and Clarence putting the groceries away.

"Yes, Edson?" He answered back, paying no attention to me, "Can we do something? I have nothing to do and I'm really bored to the point I could die at any time." I sighed, I was exaggerating a bit but it was true though. I sense that death is right behind the door, either front or back door.

"You could study for that one quiz that you have next week." He glanced at me for a second before looking back at the grocery bags, pulling out the grape juice.

I groaned, stomping back up the stairs as if I just became a five year old having a fit.

I could hear dad's voice whose voice was once clear, turning out to be more muffled while I walked back up the stairs. As soon as I got back into my room, I grabbed my papers that were needed for the quiz, from my bag.

Studying was the one thing that I hated doing during the school year. Worth doing but for me specifically, it was a waste of time. I tend to forget all my stuff right after I finish studying. So why study? Why do something that isn't actually worth it? Things I tell myself almost every time I study, I'm not sure why but I sometimes enjoy studying. Weird to say, I know...

I honestly could be playing games on my pc, but no. I am here sitting on the hardwood floor, scanning through packets; I would staple papers, that is about one topic, together. Why? To stay organized, one of the best solutions that I came up with a week after the beginning of the school year. It honestly became a thing that I do now, my teachers were questioning me when I first started doing such things. But they are used to seeing me staple papers; The perfect time to do so was at the end of the day, I would sometimes do it in the beginning of the day; Only if I have organized the papers beforehand.

It's been about 20 minutes since I first started scanning through the packets. Dad came into my room, knocking on the door frame.

"Hey, kiddo. How's it going?" He asked, almost standing on his toes to see what I'm looking at.

"Studying everything that I currently have. I might just be wasting my time anyway since I don't have the worksheets from this week or the other weeks." I sighed, putting one of the packets to the side to stretch.

"Took my word then. Dinner is gonna be done in 21 minutes." He gave me a heads up before going into his and now Clarence's room.

I nodded my head slowly, what is it that we could be having for dinner anyway? Clarence is probably the one cooking; Dad was a terrible cook so he never bothered cooking after mom died, instead he would order us food.

My body was stiff, head to toe. Sitting on the floor was a terrible idea but was a way for me to stay focused on studying. I went downstairs, seeing Clarence in front of the stove that had a pot full of boiling water.

"What's for dinner?" Talking to her was almost a mistake, I felt uncomfortable just by being around her.

"Spaghetti and meatballs." She answered, and she poured a box of spaghetti into the boiling water.

"When are you going to start the

meatballs?" I looked for the other pot but a much smaller one and there it was; It was empty and was even pushed to the side. "Right now." She looked at me for a

quick second before opening a can of tomato sauce and getting a bag of frozen meatballs.

"Are you upset with me?" I asked as I watched her cook.

She stayed silent for a little bit before replying back, "No." She replied coldly. She wasn't the best at lying especially when you can read her like a picture book.

"I know you are, don't have to lie about how you feel." I sighed.

She gave me the side-eye, "If you want me

to be truthful. Then yes, I am upset with

you."

I nodded, I wasn't sure how to respond to that except for, "Suck it up." She looked at me with disbelief, "Do

you mind?" She asked, her tone of voice

changed.

I blinked rapidly before leaving the kitchen. Did I really just say that out loud? I felt a little bit embarrassed but such a thing passed by without me noticing.

I sat on the couch that was in the living room, I eventually laid down on it; Staring at the ceiling. The ceiling felt tall in a way, but it was purely just a feeling. The ceiling had stains but other than that it was purely white. I examined the stains that were on the ceiling, they were strange stains, they looked a bit like a smudge of a liquid; A gloomy yellow along with bits of brown and red.

How strange...