Mortality

Prologue: The Letter

"Brooke, can you come down here?"
"Wake up, Cole."
"Lyle, where are you, son?"
"Felix, I need you."
"Oh Gwenny, come here a sec."
"Rachel Joy, what the hell did you do now?"
"Amara, my beautiful girl, this is yours."
"Luther Kyle Adams, get in here now!"
"Zekie?"
"Amethyst, this is for you."
"Nataliya, Bailey, come here.

Brooke looked up from the book she was reading. She went to the staircase.
"What do you need, mom?"
"Just come down here!" Her mom yelled back.
God, what else could she want, Brooke thought. She hoped her mom wouldn't be giving her more things. She was so tired of being spoiled and thrown gifts left and right, all because she got some stupid scholarship for some stupid science fair award. Her mom had already bought her a new car, a new phone, new clothes, new everything! It was so annoying!
"What do you need, mom?" Brooke asked, grabbing an orange.
"Another letter came in the mail. Thought you might like to open this one." Her mother said, handing her a bright green envelope with a white stamp.
Brooke took the letter. "Let me guess, a new house?"
"Oh shut up," her mom pipped back. "Nothing wrong with commending my little baby!"
"God mom, you are so annoying!"
"Mother's can be annoying, it's the only happiness we get!"

Cole fell off the hammock he had been napping on and hit the floor with a crash.
"What the hell!" He shouted, picking himself up.
"Couldn't help it, you looked so peaceful, I just couldn't resist!" Cole's dad was bent over in laughter.
"Really funny, dad. Did you need something?"
"Not really. But there's some weird blue thing in the mailbox. It's got your name on it, but there's no way YOU would have a written letter!"
"Believe it or not, I do have the capability to process letters."
Cole walked through the house to the mailbox and picked up the bright blue letter with a red stamp.

Lyle walked out of the garage, sucking on his wounded finger that had just got slammed between two bike gears when his dad startled him.
"Yeah dad?" Lyle asked his dad, wrapping his finger in a bandage.
"Your mom sent you this letter."
"Mom?"
"Yeah" Mr. Clark said, forlorn. "I'm just gonna... go to the store. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm fine", Lyle said, opening the purple letter.

"That's new", Felix scoffed.
"Shut up, and check the mail," Felix' roommate Tara told him.
Felix scuttled to the mailbox, opened the lid, and took out the various bills and ads. Rummaging through the letters, he found a blue letter with an orange stamp.

"I've told you a thousand times to NEVER call me Gwenny again" Guinevere yelled from the car. She parked her bright pink sable in the garage and went inside.
"I will call you that until the day you die" her mother said when she entered.
"Yeah well, with that name, hopefully it's soon."
"Don't say that! Now, this letter came for you."
"And you didn't open it? What a miracle!" Guinevere grabbed the green letter and sat down.

Rachel looked up at her mother and took out her earphones.
"Did you say something?"
Rachel's mother went red in the face. "You need to listen to me! Why are you such a disrespectful brat?"
"Maybe because my mother is a loud bitch." Rachel said back.
Mrs. Vo slapped Rachel right across her face.
"You bitch!" Rachel spat out holding her hands. "Do I need to call child protective services?"
"How dare you threaten me! No child of mine will speak to me that way! I'm done. Get out!"
"Every time I do, you call the cops!"
"That's when you run away. You're leaving by my choice now!"
"So what you're kicking me out?"
Mrs. Vo opened the front door and motioned silently.
Rachel scoffed. "Whatever, I hate you." She left and her mom slammed the door behind her. Rachel slumped against the door. A few minutes later, her mom came back out with a bag of her things and the purple letter. Rachel opened the letter.

"Yes, father?"
Amara came down from her room after fixing her hijab.
"There is a letter for you. I don't know what it is from, but it's a really strange color."
"Thank you father. What color is it?"
"It's an odd green. But you'll see, open it."
Amara grabbed the green letter from the living room table.
"Well?" Her father pestered. "Are you going to open it?"
"Oh" Amara had been examining the orange emblem seal. "Yes father", she said as she opened it.

"What now?" Luther moaned from under the covers. As he got dressed, he tried to remember the dream he was having, but failed to remember it. All he could remember was that it made his heart flutter.
"What?" Luther asked when he entered the living room.
Mr. Adams was sitting down in his favorite red leather chair. "What is this?" Mr. Adams gestured towards a pink letter on the table.
"I don't know", Luther answered. "A letter?"
"Ok smartass, wanna explain why it's got your name on it?"
"What?" Luther grabbed the letter. There it was, his name on this girly letter.
"I won't have any of this gay crap in my house."
"I'm not gay", Luther scowled. "I don't know what this is."
"Then open it."
Luther ripped off the yellow seal and read the letter.

"Hang on mom, give me a second!" Zeke took off his clip on earings and washed the makeup off his face.
"Zekie, what are you doing in here?" His mom asked, busting into his room as usual.
"Nothing, mom, knock next time!"
"Fine whatever. Anyways, you have a letter here."
"Who's it from?" Zeke asked, taking the pink letter.
"I don't know, the seal was too pretty for me to want to open."
"What a shock. Bye mom, I gotta get changed."
"Fine, fine, but sweety, do me a favor, put my heels back when you get the chance" Mrs. Veights asked as she left the room.
"S-sure" Zeke said flustered. Thank god she didn't see the dress, he thought, kicking the shoes under the bed. He looked back at the red sealed letter.

"Thanks Tim" Amethyst said to the mail man. She walked back to the house, plucking a few of the lavender flowers that she planted in her lawn and examining her violets. She looked at the purple letter in her hand and felt content. Peeling off the red seal, she took out the letter and read it.

"Knock it off!" Bailey yelled at Nataliya as they walked to their dad.
"Knock what off?" Nataliya asked as she stepped on Bailey's feet.
"Stop trying to trip me!"
"I'm not!"
"Yes you are, stop being a bitch!"
"Hey!" Their dad shouted at them from the living room. "Don't call your sister that again!"
"Whatever" Bailey said as they entered the living room.
"What did you need, daddy?" Nataliya asked, putting on her innocent daughter charms.
"You both have letters in the mail" he said, pointing out 2 letters on the table, pink and blue. Nataliya picked up the pink one and Bailey picked up the blue one. They looked at the letters. After reading the names, they awkwardly switched letters as their father chuckled, and opened them.