Gen 3 - Chapter 1: No One Knows

Um. Hello.

I'm not sure how to start this. I've never been very good at expressing myself to anyone else, so this will be a new experience; please bear with me. My name is Dahlia Parodi, and I'm the third generation 'heiress'. You see, when my grandmother, Sean, was just about to become a young adult, this woman, Estiu Calent, cast a spell on her that will continue down through the next six generations. All of those related to my family gets whatever they wish for, but the heir or heiress of each generation gets more of what they wish for than the others. Does it make any sense to you? It barely does to me.

A while back, the woman approached me and told me that I was this generation's 'heiress'. I didn't speak it allowed, but I couldn't help thinking, "why me?" Not that I don't appreciate it, but I'm not special like my siblings. If I had known more about it, like the heir thing, I would have bet money on it being Drazen, Quintus, or Eulalie. They're everyone's favorites.

I'm a secondary character in my own life. I'm boring! I'm practically the definition of a 'nerd'. A genius (not trying to brag, it's just true, I got it from.. my Mom Elvy), a bookworm, love my family more than anything, and.. well, some would call me a goody-two-shoes. I have no real life goals, just to master some skills, which will be more than a little easy, since I'm a vampire. My seventy year old mother is more interesting than I am, I mean, she was a lesbian. Is a lesbian. Me? I like two guys in school, one who is interested in my cousin, and one who is barely in high school and already super popular.

I'm sorry for talking about my insecurities, but this is just me. I don't speak much because I keep it all in. Maybe telling you about this inner me can be like a diary?

 

Taking over this right now is even less pleasant than I had imagined - not that I had ever imagined writing about my life, so that others may read it. Writing, yes. Writing about me, no. 

You see, one of my mothers, Elvira, had only died a day before Mom Lyr handed me the reigns. She told me she just couldn't handle it anymore, everything would just be too depressing, and I guess I see her point. If the love of my life had died, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to write on this either. My Moms were the sweetest couple ever, none of my friends' - which, I admit, there aren't many of those - parents were ever as romantic, or sweet on each other. It was like my Moms were made for each other, and if that's the kind of romance one got by getting all of their wishes granted, I was excited to be the heiress. But, with all of that, it's not surprising in any way shape or form that she couldn't continue this.

I know the rest of us had been trying to cope in our own ways, but none of them seemed to be working. Sure, Mama Elvy had been evil, but I never saw proof of that. We all loved her - everything made us think of her, and after doing almost anything we'd start crying. I even comforted Zach once, as he broke down out after breaking the shower. I try to be a motherly big sister when I can.

 

See, this is one of the reasons I think it ought to have been.. like, my brother Quin to be heir. He's so cheerful. Optimistic. He isn't oblivious to the bad, he just can find the silver lining in almost any situation. Except the outdoors, he doesn't see much good in it, funnily enough. But see, that's one of the things that makes him interesting. My opinion of the outdoors? It exists, and I won't really be able to be out in it when I blossom into a woman. It's pretty, and gardening sounds like fun, but that's all. I don't carry strong opinions, because I can see both sides of an argument. I suppose one may consider that interesting..

It seems that Mama Elvy couldn't stay away long, because only a couple of nights after her death, there she was again. If she wasn't transparent.. or bouncing on the trampoline, it would have almost been like before. I think it hurt Mom Lyr, though, having her back, but not really back. She also wasn't quite the same in personality.. I suppose real-death does that to a person.

Seeing Mama Elvy's ghost from the kitchen window seemed to have made a decision for Eulalie, however, because I heard her talking to Zach about how she was going to be a scientist like him and Jere.

When her ghost disappeared again, near five in the morning, I had a mini break down in the dining room, thinking that I would be fine. No one would see me. I don't like showing my weaknesses in front of people, especially not crying. I like to seem strong, stronger than I am. It's a lot of the reason why I keep most things inside. I've done it since I was a child, and I saw my teacher, Lara Bernabe, die right in front of me. How could I let my Moms know how much that freaked me out? I got a chill whenever I thought about it, and was glad I was a vampire, because if I dreamt, I knew what it would be about. I would never get sleep. Death has always bothered me, and I was glad it was so far away for me, and would never allow myself to get sunstroke and chance dying early.

But anyway, I had a breakdown as I saw Mama Elvy disappear again. Then I heard a soft voice beside me, "Dahlia.." I jumped, and wiped at my face, trying to get rid of the evidence of tears.

"I'm fine, I just, I..."

"I know you better than you know yourself, Dahlia, I'm your twin. You're not fine. None of us are fine, you don't need to pretend you are." I felt Drazen's arms go around me in a quick hug, and I sniffled, hugging him back slightly. "Let things out sometimes. Okay? Don't just bury your face in a book and pretend nothing's going on with you. Or you'll explode, and no one wants that. Especially me."

I sniffled again, and let out a small sob, before nodding my head and pulling back. "I'll try.. but I can't guarentee a-anything. There's so much going on and.." At his raised eyebrow, I paused and bit my lip. ".. I'll tell you if anything's going on. I know you'll always be there for me." He nodded in satisfaction, and grabbed his plasma juice box, sitting down at the table. I love and hate having such a caring twin brother, because he makes me tell him my problems when I would prefer to just pretend I don't have them.

The night after she first appeared, Mama Elvy decided to appear again, and.. well.. Mom Lyr liked it. They were glued to each other from the time she appeared to the time she disappeared, and it was so sweet. I hope I can find a love like that, that survives death. I have to admit, while I was awake, I stood at the kitchen window and watched them for a while. I didn't want to intrude, so I didn't go outside. When they started to get a little more hot and heavy, though, I quickly went to go finish my homework. I really didn't need to see that.

So, for Drazen and my birthday Mom Lyr had a music room built for us, and none of us had made any use of it until after Mama Elvy died. I don't know why, it just never crossed either Drazen or my mind, even though he'd been wanting to learn guitar for so long. But, one day after it had finally been about a month since Mama Elvy died (and she and Mom Lyr were still having their after-death-affair), Drazen decided to finally try out the guitar. I went into the basement to watch for a while, and chuckled as he went from just-learning, to master in just a few minutes. Being a vampire was handy, but it could be kind of boring at times, you know? Have the fun of some things is learning how to do it, so if it just.. happens, what do you do then? Maybe that's just my genius, bookwormish side speaking.

After a bit Eulalie came down to watch him as well, and she looked around as she came in. "Why is it purple and smoky in here?"

"Because there's an effects machine, and a black light instead of regular lighting."

"A black light? Cool!" She may not seem it, but Lalie's also a genius, like Mama Elvy. Both of us girls got that from her, but all the boys ended up more like Mom Lyr in the smarts department. Except Quintus, he.. he could be smart if he tried, but I think he has ADHD. He can't pay attention to anything very long, and often will forget what he was doing in the first place. 

I'd made plans to meet the first guy I started liking, Kraig Romilly, at the consignment store soon, so I didn't stick around to watch Drazen playing around with his guitar for very long. I'd never been to the consignment store, so I had a bit of trouble finding it, but when I did finally I immediately spotted a familiar head of.. well, light brown hair nearly the same shade as mine, but without the red highlights. Kraig was so.. so perfect. And so.. 

.. much older than me, I noticed as I pulled up and parked. He'd graduated. He was a young adult. Surely he wouldn't be interested in me now - not that he had been in the first place, but I thought since I was supposed to get my way, I would chance it, since I'd been wanting to ask him his sign for a while.

As I approached him, he turned and smiled at me. "Hey, Dahlia."

"Hi, Kraig. Thanks for accepting my silly invitation."

He shook his head, and chuckled; I had to remind myself to concentrate as I watched his hair flick back and forth across in front of his face. I wanted to smooth it back, look into his beautiful, coppery brown eyes. 

"It wasn't silly, I mean, we're friends, right?"

Friends. Friend, noun. A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. A person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile.

Friends, not romantic interests.

"Yeah, of course we're friends."

Our conversation continued on outside for a while, and even though I knew we probably had no chance, I was working up my courage to ask his sign. Finally, I took a breath, smiled charmingly - I think it was charmingly, at least? - and asked, "So, Kraig, I'm just curious.. what's your sign?"

He blinked at me, then smiled slightly, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. Uh oh, I messed up, didn't I? "I'm a Leo."

"Haha, cool, so am I! That's funny, we're compatible." Could I BE anymore obvious? No, no I don't think so!

He just stared at me, then half smiled sadly. "Dahlia.. you're a nice girl..." A nice girl. Yes. That's all I am. "But.. I'm engaged to your cousin, Jeana. She's, uh.." he paused, and I could see - and smell - him blush. I was pretty sure I knew what was coming, but I didn't speak, not jumping to conclusions. ".. pregnant." Yeah, that's what I'd thought he'd say.

"Oh, congratulations! No, I'm sorry, did you think I was flirting? I'm really sorry, I was just pointing it out. I don't believe in signs showing who you're meant to be with and all that, you know? Haha.. I'm really happy for you two! Do you know the gender of the baby yet?"

He seemed reassured, good. He smiled at me, more genuinely. "Yeah. It's gonna be a boy. We already have a name ready and everything. Reed."

"Reed Romilly, how cute! I wish you guys the best. I should get home before it gets past curfew.. see you later, Kraig!" I waved, before hurrying home, telling myself not to let it bother me. It wasn't like I'd let myself believe we could be together anyway.

I was distracted from my disappointment about Kraig and Jeana, by hearing two things when I walked in. One, was Drazen's voice from the dining room, and the other was guitar from downstairs. First I went into the dining room, to see Drazen talking to the mirror. I blinked at him. "Dray.. are you trying to become more charismatic? Because if you are, everyone already likes you. You don't need charisma."

"Yes, I do, what if I find the one and I forget how to speak? What then?"

I just raised an eyebrow at him, then shook my head, and turned to head downstairs (see who was playing guitar), not saying anything. I had to wonder what kind of the one he was envisioning. I knew it wasn't Raul Rader, thank goodness, because I'd figured out a long time ago that the only reason Raul didn't bully Drazen was because he liked him. Like, really liked him. I kind of felt bad for the guy, because I knew Drazen didn't like him. He was the opposite of me, if he liked Raul, he would go after him. Actually, I didn't think Dray liked guys, period. I think he was straight, but don't quote me on that.

Do I think too much? I think I do. But it's where I'm completely free to be myself, and now that I am writing my thoughts, I can't help it. 

When I got downstairs, I went straight back to the music room, and found Quintus, unsurprisingly. He idolized Drazen, wanted everything Drazen did, did everything Drazen did.. even had the same goal in life. Which.. now they had both completed.

One of the wishes that Drazen and Quintus shared, was to have fifteen paintings on the walls, so they were working together to completed it. Quin painted a large painting of Drazen doing his homework (he'd actually been painting it since he was a child, but finally just finished it), and it was painting number one. Painting number two was by Drazen, and was of a plant in the music room. It was one of my favorite paintings ever, it was so.. beautiful, I could stare at it for hours.

A couple of days after the Kraig incident, we were back in school, and so I had homework to work on again. Almost as soon as I got home, I headed towards the dining room to do it, passing by Mom Lyr at the computer on my way. "Hey, Mom."

"Hi, Dahlia. Guess what? Uncle Rhett and Aunt Katina are expecting another baby. A little girl!"

"Really?! Yaay! So exciting! I love babies." The conversation went further than that, but not much, because I still was going to to my homework. Which I did as soon as I got into the dining room. It never takes me long, being a vampire and a genius.. a lot of the other teens are jealous. That's part of the reason I like the second guy I like, he and his family are also vampires - and celebrities - so he would know exactly what I went through. And he had a twin of the opposite gender. How much more perfect for me could he get? Except all of the other girls swarm all over him, even though he just barely started high school - being the same age as the triplets - and I would have no chance against any of them.

 My homework took longer than usual this time, thinking about Aunt Kat and Uncle Rhett's new baby and the other guy I like.

  

One quick thing before I wrap this up for the chapter, I want my little sister, Eulalie, to stay small forever. I think we all do. She's such a cutie, and so neurotic we all want to protect her from the outside world. When I went outside to stargaze after finally finishing my homework, and as I walked out the door I noticed her catching butterflies. I'd never caught butterflies when I was a kid.. I was too busy thinking about death. How depressing is that?

(A/N: So, her chapter didn't end up as good as I'd hoped it would, because the pictures just didn't speak to me, and every time I'd finally get into the flow of it, I'd have to do something else. It's amazing I even finished this chapter! I hope it's better than I feel like it is, and I hope you enjoyed it. I forgot how hard it was to transition to a new character! I titled it 'No One Knows' because of how much stuff she bottles up inside of herself. And I couldn't think of anything else, and my Pandora played a song called 'No One Knows'. XD)