Gen One- Chapter Forty Five

I wished harder than I had wished in a long time that what was about to happen would not happen. It was impressive that my desire was so strong considering I had been begging the same thing for about fifteen minutes now. Unfortunately, there was no stopping what my body was insistent on putting me through. Sudden and rapid shaking rattled my upper half, my temperature seemed to sore while my senses went numb, and my stomach dove before flying up like it was on a roller coaster. Mostly I did nothing other than hack and heave, but there was a bit of rancid bile that flew up my throat and into the toilet- the last of the few crackers I had managed to eat before my vomiting session began.

Gen One- Chapter Forty Four

It still felt weird to be home. There were moments where I could forget where everything had changed, but of course everything had. Being white in a place where I had spent nearly half of my youth being green was taking some time to get used to. I was more accustomed to my white meaning I had to stay hidden, so to be able to move freely was bizarre. What was worse than that sensation was walking outside. Now allowed to come and go and live as I pleased, moving about Berrybrook as Ethereal was definitely a lot more challenging than it was for Meadow. My feelings of paranoia hadn't faded at all, because I might as well put a spotlight on me every time I go out. I gathered the courage to take a short walk the other day, and I got bombarded by people who wanted to talk to me or take pictures. I had seen such a thing be frequent with Purity, but it was at an obnoxious level for me with my story going as strong as ever. It was pretty much still the only thing being talked about on the news. It made sense though. It had only been two weeks after all since my capture.

With all the craziness, I had taken to driving whenever possible when I did decide to leave the house. I had spent the majority of my time, naturally, with my friends. The past several days had been full of us talking and me getting them used to the new me. It was frustrating in a way to see that even they acted differently around me. Thankfully, the more they grasped that Ethereal was just Meadow everything was shifting slowly to how it had been before. Sunset, Sunflower, and I had spent the whole afternoon hanging out like normal. That was what helped me forget the changes in my life. Walking down the stairs later that evening to get a snack before bed was what undid that. Eden had beaten me to the kitchen, and the conversation he was having on the phone alluded directly to the monumental event taking place the following day.

Gen One- Chapter Forty Three

Feeling my mind going numb, I decided enough was enough. I reached out to casually take the remote from Amaranth's hand, but I barely touched the plastic before he frowned, yanked it away, and set it far to his right side where I had no hopes of acquiring it.

     "Oh, come on," I rolled my eyes, wearing a light smile, "It's May. I'm not watching a shopping channel pushing Christmas stuff. It's bad enough some stores start the music the day after Halloween."

     "How can you ever get tired of Christmas stuff when it's our holiday?" Amaranth retorted back in sarcastic shock.

     "But I'm not green anymore."

     "Well, now we're like a candy cane instead." he shrugged.

     "I suppose," I accepted with a small chuckle, "But do you seriously want to watch this?"

     "Yeah."

     "Alright then." I caved.

I wasn't into the show any more than I had been ten seconds before, but I was willing to endure my mild boredom for Amaranth's sake. The mind numbing did help me some as well. We had spent the past two days cooped up in a little bunker house owned by one of Eden's friends. Jac, Eden, and his friends had taken the major step forward of outing everything Jac had swiped about The Company, which, according to him, was practically everything they had ever let him have access to since he started working for them. I was being kept hidden until the massive shock died down just a little. I was glad for it, because I could almost sense the chaos going on in the real world. The television Amaranth and I were watching didn't have any news channels. Just pointless stations like the shopping network that was currently playing away. I ignored it as I snuggled up against Amaranth. Instead of spending the past two days worrying about all the Company outing business, we both had been lounging around in our pajamas quietly comforting the other's griefs. For me it was mostly what Stratus had done, which none of the others save for Jac knew about, and for Amaranth it was naturally the fact that he had killed another person.

Gen One- Chapter Forty Two

I shifted against the cushion, smoothed the hem of my dress, and fiddled my fingers. There were two main emotions coursing throughout my body. Boredom, and then a tingling sensation of dread and expectation. But, mostly boredom. I suppose I was happy that that was what I was feeling though. It was a much better state to be in than the mess I had been the first day of my capture. Jac had returned with my real meal twenty minutes after Stratus and Rusty departed. Given that I had only just stopped crying a few minutes before he reappeared, there was no option of me denying that something had happened due to my tear-streaked face. I had gone through plenty of struggles in my lifetime, but getting the words out to tell Jac what Stratus had done was rather high up there on the list. I told him both about what Stratus had just done as well as about his actions in the insemination room. Needless to say, Jac was horrified and very, very pissed. I was assured that nothing would happen to me again, and I was also told both Stratus and Rusty would be getting a brutal reprimand.

All in all though, the actions and the lack of action on part of the two goonies did have some positive effects. Using their incapability at following orders as the reasoning why he apparently could only trust himself to keep track of me, I was with Jac constantly. I was always kept out of hearing distance from the important matters, but I otherwise followed Jac around like a baby duckling as he dealt with whatever monotonous paperwork that was a large part of his job. I was only in my room at night so I could sleep, and then we had been forced apart twice when it was time for me to be inseminated again. The second time, where I had been given my plain jane dress to wear because it made it easier for Coralie to get at those certain parts, had happened yesterday, and the third session had finished half an hour ago. I had all but thrown out the hope that their efforts would fail. They had injected too much up me in order for that to be the case.

Gen One- Chapter Forty One

Sensitive topic matter addressed this chapter.

Someone might as well have stolen all the sound out of the room. I had completely and utterly stunned the man in front of me. Jac stood perfectly still. I actually grew concerned that he had stopped breathing. His pose was stiff, and his wide eyes never blinked as they remained locked with mine. He remained like that for so long that I began to worry that I had made a massive mistake. Maybe calling out his secret wasn't the best idea when I still didn't have a full understanding of how he could help me or make my stay that much more miserable. My confident smile started to fade a bit, but that was when some life returned to Jac. Various emotions flittered behind his eyes. His face twitched a bit. Then, blessedly, realization dawned on his expression and the corners of his mouth pulled ever so slightly into a smile.

     "You little imp," he chastised in gentle amusement, "Here I thought the drug was still making you loopy enough for you to not realize how weirdly you were rambling on, but you were purposely trying to get a rise out of me in order to know the truth."

Jac shook his head at himself.

     "I suppose I should have been more wary when the rumors began to float about that you shared Eden's genius, or when I learned you had been hiding in Berrybrook."