i desperately want to die, a (wip) story of my oc, edith, and @tr85n's oc stella! in this, ive assumed stella is 16 and thus edith is 37. edith is also married to cj LOL
based on this post
Another day, another fight between Stella and Dad.
It was becoming routine, at this point; Stella and their father fight, and Stella goes to Edith’s house to get away from him. Edith hears from Stella all about how Dad “doesn’t understand her” and “he’s such an asshole,” while Edith hears from Dad over the phone about how Stella “is acting out” and “can you talk to her?” And every time, Edith tries to give her advice and thoughts to both parties, but to no avail; the cycle always repeats
It was occurring again. Edith gets a phone call from her little sister moodily asking to come over, and against her better judgment, she allows her to come over. Edith is mentally preparing for the repeated onslaught of insults against their father (she had said to respect him and not insult him, but it obviously didn’t work) when Stella walks in, using the spare key Edith gifted her.
But something was different, and Edith could already begin to see what the problem was this time. Stella barely has a moment to step across the threshold before Edith is asking about it.
“What is that?” Edith gestures to her hoodie, eyebrows knitted in a puzzled and concerned frown.
Stella follows the gesture towards her hoodie, a deep black color with white lettering on it, saying “I desperately wish to die,” with the second word being in a beautiful cursive that was unlike the grim phrase in question.
“Oh, this? It’s a hoodie,” the younger Dunwoody bluntly responds, smiling cheekily. Edith rolls her eyes in reply; either she would avoid the question or would too offensively face it. This was the latter
“I know that, Stella. I meant the design; why does it say… that?”
Stella looks at her older sister with a smile, but it isn’t like her typical, cheery one: it’s one of melancholy and exhaustion.
“What if I have outgrown the pastels?” She answers vaguely, walking past Edith to go and find her usual spot on the couch next to her cat, Miso. “Pink’s not really my color anymore, sissy.”
Frustration bubbles in Edith as she turns to face her sister, for she did not appreciate the tiptoeing around her question her sister was obviously doing. For a while now, Stella was moving away from pink towards the binary colors of black and… well, just black, actually. It didn’t alarm Edith as much as it alarmed their father. When Edith was a teenager, a lot of her peers dressed up in dark clothes and makeup; it was just something that they did. But the dark colors her little sister embraced instead of her usual pinks and yellows was not what was alarming Edith.
“I know that, too,” she repeats, walking towards Stella, who purposely was looking not at Edith, but at her cat, “I mean, why does it say that you want to die? Dad would never get that for you.”
Stella, who has been petting Miso, pauses, a sad and almost guilty look on her face. Edith has gotten good at reading people and predicting their next move, but now? It was like her baby sister was a completely different person.
A tension settles in Edith as a grave realization picks and prods at her brain. “Stella, where did you get your hoodie?” She purposefully phrases it so that Stella cannot wiggle her way out of the question, or offer a vague answer.
Stella won’t look at her as she sinks deeper into the couch, hands now in her pockets and her teeth biting her lip. Unlike their father, Stella struggled more so to lie or talk back to Edith, for the latter found that being more direct and honest with her was better. And again, unlike their father, Stella could not fault Edith for any anger issues.
“I bought it,” she finally says, although it’s obvious to both of them that it’s a lie.
Edith frowns and puts her hands on her hips, “You don’t have money.”
“I used my allowance.”
“Dad doesn’t give you allowance.”
“Well, he-”
“Stella,” Edith firmly interrupts, arms now crossed, “you know I don’t like being lied to. So, tell me the truth: who gave you the hoodie?”
Stella could say anything, at this point; a friend gave it to her, she found it, etc., because Edith already knew it came from that dumb wannabe emo shop, Carly’s. But nothing could prepare her for Stella’s actual response
“I stole it.”
It comes out as a quiet mumble from Stella, who has somehow sunk deeper into the couch. It’s why Edith thinks she’s misheard her at first, although her eyes go wide regardless.
“What?”
“I said I stole it!” Stella says more clearly and loudly, almost shouting. Her voice and lip quivers, and the gumballs in her head begin growing scarlet. Edith can feel hers growing scarlet as well, completely baffled by the admission that Stella Gillian Dunwoody stole something.
Edith, still in shock, mutters a “shit” under her breath as she runs a hand down her face; their father always emphasized to follow the rules to a T and to always respect and listen to those older than you, so there was no way in Heaven or Hell that Stella, nice and pure and wonderful Stella, would do this without consequence.
“You what?” She replies in disbelief after a moment; now, Edith was now not only upset about the design of the hoodie, but now she was upset about how she got it.
Stella scoffs and gets up from the couch and walks to the other side of the living room, now hugging herself. “What? Do you need to hear it again?” She says, defensively
“No, of course I don’t need to hear you again, Stella; I heard you very clearly,” she shot back, still trying to wrap her head around this entire situation. “I’m disappointed in you. I just- I don’t understand why you would steal such a thing.” Edith says it with an emphasis like it was a dirty word that would have the police come knocking on her door the second she uttered it.
Stella scoffs like the reason was the most obvious thing in the world and, truth be told, it was. “Because I wanted it?”
Edith still didn’t get it. She pinches the bridge of her nose and narrows her eyes; she’s going to need C.J.’s migraine pills after this. Despite her frustration and disappointment, though, she is more concerned with the answer she’s anticipating from her sister
“Why would you want that?”
Stella doesn’t reply. Edith swallows a lump in her throat, lip trembling. Her voice grows more gentle. “Stella…”
With her back turned to her, Edith could only hear the beginning of Stella’s crying, her sniffles pulling at her. Even though Edith should still be angry, should still be firm, gaining a baby sister and watching her grow has made her grow soft. Marriage wouldn’t help that, either. Edith walks over to her, placing her hands on her shoulders and turning her around, although Stella’s gaze was focused on the floor
“I just- I thought it would maybe get Dad to… listen to me, or something… I asked him at the store for it, but he said the design was ‘ridiculous’ and that I shouldn’t wear it. So-So when I-I-” Her voice has grown more shaken and despairing; Stella wipes tears from her eyes that are beginning to spill. “So when I… took it and brought it home, he started getting really mad that I disobeyed him and-and took it, even though it’s not that big of a deal!”
So he knows that it was stolen
Stella’s voice is raised at the end, and now she’s crying full on. Edith can’t help but bring her into a hug, gently rubbing her back to try and relax her, but to also relax herself. So, she wants to… die? Her happy, bubbly little sister… She wanted to die, and that terrified Edith; she couldn’t fathom her life without her, the first 21 years of her life without her feeling only like a prequel to an amazing story.
She wants to begin by saying that it was a big deal and that theft was wrong but, surprisingly, the socially confused Edith knows even that wasn’t needed right now. C.J. would be proud of her, if she was here and not on a business trip.
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