Generation 5: Part 1. Stone Cold Sober

The day of my brother’s birthday was the day I found out our house was haunted. Around midnight, when everybody was having the third piece of cake, I went inside to go to the bathroom and found something on our couch. It was blue, breathed and looked just like our dog Flip, who had passed away a few weeks ago. Within seconds I realized that it really was Flip, who had returned from heaven to be with us for a few hours! It was so sweet of him to appear on Henner’s birthday, although he obviously didn’t get him a present, like a heavenly bone or something. There’s something you don’t get every day. For a minute I thought about giving him a bath, since he smelled quite a bit. Of course, up there you don’t need to be washed every day, since most of the day is about having fun anyway. And if everybody smells like this, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get used to that. But as I didn’t want too much attention by staying away for long, I just passed him quietly and blew him a kiss. I had missed him. You know how much I talked about him after he had passed on, don’t you? Or is this one of the many things my father didn’t tell you? He is a little awkward when it comes to that – busy with talking about him and his thoughts, but forgetting about what is going on in his children’s minds. And don’t tell me you can’t possibly know what people think. It’s obvious most of the time. And if it isn’t, you just have to guess really well.

When I came back from the bathroom, I overheard a conversation between my father and my mother. They were talking about Grace and Henner growing up so fast and wondering about who would give them their first grandchild. Of course, that couple would have to get married; this would be the perfect opportunity for a huge party. Our family alone counted at least twenty people, so it was important to book a decent place in time. When I sneaked back outside, I smirked. I bet Henner will be the first one to be married, since I can’t picture anyone wanting to be with Grace forever! I know that she is dating our cousin Marissa, but I’m not too sure that will last. Something tells me they won’t be eternally happy. Not that I would want her to be really happy. She was too mean for that.

Henner is completely different! He always listens to us and tries to make us feel good. Not only is he a genius when it comes to the piano or other instruments, but also is he good at heart. The best big brother in the world, I swear! Ask my twin sisters Bella and Ivy if you don’t believe me. After they found out about his musical talent, they stayed close to him all the time, too. It was amazing how fast he learned – one day he played some easy chords and the next he tried a sonata written by some guy called Mozart. I think he’s German or something. The sonata itself is beautiful and I even found a copy in his CD collection – I attached it to my diary for you!

Having two teenagers in the house wasn’t always easy. I was taught that puberty is something that permanently shows once you’re a teenager, but I didn’t know it showed so much. Grace had basically been a b*tch (Ivy taught me that word) for quite some time now, but every now and then Henner started to act a little strange, too. Both of them didn’t care about the household at all, so I took care of that. I didn’t want the house to be dirty and I didn’t want my mother to be stuck with chores all day. She was really old and deserved some time off! And there was nothing too bad about cleaning the dishes, anyway. It was fun to see them twinkling and sparkling when they were done, and sometimes I played that I was competing against some professional dish washer, trying to get the cleanest plates in a short amount of time. I admit that the wastage of plates in our house increased a lot, but that’s the risk when you really scrub them. They break. Weak things.

Weak was not a word describing my beloved big brother – when there was something wrong, he faced the problem and tried to work it out. And when Grace was mean to him, he stood up for himself and attacked her, just like she had made fun of him. Both of them got grounded numerous times, but it was definitely worth it! My brother was my hero.

Even after the day both of them got into a huge fight. I don’t know what it was about, but in the end Grace kicked his ass, if I might say so. It felt weird to see him lose, but since I knew that there was some higher power judging Grace and her behavior, I was still relieved. Instead of being mad at Grace, I just got Henner some ice cubes and put them on his swollen face. Poor guy, he didn’t deserve this. Of course none of us ever told anything about this at school – being beaten up by a girl was not something he was proud of.

Apart from the occasional fights in the house everything went really well. All of us did well in school – even Ivy who had missed a lot of periods due to her rebellious behavior – and our parents were really proud of us. My mother even was in the mood for some pillow fights, which is something she never did when we were younger. It was so much fun to play with her, although I got a little worried about the pillows themselves. We lost a lot of feathers, which must have been like losing strays of hair to them. Did they feel the pain when we hit them? If they did, I wanted to stop immediately. No creature deserved to be in pain just because two Sims want to have fun.

There were so many ways of having fun – one of them was celebrating birthdays! Bella had made it through elementary school and was now turning into a teenager. Boy, the house really was getting crowded! All of us were excited to see if she stayed as conscientious and ambitious as she was.

Well, you can already tell from her look, can’t you? She chose boring clothes and a hairstyle that literally made me yawn. After all, I don’t think she changed at all, she just grew a little.

I think this will be all for today. My brain is pretty much empty and I think I need to go rest a little. If you see Flip before me, tell him I said hi and that I promise to give him a bath the next time he turns up!:)

Have a great day! 

Author's Notes:  We're back! And what better way to start my post-holiday-posting than starting with the next generation. Julia really is fun having around, especially when I start thinking about how she might see things and what she would say about certain stuff. This might be a really fun generation to play with and write about!

Chapter title refers to a great song by Paloma Faith, I chose it because Julia's thoughts sometimes sound like she is drunk or did something else to her that confused her mind. But she really is stone cold sober at all times. ;)
Don't miss the Outtakes below!

Outtakes!

I have a few pictures I really wanted to share with you. They didn't fit into the course of the story, but fortunately I can post them here :) So here we go:

Henner almost died from a piece of cake. I love my timing.

Now he is grounded because of the fight with Grace. Poor guy. I just want to hug him.

Elders pinching the children's cheeks is awesome to watch! Ivy doesn't really enjoy it, though.