Gray Clouds

Chapter 1 - The End.

Harsh knocking on his door jolted Eli out of his slumber, bright sunlight uninvitingly embracing his vision. The knocking was followed by a yell. It was a woman's yell. A grating, shrill voice.

"Julia, get your pathetic ass out of your room!" The voice demanded. "Your father and I need to speak to you, now!"

Footsteps indicated that his mother had left the door, presumably on her way downstairs. Julia. The name left a bitter taste in Eli's mouth.

Eli groaned, pushing himself off of the chair he had fallen asleep on. His computer had shut off by itself, impatient as it waited all night for Eli to wake up.

Eli's ribs felt like they were about to break. To his disdain, he'd have to find out the hard way that he forgot to take his binder off before going to bed last night. Eli quickly took it off and re-slipped on his shirt, chucking his binder onto his bed. The man was still half asleep when he got out of his room and went downstairs back into the kitchen. His parents weren't at the kitchen nor the dining room as usual, instead they were at the front door.

Eli's father was a tall man with blue eyes and black hair, similar to Eli's if it was neat and cut. He could tell that his father had recently shaved. His mother was the complete opposite to his father, with bone-blonde hair and orange eyes, her head reaching to below her husband's height. At first glance, anyone could tell that Eli did not get his height from his father.

Eli's mother wore a jarring, blue-and-yellow flower dress, meanwhile his father wore a simple suit.

Despite them being mostly opposites, the two had two things in common: Their tendency to give Eli looks of disgust whenever he walked into a room with them, and that they stubbornly refused to call Eli 'Eli.'

"Took you long enough." Eli's mother commented. "Your father and I are going away on a date for the night, so we're leaving you here by yourself."

Eli blinked in wide-eyed shock. He silently nodded, making a 'hm' sound.

"So? Use your mouth instead of your nose!"

"Yes, mom." Eli muttered, his eyebrow twitching in irritation.

Without saying anything else, his mom and dad walked out, wanting to get away from Eli as soon as possible. Their loud voices could still be heard outside, and Eli overheard his parents' conversation.

"That ungrateful shit better not turn the house into a mess, or I'm going to kill her."

"I'm sure she won't do anything, she's always stuck in her room."

"But still! Have you seen her? The delusional bitch can't even take care of herself!" Eli's mother complained. "We should just kick her out already, she's hopeless! It's funny she believes that woke bullshit. I told you she was better off homeschooled."

"She'll turn around eventually. It's probably just a phase."

The slam of a car door, and tires scraping against the concrete road as they drove off to who-knows-where.

Eli just stared out of the window in the dining room, a surge of excitement and relief coursing through his body as he registered the fact that he now had the entire house to himself. Just him, this house, and no transphobic, hyper-religious parents to stop him from doing whatever he wanted on his last day.

"Well, this just made my plan a lot easier..." Eli mumbled under his breath. "Maybe this is the world's attempt to convince me not to off myself."

Eli was amused by the thought. He had already made up his mind last night. Besides, he might as well make his last day a good one.

Shuffling plastic and tin could be heard as Eli went through the kitchen. The man thought that this morning's cup of chicken noodles was going to be the last thing he'd eat, but now that his parents were gone, he could eat whatever the hell he wanted.

The cracking of eggs as it hit the side of a pan, Eli jolting in fright as he heard the toaster fling two freshly toasted bread upwards. The result? Two pieces of toast with a little too much butter spread onto them, and two slightly burnt eggs. It wasn't much, but Eli hadn't made his own breakfast besides noodles in a long time. Eggs and toast were a rarity to him, a breath of fresh air.

Eli returned to his room after the delicious breakfast to pick up some clothes to change into after taking a shower. Unlike most chronically online people, Eli actually took showers daily. It helped that his room was right next to the bathroom, so he didn't have to run into his parents. On the way, he heard a notification pop up on his phone.

It was one out of thirty notifications, not counting the missed call notifications, all from Mouse. They were all begging for Eli to respond, worried sick about Eli's last message. Eli, feeling bad for leaving Mouse in the dust, replied.

"Sorry, my last message must have been a little concerning lol."

"I'm fine, don't worry!!"

That was a lie, of course, but Eli thought it might give Mouse some reassurance at least. At least a few seconds later, Mouse replied back.

"Don't scare me like that, Mocha :<"

"Mocha" was Eli's online username. It was simple and sweet, like Mouse's username. A lot better than what his 7 year old self came up with, that being "Xx_DarkMothh_xX"

Eli sighed, putting down his phone to go take a shower.

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.
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Nightfall came quickly. Quicker than Eli remembered it to be usually. He spent his day as unproductive as ever, playing video games and giving away whatever money he had left to a streamer he really liked. It was a faceless streamer who called himself 'Dust to Dusk', or just 'Dust,' using a Vtuber model of a man with black and white, tied up hair in a fancy dress shirt and vest instead of his face. The streamer's cool, husky voice really matched the model's chill bartender vibe. Unfortunately, Dust had to leave stream early, claiming that he was busy that day. It made sense, since Dust was also a voice actor. In fact, Eli had found out about him through a video game character he really liked, who was voiced by Dust.

The only really productive thing he did that day was give advice to Mouse on their essay for their art major in university. He also finished composing a song he started a few months ago for fun, but the final result was mediocre at best and he didn't bother trying to polish or make changes to it.

Eli looked from his computer displaying his music program and out towards the glass door, the moonlight seeping in from the thin, dark blue curtains that covered it. He sighed, slipping his headphones off of his head and placing it on the keyboard, pristine and shiny compared to everything else in his room. The night was quieter than usual. No more parents yelling at each other downstairs, no more dreading for tomorrow and the next Sunday that would eventually roll around.

Eli decided it was time.

Eli pushed the curtains to the side, a metal hiss emitting from the hoops sliding against the steel pole that held the fabric up. The sliding door unlocked with a loud 'click,' and the Winter night air flooded the dark room. He only wore shorts, so Eli's legs were assaulted by the freezing gust of wind, along with his pale face. In front of Eli was the balcony, and a lone black chair staring out at the full moon. The stars twinkled and blinked in the sky, greeting Eli with warmth, beckoning him to come closer.

He could see the city from here. Far, far away, just out of reach in the horizon. True happiness outside this lie of a neighbourhood.

It was a beautiful night. Eli felt a sense of calm wash over his being like an ocean wave, his fingers turning into ice as his hands grasped the balcony railing. He was alone. Nobody was here to stop him now, nobody to pull him back as he stepped closer, closer still towards the railing.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?"