Color My World Short Story #10

I smiled at the little scene around me. The business that'd been the kitchen and dining room hardly ten minutes ago was gone. Prism, Desire, Coal, and Cerise had scattered off, and mom and dad had wandered into the spare bedroom to rest. They were feeling under the weather again, but they'd done their best to come down for Wisp's and Glade's birthday. The other family members who'd been here for the presents and cake had also left to return home. Wisp would meet up with his friends later to celebrate some more, but for now the festivities were over. Blaze and I stood talking while Wisp continually kept an eye on his watch for the alarm to go off. The important moment came, and the trilling beeping filled the area.

     "There we go," Wisp bounced Glade playfully. "Now you're officially a year old. Congratulations."

Glade laughed loudly at the bouncing and Wisp peppering her cheeks with kisses. I wandered over to sneak a kiss on her cheek too. Despite my best attempt at cleaning her face, she still smelled of the cake she'd messily smashed into her mouth. My lips pulled back a little bit sticky. A little bit of stickiness, of course, was nothing compared to be the mess she'd been exactly a year ago as the doctors pulled her out of me. What a day that'd been.

An Unforeseen Complication

Hey, all! I was really really hoping I wouldn't have to make a post this like, but, despite weeks of working on the issue, I don't have much of a choice.

The Tuesday I posted the previous update, my laptop was working perfectly fine. There wasn't the slightest sign of anything being wrong, and it shut down normally. Things got weird when I went to turn it on the following morning. The LED keyboard lit up, but the screen remained black no matter how long I waited. I eventually went with the obvious try of turning it off to turn it back on to see if that would fix it- except I couldn't even turn the laptop off. Holding down the power button just sent the fans into overdrive. Pressing the power again quieted the fans to their normal state. Now, the laptop's battery died completely about a month after I bought the laptop seven years ago. It hasn't been in the laptop since, so I was left with pulling out the adapter to turn the computer off that way. The adapter has accidentally been wiggled loose, forcing the computer off multiple times before with no issue. This time, unfortunately, after letting the laptop rest and putting the adapter back in the machine is now entirely unresponsive.

The Blog's Upcoming Schedule

With the end of Gen Three, that means Generation Four is on the horizon. Things will be a little different this time around. The starting dates for each generation so far have been October 6th- the day Color My World originally began. With how Gen Three ended later, however, and with me being busy with new things happening at work, there's simply no way for me to begin updating again in about two weeks. I'd also like more of a break than that. I could aim for the end of October, but there lies the problem of my annual participation in NaNoWriMo where I'd stop updating normally as I have in the past. It makes the most sense to me then to simply hold off on Gen Four until December. This will give me plenty of time to prepare the story as well as take the pressure off of producing interim content in November to make up for the delay of updates. That's not to say I won't be putting up a few short stories or so. They simply won't be at the same frequency as previous years. From here on until the tentative restart date of December 3rd, the blog will be otherwise dormant. The best days to check will be Mondays, as when the short stories do come out that's when I will post them. Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you when the next leg of this crazy journey continues!

~Kelsey

Color My World Behind the Scenes #5

Hello there! It's that time again! With the close of another generation of Color My World, I'm here to show you the weird things or interesting shots that went down while snapping shots for the story. In case you're wondering why there wasn't one of these like normal after the transition from children to teenagers of the main characters it's because there simply wasn't enough material for two such Behind the Scenes. I've gotten pretty good at directing the Sims and taking pictures without funky mishaps happening anymore. It made more sense to wait until the generation finished completely, and even then this one won't be overly long. I'll be posting an update about the near future of the blog and the continuation of Color My World tomorrow though, so be sure to check back then!

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."