Round 4: Kirsch

Samuel Kirsch and his husband Maxwell Kirsch are Adults. Their daughters Caritas (Cari) Kirsch and Iustitia (Izzy) Kirsch are Teens.

* * *

With Liss gone, everything felt a little quieter, a little emptier. Although Liss had long since stopped needing constant parental attention, Maxwell and Samuel still felt aimless without her, like they didn’t know what to do with themselves. They spent a lot more time than usual cleaning the house, spent extra time with Cari and Izzy, and tried not to think about the fact that Cari would be the next to leave.

No Liss also meant no buffer between Cari and Izzy, and no one to talk one or the other of them down before things got too heated. Both of them tried not to let the other one get to them too badly, but they could all feel the tension simmering just below the surface.

Izzy tried to keep herself calm by expressing her frustrations to Dmitri. She could talk more comfortably with him than anyone she had ever met, and venting to him for a while always made her feel better.

Her relationship with Dmitri sometimes seemed too good to be true. Her lackluster relationship with Cornelius finally made sense to her – she had never been able to care about him the way he deserved because her crush on Dmitri had never really gone away. Somewhere inside, she must have always known that he was meant to be hers.

She did sometimes feel a twinge of guilt when she thought about Liss. But Izzy had asked her, before she had even agreed to go on one date with Dmitri, and Liss had given her permission. Besides, Liss seemed happy with Ellis. She already had a good relationship, so why shouldn’t Izzy?

Despite her relationship with Dmitri, sometimes everything just got to be too much. There was Cari, and no Liss to talk to when Cari started being too much of a problem. There was school – the principal called her down to his office to discuss her grades practically every week. And some days the pressure to do something – something exciting, something meaningful, something besides sitting in school all day – made her feel like she was about to burst.

It was on a day like that that she got her tattoo.

She tried to hide it from her parents at first, but they spotted it one day at breakfast. When they saw it, though, their nonchalant reactions made her feel silly for trying to hide it in the first place. Why had she ever thought they would be mad?

Cari didn’t want a birthday party. Her parents tried to talk her into one, but she insisted: she just wanted a quiet night of cake with the family. She didn’t even want the confetti and noisemakers Izzy had brought home, but she smiled and went along with it so she wouldn’t look like a spoilsport.

As Cari blew out the candles, Samuel tried to look happy, but he wasn’t sure he managed it. They had already lost one daughter; now they were losing a second. Soon their house would be entirely empty – it would just be a hall full of empty bedrooms, and him and Maxwell rattling around.

The day after her birthday, she left the house like she was going to school. When her parents tried to stop her, thinking she had forgotten she didn’t have to do that anymore, she told them she had found a job as a secretary at a local doctor’s office. They tried to pretend they were happy that she had found a job so quickly, but Liss moving out had left more of a wound than they had thought – both of them found that they wished it had taken Cari just a little longer, so they could have kept pretending she wasn’t quite an adult just yet.

Cari, on the other hand, was – well, she wouldn’t call it excited, exactly, but she was a lot more satisfied than she had thought she would be. She liked the routine of work. She liked going into the office every day, and having a specific job to do, and being left alone as long as she did what was asked of her. And unlike high school, this actually gave her something in return.

Her newfound contentment even made her feel more well-disposed towards Izzy. She started reaching out to her, and before long they were getting along better than they had in years.

Even when she had to watch Izzy and Dmitri being sickeningly sweet together.

But now that she was an adult with a real job, it was beginning to feel silly to sleep in her childhood bedroom with all the pink and the unicorns. And when she thought about living on her own, without no one to measure up to and no one to pretend in front of, it was like her whole body heaved a sigh of relief. She knew her parents dreaded her moving out, but after one too many nights in the unicorn room, she decided it had to happen, and sooner rather than later. All she had to do was find a place to live.

Round 4: Anatole

Amara Anatole is an Adult. Her fiance Knox Nye is a Young Adult. Their children Arden Anatole, Elijah Anatole, and Xandra Anatole are Children.

* * *

Amara had never cared that she didn’t have enough money to buy herself fancy new toys. She had her TV, her computer, her jogging shoes, a handful of books – that had always been more than enough. But now, with the triplets, she was coming face to face with the painful realities of her financial situation. Not having money meant not being able to buy art supplies for Elijah, or a musical instrument – or even a stereo – for Xandra. It meant not even being able to buy the most basic toys. The kids seemed to be happy enough just playing with each other, but it hurt to know that if things were different she could be giving them so much more.

She tried to bring in a little extra money making plugins, but it was only enough to keep the family fed, and even then, only just barely. She was pushing as hard as she could for her next promotion, but in the meantime, they couldn’t pay the bills.

All this extra work was wearing Amara out. Sometimes she felt like she was in danger of falling asleep on her feet. Her old carefree life had never felt so far away – and she had never missed it more.

Knox, on the other hand, was finally starting to get into the rhythm of his days. He would cook breakfast in the morning, do household repairs and play games until the kids came home, then help them with their homework until it was time to cook dinner. But at times, he had the fleeting thought that it would be nice to have a real job.

Arden saw Dzika Fish less these days – she wasn’t talking to anyone much after her grandmother’s death – but meanwhile, he and Phoebe Li, who lived just next door, had become inseparable. He insisted that he was going to marry her someday.

But the triplets’ closest friends were still each other. From their perspective, everything was great. They were used to eating breakfast in the kitchen together, standing up; they didn’t know their parents kept trying to afford a bigger table and more chairs so they could all actually eat at the table. They were used to their mom being constantly stressed from work; they had never known her the way she used to be.

Round 4: Li-Brennan

Lacey Li and her boyfriend Silas Brennan are Adults. Their daughter Phoebe Li is a Child. Lacey’s daughter Winter Li is a Child.

* * *

Phoebe didn’t know why Winter was so unhappy all the time. Their mom was fun, even if she could act weird sometimes. She made everything seem beautiful and romantic, and the way she talked about great art always made Phoebe want to rush to the museum to see it all for herself. And Phoebe’s dad was loving and caring, even if he could get too critical sometimes and was never home at night.

Winter didn’t know how Phoebe could be so naive. Just because their mom and Silas were nice to her didn’t mean they were nice to Winter – couldn’t Phoebe hear the way they talked to her all the time? And it wasn’t just Winter – couldn’t Phoebe see how mean Silas was to their mom sometimes?

But Winter wasn’t as angry as she used to be. She was getting used to her life as it was. She just spent as little time around her mom and Silas as possible, which wasn’t that much different from when they lived in the park except that now she had a real bed and real food. And she still had Phoebe, who was fun to hang out with despite her frustratingly naive attitude. School had become a refuge for her, too, and somewhere along the line she had become an A student.

Iris was in high school now, and looked more glamorous than Winter could ever hope to be, but on the inside she was still the same old Iris, and her friendship with Winter was stronger than ever.

Winter still liked to let Phoebe tag along with her when she went somewhere with Iris. The one problem was that Phoebe would talk to everyone who looked even remotely friendly. Winter tried to get across the idea that some people were dangerous, but Phoebe just didn’t get the concept.

Winter’s mom did bother to bake her a birthday cake, at least. That was something. Winter didn’t have a real birthday party – the only person she really wanted to invite was Iris, and Iris couldn’t even make it. But everyone stood around together watching her blow out the candles, and Silas had even gotten confetti from somewhere, and for a few moments they actually felt like a real family.

Now that she was a teen, Winter didn’t see any more reason to put up with Silas. She went on the offensive, giving back all the abuse he had heaped on her since she had moved in with him. She had suffered through enough; now it was time to make him as miserable as he had made her. Phoebe, caught between the two, didn’t know what to do. Making peace between them was clearly out of the question.

Winter’s feelings about Silas were validated when he brought home a woman named Kaley one day and didn’t even try to hide the fact that they were more than friends. He had no problem flirting with her right in front of Lacey. It wasn’t even a one-time thing – Kaley started coming over two or three days a week.

Lacey was devastated. For years, the epic romance she had imagined between herself and Silas had been the foundation of her life. Now it was all crumbling down around her. For days, then weeks, she shuffled around the house like a ghost, spending hours watching TV and then retreating back to the bedroom to cry under the covers.

Even Phoebe couldn’t deny what was going on this time. Suddenly she felt like she didn’t know her father at all. But she didn’t talk about it – not to Winter, not to anyone. She treated her father the same way she always had. This wasn’t who he really was, she knew. Soon enough this would all go away and everything would be back to normal.

Silas’s unfaithfulness scared Winter more than she let on. As much as she hated him, she knew that if her mom ever left him, they would be back to living in the park again.

She took a lot of it out on her mother, even though she knew that wasn’t fair. Or maybe it was fair. After all, if her mom hadn’t gotten them into this situation – if she hadn’t lost their house, if she hadn’t fallen in love with Silas, if she could just hold down a job – everything would be okay.

Just like Winter was done with putting up with things she didn’t have to put up with from her mom and Silas, she was done lying to herself. She was ready to admit what she probably should have already suspected – that her feelings for Iris went beyond friendship.

But when she broached the subject with Iris, Iris made it very clear that she wasn’t interested. Winter wasn’t just humiliated – being rejected by Iris meant possibly losing her oldest and closest friend, and the one person other than Phoebe who was keeping her stable. And even if she and Iris managed to stay friends after this, they would never be close in the way Winter wanted.

Winter almost thought Kaley was gloating.

When Lacey emerged from her depression, the one thing she knew for sure was that her feelings for Silas hadn’t changed. He was her prince, her destined true love, and no setback could drive them apart. Besides, hadn’t she come close a couple of times to crossing the same like that Silas had crossed?

She decided she needed to take a drastic step. So one day, she asked Silas to marry her – and to everyone’s surprise, Silas accepted.

Round 4: Laurent

Oliver Laurent and his wife Kylie Grey are Elders. Oliver’s son Ellis Laurent is a Teen.

* * *

When Oliver was at the doctor getting his back looked at, the doctor gave him a piece of news he hadn’t been prepared for. He was sick, and there was nothing that could be done. At this point, all he could do was wait.

He didn’t tell Ellis or Kylie, just like he hadn’t let either of them know the extent of their financial troubles. He couldn’t bring himself to worry either of them with this. He would have preferred to live long enough to meet his grandchildren, but deep down he had always known that wasn’t going to happen. Right now all he could do was spend time with the people he loved and do the things that he enjoyed, like working in his garden. At least he didn’t feel any different – he could still work outside with no problems.

He worried about leaving Kylie on her own, especially since her mental state still seemed to be deteriorating. He kept trying to convince her to get help, but to no avail.

Oliver had started doing all the household repairs himself, despite the toll it took on his back. Repair services were a luxury they could no longer afford. At least the finances couldn’t get much worse after he was gone – it wasn’t as if he was bringing in any money as it was, aside from his garden, and the garden would still be there for Ellis or Kylie to take care of.

Oliver found himself spending a lot more time talking to Ellis, especially about the importance of carrying on the family name. He might not be around to see his children, but he at least wanted to know they would exist. When Ellis had been born, it had felt as if a part of himself had woken up that he had never known existed; the thought of Ellis spending his life childless and never knowing what he was missing made him immeasurably sad.

Ellis wasn’t sure what to think about this. Yes, he wanted kids someday – probably – but he wasn’t ready to think about that yet. He was still in high school, even if graduation was fast approaching. But because he could see that it was important to his dad, he finally promised that he would have at least one child.

Right now he was more focused on Liss than on any hypothetical future children. She had moved in with Autumn Brennan, like she had suggested to Autumn at her birthday party, and the two of them spent their days painting and helping each other improve their art. She sounded like she was in heaven. But she still made plenty of time for Ellis.

It was strange, dating her when she wasn’t in school anymore. It felt like she was growing up without him. He consoled himself with the thought that he would be graduating soon enough. He remembered how he used to not want to grow up at all, but that felt like a whole other world. That had been his life before Liss. She had changed everything.

He still couldn’t believe how lucky he was that she had chosen him over Dmitri. He felt like he should be doing something to make himself worthy of that – of her. He was trying to keep up his cooking experiments, but it was hard when they only had a few cheap foods in the house. And besides, sometimes he just had to do something fun instead. He tried to remind himself that he didn’t need to make himself into something different – she had chosen him because of who he was, even if that didn’t make any sense.

The Grim Reaper came for Oliver on the morning before Ellis’s birthday. Oliver begged to be able to stay just a little longer, just long enough to see his son grow up, but to no avail. The Grim Reaper’s schedule was not for mortals to trifle with.

Even now, on the verge of adulthood, Ellis still went to his bear for comfort.

His father’s death sucked any possible excitement out of his birthday party. No one quite knew what to say to him, and he wasn’t in the mood to do anything but hole up in his bedroom and cry.

It didn’t help that Dmitri, despite his promises, had decided to hold a grudge against him for what had happened with Liss. Never mind that Ellis and Liss had been together first, or that forcing her to choose had been Dmitri's idea.

But Ellis made an effort. He tried to smile and laugh with the others. He pretended not to notice when he saw Liss flirt with Dmitri in front of him, and pretended not to see the two of them acting embarrassed around each other for the rest of the night.

He blew out the candles, and said goodbye to the last of his childhood.

When he got a quiet moment alone with Liss, he confronted her about what he had seen. She was as contrite as he had ever seen her. she had just fallen into old habits, she said. It didn’t mean anything. Ellis didn’t know whether to believe her – but he wanted to. And from the way Dmitri had been stomping around the house all night, it was clear, at least, that he didn’t consider himself a threat to Liss and Ellis’s relationship.

Kylie felt lost without Oliver. Although at times she had been ambivalent about their marriage, the truth was that he had been keeping her anchored. It was only now that he was gone that she could see it. Now she was all alone with a stepson who barely spoke to her, in a house that had never really felt like hers.

Round 4: Fish

Aurelia Fish is an Elder. Her grandson Dmitri Fish is a Teen, and her granddaughter Dzika Fish is a Child.

* * *

At first Dmitri didn’t know what to do after Liss’s decision. Deep down, he had really been expecting her to come to her senses and choose him, and despite what he had told Ellis, at first he was tempted to step up his efforts and win her back. He tried to stay away from her, but he couldn’t – their friendship had shaped so much of his time here in Wanderer’s Cove that he wasn’t even sure what to do with himself if he didn’t have her to talk to.

But as time went on, and he saw her less frequently, he realized that he was over it. He still felt a twinge whenever he saw her, and probably always would, but he had survived worse pain than this. He still had his grandmother, and his sister, and the frustration of school was as comfortingly familiar as ever. He settled into a new routine, one that was much like his old one except with fewer visits to Liss’s house. Maybe one day he would be able to be friends with her the way they used to be, without feeling that mix of attraction and resentment at the back of his mind, but until that day came, it was better for both of them if they spent less time together. He used his extra free time to focus more on his schoolwork, and was surprised when he found himself with a report card that made his grandmother raise her eyebrows in approval instead of lecturing him about all the time he spent playing video games.

Still, he couldn’t deny that there was an element of revenge involved when he asked Liss's younger sister Izzy on a date.

He didn’t want to do anything to interfere with Liss and Izzy’s relationship. He didn’t actually go out with Izzy until she told him, in her earnest way, that she had talked to Liss about it and she had said it was fine. But he did hope that somewhere in Liss’s mind, the thought of him with Izzy would make her regret what she had given up.

But when they finally went on that date, he realized how much he actually enjoyed Izzy’s company. She had always been around in the background of his friendship with Liss – she even used to have a crush on him when they were younger. But Liss had always overshadowed her. Now, though, he wondered how he had gone so long without getting to know her as a person, instead of just as Liss’s sister. She was a paradox – rebellious in some ways, adorably naïve in others – and she had a genuinely good heart that showed through in everything she said and did. She was nothing like her sister, but for the first time Dmitri began to think that maybe he didn’t want someone like Liss.

Maybe he wanted someone whose heart balanced out his head. Maybe he wanted someone who would treat him well because she couldn’t help but do otherwise.

Maybe he wanted someone whose kisses weren’t about drama or inner conflict – they were just about him.

Dmitri tried to keep his new relationship a secret from his grandmother. She hadn’t even been happy about his relationship with Liss; Dmitri could guess how she would react to seeing him with someone like Izzy, with her dyed hair and leather pants. When his grandmother was at work, though, he and Izzy took full advantage of the empty house.

Dzika was not at all happy about this new development. She looked up to her grandmother more than anyone in the world, and Izzy was everything her grandmother had warned her not to be. She had never liked having Izzy around, and that was before Izzy started dating her brother. Dmitri had never seen Dzika be rude to anyone, ever, except for Izzy.

Dzika kept threatening to tell their grandmother about their relationship, but he managed to keep buying her off with candy. She was getting older, though, and that wouldn’t work for much longer.

One morning, as Aurelia was getting out of bed, she felt something strange happening. It was as if she could no longer keep hold of her own body. As if from a distance, she watched herself collapse to the floor.

She had tried to hold on as long as she could for her grandchildren, but she had lived a long life, and her body simply couldn’t keep going any longer. She had no regrets; the only thing she wished was that she could have lived long enough to see Dmitri grow up.

Dzika was about as resilient as any kid could be, but Aurelia’s death was a hard blow even for her. After she had lost her parents, her grandmother had taken care of her and nurtured her talents and made her into the person she had become. Without her around, the house just felt empty.

But Dmitri didn’t have the luxury of letting himself collapse with grief. Given how close he was to graduation, ordinarily it would just be a matter of signing the paperwork that would allow him to live on his own, but there was Dzika to consider. He had to prove that he would be able to provide a good home for her, or she would be sent to live with foster parents.

He found a job as quickly as he could. From now on, he would be spending his afternoons painting houses. It wasn’t anything like he had imagined his first job would be, but it paid better than anything else he could find. Right now, taking care of Dzika – and keeping their family together – had to be his highest priority.

Luckily, his latest report card was even better than the last, and his teachers all gave him glowing recommendations. The child welfare inspector who came by to meet with him couldn’t find anything to complain about. He signed the papers, and Dzika was allowed to keep living with him.

Dmitri had to get used to doing all the things that his grandmother had taken care of before, like cooking meals. If it had only been him, he might have just eaten cereal for dinner every night, but every time he considered it, he could hear his grandmother’s voice in his mind berating him for feeding such a poor diet to a growing child. Grilled cheese probably wasn't much better, but he did what he could.