Color My World Generation Three In-Depth Summary

     In the passing years, Coal has come to marry Holly. Their first pregnancy together results in fraternal twin daughters, Gilly and Dianthus. Dianthus, not long after turning three, is taken by Eden to visit an ailing Ethereal in the hospital. Ethereal's body has been deteriorating due to the vast amount of genetic manipulation that created her, but Eden does not suspect her time would be up that day. He and Dianthus find her on her last breath. Eden gets to say a final farewell to his sister before she passes, and Dianthus sees from her uncle's despair what it means to have your heart broken. A grieving Amaranth has her promise after the funeral to do all she can to prevent herself from being lost before her time.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Four

I cringed as Branch glanced at me. I'd done it again.

     "That makes twenty two." he added to the tally that'd begun once we set foot inside the comic and cafe shop.

     "Aagh," I whined, "I can't help it."

     "Sigh all you want, Dia. If you make it to forty, I'll buy you a cream scone." Rich promised.

     "I'm not counting to annoy her. I'm counting to distract her." Branch explained.

     "And I do appreciate it," I shook my head and grinned back, "But I think you're getting a little too much glee out of annoying me."

     "I have no idea what you're talking about."

     "Look. That smirk right there."

     "What smirk?"

     "Seriously..." I sighed, "Wait-"

     "Twenty Three."

     "Damn it."

     "In any case," Rich rolled his eyes in amusement, "Are we actually going to study?"

     "It's been half an hour. I suppose we can start." Branch teased.

     "Just remember, you're the one who needs the help with the test- not us."

     "Yeah." Branch pouted, unable to even joke about it.

He gave me a light punch of the arm when I chuckled. All in all, despite the light irritations of the friendly goading, Rich and Branch were doing well at keeping me distracted. Goodness knows my brain was on the verge of exploding from a week of intense stress.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Three

I blinked hard and let several good, long seconds pass in order to give the figure before me a chance to disappear. Me just imagining the whole situation felt like it would be a lot easier to handle, although then I had to worry about my mental health again. However, the girl remained. The silence grew thick with tension as she awaited my response while I couldn't understand how in the world I was supposed to handle something like this.

     "Have you been hiding out in my brother's room?"

Best to start simple.

     "Yes." the girl mumbled quietly.

     "How long?"

     "A-About two months now."

     "So you're the one who knocked over the lamp. Merlot was probably lying about his music player being broke too."

     "Yes," the girl hung her head, "Merlot gave me a printout of everyone's schedule so I could know when I could come out safely, but you kept being home at unexpected times."

     "Come out? Come out from where? There's nowhere to hide in here."

     "For the first few days, I hid under the bed. Then Merlot lied about needing space so he could he could get the wardrobe for me to more easily duck inside."

     "How can you hide under the bed though? The sides are way too low. I saw Merlot stuff the wardrobe full too. How is there room?"

     "Here."

The girl led me over to the bed, and, with a great heave, tilted it enough for me to see what I'd never known before. The sides did drop low, but they were only buffers. There was enough space for someone the girl's size to squeeze in. Then she took me to the wardrobe where she opened the doors to show me how now only the high top shelf contained my brother's stuff.

     "The bed worked temporarily, but it's too difficult for me to lift up and roll under with any sort of speed. Merlot only filled up the wardrobe to trick everyone into thinking it was full so no one might think it being a hiding place if they started to suspect someone was around. He just filled it up with empty boxes."

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty

For the first time in several weeks, Apple and I arrived at my house on time. It'd never been so hard as it had been this past semester to be punctual. The difficulty of my college courses meant I had to wait long amounts of time after class in order to be able to ask my professors questions while my classmates also tried to do the same, and Apple, as dad's apprentice at the bookstore, had a never-ending list of things to do. Since we almost always carpooled nowadays, that meant the severity of our lateness increased even more. One would think the arrival of winter break would make the whole thing easier. However, I naturally took what classes I could during the holiday season as well. I'd gotten some rest around Christmas, but now that it was the new year I was right back at it.

     "Ah, looks like your mom and dad got around to taking down the Christmas lights." Apple easily noticed while we trudged towards the front door.

     "Yeah, but it also looks like Merlot once again couldn't be bothered to shovel the walkways like he was told. That boy has gotten so unmotivated as of late." I sighed.

     "Teenagers, huh?" Apple chuckled.

     "I was never like that when I was his age."

     "But you're you, Dia. No one can match that."

     "Well, he can at least try."

Apple shrugged in amusement and grandly opened the door for me in order to make up for my brother's lack.

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Eight

Reality sunk in more after the police left. Gilly hadn't been able to stand listening to the report, so that made it mom, dad, and me hearing of the travesty while Blaze did his best to console my sister. I heard and understood every word the police said, yet at the same time I hardly listened. As soon as they offered to show us the pictures of Mirage and Tappy and I said yes, I was gone. They hadn't been strangled or tied up with rope. No, the killer had taken it to a new level. Mirage's head had been cut off and sewn on Tappy's body. Tappy's head had been cut off and sewn on Mirage's body. Then their paws had been stitched together as if holding hands. According to the report, they'd been left quite far in the woods. It took all that time and a lucky, or perhaps unlucky, pair of hikers to find them. It made the police wonder if the killer was the same as the cats usually ended up being found in much more populated areas, but the killer could also have wanted more space between the crime and time of discovery. The city had grown so alert about the situation that the murders had become more and more sparse over the past several months. The majority of the stray cats had been rounded up, and everyone watched their owned pets.

     "Dia, I'm so sorry."

The tears must have come rolling down. I thought I just sat there. Motionless and heartbroken I thought I sat, but I didn't feel the wetness cascading from my eyes until dad knelt before me and gently wiped it away with his thumbs. Then he gathered me a tight embrace as mom scooted over to wrap my back and hold my hand. 

     "I just hope this is the last time. If something from this helps them find the killer, I could accept that." I mumbled hopelessly.

     "They have to be catching the person soon." mom encouraged.

I nodded miserably, even though the whole city had been saying that for months. 

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Six

I'd known it was inevitable, but I still dreaded its happening. Mom and dad were, needless to say, once again incredibly surprised to find me home earlier than normal. I'm sure my face looked a mess after all the crying, and there was no way I could lie to them anymore when I admitted I hadn't come home because I was sick. Dad's eyes narrowed more and more as I told my parents about my outing with Arbor, what we had done, and his actions today. My story had hardly finished before dad dove for his phone. I bet Mr. and Mrs. Thicket regretted giving him their phone number. Still, my curiosity drove me to stick around for the call. Whether to help comfort me or give me a snack for the show, mom permitted me and her free range of our ice cream. Not that I found the stomach to eat much.

     "Yeah, well that's what he said last time!" dad stomped around irately, "How many times has he had to apologize now? We keep giving him the benefit of the doubt, and every other week it's something new he's putting Dianthus through!"

I wished I could hear the other half of the conversation. Dad's protectiveness was reassuring, but not knowing completely what was going on wasn't overly satisfying.

     "If he actually cares about what he did, put him on the phone already! Those words don't mean anything from you!"

There was another pause. Dad at least let whichever one of Arbor's parents on the other end finish their sentences.

     "What nonsense! He's an adult now, right? That's what Dia told us. You hiding him behind your back is probably half the reason why he has the maturity of a five-year-old brat!"

     "Coal." mom rebuked.

He frowned, but got the message.

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.

Gen Three- Chapter Eleven

My feet ached slightly from the walk I was not used to. Gilly, Merlot, and I were going to have to talk to mom and dad about a better way to get us all home after school. The start of a new year of education meant something big for us older ones. Seventh grade had us finally departing from elementary school and journeying on to the adventure that was junior high. Merlot was left all by his lonesome then at the elementary, and mom and dad weren't too keen on their first-grader walking home alone. They'd asked us to meet up with him and walk home together, but there was no way this could go on all year. It was such a massive inconvenience for us, and Merlot had to sit there and wait so long that pretty much everyone else had left. Him sitting there alone didn't seem any better than him walking by himself.

     "The best part was when it went dead quiet and that random guy started jumping around in the background." Apple recounted merrily.

The walk had at least been somewhat interesting though. Apple was coming over, as usual, and Timber had been nice enough to tag along as well. We'd met up with Merlot, and in the small break we were taking before the trek restarted my cousin and my friend told us about the funny video one of the teachers in their class let them watch at the end of third period as there was time for nothing else.

     "I liked the part where that one person yelled about the cheeseburger." Timber laughed.

Gen Three- Chapter Ten

How long had it been since I had felt such warmth? Closing my eyes, I stretched my head back and let the sun slightly burn my face. I didn't care if it pulled my skin a little. I was simply so incredibly glad it wasn't raining again. We thought last year had been bad, but this year was already approaching last year's record when it was only summer! All the weather channels predicted more sunshine to be coming our way, but there still remained too many umbrellas on their reports for my liking.

     "Hey, did you finish up your summer homework yet?" I asked Rosey, who sat next to me.

     "Yeah. I got the final bits done last night." she responded, lazily kicking her foot.

     "Darn it."

     "Love homework that much?" she asked with a smile.

     "No, but I've been stuck inside too much lately because of the rain. I'm done with television, video games, and reading. I was thinking we could at least bring your homework out here to work on it in the sunshine. I wish I would have brought mine."

     "I'll procrastinate more next time," Rosey laughed, "But I think those two are entertaining enough."

Gen Three- Chapter Nine

The fact that the air brushing against my cheeks and slowly knotting my hair as I zoomed back and forth on the swing wasn't cold pounded my chest with a lively excitement. Back when I was young, well- younger, I hadn't gotten why spring was the reason why people bothered so much more with cleaning and the start of large projects. Now I got it. The feeling of invigoration after the snows had passed and one could go outside without suffocating layers of clothes made one want to actually do stuff. For example, mom, dad, Gilly, and I were outside having a blast being silly as mom and dad did their best to push my sister and I at a matching pace while just a month ago we all lazed about in bed as long as we could hardly wanting to get up to make a cup of hot chocolate.

     "You're pushing too fast." dad complained with a large grin as Gilly and I began to go out of sync.

     "You're going too slow." mom rebuked back.

     "I'm going slower so you don't tire yourself out by trying to match me."

     "You calling me weak, Vivid?"

Gilly and I laughed. We found it amusing that mom used dad's last name to call him out during their playful bantering even if it had been her last name too for over a decade now.

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.

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.

Gen Three- Prologue

I learned what true heartbreak was at a very young age.

Three to be specific. Three years and a month to the day to be exact. The day was May 23rd- a Saturday. It had been a fun one for me. Every so often Uncle Eden and I got to spend some time together by ourselves without my sisters or his children or grandchildren around. We'd gone to the festival at the park where we rode on rides, watched a magician on stage, and ate a bunch of tasty food. That was when I asked if we could go to the beach to play on the boardwalk like I often did with my dad, but Uncle Eden said we had to visit the hospital first.