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Clem never thought she'd be back in her mother's care again, even if it was just for today.
Since the divorce, everyone had been all over the place.
Jupiter (her mother) had cheated on Diamond (her non binary parent) with some random girl called Astella, which made Diamond have a breakdown and literally murder Jupiter, and with Diamond having intense guilt (and borderline personality disorder), the household has a notably lower mood.
Jupiter's ghost still haunts Diamond and thinks she can fix things (she can't), Diamond is either trying their best to be a good parent (and succeeding), writing poets whilst crying quietly, or passed out drunk, and then there's Clementine, in a depressive episode, trying to grasp onto the normality remaining in the family.
But here she was: somehow at her mother's new place, without her parent or emotional support animal (which is a small calico cat named Cupid which originally belonged to Jupiter before the divorce).
Of course she had to move into Astella's old house in her old abandoned village.
"..well, it's not much but it'll do, I guess, you aren't staying much anyways" Jupiter shrugs, pulling out a cigarette.
The cottage was.. falling apart.. to say the least, there were vines growing everywhere, the moon reflected out of all of the broken, dirty windows. It was almost liminal.
Clem sets up her things in her makeshift 'bedroom', already feeling dead inside.
Then she opens discord and begins to text her best friend (and online friend): Rosalie.
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
i feel acc dead inside again
☆ 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮 ☆
damn girl :(
well here if u need me!
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
thanks man, ily (/p)
She just wished that she could meet Rosalie.
"..m-mum?" She says shakily, coming down the stairs in shorts and a mlp t-shirt.
"Clem," She replies, eyes darkening slightly at her shirt.
"can we watch The Corpse Bride..?"
"..what is it with you and corpse bride? also yeah, sure I guess.."
Clem's eyes light up at that as she bounces and stims excitedly, making Jupiter sigh and leave to the living room alongside her 13 year old.
As the movie plays, Clem tries to draw all the characters to take her mind off the stress that had been slowly eating away at her over the past few weeks.
"Stop being so artistic, you remind me too much of your parent.." Jupiter sighs.
"..i-is that a bad thing..?"
"..you know, they were already enough to deal with until you came around"
"..i see..?"
"they were falling apart over some relationship when I met them, drinking loads, multiple attempted overdoses.."
"you should see them now" She mutters back bitterly, already seeing where this conversation was going.
"oh, baby, I know how they are now, they haven't changed" She chuckles. "They were getting better to deal with until you came along"
"what?"
"they were finally accepting what happened when I get pissed off, then they somehow gained awareness when we found you"
"so I was an abuse shield then"
"shut the fuck up, Clementine, you do not know what went on in that marriage"
"oh but I do! Like how you repeatedly broke their nose? I saw them multiple times at the bathroom sink holding a tissue to their ble-"
"God, why are you always so fucking difficult?? And Diamond wonders why I cheated on them!"
"Parent is passed out drunk multiple times a day because you cheated on them, you do not even remotely understand how hard it is go downstairs after feeling numb for hours to crawl into their unconscious arms"
"And I'd do it again! Serves you both right for being difficult fuckers-"
"We can't fucking HELP IT" Clementine yells.
"wow! little girl thinks she's tough because she's yelling at her mama!"
"THEY HAVE A PERSONALITY DISORDER THAT CAN'T BE CONTROLLED" She continues yelling.
"take mood stabilisers"
Clementine was about to fucking blow.
She proceeds to pick up her sketchbook and throw it at the nearest breakable object, which shatters to the floor immediately.
"you see, this is exactly why I fucking left you all, you're pathetic." She says coldly.
"oh yeah?? bite me." Clem spits back, standing up.
"you're a waste of space, Clementine-Delilah, and nothing that you ever do will make me change my mind"
"..oh?" She pauses, becoming more stiff.
"aswell as your parent, if you ever end up like them you aren't getting anywhere in life, your interests are for young children and you aren't even good enough for your own parent to give up their alcohol addiction for you, how sad"
"..oh.." She sinks down.
"now you're acting just like them, how pathetic are you?" She rolls her eyes, then leaves the room.
Is she really not good enough?
Not even for her parent, Diamond Winters, their favourite person in life?
If her own mother thought she was a waste, then she must be.
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
hey rosalie
i love you you know
☆ 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮 ☆
clem, i swear if this is like a suicide note or something ;-; (/j)
clem?
clementine??
So here sits Clementine-Delilah Winters at her mother's kitchen table.
"you're still moping about nothing? why are you always like this.." Jupiter appears in the doorway, clearly slightly high.
"don't waste your time on me anymore" Clementine says quietly.
"..whatever.." She mutters back, then walks off.
Clementine really wasn't good enough for Jupiter, was she?
She couldn't continue after a night like this.
At least Parent wouldn't be the one to find her.
She quietly goes to the drawer and picks up the sharpest knife there was.
Clem had never hurt herself before.
But before she realised, her left wrist was covered with deep cuts oozing blood, and her right one had less blood and cuts, but was still bad.
Her hands shake so much from the adrenaline that she drops the knife, then sits looking at it.
She sees her phone on the countertop, clearly from discord.
☆ 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮 ☆
hello??
clementine please pick up
you're my best friend
i can't loose you
She knows she'll let Rosalie down, but she would get over it eventually.
She doesn't realise from the sheer panic that Jupiter is standing opposite to her.
"this is familiar" She says calmly, then picks up her phone, steps into another room, and begins to call a certain someone.
Please don't call them.
Anyone but them.
"i told you to stop calling me when you're high, Jupiter" Diamond's familiar British voice echoes through the door.
If Clementine stabbed herself now, they wouldn't find her like this.
"you told me I would stay blocked"
"I only unblocked you for Clem- wait.. is she alright?" Their voice grows a little more concerned now.
"She's up to your antics now, I didn't even say much to her"
"what do you mean 'my antics'.."
"She looks just like you, even the same spot in the kitchen and everything"
"..i'm coming to get her." They say firmly, then hang up.
Jupiter comes over to her.
"..you're insufferable" She says, a slight hint of fear in her white eyes, glowing in the darkness of the night.
"I'm ending this even if Parent is coming to get me" She says, grabbing the knife again.
"wait.. clem.. I wasn't serious.."
She raises it to her chest.
"Clem, please, I love you, I was just high and I've been stressed recently, and-"
"you told me I wasn't good enough"
"I'm not being serious, I'm high, Clementine, use your common sense"
"you told me I wasn't good enough, and I believe you"
"You are, please put the knife down."
Clementine stares deeply into her mother's white, empty eyes, looking for any sense of remorse.
"you're only scared of losing control over me, aren't you. You meant all of that."
"I didn't mean all of it-"
"You know what? I will be ending myself tonight, maybe you'll have to explain why I'm dead on your kitchen floor"
Knock knock.
Jupiter goes to the door quickly.
"where the fuck is Clementine." Diamond looks livid, clearly in distress too judging by their crooked, circle glasses and their shirt untucked despite having their big black and magenta sweater they wear during winter on.
"we.. we've just had a bit of an incident, but we're alright"
"I'm taking her home"
"Pfft, please- this is a second home for her!"
Diamond pushes Jupiter to the side and they plead behind them as they make their way to her kitchen.
She drops the knife again at the sight of them, mumbling "oh fuck" under her breath as the metal clatters on the floor, then she tries to hide the state of her wrists.
All traces of anger leave their body and their expression immediately, filled with pure panic as their hands begin to shake.
They quickly go over to Clem, who is crying at this point.
"clem? we're going home now, it's gonna be okay"
"she told me you didn't care enough to stop drinking for me" Clementine mumbles, voice tremoring like hell.
"wha- she broke my- she-" Jupiter stutters nervously.
"I swear to FUCKING god, Jupiter, you can't do ANYTHING right, can you?? one night with our- MY daughter, and you've ALREADY fucked it over" They yell.
"i am so sorry clem, i would never not care enough about you, you mean more to me than your mother ever did" They turn back to their daughter, clearly holding back their own tears.
"i wanna go home.." She mumbles, making Diamond's face soften a little.
"..go get your bag.." They say calmly.
Clementine retreats upstairs (with her long sleeves hiding what she actually did, but the blood soaking through) to re-pack everything, as her parents yell at each other, getting louder by the minute.
She had heard them fight too many times to count.
It usually ended, however, with watching her parent cover their new black eye with makeup in the bathroom or clutching their newly broken nose pouring with blood.
Clem hoped this time it wouldn't be their parent injured.
She walks down the stairs with her things slowly, just in time to see their parent threatening her mother's ghost with the very same knife she used to cut herself.
Diamond drops the knife as soon as they see her, eyes gazing toward the blood soaking into her long pyjama shirt, but they don't say anything, they just get their daughter out of there and into the car as soon as possible.
"you're.. you're sober enough to drive?" She says quietly, wrapped in Diamond's sweater which fits perfectly on her (despite being slightly oversized on Diamond's body).
"course I am! It would be convenient to not get pissed when your daughter with separation anxiety is.. well, separated from you"
"..parent?"
"yeah?" They reply, starting up the car.
"..are you mad at me?"
Their eyes soften, as they slowly pass her a box of plasters (or band-aids).
"for your arms" They nod. "as for the question, why would I be?"
"i dunno, mum was angry.." She says, opening the box.
"your mother is a cunt, that's why"
She starts to put the plasters on her wrists, the look in Diamond's eyes growing with concern and recognition with every new cut that was patched up.
"you don't need to hurt yourself ever again, Clem, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you" They sigh, nearly facepalming themself with the steering wheel.
"I blame mum" She says, getting her phone out.
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
still here btw
☆ 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮 ☆
omfg im so glad
i genuinely thought i lost you there
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
you would have if my parent didn't show up
"texting Rosalie I'm assuming?"
"just letting her know I'm okay"
☆ 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮 ☆
ofc they saved you 😍
tell em i said hii 😍😍
☾ 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖒 ☾
SHUT THE FUCK UPPP
YOU'RE SO ANNOYING YET SO FUNNY AT THE SAME TIME
"..R-Rosalie says hi by the way.." Clem says, face red with embarassment.
"that's nice"