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 Twenty

I closed the door to Canary's room in a hurry. We'd lied and said Ember felt a little unwell to have some privacy.

     "You're dating my teacher's son?" I asked in dumbfounded disbelief, "You're pregnant with Divi's grandchild?"

     "That's a yes to both questions, but don't forget that I knew Tam waaaay before Mr. Divine ever became your teacher. Never in a million, trillion years would I have predicted you and Gilly would end up in his class. Hell, I honestly never imagined getting the chance to meet Tam in the flesh. Our relationship was so casual before we moved here. I thought the two of us would find our feelings fizzling out eventually. Then we did move here..."

     "No wonder you said it would be awkward to know who your boyfriend is."

     "I can't believe it just came out like that. I had no idea they would be coming to the party. It's making me incredibly nervous what with Tam being right in dad's sight. I feel like if I go down there dad'll just somehow read my mind and put it all together. It's my first time meeting Tam's parents too. At least they're in the dark about this so far."

     "Yeah, about that..."

Gen Three- Chapter Two

Several days past the time where I had had to wear black again, I found myself standing in the graveyard feeling little better than I did when dad had been forced to turn that first day of school into a miserable one. It was even worse for Merlot, who, about two weeks past that day now, still had to use crutches to get around. His ankle was almost healed, but there remained some lingering pain. However, I barely heard a complaint about it come out of his mouth. I wondered if he wanted to whine more, but kept his mouth shut because of the different kind of pain all the rest of us were feeling.

     "I'm sorry about your uncle." Timber said to me kindly.

He had spoken that to me many times since the news came out. That afternoon had been difficult for him in his own way. Not having a connection Uncle Eden, he had just had to stand by and watch us suffer instead.

Original Plot to CMW Generation 2

Unlike Generation One, I had a much more defined idea of what I would be doing for Generation Two as well as how to end it. I knew the world I was working in much better, and because of that planning for the future generations became even easier. That, in turn, helped me plant the seeds I needed for proper progression in Gen Two. However, many things still changed. Most major plot points remained the same, although a few did shift. The routes to get there were simply different. Here is the general idea I wrote for Coal's story back when I first started putting it all together back when I was still working with Ethereal:

Color My World Behind the Scenes #4

When going around aging everyone up after the first arc, I noticed that the Yonders had adopted a cat. I normally get rid of autonomously purchased pets because I've had trouble with them getting in the way before, but the kitten had come with the name Coal, so I felt obligated to let it stay. The thing was pretty adorable too.

Gen Two Epilogue

I could hear the music all the way from my car. It would be way easier for me to leave the two I had with me in said car as getting them in and out of their seats was a massive pain, but I knew that today would be a difficult day to collect the ones inside. As great as Coal's little dancing sessions were for tiring out Tangerine and getting her to nap without resistance, it also got her in a great huff when I came to interrupt her most favorite kind of fun. Sure enough, after I struggled with the car seats I spotted her bouncing and twirling around through the window as I walked up the familiar front steps.

Gen Two- Chapter Forty Two

When Buckeye had me ground under his figurative, and sometimes literal, heel, there had been a sense of weakness that accompanied the situation. When I laid there in the hospital for weeks while finding the simple task of breathing a great chore, that had come with another kind of weakness. I was experiencing yet another version of the sensation at this moment. It was mid-afternoon, yet I couldn't believe it. All that time we spent in the courthouse felt like it took up an eternity. There had been papers to sign, seats to sit in for ridiculous amounts of time as our case kept getting pushed back due to other cases going over, the actual meeting with the judge that included me having to be in a room with Mimosa for almost way longer than I could handle, and the repercussions of the judge's decision, which included a bit more paperwork and a series of unique new emotions.

We delayed going home, because Uncle Al and Aunt Dahlia were taking Mimosa straight home. It seriously was the most awkward thing having this tension riddled case with the other when we could so easily see the other person through our respective front windows everyday. Getting away from the stress was next to impossible, which was why dad had had the smart idea to take all of us to Mr. Mosaic's bookstore. It was empty at this time of the day, I had a nice corner to hide myself in, and the rest of my family had items they could use as excuses to keep themselves away from me.

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."