Ray of Hope

Disenchantment

The weekend had gone by fast. After cleaning on Saturday, Raidyn's mother decided they spend the rest of the day shopping, but as always Raidyn had a hard time finding anything that she felt comfortable in. She was so depressed she laid around the rest of the weekend.

It was now Monday afternoon and Celia set the table quickly for lunch. "Come on you guys" she yelled out to the rest of the gang, as they appeared from different directions. Mia entered the room first.

Mia had been taken under their wing as a daughter after her mother had passed away. The two girls got along very well, they shared a room and usually took whatever job came their way in order to save for the things they wanted. She was one year older than Raidyn and very different in all aspects. She was shorter than her and petite with long brown hair, and dark eyes.

Pulling down her extra small jean shorts she changed her heels to the sneakers that were set outside "Celia, I wouldn't mind helping you out today if you want?" She offered shoving a spoonful of rice into her mouth. "I'm saving up for a really nice dress I saw at the store." she smiled.

"Sure Mia that would be great. I don't think that Raidyn will be coming with me today. She seems to be back to her depressive mood." she wiped her hands on the apron as she unfastened it.

Mia took a swig of her soda "Not again...she was so happy lately. Ernie and I will keep a good eye on her. Promise mom!"

Raidyn and her father entered the room both yelling "You never want to take me...I can do the work. It's not fair."

He pointed his finger at her "Well maybe if you had the energy that Mia has I would. You're just too slow for that kind of job...I need someone that can move around quickly. If you lost some weight then we could talk."

"You don't want to take me cause I'm, according to you, too fat and slow. Oh wow! Same shit as always...I hope you get run over by your lawnmower!" she shouted.

"Ray...you're nothing but an ungrateful child. Why can't you be like Mia." he ordered, taking a seat next to his wife.

"Because I'm ME!" She slouched in her chair and picked at her food, "I'm going to change ma, I'll go with you." she looked at Mia angrily. "If you're going, shouldn't you wear more clothes..." she snapped at Mia as she headed to their room. She didn't mean to be mad at her cousin, it was just so frustrating to always be compared to her. Standing in front of the mirror she buttoned her jeans and pulled her light green layered shirt over her head. Smacking herself in the stomach she sighed with frustration.

"You're always going to be a fat ass!" she spoke to herself, taking out a bottle from her dresser and popping three pills in her mouth. "These have to work" she quickly threw the pills in her cabinet as she heard the door fly open.

"You look fine Ray..." Mia joined her at the mirror with a big grin, but Raidyn began to walk away. "I'm sorry about your dad..."

"Mia I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you." She looked back at the mirror "I hate this stupid mirror, I just look into it, to make sure I don't have my underwear sticking out of my pants." Once again she ran her hand over her stomach.

"Ok, so you have a pouch...we all do. Some are just bigger than others..." Mia shrugged.

"Right your pouch is like a kangaroos, you don't even know that it's there. Mine is like those annoying pouches the tourist wear, there is nowhere to hide it." They both giggled, she always made jokes before others did.

"You're so stupid! We can work on it, you know. Frankly, I don't know why you worry so much. You're a beautiful girl!" Mia turned her around and smiled.