Gen Three- Chapter Four

Excitement bubbled vigorously against my chest as Timber led me upstairs. His bedroom was pretty large and incredibly fun to hang out in, but what I looked forward to was the beaten up manila folder he pulled out of his desk drawer. When the power had returned two days after the storm and school resumed, he had mentioned during a quiet moment at lunch that the contents of the folder were what he was so eager to have found. However, quite a bit of time passed between that moment at lunch and now when I was finally able to visit. What was good though was that Mr. Mountain was solidly preoccupied down in his room on the first floor, so there was little worry about being overheard or caught.

     "Are you sure it's safe for you to be holding onto the folder? Won't your dad notice it's missing?" I asked.

     "It's fine," Timber promised, "It's been over three months since we've moved here now, but he's being super slow about unpacking. He hasn't even gotten close towards going through the box I found this in. I can just return it later after I show you it now, and he'll be none the wiser."

With a drama that made me think Timber had been practicing for the grand reveal, he flipped open the folder with flair and a wide smile.

The jet black of the two polaroid photographs contained within were what caught my eye first. They were stacked on top of several old and beaten up letters.

     "I think these are pictures of my mom, but I can't be sure. They could possibly be of something else. Either way, I'm sure dad ruined them intentionally." Timber hypothesized.

     "I wonder why he blacked them out and kept them? If he didn't want anyone, or you, to see them, why not just destroy them completely?" I pondered.

     "I don't know. I didn't think about that. Maybe someday I'll be able to ask him. These letters are more clear though. They were all typed, so it's not a guarantee on who wrote them, but these two sound like how my dad writes. He never mentions the person he's writing by name, but I do think it's my mother again. This one letter seems like a reply."

Timber handed me the letter. I read through them quickly. The stairs coming up to Timber's room were squeaky, so it was all too obvious if someone was coming up. Still, given how I'd only just gotten ungrounded I wasn't keen on getting caught doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing. Sure enough though, the letters from Mr. Mountain definitely lined up with all that Timber had told me so far. He was disappointed with the person, and he didn't want that person around until they got better.

The person who wrote back didn't give a lengthy reply. He or she just said that Mr. Mountain didn't understand and that he or she didn't care to come around while he was being so insensitive. Of course, it was hard to judge by mere text, but something about the style of writing seemed heartbroken.

     "It looks like there's a return address scratched out on this letter your dad received." I pointed out.

     "I saw that too."

     "I wonder if we can decode it."

     "I already did," Timber admitted proudly, also pulling out a sticky note from his drawer that contained an address, "It matches up with the one we found online. I sent a letter to it as well."

     "You've done all the fun parts." I half pouted.

     "Sorry," Timber smiled sympathetically, "I just couldn't wait. I didn't want you to get in any more trouble either, so it was better for me to do it when you weren't around. Your parents were mad enough with you going out in that storm. I don't know why you wouldn't let me tell them I went with you. They probably wouldn't have been as harsh knowing I had been helping."

     "I doubt it. I think they just wanted an excuse to keep me as immobile as possible. They're super worry-warts."

     "Still, you were grounded until you were fully recovered. That took a long time."

     "Yeah." I agreed with a shudder, recalling the past several long weeks.

Timber patted my arm comfortingly.

     "I do have to tell you though...I obviously can't have any letters coming to my house from this address," he explained, "I said if any letters were sent back that they would have to go to a different address. Your address, with your name."

     "That's fine. Mom and dad just grab the mail and throw it in a huge pile on the corner counter. Even if they notice I've gotten a letter, I get enough from my cousins and friends out of town that they won't investigate it enough to see it's from a different place."

     "That's a relief."

Sudden squeaking coming up the steps alerted us to an approaching danger. Timber reacted with lightning fast reflexes to shove away all incriminating evidence and grab a comic from his drawer that he pretended to show me instead. Mr. Mountain knocked before popping his head in to ask if we wanted pizza for dinner, to which we both gave overly eager positive responses. Mr. Mountain returned back downstairs though without any suspicions, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, our remaining time together avoided any more terrifying incidents like that. Timber and I hung out normally, we had that nice pizza dinner with Mr. Mountain, the three of us played some video games, and Timber chuckled at me constantly at how I loved to read up in his high loft bed.

Having no clue what to do with the search for his mom other than waiting to see what, if any, kind of response we would get from Timber's letter, the whole idea faded into the back of our minds. Summer fully disappeared, it started raining every other day, and the trees clothed themselves in brilliant shades of red, golds, and yellows. Mom already started making us pumpkin pie at least once a week, and there was no shortage of apple cider in the fridge. My siblings and I, with Apple coming along, bounded home one particular afternoon discussing what we would have for a snack only to discover a certain fact had been unearthed about our family's lineage.

     "It's really not surprising, now that I think about it," grandpa spoke to mom while dad chatted up someone on the phone, "After everything else weird that had happened, now this is bizarre too. I mean, it was a crazy coincidence to begin with..."

Gilly, Merlot, Apple, and I all rushed over to the adults.

     "Welcome home." mom greeted.

     "What's weird?"

     "What's a coincidence?"

Gilly and I talked over each other. That got grandpa and mom smiling.

     "Today we finally learned enough to realize that how we thought things were with the albinism your grandma passed down are not how we thought they were at all." mom began to explain.

     "Yeah?" Merlot wondered.

     "We thought it was a crazy coincidence that I carried the albinism gene that allowed Prism to come out white," grandpa continued, "We thought it was also crazy that Prism just happened to marry Taffy, who just happened to also have the albinism gene, who just happened to give birth to Crescent, who came out white too. However, a little while back, Crescent was getting sick often. Prism and Taffy took him in for some genetic testing given your grandma's weak immune system that can be passed down as well as common problems that albinos can develop. Curious about what their genetics could reveal in addition to that, Prism and Taffy got testing done to match. What they found out...Taffy doesn't carry the albinism gene."

     "But I thought both parents had to carry it in order for it to show up? That's how recessive genes work." I frowned.

     "Typically, yes. We thought it was strange, and perhaps a mistake in the testing, so I actually went to get testing done for myself once Prism told us about it. We got the results back this afternoon," grandpa spoke somewhat ominously, "I don't carry the albinism gene either."

My siblings and Apple took in the news curiously, but I, being so interested in the medical world, was enthralled by the revelation.

     "What does that mean?" I asked.

     "As far as we can tell," dad joined in, ending his call, "Whatever they did to mom when she was young made her kind of albinism dominant. Well, dominant enough for it to manifest when there's not a matching gene in the partner. The percentages don't seem to match up well with how we know genetics to work, so I let Prism know what we just found out about dad so the geneticists on his side of the country can work on the mystery like the ones we told over here. Otherwise, the best we can gather is that if a partner has the gene, it's pretty much guaranteed the child will be albino. If the partner doesn't have the gene, there's a much lower chance the child won't come out white. However, he or she still has a significantly higher chance inheriting the trait than normal."

     "We don't know what the means for those like you three," mom motioned to Gilly, Merlot, and I, "Or any of your cousins from Ethereal's side. We don't know if that unnatural percentage remains the same, or if it decreases with each generation."

     "I'll get tested!" I volunteered in a heartbeat, "I want to know."

     "I figured that would be the case," mom laughed, "Let's let the geneticists work with what information they have at the moment though, and once they grasp that we can go on to the next step. In the meantime, you girls need to get ready. Mary and Pastel will be here to pick you up soon."

The two did arrive in a rapid manner. Gilly and I put our school things away, I used the restroom, and that's when I heard their voices downstairs. There hadn't been a need to rush though. Dad was all over telling Rosemary about the interesting news of grandma's supposed unique strain of albinism. Mom and grandpa had plenty of time to wrap us up a snack, and Ember and Melrose even got home from high school where they gave us a quick hello before dashing off to my sister's room. Finally, we all piled into their car where we made our way to a small flower park in the middle of the city.

     "I think we should start with them in front of the pavilion. With the way the buildings are blocking the sun, we'll have to wait a bit before we have good lighting for those bushes over there." Pastel spoke to Rosemary with a great deal of thought.
     "We'll need to take them quick though, otherwise the reflection coming off the white paint will be too strong."

Rosemary was an amazing photographer. All of our official baby and family photos were taken by her. Her usual work took her all over Berrybrook, as Uncle Sap and Aunt Purity had her as their professional marketing photographer for their businesses.

     "Are you going to tell us now why you're having all of these mysterious photo shoots?" I demanded to know.

For the past week, Rosemary and Pastel had been gathering up random members of our family and taking them this way and that in order to collect a bunch of photos involving them and their three foster sons.

     "Don't bother," the oldest of those three, Parsley, laughed before shrugging at me, "They won't even tell us, and we're the ones they've been dragging around the most."
     "It's soooo suspicious though. Rosemary never takes this many pictures for free." Gilly popped into the conversation, leaning over my shoulder.
     "'Don't you know how much film costs? If you have a talent that people want, never do it for free!' That's what I usually hear." Apple repeated, lovingly mocking her aunt.

Laughter came from Parsley's left side. Thyme was the youngest of the three brothers. A year younger than Merlot, he thankfully didn't remember much of his original home given that he, Parsley, and Sage had been living with Rosemary and Pastel for two years now. Sage, however, Sage did remember. That's why I knew why he stood there almost frowning and refusing to make eye contact with pretty much everyone. His parents had been bad. Rosemary's most common word to describe them was 'volatile.' Parsley had been able to weather the worst of their terrible example as he had been old enough to stand more on his own before things spiraled totally out of control. Again, Thyme couldn't recall anything, but Sage had suffered through the darkest parts when he needed proper parents more than ever. I did what I could to get along with him, but his attitude was usually grumpy, dismissive, and sometimes aggressive.

     "And all of that is completely true," Rosemary continued the conversation while I was off in my thoughts, "This is, however, a special occasion. I've got my own little project I'm working on, and since I'm the one asking to take photographs I can let it slide that you're getting them done for free."
     "Careful there. If you keep up at this pace, you might become as generous as Blaze." Pastel joked.
     "I really need to keep myself in check then, huh?" Rosemary laughed back.

A bit more joking, bantering, goofing off, and what have you pressed on after that, but eventually Rosemary remembered we were at the sun's mercy. It kept being shaded by various lazy clouds. While waiting for them to pass, she set us up for a shot, fiddled with our positions a dozens times, and would snap away when proper lighting returned. Our collection of bodies spiraled around the gazebo as we were split off in every grouping and pairing imaginable. Gilly, Apple, and I enjoyed every moment of it as we had long grown accustomed to Rosemary having us model. Our enthusiasm rubbed off on Thyme, and perhaps it inspired Sage. He smiled for the majority of the shots even if it came out forced more often than not.

It took about an hour for us to earn a break. The sun had moved enough to escape the grasp of most skyscrapers, so Rosemary had been unrelenting in getting whatever she could as quick as she could. Thankfully, she did at least offer to buy us some juice from a nearby vending machine as even the autumn sun proved rather warm. Gilly had an especially close attachment to Pastel. They stuck by the other chatting as they had their refreshments. Rosemary entertained Parsley and Thyme while Apple and I wandered about downing our fruit punch with fervor. We continued walking after the empty bottles were trashed, and that's when we stumbled upon Sage. Off by himself, he shifted around framing out the park with his fingers making a rectangle like Rosemary always did when planning where she wanted to shoot.

     "Do you like photography too?" I asked, approaching.

Sage leapt in surprise as if I'd taken a baseball bat and smacked him hard against his rear end. In one harsh turn, he spun around to face Apple and I with his trademark frown.

     "No, I do not." he growled.
     "Oh, okay. I just thought you might since you were looking around with your hands in that box like Rosemary often does." I answered uncertainly, trying to stay positive.
     "I wasn't. I wouldn't do something so stupid." Sage kept grumbling.
     "I see. What were you doing then?"
     "It's none of your damn business!" Sage barked loudly, he cheeks flushing with both rage and embarrassment.
     "S-Sorry."

I really wasn't good at dealing with him.

     "I came over here because I wanted to be alone!" he kept spouting at me furiously, "So go away, you idiot!"
     "Sage, you're acting like your dad." Apple chimed in calmly yet coldly.

Sage reacted instantly to that. His eyes widened as realization struck, his anger towards me morphed into self-loathing, and with his head hung low he stomped off without hesitation.

     "You're always doing that. Is that really the best way to get him under control?" I asked my friend hesitantly.
     "I don't know. No one has told me to stop saying it, and it's the only way I've found to make him see he's being a jerk. If I was starting to act like a horrible person, I would want someone to tell me. That way I could be better." Apple shrugged.
     "I wish Uncle Eden were still here," I sighed, "Sage seemed to do better when he was around."
     "Me too," Apple agreed sadly, "I had a dream the other night though of him and Auntie 'Thereal having fun up in heaven. It made me feel better."
     "Really?"
     "Yeah. They didn't notice me in the dream, but seeing grandpa then has it feeling like he's still here. He would tell me to be understanding and forgive Sage where I could. We have to overpower all the bad he's seen with twice as much goodness, and that's going to take a while."

I smiled as Apple rattled off his common words of advice.

     "That sounds like Uncle Eden alright."

Sage naturally hadn't rushed off to tell Rosemary and Pastel of his less than stellar attitude. With them calling us over to begin prepping more shooting, he cringed when we came near clearing fearing we would rat him out. Apple and I silently agreed to let him off the hook. We gave him quick smiles and merely walked on by. However, we would soon be running with what happened next.

     "Hey, Pastel, do you have a nail clipper? Thyme chipped his, and I don't want it to get caught on anything." Parsley asked.
     "Hmm, I don't think I brought mine today. Rosemary always has one in her bag though."

An innocent question. An innocent conversation. Parsley harmlessly rummaged around in Rosemary's large bag, but what he pulled out was not a nail clipper. I watched him stand with an official looking folder in his left hand and a notebook and a notebook filled with text in his left. He glanced them over, especially the folder, before taking a deeper peek. Instantly, his expression grew serious.

     "Pastel, what are these?" he asked in disbelief, although it wasn't necessarily the bad kind.

Too curious to wait for a proper answer, I dashed over to get as good of a look at what Parsley found as I could. The folder appeared to be from the adoption agency, and the notebook seemed to be filled with details for some sort of celebration.

     "Mary, you were supposed to have left those at home." Pastel instantly rebuked her when Parsley holding the objects caught Rosemary's attention and she bolted over.
     "I'm sorry. I forgot." she apologized sheepishly.
     "Is this for real?" Parsley, in awe, demanded to know.
     "I guess the surprise is ruined," Rosemary sighed before smiling, "But, yes. I know it's been a while since we've talked about it with you three, but that is because we wanted it to be a surprise. We filed to adopt you all, and it's been approved. We've been taking all these pictures because we wanted to make a huge collage of you with all of your family, and Pastel and I have been putting together a big party to celebrate when there's that long weekend next week because of the holiday."

Parsley grew even more stunned, but it remained on the good side of the spectrum. Thyme them dominated everyone's attention by running up and gathering both Rosemary and Pastel in a hug. The love was returned in kind. It was only when I saw thoughts running around in Parsley's head that clearly signaled he was thinking of his other brother that Merlot, who was the first to notice something was off, spoke up.

     "Sage, where are you going?"

Everyone's attention snapping in the direction he called, Sage's back already far away down the street rapidly got smaller and smaller.

     "Sage!" Parsley yelled.

He bolted off first. Rosemary and Pastel were too trapped by Thyme to wriggle themselves around all of our bodies in a timely manner. Perhaps that's why I took off too. Perhaps it wasn't. Maybe it was because if Sage had more people chasing him down he'd be more inclined to stop. It could have been that I was indignant of his apparent rejection of what he'd been offered. He and his brothers had been in talks with the agency about going back to their parents a year ago. However, his parents instantly proved they remained terrible parents by threatening to lock them all in a closet to keep them out of their hair. The idea to ever reunite them again was pretty much tossed out the window, and Parsley, Sage, and Thyme remained in Berrybrook. How could Sage act as if now being guaranteed such a good home was so awful he had to run away from it?

I did my best at keeping up. However, I really wasn't all that athletic. My strong point was that I wasn't unhealthy. I wasn't going to be winning any sports medals any time soon though. Sage and even Parsley disappeared. I took a corner I thought they went down, and neither was to be seen. Exhausted by the time I reached the fancy movie theater, Apple made my heart skip several beats, as I hadn't realized she'd been following the whole way, when she dashed past me.

     "C'mon, Dia. I have a good idea of where he went." she prompted.
     "Ugggh." I whined, pushing my legs to keep up with her.

Apple took pity on me and slowed us down enough to the point where I didn't feel like I was going to die. My cousins guided us east, and the buildings became more familiar. The area we entered was by the old elementary. The small playground we found Sage at was behind the apartment buildings I had been told were where Blaze and grandpa once lived. Parsley was still nowhere to be seen. He had to have been given the slip as well.

     "That wasn't very nice you know," Apple began when we managed to approach Sage, sitting alone on the seesaw, without him skittering off at our presence, "Dia can't run to save her life, and we had to cross half the city to reach you."
     "Is that really what you want to focus on right now?" I mumbled in complaint, my breaths heaving heavily.
     "It's not my fault," Sage rebuked, "I didn't ask you to come after me. I didn't want you to come after me."
     "Well, guess what? Sometimes life isn't all about what you want. You more than most people should be aware of that. I just can't get you though. You got the news of something really good, and you're acting like this?" Apple snapped back.
     "It's not good news for me!"

Sage jumped up with a start. As soon as I saw his back again, my poor lungs quivered at the idea of more running. Thankfully, Sage merely did nothing other than turn his back to us.

     "Why is it bad?" Apple questioned instantly.
     "Because!" Sage replied loudly, and then his voice grew impossibly quiet, "Because..."

A better answer than that didn't come for quite a while. Apple and I stood there waiting and waiting, and when a reply did come it was a lie. Sage's quivering words and half-hearted tone revealed with ease he meant nothing of what he said. He simply wanted us to leave him be.

     "I had enough people at school make fun of me back at my other home. I don't want two moms. It'll just make people tease me again."
     "You've already been going to school here for two years. I think your classmates know you have two female parents. If anyone was going to make fun of you, then would be doing so already," Apple pointed out, "And they're not."

More silence. Sage's shoulders shrugged, and I could sense him withdrawing.

     "What is the problem, Sage?" I tried, "You can tell us. We won't tell anyone else if you don't want us to."

Still nothing. My ability to handle the situation before me was poor, as was Apple's, and we both knew it. Then it got worse when Sage started to sniffled and rub at most likely wet eyes.

     "You know, I don't think we can help you, Sage. But we're super close to someone who lives nearby who I think will be able to help you. I bet you he understands a lot of what you're going through." Apple came up with one brilliant idea though.

Blessedly, Sage was willing to be led away from the playground without any complaints. The slow walk was awkwardly uncomfortable, but it only took several streets to reach our destination. We rode up the elevator to the right floor where Apple knocked on a yellow door.

     "Who is it?" Malachite's voice came from inside.
     "It's your favorite niece!" Apple replied.
     "Eh, I suppose I can stand you for a little bit," Malachite teased as was his way, "You're permitted to enter."

Apple opened the door with a smile, and Malachite, sitting at the table reading a magazine, looked up as we entered.

     "Ah, and you brought companions. Nice. What can old' Maly do for you today?"

The positive atmosphere he invited didn't last for long. We naturally couldn't explain the predicament in a joking manner, but crashing the mood wasn't a fun option either. Thankfully, it crashed somewhat slowly. Malachite soon caught our hesitant and more serious attitudes when it came time to reveal our purpose for the visit, and he treated the situation properly too.

     "Anything wrong?" he asked.
     "It's..." Apple took charge to speak again, "Rosemary and Pastel were having us take pictures at the flower park when Parsley accidentally discovered that they had gone ahead and finished the process to adoption him, Sage, and Thyme. Sage here got upset and run away for some reason, but when we found him he wouldn't tell us why. We were hoping you could talk to him."

At that, Malachite gave Sage a good look over. Studious and knowing, he smiled kindly at our increasingly nervous and fidgety companion.

     "Sure. Sage, why don't you come into the other room with me? I think it's better if we speak there." Malachite offered.

I guess being caught up to had stolen away Sage's fight. He continued to put up no resistance and obediently followed Malachite into his room. Almost as soon as his door closed did the door next to it open.

     "Hey, guys," Lightning greeted, "I thought I heard some different voices. A unique time for a visit."
     "Sage is struggling a bit with something, so he's talking to Uncle Mal about it." Apple explained.
     "I see," Lightning nodded, "Well, I've done enough homework to make it reasonable to put off the rest of it for now. You two want to watch television or play some video games while you wait?"
     "Definitely!" Apple agreed eagerly.
     "Oh, wait. The others still have no idea where we've gone or what happened to Sage," I reminded her, "Can I borrow your phone, Light? I need to call Rosemary or Pastel."
     "Sure. I'll bring up Aunt Mary's number for you."

He handed me his cell phone. Lightning and Apple parked themselves on the couch to pull up the sports channel while I was met with a busy tone. Pouting but figuring Rosemary was calling all around to try to see where everyone had run off to, I left a message, waited several minutes, and then tried again. Rosemary picked up quickly this time around. Parsley had returned to the rest of the group, and I didn't need to see her face to picture the relief on her expression when I revealed what had gone on with us. Chastising us for running off but thanking us for having the idea to come to Malachite for help, she said she would give her brother a bit of time to work on digging out the problem before she came over.

Lightning got his phone back, and I joined my cousins in watching a recent football game. I didn't care much for the sport, but it kept me entertained. Fifteen minutes passed, and I almost forgot about the conversation going on behind the wall nearby. It took another five minutes and Malachite and Sage walking out to bring our attention to the matter at hand.

     "Sage has something he would like to say." Malachite announced after Lightning muted the television.

Although he continued to shift nervously and wouldn't look right at us, Sage spoke more confidently than he had before.

     "I'm sorry I got angry at you, Dia. I'm sorry I called you an idiot. I'm sorry I ran away." he apologized earnestly.
     "It's alright." I accepted, and Apple nodded too.
     "The two of us talked through things rather well," Malachite added, "Have you contacted Mary or Pastel at all?"
     "I called Rosemary. She said she would wait a little before coming over." I explained.
     "I'll call her then to let her know she can come now."

I scooted over to give Sage room on the couch. He joined us in finishing up watching the game, and he was dead silent the whole way through. As soon as voices could be heard coming down the main hallway, he tightened up like nothing I'd ever seen and went a shade paler. To his credit, when Rosemary and Pastel walked through the door with Parsley, Thyme, and Gilly he stood up without pause when prompted by Malachite.

     "Sage, we're sorry if you were startled by the announcement. Rosemary and I did intend to tell you and your brothers properly when it was just the five of us." Pastel wasted no time in comforting him after he hid his face.

Sage shook his head vigorously.

     "I didn't meant to run away," he admitted with more determination than expected, "I wasn't upset that you're adopting us. I was really happy. It's that..."

His sniffles returned, yet he pressed on.

     "You did used to talk to us about adopting us. Then you stopped. I thought...I thought that meant you might not want us anymore. I thought I was too bothersome," Sage's words turned into soft mumbles, "I thought you were taking all these pictures as a goodbye present because you were sending us away. When I found out you weren't, I was mad at myself. That's why I ran..."

A few tears trickled down his cheeks. My heart leapt in fear when he dashed forward after he wiped them away that he intended to flee once more. However, his body made solid contact with Rosemary's when he practically ran into her for a tackling hug. He buried himself against her as best he could while reaching out for Pastel to pull her close.

     "I love you," he professed into Rosemary's chest with eyes closed holding back waterworks, "And I'm sorry."
     "Oh, we love you too, Sage." Pastel promised, leaning in to his requested embrace.
     "And it's alright. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that we made you worry," Rosemary smiled at him, petting his hair, "I remember those days when everything was so uncertain. I remember how terrifying they were. But you are safe with us. We want you. We get you."

Sage smiled and nodded. The embrace of those three got tighter before it became absolutely squished. Thyme excitedly joined in, and Parsley squeeze them all closer together. Seconds later, Gilly got my head turning back when she laughed. Our teasing Malachite had decided to join in on the moment too. He glomped onto Lightning with a ridiculous hug and pepped his cheek his kisses. Lightning momentarily attempted to escape, but, realizing there was no hope, gave into the craziness that was his father. Then, not more than a breath or two passed before Apple leapt up for Gilly, dragged her onto the couch with us, and squished us three into a clump as well. Chuckles started to scatter throughout the room, and those chuckles transformed into laughs when, in the relative quiet, the front door clicked open, Lavender walked in with a bag of groceries, and stared at us all with a raised brow, absolutely dumbfounded.