Generation Two, Chapter One

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t what I was expecting…

 

I always pictured going to college differently.

 

I’d be this full adult, who was ready for anything. Very….mature. If anything, I’m the opposite. All of my siblings, they were mature. But not me.

 

Everyone had a boyfriend or girlfriend, even Forrest! Well, everyone besides Clover of course. But even she seemed the most mature out of all of us.

 

I had to admit…Twizzle was quite the catch. I sure wouldn’t mind being Emerald right about now…

]

Everyone seemed to be starting college off right. Studying. I wasn’t sure what to study though…I mean I was getting a degree in fine arts! Jade was looking for one in Physical Education with her boyfriend, and Clover was for communications. They had books and articles about what to do…I just didn’t get it.

 

Sure enough, the sibs pulled through and started college off right. It was time to party!

 

And when I say party, I’m not skipping out on the drinks. And trust me, there was quite a bit of that.

 

I went upstairs to use the restroom when I was met in the middle. “Hey there” Blue startled me. I didn’t know anyone else was up there with me. “Oh…hi Blue.” I could tell he was drunk.

 

“Why do you look scared…I’m not gonna hurt you little girl” He winked. “I’m not a little girl, and don’t you dare call me that ever again” He looked me up and down. He pulled me close and stared into my eyes, sharing breath. “I like ’em fiesty” he whispered before crashing his lips into mine.

 

It was my first kiss, I admit. Unless you count this little peck in the sixth grade, but this was my first real kiss. Well, not that I was sure it was real. Blue had a girlfriend, my sister! And he was obviously drunk, would he have kissed me if he wasn’t? I ran back down to where everyone else was. I noticed Jade look at me and I immediately looked down. She walked over to me and my breaths became short. I braced myself for what she was about to say. “Have you seen Blue?” What would I say…I didn’t want her to know that we had been together! “I uh…d-don’t know. S-s-sorry”

—

 

The next morning marked my first official day of university. I ran to my first class, considering I didn’t have a car and the others who did’s were too full. Whatever, maybe I could use the exercise.

 

The lecture was so boring it was hard keeping my eyes open. But I did my best to focus. I eventually found myself focusing on something else…

 

This gorgeous guy was in my class, and I couldn’t help but stare. He was perfect, and I was definitely talking to him later.

 

I got home at the same time as Twizzle, which definitely worked out in my favor. I stood there for a moment before finally working up the courage to go talk to him. “Hello Twizzle” I gave him a slight smile. “Oh, hi Midori, didn’t see ya there. Uh…how was your first day?” How could he not have seen me? We walked up at the same time! “It was great actually!” He smiled back “Great” I was tired of the small talk. I nodded, then bit my lip and stared down at his. I looked from his lips to his eyes then back and forth until he finally got the message.

 

It was so wrong, but even more right. How could it feel both ways?

 

It seemed more wrong after it was over because we were definitely caught. In the midst of our conversation to the kiss, I had completely forgotten about the rest of the house getting back from school. There was no way around it, we were right in the front yard!

 

Emerald yelled at her boyfriend, then passed her anger onto me. “How could you?! You are my sister! That’s not what you do to your sister!” She shouted. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran inside.

 

That night I got a text from Twizzle telling me to meet him a block away. “Listen, I’m sorry” I nodded. “I didn’t mean to lead you on…” I rolled my eyes. Lead me on? Even he was treating me like a child. “I don’t know what I was thinking…I mean you’re a great girl don’t get me wrong! It’s just that I am truly in love with Emerald” I nodded again. I felt tears sting my eyes and I tried to blink them back. “Hey it’s okay! I’m sorry” He hugged me.  I pulled away. “It’s okay, I get it.” I smiled. “So no hard feelings?” I thought for a moment. “Of course not” He smiled and drove me home.

 

 

 

Generation One, Chapter Eleven (Finale)

I’ve been spending a lot of time in front of a mirror lately.

My kids were making me realize how old I’ve gotten.

Even Jade has a boyfriend now. However, this one went much smoother. Jade sat us down and asked for permission to date, and before their first Blue insisted on meeting me and Thorn.

Clover wasn’t worried about relationships. She preferred reading about romance in books, and writing about them.

Forrest on the other hand, took many…

many…

many times until…

He finally found the one, who just so happened to be Emerald’s best friend Maria Tang.

Ad least my youngest, Midori, didn’t seem to be growing up too fast. She was even learning to cook…

Key word, “learning”.

—

I decided to surprise the kids with a little basket when I got home. A planning for university basket!

The time had finally come. All of the kids, including their partners, were finally going to college. They were now all adults, starting their lives on their owns. Facing the trials and tribulations of becoming an adult, and starting families of their own.

 

It’s time.

Generation One, Chapter Ten

I woke the next morning to sirens and flashing lights.

A cop knocked at the door with Emerald in tow. Thorn had been up all night making calls. From the looks of it, Emerald hadn’t gone too far.

“What were you thinking?! You can’t just leave like that!” She ran up to her room and I followed.

“Emerald…I don’t think you know how much that note hurt us. How much it hurt me. I’ve tried so hard to give you the best life imaginable and you-” She began bawling.

“Mom…I…didn’t mean any…of that!” She choked out between sniffles. “I…just felt like…no one cared about me…I wanted…to see if…anyone would actually…come look for me! I thought you…didn’t love me”

“Emerald how could you ever think that?! I love you so much…even if I’m mad at you I still love you and always will” “I’m so sorry mom..” I broke away. “I’m going to talk to your father…”

“Oh, and Emerald..?” She looked up. “You can go to prom with that boy. I’m sorry I overreacted, you are 16 now. You’re old enough to date…I think I was just scared to let you go” I saw a smile from on her lips and walked downstairs content.

—

About a week had gone by and it was prom time.

Emerald had gone dress shopping with her best friend Maria, and she looked absolutely beautiful.

When her date arrived, he came straight to me and introduced himself. “Hello Mrs. Ivy, I am Twizzle Peppermint, I’ll be escorting your daughter to prom.” He was so polite. “It’s nice to meet you”

He then introduced himself to Thorn, who spent quite a bit of time chatting him up. I had to pull him away so we could get to pictures!

They seemed so in love, it reminded me of Thorn and myself.

 

It scared me, yet it made me happy to know that she was happy.

 

She even came home as prom queen!

Generation One, Chapter Nine

 

 

One morning while I was painting out on the balcony I watched Emerald check the mail.

 

She seemed so excited to open one letter…and then she wrote on it and put it back in the mailbox. I was wondering what it was when I saw her bolt into the house.

She busted out of the balcony doors and ran up to me. had never seen her look so excited. Not only that but…lovestruck.

 

“Mom, you’ll never guess what I just saw in the mail. It was a letter adressed to me, from Twizzle. I though he had forgotten about me since we havent talked for so long! Anyhow, I opened it-considering it was for me-and he asked me to be his date to prom!!!” She began screaming and jumping up and down. She seemed so excited, but then again… “Emerald, I think you’ve forgotten something. You are grounded…and I said you were done talking to that boy.”

Emerald look so shocked. I watched her smile faded and tears began to well up in her eyes.  I could just fell the lump forming in her throat. The tears flowed out and she began shouting. “You have to let me go! You can’t do-I hate you!!!” She ran inside and slammed the doors behind her.

 

Emerald retreated to her room for the rest of the day.

Or so I thought. “Emerald, come down for dinner” Thorn called up the stairs. Little did he know he was talking to an empty room. After she didn’t answer him, he went up to her room and knocked on the door. I follow him up there. She didn’t answer the door so we walked in.

Empty room, emptied dresser drawers, backpack gone. That’s not all we saw.

A note on her desk read:

“Mom and Dad,

I’m done. I’m sick and tired of this. I hate living here. I hate you. I hate my life. I am miserable living in this house. I need a break. Don’t bother looking for me.

-Emerald”

This was all my fault.

 

“I’m calling the cops, Starla can you-” Those were the last words I heard before I felt my head hit the ground and I blacked out.

Generation One, Chapter Eight

“What do you think you’re doing?! Don’t even try saying you didn’t, I saw you kiss that boy!”

“I told you Twizzle was coming over did I not?! And he kissed me! I didn’t know he would!”

“I saw you kiss him Emerald. Don’t you lie to your own mother!”

“Fine mom, he’s my boyfriend okay?! He asked me at school today!”

“You are NOT allowed to date young lady! What were you thinking?!”

“Whatever” She stomped up the stairs into her room and slammed the door behind her.

—

 

Forrest Ivy was my first son. He looked more like me than his father though.

 

Later came along Midori Ivy. The first to get the color of my hair.

 

**p.s. I know this is a super short chapter but once the heir vote is over with the chapters will become much longer and just better in general. Please go vote!**

Generation One, Chapter Seven

One great thing about Clover was that she didn’t favor her father or me. She seemed to love both of us equally. She balanced us out.

I loved talking to Emerald lately because she was so mature. I felt like I was talking to a grown adult when I spoke to her.

School year was starting back up and it was time for Emerald and Jade’s first day. They seemed thrilled…

 

And yours truly was, of course, back in maternity where. What a surprise.

 

After school was over, I got a call from Emerald. I missed it, but she left a voicemail. “Hey mom, I was wondering if it’s okay that my uh…friend Twizzle comes over afterschool? I didn’t think it’d be a problem, I just wanted to call in advance. See you soon, love you!” That’s my girl…calling ahead for permission. Emerald was turning out to be a great kid…

 

But boy was I not expecting this…

or this…

and most definitely not this!

 

 

Generation One, Chapter Six

 

My day started as I was used to it…

 

Jumping out of bed and running to the toilet.

 

I find it sad how used to being pregnant I’ve gotten. I don’t remember the last time I wasn’t pregnant.

 

I decided Emerald should be the first to know again. This time around she actually understood, and was very excited.

 

Emerald was great with Jade. She spent lots of time with her little sister, their bond was always growing stronger & stronger.

 

Thorn and I saved up some money for Emerald’s birthday and bought her a trampoline. Thorn built her a tree house to play in.

 

I loved where Emerald’s treehouse was positioned because I could watch her play in it while I painted out on the balcony.

 

Later that night…

 

You guessed it…I gave birth to another girl! Clover Ivy. She actually had my skin complexion…she seemed so different than the others…

 

Me and Thorn then realized how long it’s been since we’ve had some time to ourselves…life was getting so complicated it was hard to keep up.

Generation One, Chapter Five

We decided to throw a party for Emerald’s 10th birthday.  It was quite small because it was during the summer, so she hadn’t started back up at school yet. We invited my best friend Saturday Violet, some friends that came to our wedding like Mac, Blue, and some other people we knew along with their kids. We ate cake and danced to some music.

Emerald was still a daddy’s girl, but I was okay with that.

After all, Jade was definitely a momma’s girl.

She even had my eyes. When I looked at her I saw a reflection of myself.

Not that I didn’t love Emerald as well. She was my first born, after all.

—

I invited one of my old friends Lenny Golden to her birthday party, but it seemed he came for the wrong reasons.

“Lenny…I’m married…and the mother of two children”

“Why don’t we just get out of here, have a night on the town, for old time’s sake eh?” He smirked.

“Uh…you’re making me uncomfortable…maybe you should get going-” “C’mon Starla, you know you want this” He winked.

“Who do you think you are? Leave me alone creep!”

“What do you think you’re doing talking to my wife like that huh?”

“Hey man, chill out I wasn’t trying to-”

“Leave my wife alone, you hear me?”

Lenny attacked Thorn and took him to the ground. I didn’t know how to put an end to this madness.

“Stop-stop it! Please!”

“Get out of here, now! And don’t ever come back!”

“I’m so sorry Thorn. I didn’t know he-”

“It’s alright, it’s all better now”

“Everything’s okay now” And I actually believed him. Guess he spoke too soon.

—

Everything was going well after that, everyone was having fun. I even decided to grill some hot dogs..

‘

I jumped back in a heartbeat as I felt intense heat rise from the grill.

Everyone fled, except for one.

She was caught in the flames and couldn’t escape.

My best friend, was dead.

And it was all my fault.

Generation One, Chapter Four

It was a typical day. I woke up and got ready for the day, made breakfast, shared dreams with Thorn at the table, everything was going as it usually did. How I loved it.

Thorn was so amazing. He did everything he could to help me out.

It wasn’t until that day that I had realized how big i was getting! My stomach had grown soo much bigger, the baby was sure to be due anytime.

 

Thorn loved talking to the baby. “How’s my little guy doing in there?” He”d say. “Thorn honey, we don’t even know what the  gender of the baby is yet!” “No, it’s a boy. I can feel it”

The sun went down and Thorn and I turned in for the night. Or so we thought.

I awoke to sharp pains in my stomach and instantly knew it could only mean one thing. I had to be in labor.

I couldn’t help but cry out, which woke Thorn up. “I’m..ughhh…in…ahhhh….labor!”

 

 

He wasn’t quite…prepared for this news to say the least. “How?! You weren’t due for another..what’s today again? Oh no! What are we going to do?! I’m not ready!”

It was the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life..

But it was so worth it.

After a while, I gave birth to the second love of my life. We named her Emerald.

Emerald Ivy looked exactly like her father.

He was so infatuated with her, it was so beautiful.

We had made her together. Emerald was our creation.

My life was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for any better.

I loved Emerald’s nursery. Especially the rocking chair inside. I loved rocking her to sleep in it, talking to her. I couldn’t believe I was a mother. The feeling was surreal.

After her birth, I started getting back into painting. I had an easel out on our balcony, and it gave me such a view while I painted. It was great inspiration.

Like I knew he’d be, Thorn was a great father. He adored Emerald so much, I could see it in his eyes every single time he looked at her.

 

 

A few months later I found myself back in front of a toilet spilling my guts, literally,

I was getting much better at painting now, as it was a great stress reliever. Thorn was so amazing. If Emerald was crying, I’d start stressing and Thorn  would say “I’ll figure this out, don’t worry about it. Whatever it it I can handle it. Why don’t you go get some fresh air?”

He was just so good with her. I was almost afraid she’d grow up loving him more than me.

But whenever I felt her warmth in my arms, knowing she was my living breathing masterpiece, I fall in love all over again and know that it will be alright.

—

 

About two years had passed and Emerald was getting so much bigger! She looked exactly like Thorn. In fact, I don’t think anyone would be able to tell that I’m her mother unless I show them her birth certificate.

She definitely preferred Thorn over me. Whenever he held her she giggled and smiled. When I went to hold her, she screamed and cried.

Thorn was so protective over her. We still haven’t even taken her out into the town. “Too many creeps” according to him.

I decided I’d better start taking some initiative in our bonding. I started teaching Emerald to walk.

She was a very quick learner. It didn’t take long at all.

She was finally beginning to look at me the way she did her father.

It seems as if she can now trust me, to catch her when she’s falling.

I began to experience pride for the first time, in something other than my paintings.

 

She was my most beautiful creation.

Later, I had noticed that my clothes were fitting way too tight. I thought it could’ve just been weight gain from Emerald’s birth, but then I remembered the vomiting, and back aches. There was no doubting it, I was pregnant again.

I also taught Emerald to talk.

She was the first person I announced my pregnancy to, and she seemed to completely understand.

I decided after a while it was time to tell Thorn.

I knew he’d be ecstatic. He was so good with Emerald.

Emerald would know what it’s like to be a big sister, I found this so fascinating. I never had any siblings.

My paintings were getting so much better, I decided I wanted to start hanging some of them.

I placed the first to hang in Emerald’s nursery.

Thorn loved reading Emerald to sleep. He read to her of colors and shapes, I hoped she’d learn to love art too.

As I painted at night, I loved to look out at the stars. They mezmerized me in a way I couldn’t explain. I needed to learn to paint the night sky sometime.

It seemed like all that was left to do for Emerald was potty train her. She seemed to take to this very well, as she did everything else.

She still seemed to mostly look up to Thorn though. Maybe this next baby would be different.

I would spend more time with this one.

 

I remembered I hadn’t seen my friend Saturday in a while. I called her up and asked her to meet me in town.

 

 

There I told her all about Emerald and how I was expecting again.

“I can’t wait to meet them” she said.

 

When I returned home however, some sharp pains hit my stomach and I knew just what that meant.

This baby was coming right now.

Thorn reacted per the norm.

And with that, I gave birth to my second girl, Jade Ivy.

 

She looked just like her father as well.

But I knew the drill, I wasn’t letting this one become distant from me as well.

Generation One, Chapter Three

 

 

 

After the wedding was an entirely different story. I was constantly on my knees in front of a toilet.

 

I got back into art, and bought myself an easel. Thorn loved taking my work and hanging it around the house. I loved this because it makes it seem like more of a home.

 

I was just finishing when it striked again. I was back in front of the toilet vomiting. I didn’t even think of the possibility until I woke up one morning a few weeks later with my back aching. I looked in the mirror and noticed something completely different about myself.

 

My stomach was getting much bigger! And it wasn’t like weight gain, it was only in my stomach. Just to make sure, I told Thorn I had to grab a few things from the grocery store. I grabbed 3 different types of pregnancy tests, just to make sure. Each tested positive. I had to tell Thorn. I took a shower and got dressed, but now my clothes were fitting a lot tighter on me.

 

“Thorn, I need to talk to you” He looked worried. “I’m uh…I’m having a baby” His eyes widened. It scared me, what if he wasn’t ready for a baby? He could walk right out that door right now and I could never see him again. But, then again, that wasn’t Thorn. He is the sweetest, gentlest, most loving person I know.

 

“No way! Are you serious?! This is unbelievable! I can’t believe….I’m going to be a father! And not only a father, the best father ever! Everything will be perfect, I promise” That was all I needed to hear.

 

“I love you so much” he told me as I looked into his deep green eyes. “I love you so much more”

 

—

 

I continued with my painting, and I thought maybe I’d hang some of my paintings in the baby’s room. The baby’s room….that’s when it hit me. There was absolutely no room in our house for a baby room. He/she was going to have to sleep in our room. Great.

 

 

But it was okay, I was ready for this baby, all strings attached. I couldn’t believe I was going to be a mother. It was such a different experience having another form of life inside of you. It was quite the miracle.

 

Thorn busied himself reading pregnancy books. ALL. THE. TIME. I would be in bed waiting for him to come, and he’d yell “Let me just finish this chapter!” He was so determined to be a great dad, I loved it.

—

One night, I was at the grocery store picking up a few things for the house. When I went to leave however, my car was out of gas. The gas station was too far to walk to, so I had to call Thorn and wait to be picked up.

 

I could’ve sworn I had a full tank yesterday..it was as if it had been emptied on purpose. But Thorn wouldn’t so such a thing. When he finally showed, we didn’t go the normal route to get home. “Where are we going?” But Thorn just kept looking straight ahead, as if he hadn’t heard me.

 

We arrived at a HUGE house. “Welcome home” Thorn said. “You mean, this is ours?” He nodded. I couldn’t believe it!

 

“Thank you, so much. You bought this?”

 

“I got it for us. All of us.”