I ran my fingers softly across the sill of the window and frowned at the subtle cold touch of the wood. The hospital did the absolute best it could to keep the heat in and the cold out, but it was impossible for them to make sure all of winter's chill remained where it belonged. The room could have been warmer if the blinds were closed, yet mom refused to block the window unless she was changing. It's not that I didn't get that desire. How many years had she been cooped up in this room for the majority of the time now? Restricting herself more from one of her few connections to the normal world wasn't a pleasant idea. However, I was tempted to go against her wishes for a moment. I truthfully doubted having the blinds closed would seriously make any improvements to mom's health, but it was not a lie to say I had been in a state of high paranoia for a few months.
My hand started to reach for the cord, but the sound of the running water shutting off had me dropping it back down.
"I can make it to the bed by myself." mom's now utterly ruined voice croaked out.
"You said the same thing about making it to the bathroom by yourself," Prism teased, "And how did that work out for you?"
My brother was getting calls from acquaintances in his line of work desperate to attach him to their projects since he had long abandoned that one with the horrible director. However, Prism's several weeks of vacation had shifted into an indefinite break from work. Aunt Sunset was house-sitting his place as Prism couldn't get himself to take off to the other side of the country once again when mom had deteriorated as much as she had. His presence was a blessing as he could easily cover dad and me at both home and the hospital when I had to work and dad had to be around for Cerise and Glade.
"Just because I stumbled once doesn't mean I'm incapable of walking." mom joked back.
"You didn't 'stumble.' You dropped to the floor like a dead weight." Prism laughed.
"Same difference." mom shrugged.
"Riiight."
Prism rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. It was beyond me how his chipper attitude never faltered.
I could barely look mom in the eye. My inability to glance her way had only increased ever since things turned south. The radiation had been doing its job just fine. That's what it had looked like anyway. Unfortunately, the little of mom's cancer that clung to her lungs fought back with a passion. It gave us a terrible scare that had us unsure of whether we would be planning on how to further fight back against the illness or if we would be planning mom's funeral. Mom, the hero that she was, battled on with vigor until the worst passed. If only that meant we were out of the woods. That last shred of cancer did remain, and it had to be gotten rid of somehow. With mom's doctor still too concerned about mom's ability to handle what was a highly complicated surgery, he had proposed a very light and short bout of chemotherapy. Despite the fact that it appeared to be doing what it needed to do, I cursed the treatment. Mom was now even more underweight than before. Her face was gaunt and strained. Almost all of her hair was gone. Simple tasks, such as getting up to use the bathroom fifteen feet away, were immense challenges. Her body was so shattered the slightest fever could mean her doom.
"What is it with you and never getting under the covers?" Prism chuckled when mom instantly curled up to take a nap the second he helped sit her on the bed.
"I'm too tired to care." mom yawned.
"That's not a very good mindset to have." Prism said while folding his arms.
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" mom taunted.
It took me a great while, what felt like a great while to my messed up head anyway, to realize there was nothing holding me down. No part of me had been broken beyond repair. There were no ropes tying me up. I had not been drugged in any sort of manner. The harsh blow to the back of my head had been all that had been done, and that was the reasoning behind the overwhelming sense of entrapping motionless that had me stuck on the bed. My eyes did open every now and again. My brain was working enough to at least take in my surroundings and put them together into a cohesive picture. What it couldn't do, however, was get me to react to it. I knew I had been attacked and captured because I let my emotions make me a 🐸🐸🐸🐸 idiot who ran to the perfect location to give my mysterious enemies the perfect opportunity at me. I understood I was most likely in the very same room dad had been kept in. It looked like what he described. What I didn't do was care.
Not until the ringing in my ears started to cease anyway. Not until my body accepted the pain from its main center of control. Not until the practically blinding blackness in my vision shifted into muted colors. My eyes were able to keep themselves open almost constantly. I was able to move my fingers first, and then my ankles. Shifting onto my back came next, and, somehow, sitting up also became a possibility. There wasn't much more to see than what had been in my line of vision originally. There was the bed. There was a dresser and mirror. A desk with a computer, and a couch in front of a television. A workout bar was the closest thing to the one small window high up on the wall to my left.
I soon discovered a small bathroom was what was around the small corner. It was where I had to bolt to as a crippling, bursting explosion of nausea struck me for the second time. There was no way nothing was not going to come out this time. My incredibly poor sense of control had me half slamming into the door before I remembered how to work the knob. I begged whatever deity might listen to a non-believer like me to allow me to hold back the contents of my stomach until my stupid hands also got the lid of the toilet up. Maybe there was someone paying attention to me, for I was able to get any obstructions out of my way right as the most intense stream of vomit dove from my mouth into the bowl. I didn't even have time to kneel down or anything. Sheer luck was what kept it perfectly contained where it wouldn't cause a mess.
My feet wore down the same repetitive walk that had now been firmly ingrained into both normal memory and muscle memory. Working in the warehouse moving boxes was somehow much more boring than working at the bookstore sitting around and doing almost nothing most of the time. Now three weeks experienced in my new 'job', I did the same thing everyone else did. A quick glance was all it took me to know where to put a box. I knew how to file the arrivals into the system, and I was proving to be one of the quickest ones at prepping the boxes meant for departure. That was because none of the other workers had a serious motivator behind them like I did with Buckeye. If I didn't work quickly and efficiently, well...
While I had gotten to know the names of the other workers, I still kept my distance. They kept theirs too. A few questions had been asked to them at the beginning about certain aspects of the job, but other than that it nothing but a 'Sorry' or 'Excuse me' if we accidentally bumped into each other on the floor. There were however, lots of awkward catches of each others' glances and just as rapid breaking of them. Case in point, the moment that was occurring then.
Nothing was happening on the floor at the moment as the next set of trucks were delayed in traffic. I was walking around for a variety of reasons. One of them was to stave off that boredom as having no one else but Buckeye to talk to made for a strong sense of loneliness and isolation. When I passed by two of the other workers, they took rather serious looks at my face, noticed I was watching them watch me, and hurriedly resumed whatever conversation they'd been having. There tones soon dropped immensely soft though, and they must have thought I was out of hearing range despite the fact that I could hear them quite well.
"Poor kid's family must have done something seriously bad if Buck kept the father for so long and now he's treating the son like this."
"What could they have even done though that's so bad? The kid's not that old. He probably didn't have anything to do with what happened whatsoever. I don't get what the managers are thinking making him an intern."
That was as much as I heard. I couldn't slow down my walk without making it obvious I was listening, and my current pace took me out of earshot within seconds. Hiding myself in an isolated spot behind one of the pillars then became my plan of action. It allowed me to drop my expressionless mask. It was a facade that was rapidly breaking. It truly didn't matter what I said or did in regards to interacting with my main captor. Buckeye always found an excuse to give me a lesson, or he didn't even bother to attempt to make an excuse. He simply like wailing on me on a daily basis. There was a never ending sense of worry, which went beyond the obvious fear of being hit. Each day the terror of being seriously injured grew. There had been no confirmation on his part if my stay here was temporary, and him assaulting me to death was growing more and more realistic. My chest was constantly on fire. There was at least one rib that was cracked or broken, although I suspected there was more accurately three of them, and having to lift boxes all day every day certainly didn't help the issue. Breathing was extremely difficult. All my breaths were short and shallow, my lungs felt heavy and weirdly wet, and a cough was steadily becoming a more constant companion. To top it off, Buckeye had also proven he could hide a knife incredibly well. It came out one day out of nowhere. A thick cut on my arm was the result. Kahl finally took some pity on me then when I showed up for my shift later on with a makeshift bandage crafted out of wads of toilet paper and small strands of string tied together from one of the towels I had. He fixed me up with proper bandaging and disinfectant and gave me some to slip in my pocket for use later on.
My back instantly straightened up, but my chest had a different idea of what I should do. The grating of the main cracked rib was so definite that I could feel the unsettling movement right before the now familiar searing pain erupted dark spots in the corner of my eyes. I instinctively curled back up, but I at least managed to catch the cough that rattled in my throat. It was even better that whoever was going to enter hadn't fully swung the door open yet. My sudden, random movement went unnoticed. Footsteps soon approached, however, and I made sure to freeze all further movement.
With a combination of more fear and pain from my injuries, my gaze remained resolute on the floor. The two who soon stood in front of me were faceless in my mind as I only watched their shoes. Just the bottom half of their bodies told me quite a lot though. The man was red and yellow, and thus the office was clearly fashioned around him. He was probably the main one in charge. The red and purple woman would be his companion CEO. Was she possibly even his wife? They stood too close and too comfortably next to each other to be nothing more than mere business partners. However, without glancing up to see how old their faces looked, they could be siblings, cousins or even father and daughter.
"Well," the man abruptly started with a hint of a sigh after folding his arms, "This wasn't quite what we were expecting to deal with today. A simple glance at how things were going has apparently shifted into an investigation of an employee going beyond his boundaries for a time period quite beyond our grasp."
My brows furrowed slightly. It had been pretty easy to figure out Buckeye hadn't gotten permission to capture me, but was the man truly hinting that Buckeye hadn't had permission to take dad either? He had been held prisoner for ten years without it being allowed, and no one had noticed? It was difficult to believe.
Suspicion welled up within me as I kept staring at their feet. The man's voice had jolted me. I listened to what he was saying, but at the same time I frowned slightly at the sound of his voice. There was something about it that struck a cord within me. However, I couldn't place the sensation at all. Was it reminiscent of something I'd once heard? Surely that would make the most sense.
"It is clear you have been through a lot," the woman spoke now, and there was no same reaction with her voice, "I must apologize to you for that. Buckeye has been a highly effective worker for us ever since he joined, and we credit much of our success in this department to him. However, as stated, and despite the impression you must have now of our organization, he has overstepped the lengths of his authority. We do not approve of such harsh measures except for extreme circumstances, and even then the two of us are meant to approve them first. From the information Challah has been able to gather, your father's intrusion into our system did warrant action on our part, but we believe reasonable compromises can be made in cases such as that. In your case, Buckeye has risked more by doing what he did than by simply having us deal with you in the manner we would have if he had alerted us properly. I would like to say then that we have every intention of settling this matter peacefully for both parties and returning you home. What we need in return, however, is your utmost cooperation."
My shoulders didn't droop quite so heavily upon hearing that. The woman did speak with a sense of confident command, but there was a gentleness and kindness to her words as well. Her promise was genuine and real. I could hope and not have that hope be a pitiful delusion.
It's a strange feeling- not understanding consciousness. Not remembering what it was to be awake or, heck, even alive. There was no clear line between when I was trapped in the darkness, when some senses started to return, or when I began to recognize the noises, scents, and sensations of everything around me with any sort of clarity. The dark was familiar. It was my escape. It felt good to be there, and I didn't question its presence. What I questioned was anything that intruded the peace. Strange beeps echoed out like long trills. Distant murmurs buzzed along like slow moving clouds. A pressure, though gentle, placed itself upon my head every now and again. Sometimes I could get it all to go away if I concentrated hard enough on the quiet I could find, but it was impossible for me to keep it at bay for forever.
Eventually, and this eventually was a great length of time, the pieces started to make sense. The murmurs I understood were people talking. The beeps were coming from machines. The pressure was a hand tenderly stroking my forehead. Part of me was curious about the change in location, as my subconscious did remember a bit about what happened, but the darkness wasn't done with me yet. I was still out of it, and I remained out of it for what would have been hours if my sense of time was working. The thing that finally snapped me back to reality was a loud rush of noises. Multiple, mildly panicked voices joined together as the sounds of wheels clattered past nearby. I wondered what was going on, grew upset that I couldn't know, and then remembered it was possible for me to see things. There was an existence I lived. This vague position of hovering detachment wasn't where I was supposed to be.
As the knowledge that I was a person returned to me, I did what was natural. I tried to open my eyes. Expectation built as I anticipated the colorful rush of vision return to me, yet the darkness remained. It grappled and held me still no matter how much I struggled. Even worse, with every passing second my state of bliss fell away. Intense pain dug and scratched at my eyes as I attempted to see. Each tiny breath of mine had me thinking maybe I didn't want to breathe at all. Moving my arms didn't go much better. I could move, but it was slow and sluggish like I was trapped in tar. The panic set in immediately. I needed to see. I needed to know what was going on. I couldn't be left defenseless like this, but here I was. My heart pounded against my aching chest, leaving it sore and weak like it could break through the skin any moment. Wetness burned the corners of my eyes from the sudden onslaught of pain, but I couldn't even cry properly either. Through a massive force of effort I got my left arm to move with more intent despite it being unable to break free from whatever kept it tangled.
"Coal? Coal, are you awake?"
That was when the voice broke through to me. Its sense of familiarity was what cleared away a good portion of my delusion. I could at least understand that I was in a bed with this person right next to me sitting on a chair.
"Dad?" I forced a huffed syllable out of my uncooperative lungs.
"Yes, it's me."
A rushing wave of relief calmed me somewhat. This was a miracle as far as I was concerned. Dad was here, and if he was around then things would be fine.
"Dad, I-I can't see. I can't..."
I stuttered as I tilted my head this way and that. No matter how much I fought against the pain, my world remained black. Dad quickly shifted to sitting closer to me on the edge of the bed, and his hand found its way to my forehead once more. His touch showed to me what he then revealed through words.
"That's because your eyes were injured. They're bandaged at the moment."
The next chapter might be delayed a bit. Blogger is being buggy af the moment, and it doesn't seem like anything is going to change soon. I'm unable to upload pictures from any source (straight from my computer or from a place like Photobucket) among other issues.
However, if you're itching for something to read, I actually started a fun side challenge on Tumblr a little while ago. It doesn't really have an official title. I just call it Vampire Coven, as that's the challenge name. You can start reading it here.
Delay those chapters all you want. I still need to find time to catch up on, oh, practically all of Gen2 while archiving the stories/etc I've missed out on over the past year. .....Watch, my saying so means I won't get to it again for another x amount of months.
The two of them had been talking all morning. The empty house gave them the chance to do such a thing. Mom, against all odds, had been home for weeks with next to no issues popping up past the expected aches and problems one would encounter after dealing with cancer. Uncle Blaze had taken her to the hospital for a checkup. Prism and Desire were there as well, for Desire had a checkup of her own. Well, one mostly for the baby. Cerise and Glade were away at school. That left it at dad, Grandpa Jac, me, and Doodle in the house, and Doodle was out in the yard being his crazy self running around.
I don't think dad would have stopped me if I tried to participate in the conversation he and Grandpa Jac were having, but I didn't want to have a part in the conversation. Funnily enough, I was more than done with secret organizations. Even with my lung and ribs being healed for a few weeks now, the memory of that pain refused to leave. All of my movements were cautious and considered. I even stopped every time I went up or down the stairs, like I was doing at that moment, to make sure there was nothing I could trip on.
Anyway, it had been when I'd been allowed to go from recovering at the hospital to recovering at home that I finally revealed to dad the danger that continued to haunt us. There had been no explanation. There had been no details. I told him the reality of The Company's new identity and way of existing, and I warned of the danger. He questioned me how I knew, of course, but he eventually came to accept that there would simply have to be some secrets. His trust over my utmost sincerity in the confirmation that we no longer had to worry about the mysterious organization was tentative at first. I'd been able to convince him though that we could turn to Officer Noble once more for protection. Dad had naturally also spread the word to the others who were affected, hence the serious talking with Grandpa Jac.
After guaranteeing the stairs were free of clutter, Doodle's toys being the usual culprit, I made my way down to catch and then ignore the last of what the other two were saying before I interrupted.
"My shift starts in a little bit. I'll be heading out now." I announced.
"Let me get my keys." dad responded.
"I'm driving myself." I declared firmly.
"No, you sure as heck aren't." dad retorted.
I huffed and pouted, and Grandpa Jac chuckled.
"Isn't it great to have things back to normal?"
"I dunno," dad grinned, "I could do with a tad less bickering."
"If you would just let me drive..." I mumbled.
"I prefer having you out of the hospital, thank you very much."
Losing sight in my right eye had come with a myriad of challenges. One of the ones that hadn't been apparent at first but now was constantly causing issues was that my depth perception was totally whack. Cerise had taken to calling me Clumsy Coal. I was constantly knocking stuff over, tripping over my own feet, and reaching for stuff only to discover my hand grabbed air. Such things also applied to driving. Naturally, there had been a great length of time where it was impossible for me to get behind on the wheel due to my injuries. Then all of my licenses and bank cards had to be replaced thanks to me losing my personal items when I was captured. I'd dared to hope that my wallet, phone, and keys would be mailed home by my kind grandparents, but I guess it was the safer option for them to not even risk that. Now I basically had to be taught to drive again as that screwed up depth perception I was still adjusting to had me cutting corners, hitting curbs, and being a general mess when on the road. That was just with a car too. I didn't dare mention me trying to take my motorcycle somewhere. Dad nearly had a fit the last time I proposed such a thing.
"I did really well the last time we went out though!" I professed to my father when he determinedly stuffed the keys to the car in his pocket where it would be highly awkward to try to swipe them, "I didn't hit the curb once or anything!"
"That was because we were in an empty parking lot, and you drove us home at a turtle's pace. Your parking job was atrocious as well."
"That's why I'm leaving earlier than normal. I'll have plenty of time to take my own pace and fix my mistakes."
"Except we were on isolated back streets. You driving to the bookstore is going to put you in normal traffic where your slow driving will 🐸🐸🐸🐸 people off. That means you're sure to speed up to avoid that, and then...well, I don't have to tell you what happened the last time you tried that."
"Hey, just remember that the car didn't take any damage!"
Grandpa Jac laughed again, and dad glanced at him before laughing softly himself.
"Coal, I'm driving you to work. End of discussion. Jac, I'll be back in a bit. Make yourself at home."
"I always do." he grinned widely.
I rolled out of bed earlier than I wanted to. That was mainly for two reasons. First was the headache. I had drunk a massive amount of water before I went to bed to help protect against whatever hangover I might have, but I couldn't quite tell if it worked. It might not have done anything, or it might have helped a lot. Either way, that headache was enough to force me off my pillow. The pressure of lying down on my head was enough to cause the pain to be even worse. The second reason I got up was because of all that water I drenched down my throat. I had to go to the bathroom like there was no tomorrow. After that was taken care of, I figured why not just give in to reality? I tossed away any thoughts of attempting to sleep more to take a nice cold-ish shower instead. That definitely woke me up some while also combating against the headache somewhat.
My fake eye went back in afterwards. Seeing myself in the mirror was always a weird thing. I looked normal. I looked whole. My reflection screamed at me that it should be possible to see like I always had, but the black mist kept on being a pain. However, I didn't mind it so much that morning. My mood was better despite the mild hangover, and today was going to be a good day. My friends and I had a bunch of things planned.
But, oh, how my life loved to completely screw me over. Even with it being early in the morning, I knew at least one other person would be up. Mom had a weird sleeping schedule and could be found puttering about at all hours. Dad was the other likely culprit for already being up and about. Seeing him and Uncle Blaze both wide awake talking to each other was a nice surprise- until I got further down the stairs. The pleasant, casual morning conversation I assumed they were having was not actually happening if their hushed, solemn, and stiff voices were any indication.
"This just doesn't seem right at all," dad spoke with a disbelieving frown and shake of his head, "There's something we don't know, and I think it's going to majorly change what they think happened."
"There's nothing we can do otherwise besides asking. I know you wanted to hold on a moment and discuss ideas first before dragging him into this, but we don't have any information to work with."
That was when I reached the bottom of the stairs and I was noticed.
"Something going on?" I asked before either of them could address me.
"Coal, can you come over here?" dad motioned for me.
"Uh, sure?"
Now highly off put, I didn't know what kind of expression to make as I briskly made my way over. Dad and Uncle Blaze gave me the impression this serious conversation involved me, but what had I done that seemed so bad?
After standing in front of them for several tense seconds, it was clear that I was indeed involved with this somehow. I tried to glean what the problem was from their body language, but nothing came to me. I waited and waited and finally dad sighed. He looked even way more stressed out than I was beginning to feel. I pitied the poor guy. I pitied us. It was one mess to deal with after another.
"Coal, we need you to be completely honest with us. Blaze and I give you the benefit of the doubt, and no matter what the truth is we're not going to get on your case. There's enough anger brewing already."
"O-Okay?" I answered now extremely nervously, "Did I do something?"
Dad and Uncle Blaze glanced at each other.
"What were you doing last night?" dad asked.
"Last night?" I repeating, definitely feeling the desire to clam up upon remembering the previous evening, "Well, I went fishing with Mary. After she left I basically moped about for bit feeling sorry for myself, and I stopped by the western barn on the way home for a few drinks. Not enough to get me drunk or anything though. Holly met me on the way back as she got a little worried with me being off by myself for so long, and so she invited me over. I spent some time there before coming home."
"You spent the evening with Holly?" Uncle Blaze wondered.
There was something about the way he emphasized that sentence that I couldn't figure out, and it didn't do anything to make their point more apparent.
"When you say you 'spent some time' with Holly, what exactly did you do during that time?" Dad continued to press.
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."
I slowly rose my head to look at her with a dull stare.
"If you need help, I can help you," she continued, undeterred, "I don't really like messy diapers, but I'd be willing to help take them off and throw them away if you do the wiping part."
Okay, I laughed just a bit at that. That was quite the offer from a girl who was as fussy about staying clean as Prism was.
"Thanks. I'd really appreciate that." I spoke while managing a small smile.
"No problem!" Glade beamed, "You helped me a lot as a baby, so now I'm going to help you a lot."
"You are too sweet. Stay that way." I urged, pulling her into a hug.
She giggled at the sudden embrace and looked proud that she managed to get me out of my stupor, even if I knew it would only be momentary.
"Would you be interested in doing something for me right now?" I wondered.
"What?"
"I was thinking of heading over to Uncle Eden's to hang out with Mary. Doodle needs someone to take him and out and play with him though. Would you be up for that?"
"Oh, can I take him over to Guppie's house? Mom already said I could go over there, and she has a fenced yard and other dogs he can play with." Glade asked eagerly.
"Sounds perfectly fine to me."
My sister grew energized at the plan. Guppie's house apparently had a large pool like ours did, and Glade called her friend to make sure they could go swimming. I didn't listen to the conversation for too long, but it sounded like the two were not trying to set up a little pool party with a few more friends. I thought back nostalgically to the days like those, but that only dropped my mood further as I shuffled my way towards Uncle Eden's place. I walked straight through the door without knocking like always, although Rosemary was aware I was coming. She stood in the living room talking with Uncle Eden, who was watching television.
"Morning, Coal." he greeted me with his usual smile.
"Morning." Rosemary added.
"Morning, you two." I attempted to answer as upbeat as possible.
As it was, even I could tell there was something about my posture or tone of voice that made it incredibly clear there was something I held back. I sighed mentally and then sighed outwardly as both Uncle Eden and Rosemary looked at me with expectant curiosity. They'd been waiting for the news as much as I had.
"Mimosa got exactly what she wanted. She's pregnant." I told them with a hint of a bite.
"Well, that's...that is what it is." Uncle Eden responded uncertainly.
I gave him a halfhearted nod and shrug combination before turning to my cousin.
So, haha, despite continuing to constantly update the blog, I fell a little inactive here. I'm going to try and remedy that, although I think it will be necessary for most to read the post here about me putting Color My World on hiatus.
It makes this page feel a little incomplete, but I'll simply be linking to the final chapters of Generation Two instead of doing the full sample posts as seen above:
It's been a while, so I figured I'd pop by and say hi to everyone! Hope you're all doing well
For those who didn't see it, here is the end to CMW Short Story #3.
If you're curious about the continuation of the story, I will say that I am slowly working on it behind the scenes. I've been missing it a lot lately, and I hope to work out a balance between writing my novel and working on CMW to hopefully bring the next installment out sooner. I don't really have an estimated time on when to expect the story back, but have no fear as I have every intention of continuing
So, after a longer than expected hiatus, Color My World will be returning relatively soon (in the grand scheme of things). I've currently got some laptop issues that are on the final stretch of being resolved, and after that I plan to start total prep work for the new generation of this story. Right now, the latest projected restart date is October 6th (as both Gen One and Gen Two started on the 6th of October as well), but it could possibly come earlier as well. It depends on how things go.
For those who are new/unfamiliar with Color My World, I will soon be posting summaries of the two completed generations so that reading Gen Three won't require reading all previous 90 chapters. I will link them here when they're finished.
Ah, I really need to get back into the swing of things. I need to remember to post updates here, haha
Due to how ridiculous Photobucket has become, I think I'm going to go with simply posting links to the new chapters for the moment along with a brief text preview.
"I learned what true heartbreak was at a very young age.
Three to be specific. Three years and a month to the day to be exact. The day was May 23rd- a Saturday. It had been a fun one for me. Every so often Uncle Eden and I got to spend some time together by ourselves without my sisters or his children or grandchildren around. We'd gone to the festival at the park where we rode on rides, watched a magician on stage, and ate a bunch of tasty food. That was when I asked if we could go to the beach to play on the boardwalk like I often did with my dad, but Uncle Eden said we had to visit the hospital first."
"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."
"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."
"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."
Excitement bubbled vigorously against my chest as Timber led me upstairs. His bedroom was pretty large and incredibly fun to hang out in, but what I looked forward to was the beaten up manila folder he pulled out of his desk drawer. When the power had returned two days after the storm and school resumed, he had mentioned during a quiet moment at lunch that the contents of the folder were what he was so eager to have found. However, quite a bit of time passed between that moment at lunch and now when I was finally able to visit. What was good though was that Mr. Mountain was solidly preoccupied down in his room on the first floor, so there was little worry about being overheard or caught.
"Are you sure it's safe for you to be holding onto the folder? Won't your dad notice it's missing?" I asked.
"It's fine," Timber promised, "It's been over three months since we've moved here now, but he's being super slow about unpacking. He hasn't even gotten close towards going through the box I found this in. I can just return it later after I show you it now, and he'll be none the wiser."
With a drama that made me think Timber had been practicing for the grand reveal, he flipped open the folder with flair and a wide smile.
The smell of the store was one of my favorite things about where dad worked. The library kind of had that smell too, but most of the books there were naturally more worn. Newer books, like the ones lining the shelves here, appealed more to my senses.
"Find something you want?" Ember asked from behind me, having picked her own choice of reading material.
"Yeah, this one looks good."
I pulled down my selection, and I enjoyed the fact that dad's business was basically a second library to us. Reading, of course, was an activity mom and dad encouraged greatly over stuff like video games, so we had free pick of what the Mosaic Pages Bookstore had to offer provided we stuck to what was appropriate for our age. Dad would just deduct the price from the store's income, and what we paid was also greatly reduced considering we were the owner's children. Dad would very rarely grumble that we should just go to the actual library instead, but that meant an extra trip or two driving us there for him, which silenced further complaining. Besides, it's not like he had to worry about going broke. Business was good.
Grandpa and dad were shaking their heads and chuckling at us quite often these days. When the day had come for mom and Aunt Mimi to celebrate their birthday, everyone's jaws dropped when mom unwrapped the gift Gilly and I got her. Well, Uncle Frost didn't seem to be surprised, but that was obvious. Mom couldn't believe we'd gotten her the holographic toy. She hadn't expected anyone to go for the most expensive present on her list, and how we'd managed to afford it absolutely baffled her. How we got a hold of it was a constant question of hers over the past several weeks. However, now the enraptured attention Gilly, mom, and I all had with mom's toy kept us distracted during all our free hours.
"I finally taught him how to do a flip," mom revealed to us one weekend afternoon, "Geode, flip."
The tear shaped purple blob giggled and jiggled as it completed a merry backflip.
"Good. Now speak, Geode."
A series of unintelligible squeals and squeaks came from the creature. Mom pet the top of his intangible form. Geode reacted to it, and I continued to be astounded by the toy. The disk mom held in her hand that created the whole spectacle took in sounds and hand movements to make it appear as if we were actually interacting with something that wasn't there.
"Mom, it's almost two." I had to remind her though despite me wanting to see more.
"Oh, right. Say goodbye to Dia, Geode."
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.
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.
The fact that the air brushing against my cheeks and slowly knotting my hair as I zoomed back and forth on the swing wasn't cold pounded my chest with a lively excitement. Back when I was young, well- younger, I hadn't gotten why spring was the reason why people bothered so much more with cleaning and the start of large projects. Now I got it. The feeling of invigoration after the snows had passed and one could go outside without suffocating layers of clothes made one want to actually do stuff. For example, mom, dad, Gilly, and I were outside having a blast being silly as mom and dad did their best to push my sister and I at a matching pace while just a month ago we all lazed about in bed as long as we could hardly wanting to get up to make a cup of hot chocolate.
"You're pushing too fast." dad complained with a large grin as Gilly and I began to go out of sync.
"You're going too slow." mom rebuked back.
"I'm going slower so you don't tire yourself out by trying to match me."
"You calling me weak, Vivid?"
Gilly and I laughed. We found it amusing that mom used dad's last name to call him out during their playful bantering even if it had been her last name too for over a decade now.
How long had it been since I had felt such warmth? Closing my eyes, I stretched my head back and let the sun slightly burn my face. I didn't care if it pulled my skin a little. I was simply so incredibly glad it wasn't raining again. We thought last year had been bad, but this year was already approaching last year's record when it was only summer! All the weather channels predicted more sunshine to be coming our way, but there still remained too many umbrellas on their reports for my liking.
"Hey, did you finish up your summer homework yet?" I asked Rosey, who sat next to me.
"Yeah. I got the final bits done last night." she responded, lazily kicking her foot.
"Darn it."
"Love homework that much?" she asked with a smile.
"No, but I've been stuck inside too much lately because of the rain. I'm done with television, video games, and reading. I was thinking we could at least bring your homework out here to work on it in the sunshine. I wish I would have brought mine."
"I'll procrastinate more next time," Rosey laughed, "But I think those two are entertaining enough."
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I ran my fingers softly across the sill of the window and frowned at the subtle cold touch of the wood. The hospital did the absolute best it could to keep the heat in and the cold out, but it was impossible for them to make sure all of winter's chill remained where it belonged. The room could have been warmer if the blinds were closed, yet mom refused to block the window unless she was changing. It's not that I didn't get that desire. How many years had she been cooped up in this room for the majority of the time now? Restricting herself more from one of her few connections to the normal world wasn't a pleasant idea. However, I was tempted to go against her wishes for a moment. I truthfully doubted having the blinds closed would seriously make any improvements to mom's health, but it was not a lie to say I had been in a state of high paranoia for a few months.
My hand started to reach for the cord, but the sound of the running water shutting off had me dropping it back down.
"I can make it to the bed by myself." mom's now utterly ruined voice croaked out.
"You said the same thing about making it to the bathroom by yourself," Prism teased, "And how did that work out for you?"
My brother was getting calls from acquaintances in his line of work desperate to attach him to their projects since he had long abandoned that one with the horrible director. However, Prism's several weeks of vacation had shifted into an indefinite break from work. Aunt Sunset was house-sitting his place as Prism couldn't get himself to take off to the other side of the country once again when mom had deteriorated as much as she had. His presence was a blessing as he could easily cover dad and me at both home and the hospital when I had to work and dad had to be around for Cerise and Glade.
"Just because I stumbled once doesn't mean I'm incapable of walking." mom joked back.
"You didn't 'stumble.' You dropped to the floor like a dead weight." Prism laughed.
"Same difference." mom shrugged.
"Riiight."
Prism rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. It was beyond me how his chipper attitude never faltered.
I could barely look mom in the eye. My inability to glance her way had only increased ever since things turned south. The radiation had been doing its job just fine. That's what it had looked like anyway. Unfortunately, the little of mom's cancer that clung to her lungs fought back with a passion. It gave us a terrible scare that had us unsure of whether we would be planning on how to further fight back against the illness or if we would be planning mom's funeral. Mom, the hero that she was, battled on with vigor until the worst passed. If only that meant we were out of the woods. That last shred of cancer did remain, and it had to be gotten rid of somehow. With mom's doctor still too concerned about mom's ability to handle what was a highly complicated surgery, he had proposed a very light and short bout of chemotherapy. Despite the fact that it appeared to be doing what it needed to do, I cursed the treatment. Mom was now even more underweight than before. Her face was gaunt and strained. Almost all of her hair was gone. Simple tasks, such as getting up to use the bathroom fifteen feet away, were immense challenges. Her body was so shattered the slightest fever could mean her doom.
"What is it with you and never getting under the covers?" Prism chuckled when mom instantly curled up to take a nap the second he helped sit her on the bed.
"I'm too tired to care." mom yawned.
"That's not a very good mindset to have." Prism said while folding his arms.
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" mom taunted.
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It took me a great while, what felt like a great while to my messed up head anyway, to realize there was nothing holding me down. No part of me had been broken beyond repair. There were no ropes tying me up. I had not been drugged in any sort of manner. The harsh blow to the back of my head had been all that had been done, and that was the reasoning behind the overwhelming sense of entrapping motionless that had me stuck on the bed. My eyes did open every now and again. My brain was working enough to at least take in my surroundings and put them together into a cohesive picture. What it couldn't do, however, was get me to react to it. I knew I had been attacked and captured because I let my emotions make me a 🐸🐸🐸🐸 idiot who ran to the perfect location to give my mysterious enemies the perfect opportunity at me. I understood I was most likely in the very same room dad had been kept in. It looked like what he described. What I didn't do was care.
Not until the ringing in my ears started to cease anyway. Not until my body accepted the pain from its main center of control. Not until the practically blinding blackness in my vision shifted into muted colors. My eyes were able to keep themselves open almost constantly. I was able to move my fingers first, and then my ankles. Shifting onto my back came next, and, somehow, sitting up also became a possibility. There wasn't much more to see than what had been in my line of vision originally. There was the bed. There was a dresser and mirror. A desk with a computer, and a couch in front of a television. A workout bar was the closest thing to the one small window high up on the wall to my left.
I soon discovered a small bathroom was what was around the small corner. It was where I had to bolt to as a crippling, bursting explosion of nausea struck me for the second time. There was no way nothing was not going to come out this time. My incredibly poor sense of control had me half slamming into the door before I remembered how to work the knob. I begged whatever deity might listen to a non-believer like me to allow me to hold back the contents of my stomach until my stupid hands also got the lid of the toilet up. Maybe there was someone paying attention to me, for I was able to get any obstructions out of my way right as the most intense stream of vomit dove from my mouth into the bowl. I didn't even have time to kneel down or anything. Sheer luck was what kept it perfectly contained where it wouldn't cause a mess.
Continue reading.
My feet wore down the same repetitive walk that had now been firmly ingrained into both normal memory and muscle memory. Working in the warehouse moving boxes was somehow much more boring than working at the bookstore sitting around and doing almost nothing most of the time. Now three weeks experienced in my new 'job', I did the same thing everyone else did. A quick glance was all it took me to know where to put a box. I knew how to file the arrivals into the system, and I was proving to be one of the quickest ones at prepping the boxes meant for departure. That was because none of the other workers had a serious motivator behind them like I did with Buckeye. If I didn't work quickly and efficiently, well...
While I had gotten to know the names of the other workers, I still kept my distance. They kept theirs too. A few questions had been asked to them at the beginning about certain aspects of the job, but other than that it nothing but a 'Sorry' or 'Excuse me' if we accidentally bumped into each other on the floor. There were however, lots of awkward catches of each others' glances and just as rapid breaking of them. Case in point, the moment that was occurring then.
Nothing was happening on the floor at the moment as the next set of trucks were delayed in traffic. I was walking around for a variety of reasons. One of them was to stave off that boredom as having no one else but Buckeye to talk to made for a strong sense of loneliness and isolation. When I passed by two of the other workers, they took rather serious looks at my face, noticed I was watching them watch me, and hurriedly resumed whatever conversation they'd been having. There tones soon dropped immensely soft though, and they must have thought I was out of hearing range despite the fact that I could hear them quite well.
"Poor kid's family must have done something seriously bad if Buck kept the father for so long and now he's treating the son like this."
"What could they have even done though that's so bad? The kid's not that old. He probably didn't have anything to do with what happened whatsoever. I don't get what the managers are thinking making him an intern."
That was as much as I heard. I couldn't slow down my walk without making it obvious I was listening, and my current pace took me out of earshot within seconds. Hiding myself in an isolated spot behind one of the pillars then became my plan of action. It allowed me to drop my expressionless mask. It was a facade that was rapidly breaking. It truly didn't matter what I said or did in regards to interacting with my main captor. Buckeye always found an excuse to give me a lesson, or he didn't even bother to attempt to make an excuse. He simply like wailing on me on a daily basis. There was a never ending sense of worry, which went beyond the obvious fear of being hit. Each day the terror of being seriously injured grew. There had been no confirmation on his part if my stay here was temporary, and him assaulting me to death was growing more and more realistic. My chest was constantly on fire. There was at least one rib that was cracked or broken, although I suspected there was more accurately three of them, and having to lift boxes all day every day certainly didn't help the issue. Breathing was extremely difficult. All my breaths were short and shallow, my lungs felt heavy and weirdly wet, and a cough was steadily becoming a more constant companion. To top it off, Buckeye had also proven he could hide a knife incredibly well. It came out one day out of nowhere. A thick cut on my arm was the result. Kahl finally took some pity on me then when I showed up for my shift later on with a makeshift bandage crafted out of wads of toilet paper and small strands of string tied together from one of the towels I had. He fixed me up with proper bandaging and disinfectant and gave me some to slip in my pocket for use later on.
Continue reading.
My back instantly straightened up, but my chest had a different idea of what I should do. The grating of the main cracked rib was so definite that I could feel the unsettling movement right before the now familiar searing pain erupted dark spots in the corner of my eyes. I instinctively curled back up, but I at least managed to catch the cough that rattled in my throat. It was even better that whoever was going to enter hadn't fully swung the door open yet. My sudden, random movement went unnoticed. Footsteps soon approached, however, and I made sure to freeze all further movement.
With a combination of more fear and pain from my injuries, my gaze remained resolute on the floor. The two who soon stood in front of me were faceless in my mind as I only watched their shoes. Just the bottom half of their bodies told me quite a lot though. The man was red and yellow, and thus the office was clearly fashioned around him. He was probably the main one in charge. The red and purple woman would be his companion CEO. Was she possibly even his wife? They stood too close and too comfortably next to each other to be nothing more than mere business partners. However, without glancing up to see how old their faces looked, they could be siblings, cousins or even father and daughter.
"Well," the man abruptly started with a hint of a sigh after folding his arms, "This wasn't quite what we were expecting to deal with today. A simple glance at how things were going has apparently shifted into an investigation of an employee going beyond his boundaries for a time period quite beyond our grasp."
My brows furrowed slightly. It had been pretty easy to figure out Buckeye hadn't gotten permission to capture me, but was the man truly hinting that Buckeye hadn't had permission to take dad either? He had been held prisoner for ten years without it being allowed, and no one had noticed? It was difficult to believe.
Suspicion welled up within me as I kept staring at their feet. The man's voice had jolted me. I listened to what he was saying, but at the same time I frowned slightly at the sound of his voice. There was something about it that struck a cord within me. However, I couldn't place the sensation at all. Was it reminiscent of something I'd once heard? Surely that would make the most sense.
"It is clear you have been through a lot," the woman spoke now, and there was no same reaction with her voice, "I must apologize to you for that. Buckeye has been a highly effective worker for us ever since he joined, and we credit much of our success in this department to him. However, as stated, and despite the impression you must have now of our organization, he has overstepped the lengths of his authority. We do not approve of such harsh measures except for extreme circumstances, and even then the two of us are meant to approve them first. From the information Challah has been able to gather, your father's intrusion into our system did warrant action on our part, but we believe reasonable compromises can be made in cases such as that. In your case, Buckeye has risked more by doing what he did than by simply having us deal with you in the manner we would have if he had alerted us properly. I would like to say then that we have every intention of settling this matter peacefully for both parties and returning you home. What we need in return, however, is your utmost cooperation."
My shoulders didn't droop quite so heavily upon hearing that. The woman did speak with a sense of confident command, but there was a gentleness and kindness to her words as well. Her promise was genuine and real. I could hope and not have that hope be a pitiful delusion.
Continue reading.
It's a strange feeling- not understanding consciousness. Not remembering what it was to be awake or, heck, even alive. There was no clear line between when I was trapped in the darkness, when some senses started to return, or when I began to recognize the noises, scents, and sensations of everything around me with any sort of clarity. The dark was familiar. It was my escape. It felt good to be there, and I didn't question its presence. What I questioned was anything that intruded the peace. Strange beeps echoed out like long trills. Distant murmurs buzzed along like slow moving clouds. A pressure, though gentle, placed itself upon my head every now and again. Sometimes I could get it all to go away if I concentrated hard enough on the quiet I could find, but it was impossible for me to keep it at bay for forever.
Eventually, and this eventually was a great length of time, the pieces started to make sense. The murmurs I understood were people talking. The beeps were coming from machines. The pressure was a hand tenderly stroking my forehead. Part of me was curious about the change in location, as my subconscious did remember a bit about what happened, but the darkness wasn't done with me yet. I was still out of it, and I remained out of it for what would have been hours if my sense of time was working. The thing that finally snapped me back to reality was a loud rush of noises. Multiple, mildly panicked voices joined together as the sounds of wheels clattered past nearby. I wondered what was going on, grew upset that I couldn't know, and then remembered it was possible for me to see things. There was an existence I lived. This vague position of hovering detachment wasn't where I was supposed to be.
As the knowledge that I was a person returned to me, I did what was natural. I tried to open my eyes. Expectation built as I anticipated the colorful rush of vision return to me, yet the darkness remained. It grappled and held me still no matter how much I struggled. Even worse, with every passing second my state of bliss fell away. Intense pain dug and scratched at my eyes as I attempted to see. Each tiny breath of mine had me thinking maybe I didn't want to breathe at all. Moving my arms didn't go much better. I could move, but it was slow and sluggish like I was trapped in tar. The panic set in immediately. I needed to see. I needed to know what was going on. I couldn't be left defenseless like this, but here I was. My heart pounded against my aching chest, leaving it sore and weak like it could break through the skin any moment. Wetness burned the corners of my eyes from the sudden onslaught of pain, but I couldn't even cry properly either. Through a massive force of effort I got my left arm to move with more intent despite it being unable to break free from whatever kept it tangled.
"Coal? Coal, are you awake?"
That was when the voice broke through to me. Its sense of familiarity was what cleared away a good portion of my delusion. I could at least understand that I was in a bed with this person right next to me sitting on a chair.
"Dad?" I forced a huffed syllable out of my uncooperative lungs.
"Yes, it's me."
A rushing wave of relief calmed me somewhat. This was a miracle as far as I was concerned. Dad was here, and if he was around then things would be fine.
"Dad, I-I can't see. I can't..."
I stuttered as I tilted my head this way and that. No matter how much I fought against the pain, my world remained black. Dad quickly shifted to sitting closer to me on the edge of the bed, and his hand found its way to my forehead once more. His touch showed to me what he then revealed through words.
"That's because your eyes were injured. They're bandaged at the moment."
Continue reading.
However, if you're itching for something to read, I actually started a fun side challenge on Tumblr a little while ago. It doesn't really have an official title. I just call it Vampire Coven, as that's the challenge name. You can start reading it here.
The two of them had been talking all morning. The empty house gave them the chance to do such a thing. Mom, against all odds, had been home for weeks with next to no issues popping up past the expected aches and problems one would encounter after dealing with cancer. Uncle Blaze had taken her to the hospital for a checkup. Prism and Desire were there as well, for Desire had a checkup of her own. Well, one mostly for the baby. Cerise and Glade were away at school. That left it at dad, Grandpa Jac, me, and Doodle in the house, and Doodle was out in the yard being his crazy self running around.
I don't think dad would have stopped me if I tried to participate in the conversation he and Grandpa Jac were having, but I didn't want to have a part in the conversation. Funnily enough, I was more than done with secret organizations. Even with my lung and ribs being healed for a few weeks now, the memory of that pain refused to leave. All of my movements were cautious and considered. I even stopped every time I went up or down the stairs, like I was doing at that moment, to make sure there was nothing I could trip on.
Anyway, it had been when I'd been allowed to go from recovering at the hospital to recovering at home that I finally revealed to dad the danger that continued to haunt us. There had been no explanation. There had been no details. I told him the reality of The Company's new identity and way of existing, and I warned of the danger. He questioned me how I knew, of course, but he eventually came to accept that there would simply have to be some secrets. His trust over my utmost sincerity in the confirmation that we no longer had to worry about the mysterious organization was tentative at first. I'd been able to convince him though that we could turn to Officer Noble once more for protection. Dad had naturally also spread the word to the others who were affected, hence the serious talking with Grandpa Jac.
After guaranteeing the stairs were free of clutter, Doodle's toys being the usual culprit, I made my way down to catch and then ignore the last of what the other two were saying before I interrupted.
"My shift starts in a little bit. I'll be heading out now." I announced.
"Let me get my keys." dad responded.
"I'm driving myself." I declared firmly.
"No, you sure as heck aren't." dad retorted.
I huffed and pouted, and Grandpa Jac chuckled.
"Isn't it great to have things back to normal?"
"I dunno," dad grinned, "I could do with a tad less bickering."
"If you would just let me drive..." I mumbled.
"I prefer having you out of the hospital, thank you very much."
Losing sight in my right eye had come with a myriad of challenges. One of the ones that hadn't been apparent at first but now was constantly causing issues was that my depth perception was totally whack. Cerise had taken to calling me Clumsy Coal. I was constantly knocking stuff over, tripping over my own feet, and reaching for stuff only to discover my hand grabbed air. Such things also applied to driving. Naturally, there had been a great length of time where it was impossible for me to get behind on the wheel due to my injuries. Then all of my licenses and bank cards had to be replaced thanks to me losing my personal items when I was captured. I'd dared to hope that my wallet, phone, and keys would be mailed home by my kind grandparents, but I guess it was the safer option for them to not even risk that. Now I basically had to be taught to drive again as that screwed up depth perception I was still adjusting to had me cutting corners, hitting curbs, and being a general mess when on the road. That was just with a car too. I didn't dare mention me trying to take my motorcycle somewhere. Dad nearly had a fit the last time I proposed such a thing.
"I did really well the last time we went out though!" I professed to my father when he determinedly stuffed the keys to the car in his pocket where it would be highly awkward to try to swipe them, "I didn't hit the curb once or anything!"
"That was because we were in an empty parking lot, and you drove us home at a turtle's pace. Your parking job was atrocious as well."
"That's why I'm leaving earlier than normal. I'll have plenty of time to take my own pace and fix my mistakes."
"Except we were on isolated back streets. You driving to the bookstore is going to put you in normal traffic where your slow driving will 🐸🐸🐸🐸 people off. That means you're sure to speed up to avoid that, and then...well, I don't have to tell you what happened the last time you tried that."
"Hey, just remember that the car didn't take any damage!"
Grandpa Jac laughed again, and dad glanced at him before laughing softly himself.
"Coal, I'm driving you to work. End of discussion. Jac, I'll be back in a bit. Make yourself at home."
"I always do." he grinned widely.
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I rolled out of bed earlier than I wanted to. That was mainly for two reasons. First was the headache. I had drunk a massive amount of water before I went to bed to help protect against whatever hangover I might have, but I couldn't quite tell if it worked. It might not have done anything, or it might have helped a lot. Either way, that headache was enough to force me off my pillow. The pressure of lying down on my head was enough to cause the pain to be even worse. The second reason I got up was because of all that water I drenched down my throat. I had to go to the bathroom like there was no tomorrow. After that was taken care of, I figured why not just give in to reality? I tossed away any thoughts of attempting to sleep more to take a nice cold-ish shower instead. That definitely woke me up some while also combating against the headache somewhat.
My fake eye went back in afterwards. Seeing myself in the mirror was always a weird thing. I looked normal. I looked whole. My reflection screamed at me that it should be possible to see like I always had, but the black mist kept on being a pain. However, I didn't mind it so much that morning. My mood was better despite the mild hangover, and today was going to be a good day. My friends and I had a bunch of things planned.
But, oh, how my life loved to completely screw me over. Even with it being early in the morning, I knew at least one other person would be up. Mom had a weird sleeping schedule and could be found puttering about at all hours. Dad was the other likely culprit for already being up and about. Seeing him and Uncle Blaze both wide awake talking to each other was a nice surprise- until I got further down the stairs. The pleasant, casual morning conversation I assumed they were having was not actually happening if their hushed, solemn, and stiff voices were any indication.
"This just doesn't seem right at all," dad spoke with a disbelieving frown and shake of his head, "There's something we don't know, and I think it's going to majorly change what they think happened."
"There's nothing we can do otherwise besides asking. I know you wanted to hold on a moment and discuss ideas first before dragging him into this, but we don't have any information to work with."
That was when I reached the bottom of the stairs and I was noticed.
"Something going on?" I asked before either of them could address me.
"Coal, can you come over here?" dad motioned for me.
"Uh, sure?"
Now highly off put, I didn't know what kind of expression to make as I briskly made my way over. Dad and Uncle Blaze gave me the impression this serious conversation involved me, but what had I done that seemed so bad?
After standing in front of them for several tense seconds, it was clear that I was indeed involved with this somehow. I tried to glean what the problem was from their body language, but nothing came to me. I waited and waited and finally dad sighed. He looked even way more stressed out than I was beginning to feel. I pitied the poor guy. I pitied us. It was one mess to deal with after another.
"Coal, we need you to be completely honest with us. Blaze and I give you the benefit of the doubt, and no matter what the truth is we're not going to get on your case. There's enough anger brewing already."
"O-Okay?" I answered now extremely nervously, "Did I do something?"
Dad and Uncle Blaze glanced at each other.
"What were you doing last night?" dad asked.
"Last night?" I repeating, definitely feeling the desire to clam up upon remembering the previous evening, "Well, I went fishing with Mary. After she left I basically moped about for bit feeling sorry for myself, and I stopped by the western barn on the way home for a few drinks. Not enough to get me drunk or anything though. Holly met me on the way back as she got a little worried with me being off by myself for so long, and so she invited me over. I spent some time there before coming home."
"You spent the evening with Holly?" Uncle Blaze wondered.
There was something about the way he emphasized that sentence that I couldn't figure out, and it didn't do anything to make their point more apparent.
"When you say you 'spent some time' with Holly, what exactly did you do during that time?" Dad continued to press.
Continue reading.
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."
I slowly rose my head to look at her with a dull stare.
"If you need help, I can help you," she continued, undeterred, "I don't really like messy diapers, but I'd be willing to help take them off and throw them away if you do the wiping part."
Okay, I laughed just a bit at that. That was quite the offer from a girl who was as fussy about staying clean as Prism was.
"Thanks. I'd really appreciate that." I spoke while managing a small smile.
"No problem!" Glade beamed, "You helped me a lot as a baby, so now I'm going to help you a lot."
"You are too sweet. Stay that way." I urged, pulling her into a hug.
She giggled at the sudden embrace and looked proud that she managed to get me out of my stupor, even if I knew it would only be momentary.
"Would you be interested in doing something for me right now?" I wondered.
"What?"
"I was thinking of heading over to Uncle Eden's to hang out with Mary. Doodle needs someone to take him and out and play with him though. Would you be up for that?"
"Oh, can I take him over to Guppie's house? Mom already said I could go over there, and she has a fenced yard and other dogs he can play with." Glade asked eagerly.
"Sounds perfectly fine to me."
My sister grew energized at the plan. Guppie's house apparently had a large pool like ours did, and Glade called her friend to make sure they could go swimming. I didn't listen to the conversation for too long, but it sounded like the two were not trying to set up a little pool party with a few more friends. I thought back nostalgically to the days like those, but that only dropped my mood further as I shuffled my way towards Uncle Eden's place. I walked straight through the door without knocking like always, although Rosemary was aware I was coming. She stood in the living room talking with Uncle Eden, who was watching television.
"Morning, Coal." he greeted me with his usual smile.
"Morning." Rosemary added.
"Morning, you two." I attempted to answer as upbeat as possible.
As it was, even I could tell there was something about my posture or tone of voice that made it incredibly clear there was something I held back. I sighed mentally and then sighed outwardly as both Uncle Eden and Rosemary looked at me with expectant curiosity. They'd been waiting for the news as much as I had.
"Mimosa got exactly what she wanted. She's pregnant." I told them with a hint of a bite.
"Well, that's...that is what it is." Uncle Eden responded uncertainly.
I gave him a halfhearted nod and shrug combination before turning to my cousin.
"Wanna go upstairs?" I requested.
"Sure."
Continue reading.
It makes this page feel a little incomplete, but I'll simply be linking to the final chapters of Generation Two instead of doing the full sample posts as seen above:
Chapter Forty One
Chapter Forty Two
Epilogue
If you're one of the ones who's read both the first and the second generations, please consider filling out the survey in this post.
Also, be sure to check out the CMW short stories I've been working on and will keep doing during the main story's hiatus!
Short Story #2
Short Story #3 Part One
Short Story #3 Part Two
For those who didn't see it, here is the end to CMW Short Story #3.
If you're curious about the continuation of the story, I will say that I am slowly working on it behind the scenes. I've been missing it a lot lately, and I hope to work out a balance between writing my novel and working on CMW to hopefully bring the next installment out sooner. I don't really have an estimated time on when to expect the story back, but have no fear as I have every intention of continuing
For those who are new/unfamiliar with Color My World, I will soon be posting summaries of the two completed generations so that reading Gen Three won't require reading all previous 90 chapters. I will link them here when they're finished.
Generation One- Ethereal Yonder
Generation Two- Coal Vivid
And, to let you all know, the confirmed date for Color My World's restart is indeed October 6th. Hope to see you then
Due to how ridiculous Photobucket has become, I think I'm going to go with simply posting links to the new chapters for the moment along with a brief text preview.
Prologue
"I learned what true heartbreak was at a very young age.
Three to be specific. Three years and a month to the day to be exact. The day was May 23rd- a Saturday. It had been a fun one for me. Every so often Uncle Eden and I got to spend some time together by ourselves without my sisters or his children or grandchildren around. We'd gone to the festival at the park where we rode on rides, watched a magician on stage, and ate a bunch of tasty food. That was when I asked if we could go to the beach to play on the boardwalk like I often did with my dad, but Uncle Eden said we had to visit the hospital first."
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."
"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."
"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."
Excitement bubbled vigorously against my chest as Timber led me upstairs. His bedroom was pretty large and incredibly fun to hang out in, but what I looked forward to was the beaten up manila folder he pulled out of his desk drawer. When the power had returned two days after the storm and school resumed, he had mentioned during a quiet moment at lunch that the contents of the folder were what he was so eager to have found. However, quite a bit of time passed between that moment at lunch and now when I was finally able to visit. What was good though was that Mr. Mountain was solidly preoccupied down in his room on the first floor, so there was little worry about being overheard or caught.
"Are you sure it's safe for you to be holding onto the folder? Won't your dad notice it's missing?" I asked.
"It's fine," Timber promised, "It's been over three months since we've moved here now, but he's being super slow about unpacking. He hasn't even gotten close towards going through the box I found this in. I can just return it later after I show you it now, and he'll be none the wiser."
With a drama that made me think Timber had been practicing for the grand reveal, he flipped open the folder with flair and a wide smile.
The smell of the store was one of my favorite things about where dad worked. The library kind of had that smell too, but most of the books there were naturally more worn. Newer books, like the ones lining the shelves here, appealed more to my senses.
"Find something you want?" Ember asked from behind me, having picked her own choice of reading material.
"Yeah, this one looks good."
I pulled down my selection, and I enjoyed the fact that dad's business was basically a second library to us. Reading, of course, was an activity mom and dad encouraged greatly over stuff like video games, so we had free pick of what the Mosaic Pages Bookstore had to offer provided we stuck to what was appropriate for our age. Dad would just deduct the price from the store's income, and what we paid was also greatly reduced considering we were the owner's children. Dad would very rarely grumble that we should just go to the actual library instead, but that meant an extra trip or two driving us there for him, which silenced further complaining. Besides, it's not like he had to worry about going broke. Business was good.
Grandpa and dad were shaking their heads and chuckling at us quite often these days. When the day had come for mom and Aunt Mimi to celebrate their birthday, everyone's jaws dropped when mom unwrapped the gift Gilly and I got her. Well, Uncle Frost didn't seem to be surprised, but that was obvious. Mom couldn't believe we'd gotten her the holographic toy. She hadn't expected anyone to go for the most expensive present on her list, and how we'd managed to afford it absolutely baffled her. How we got a hold of it was a constant question of hers over the past several weeks. However, now the enraptured attention Gilly, mom, and I all had with mom's toy kept us distracted during all our free hours.
"I finally taught him how to do a flip," mom revealed to us one weekend afternoon, "Geode, flip."
The tear shaped purple blob giggled and jiggled as it completed a merry backflip.
"Good. Now speak, Geode."
A series of unintelligible squeals and squeaks came from the creature. Mom pet the top of his intangible form. Geode reacted to it, and I continued to be astounded by the toy. The disk mom held in her hand that created the whole spectacle took in sounds and hand movements to make it appear as if we were actually interacting with something that wasn't there.
"Mom, it's almost two." I had to remind her though despite me wanting to see more.
"Oh, right. Say goodbye to Dia, Geode."
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.
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.
Chapter Nine
The fact that the air brushing against my cheeks and slowly knotting my hair as I zoomed back and forth on the swing wasn't cold pounded my chest with a lively excitement. Back when I was young, well- younger, I hadn't gotten why spring was the reason why people bothered so much more with cleaning and the start of large projects. Now I got it. The feeling of invigoration after the snows had passed and one could go outside without suffocating layers of clothes made one want to actually do stuff. For example, mom, dad, Gilly, and I were outside having a blast being silly as mom and dad did their best to push my sister and I at a matching pace while just a month ago we all lazed about in bed as long as we could hardly wanting to get up to make a cup of hot chocolate.
"You're pushing too fast." dad complained with a large grin as Gilly and I began to go out of sync.
"You're going too slow." mom rebuked back.
"I'm going slower so you don't tire yourself out by trying to match me."
"You calling me weak, Vivid?"
Gilly and I laughed. We found it amusing that mom used dad's last name to call him out during their playful bantering even if it had been her last name too for over a decade now.
How long had it been since I had felt such warmth? Closing my eyes, I stretched my head back and let the sun slightly burn my face. I didn't care if it pulled my skin a little. I was simply so incredibly glad it wasn't raining again. We thought last year had been bad, but this year was already approaching last year's record when it was only summer! All the weather channels predicted more sunshine to be coming our way, but there still remained too many umbrellas on their reports for my liking.
"Hey, did you finish up your summer homework yet?" I asked Rosey, who sat next to me.
"Yeah. I got the final bits done last night." she responded, lazily kicking her foot.
"Darn it."
"Love homework that much?" she asked with a smile.
"No, but I've been stuck inside too much lately because of the rain. I'm done with television, video games, and reading. I was thinking we could at least bring your homework out here to work on it in the sunshine. I wish I would have brought mine."
"I'll procrastinate more next time," Rosey laughed, "But I think those two are entertaining enough."