Color My World Short Story #8 Part Five (FINAL)

Amaranth's expression had gone through a roller coaster of emotions as the story was told. Thus, I gave him a big smile as I wrapped it all up.

     "Rose made sure to visit Ethereal more often after that. She was the only one who could really connect with what Ethereal was going through, and Ethereal felt a lot better having someone who did understand. That's not to say she perked up all bright and cheerful overnight, but she did address her grief properly from then on. There was even a period of five months where she went to see a therapist."

     "I see. Thanks for telling me all this, Lia. I've been trying to get more of what Ethereal went through out of her, but, well, you obviously know how stubborn she can be," Amaranth laughed, "There's no way things could have been anything other than painful, but she's been brushing it off saying she's fine now."

     "I can understand enough why she has been brushing it off though. No one wants to think back to such tough times, and I'm sure she doesn't want to make you feel bad. Goodness knows the guilt has been written on your face thickly since you got back."

     "But worrying about me should be her last concern. Ethereal's the one who's now dealing with cancer of all things. Things like me getting upset about her and Al sharing one kiss...there's no way I would be bothered when she's had the worst of it all these years."

     "Does it bother you though?" I asked curiously.

     "No. Not at all," Amaranth denied instantly, "To be honest, despite us both saying long ago that we were the only ones for each other I never quite believed Ethereal. I'd see her with Al. It was clear she could indeed love other people. I fully expected to see her with some other guy when I came back, and I was prepared to leave her be if that was the case. The fact that she still waited for me, that the only romantic exploration she'd had was a kiss with a guy who'd already been her close friend and boyfriend- of course I could only be relieved it turned out that way."

One More Week

Due to temporary increased hours at work and more prep needed for the upcoming CMW chapters, I'll once again be posting the next installment for the current short story instead of the next CMW chapter. This should hopefully be the last time I have to do this for a while. Who knew rebuilding a bunch of lots would take a while? :) I wish you all a merry week!

Happy Arbor Day

Happy Arbor Day! Here's a happy Arbor!

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Three

That Saturday was hardly different than any other. At least at the beginning. Mom drove me to the Twilight North branch campus for me to have my morning classes, which were a pain to attend seeing as how they started at seven in the morning. I was out by eleven though. Normally I would do a bit of indulgent shopping or meandering about in the city before I took a bus or taxi home, but this time I headed straight to the city park. Merlot wanted to play there for a while, and I was to be his babysitter. Mom and dad had been letting him go off on his own now, but the cat killings had them more on edge. After the fourth had been found, things had thankfully somewhat slowed down with that whole situation. The person clearly garnered more attention than he or she wanted. No killings happened, or at least were made public, for two weeks. One popped up again on the third week. A week of silence came before a fifth cat, this time one that wasn't a stray, had been found last night. There were no signs the person was attempting to come after people, but mom and dad naturally didn't want to take any chances they didn't have to. They wanted Merlot to have supervision, so supervision I would provide. Timber, however, had been nice enough to agree to accompany my brother and me. He walked Merlot to the park before keeping me entertained as Merlot ran all over.

     "They're really going all out, aren't they?" Timber laughed.

     "They seriously are," I chuckled back, "Gil and Confetti are even talking with some baker who makes food and treats specifically for animals. The cake those two want to get is being quoted for them at seventy-five dollars."

     "I mean, if this is important to them, I say go for it. I just hope they remember to get food for the non-animals to eat too."

     "I did have to remind them of that fact. Gil looked at me in pure confusion and then when 'oh, yeah' when it sank in."

     "Thank you for making sure we won't starve," Timber patted my back encouragingly, "When will the 'wedding' be?"

     "A few more weeks. The weekend after the dance. It was going to be sooner, but now that Gilly's on the homecoming court she has to divide her attention more."

     "I'm still surprised you turned down your chance to be on court. You were elected because there were that many people writing you in. You could have won easily."

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Two

Gilly and I were woken up to Merlot bursting into our room excitedly revealing grandpa had made french toast for breakfast. Our brother could be picky with his food, but if there was one thing he couldn't deny it was anything drenched in syrup. I know I certainly got a good smile out of watching him bounce around as if Christmas had come early when grandpa handed him his plate also smothered in powdered sugar. Merlot's appetite never ended, but it'd been getting worse now that he was on the fringes of puberty. He finished one plate and got another by the time I ate my first four slices.

     "Who's house did you say will you be at today, Dia?" dad asked after gulping down another large mouthful of his own second serving.

     "Arbor Thicket's, the new guy in our grade. From what I heard, he lives down by Mama Rose's and Papa Jac's house."

     "How late do you think you'll be out?"

     "I can't say for certain, but definitely not all that late. We just have to decide the first three books we'll be using for the beginning of the project. We might go to the library, but Arbor and I will most likely just decide what we want and get the books separately."

     "Alright. Call me if you want a ride home."

     "Of course."

I gave dad the biggest smile I could muster. His expression easily projected his continuing worry caused by the dead cat incident the previous afternoon. Dad was scheduled to be at the bookstore until late again, so him being willing to shirk work for a little if I needed it was quite endearing. However, I had no concerns about not being able to handle myself. I naturally still felt bad for the cat, but I wasn't going to start bursting into tears about it at this point.

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty One

A smile rotated my lips even as I rolled my eyes. In the middle of a phone call with Ephemeral, I had to applaud the girl's stubbornness.

     "Seriously, Dia, you have to come to August's party! We had so much fun last year, remember?"

     "It was a lot of fun, Ephie, but-"

     "And it's going to be even better now. Because we were so well behaved and respectful of the rules, his parents are going to let it be bigger and full of a bunch of other stuff they didn't allow last time!"

     "I-"

     "Oh, are you talking to Dia?" another familiar voice joined the conversation, "Hi, Dia!"

     "Hi, Ethie." I laughed as I imagined her leaning against her sister to get near the phone.

     "Is Ephie bullying you again into coming to the party?"

     "Of course. She's been doing nothing else for the past few weeks even though I told her it's too much of a bother for me and Gilly."

     "The party does fall on that long weekend though, you know." Ethereal pointed out.

     "And that's the only reason I considered it for a moment. My answer is still no."

     "But you could see us again, and Ember, Flurry, and Acer too!" Ephemeral kept trying.

     "It's barely been a week since we were down there in Tinseltown!" I reminded her in amusement.

Color My World Short Story #8 Part Four

As I sipped on my coffee and stared at my companion at the table, my thoughts whirred. Dahlia coming up to me eagerly asking me to 'break' Ethereal had been a confusing moment for sure. Then when my daughter-in-law properly explained what she meant, I'd agreed readily. Dahlia could understand the path Ethereal was grazing by due to her experiences with her father. I could see the buried pain and agony because of a highly similar situation to Ethereal's I'd been in for the longest time. Naturally, I knew that was why Dahlia had put the task before me. Even Eden couldn't get through to his sister. The issue was bad. My words and actions were basically our last line of defense short of Amaranth abruptly returning, and that was why I'd played this afternoon tentatively. Ethereal knew very well why Dahlia asked her to come to me today. She'd walked in with a high wall around her heart awaiting the barrage. Things were more comfortable now that the two of us had done nothing other than genuinely enjoy a quiet afternoon together, but it also wasn't as if I was going to let her walk out the door with nothing changing. How to ease in to addressing the topic, however, that was what my brain struggled to handle.

Tomorrow's Update

Tomorrow's update will be the 4th part of the current series of short stories for Color my World. Prepping for the teenage years of the Third Generation took up all the time I usually use to make new chapters, which means I've gotten caught up on. Chapter Twenty One isn't ready yet, so I'll be using the next week to get back on track on having a stockpile of chapters. Hope you don't mind!