Too Good to Be True

My toddler and my baby had their birthday on the same day so now I have a child and a toddler instead. We celebrated Sind and Melui's birthdays together. As soon as he aged up, Sind began to show signs that there was something a bit off with him. His actions remind me a bit of how Joseph acted, which is worrying. However, then he changes so quickly and acts completely normal and sweet. He absolutely adores being a big brother. Sind plays with Melui all the time, and actually gets angry sometimes when I interrupt.

Then there is Melui herself. Some her alien features have become much more pronounced now that she is older. Her black eyes are the most obvious feature, but she has that distinctive alien facial structure as well. Even if she did look more otherworldly, like if she had the green skin, I've gathered enough self-confidence since her birth to feel that she will be fine no matter how she looks. If Anondil made a great life for himself, then the same can be true for Melui too.

I'm looking forward to a new baby before too long. I just happened to meet a man named Sonny Kay on the sidewalk when I was taking Sind to visit Paul at his house. Mr. Kay walked with us to Paul's house, and we continued talking as we extended and extended the length of our walk after I dropped Sind off. It will be no surprise to anyone, I'm sure, that we eventually ended up at Mr. Kay's house doing what you would expect.

I go visit Elioviel when I can, and I always bring Melui with me. Elioviel and Morti love playing and cuddling with her. Their two youngest are now children so I'm sure they miss having a cute little toddler to snuggle against. It's a bit difficult to see Marvin and Harold still so young while Elioviel and Morti are so old. Elioviel has aged well and still has lots of energy, but I don't know how much longer she truly has left. I hope she sticks around for as long as possible for her sons' sake. I don't know what will happen if both she and Morti depart before Marvin and Harold graduate.

Speaking of graduating though, both Linnatiel and Rorion have finished their high school years and had their birthdays. They both also graduated with great grades. Linnatiel wants to continue learning how to ride horses, and her goal for the future is to become an accomplish jockey. Meanwhile, Rorion has gotten a job helping out the musical acts at the theater. He wants to be a musician himself one day.

Their leaving the house made the place feel very empty again. Besides myself, now there is only Renia, Sind, and Melui.

My pregnancy is coming along nicely though. I'm at that wonderful point where my stomach isn't so large that it produces harsh backaches or limits my mobility. Sind is going to be outnumbered when this baby comes for I have discovered this child is a girl. I hope she takes on some of Sonny's unique features. Linnatiel turned out so much like Christopher and Sind is turning out so much like Paul so I'll take those as good encouragements that this streak of variety will continue.

Renia has changed from an adorable child to a beautiful teenager. While she likes to wear lots of black like her father, Renia is drastically more serious than Penn. She spends so much time doing all sorts of work that she has completely no interest in flirting with boys or doing very many frivolous activities. Renia does, however, have her father's ears and is just as skinny as he is. That's the best I can do in describing their similarities.

I'm trying very hard not to be worried about Sind, but I can't help but to be worried. Though he is getting good grades and is liked at school, he still has those moments that make me think there is something off about him. He'll talk to himself, but not in the way Lomaraniel did. He doesn't care who is around. He doesn't seem to be aware of his actions. A lot of what he speaks seems like nonsense. To top it off, Sind is also incredibly spacey. Much more so than even Galaran. I'm trusting this behavior is something he'll grow out of soon, but until then I'm keeping a close watch on him.

I went into labor yet again just when I was about to go enjoy dinner with my family. I had to wait until much later since I obviously could not ignore the coming of my new daughter. I decided to name her Cethiel. It appears I jinxed myself. Little Cethiel has hair just as bright and fair as mine. Perhaps she will develop Sonny's lovely purple eyes though and thus be a lot like Lothirien.

For whatever reason, I was not as tired after Cethiel's birth as I normally am after a labor. I got my late dinner, and stayed up with Melui who absolutely refused to go to bed. The two of us spent a lot of time playing with the peg box. It took a while for Melui to finally become sleepy. As I tucked her into bed, I wondered if there would come a day when she no longer required sleep. That is what happened with Anondil.

Everything was going great in the several weeks following Cethiel's birth. I was considering becoming pregnant again. Cethiel is a slightly grumpy child, but she is also very intelligent and otherwise easy to take care of. Besides, it's not like I haven't had children closer together under more pressing circumstances. It was actually the day I intended to go out and meet the acquaintance of another man when all of our lives changed drastically. I checked my bank account to manage my money like I do every two days. I've gotten quite good at it over the years. However, when I saw what was on that screen I had to look away. It was hard opening my eyes again.

All of our money was gone! Each one of my different accounts was wiped out! Worse than that, somehow a large debt had been accrued in the lone day in which I had not checked my account. I instantly contacted the bank. The person I spoke to told me the loss of all my money was probably was due to identity fraud. All of my accounts were closed so I could open new, unhacked ones, but there was nothing to be done about the money lost or the large debt I now owed. I do have some money coming in since I've steadily been writing books over the years. Even that isn't going to really help though.

I sat at the dining table depressed for a long time looking over what income I have, and what I could do to fix the mess. Renia and Sind naturally asked me what was going on when they came home from school. When I told them what had happened, Sind became very shifty and guilty. It didn't take too much to prompt the truth out of him. He burst into tears as he explained. He had made an email without my permission to play some online game. It was then that he received the email. The person had said something about a prince in Nigeria wanting to move a large amount of money out of the country. Sind was told if he gave some money to this person then when the transfer was made he would receive a lot more money in return for his help.

Sind had snuck into my room when I was preoccupied elsewhere to steal out of my locked drawer all my bank and account information. He gave everything to the scammer. I tried so hard not to be upset, but even I know of that scam. One would have to be insane to actually fall for it. Sind just thought he was helping, but now he has placed us in an impossibly difficult financial situation. He kept crying. Knowing berating him would do no good, I comforted him and told both him and Renia that everything would be alright.

Renia asked what we were going to do. I told her I didn't know, but...

I did. In truth, I already knew very well what had to be done. With next to no income, there was no way we were able to afford our house anymore. It was also the last thing we had with any real value. I had to sell it to pay off the debt. Doing so made me feel as if I had entered a horrible flashback. I was left with such an abysmally small amount of money that even with help from my older children I could only afford the smallest and most run-down house in all of Sunset Valley. My older children then scraped every spare penny they could give to help me make it a bit more liveable, but walking into our new cramped, outdated home from the pouring rain dampened my spirits. Now I don't know if everything can be alright......