Gen Three- Chapter Sixteen

In the past, I usually rolled my eyes when peopled used the expression that they had 'died and gone to heaven.' The statement almost always came out corny, and I believed the sentiment to be a vast over-exaggeration. Now, however, I had to take back my thoughts. The afternoon when mom revealed we would be moving into the large house Gilly had found and so desperately wanted had been overwhelming with joy enough. Now that we were actually in front of the place about to head inside to claim our temporary house, I seriously couldn't remember the last time in my life I'd been so excited. My head swarmed with a raptured dizziness while my cheeks burned in anticipation as if I'd been standing in the sun all day.

     "Thank you!" Gilly squealed, reaching up to squeeze mom's neck from behind as we drove up.

     "Thank your grandfather," mom replied before laughing and shaking her head, "I should have known Amaranth would be all for this place. Seriously, the second he got the link he told me to take whatever money I needed from his account to be the highest bidder. Even at over sixty, he's still one of the biggest children I've ever met."

     "Damn right." Blaze laughed along with a knowing twinkle in his eye.

Color My World Short Story #8 Part Three

I found her door cracked halfway open as I reached her room. When I spotted Ethereal standing there hovering over that generic snow globe both she and Amaranth loved so much for some reason, I could sense the weight of grief resting within my friend's chest. It didn't matter if Ethereal stood there like she stood now with straight shoulders and a neutral expression. A looming darkness thrashed against the chilling walls built that she didn't realize would freeze the rest of her in time. The cold had numbed all the warning signs she thought she looked out for. The path Ethereal blatantly walked down was one I was all too familiar with, and now that I knew what it meant this time I wasn't going to stand by idly.

     "Oh, Lia," Ethereal jumped in surprise, turning around to greet me with a smile after I tapped on the door frame for a knock, "I didn't know you were coming over."

     "Well, since it worked out that all the kids are off, I thought I'd pop over for a quick visit. It's been a while since we hung out by ourselves."

There was no coincidence in Ethereal's usually filled household being empty. It had taken Allium and I several days to plan it out, but we'd gotten all her children invited somewhere else to play while I requested to her other friends and family to not invite her anywhere. None of them were oblivious to her quiet suffering either, which made them all too happy for me to take a chance to steer her back on the right road.

Updated Directory

Not a big announcement, but I've just finally gone ahead and updated the CMW directory page to include all the short stories posted so far for easier access. Check it out!

Gen Three- Chapter Fifteen

The smile that had been on my lips faded as he laughed.

     "You really don't remember?" Timber wondered.

     "It was kind of a stressful day," I shrugged, "I'm surprised you remember. You didn't look any more focused than I did."

We were recalling the crazy day we'd hoped to meet with Timber's mother. I'd mentioned to my friend that one of my new classmates was in the popular show Glassblown, but that I hadn't ever really seen it. That's when Timber revealed the morning before we left for the lake we'd watched nothing else.

     "I was hyper-focused because I was so stressed." Timber said too confidently.

     "I'm not sure that's something to be proud of." I teased with a laugh.

     "Maybe not," he chuckled, "Anyway, want to get me autograph? It'd be cool to have something signed by a famous person."

     "If you want something written by a famous person, I'll just give you Uncle Prism's shopping list."

     "That sounds even better." Timber went along playfully.

Gen Three- Chapter Fourteen

I expected Zenith Peak to be fancy given that it was a private school in one of the most affluent places in the world, but Zenith Peak went far past fancy. Mom and Aunt Taffy didn't just pull up to a nice building and drop us off. They pulled up to a parking lot in front of an expensive looking road gate where Canary and Crescent had to get out because all typical students took shuttles to their respective buildings. Zenith Peak, apparently, was a series of buildings much like a college campus settled up against the hills. The actual college campus was a bit further down the way. Aunt Taffy drove us up to the gate, some guards double checked the permission she had to drive us new students to the buildings directly, and off we were in this crazy other world. The high school was the closest, so Ember got taken inside first. Then came the elementary, and Merlot was off. The middle school was the farthest away, and Gilly and I hopped out of the car with wide eyes.

     "This feels so..." I began slowly.

     "Excessive?" Gilly finished for me.

     "Yeah."

     "Perhaps a little." Aunt Taffy laughed as she ushered us inside.

Don't Forget to Keep Up with Devout!

If you haven't already, come check out my new novel being posted over on Tapas.io titled Devout, a story of a young woman on her own with no memories in country gone to war where she must keep herself and the child in her care safe. A new chapter is posted each Tuesday. Devout is currently up to its third chapter. Subscribe on to Devout on Tapas to be alerted when updates go live!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Gen Three- Chapter Thirteen

My ears picked up the sound of someone opening the door, but my brain decided not to do anything with the information until several seconds later. There was a gentle 'thumping' sound, a surprised squeal, and the laughter of two voices.

     "Uncle Prism!" Gilly did her best to chastise the sudden intruder.

It was clear by the way he squished her by laying on top of her that our uncle had chosen to lovingly and teasingly wake her up in a ridiculous manner. Gilly's brows furrowed as she tried to frown, but the tickling of her sides by Uncle Prism prevented her fake annoyance from lasting for a single second.

     "Dad, c'mon. My alarm hasn't even gone off yet. Some of us still have to go to school." Canary mumbled, giving us a sleepy glance before turning away from everyone and pulling her sheets closer.

     "Good morning, and hello," Uncle Prism greeted us while ignoring her, "Glad to see you all made it safely. Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday."

     "Well, then we wouldn't have arrived safely. We heard you really wanted to prank us." Gilly responded merrily with a raised brow as she sat up.

     "A lost opportunity, but I'm sure I'll make up for it somewhere."

     "Just as long as we get to help you prank dad when he comes down."

     "Oh, definitely. I've got a whole list intricately planned for when he arrives." Uncle Prism smirked.