Underneath the clouds

VIII

The warping room made her eyes hurt. She watched as the ground seem to crackle, leaving black, and grey streaks in the wood. She felt like she was unable to breathe, only lasting for hours on one single shallow breath. Silence seem to occupy the house, with the occasional crackling of something snapping. The air felt heavy, and smelled metallic. Jolin breathed in, not getting the relief of getting to breathe properly, instead she smelled smoke and blood, felt mucus piling up in her airways. Crawling down the stairs, she felt a humongous weight on her shoulders, chains on her ankles. Despite it being dark, with no light, she could feel the invisible fire cooking her skin. It seemed like she crawled for hours until she reached a door. Opening it, Jolin stepped outside, finally having the ability to breathe. Looking back, the house she was trapped in was no longer there, and the sky rained ashes. Walking into the ruins, dust and ash flew up as she stepped down. This town seemed long abandoned, with gigantic holes in the ground, and half collapsed houses. The sky was black, but on the horizon was a tint of blue, but it stretched on forever, never expanding. Suddenly, Jolin's skin felt cold. Goosebumps trailed up and down her body, as she shivered violently before collapsing.

Quickly, she forced her eyes open. She was in her bed, the sheets covering her whole body. Nobody was fond of nightmares, usually everybody else would wake up sweating and screaming, but Jolin didn't make a sound, she only woke up. She was always self conscious about what was going on, and what she experienced... it couldn't be real. Contemplating whether she should get up or stay laying down, a knock at her door made her lazily drift her head to the side to look. Opening it silently, her father stood. "Are you up sugar cube?" She groaned, stretching her back. "Yeah...?"
"Oh, good... c'mon get up. Get dressed."
"What for?"
"We're going to go to your Grandma Lynn's house. Your mom's going to meet us there." Jolin held back a sarcastic groan. "Oh yeah..." silently she got out of bed, lazily walking to her dresser. While she opened her drawer, she caught sight of her skin. She glared in shock as the patch of skin had turn a very light blue. "What the hell...?" Jolin felt worried. She touched it, upon contact she was surprised it didn't sting. It just felt like her normal tan skin. Grabbing a long sleeve, and some shorts she quickly, and quietly got ready, sliding her socks on. Once she had the long sleeve on, she pulled it over the patch of skin, hiding it underneath her orange knitted shirt. Running her fingers along the slight bumps on her clothing, she analyzed her outfit in the mirror. Her jean shorts seem to fit her just right. "It's going to be hot today right?" She asked. "I believe so." Silently Jolin cursed. Looking at her sleeves. "If I have to roll one up, than I will." She said, sliding down the hallway with her socks. Quickly, she brushed her teeth, and rushed downstairs to the other bathroom to put her hair up. "Are you ready?" Jeffery asked, to which Jolin jumped out from the hallway with her shoes and outfit on. "You sure you want to go in that?" Absentmindedly, she nodded. "Alright..." Jeffrey said grabbing his car keys, opening the garage door. Passing by "her" beaker, Jolin looked as she raised an eyebrow, realizing that the fluid was now an entirely a different color.  Instead of stopping she continued to walk, getting into the van. Staring at his whole setup, she wondered what he was making. Pulling out of the driveway, and starting the drive to Grandma Lynn's Jolin stared out the window, watching blindly as the houses past. "So...?" She heard her dad say. "So... what?" Jolin furrowed her eye brows. "Are you going to make fun of my stickers?" Another ping of guilt hit her, making her slouch, looking off into the distance. "No..." she said quietly, gazing off into the blank parts of her mind. Grandma Lynn lived on the "Richer" side of Riverside. Half of the time people that lived there had mansions to live in, and the other half had half mansions they took care of. Not only were they rich, they were entitled... beating down people that even had a cent less then them. They all thought they were some kind of god, the next Jeff Bezos to launch a spaceship, when in reality, they never had to work a day in their life, either they had it handed down to them, or they just somehow got it, and kept it. Grandma Lynn, Jolin thought, was different. She was one of the nicer people in that part,  despite her mansion, with a stunning backyard, she still cared about the environment, unlike the others who still threw trash on the side of the road, despite the law that had been passed years prior. The fee was just like giving up a quarter for them. Soon they pulled into the driveway. Jolin hopped out, seeing her mother's black vehicle on the other side of another car. She jogged up to her Grandma's double door house, and rung the door bell. Jolin cringed a little when her older cousin, Emily opened the door. "Why are you here?" She scowled. "Same reason you are." She rolled her eyes, pushing past her. Even though Emily was only about a few months older than Jolin, she thought she was superior to all the kids, despite the leadership skills not being there. She untied her shoelaces, watching with disgust as Emily nearly didn't let her father in. Finally giving up, she went walked down the hallway down to the huge living room. Taking his shoes off as well, Jeffery looked down the hallway, seeing everybody celebrating the six year olds birthday. Loosely trailing her dad, Jolin watched as he marched right in with confidence. Before going down the hallway she heard a quiet knock from behind her. Opening the door, she saw Kimberly's mixed eyes staring at her. "Oh hey!" She let them in with ease, closing the door behind them. "You should be the person that answers the door more often." Kimberly said, handing her mother the present. "Usually Emily would try to smash my glasses." Kimberly took her flip flops off. "Yeah... she was rude to me too..." Jolin talked with her as they walked down the hallway. Immediately, the bright lights hit their eyes, and the loud buzzes of conversations threw them off balance. "All the kids are probably here." Kimberly stated, looking through the crowd. Kimberly and Jolin were always the outsiders. And they both knew that both of their fathers were always cursed upon. Especially when it came to Uncle Zack, and Jolin's dad. Zach worked for the government, and had a tight schedule, and for some reason had a tight grudge against his younger brother in law, even though Angelica and Jeffery were never married. They both gazed off into the crowd of mixed outfits and suits, Jolin pulling on Kimberly's sleeve. "I have to show you something..." she whispered into cousin's ear. Quickly Jolin pulled Kimberly aside, pulling her down a hallway, and into a bathroom. Shutting the door and turning the light on, Jolin started to roll up her sleeves. "W-what?" Kimberly shook. Jolin narrowly looked up her, seeing the absolute confusion in her face. "Okay, wait... I trust you enough to tell you this... but remember when I told you that my dad is starting have a breakthrough?" Kimberly silently nodded. "Well, he actually is... and last night I spilt some on me because I was curious... and look." She pulled up her sleeve all the way, and turned over her arm. "Woah..." Kimberly, looked at her very light blue skin. "Does it hurt?"
"No... surprisingly." Kimberly rubbed her finger along the blue skin. "It doesn't feel weird either... like no bumps, it just blends right in with your normal skin." Jolin pulled her sleeve over it. "It's crazy right?" Kimberly silently nodded, opening the door. "How come you won't tell your dad?"
"Because then he'll know that I went through his stuff... and obviously I don't want him to know that."
"Alright fair... but I think you should tell him still..." Jolin groaned, looking back to the party. "I don't know... I don't think I will..." Kimberly shrugged pushing her glasses back up on her nose. "Whatever... your call." They walked back to the crowd, finding their mothers. Sherilyn was in a corner talking and drinking out of a red plastic cup. Surprisingly, a fair share of the Martin family had people in or out of the military. Sherilyn, Lucas, and Derek were all in the military at some point. Her younger brother Lucas was in the Navy, and her older brother Derek was in the Air Force. Noticing that he mom was talking with her siblings, Kimberly decided to go outside instead of bothering her mother and her brothers. Angelica was with Jeffery talking to her oldest sister; Jackie, a police officer, and a sheriff. Next to her was Zack, who kept giving Jolin's dad the stink eye, as he listened to what his dear sis had to say. After giving it a little bit of thought, Jolin could see why they were so out all the time. Most of the family had been in the military, and survived, like her grandfather who was in the infantry, and Grandma Lynn had been a nurse, and both were retired. But Angelica was a lawyer, not the best, but still... and then, there was Jolin's dad, a wannabe scientist. Jolin always had an uneasy feeling about Uncle Zack, therefore she didn't trust him, plus he worked for the government, and hid all their secrets. Jolin never trusted the government, she was pretty sure it was corrupted, hiding many things from their citizens. Although, maybe for a good reason, but she still didn't accept it. She believes the government assassinates anyone who gets too smart. And Zack is part of the government. Shyly, Jolin stood next to her mother, listening in on the conversation. Jeffery seemed extremely intrigued and happy that Zack hadn't made a passive aggressive comment yet. Yet. Jackie kept talking to Angelica as her father kept looked at the one who was speaking. Suddenly, Zack spoke. "So, uh... Jeffery?" His voice was deep, and intimidating. "What are you doing nowadays?" Zack tilted his head. Every time at parties, he'd ask the same question. Jolin always wondered why. "Oh, I actually have happen to have a little breakthrough, and I'm creating something so revolutionary, it's just going to be so amazing." Zack's face lit up, softening a little. "Really?" Despite being a scientist Jeffery couldn't talk like one, or he chooses not to. "What's the idea?" He tried to fish the words out of him, narrowing his eyes, his rings sparkling in the light. "It's classified, but once it comes out, it's going to be... so beneficial." Zack scoffed. "Huh? Really?" He smirked sipping from his cup. Giving it no thought, Jolin squeezed through, running outside to Emily trying to steal Kimberly's glasses. "C'mon I need these." Kimberly whines keeping two firm hands on the temples of her glasses. Shaking her head, Jolin ran up to them, pushing Emily away, and making sure Kimberly's glasses didn't fall. "She's being such an A-hole."
"When isn't she?" Jolin asked, which sparked a little laughter in Kimberly. Walking inside, Jolin shut the sliding door. "Listen, if I'm being completely honest... the only best thing about birthday parties, is the cake, or the treats. Not the people." Kimberly sighed resting on the island in the kitchen. "Agreed." Jolin groaned as she looked at the crowd which seemed to be increasing by a steady rate. "And I feel like this party isn't going to end anytime soon..." Kimberly looked at the crowd. "Agreed..." she groaned.

After about two hours of nonstop boredom they finally got to the cake, to which it only took about 30 minutes to hand out pieces. Now was a good time to leave. Sherilyn left, and so did Angelica, along with Jeffery. The moon was high in the sky, somewhat lighting up the dark night. It was ten o'clock, and Jolin felt her eyes getting so heavy. Soon, she found herself in her bed, yawning until she melted away into a deep sleep.