Round 5: Li-Brennan

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

* * *

The wedding was a total non-event, for how much time Lacey spent talking about it. They said their vows on the front porch. Silas’s brother Liam was there, and Liam’s daughter Autumn. Liam’s wife didn’t even come – Liam made excuses, but everyone knew it was that she had never liked Silas and didn’t approve of Lacey.

Silas also invited Kaley. Lacey tried to pretend she wasn’t there. Phoebe told Winter it was probably so he could show Kaley that their affair was over, but secretly she didn’t know what to think. She and Winter both knew that he and Kaley had still been seeing each other in the time since the engagement, although Phoebe tried her best to pretend it wasn’t happening.

After the ceremony, such as it was, they retreated to the bedroom while Liam watched Phoebe for them. When they emerged, Lacey sat down next to Liam and started making innuendoes, while Liam just sat there looking awkward – what else could he do? Silas watched in growing fury, while Lacey shot him a triumphant look. That was what he got, she communicated without words, for inviting Kaley to their wedding.

Unsurprisingly, Winter was spending as little time as possible at home these days. She tried to take Phoebe with her whenever she could – even though it drove her crazy that Phoebe could stay even a little bit in denial about the state of their family, she didn’t want Phoebe exposed to that household any more than necessary. They often spent their afternoons at the library together, where Phoebe practiced her typing while Winter honed her hacking skills. It wasn’t that she was interested in computers, exactly – she only knew a little, and didn’t intend to learn more. But she knew just enough to make a few things go wrong in small ways, and she got a vindictive sort of happiness from imagining people’s reactions. As ways of venting her frustration went, she rationalized, this was a lot healthier than some of the other options she could have chosen.

She sometimes met up with Iris at the library, too, and every time they did, she told herself she would finally get up the nerve to kiss her, the way she had wanted to ever since she had started to become aware of girls in that way. But every time, she chickened out, and she and Iris remained best friends – but nothing more.

Kaley kept coming around the house. Whenever Winter saw her, she would yell at her through the door until she left. But she knew Kaley had to be coming over when she and Phoebe were in school, too, and there was no one to stop her then.

Winter didn’t even know why she cared. She had no reason to protect her mother, after all. It wasn’t as if she and her mother even liked each other. The only thing that stopped her from running away from home was that she didn’t want to start eating off strangers’ picnic tables again. And besides, there was Phoebe. Winter didn’t want to care about her, but she did.

Phoebe liked spending time at the triplets’ house better than at her own, these days. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the tension in her house. The triplets’ house was always noisy, but in a good way. Even if someone was yelling, it was only ever about something like homework. And while the triplets’ mom was perpetually tired, Phoebe never saw her talking to anyone who wasn’t there.

But unlike Winter, Phoebe hadn’t lost all faith in her family. Even though she couldn’t pretend everything was fine like she could when she was younger, she still loved her parents, and she didn’t want to end up isolated from them like Winter. So she tried her best to stay friendly with them, even when her mom said things that didn’t make sense or her dad invited Kaley over.

It made Winter cringe every time. She knew this was only going to end badly for Phoebe, but she couldn’t protect her sister from reality forever. At a certain point Phoebe was just going to have to learn this lesson on her own.

Winter hadn’t realized quite how old Silas was until his birthday arrived. Getting older certainly didn’t seem to improve his demeanor any. His hair was grayer, and he complained more about his back, but he was the same unpleasant person he had always been. But Silas’s birthday did make Winter uncomfortably aware of his mortality. Although she would be just as happy to never have to see him again, once Silas was gone, so was all the money their household was pulling in. She had no illusions about her mother’s capabilities; as soon as Silas died, they would be back to living in the park again. She only hoped she and Phoebe were out of school and able to support themselves before that happened.

Round 5: Laurent

Ellis Laurent is a Young Adult. His stepmother Kylie Grey is an Elder.

* * *

Although his grief for his father was still fresh in his mind, Ellis couldn’t help but feel like adulthood agreed with him in a way being a teenager never had.

First there was the obvious – his looks. Seemingly overnight, he had outgrown his goofy teenage awkwardness. He looked a lot more grown up than he felt, to be honest. But that was the beauty of being an adult and living (almost) on his own – as long as he showed up at work every day and paid the bills on time, nobody cared if he wanted to sit around watching cartoons or talk to his bear.

He only had two major problems. One of them was money. It wasn’t until his father had died that Ellis had discovered just how bad their financial problems were. He had found a job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant, and it was allowing them to keep the wo of them afloat, but only just. Even with what he was making at his job, he didn’t think they’d have enough money to both pay their bills and eat if not for the produce from his father’s garden.

The other problem, of course, was Kylie. She wandered around the house like a ghost, ignoring Ellis’s promptings to eat and sleep. She seemed to only notice him when, out of the blue, she would start yelling at him about some minor thing like watching TV too late or leaving a wet towel on the floor. Without his father to keep her anchored, she seemed to be coming apart at the seams, and Ellis had no idea what to do. Even after all these years, he still felt like he barely even knew her.

Liss was, as always, a bright spot in his life. When he couldn’t handle Kylie anymore, sometimes he would go spend the night at the house where she was living with Autumn Brennan. Sometimes he was in awe of Liss, and that feeling kicked in whenever he looked at one of her paintings or saw everything she was willing to put up with in order to follow her dream. He couldn’t imagine being that talented, or that determined. He was cut out for a simple life, nothing more. All he could hope was that Liss would be willing to share that life with him.

He sometimes thought about asking her to marry him. But something always stopped him. It wasn’t how young they were – young or not, he knew she was the one he wanted. It was the way Liss talked about finally being out of her parents’ house, and how happy she seemed to be living the life of a starving artist with Autumn. It was the way she avoided his questions every time he brought up the future. This wouldn’t be a question she could ignore, and he had a feeling she wasn’t ready to hear it yet.

But there was still time. They had their whole lives ahead of them.

Ellis wanted to say he didn’t miss high school at all. But he had to admit he was a little lonely these days. The only person to socialize with at work was the surly cook. At first he compensated by spending more time with Liss, but as much as he loved her, sometimes he just wanted to spend time with a friend. Someone he didn’t want to kiss.

He was beginning to realize how few real friends he’d had even in school. Dmitri Fish had probably come closest, back in their early years of high school, but he knew better than to try to make contact with Dmitri now. But during his jogs around the neighborhood, he found himself chatting regularly with Knox Nye. They bonded over a shared interest in science fiction.

He had seen Knox’s triplets around town already, and was surprised to find that Knox wasn’t that much older than he was. He couldn’t imagine having kids at his age, but then, Knox probably hadn’t imagined it either. The thought left him unsettled – and yet, at the same time, not. He knew he wanted kids eventually, after all. If it were to happen now, it wouldn’t be all bad.

Round 5: Fish

Dmitri Fish is a Teen. His sister Dzika is a Child.

* * *

Dzika made sure to do what she knew her grandmother would have expected from her. She continued to hone her artistic skills, and when she wasn’t at her art table, she was spending every spare minute studying. She didn’t even find it difficult to maintain straight A’s these days.

But all her work didn’t make the loss hurt any less.

Dmitri was trying his best, she knew, but he just didn’t have as much time for her now that he had to divide his time between his part-time job and keeping his grades up so the two of them wouldn’t be separated. More often than not, Dzika was alone.

Even after her parents had died, she hadn’t been alone like this.

Her friendship with the Anatole triplets – especially the sensitive Arden, who understood her passion for art – helped keep her going. Finally, for the first time since Winter Li had gotten weird on her, she felt like she really had real friends. Sometimes the age difference between her and the triplets became painfully obvious, but most of the time it didn’t matter.

Dzika was good at bouncing back. So was Dmitri. They always had been – it was part of what made them who they were. And slowly but surely, they were adjusting to the new pattern of their lives. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard.

Dmitri had been afraid that with his added responsibilities, his relationship with Izzy would have to fall by the wayside. But they quickly found that it meant too much to both of them to let that happen. Sometimes they had to go weeks without seeing each other outside of school, but that only made the times when they could get together that much better. Izzy was one of the bright spots in Dmitri’s life, a warm and comforting presence that kept him anchored when he felt like he couldn’t handle everything that was expected of him.

Dmitri and Dzika celebrated their next birthday together, with a white cake for Dzika and a chocolate cake for Dmitri. Neither of them wanted a big party. Dmitri invited Izzy over to celebrate, and Dzika invited Arden; that was all the company they needed.

Dmitri had expected everything to change once he blew out the candles on his cake. But being an adult didn’t really make him feel any different. If anything, it only made things easier. He could focus on work without having to juggle school at the same time, and he no longer needed to worry about losing custody of Dzika – and speaking of work, he could finally get a real job, instead of making do with the little money he could make painting houses after school and on the weekends.

His long-ago dream of opening a bar still lingered in his mind, but he knew it wasn’t really what he wanted anymore. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was he wanted – something in programming, maybe. Something that would keep his mind engaged while paying well enough to keep him and Dzika afloat. When he saw that the space program was looking for a technician, he jumped on the opportunity. That would be more than enough mental challenge for him, plus he would know he was doing something to help the world, even in a small way, at the same time.

His only regret was that he couldn’t call Liss and tell her about it. He knew she would love the idea of him helping people get into space. He could even see the little finger-antennae she would waggle over her head as she joked about aliens.

But he invited Izzy over and told her, and her congratulations felt better to him than any jokes Liss might have made.

Meanwhile, Dzika was discovering that what passed for artistic talent as a child didn’t look nearly as good now that she was older.

Dmitri reassured her that her paintings were actually very good compared to what most people her age could do, but that wasn’t much consolation coming from someone who didn’t know anything about art.

Dzika was also finding out that Dmitri hadn’t struggled so much more than her in school because he was lazier than her or not as smart, like she used to assume. High school was just harder than elementary school – a lot harder. For the first time in years, her straight-A average was slipping away from her. While Dmitri was grateful for the opportunities that getting older provided, Dzika just wished she could go back to the way things were.

Round 4: Artist House

Autumn Brennan and Felicitas (Liss) Kirsch are Young Adults.

* * *

Just because a house is in the nice part of town doesn’t mean it’s actually nice.

There was nothing wrong with the house Autumn and Liss christened Artist House, per se. Well, aside from the cockroach infestation, or the hot water that randomly cut in and out. But it had clearly seen better days, and Autumn and Liss could  practically see their new neighbors lifting their noses a little higher in the air as they passed by.

But they had better things to worry about than what the neighbors were thinking. They were working artists now, out to make their mark in the world. There was nothing they had to do with their time but give themselves over to the muse.

It was one of those things that sounded a lot better in theory.

As it turned out, producing art was a lot harder when they had the pressure of bills to worry about. And listening to the muse wasn’t as easy when they couldn’t afford anything but cereal – not even a table to eat it at.

Their biggest concern, though, was affording painting supplies. They didn’t need a kitchen table. They didn’t need all those fancy foods like meat or vegetables. But if they ran out of paints and couldn’t buy more, their experiment would come to an early and humiliating end.

And Autumn’s father would be proven right. More than anything, Autumn knew she couldn’t let that happen.

More often than not, the muse was silenced in favor of more mercenary impulses. Liss discovered that a certain painting of hers sold better than anything else she had ever done, and promptly painted two more versions of it, which buyers eagerly snatched up. Sure, she was essentially just copying old work, but it meant getting to splurge on mac and cheese for dinner instead of eating cereal again.

Even Autumn got in on the act, when she saw the kind of money Liss was pulling in.

The more work they did, the less they had to worry about starving or freezing to death – but even so, Liss refused to spend every waking moment at her easel. She had to have at least a little time for fun. Most of that time was spent with Ellis.

She had been afraid of what would happen with them once they both graduated high school. She had worried that staying with her high school boyfriend would make her feel limited and constrained, like she wasn’t experiencing all life had to offer. But if anything, their relationship had only gotten stronger – and the way Ellis had quite suddenly and visibly emerged from his teenage awkward phase certainly didn’t hurt. As long as she avoided any of Ellis’s questions about the future, they were good.

Every once in a while, she found herself feeling wistful for what she and Dmitri had once shared. After all, before they had made things romantic, he had been her best friend. And she couldn’t pretend that their friendship was all she missed, either. But that ship had sailed the moment Dmitri had gone on a date with Liss’s little sister. From what Liss heard at her weekly family dinners, Izzy and Dmitri were still ridiculously smitten with each other. Good for them. Liss wished them nothing but the best. Ellis was all she needed, anyway.

Autumn, on the other hand, didn’t have any way of easing her own isolation – or having fun doing something that didn’t involve painting – besides going to the club. Despite her first disastrous experience there, she soon found herself becoming a regular.

Sometimes Cari dropped by to visit. Just to chat, she said, but Liss detected a look of bug-eyed desperation in her eyes. Liss knew exactly how Cari felt. She suspected Cari would be moving out herself before too long. Liss considered offering her a place to stay, but the artistic atmosphere of Artist House just didn’t seem like Cari’s thing. Besides, although Liss had always been close to her family, she had to admit it was nice to finally live apart from them. She felt like she was finally starting to learn who she was without her younger sisters looking to her as some kind of guiding influence all the time. She wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

Round 4: Brennan

Liam Brennan and his wife Dawn Brennan are Adults.

* * *

Everything felt strange with Autumn gone. She had been a constant presence in their lives since before they had even really grown up. Now she was gone – just a few blocks away, it was true, but it might as well have been a million miles.

Liam and Dawn found themselves arguing and getting on each other’s nerves a lot more often. And always, hanging unspoken between them, was the question of what to do now. Neither of them had forgotten Dawn’s suggestion of adoption, even though neither of them wanted to be the first to bring it up. They each thought about it in the night, when they thought the other was sleeping. Were they ready to open their lives to another child and everything that would bring? Or was it time for them to figure out who they were when they weren’t responsible for anyone but themselves?

Then  one day Dawn came home with news – she had gotten the big promotion she had been aiming for since before Autumn had moved out. For her, it was a strangely bittersweet moment. She felt relieved at the concrete evidence that her life was still moving forward even now that her daughter was off on her own. But at the same time, it made her realize that although she never wanted to give up the happiness she had found in the corporate world, it also wasn’t the only thing she wanted in her life. She wanted something else to fill the years besides the next promotion and the next.

Liam, for his part, found himself to be much more jealous than he had expected. He had thought he had begun to put that behind him; he had even forgotten to scan the usual websites for job postings this week. But on the day Dawn announced her promotion, he had spent his day scrubbing the toilets and cleaning spoiled food out of the refrigerator, and as he listened to her go on about all the responsibilities this new job would give her, he knew he needed something of his own – something besides cleaning and household repairs, something that could feel like a real accomplishment at the end of his life.

That was the day they decided to adopt.

The adoption agency had too many children to choose from – too many children who had been left with no one in the world – and Dawn and Liam both felt almost a physical pain at the thought of not being able to care for them all. In the end, they brought home Kaitlyn, an unusually quiet and self-possessed little girl – barely old enough to start school – whose parents had died in a house fire.

Liam immediately threw himself into the task of raising Kaitlyn. She wasn’t ready to start school yet – she was barely speaking, even to Liam and Dawn, and it was clear that she still needed a lot of time to adjust – but Liam spent his days reading to her and coaching her on the skills he knew she would need in kindergarten. The house got a little messier, but neither he nor Dawn minded.

Intent on correcting what he saw as his failure with Autumn, Liam wanted to make sure they did whatever they had to do to give Kaitlyn a successful career as an adult. It was never too early to start thinking about these things, after all. That was the mistake he had made when Autumn was a child – he had let too much time slip through his fingers, when he could have been using it to prepare her for life. He wouldn’t let that happen with Kaitlyn.

As a start, he bought her a chemistry set for her room – Autumn’s old room. Immediately, she started spending hours in there concocting potions that bubbled and sparked. When he watched her with the chemistry set, it was almost like she was a normal happy kid.

Day by day, Kaitlyn came out of her shell more and grew more comfortable with the family. When Liam and Dawn saw her outside playing with Dzika Fish, they knew she was as ready as she would ever be. The next week, they sent her off to her first day of school.

She came home quietly proud, with a folder full of homework for Liam to help her with. Liam, of course, did so easily.

Between her new position at work and their new addition to the family, Dawn should have been just as happy as Liam. But she had a problem, and that problem’s name was Efrain Felix.

She had known Efrain ever since she had started her job, and she had never really given him much thought. He was always there in the background, a friendly face across the office, someone to eat lunch with. She barely noticed as the friendship became closer and closer, until her latest promotion placed her directly under him. It made work that much better to be able to work for someone whose company she genuinely enjoyed.

When he asked to come by her house at eleven at night, she should have known something was up.

When he showed up, he had the strangest expression on his face. Concerned, she asked him what was wrong. He responded by taking both her hands in his and confessing – out of nowhere, it felt like – that he had had feelings for her for years. He had tried to keep it hidden, he said – he knew that she was in a happy marriage, and that they had just adopted a child. But last night he had gone to a psychic who had told him he needed to share what was in his heart, and so here he was.

Dawn was appalled. She yanked her hands away and told him to leave immediately. What right did he have to come here and try to break up her marriage? To Dawn, it felt like a betrayal.

Efrain didn’t try to stick around – but when he drove away, Dawn was left with the uncomfortable knowledge that she was going to have to see him at work every day after this, and that he could easily make things difficult for her if he wanted to. And even more uncomfortable was the memory of the fight she’d had with Liam a few weeks ago, and the fantasy she’d briefly entertained about leaving him. In her daydream, Efrain had been the one she had run to.