My eyes were closed, but I could smell the fresh grass and the fragrance of the flowers. I could feel the warmth of the sun shining on my face and bare arms and legs. The wind blew my shirt and shorts around, almost pushing me forward. A voice broke through my daze. 

“Iris! Come on!” 

I opened my eyes and blinked through the sudden light. In the distance, I saw my father. He looked young in the bright sun, like an Italian model. His face was lit up with his classic smile, the one that stole my mother’s heart. 

I felt my face stretch into a matching smile. My dad waved me over, and I started running. I rushed as fast as I could over the flowering hill and saw my entire family laid out on a red and white checkered blanket. 

Kyler and Kaytelin were playing chess like they used to. Kyler took after our mother, who had cream skin and light brown hair. Kaytelin had dark brown skin and long straight black hair, everything and nothing like our father. 

My little brother, Braydon, who was running around and picking up different flowers, was too young to tell, but he seemed to have dark reddish hair like my dad’s father and a copper toned skin. 

Me, however. I had a pasty looking tanned skin, a mix of both parents' skin tone, and hair that was curly like my mother's, but with my father’s dark brown color. 

I sat down between my two parents, opposite of the twins. Everyone was smiling, laughing. It felt different, otherworldly, but I didn’t complain. I couldn’t. It was paradise. 

“Hey, Katie, no cheating!” Kyler was chastising Kaytelin with good humor. 

“I’m not cheating!” Kaytelin replied with the same amount of laughter. 

“Look! I found a blue flower!” 

I turned my head to look at little Braydon and his outstretched hand. A brilliant blue flower rested in his upturned palm. 

“Wow, Braydon! It’s so pretty!” I told him, smiling. He smiled back, his eyes bright with enjoyment. 

But as I watched, the blue flower wilted, shriveling up into a black and brown corpse of a flower. Fear and shock crossed my face, but when I looked up to see Braydon’s horror, he was still looking at me, smiling. 

I looked up, and the sun was gone, covered by the stormy gray clouds. The gentle breeze was now forceful, demanding, angry. It whipped our hair and tore at our clothes, ripping leaves off the nearby maple sugar tree. It had shifted colors from an electric green to a haunting orange. 

I whipped around to look at my parents, but my dad had got up and was walking away. My mom was facing his retreating figure, shouting for him to come back. I couldn’t tell if she was crying because the wind stole the tears right from her eyes. 

She no longer looked happy or healthy, instead a sickly tinge colored her skin and her limbs were boney. Her hair flew around her face, but it was thin and frizzy. 

Terrified, I turned to my older siblings, but both of their faces were distorted with anger. 

“Where is my new jacket!” my sister yelled, her face taking on a red hue. 

“I don’t know! Are you ready for school yet?” Kyler shouted back. 

“I would be if I could find my NEW JACKET!” Kaytelin’s eyes were scrunched closed and her face was actually red. Kyler rolled his eyes and turned away from his twin. 

“Well, we have to leave in forty minutes, so you better look fast!” 

“Ugh!” 

I blinked my groggy eyes open. It was just a dream. I groaned and pulled the covers of my bed back over my head. Maybe, if I fall asleep now, I could fall back into the dream and return to the nice picnic with my family! 

“Iris! Wake up!” A sharp rap on the door accompanied the interrupting voice of my eldest brother. 

I pushed off the covers and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Mondays are by far the worst. 

I stood up and neatly made my bed. Turning, I walked to my closet and pulled out the clothes I set out for today; a pair of  jeans, a slightly oversized white shirt, and a pair of gray socks. I pulled them on and went to my vanity table to brush the beehive on my head. 

I untangled as much as I could before I grappled the mess into a ponytail at the nape of my neck. 

I walked across the room, picking up the thin hoodie that hung on the headboard of my bed. 

I walked to the small bathroom we all shared and gently pushed open the door. It was unoccupied, so I stepped in and closed the door, locking it behind me. 

There, I quickly washed my hands and face and completed my other hygiene managing duties. 

Before long, a sassy knock echoed through the room. 

“Hurry up in there! I have to get ready!” It was Kaytelin asking for the bathroom. 

I cleaned the counter and opened the door to face my impatient sister. Her natural face glared up at me. Somehow, even though she used to be like Dad 2.0, she grew up to look like our mother, but with darker skin and straight hair. 

“About time! Move,” she snapped at me, pushing her way past me and slamming the door. 

I silently walked down the hall to our little brother’s room. Just as I was about to knock, he opened the door and stepped out. 

“Good morning, Braydon,” I told him, looking down. 

“Good morning, Iris,” my little brother replied, looking up to meet my gaze. 

We walked back down the hall and took a left, entering the kitchen. There, Kyler struggled with making breakfast and lunch. He hadn’t really found a good pace with the ham burnt and the sandwiches made sloppily. It looked like a murder scene with the ketchup splattered all over the place. 

Gently, I placed my hand on his shoulder, and pulled him back. He looked at me in relief and left the stove. 

As I took care of making the meals, Kyler got all of our school bags and started packing them up for us. 

I made each of our lunches first, putting them in plastic bags or containers and handing them to Braydon. Then he packed them up neatly in a paper bag and marked the name. 

Once lunch was taken care of, Braydon handed the four bags to Kyler for him to pack away, and I got started on breakfast. 

I made five plates of eggs and ham. The first four got portioned and placed on the table, but the last one was placed on a tray with a glass of water, and brought to our mom in her room by Braydon, like every morning before. 

By the time he had gotten back, Kyler and I had sat down and started eating. We only had ten minutes left before we had to get to school when Kaytelin finally came in to eat breakfast. 

“What’s for breakfast today?” She was looking at her hand mirror, applying vibrant pink-red lipstick. 

“Eggs and ham. Like yesterday. Now sit and eat, we have to leave soon,” Kyler coldly responded. 

“Chill, we’re not going to be late.” Even as she said this, Kaytelin quickly sat down and began eating. 

“Don’t tell me to be chill!” 

“Well, then, chill out and quit being so worrisome!” 

“I wouldn’t have to worry so much if you didn’t make us late every day!” 

“Uh, you can’t rush this!” 

Kaytelin gestured to her own face, which was so deeply hidden with makeup you could dive in, drown, and still not see a hint of her natural face. She had started with lip gloss, then mascara and eyeliner, then trying to ‘volumize’ her hair, or something, and now, I could barely recognize her. But, she did blend in with her friends at school who all wore crop tops and short shorts, drenched in fake tans and makeup. If Kaytelin wants to play barbie, who am I to tell her no? 

Kyler, on the other hand, was not entirely covered with pore clogging skin products, so I could see the red anger-blush creeping up his jaw and onto his cheeks. His nose crinkled in a way that reminded me of our mother when she got upset, the time when she was trying to contain her angry-volcano-explosion. However, as long as his eyes didn’t flash, we would be fine... But when taking the entirety of last year into consideration, I don’t think we will be fine... 

“Well, then, maybe you should get up earlier so that you don’t have to ‘rush that’,” Kyler told our sister. 

“And ruin my beauty sleep? Nuh-uh! I don’t want to look like her; a zombie.” 

I flinched at the insult thrown in my direction, but that was the only reaction I gave. I didn’t look up from my plate. 

“Then go to sleep earlier!” Kyler was getting dangerously close to going full volcano. 

“Um, unlike you all, I have a social life! What, do you expect me to go to bed at eight?” 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kyler’s fists clench. I cleared both Braydon’s plate and mine, and steered the two of us clear of our fighting siblings and the possible outcome that accompanied the two of them. Actually, the better word to describe the outcome would be ‘probable.’ Or... Inevitable? Unavoidable? Whatever. 

Anyway, unlike Braydon and me, Kaytelin was oblivious of the danger she was provoking. She just looked down at her plate and said, “Not like you would understand. You’re too busy playing family.” 

Well, that was it. Kyler’s eyes flashed and Mt. Saint Helens erupted. I grabbed my bag and Braydon grabbed his own. I quickly pulled the two of us out the apartment door and into the fourth floor hallway. I didn’t even bother to lock the door because anyone who tried to break in would only be met with two storms clashing in an unnatural disaster.