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.

Gilly and Merlot joined in the teasing, yet I remained sat there in exuberant shock. Grandpa seriously was such a big kid. He'd even told mom not to tell us we would be getting the place just to mess with us. The sale had gone through weeks ago, so all the times mom had gone out to check out other houses she'd really just been taking a walk or seeing a movie to keep up the ruse. The orange and gray building had come with the majority of what we'd needed. She and Blaze had quietly brought in the last of our personal items the week prior, and now here we were.

     "It's incredible." I whispered in awe after stepping inside.

The kitchen and casual dining area was to my left. An office and library type space came on my right. The formal dining room was across the way with a massive window overlooking the ocean while a bedroom would be down the left hallway and the master bedroom would be down the right.

My twin wrenched my arm forward as she bolted us to the left. The balcony room was ours, although Ember had put up a losing argument for why it should belong to her instead. My mouth dropped open and I forgot the ache in my shoulder the instant Gilly and I stepped past the threshold. It was so huge. And kinda dark, but mom promised we would get more lights. There were windows on the western wall and southern wall overlooking the coast where endless waves greeted us with allure. The late summer water was so warm and temping, and now we could go swimming whenever we wanted.

     "Think of the slumber parties we could have in here!" Gilly spun around in a crazy circle with arms wide open, and she didn't come close to risking a bump into anything.

     "I know. We even have our own television." I remarked, craning my head to see up onto the balcony.

     "I have to say, I'm really loving the glamorous life. Zenith Peak is, like, the best school ever, the weather is so much nicer, and just...this house..." Gilly trailed off in awe.

     "Tinseltown does have its perks." I agreed.

I did my best not to focus on the fact that I suddenly realized I hadn't been missing Berrybrook so much in the past weeks. The people, my family, I craved to see more than anything, but the mindset that my hometown could be the only place I ever adored was firmly shattered at this point.

No matter how much I wished, I couldn't deny it as several more weeks passed. My family and I here settled into the house no problem. Heck, even mine and Gilly's new friends settled in nicely as well. Ethereal, Ephemeral, Crystal, Cream, and Morning were our main companions these days, although we were typically surrounded by a few other girls from our year. Half of our afternoons were spent at Ethereal and Ephemeral's house doing homework before goofing off, and the other half was done doing the same thing at our place. Even into October the sun shined as if fall hadn't come. We often took to the water like fishes.

Something else that happened often...Ember heading out. For all those many weeks I'd thought nothing of it. She'd had an easy time making friends too, so the majority of evenings she left to have fun with them. Mom even granted her the extreme benefit of sleeping over on weekdays. Ember kept up with all her schoolwork, getting better grades than she'd ever gotten at Berrybrook. Each and every single one of her curfews was met with no issues too. Thus, mom let her have the freedom. That changed rapidly one weekend. Our usual group came over on Friday, and a comment Morning made kicked it all off.

     "It was nice to finally get to spend time with your sister."

I tilted my head and stared curiously. Ember had been out here with us earlier, but mom had left to do some shopping. Ember tagged along. Morning's older sister was one of my sister's friends, and their house was commonly used as a sleepover ground. That's why I didn't get Morning's statement at all.

     "What do you mean? Ember's over at your place all the time. Does your sister not let you hang out with everyone?"
     "Well, sometimes, yeah. They don't want a middle schooler hovering around them the whole night. I just meant that Ember is usually one of the first one to head home. Almost always right after dinner, so by the time I get back from being with you guys she's either been gone or is heading out the door."
     "That's-"

That didn't make any sense at all.

     "That happens most nights she's at your place?"
     "Yup."

Morning became confused at my confusion. She asked me what was wrong, and I brushed the matter off. However, my mind had come to the only conclusion to draw from the revelation. Ember spent half her afternoons away at Morning's house. Almost all those nights she slept over. The thing is, Ember most certainly wasn't coming home. The question screaming at me inside my mind then was- if Ember wasn't at her friend's house and she wasn't home, where in the world did she go? What the hell was she getting up to?

My mind wouldn't shut up that night. I only got several hours of sleep. My shower when I woke up did a better job of refreshing me, and I could barely make it through drying my hair and getting dressed before I marched up to Ember's room. She had gotten the one in the back corner with the large walk-in closet. Mom had been going to give the room to Blaze, but he had just chuckled and said he was fine with the room on the other end of the hall when Ember got hearts in her eyes staring at all the space she had to put her things.

     "I knew you were up to something." I declared dramatically as I approached.
     "What?" Ember laughed at me in amused surprise.

My hands found their way to my hips as I stared up her firmly.

     "When we first got here and you wanted to walk around, I knew you were going somewhere. Morning made me realize that behavior hadn't stopped. She told me how you're always the first one to leave her house, but we both know you don't come home when you leave. These past few months you've been staying somewhere unknown all those nights."

Ember's smile faded in an instant, and her jovial manner, I thought, was definitely squashed. However, a light-hearted air soon returned as she spoke.

     "That little mess you got yourself into last year that I so graciously helped out with and kept secret has made you into quite the detective."
     "Don't try to guilt-trip me. You said you regretted keeping it a secret and wish you would have said something. I almost died, Em."
     "I'm aware. There's no danger of that happening with what I'm doing though, don't worry," she went ahead and admitted to deviant behavior, "I'm a big girl who can take care of myself."
     "You're seventeen."
     "Exactly. I'm basically an adult. There's no problems here." she purposely took my comment the wrong way, ruffling my hair merrily.

I opened my mouth to argue, but Ember strode away before I could inhale.

     "I'm going to go get some breakfast." she told me nonchalantly.
     "Ember!"
     "I'll get you some extra Christmas presents, okay?" she tried to bribe me this time, looking back and winking, "Just let me know what you want."
     "That's not going to work!"

No more responses came. Ember must have thought her words had been enough then. She walked out of her room with her head held high, and I was left in silence with my thoughts and head aching from them.

It wasn't untrue that I hesitated. I certainly went back to my room, paced until my feet were scalded from use, and contemplated keeping the secret. Ember's behavior was perfect otherwise. She was almost a proper adult. I didn't want to get my sister in trouble, and telling mom what I'd discovered would get her in a ton of trouble. The easiest thing to do was just to stay silent. If Ember was meant to face the consequences of her actions, they would come when the time was right.

I shook my head and slapped my cheeks. What kind of nonsense was that? That wasn't how life worked. If it was, I wouldn't have fallen into the lake. Sure, Timber and I had been doing bad stuff, but nothing that made me dying a justified outcome. I wouldn't have said for the majority of time we'd snuck around that my life was in any sort of danger. Worries had only come at the very end, and Ember couldn't know when the end of her situation would come either. Thus, I took a deep breath and marched into mom's room this time around. Well, I shuffled into her room. My poor feet were so tired, and my whole body hung heavy as I gathered the courage to give up my sister.

     "What is it, baby?" mom questioned tenderly, her gaze lightly concerned when she saw my pitiful state.

I couldn't look up right away. My tongue felt fuzzy, and my fingers fiddled nervously. If mom could read minds, this was the perfect moment for her to reveal her ability. That would be nice.

    "I have to talk to you about Ember..." I whispered miserably.
     "About Ember? Is something wrong?" mom, naturally, wondered back.
     "She's fine, but I figured out she'd been doing something she's not supposed to..."

No matter what, I couldn't make my voice any louder.

     "What is that?" mom prompted gently.
     "Morning told me yesterday that Ember actually leaves her house early all the time. Ember says she's going home, but she doesn't go home. A lot of the nights we thought she was there she was actually who knows where..."

Mom's eyes instantly narrowed.

     "Ember basically admitted to it when I went to tell her I knew. She tried to guilt-trip me into staying quiet, and then she bribed me with more Christmas presents."
     "I see."

Mom's expression then reminded me a whole heap of the expression she'd worn when she realized I'd gone shopping in that terrible storm. Except, this time that expression had been dialed up to 10. How she strode so confidently and calmly while appearing to now be able to shoot venom, I'll never know. My own miserable steps followed hers. The huge house shrunk as we entered the kitchen in no more than a short breath's time. Ember and Gilly sat there eating their breakfast waffles.

     "We got your plates ready for you. I made sure your waffles had lots of extra chocolate chips, Aunt Holly. I cut up some apple slices too." Ember spoke cheerfully as at first she only saw us in the corner of her eye.

Then she took a better glance over. She worked it out right away what was going on when she saw mom quietly fuming while I slowly shifted myself behind her to avoid the guilt snaking up from the bottom of my stomach.

     "Ember, I need to talk to you." mom started, deceptively quiet.

Ember blinked a few times in mock innocence before tilting her head in confusion as if she didn't know what awaited. Gilly's chewing slowed and she glanced around as tension began to fill the air. Mom strutted forward, but I was more than glad to linger back. I remained out of the kitchen before choosing to slide closer and hide myself more behind the nearby wall. That only made Gilly even more concerned. I could tell she wondered if she was better off joining me than remaining in the line of fire.

     "What's up?" Ember broke the momentary silence with a smile that didn't last.
     "You'd better be completely honest with me," mom warned first, "Dia has told me that you've been deceiving me for a while now. Going over to Morning's house saying you're spending the night, but leaving there to go somewhere else without letting me know."

No new emotions flashed across Ember's face. That was the first giveaway that she'd been caught. She had known very well the accusation that had been coming.

     "What?" Ember spoke as if she was startled anyway by mom's words, "Why would I ever do something like that, especially what happened with Dia last year? Ignoring the fact of how much trouble I know that would get me in, I very clearly got a picture of how things can get out of hand without anyone meaning to when I had to watch her lie in that hospital bed. Aunt Holly, I've not been sneaking out, I swear."

Such logic was sound, but it didn't make it the truth. Mom knew that as much as I did.

     "Right. So, if I go ahead and call Morning's mom she'll tell me you have stayed over the times you've been over? She won't tell me you did leave early?" mom prodded with a raised brow and folded arms.
     "She will."

I worried there was something to the situation I had missed to cause Ember's confidence, yet Ember's faltering stature under mom's scrutiny proved I hadn't. Ember had only two choices. Come clean and admit the truth, or continue to lie and hope her affirmations despite mom's threats would be enough to convince mom to actually not call and check up on her actions. Ember was clearly going down the path of the liar.

     "I don't believe you. Also, even if you weren't blatantly lying to my face, why on earth would Dia make up something like this?
     "I don't know. I wouldn't take her out when she wanted me to the other day. Maybe this is her silly idea of revenge?" Ember shrugged.

How Ember thought the path she'd chosen would take her anywhere but misery, I had no clue.

     "Bullshit." mom growled.

It was on that cue that Gilly took her chance to slip out of her seat and towards me. Mom bit her tongue after that as she seemed to have forgotten we were there. Honestly, I didn't care about her swearing. I was just glad I wasn't on the end of her anger. Dad had told us mom had matured a lot from when she was younger, because apparently she had been a pretty big hot-head. It was unsure if that trait of hers came into play when she easily swiped Ember's cell phone out of her open pcoket in her jacket.

     "Hey! You can't just take it like that!" Ember cried, her facade dropping as her own rage burst forth.
     "I can do whatever I like. You are not going to be seeing this for a long time, nor your laptop. I'm taking your television out of your room, and all calls you make on the home phone are going to be monitored. You are grounded until I determine otherwise, which includes no allowance. You're not going on your class trip to Redford, and that party you wanted to have is completely off the table."
     "That is what's bullshit!" Ember roared back in defiance, "Stop forgetting that you're not my mom! You can't punish me like that over Dia's stupid lies!"
     "Both Coal and Mimi agreed that I would be your acting parent until Coal gets here, and you agreed to that condition as well when you choose to come with us. I can punish you however I see fit, especially since I know you're the liar here. It's clear as day. You even have Mimi's habit of fiddling with your clothes when you know you're caught." mom pointed out with a chilling, soft fury.

Ember instantly stopped fussing with the hem of her jacket. She stared mom down regardless, and in the dead quiet the tension rose to a breaking point. Gilly motioned her uncertainty if we should quietly make our way to our room, but the chance didn't come.

     "I'm not putting up with this! It's so stupid!" Ember fumed as she began stomping away.
     "Ember Flora Vivid-Charm," mom rattled off my sister's full name with a dark scowl, "Your attitude-"

Her chance slipped away as well. Ember ignored her, stopping her hurried walk for only a split second to throw me a most murderous glare I'd never imagined I'd see from her.

     "You're a fucking bitch, Dia!" she shouted before bolting.

Instead of bolting up the stairs to her room, Ember bolted out the front door. She madly dashed with such speed she reached the sidewalk before mom could react.

     "Ember!" mom yelled out the door after her retreating back.

It was no use. Even with mom's impressive ability to sprint in heels, my sister had always been the better runner. In seconds she was out of sight.

Blaze and Merlot walked down the stairs while mom came inside cursing something awful and shaking her head. My brother looked terrified at the shouting, and Blaze took a deep breath.

     "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
     "Ember's been sneaking off staying who knows the hell where all those nights she said she was at a friend's place, and when I confronted her about it she wouldn't stop lying. Now she's stormed away thinking it was unfair for her to be punished." mom rattled off stiffly.
     "Why was she yelling at Dia?"
     "Dia was the one who figured it out thanks to something Morning said, so Ember's upset she 'tattled' to me about her actions."
     "I see..."

Blaze was at a loss for what to say after that, and mom paced about, naturally, still absolutely livid.

After another painful moment of terrible silence, she pulled out her own phone to start calling Ember's friend's parents to call her back if her wayward niece made her way to one of their homes. Blaze calmed Merlot before continuing on his task of dropping my brother off at Prism's place so he and Crescent could play. I shuffled miserably towards my room. Gilly quickly caught up, slipped her hand in mine, and stayed close as tears burned my cheeks. No matter how hard I rubbed at them, they wouldn't stop falling.

     "She didn't mean it." Gilly comforted as I sat on my bed and she took a space on the floor since I wouldn't meet her eye.
     "Maybe not for the future, but she meant it now," I sobbed, hating the constricting feeling taking over my chest, "I shouldn't have said anything."
     "No, you should have. You did the right thing. If Ember was just going to another friend's house, I don't think it would have been such a big deal for her to admit it. She's definitely been up to something, and mom needed to know. Something bad could have happened to Ember like what happened with you."
     "But I-"
     "No, Dianthus," Gilly interrupted, grasping both my hands, "It's okay to feel upset at what happened, but don't you go feeling guilty. You don't deserve that."

Not wanting to contradict my sister, I just cried instead. Gilly eventually moved to sit next to me on the bed, and as we cuddled together to make me feel better I thought about how grateful I was that I had been born a twin. How did people survive without one? Gilly's comfort made the time pass somewhat effortlessly. I suspected it was approximately fifteen minutes later when mom walked into the room. She came over with a calm and sympathetic smile, which prompted me to jump up and melt into her embrace.

     "I'm sorry about how Ember reacted, but you did the right thing, Dia," she told me too, "That was a secret that couldn't be kept."
     "Has she come back?" I asked, my voice tiny.
     "No, we have no idea where she's run of to," mom sighed, "I called everywhere she might go though. They've all promised to keep a tab on her if she shows up so we can collect her. I also called the police to have them pick her up if they spot her."
     "I hope she hasn't actually run away." Gilly spoke with dread.
     "I don't believe she'll be that ridiculous about this whole thing. I'm certain we'll track her down by dinner. For her sake, she better get back by then. Coal said if she hasn't arrived by that point that he's going to get on the next plane here. If Ember thought I was harsh on her..."

My mouth wanted to smile at mom's somewhat joking statement, but I couldn't get it to happen. My miserable state wasn't lost on her. In the end, it actually led to something incredible happening.

     "You know, I've thought of something that will help cheer you up. Once Blaze gets back, I'll leave him to watch the house in case Ember returns so I can take you two somewhere."
     "Where are we going?" Gilly asked.
     "It's going to be a surprise." mom explained eagerly.

Once again, I gave my approval to the expression of 'died and gone to heaven.' Gilly and I both frozen so much in shock when mom drove us to the animal shelter that she couldn't stop laughing when we could hardly get out of our seats. She joked about breaking us. Then we switched from 1 to 100 the second we stepped inside the building. Gilly and I darted all over as fast as we could without be inappropriate to see all the cats and dogs. Our attention focused mainly on the dogs at first as we had grown up used to Doodle, but then we saw the most beautiful cat. White furred with one blue eye and one green eye, the year old feline had only been brought in on Tuesday. That day was her first day where she was available to take home. As it was, Gilly and I crashed hard in love with her the second we got the chance to hold her. The two of us named her Mirage, as even when we walked out of the shelter with her it felt as if she remained an illusion too good to be true.

 Mom took us supply shopping for her afterwards. The whole thing wasn't a total gift though. Mom did say she was splitting the price for everything halfway with the money we'd saved. Honestly, that was still a giant gift. We'd been planning on paying for everything. Needless to say, the sudden inclusion of a new pet in our lives firmly cheered me up. I almost forgot about Ember entirely. Gilly and I called Ethereal and Ephemeral to gush about the addition to our household, and we smiled wide when Mirage had a great time playing with Merlot when he returned home.

     "Do you think if I saved money that mom would let me get a pet too?" he pondered after several minutes.
     "I don't think it would be impossible." Gilly replied.
     "You should go for it!" I encouraged, "Grandma had Button, and dad had Doodle. If we keep trying, we can be the ones to have two pets."
     "That would be the dream, huh?" Gilly laughed.

Dad was laughing too when we video called him. Since mom's decision to allow us a pet had been a spur of the moment decision, she obviously hadn't checked with him beforehand to see if he was alright with the idea too. Dad joked that he might just have to come to Tinseltown no matter what since things seemed to be going crazy over where we were. However, he gushed over Mirage and did state he didn't mind us getting her.

In a way, I was disappointed when Ember walked back in through the front door shortly after four. I missed dad a great deal, and the prospect of him finally flying down to be with us did hold a lot of appeal. Ember returned though, and whatever she'd done with her day calmed her greatly. Gilly and I dared to sneak and hide behind the wall when we realized she was back.

She and mom had already been talking for a while by the time we tip-toed over, so we only caught the end of the conversation.

     "I know, but I just...can't. I can't say why." Ember said.

I suspected it had to be in regards for the whole reason for her behavior.

     "This really worries me, Em. Why can't you tell me? Is this all because someone's hurting you? Is there some kind of trouble you've gotten in that you're too scared too address?" mom questioned pleadingly.
     "No, no, nothing like that," Ember instantly denied with extreme vigor, "I swear it. It's just..."

She trailed off with a sigh, and her shoulders hung low as she knitted her expression with determination. Mom gave her a look, yet it wasn't harsh or angry.

     "If you tell me, I'll let you go on the trip and have your party," she offered, "Otherwise, I'm going to sell your laptop and wipe your phone clean."
     "That's fine. I'll take that punishment too and more if you want, but I'm not telling you anything."

Gilly and I glanced at each other in concern and confusion. Ember seriously wasn't phased at the strong reprimanded mom placed over her, which we knew she would follow through on. Ember truly didn't care what she had to lose to retain her secret, and instead of frustration or bitterness she simply stared at mom with openness and a maturity completely opposite from how she'd been before.

     "Fine." mom sighed herself.

Sensing the two were about to break apart after a minute more, Gilly and I rejoined Merlot in our room. The choice was a good one as we weren't there long before a knock echoed out. Ember slid herself inside following the sound, and she met us with a forced smile. A thousand emotions swirling inside me left me unaware of what kind of expression came on my face, but Gilly definitely looked mad while poor Merlot gave off an air that he just wanted all of us to get along.

     "Is that Mirage?" Ember spoke after several seconds of awkwardness.
     "Yeah." Gilly nodded stiffly.
     "She's really pretty. And, look, me being mean did work out pretty well in the end. It got you two the cat you wanted. That's something, right?"

None of us gave in to her desperate attempt to lighten the atmosphere, so Ember stopped trying to bother.

     "I want to speak to all three of you eventually, but, Dia, do you mind if I speak to you alone for a moment."
     "Well, you seem to be doing whatever you want today, so I don't really care." I snapped back.

Ember just gave me another forced smile. Merlot shifted as he couldn't stand the rough tension, so Gilly ended up being the one to allow Ember and I some solitude as she took his hand to bring him out of the room. Still, I didn't want to make things all that easy for my older sister. She'd been quite rude. The start of what I assumed was an apology tumbled out of her mouth before it silenced when she raised a brow as I took hold of the ballet bar on the wall. The previous owners had it installed for their daughter, and we had seen no reason to get rid of it.

     "What are you doing?" Ember asked.
     "Ignoring you." I replied simply.

Ember went silent after the response. My embarrassing display using the bar continued even though I knew nothing about what I was doing. I stuck to my choice at a distraction until Ember chuckled.

     "Are you trying to plie? Is that what you're doing?"
     "I don't even know," I shrugged, stopping my movements, "The idea was better in my head. How about you just forget about it, and I'll listen to your apology?"
     "Sounds good to me."

Ember grabbed the chair from one of the nearby desks. I appreciated her sitting down. Even if I was growing taller, she obviously still had to look down at me. Her words would be better received if we met each other at eye level.

     "I can't believe you called me a bitch." I took control of the conversation before she had the chance.
     "You really are growing up," Ember replied proudly, "Look at you, not afraid to say bad words anymore."
     "I'm almost twelve." I boasted.
     "In almost a whole six months, but sure. Almost twelve." Ember gave me a half grin.
     "It's good we agree. Now, your apology please."

Torn between smiling wider and looking as earnest as possible, Ember's face contorted somewhat weirdly as she took my hand and looked me right in the eye.

     "Dia, I am incredibly sorry. I know you don't understand because I refuse to say anything, but what I've been doing means more to me than anything else I've ever done. I know others won't understand even if I do speak up, which is why I stay quiet. I don't want to risk losing what's become so important. That's why I got upset. I was afraid, I was worried, I acted in all the ways I shouldn't, and I lashed out like a temperamental toddler. I didn't mean what I said to you. I apologize for hurting you, and I wish I could take it back."

The more she spoke, the more serious Ember became. Misty wetness danced in her eyes when she paused.

     "I do remember very well what it was like to watch you lie in that hospital bed not knowing if you were going to be okay. It scared the hell out of me, more than you can ever know. I can't lose you. I care about you too much," she squeeze my hand harder, "You're incredible. Way smarter than I'll ever be. I'm proud to be your sister, and I'm sorry I'm not a good example for you a lot of the time. I hope you can forgive me. I was the bitch."
     "You were the bitch." I nodded.

Then I laughed. I couldn't help it. I couldn't believe the way this was going, but it felt good to be frank with my sister in a way I hadn't been before. My understanding told me we were reaching the beginning fringe days of where Ember would stop looking at me so much as a kid and treat me more as an equal. The thought held great appeal.

     "I'll forgive you...on the condition I still get an extra Christmas present or two." I teased.
     "With how badly I've been grounded, I don't think I'm going to get any more allowance ever. I'll be lucky to afford any Christmas presents for anyone at all." Ember pointed out in amusement.
     "Just one extra present then."
     "You're such an imp," Ember smirked, "Fine, one extra present. That'll bring the total...to one."
     "Sounds good," I beamed before I threw my arms around her and crushed her with a hug, "But, seriously, I do forgive you. I didn't want to take something important away from you. I just wanted you to be safe. I love you."
     "I know," Ember said softly, wrapping me up tightly and warmly, "I love you too."