Generation 4: Part 3. I'll be there for you.

 

Now that I was home more, our family life seemed to disappear slowly, but steady. My mother spent a lot of free time on the computer, while my father tried to improve his painting or logic skill. I really don’t know what happened here – did the moving of my sister start this whole process of our family falling apart? Although I often tried to spend some time with my parents, but they basically told me they were busy and asked me to come back later. After everything we had gone through they now seemed to live their own lives.

I couldn’t stand watching them acting like this, so I spent a lot of my time at Cassie’s house. Her mother Gracie was still always very nice to me, but that was not the reason I went there. Cassie made me feel comfortable and somehow protected. This was ridiculous, I was the male part in our relationship – I was supposed to take care of her and protect her, not the other way round! I never told anybody about this, because I was a tad ashamed of me being so weak.

She always knew what was on my mind and managed to really comfort me when I was about to cry. I felt like she was the best friend one could possibly have. The only thing I was wondering… was this how I felt about her? That she was a good friend?

In some ways she was just like her mother, which worried me a little. Sure, getting on with Gracie was great, but I sometimes felt that I even had a better time with her than I did with Cassie. What the hell was that supposed to mean for our relationship?? I really needed to talk to somebody. But there was nobody there.

Instead of being honest with Cassie, I stopped talking about my feelings more and more, until there was nothing to say. Instead we often were in the same room, doing different things, like reading. With time passing, it felt like there was no real “us” anymore.

The one thing that could take my mind off things like these was music. Whenever I took the bass and listened to the notes I produced, all my problems disappeared for a few moments. Every little song, every single note went straight to my heart and made it feel warmer and lighter. And although I was pretty impatient at the beginning, I got much better with time passing. In fact, I got so good that I heard whenever there was a wrong note in between.

The music was great for expressing myself. Yet I still needed somebody to talk to, especially since my parents wanted all that alone time now. So one morning I got up early (which was hard for me, by the way!) and went to the adoption center. From now on I had an animal friend to share all my thoughts with. Meet Cora!

I’m not sure my parents even realized that we had a pet again. They were way too busy with themselves.

To make them notice, I took off that evening and went to a party at Cassie’s house. Some guy was playing the guitar, a few people were dancing and we had a nice time. It was much better than just sitting at home.

I also spotted Cassie that evening (which wasn’t too hard, this being her house and all), but we didn’t talk to each other. Instead we kept avoiding eye contact. This situation made me so incredibly uncomfortable. Can you believe it? We were in the same room for HOURS and didn’t say one word to each other. This turned this entire evening into something depressing and so I left pretty early. Finding Cora almost starved. So apparently my parents hadn’t noticed her yet.

Little did I know what had happened that night! My mother had gone out to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant in town and to catch up with some friends. When she had left the restaurant, she stopped walking all of a sudden and told her friends she felt very weird (this is what they told me later). In the next moment her body became transparent. My beloved mother died outside that restaurant, with no one of her family around! I couldn’t believe that she was gone. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

 I also heard that she had begged the Grim Reaper to have some mercy on her and let her live for some more time. But he had just started laughing and told her to get up. Rest in Peace, Mom. I will really miss you, although we have drifted apart over the last few weeks.

 

This was a sign. We had experienced so much death in this house that I couldn’t take it anymore. So I literally put my father and the dog into a cab, told them we’d go to a secret place and drove away from our history.

 

 And we ended up here. Our new home which I’d had a look at for the last few weeks. It was absolutely beautiful and perfect to start all over again. And there was also enough space for the dog. Let me give you some impressions of our new house!

 

The back.

 

Our gazebo.

 

 Ground floor.

 

Living room and bathroom.

 

Kitchen and dining room.

My bedroom, upstairs.

 

My father's room, also upstairs. The house is beautiful, isn't it?

Although the loss was still extremely hard, it felt better to be in a new place, where we didn’t have all of these painful memories. And I really have to say that my father’s and my relationship improved a lot there. Maybe it was because it was only the two of us now – well, and Cora, of course. We still had some work ahead of us, but we would make it!

Author's notes: Rest in Peace, Emma :( Although it was already the third heir/main character to die, it was still sad. And came completely unexpected! She was way over her regular life span, but it sucked that she wasn't at home with her family when it happened. Her grave stone is still in front of the restaurant, I let it there as a memorial. 

And sorry that not that much happened, I guess there will be some smaller chapters from now on, the uploading still drives me nuts. I didn't really get along with the HTML editor and uploading the pictures first prevented me from scrolling upwards all the time, but they were uploaded in some weird order and wouldn't let me rearrange them and stuff. Maybe I am just too stupid. But until I really figured this out, I will provide smaller chapters ;) Which should also be in your interest, because smaller chapters mean less writing time, which means more regular updates!

Chapter title: Theme of Friends! :)

Generation 4: Part 2. Fire

I guess what Freya and I had was a normal life. Both of us had a partner, a number of friends and parents who loved us. Although I guess they loved me a little more, which is something they would never admit. Anyway, there apparently were a few things that the common teenager had to go through, one of them being the sexual orientation. One of Freya’s friends seemed to be rather unsure about where he was going and after hitting on my sister (and failing, because she was already dating Madox) he walked straight over and tried to give me flowers. What the hell? I clearly rejected him, not only because I was very happy with Cassie, but also because I was not into boys at all. When I saw the disappointed look in his eyes, I almost felt sorry for him, because now he had been rejected by both genders, within a few hours. Still, there was no way that would happen. I am really glad Cassie didn’t see this.

 

I tried to calm down with a new video game I had just bought. Yes, it is a cliché for boys to like racing games, but I really, really did. And I was good! Only today my luck seemed to be elsewhere. I lost race after race and at some point frustratedly threw away the remote control. Today was not a good day for video games.

The next day I told my father what had happened the day before and he managed to calm me, at least a bit. Although he had never experienced anything like that, he figured that it had been a very difficult moment for me and told me he was proud because I made my point clear to that guy.

There were so many things I wanted him to be proud of me for, not only because of handling situations like these. I also wanted to be the best student, which meant doing my homework straight after school without getting distracted at all. Some kids called me a nerd because of that, but I didn’t care at all. My career was the most important thing in my life. In fact, I wanted to show everybody what I was capable of. Not only did I want to be successful in one career, but four different ones! This way I could prove myself as the guy who could do anything. Yes, this was supposed to my goal in life, the biggest wish I could possibly have.

While my sister apparently only tried to be successful in getting grounded every single night. I told you that Madox guy was trouble! More than one time I heard my parents yell outside the house, when they were waiting for Freya. Who always was escorted by the police. Seriously, this was totally getting out of control!

While my relationship with Cassie was totally in control and working out exactly the way it wanted it to be. Being with her made me forget all the trouble that was going on at home and I couldn’t wait to grow up and live with her, be with her forever.

I just couldn’t get my hands off her, but can you blame me? She was just gorgeous and so sweet. (And going out in her pajamas. I swear, I didn’t realize that when we were on that date!)

Still I remained a conscientious student, like I had promised myself. There was not one day I missed it. Obviously my parents told me to keep going like this and begged my sister to be more like me. This wasn’t something she wanted to hear at all and so there were more and more fights in the house every day. Not only was she mad at them, but also at me, because I was setting an example she was supposed to follow. That wasn’t my fault, was it?!

And it wasn’t my fault that I got along with our parents than she did, either. She decided to live her life like that, being out of the house and not obeying to the house rules. If she sticked to them, she could have a much better relationship with them. But this way there was so much bonding time between me and my mother. Can you believe that she beat me in that racing game? It’s not easy to admit, but she definitely kicked my ass.

Before I knew it, it was time for our birthdays into adulthood! The time in school had passed so quickly and now it was time to enter the real world. I was first and so nervous. What career would I pursue first? Would I marry and have children?

Either way I would not be out there looking bad. This was something to look forward to! And I was sure to experience the real love, like in good movies or books. I guess, you could call me a hopeless romantic, but the one was out there, waiting for me. Maybe it really was Cassie, time would show.

Before I could think about that any longer, it was Freya’s turn to age up. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if my parents were happy for her or were happy because this meant she could move out soon…

Wow. Can you believe this is my little sister (even if I am only a few minutes older)? Absolutely beautiful.

I guess this is was Madox thought, as he couldn’t keep his eyes and hands off her for the entire evening. Freya did notice that, of course. And the birthday party was the perfect opportunity to show everyone how much she cared about our opinions and about him –she invited him to move in! Unbelievable. All of us knew that guy was trouble, but there was no way we could have stopped her.

Anyway, this is the guy that had stolen her heart and had given us nightmares. There was no way I could tell how his character really was, it all was hidden behind that fake smile. But I bet he is not very nice.

And believe it or not, the first thing he suggested was moving out, together with Freya. His stuff wasn’t even unpacked and he already wanted to leave, taking my sister with him! Letting her go would mean losing her, we all knew that. And we didn’t want that at all, but what choice was there for us? We begged her to stay, but she wouldn’t listen to us. She didn’t even hug me or our parents goodbye.

She just left.

But there was not much time four being sad, because it was time to get my diploma! Being Valedictorian, it was absolutely important that I got there in time, to prepare my big speech. I swear, I saw tears in the eyes of my parents when I talked about being proud to be their son. Funnily my classmates voted me “Most likely to never leave home” – I wonder what that is supposed to mean.

While we were at dinner to celebrate the end of school and getting my diploma, the Grim Reaper decided to show up at home and take our sweet little kitty. I couldn’t believe it was already her time… rest in peace. :-(

The days were kind of boring. I couldn’t really decide which job to take, so I didn’t do anything for a few days and enjoyed being free. That also meant that I had a lot of time to think about what had happened in our home and I decided that I wanted my sister to know that I was there for her. So I looked her new address up online (she hadn’t even bothered to tell us!) and went there. Although I rang the bell for hours and definitely heard voices from the inside, nobody answered the door. So rude.

To distract myself, I went over at Cassie’s house and waited for her to return from work. That’s right, she also had aged up and now started working. Her mother, Gracie, was really nice and tried to cheer me up. If she was a little younger… never mind.

Apparently she thought the same way. But nothing happened, I swear. Not only because Cassie came home that moment. What would have happened if she hadn't? I have no idea. Not sure I want to know, either.

Author's notes:

So, yeah. Both of the kids are grown-ups now - Finn got the Hopeless Romantic trait, Freya got Family-Orientated (I chose both). You are allowed to think about where that is going to lead. Hint: not what you think. Sigh.

Anyway, there wasn't too much happening this chapter, unfortunately. But as I have just checked my screenshot folder and it told me I had almost 2000 screenshots waiting for me, the next chapter should take a few days. I really need the time to figure it out, especially since I am currently preparing for the lessons I am going to teach in that first grade. Starting Wednesday. Sooo excited!

I chose the chapter title because there was so much trouble in the house. And fire means trouble also, so that fitted perfectly :D It'a song by a friend's band that is really awesome (Both are - the song and the band). Check them out - Paint me Picasso. They are really, really good and you should find stuff on Youtube, probably even that song.

Oh, and: Is anyone else having trouble with uploading pictures? I first write my text, then copy and paste it in here. After that I upload all the pictures (having made notes in the texts where they are supposed to go) and everytime I insert a space in between, I find myself at the end of the text and have to scroll all the way up. And it doesn't even insert the space, I always have to press that key twice to have a small gap. That is very annoying.

Generation 4: Part 1. Are you gonna be my girl?

Living with my sister was really hard sometimes. She seemed like the sweetest girl on earth sometimes, and we could talk for ages about different stuff. Sometimes she would even ask me about guys I knew, to find out more about them. At times like those we were really like brother and sister, or like very good friends.

But there were also times when she would shout at me for no apparent reason! Usually I just pretended not to care, but of course that got to me. What was up with her that she was looking for trouble and discussions? Was it our parents being stricter to her than they were to me? If it was, that was definitely her own fault, because she was way less reliable than me. At the end of the day, my homework was always done and already packed into my school bag. Hers flew around somewhere in the house and seldom was completed before midnight.

When I complained to my mother about how Freya was getting me upset most of the time, she told me to be patient. It had to be really hard for her, with me being the family heir and anything. All the time our family had existed, a female had been the heir and now there was a man for the very first time. Maybe it looked like making me heir was a solution to get around dealing with her. You know what I’m saying?

Despite her being grumpy most of the time she had some friends who she spent a lot of her free time lately. This guy is called Madox, I believe. I have seen him around school a few times, but I haven’t really talked to him.

Mainly because he is a little weird and tends to become aggressive because of nothing. Well, those two were a match made in heaven, I swear. But although they fit together perfectly, I didn’t want my little sister to hang out with a guy like that.

Especially since he got her in even more trouble than she was in anyway. More than one time she was brought home by the police because she missed curfew and stayed outside with that guy. Can you believe it? My little sister acted like she was all grown up, but couldn’t even accept the most basic rules of our family. We couldn’t go on like this, seriously.

The one person who really understood me was my friend Cassie Loveland. We had been friends since the first day of high school, when we were supposed to pick lab partners. She was a really nice girl with a great sense of humor. For months we were getting along just great, but at some time I felt a change. When I looked at her I didn’t see the girl who never wore short clothes and wore her hair in a ponytail, but I saw a very pretty creature in whose eyes I could get lost forever. And on one sunny afternoon I knew it. I knew that I didn’t want to be just friends anymore, I wanted her to be mine.

When I looked into her eyes, she laughed nervously. “What’s going on?” she asked me, because I didn’t say anything for at least half a minute, but just looked at her. Then I stepped forward and placed a kiss on her lips. It was the most amazing experience I ever had, I swear. It felt like there was electricity going through me.

What can I say? Apparently she felt the same. Only seconds after I had stepped back again and smiled at her –which probably made me look like an idiot -, she pulled me into another kiss. Man, this was really nice.

Little did I know that at exactly the same time my little sister was experiencing the beginning of her first romance, too! That Madox guy (remember him? The one that got her being caught by the police more than one time) apparently had worked his charms on him. At our house. Next to the barbecue, while our parents were right inside. Very romantic, that guy. Seriously. My sister really deserved someone better, who preferably  did not appear until she was fully grown up. I was old enough to have a relationship, but she was so much younger and vulnerable.

That’s right, boy. Act all shy and surprised that you got my sister falling for you. When she later told me that it was her who made that step I couldn’t believe it. Was there anything good in that guy?

My father seemed to have the same thoughts about this. When Madox came around a few days later to pick Freya up for prom, he really gave him a hard time and questioned him about his purposes and his plans. Although his questions made it seem like he wanted to ship Freya off to marriage, Madox stayed completely cool and answered every single question. I guess, that is a good thing.

And despite all the prejudices I harbor against him, my sister really likes him. I have to accept that, although it is really hard. They had a really good time and she even won the crown as prom queen! This was a bit odd because they made me prom king and we should have danced together. But we both were there with our partners – that’s right, our partners. Cassie was now officially my girlfriend!

Don’t we look happy? I know, the picture is rather small and you mostly see my back. But we are really happy (even if Cassie didn’t have time to change into the beautiful dress she had bought for the prom).

I guess life was really good. Whenever I thought of Cassie and what had happened at prom, it just made me smile and I couldn’t stop. If I had looked at me from the outside, I probably would have tried to smack that smile right out of my face at some point, it was this sort of stupid smile that appears when you are in love.

A few days later we decided to throw a party to celebrate that we were almost done with high school. Our parents allowed it and so we invited a few friends, including Cassie and Madox. We had a great time and it felt like the four of us were bonding already. All of a sudden it hit me – these two could be the ones for us. That was a scary thought.

But although it was scary, it was not completely stupid. Mum and Dad loved Cassie and always told me how sweet she was and that she was good for me. They said she made a new me, more alive and shining. Now THAT was weird. I had been alive before, conscientiously working for school and seldom going out in the evenings. Well, maybe that’s what they meant.

At the same time they weren’t really happy with that Madox guy. Despite the things he had told our father, he seemed to be a jerk. At least that’s what my parents thought. And me. Anyway, Freya and our parents kept getting into fights about this, because Freya said that Madox was perfect for her. He made her laugh and made her feel special. Well, if special included inferior to him, then that was right. Everybody could tell that being with him made her even more aggressive, but at the same time made her sad. He definitely wasn’t the right guy for her, but what were we supposed to do? We couldn’t tell her not to see him again, then she would probably hate us. This was something we had to think about carefully.

Author's notes: Finally Finn's first chapter is up! Sorry it took me so long, but life was still a little crazy and the pictures just didn't inspire me for days. Nevertheless I managed to get a decent chapter out now. Finn and Freya honestly simultaneously found their first love interest, which was really sweet. I couldn't decide where to watch, but as Finn is my heir, I sticked with him and just every now and then had a look at what Freya was doing.

I still have a lot of pictures, so maybe I will get the next chapters out pretty soon. Monday I am starting my internship in an elementary school at the other end of town, which means being out of the house most of the day. But I will have time for Sims, I promise. :)