Gen 2 - Chapter 15: The Roller Coaster of Life

Drazen's friendship with Raul didn't end when I thought it might. In fact, quite the opposite - on their first day of school, Drazen invited him home again. I hate to say I didn't much care for the other boy since I heard that he was a bully, but my eldest sure did seem to enjoy his company, so I would just have to suck it up. I did watch them through the kitchen window as they arrived, and then went up to the front door, stopping to chat. At the time I was wondering what on earth they could be talking about, but later Drazen told me that they had become BFFs. I always thought BFFs was more of a girl thing, but I never really followed what was thought of as 'girl things', so why should my male duplicate follow what was thought of as 'boy things'?

I was tired of having to clean up all these plasma juice boxes - honestly, Elvira wasn't setting a very good example for our children by never throwing away her own plasma juice boxes - and not to mention all of the other things I had to clean up (though usually didn't, I gotta admit - I'm lazy, so sue me, hah), so I decided I wanted to hire a butler. I called, and we set it up - good thing I'd recently had a guest room (and music room) put in downstairs.

When the triplets got home from school that same day, they'd brought home a little friend - it's good to know at least my boys are socializing at school. I never caught the girl's name, but I do know that she certainly reminded me of someone. The little girl that had visited for Feliks' teenager birthday.. my goodness, that was a long time ago. I had still been a teenager.. but anyway, she reminded me of that little girl because she kept squealing over Jere when she realized who they actually were. Funny girl.

Later the same night I called, our butler Mackenzie showed up. And before doing anything else, she started fixing a key lime pie, Drazen's favorite human food. But.. as soon as she finished making the pie, she started fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, too. It was like she didn't even notice the absolute filth surrounding her, and only noticed the growling of our stomachs.

Dahlia was such a good girl, I felt downright spoiled. She always did her homework, and had started helping out with Eulalie as well, while Elvira was at work (or arrested, which seemed to be happening a lot lately) and I was writing.

Speaking of my writing, I'd finally finished my history novel, 'A History of Bridgeport'. It had taken forever, but it was finally done and I was on to a much more interesting subject - mystery! I already had a title, 'It Happened at Dusk'. As I was starting the first chapter, Zach came up and started watching me over my shoulder - he couldn't read very well (and wasn't very interested in reading anyway - I needed to work with him on that), so I didn't bother stopping in the rather.. gory details. "What is it honey?" I asked him after he'd been standing there with his plate for a while.

"Oh, nuthin'. Was just watching you. Whatcha doin'?"

"I'm writing a book. A mystery book."

"Ooooh, cool. You're a writer? I don't wanna be a writer when I grow up. I'm gonna be a scientist. So is Jere, he told me."

I smiled at him, and gave him a one armed hug. "Really, a scientist? Cool! Not a mad scientist I hope?"

"Oooh yeah, I totally wanna be a mad scientist! I'm gonna invent lotsa stuff!"

We'll see, Zachy, we'll see.

If anyone else noticed how exhausted our maid was, they'd think that she did a lot more than she actually did. Oh no, all she did was cook. All day and night, she cooked. When we would sleep, she'd cook. When the kids and Elvira were gone, she'd cook. Always cooking, never sleeping, never eating any of her own food, just not taking care of herself.

It was no surprise to any of us when she passed out in the living room. I was in the dining room at the time, eating some of her food, when I heard the thump, and then Drazen call out to me, "Mackenzie passed out. What should I do?"

"Just wake her up and tell her to take care of herself."

"Okay." So I didn't hear how he got her up, but then I heard little bits of their mumbled conversation, ".. have to take care of yourself, too, you know? .. plasma anyway, you don't need to cook so much.. bed's downstairs.."

Then she went to bed. Good girl - jeez, I feel like I'm raising seven children. Maybe I should fire her? No, we all like her far too much for that.

Soon.. all my babies were going to not be babies anymore. I was sad to see my Eulalie grow into a child, so I would no longer have any little ones to snuggle. My little sunshine was growing into a beautiful young lady. She was going to be a complete stunner, just like Elvira; she was quite interested in her appearance already, wanting to wear her hair just right, and wear a pretty dress. She wanted make-up too, but I told her not until she was older. I think she put on a little of my grey eyeshadow anyway, though. That girl does love grey.

The house was driving us all crazy, in the bad way. None of us cleaned up after ourselves, so finally when one of us - usually Dahlia or Eulalie, now that she was a child - finally would, we'd never finish it all because it seemed like a never ending battle. Not to mention all of the plumbing was filthy and faulty.

So one day, the day that I didn't know was going to end up the worst day of my life, when I broke the basement shower, I growled at it. "That's it, I'm going to the library to write on my book. ELVIRA!" I shouted, since she was the only one home - it being her day off and all.

"WHAT?" I heard a shout from upstairs, so I hurried up there, to find her in the dining room, downing a plasma juice box.

"I'm going to the library, will you be okay without me?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm going to city hall anyway, I was told to drop some papers off there."

I smiled at her, and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Okay, see you later then. Love you." I then rushed off to the library, completely unaware of what the day had in store for me.

None of us knew what was happening at the time. Elvira had mentioned feeling rather weak again that morning, and I thought it was just a leftover effect from when she had the sunstroke. She went to city hall, despite, and had a fine time inside, stayed until dark. At the same time she walked outside, I decided to go home. City hall was on the way home from the library, so I drove by.. in time to see a horrific sight. I pulled over to the side of the road, and hurried up, just in time to see.. to see..

Elvira.. a ghost.. begging... Grim Reaper.. I nearly fainted. My heart, I thought I was having a heart attack. I gripped at my chest, and stared. Then she was gone. I didn't quite register what happened after that, but I'm sure I grabbed her headstone/remains, and drove home. I just.. don't remember doing it. Now I knew how Dad had felt when Mom died. Or Mom when my biological Dad died. I didn't like it.. not one bit.

I buried her in the backyard, with my other family members that had gone before, and I was able to get their headstones. From left to right: Elvira, Naomi, Dad (Jett), and Dee.

I just stood out there staring at Elvy's headstone, longer than I should have. What was I going to do? I didn't know what to do without her. "Why?" I asked her headstone quietly, before shivering as a cold breeze swept by. I didn't want to go inside, but I had to.. the kids deserved to know.

Drazen was already in bed, so I couldn't him. Dahlia seemed to take it well, except I knew she didn't. After I told her, she mumbled about how she had to take a bath, and headed into our smallest bathroom - I heard her sobs echoing out of the room. It broke my heart even more. At least she didn't have to witness this one..

It was harder to tell the triplets and Eulalie, because they were so young. It hurt even more to tell them, when Jere muttered through his whimpering, "Mama Elvy, why'd you have to go on our birthday?"

Their birthday. Their birthday. I'd completely forgotten. Elvira.. why did you have to go today? Oh, the poor boys, this was going to be a birthday to remember, but for all the wrong reasons..

I tried to cheer them on as the aged up, but the best I could do was clap a little and force a smile. I was excited for them, I was. And I had been hoping to live long enough for this moment. Quintus aged up first, a little overenthusiastic to be a teenager. Next went Zachariah, and Quin came in to cheer him on, being the glass-half-full boy he was. Then it was Jere's turn, and the other two cheered him on, though Zach wasn't nearly as excited as Quin. They were all such attractive young men, and I was happy to see them grow into teenagers.

I was in a mix of feelings. My heart was broken, I didn't even know if I could get through the next few years, until I myself passed on, but at the same time.. I felt like I was somewhat complete, because almost all of my children were becoming more independent. Soon none of them would need me anymore.

There's one thing I do know, though. I can't write on this anymore. It's time I passed this story on to Dahlia, for her to tell it. I've had my run, and there's been ups and downs, but overall it's been fun.

(A/N: I hated that her generation had to end so sadly, but it really made sense why she would suddenly want to pass the torch on to Dahlia. Sigh. I've never had a sweeter TS3 couple, to be honest, and I was so sad when Elvira died. They were so close!)