the kids are depressed

•ELOHOR

"Elohor wakes up with a girlfriend..."

Elohor didn't wake due to her usual nightmares. At least not tonight anyway—this time it was a dream. She was falling endlessly and she awoke almost at the point of her destination.

"What's wrong with this one?" Sharon was already awake and judging by the bubble gum in her mouth, Elohor knew she'd been awake for a while. "Your usual nightmares?" Sharon cocked a side of her upper lip up in a way that Elohor would have found perfectly attractive if she wasn't disappointed with the ending of her dream—she really wanted to see where it ended. Was she going to die and never wake up in the real world or was she going to discover another portal?

"What's the time?" She asked before clearing her throat.

"It's the anime movies you've been watching—Shebi I've told you about it and how demonic it can be when you get obsessed with it," Sharon made a noise with the gum that sent irritation down Elohor's spine.

"What's the time?" Elohor asked one more time—this time she was wide awake.

"You're still angry with me aren't you?—I told you that he was only going to flex me," Sharon stopped pressing her phone and turned to Elohor with a cheeky smile on her face, ignoring Elohor's question for the second time.

"I really just want to know what the time says."

"Then check it yourself," Sharon made a long hiss before chewing on her gum in anything but silence. Elohor was irritated, but she ignored the girl and turned to their wall clock that screamed, "REPLACE ME!", she still had an hour to get ready before the bus came.

"Good morning, babe," she fought out of her lips before getting up and winced when her polite greeting was reciprocated with a louder hiss. She turned to Sharon for a second and sucked her breath in for a second. "What's the problem this time?"

"You're the problem, Elohor—you like keeping malice—you like keeping grudge—just get out abeg!" Sharon responded like the typical Sharon: manipulative. She had an habit of disrespecting people and making them feel like she was the victim.

"I don't understand, how do I like keeping malice? Wasn't it me that spoke to you first? I asked for the time, I said good morning—how the hell is that considered malice?"

"Okay, now you're raising your voice abi?" Sharon dropped her phone and snapped her fingers in front of her like she was daring her girlfriend to say another word. "Say another rubbish there and I'll send you out of this place—I don't even know what you're still doing here—always giving me problem upon problem."

"Here we go again..." Elohor rolled her eyes before disappearing into the bathroom. She ignored Sharon's yelling about her, "here we go again" comment as she began to wonder how long she was going to take Sharon's disrespect for—all for mere accommodation.

When Sharon wasn't a manipulative and condescending person, she could easily be mistaken for an angel on earth and that was the part of her that Elohor fell in love with when she was introduced to her by Cathie, a friend of theirs who went to the same university with Sharon. Sharon was beautiful and full—just how Elohor liked her girls and it helped a lot that she was financially sorted out because Elohor was too broke to survive any relationship even when as the Stud she was supposed to be the sole provider. Elohor was still in SS2 when she met Cathie who although already in her year1 in the university, made it clear from the beginning that their academic differences wasn't going to be a barrier—especially when Elohor was older despite her delay in education.

When her Christian grandmother who had found a lesbian magazine under Elohor's bed and who had been suspecting her granddaughter's male fashion and walking posture, finally confronted her and the girl who had been stoned from one of her hangouts with Sharon, had willingly admitted to the accusation.

"JESUS!" Elohor's grandmother had screamed in genuine terror. "I've been harboring a citizen of Sodom and Gomorrah under my roof?!" The woman had inquired dramatically before loath-fully asking her granddaughter to go in and pack everything she had in the room—until she got back to her senses and was ready to go for deliverance. This was the only family member she had after everyone from her father's side turned their backs against her and her younger sister ever since the government arrested their parents for fraudulent behavior. Sometimes, when Elohor closed her eyes well enough, she could still see the smile on their mother's face when the government official clipped the handcuffs in her hands—her mother hadn't said anything and neither had her father, not even a comforting word like, "it'll be fine" or "tell someone to call the family lawyer", they just kept quiet like they didn't know their daughter's lives were about to change drastically, I mean who was going to pull up for convicted fraudsters? No one, not even their family members.

"I'm sorry," Elohor forced a smile as soon as she got out the bathroom and thankfully, Sharon was in one of her good moods, so she let it slide easily with a smile.

"Where are you going?" She looked up from her phone when she noticed Elohor getting dressed up—it was rare to see Elohor dress up or even wake up early on a weekend.

Elohor thought whether to try out her luck by saying she was leaving the house for good this time, but she decided not to test her luck and told her the truth instead.

"Exposure thing? That's what schools call excursions these days?" She laughed at the her own thoughts like Elohor hadn't said the exact words to her.

"I know right?" Elohor just responded softly with a smirk on her face before pulling her phone out to check the time, which was when she saw her closest friend's unread message.

EFIL: HAVE THEY PICKED YOU YET?

ELOHOR: They should be here anytime from now.

She responded and continued a conversation with her girlfriend about who was supposed to buy the bag of satchel water for the day until the bus arrived and she finally left the house with a sigh. It was good to leave the stress even if it was for a minute.

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