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."

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."

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.

Color My World Short Story #8 Part Two

I heard the front door open and close, and every inch of my skin cringed. She puttered over to the kitchen, drawn over by the scent of the cookies I assumed, before her heels slowly clacked in my direction. I'd hoped the stupid hope that Dahlia wouldn't come into the bedroom. Perhaps, if I was very lucky, she might have forgotten I existed. That thought seemed at the moment to be the only way to make any of this simpler. However, of course she walked into our room. Of course she knew who I was.

     "Hey." she greeted as she came in.

     "Welcome back. How was the meeting?" I asked, my voice way more cheerful than I felt.

     "Gourd would not shut up, as usual, but the clients appeared very excited with the proposal in the end," Dahlia explained with an eagerness in her voice, "Almost as excited as I am to have some of the cookies. Please tell me you and Ethereal made extras."

     "Most certainly. Once you have to make two hundred of them, what's the harm in making a dozen or two more?" I did what I could to chuckle.

     "Good. Hey, how about this? Why don't we just eat all the extras and say to the girls there were no extras?"

     "Heh, I'm actually kinda cookie-d out. I came in here to get away from the smell."

     "I see. I can imagine after making that many you would be sick of them. I'm sure you ate plenty of the dough too."

     "You know me too well."

Gen Three- Chapter Three

The wind whistled a rolling song along the side of the house as the tree branches bounced and waved while the first few fall leaves scraped the ground as they were pushed along. Wanting to look outside to enjoy the afternoon weather, I turned my head. That was the completely wrong thing for me to do. I barely moved a few muscles, but my whole body silently screamed at me with its unending prickling soreness. Moving was too much of a privilege for it to handle. Sighing, I returned to my book only to be interrupted by a knock on the door several seconds later.

     "Come in!"

Gen Two- Chapter Forty

Given how many times I had run my hands through my hair in the past several hours, I wouldn't have been surprised if I ended up taking out chunks of my hair. I didn't even care to stop the behavior, because I didn't know what to do otherwise. The weeks had passed- slowly and agonizingly, but they passed regardless. I dreaded each new day with a fitful anticipation that had me sick to my stomach. I was certain with my bad luck that the worst would come to pass. However, a brief glimmer of hope resided in my chest when the days kept coming and going and the news didn't arrive. I wondered if I was actually safe. Of course, I could never be so lucky. The revelation came to dad by way of a text from Uncle Al earlier in the morning. When he in turn revealed it to me, I became a useless body of mixed emotions. I had always imagined hearing such information to be a happy one, and I was certainly trying to find some happiness inside me somewhere. Unfortunately, I could only sulk about the house at the moment.

     "Don't be sad, Coal," Glade stood in front of me trying to cheer me up, "You're going to be a great daddy."

Gen Two- Chapter Thirty One

Those two solemn words mom spoke lingered painfully in the air. Her eyes darted this way and that, but never got higher than the floor. She waited for someone to say something, for someone to react, but I think the rest of us, at least I was, were waiting for her to keep going. To say it was just a joke. To reveal it actually wasn't that serious. When the silence dragged on until it grew suffocating, I looked to dad. There was no doubt by the stunned expression he wore that mom hadn't chosen to speak to him about this beforehand.

     "Lung cancer?"

Wisp was the brave one to break the tension. Even his soft voice boomed like thunder as the horror was that immense.

     "But..but that's something that only people who smoke and stuff get!" Cerise piped up, her words dripped with denial.

     "It's more common for them, but that's not necessarily true," mom countered gently, "All the horrible bouts of pneumonia I've had are what's done it. My lungs have been weakened so much, it was the right environment for the mutations to thrive.