Gen Four- Chapter Five

I waited, frozen. It could very well be that this abrupt tense situation had nothing to do with what I'd done. My panicking mind couldn't think of anything other than that grandpa had been hurt somehow, which wasn't any better, but maybe there was something I missed.

Or there wasn't.

     "I will give you one opportunity," dad bent forward, linking his fingers together seriously and studying to me, "to tell me why you think we're here like this."

My hands shook, so I clasped them upon on another as well. The innocent, unknowing expression I tried to hold fell impossibly fast while my stomach vigorously churned. I'd been caught. Someone figured out I'd altered DV2. Still, a stupid and naive part of me kept me silent. What if that wasn't it? Could I have accidentally done another troublesome thing without realizing it? What if they only thought I'd taken Mr. Plantain's keycard?

     "Nutmeg," dad prodded.

My gut burned with fire.

     "I..." My voice barely made any noise. "I took Mr. Plantain's keycard and used it to sneak into the robot room to mess with DV2's code."

Gen Four- Chapter Four

Dad worked on something during lunch. I couldn't find grandpa, so I downed the granola bar from my packed lunch and called my meal over. My whole body burned with a rage that tickled sweat on the back of my neck. Every vein pulsed with indignance while my stomach protested the thought of anything more than those quick bites inside it. Thus, my lunch break turned into me furiously bolting around the track again and again until my lungs could hardly keep up. Even then I kept going. With each step I imagined Ms. Cranberry's face underneath my foot. The harsh impact of my heel into her stupid mouth spouting lies worked wonders in keeping me from exploding.

The only truth she'd given me was that I had been a bit stupid. Stupid to expect anything of value from her. I wonder if I would have caught her off guard revealing I knew about her and dad's little get-together.

Gen Four- Chapter Three

In order to make up for the crummy Monday, on Tuesday Mr. Mint said we could have classes outside. It meant more effort for him as he had to trudge everything with us and rely more on traditional media like paper and pencils than the computers and stuff we typically used. We both worked with increased vigor though. The serious lack of windows meant being cooped up inside all day most days had us suffering from a lack of vitamin d among the other benefits of being connected to nature. It was why I spent a lot of my time outside when at home.

     "That was a terrible story," I complained, closing my book firmly.
     "Was it actually poorly written, or is it terrible because it has an unfortunate ending?" Mr. Mint probed studiously.
     "Both. I don't like it because it makes me feel sad. It's also badly written because the situation is deliberately set up to make the girl's death inevitable. No real organization would allow such shoddy engineering where a small amount of additional weight would require the pilot to jettison the girl out the airlock. They'd save more money and resources that they're trying to conserve if they use more of those resources to allow a margin of error. Then the flights wouldn't be so risky and catastrophic if something small goes wrong."
     "A fair point," Mr. Mint acknowledged. "Because you had good reasoning, I'll save this reading of 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' for another day."
     "What, is it another depressing story?"
     "Mayhaps," Mr. Mint smirked.
     "Why are you giving me all these harder-to-read dark tales anyway?"
     "Despite your dislike of most literature, you read at an exceptionally high level. These are standard stories for study, and I thought it'd be best to get them out of the way so I don't have to continually throw them at you."
     "I'd rather you actually throw the book at me if it meant I didn't have to read them," I mumbled.

Mr. Mint just laughed.

Gen Four- Chapter Two

Neither of us knew how to react. I knew most people in the building and had formed the basic, pleasant general relationship one has with acquaintances on average at least twenty years older than you. Mr. Sterling though, well, he was essentially a ghost to me. A figure I saw only rarely and who only ever flashed a quick appearance in the corner of my eye before he impossibly darted off. Seriously, maybe he could walk through walls. I'd tried to follow him once or twice, and it was if he'd vanished from reality.

     "Good afternoon, Nutmeg," he greeted quietly and meekly.

I stopped his attempt at walking by by moving in his way. Needing to move down the hallway I blocked, he was trapped between getting to his destination and knowing walking in the opposite direction wouldn't help him.

     "Hey, Mr. Sterling, can I talk to you for a moment?" A bold request on my part, and one I knew he wouldn't accept.

     "Unfortunately, there's something I must take care of. If I could be on my way."

He sighed and rubbed at his forehead when I jumped to halt him once more.

Gen Four- Chapter One

One of the most difficult questions I've ever attempted to answer in my life is one many have pondered...what does it mean to be a good person? Or, likewise, what does it mean to be a bad person? I've known people I believed to be good who turned out to be absolute monsters. There are those who the world shuns as horrible when all I've ever known from them is kindness. Can a lifetime of repentance undo the worst of crimes? Can one terrible action dissolve every honorable act done until then?

I don't have an answer after all this time. Honestly, I don't think it's a question that can be answered. All one can do is take a look at the situation before them and judge to the best of their ability with their heart and mind. Such a conclusion was a long time in the making. It was during the late summer in my tenth year when I first had to ponder that above question, but it's probably best to go back a little before that. I'll start with a certain Friday. A day with a bright sun, lively early summer breeze, and moment after moment of subtle changes to my stagnant life.

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 Forty (FINAL)

For all the impossibly long months of pain and waiting for a pregnancy to complete, the moments after the children arrived defied time. In a way, it passed as it'd passed that night with Arbor. The minutes flowed onward even as they ceased to exist. I lay in a bubble of calm and quiet where my mind couldn't fathom what lurked on the horizon. My body rested deeply in the cushioned mattress overwhelmed by exhaustion, a bit of blood loss, and an extreme amount of comforting hormone surges that was its attempt to convince me that maybe I would want to do this again in the future. Little of the pain lingered, perhaps because of that or perhaps because of the epidural still kicking. I cringed at any small idea of moving or focusing on the sounds of Russet and Timber on the other side of the wall. Sterling kicked them out not long after the second girl had been successfully delivered. He told them they weren't needed while he helped me through the after stages of labor, which was majorly true. The real reason for having them leave, of course, was to provide him and I a chance to talk privately if needed.

     "You've got two happy babies here," Sterling, having ditched the stuffy delivery outfit as soon as he could, gushed while he held the younger of the two girls, "She's smiling already. Probably because she knows she has a great mama who held on through a lot to have her here."

     "Hell yes I have," I laughed quietly, "Oh, I only wish mom could have been here. She had this big plan for the birth of her first grandchildren. How we could talk now that I can see what it was like for her to give birth to Gilly and me..."

     "You'll have the opportunity, I'm sure." Sterling encouraged optimistically.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Nine

These plants were something else. It was one thing to be told by my older family members of the good crazy things organizations like The Company could create, but to see new marvels for myself proved an inspiration when little else bolstered my spirits. The grapes, lettuce, potatoes, and even the dang watermelons- it was now January and those adorable plants grew with all their hearts. The help of the special light, soil, and modification to their seeds allowed them to produce more of themselves again and again ignoring their normal life cycle. I could pick off one of those watermelons, enjoy it as a snack, and have another one within two weeks. Monitoring them was a highlight of my day, leaving the months to come and go more enjoyably.

Because more months had passed. It was indeed January. Gilly, Confetti, Arbor, and I should have moved into our new house, Gilly and Confetti should have been well settled in their jobs, and I should have finished my first semester at Zenith Peak's university with Ethereal, Ephemeral, Morning, Cream, Pumpkin, and all those guys. Uncle Prism had even promised me a scene as an extra in a movie that wouldn't get cut this time. But, no...everything like that had been stolen away. Christmas had come and gone with me being stuck, and the new year had started. I thought of Confetti and Arbor the most right now. Arbor had only chosen to move because of me, and Confetti had planned her life working on the assumption she'd be with my sister forever. I doubt she thought to continue the move. Even becoming a masseuse had been done in order to stay with Gilly. What did she envision for her life now with all that gone? I placed my hand on my stomach. If...when I got out of here, I wished to make her the godmother of the older twin while Apple would be the godmother for the younger one. Maybe it might help in some way.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Eight

Sensitive content this chapter

It'd been about, oh, five minutes since the sound of my heavier footfalls on the treadmill and deep, labored breathing overwhelmed the sound coming from the television mounted on the wall. There was a remote if I wanted to turn it up, but the stupid thing had fallen out of the cubby and onto the floor. No way I was going to pick it up. I barely paid attention to the television anyway. If I  stopped for a second my body would refuse to let me restart the workout. It'd been two months, and the routine I set for myself strengthened me faster than ever before. I woke up at eight, ran for twenty minutes, took a cool shower, ate breakfast, did my work with the plants in the corner, watched television for a bit, and then worked out until lunch. That was where I currently was in the schedule. Still, my body protested all the time for I simply didn't have that athletic bug like Gilly had. I shook my head as I thought of her- as the brief glimpse of that picture of her and Merlot's dead bodies burned itself into my memory. I wouldn't force it out as I used the anger of it as motivation, but at the moment it was the wrong kind of motivation.

     "Dia?"

I tried not to jump as a head peeked into the door. The sounds of my struggle had masked the entrance of someone coming downstairs. My visitors were limited to two people. Timber or his dad. Occasionally the both of them when Timber insisted I needed cheering up. We'd watch television or eat a meal together. I waited in that moment for Timber to poke his head inside my bedroom as well, but Russet was alone. I refused to call him Mr. Mountain now. He didn't deserve the honor.

     "I was able to get what you asked me for." he relayed, holding up a plastic bag with several boxes inside.

     "Thanks. Just let me do my cool down and change into something better. Grab one of the dining table chairs and set it in front of the mirror in the bathroom, yeah?"

     "Sure."

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Five

(NSFW material)

Heading down the stairs towards mom and dad's room for the forth time reminded me of when I used to babysit a younger Mint. It was as if mom was a toddler who forgot every word I said the second I moved out of sight, but in this case the whole thing was obviously intentional. Mom, throwing her own temper tantrum in a way, adamantly refused to come upstairs despite promising the last time I came down that she'd be up in a minute. With all the 'minutes' I granted her, a half hour had now passed.

     "Mom, you're thirtieth minute is up." I spoke with lighthearted warning after poking my head into the room.

Having been absentmindedly skimming through a book on her dresser, she jolted with a start to search for something to pretend to clean even though she'd long since cleaned everything and lost every excuse she had to delay.

     "I'll be right there." she answered, unable to glance my way.

     "That's what you said the last three times."

     "I just have a few things I need to do down here first."

     "No, you don't. You're lying to avoid helping us pack because you don't want to face the fact that Gilly and I will be leaving in a few weeks," I stated the truth hoping to break her out of her stubbornness, "Hiding down here is not going to stop that from happening."

     "I know." mom snapped, but her tone was too sad for me to feel hurt.

     "Well, okay then. I'm not going to keep coming down here, so I won't force you to help even though you promised. I'll just remind you that your time with us is limited. You're throwing away a big chance to spend quality time together before we go by hiding down here instead. If that's what you think will help you be more comforted once we're out of the house..."

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 Eighteen

It took me another minute or two to convince my brain my friend was indeed before me and that my mind wasn't teasing me with a dream. I was, in fact, wide awake, and Timber's surprise arrival prompted such an energy boost that I then hurriedly rushed him out of our room so Gilly and I could change. Then we could get the day started for real.

     "Will you please just admit you might like him a little?" Gilly teased as she came up behind me admiring myself in the mirror.

     "I will not because I do not like him. Not like that," I rolled my eyes, too done with this kind of conversation to be annoyed, "I think I look good today. That's all."
     "Why did you choose today of all days to spend extra time on your hair and stuff then? It's a suspicious coincidence."
     "I don't know. We haven't seen Timber in a while. I don't want him to think I've been lazy or something, I guess."
     "Mmhmm."
     "You're impossible, Gil."
     "So I've heard."

Gen Three- Chapter Eight

It wasn't confusing at first, waking up. I was warm and comfy in a bed, and I was coming to consciousness after quite a deep rest. Most mornings during vacations started in such a way, and I remembered with bliss that I was on vacation. Christmas was soon, and that meant a lot of fun things were coming up. Parties and get-togethers, visits from family out of town, littering the yard with snowmen, drinking obscene amounts of hot chocolate- I could see more of why grandpa considered the whole time period a holiday.

Confusion, however, did start to settle in for at least a few seconds. My body was so, so heavy in an unusual way. The firmness of the bed made me realize it wasn't mine, and the sounds and smells were way off from what they should be. Cracking open my eyes cleared things up more. I knew the hospital well. There I lay in one of the small rooms in the emergency section- specifically the one near the end of the hall given that I right across from the men's restroom.

I was glad I remembered easily enough why I was here. Something had been wrong with me, I had passed out, and Mr. Mountain had suddenly shown up. Remembering that didn't make me feel glad. Not only had everything most likely been exposed, but the trouble Timber and I were bound to get in was going to be ten times worse given how I'd also ended up like this.

Gen Three- Chapter Seven

Grandpa's supposed third favorite 'holiday' had arrived. His most favorite holiday was Christmas, and the next one after that was summer vacation. Winter break followed on the list. That list amused me both for the fact that grandpa still counted breaks from school as great moments during the year even though he was sixty and that two of his top favorite holidays weren't holidays at all. I think he did it mostly to be funny. I wondered if his ranking of days off would change soon though what with him going ahead and retiring. Each day would be a vacation now.

In any case, school was indeed now off for the holidays. School or Christmas or anything like that was the last thing on my mind though. It was the 15th of December- one day before the ultimate day. The one where Timber's mother would be arriving in Berrybrook to meet us at the lake. It was all my mind could focus on, yet I could hardly believe it was the truth. The stress must have been why I lagged behind as Gilly, Timber, and I made our way to the lake to show Gilly the kittens. The long trek up the hills had long since grown easy to me in the weeks prior, but now it was an arduous journey once again. It didn't help that, in her excitement, Gilly kept dashing off. A whole week had passed since I revealed the existence of the animals to my sister. With my parents, growing suspicious of my constant wandering as well, I had had to act normally and not visit the cats until this day where the start of the vacation allowed my siblings and I much more leniency to trek around town.

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.