Falling In Reverse

𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓃𝑒

Joss always woke up way too early on special days. She had already been staring out her window for a half-hour before the faint glow of dawn finally began to ripple across the horizon. The sky was a deep shade of purple that began to fade into pastel oranges and pinks around the tip of the slowly emerging sun. The grass and trees were a vibrant shade of green again, watered by the snowmelt a couple of weeks ago. It was April sixteenth, a beautiful morning and also Joss's eighteenth birthday.

She always loved her birthday. Not because of gifts or special dinners, but because it was one of the few times out of the year that her Aunt Cynthia could find the time to visit her on her rural Solaceon ranch.

Joss stretched and got out of bed, not bothering to tidy up the sheets. She was too busy wondering what kinds of stories her aunt would bring back to tell her today. Cynthia held the title of Sinnoh League champion and was an incredibly powerful trainer. She was also an accomplished scholar of myths and lore, which led the international police to recruit her for cases that required her expertise, or if they just needed extra power from time to time. She was smart, brave, and so cool. To say she was Joss's role model would be an understatement.

Too excited to go back to sleep, Joss figured that she might as well do something productive. Maybe she could make some farm-fresh breakfast for her family. She rummaged through the mess of unfolded fabric in her drawer until she found and put on her work clothes: an orange plaid shirt, a pair of heavy-duty boots, and a pair of torn-up overalls. She wove her long blonde hair into twin braids to keep it out of her face and then tiptoed downstairs, careful not to wake her Grams up. As soon as she was past her room she quickened her pace, and once she opened the door to the vast expanse of land on her Grams's ranch, she broke out into a full-blown sprint.

Mud from spring showers squished underneath her feet, dirtying her boots and the cuffs of her overalls. The early morning chirps of Starly filled her ears and the wind that whipped against her face as she ran almost made her feel like she was one of them. Free, without a care in the world, riding the wind to wherever it may take her.

But unfortunately, Joss wasn't completely free.

Her Grams was especially protective over her, and rarely let her leave Solaceon aside from the occasional trip to Hearthome for groceries and, of course, for school when she was younger. But today was Joss's eighteenth birthday. She was officially an adult now, and her biggest birthday wish was that her Grams would finally allow her to leave home.

She figured that the perfect way to butter her up would be to make her some scrambled eggs. She continued to run all the way to the Farfetch'd coup, grabbed a couple of eggs from underneath the hens, and made her way back inside to the kitchen where she began to whisk the yolks and add in the milk and cheddar cheese, just the way Grams liked it.

But right as she poured the mixture into the pan, the doorbell rang.

Forgetting about the eggs, Joss sprinted to the front door and eagerly swung it open. Just as she expected, a tall blonde woman whose features were reminiscent of her own stood in front of her. Dark circles hung from her eyes in the same shade as her black dress, a contrast to the bright orange bow on the gift she was holding.