Gen Three- Chapter One

My mouth twitched with a smile as I watched Apple stretch tremendously this way and that. The biggest sigh of relief escaped her lips, and I swore she was trying to break her face in two with how greatly she yawned.

     "Thank goodness this day is over! I didn't think I was going to make it." she expressed when her grandiose movements ceased.

     "Apple, it's only been the first day of school. We didn't do anything but go over the syllabus in each class. Our homework is to bring in a box of tissues and have our parents sign their approval for the books on this year's reading list." I pointed out.

     "I know. That's why this day was terrible," Apple whined, "I hate boring stuff like that. If I have to spend all day inside, at least give a proper class. Why teach us how to read if they're just going to read at us the stuff we can look at ourselves? People aren't going to pay attention to it either way."

     "What's a syllabus?" a third voice chimed into the conversation.

The voice belonged to Merlot, mine and Gilly's younger brother.

     "Oh the joys of being a younger elementary school student. A syllabus is basically just a list of what the teacher is going to cover throughout the year and when they're going to do it. That way you can know what's coming up and prepare for it. They do it for every class in junior high and high school, and it used to be optional for elementary teachers. They've made it required now though starting at second grade." Gilly explained.

     "But, again, no one really pays attention to them. Most everyone just shoves the papers into the bottom of their bookbags and forgets about them." Apple shrugged.

     "How was your very first day of school, Merl?" I asked my brother to change the topic as I knew Apple would keep on complaining otherwise.

     "It was good. Mrs. Mist is really nice."

     "She's the best of the kindergarten teachers," I nodded, "We lucked out though. Most of the strict teachers were left back at the other elementary, and we got all the good ones."

Merlot scooted forward with interest hearing that.

     "I heard you had Mrs. Crisp one year, Apple." he wondered curiously.

     "Don't remind me," she pouted, "I have no idea how she hasn't kicked the bucket yet."

     "She is pretty old now, isn't she?" I wondered, "Even Uncle Wisp had her as a teacher."

     "And he's like, what, fifty-something?" Apple asked.

     "C'mon. He's the same age as your dad," I teased, "So, he's...like forty-four? Forty-three? I don't quite remember. He's definitely in his forties though.

     "Eh, either way he's old too."

There was a chuckle that came off from the side of her, and the person the four of us had been waiting for appeared out of nowhere.

     "You're at least choosing to say that about the best possible person. Wisp wouldn't care if you called him old. Prism though..." dad trailed off, wearing a large grin.
     "Daddy!" Gilly shot off the bench to crush him with a hug.

He said his hellos to her and then to the rest of us before glancing around wearing a strange smile.

     "I heard a bit of your conversation as I was walking up. You guys are really lucky. They should have added another elementary to the district when I was in school. I had to go to that old one back by the hospital."
     "We know, we know. And you had to get up so much earlier because you had to be driven." Gilly rolled her eyes.
     "And we get more time to sleep because we can walk since this one is so close." I added similarly.
     "And you had to use old fashioned chalkboards while we have interactive boards." Apple even joined in.
     "And this one has a bigger yard for recess!" Merlot finished it off.
     "Ahhh," dad sighed with only slightly sarcastic wistfulness, somewhat ignoring us, "Berrybrook truly is growing so much, isn't it? School enrollment keeps going up year after year, and new people are moving in all the time. It's good for the bookstore's sales, but it's actually a little sad that more people are learning about how great it is here. The bigger Berrybrook becomes, the less it remains like it was."

Dad sighed more dramatically before he gave up on his act and shifted back to normal.

     "So, who's ready to go to the festival?" he asked cheerfully.

The others exclaimed their eagerness and rushed to get their bags, but an idea had popped into my mind.

     "Hey dad, since you mentioned people moving to Berrybrook, do you mind if I go invite Timber to join us? I think he'd like to come." I asked.
     "Timber? Haven't heard of him. Who is he?" dad questioned back.
     "Oh, he's that new kid in our class who moved to Berrybrook last month, right?" Gilly said, "Mountain is his last name, I think."
     "I don't mind, but what if he already left on one of the buses? Most everyone else has gone home. I would need permission from his parents as well." dad pointed out.
     "I don't think he takes the bus. I saw him waiting around the normal pick up area not too long ago." Apple revealed.
     "I'll go see if he's still there. If he hasn't left yet, then I'll see if he wants to come. We'll work out his parents' permission afterwards if we get that far." I planned it out.
     "That's fine," dad agreed, "Try not to take too long though."

I dashed off. Spending time at the seasonal festivals was always more fun with more people, and Timber hadn't seem to connect super strongly to anyone in class even though he'd had a warm welcome. I figured showing him one of Berrybrook's best attractions was a good way to make him feel more at home. I kinda just wanted to know more about him too. New kids always have that air of interest around them, you know? Rushing around to the front of the building was the right choice. Any slower and I probably would have missed my quarry. Timber was almost off the school grounds as he walked along talking merrily to a man I assumed to be his father.

     "Timber!" I called.

The pair stopped instantly, and both glanced back with looks of curiosity.

     "Oh, hello. Dianthus, was it?" Timber asked when I approached.
     "Uh-huh. You can call me Dia if you want though. Most people do."
     "Someone from your class?" the man wondered.
     "Yes. I'm Dianthus Vivid. It's nice to meet you." I introduced myself, holding out my hand, while Timber nodded along.
     "A great pleasure to meet you, Dianthus. I'm Russet, Timber's dad." Mr. Mountain replied, shaking my hand.
     "My dad is taking my sister, brother, cousin, and me to the summer festival down at the park. It's only in town for a few more days, so I was wondering if Timber wanted to come along with us."

Timber looked up at his father expectantly, which just made Mr. Mountain grin.

     "I think that sounds perfectly fine. I would like to talk to your father first though. Is he nearby?"
     "He's waiting on the other side of the building."

It didn't take long for me to lead the way back towards the southwestern corner where the others were. A bored Merlot was chasing Apple around, and they continued their antics even as we got close. I bounced up to dad.

     "Mr. Mountain says Timber can come." I relayed happily.
     "I see," dad acknowledged before looking at Timber's dad, "I'm Coal Vivid. A pleasure to meet you."

Continuing along with the formalities, he held out his hand too.

     "A pleasure, Coal. My name's Russet," Mr. Mountain gave another handshake, "It's relieving to see that what everyone said about Berrybrook being a friendly place is true. Timber was telling me how great of a day he's had so far, and it was very kind of your daughter to invite him to join you all. We've heard about the festival, but things have been a little crazy with the move so we haven't had the chance to go."
     "If you'd like, you're more than welcome to join as well. My store helps sponsor a few of the vendors, so you can get food practically free if you're with me."
     "That is incredibly tempting, but, unfortunately, I do still have much to do with unpacking and dealing with work for my new job. That's why I was actually hoping to see if you would perhaps be able to drop Timber off back home once the young ones are all tired of their fun."
     "Oh, sure. I'm the escort and chauffeur for these guys the vast majority of the time, so one more stop is no issue. Where is your house?"

I stopped listening, and I motioned Timber away from our dads. They exchanged addresses and phone numbers, continued with the basic pleasantries required when meeting a new person, and talked about boring stuff like their jobs and other similar adult things.

     "Hi, Timber." Gilly greeted our new companion.
     "Hey." Apple smiled as well.
     "Hello." Timber replied.
     "This is Merlot, mine and Gilly's younger brother." I introduced.
     "Hello," Timber repeated before glancing between my sister and me, "You two are twins, right?"
     "Yup! Twins run pretty strongly in both sides of our family. Our mom is a twin, our dad has siblings who are twins, and on our dad's side, his grandfather was a twin too." Gilly explained.
     "Oh wow."
     "Do you have any siblings?" Merlot asked.
     "Nah, I'm an only child, so my family is pretty small and quiet."
     "Well, if you want large and loud for a change we've got quite the collection of family, extended family, and family friends who are basically family." Apple revealed.
     "Yeah? How many people is that exactly?" Timber wanted to know.
     "There's me and my sisters, Velvet and Satin, and my parents. There's Uncle Mal and Lavender, and their son Lightning. Then there's Aunt Rosemary and Aunt Pastel. They've got three boys they're fostering. There's Wisp and Papaya with Tangerine and Surge. Prism lives in Tinseltown with Canary and Crescent. After that is Desire and Jasper, and they have Melrose, Scorch, and Desire. Des is named after her mom, of course. Then there's-"
     "Haha, okay. I think I understand." Timber smartly interrupted with an amazed laugh.
     "I don't think that was even half of everyone there is." Gilly remarked.
     "Wow, so a super big, crazy family indeed, huh?" Timber proposed.
     "Big and crazy indeed." I agreed.

Gilly and Merlot decided to divulge some of the best stories we had about amusing happenings at family events. After the first one, I took a glance towards dad. He and Mr. Mountain had finished talking, and Mr. Mountain must have not wanted to interrupt our conversation as he was almost out of sight. Dad was about to turn towards us, but he suddenly placed his hand over his right eye. He kept rubbing at it, I could see his eyes starting to water slightly, and the expression on his face wasn't too pleased.

     "Is your eye hurting again, dad?" I asked.
     "Ugh, yeah. I think the wind that just passed blew something into it. It's flaring up all of a sudden."

Our words caught the attention of the others, and we watched as dad struggled with the inconvenient pain. It didn't take long at all before he sighed heavily.

     "Seriously..." he complained, "I think whatever got in is caught underneath. It's itching and burning. We're going to have to make a detour to the house, guys, so I can take it out and clean it."
     "He has to take out his eye to clean it?" Timber half whispered in somewhat disgusted confusion.

Dad heard that, which allowed him a good chuckle in the midst of his predicament.

     "I lost my real right eye quite a while ago. I wear a fake lens to replace it, so I have to take it out every now and again for maintenance or when something gets in it, like now."
     "Oh."

As we walked to our house, we recounted the facts of how dad lost his eye to Timber while dad embellished the tale with exaggerated details. The irritation in the lens appeared to have cleared up by the time we got to our destination, but with the journey already having been completed dad went off to clean it up anyway. Gilly, Apple, Merlot, and I took the chance to dump off our bookbags before a figure on the couch watching television drew us to the front of the house.

     "I thought you lot were heading to the festival. Did you want to come visit us old men here that badly that you came back home instead?" Blaze greeted us in typical Blaze fashion.
     "Nope. Dad just got something in his eye and has to clean it out real quick." I stated.
     "Such a shame. Doodle and I were just about the start the fourth season of Secrets of the Monarchs."
     "Aww, Doodle, I'm so sorry he's making you watch such a boring show. Bark twice if you want to be rescued." Apple cooed and teased as she pet my dad's dog.

Doodle accepted the petting with enthusiasm, but he didn't move much and he certainly didn't bark. Making noise seemed to take too much out of him these days.

     "This is Timber Mountain. He's new to our class," I went right back to introductions when Blaze's gaze lingered on him, "Timber, this is Blaze. He's my great-great-uncle, but he doesn't like the 'great' or 'uncle' parts."
     "My aching joints remind me enough that I'm old. I don't need to be reminded of it every time someone addresses me too," Blaze joked towards me then nodded at Timber, "Nice to meet you."
     "Nice to meet you too."

Merlot joined Apple in adoring Doodle, and the question he asked Blaze while he did so made our great-great-uncle's expression drop.

     "How's Uncle Eden doing?"

Blaze's smile practically disappeared. I both mentally cursed and thanked my brother for putting the question out there. I desperately wanted to know of my uncle's condition, but I didn't want to hear about it either.

     "Deny called me about two hours ago. She said he's doing about the same as he was before, but that's still not very good. His doctor gave him some other kind of medicine, so hopefully that will make him feel better." Blaze admitted with as much optimism as possible.
     "Is your uncle sick?" Timber questioned uncertainly into the now downcast atmosphere.
     "Yeah. Grandpa got ill a month ago, and he's been having trouble getting better." Apple replied.
     "Eden's a trooper though," Blaze spoke, determined to keep the mood up, "Always has been. He's going to kick off this illness that's got him down and be home before the week is over. I know it."
     "I think so too." I affirmed, mostly because I couldn't stand the thought of thinking any other way.

Dad reappeared a minute later. Since we had walked all the way home, he went ahead and took us to the park in the car. I was grateful for it. The school might have been close enough for us to walk, but that didn't mean that trek couldn't get incredibly tiring. With how much we were going to be running around at the park, the brief break our feet got was most welcomed.

     "You guys have a massive house. How many people live with you?" Timber asked me when we got a quieter moment to talk.

He had stuck to me closer than he had the others when we reached the park and dad got us an afternoon snack. Timber didn't seem shy, but maybe he was. Since I was the one who invited him, that could be why he felt more comfortable around me.

     "There's Blaze, grandpa, dad, mom, Gilly, me, and Merlot all the time, so that's seven. Ember lives with us half the time. There's Doodle too if you want to count him."
     "Who's Ember?"
     "She's our older sister. She has a different mom than us, and she stays with her every other week. Her house is right across the street from ours though, so it doesn't make much of a difference."
     "Your dad had a different wife then?"
     "Well, no. It's...I can't really explain it since mom and dad haven't told us the full details, but dad actually had Ember with mom's twin sister, our Aunt Mimi. They weren't in a relationship or anything. That's as much as I know. They say they'll tell us more when we're older."
     "Hmm." Timber mused curiously.
     "What about you? You've heard a lot about our family. What is yours like?"

Timber shrugged, but he smiled too.

     "I haven't been saying much, but there's not much to say. It's just my dad and me." he answered nonchalantly.
     "It's really just you two?"
     "Yeah. My mom wasn't very interested in being a mom. She took off right after I was born. Dad says it was for the best- that she wasn't a healthy person to be around. She doesn't have any siblings, and dad doesn't either. My grandparents on both sides have passed away or are uninterested in dad and me as well." Timber revealed.
     "I'm sorry. That has to be a bit rough, huh?"
     "Not too much. It's hard to miss what you never had. Besides, I'm too focused on my mission to care about people who don't care about me."
     "Your mission? What's that?"
     "To get my dad to go on a date. He gets so distracted so easily that he forgets that finding a better woman than my mom is totally possible." Timber said boldly.

I laughed.

     "If I think of anyone he might get along with, I'll let you know. The only single woman I know who's around his age is Aunt Mimi, and she's not interested in that kind of stuff apparently."
     "Thanks," Timber grinned, "Maybe with some help I'll finally get a breakthrough."
     "I'll do my best." I promised eagerly.

Timber and I found great amusement in putting together a plan for finding romance for Mr. Mountain. We detailed things ranging from how his first date should be scheduled to how to make him stand out more to how we could set up a profile on a dating site even though neither of us were allowed access to our own email address. In the midst of the brainstorming, Apple decided we'd ignored the rest of them long enough. She got us to join her on the skating rink while Gilly and Merlot stayed on the playground.

      "Wow, you're really good." Timber, faltering and slipping here and there as I was, spoke in awe as Apple effortlessly did fancy spins and turns in the center of the rink.
     "I want to be a professional ice skater when I get older. The one thing Berrybrook doesn't have is a proper ice skating rink though, so I make do with roller skating when it's not winter," Apple replied after a particularly impressive spin, which made it clear to me that she was showing off, "I could teach you some tricks if you want."
     "No thanks," Timber chuckled, "I'm not particularly athletic. That requires too much coordination."
     "What about you, Dia?" my cousin flashed her sparkling stare at me.
     "My answer is the same as his. Just as it's always been."
     "You guys are so boring. So you might fall a bit. It's no big deal." Apple sighed teasingly.
     "Falling is no big deal because I'm there to make sure it's fine when you take a tumble. What are you going to do if I'm the one hurt?"
     "Get your dad or call an ambulance like a normal person?" Apple responded matter-of-factly.

It didn't take long before Timber and I gave up on roller skating. The tops of the old boots were cutting into my calves way too uncomfortably, and I wasn't super into skating to begin with. Timber motioned he wanted a relief as well, so Apple had to make due with having us sit nearby and watch her instead. Timber and I picked up our conversation, and I realized that was the most entertaining thing to me at the fair so far.

     "I'm glad Berrybrook has some nice hills and mountains. I was worried when dad told me his job was moving him that this place would be all flat." Timber spoke as he took a wide glance around.
     "Yeah? Why is that?"
     "I don't know if me having the last name 'Mountain' is fate or if I like mountaineering so much because my last name is 'Mountain', but I love mountaineering," he grinned massively, "Apex Point, where I used to live, was right along the Everclimb mountain range. Dad and I would go scale the lower cliffs all the time. It's my goal in life to reach all the highest peaks in the world one day, so I didn't want to get out of practice by being forced to move here."
     "I don't think you should have to worry. We don't have mountains as big as the ones you're used to, but we do have ones that are decent enough. There's also this really huge rock climbing center on Willowbrush Street. It's pretty popular, and they're always adding harder walls."
     "That sounds great. I hadn't heard of that place yet. Would you want to go with me sometime?"
     "Sure," I smiled, "We go there often enough. It'd be nice to go without having dad along for once too. He had some bad experience there where the people who were supposed to meet up with him never showed or something, so he grumbles about it every single time we book a session. It's annoying."
     "I can imagine," Timber nodded along, "Hey, but what about you though? What do you want to do when you get older? Do you have a dream or a goal or something?"
     "I do. I-"
     "Dia!"

My words were silenced by a panicked shout from Gilly. My head whipped around at the fright in her voice, and I leapt off the bench before my sister could reach us despite the rapid pace at which she approached.

     "What's wrong?"
     "Merlot fell off the jungle gym," Gilly explained with tears swarming her eyes and a quivering voice that was rushed and staggering, "His ankle is hurt really bad. I-I tried to tell dad, but I can't find him anywhere. I don't know where he went. I don't know what to do."
     "It's okay. Merlot will be fine, and dad has to be around here somewhere." I comforted, patting her shoulder.

I gave a requesting glance back towards my newest companion.

     "Hey, Timber? Can you go check the men's bathroom? Dad wouldn't leave the park with us here, so that's where he probably is. Gilly, how about you and Apple get some ice to put on Merlot's ankle from that drink stand dad sponsors? I'll go to Merlot and see what I can do."
     "I'll go check." Timber agreed without hesitation, and he was off.

Gilly nodded miserably and wiped at her wet eyes. She always did better at keeping herself composed as long as she at least had a plan.

I was grateful the park wasn't overly large. I bolted to the other side where the playground was, and I found a heavily pouting Merlot sitting on the ground. There were no tears in his eyes, and he appeared more annoyed than hurt.

     "This doesn't look nearly as bad as Gilly made it out to be." I said as I knelt down to gingerly inspect my brother's left ankle.
     "She overreacted like normal. She even ran off before I could tell her it wasn't that bad." Merlot mumbled.
     "Well, at least she reacted. Sometimes people don't even do that."

Gently pulling back Merlot's sock, I got a better look at the damage that had been done.

     "There's some bruising, but I can't sense any breaks in the bone," I relayed, softly feeling the injured area now, "Looks like you sprained it."
     "What does that mean?" Merlot wondered as he recoiled slightly at my touch, which I retracted.
     "It means you stretched and possibly tore the ligaments around your ankle."
     "What are ligaments?"
     "Hmm, you can kinda think of them like tape. They are these tough fibers that connect the pieces of your body together."
     "Is that why mom always makes me eat that icky cereal that she says has a lot of fiber in it?" Merlot asked in disgust.
     "No," I laughed, "That's something different."

Standing up, I offered a hand to my brother.

     "Do you think you'll be able to walk over to that bench with my help? We need to elevate your foot."

Merlot nodded.

I helped gather him up, and we slowly and carefully hopped him over to the nearby bench where I got my brother as comfortable as I could. He was doing well with the pain despite his age. Merlot was the opposite of Ember and Gilly, who cried tremendously when they had to face pain. I was more like Merlot, but, honestly, I couldn't ever recall being hurt past the typical scrape or bruise. I couldn't quite say then how I would fare when dealing with a bigger injury.

     "Gilly and Apple will be here soon with some ice. Timber is finding dad. He'll have to take you to the hospital." I explained.
     "But the magic show hasn't even started yet." Merlot complained, and I found it amusing that he cared more about that than the nastier color the bruising on his ankle was steadily becoming.
     "Papa Al knows magic too. He can perform some stuff for you once this is looked at properly. If you don't treat stuff like this, it could get so bad that you would have to have your ankle chopped off. Maybe even the whole bottom half of your leg." I warned, only somewhat seriously, to stop more potential protests.

It worked like a charm. More whining that was about to come out of my brother's mouth vanished instantly.

     "My foot's beginning to feel a bit bigger. Is that normal?
     "When you sprain your ankle, it happens. We're going to have to take your shoe and sock off before it swells too much, but I think dad should help me with that. If you're in a situation where you can't get medical attention right away though or you still have to move some, it's better to keep it on then."

Right on cue, rapid footsteps approached. Dad led the pack. Timber was right behind, and Apple held a pack of ice covered in a towel while she guided a still sniffling Gilly along.

     "Ah, Merlot, what happened?" dad asked in concern as he took over my spot.
     "I wanted to see if I could jump from that one open spot in the rail to the pole. I lost my grip on it, so I fell down instead of sliding down." Merlot explained quietly and sheepishly.
     "I think we can all see now though that doing that is not a good idea," dad reprimanded lightly before addressing me, "How's it look?"
     "It's sprained. It could be a lot worse, but he definitely needs a doctor to check it out. His shoe and sock need to be taken off."
     "Right. We'll do that in just a second then, huh, Merl? Let me call dad and get him on his way down here first though so I don't have to wait longer to take you to the hospital. I'm sorry, you four, but it's better if he takes you home for now while this is dealt with. I'll bring you back tomorrow though, okay?"

No one dared to protest. There was no point, and I knew how much dad had worked into changing around his schedule to allow us to even be here in the first place as all the adults were incredibly busy at the moment. For dad to promise to change his schedule even more to bring us back tomorrow after he was going to be stuck at the hospital all afternoon was a generous promise enough to silence any whining.

     "Was dad in the bathroom?" I asked Timber after the four of us moved to the side slightly to give dad and Merlot some air.
     "Yeah. He was washing his hands when I walked in."
     "I'm glad you thought to have him check there," Gilly inhaled deeply, banishing the last of her sniffles, "I didn't think of that."
     "That was pretty impressive- you knowing what to do so quickly. And you knew what was wrong with Merlot's ankle and how to deal with it." Timber remarked.
     "Dia's always like that. She wants to be a doctor, so she's done a bunch of studying. I think we usually end up running to her first before we go to our parents when we get bruised up." Apple explained with a small laugh.
     "That's even more impressive." Timber beamed at me.
     "I...I just do what I can." I shifted, feeling a blush work its way up to my cheeks.

I shifted harder when both Gilly and Apple sent silly smirks my way, which somehow weren't caught by Timber. Desperate to ignore them, I refocused my attention on my dad and brother. Dad had the ice on Merlot's ankle now, but his shoe was still on. Dad paced about slightly as he lightly frowned while keeping his phone pressed to his ear. Moving closer to suggest that I go ahead and take off the shoe myself allowed me to hear the seemingly never-ending ringing of the call he was was trying to make. Maybe grandpa was still out running errands with mom? Although, they should have been home by now.

Gilly, Apple, and Timber followed behind as I curiously moved closer. Dad gave up on the phone call and tried again. After another long bout of rings, the other end was picked up.

     "Oh good. Hey, dad. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get you. There's been a-"

Dad abruptly went silent as a familiar but too quiet to hear voice interrupted him. He listened for a moment, and then he furrowed his brows.

     "Hang on though," he resumed speaking, "I think what I need to say needs to be said first. Merlot-"

Dad was interrupted a second time.

     "I get that what you have to say is important, but this is important too. I need-"

And then he was interrupted a third time. Dad sighed heavily. However, his sigh barely finished before the expression on his face dropped drastically. His muscles reacted in shock, the bad kind, and his mouth hung slightly open in disbelief. He probably would have stood there longer like a statue had he not had five pairs of eyes staring directly at him.

     "Oh..." dad mumbled, the nervous way his glance dodged ours revealed he didn't want to tell us what he'd just learned, "He has? I see..."

A terrible silence passed. I really didn't like the way the dad looked. He sighed again, much more somberly this time.

     "You know, I'm going to have to meet you there anyway. Merlot fell off the jungle gym and sprained his ankle. The other four are going to have to come with me as well."

Dad spoke miserably. I slipped my hand into Gilly's, and she held it tight. She held it even tighter when dad finished the call and looked at us reluctantly to tell us the bad news.