Chapter 67

The Keeble Legacy

Chapter 67: You Just Know

Welcome to chapter 67 of the Keeble legacy! In the last chapter, Ender broke off his friendship with Brittany via e-mail. She turned back into an adult and ended up meeting Tyler Keeble. Tracy Trimble went downtown and discovered a good witch and a vampire. Marianne Keller was born. Pandora and Michael became elders. Ender went to college. Megan Keller became a teenager. The chapter ended with Marianne receiving a prophesy through a dream.

I decided to try something different this time around with the cover and recap of the last chapter. Now then, let’s get on with the chapter.

Ender and Carmen walked up to Legacy Manor 4. Today Joss was joining her best friend, Megan, as a teenager. “Can you believe it? Time has gone by so fast,” Carmen said. “Yeah. It has,” Ender agreed.

“…and then you shuffle your feet back and forth. I think that my hand should be on your shoulder, though. I can’t remember,” Joss instructed Morgan as they danced outside of her house. “This dancing thing is too complicated,” Morgan grumbled. Joss grinned at her friend and cried, “It’s birthday time! Booyeah!” She embraced Morgan and then ran through the house shouting, “Come on! Cake time now!”

Night fell as Joss waited for everyone to gather around her. Morgan and Marianne hadn’t been able to stay to watch her, which sucked but they’d see her later on. However, Megan got to stay. “Happy birthday, Joss!” Megan, along with everyone else, cheered.

Joss blew out her birthday candles, making a wish right before she did so.

The cheering continued as Joss looked around at everyone. Most of them were cheering. Some of them had already lost their voices from cheering so much. Joss began to feel strange…

She got a lot taller in a short amount of time. “Yes! Now we can hang out until midnight!” Megan cried.

The outfit that Joss had grown up into wasn’t hideous. However, it was too dark for her liking. Besides that, she wanted to straighten out her hair and such. Once she had changed, she went back downstairs.

Megan immediately accosted her outside. “Hey, Joss, I’m serious. We need to hang out and do stuff,” Megan said. “I know, I know. You’ve been plotting things since the day that you were born, I’d bet,” Joss replied grinning. They hugged and Megan immediately asked her parents if she could sleepover. “Yeah, as long as it’s alright with Mr. and Mrs. Keeble,” Ricky responded. Of course, Pandora and Michael gave the affirmative that Megan could stay over. “Score!” Megan and Joss said simultaneously.

“This is where you had me drive us downtown?” Joss asked as she locked the car up. “Yeah. It’s a club called New Divide,” Megan answered beaming. “My parents will kill me if they find out that I went to a club. My mom and her twin brother never did anything like this,” Joss replied. “Ah. Don’t be a wet blanket, Joss. Your mother and uncle never lived when they were teens if they didn’t at least think about sneaking out,” Megan retorted.

Joss walked into the New Divide club. First off, the DJ looked creepy, like one of those serial killers that goes after teenage girls. Secondly, the music sucked. Third of all, the patrons of this club were weird, with the exception of one of them.

(Lilium Keeble was there.)

“Um…that guy over there is topless,” Joss pointed out to Megan. “Eh. I noticed. But can’t we just stay a little longer? Something interesting could happen and we’d miss out on it,” Megan responded. “I’ll be waiting in the car then. You can stay as long as you want to,” Joss muttered. She walked right by Megan. Her best friend sighed and thought, “Well, she’s right. This isn’t in the least bit fun.”

Megan ran to catch up to Joss. “Oi! Wait up!” She called.

Joss drove them to some sculpture garden. “Why would she come here?” Megan thought.

“Hey, I’m sorry for being a bad guest so far,” Megan apologized. “It’s just. New Divide sounded so interesting. I guess I’d just better stick to the Linkin Park song.” “Linkin Park?” Joss said confused. “The best band ever. So is Nickelback and 3 Doors Down and Avril Lavigne and The Fray and…” Megan began listing off several other bands. “I’ve never heard of those bands before. I’ve only ever listened to Katy Perry and No Doubt,” Joss replied once Megan had finished. “Oh, girl. I have got to introduce you to those bands,” Megan vowed.

“We should really try somewhere else next time. Like sneak into an abandoned building or something,” Megan suggested after awhile of silence. Joss shrugged. “Um. I don’t know. Abandoned buildings don’t sound fantabulous. I prefer roasting marshmallows over a giant bonfire,” she said. “Joss, I’m definitely going to teach you how to live your life. Being the youngest, you are clearly the most pure of your siblings. I shall corrupt you,” Megan assured. Joss laughed and Megan grinned at her.

“Corruption sounds a little fantabulous,” Joss laughed. “Yeah, it does, huh?” Megan muttered. “Let’s go back to my house,” Joss suggested. “Okay. I’ll bet that the party is still going strong,” Megan said.

Megan, being the nature lover that she is, plopped right down on the ground outside of Legacy Manor 4. She and Joss could hear the radio playing and the chattering of the party guests from outside. “So…are you still going to Morgan’s party in a few days?” Megan inquired. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Why do you ask?” Joss answered.

“Oh. I was just curious,” Megan replied. Joss grinned and responded, “Curiosity killed the cat.” “But satisfaction brought it back,” Megan retorted. They both burst out laughing.

“So, Ender, how have you been?” Michael asked. “Yeah. Have you found yourself a woman yet?” Pandora chimed in. “Um. No. But college is great,” Ender answered. “Why do you want to know?” He added. “No reason. Your mother and I were just talking about our college years last night,” Michael said. “That reminds me. You and Carmen had better not drop out of college like your father and I did. Not that what we did was wrong. We’d just prefer our children to graduate,” Pandora ordered. “I’m pretty sure we’ll graduate, mom,” Ender responded.

“So, Ender, have you been thinking about getting a girlfriend?” Michael inquired. “Not really. I am only halfway through my Freshman year,” Ender answered. “Why does he keep pressing the matter?” Ender thought. “Dad! Leave the poor boy alone! Geeze,” Carmen called from the living room.

All in all, Joss had a wonderful birthday party. None of the guests, not even Fanny, stayed passed two in the morning.

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“Bye, Carmen! Val and I have to go to class!” Tracy called as she headed for the front door. “Bye, guys! Try not to fall asleep in class, Val,” Carmen shouted back. She smiled to herself as her two best friends left. They had rented a nice house on the campus. It had a little pool in the backyard and enough rooms for when the younger ones came to college.

Ender had locked himself up in his bedroom. He couldn’t stop thinking about Brittany. Her memories constantly assaulted his thoughts. He wondered how he could possibly stop them from driving him insane. Suddenly, he was broken out of his reverie by Carmen’s voice saying, “Ender? Are you okay?” The door handle jiggled and then the door swung open. Ender looked up at his sister. “It was locked for a reason,” he remarked. “I have the skeleton key to every door and, besides, the door shouldn’t have been locked,” Carmen responded.

She stepped into the room and stood beside the chair. “Look here, little brother, you’ve been all doom and gloom since you came here. Why can’t you be happy?” Carmen demanded. “I don’t know. Things happened before college. Mom and dad seem to think that I should have a girlfriend by now. I’m the heir,” Ender listed. “What do you mean ‘things happened?’ What sort of things?” Carmen inquired. Ender shook his head.

Carmen and sighed and she went over to look out the window. “You need to talk about these things, little brother. Whatever is bothering you should be put out in the open. Then I can squash it and you can move on with life,” she said. Ender got up and walked up from behind her.

He spun her around to face him. “Do you really want to know?” He asked. “Of course, I do. I need to know what’s bothering my little brother,” Carmen answered. So, he told her everything. About who Jessica really was, about Brittany’s memories being in his head, and about the dream with the statue. “It seems like what the statue said has come true. I feel so heartbroken over the fact that she turned out to be a murderer. I had honest feelings for her,” Ender concluded. Carmen stared at him blankly.

Ender turned and walked out of his bedroom door. He left Carmen there to mull everything over.

He went downstairs to do an assignment that he’d delayed doing for the last couple of hours. He’d been stuck in what seemed like a sort of limbo for days. He heard the sound of Carmen coming down the spiral staircase.

She came into the dining room and sat down across from him. Ender gave her a look that clearly said, “I don’t want to talk anymore.” But Carmen obviously didn’t get the message or she was really intent on what she was about to say. “Remember when we were kids?” She asked. Ender nodded slowly. He wondered where this was going. “Remember when we used to pelt each other with the baseball?” She continued. Ender nodded again. “Let’s go do that again and reminisce. It could help you with your problem,” Carmen said.

So, they threw the ball at each other. It wasn’t nearly as violent as it had been when they were children but…

“I am so sorry, Carmen. Did I break your nose?” Ender apologized earnestly.

To prove that she was fine, Carmen wiggled her nose like a rabbit. “Yep. All clear here,” she said. She heard footsteps from behind her. “Hi, Tracy!” Carmen called without even turning around. “How do you always know that it’s me?” Tracy responded. “I’m psychic,” Carmen said grinning.

Despite Carmen’s good intentions, Ender still dreamt about Brittany again that night. This time, though, the dream didn’t involve death.

Brittany’s memories were happier this time. She was growing up. She met Chandler for the first time. She danced with him for the first time. She played the piano for him. Then, in college, their love continued on. But Ender already knew how it all ended. He couldn’t really blame anyone for the occurrences during Brittany’s college life. Even if Chandler and Brittany had stayed together, it still would have been horrible. They would have been married. Women would look at Chandler because he was handsome. Brittany would get jealous. She would kill any woman that looked at her husband until eventually she killed Chandler and then herself. They were never really meant to be together. Never.

Then there was the love that Ender had once felt for Brittany. This part of the dream showed what her reaction may have been after she received his e-mail or after he had let go of her hand. But maybe she had cried instead of getting angry. “You have to forget her,” the statue’s voice said. “I can’t. Her memories are—” Ender started to reply. “You keep thinking about them, so her memories continue to go through your mind. Forget about it all. Find yourself someone else,” the statue interrupted. Find someone else…who else could that be?

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Morgan gazed upon the stars. But he wasn’t really focusing on the stars. He was too busy thinking about his upcoming birthday party. Oh, and that nightmare he’d just had. It was three in the morning. He couldn’t get back to sleep, so he ended up outside. Thinking about his nightmare, he realized how silly it was. Joss would never, ever turn into a snake.

But he still couldn’t go back to sleep. He kept thinking about Joss. They hadn’t really done much together except play and talk about random things. Although, he could never forget how she tried to teach him to dance. “Ugh. What is it with these thoughts? Is this what it’s like to nearly be a teenager? It’s sickening,” He thought.

“Morgan? Why are you outside?” A very familiar quiet voice asked. Morgan sighed.

As he got off of the hammock, he noticed that Marianne was clad in only her nightgown. For a summer night, it was awfully cold outside. “Why are YOU outside?” He demanded. “I asked first,” Mari retorted.

Morgan gestured wildly as he spoke, “I was in this weird room. Joss was there too. Then she turned into this giant snake and lunged at me. I woke up and came out here. Why are you outside? Do you not realize how cold it is out here?” Mari listened intently as he talked. His dream wasn’t half as bad as it could have been.

Mari shrugged at her brother’s questions. “I’m out here because I wanted to know what you were up to. I don’t really notice how cold it is, actually. Then again, you could be more sensitive to the weather or something,” she answered.

“Okay then. You know why I’m out here. Now, go back inside before you catch a cold,” Morgan said waving. Marianne sighed and replied, “No way! I’m not going inside yet. Besides, if I get sick, I don’t have to go to school.”

She nervously folded her hands in front of her as she continued, “Also, you haven’t told me the full story. Something else is bothering you.” Morgan snorted. “Yeah, right. Nothing else is bothering me except for you,” he responded. “Hmm. I understand. You don’t want to talk about it. Well, your birthday is coming up soon. I can’t wait,” Mari said grinning.

When the sun came up in the morning, the Kellers gathered for a family breakfast of cereal. Fanny broke the silence by saying, “So…what would you guys say if I told you that I wanted to have another kid?”

Ricky, Morgan, and Mari stared at her. “I mean, Megan is going off to college probably sometime soon with Joss. Morgan and Mari are going to be teenagers soon. It only feels right to me to have more children,” she continued. Mari grinned at her mother’s logic. Morgan and Ricky continued to gaze at her like she’d just sprouted wings.

“That’s a great idea, mom,” Megan agreed. Fanny glanced over at her oldest and Morgan glowered at her. “That’s because you won’t be here to deal with them, will you?” He grumbled. “No. I’ll stay for awhile. I rather like it here. I doubt that I’ll find any beaches at Academie Le Tour. I’ve been spoiled with a beach for a backyard,” she responded. “Speaking of which…” she added. She finished up her bowl of cereal and went into the bathroom by the kitchen to change into her swimsuit.

Before she walked outside, she heard her father finally agree with her mother on having another child. Megan grinned to herself as she laid out her green towel on the sand. She laid down and shut her eyes. The sun felt warm on her skin. The air smelled of the sea; salty yet satisfying. She could hear the seagulls overhead making their own music. She also heard the sound of the sea rising and falling in sync with her breathing. This was why she loved the outdoors.

Another reason that she enjoyed being outside was, when she tanned, she turned almost as dark as Morgan and her father. That and she loved hunting for bugs even if it seemed like she was having trouble catching any. There were also those bees that making insect hunting not as enjoyable as it should be. But Megan always got away from the bees.

Time went on and Morgan’s birthday finally rolled around. Joss and her parents were there. Ricky had brought home a random guy named Don from work. Don had refused to leave when he found out that there would be free cake. No one minded, though. They would probably do the same thing.

If you look just above Joss’s head, you can see the top of Don’s head. I tried my best to camouflage him from view. Also, their house got a major makeover.

Morgan made his wish, despite the fact that he knew it probably wouldn’t come true.

It didn’t hurt much to grow up. Everyone had to eventually. Morgan knew this. He’d known this for awhile.

He grew up quite handsomely.

His aspiration is Popularity and his secondary one is Fortune since he kept rolling Fortune but I didn’t want that to be his main one.

“Mind if I join you ladies?” Morgan asked as he sat down by Joss. “You didn’t give us a chance to answer,” Megan responded. “That’s because you’d probably say no,” Morgan retorted. “I would never allow her to say that,” Joss replied. Morgan glanced over at Joss.

They sat in silence for a long while. By the time that they thought about saying anything, the party was over. Everyone had to go home.

However, Pandora lingered until she received a tip from at least three Sims. No one seemed to mind giving her three hundred bucks. She left with a huge grin on her face.

Mari went upstairs to her bedroom. By now, Megan was sound asleep. An explosion wouldn’t wake her up. Finally, Mari heard the familiar voice of the statue despite the fact that she was wide awake. “I named nine the last time we spoke. Nine was supposed to be the number. But your mother…”

“…is with child yet again.” “Isn’t that a good thing?” Mari asked quietly. “I do not know yet. I must discuss this with the others. Keep an eye on her, please. I do not know what may happen,” the statue responded. For a moment, Mari wondered if she should hear this voice. Then she realized that she may not be the only one. “Nine I do name. Eight I do tame,” she remembered the statue saying.

At about six in the morning, Megan and Morgan were awake. Megan opened the fridge and then she glanced over at her brother. “Where’s your shirt?” She asked yawning. Morgan shrugged and mumbled something about not needing one.

“So…do you like being a teenager now?” Megan asked. Morgan paused from gobbling up his food to answer, “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” Megan sighed and she went outside to finish her breakfast.

Fanny snuggled closer to Ricky. “We should have at least six kids,” she mumbled. “Can’t we wait until the baby now is born?” Ricky inquired. “Yeah. But it’s nice to plan ahead,” Fanny answered. She smiled to herself. Then she heard the sound of her guitar being played.

Morgan was downstairs jamming away at his mother’s guitar. He hoped that she wouldn’t kill him when she found out.

The school bus horn blared as Megan tried one last time to catch a bug. She was still in her pajamas. She sighed and reluctantly went inside to throw some clothes on.

Fanny’s pregnancy went by quite quickly. During this time, she played the guitar. Then, one day when Pandora was visiting, the time came.

I sped up the last part of her pregnancy.

Fanny went into a labor. Pandora was quite shocked at first.

But her shock quickly faded away into total calmness. After all, Fanny already had three kids and Pandora had three children of her own.

Fanny gave birth to a son. She named him Jordan. Finally, she went off the track of giving her children all names that began with M. But she couldn’t seem to stand not making all of their names end with some form of ‘an.’

Jordan has the same hair, eye, and skin tone as Morgan.

But Fanny felt the pain once more. Yet another baby boy was born. She named him Ethan. Jordan and Ethan, the twins that look nothing alike so far.

Ethan has the same skin tone, hair and eye color as Marianne. -----------------------------------------------------

It was another rainy day. Although, Joss figured that the rain would just go on for a few hours and then stop suddenly. Despite the rain, Joss had found something to do. She had just finished rearranging her bedroom so that it fit her a bit more. Before, her room had looked more like a child’s room. She found it rather unfortunate that she was no longer a little kid. She had a job now as a stand-up comedian. Her lifetime want is to have fifty dream dates, much like her mother, Pandora.

Joss also noticed that guys looked at her differently. It was strange how much things had changed in just a short amount of time. Suddenly, she heard a familiar ding. It was the sound that occurred whenever she received a new e-mail. Sighing, Joss got up to go and read it.

“Hey, Joss! Guess what! I’m a big sister twice over again! Mom had twins, Jordan and Ethan! Your mom was there but the family was out. Your mom is kind of like an aunt, you know?” Obviously, this was a message from Megan. Suddenly, Joss realized that it was time for her to go to work.

Joss raced out to the family car. Her parents had told her that they’d built the car from scratch. Joss still peeled out of the driveway, though. It was a powerful car after all.

With Joss away at work, Pandora donned her formal attire and began to play the violin while she waited for Michael to put on his suit. However, she could hear the radio playing from downstairs, so Pandora put down the violin and headed downstairs.

Michael came down a minute later. He was walking and reading a book. When he looked up, he saw his wife dancing to the radio.

The song slowed down as Michael and Pandora began slow dancing. They couldn’t help it. They were in love. “Michael, we should seriously have an anniversary party sometime,” Pandora said. “Although, I guess we might as well wait until Joss heads off to college,” she added. “Yeah. That sounds nice,” Michael muttered. “Is something wrong?” Pandora asked. Michael grinned mischievously.

He and Pandora dipped down and he kissed her passionately. When they came back up, Michael answered her question, “I’m hungry.” She laughed at the same time as her mother. Kazimiera was just in the kitchen whipping them up a quick meal.

Once they were seated, Michael gestured at the flowers and raised his eyebrows. “I figured it was a nice touch,” Pandora replied to the unasked question. “It does make things more romantic. But don’t you have twenty dozen roses?” Michael responded. “Yeah. But I want to be able to see your handsome face,” Pandora said grinning.

They each took huge bits of their salad. “So, Ender has already been decided as the heir, right?” Pandora inquired. Michael nodded slowly and then he asked, “Are you getting senile or something?” “No, no. I just wanted to establish that,” Pandora assured. There was another moment where they ate some more salad and then Pandora sighed. “Let’s invite the kids and my brothers and the family and such over tonight. You can put on a fire dancing show like you did when Carmen was a toddler,” she remarked.

Thus a party was had due to the fact that Pandora really wanted one. She invited a lot of the family members over but only a few stuck around to watch Michael’s wonderful performance.

“Wow, dad, I didn’t know you could do that!” Joss cheered. Carmen grinned and cried, “So, this is what the fire dance was like! I wish that you had done this before now!” Michael was focused on not catching on fire but he still heard his daughters’ commentary. It made him smile.

After awhile, the party grinded to a holt and the guests, one-by-one, went home.

Once the guests were gone and the elders were preoccupied, the phone rang. Joss answered it and Megan’s voice responded on the other end, “Hey, I have a great plan for tonight.” “Is Morgan coming?” Joss asked. She hoped that he was. “No. I’m leaving Morgan out of this one,” Megan answered.

Joss’s face fell. “Why can’t he come with us?” Joss demanded. “Because we’re sneaking out. If too many of us sneak out, we’re more likely to get caught,” Megan explained. “Sneaking out?” Joss repeated. “Yeah. I’ll pick you up at one. If you want to come, then be waiting outside for me,” Megan replied. “Oh. I hear Jordan screaming,” she added. “How can you tell the difference?” Joss inquired. “Because Jordan is the loud one. I have to go. But I’ll be at your house at exactly one in the morning,” Megan said. Then the phone line went dead.

Joss swam around in the pool while she waited for it to finally be time to go with Megan. She had decided sneak out. It was something risky and exciting. Joss hoped that they didn’t get caught, though.

Just before 12:30AM, Joss got out of the pool and got dressed. She visited with the local leader of the pack. Then she heard the sound of a car pull up to the house. “Do think this is a good idea?” She asked the wolf. He just stared at her with his freaky yellow glowing eyes.

Once she was in Megan’s red sports car, Joss tentatively pressed her hand against the window. “Don’t be nervous, Joss. We’ll be fine,” Megan assured.

But Megan was wrong. Just three hours later, Joss arrived to her home in the back of a police car. Joss was worried about what her parents would say about her sneaking out. She figured that they would disown her. Yes. They would definitely disown her.

The police officer led Joss out of the car. Joss wanted to run and hide somewhere.

She reluctantly walked up to the house. She hung her head down in shame. They were going to disown her.

She couldn’t even make it into the house. She burst into tears halfway to the front door. She heard the door open and then it slammed shut.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay! But if you ever do that again, I’m going to ground you for life,” Pandora cried. She hugged her youngest daughter close. Joss was totally stunned. This was definitely not what she had expected. She had expected an hour long lecture. Instead, she received the direct opposite. It was then that she realized that it didn’t matter who she was because she’d always have people that cared about her. Megan had tried to save her and they’d both ended up being caught. “Life isn’t too bad,” Joss thought.

Joss went straight to bed. In the morning, she found her parents and grandma dancing. Joss was thankful that she had to go to school.

Joss seemed to be having interesting nights lately. After she took out the trash, she noticed a teenage girl standing outside of her house. She was headed straight for the front door. Joss quickly greeted her. “Hi. I’m Jaiden,” the girl greeted. She grinned at Joss. “Um…I’m Joss. Do you want to come in?” Joss offered. Jaiden nodded.

The two girls got to talking. Jaiden was a very enthusiastic girl. She gestured a lot when she spoke.

Joss found Jaiden nice to be around. Jaiden reminded her of Megan a bit. Joss wondered how Jordan and Ethan were doing. Megan had mentioned something…it then that Joss noticed Jaiden’s hair. It was quite curly and it was bothering Joss.

“Hey, would you mind if I gave you a little makeover?” Joss asked. Jaiden beamed. “Of course you can give me a makeover!” She cried. So, the two girls went upstairs.

Joss messed with Jaiden’s hair. Once she was done, the result was great. Jaiden seemed love her new hairstyle. As Jaiden stood up, she noticed the row of pictures on the wall.

“Who are those pictures of?” Jaiden inquired. Joss glanced over at where her newfound friend was pointing.

“Oh. Those are just of my mom, brother, and sister,” she answered. “You don’t sound like you enjoy being around them much,” Jaiden remarked. “I love them. Mom is understanding. My older siblings…yeah. I love them,” Joss muttered.

“So, you aren’t holding a grudge against Ender?” Jaiden inquired. “What? How do you know his name?” Joss said. She didn’t remember telling Jaiden that. “I’m a Keeble. My name is Jaiden Keeble,” the teenager responded.

“You mean…we’re related?” Joss mumbled. Jaiden nodded.

“My brother, Attis, is the generation eight heir. My twin brother, Jonah, and I were born long after he was, though. Our mom had to be resurrected because she died of old age,” Jaiden explained. “Do you hate your brother because he’s the heir?” Joss asked. “No. It was decided before I was even thought of,” Jaiden replied. “What about you? Are you bitter because Ender is the heir?” She added. “No. I’m not jealous or bitter or anything,” Joss assured. “Good,” Jaiden said. Then, just like that, she left.

Joss walked over and gazed at the picture of her older brother. She really didn’t care that he was the heir. “Why should it matter anyway?” She grumbled.

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It was another day for the Grim Reaper. Another soul was going on to the afterlife. Things had become crazy in the afterlife too. But it was finally time for something normal to happen. Someone was finally dying of old age. Her husband had been asking about how she was doing.

It was sad, though. Bree’s Choir had stopped singing lately.

“Kazimiera Keeble, your time has come,” the Grim Reaper said happily. “Hmm? I don’t hear any glorious music from the peanut gallery. I heard that that’s supposed to happen,” Kazi replied. “Yes. You will find out why they aren’t singing soon,” the Grim Reaper sighed.

Carmen and Ender had come over. The Grim Reaper knew how very different those two were and how Kazi’s death would hit one of them rather hard.

Michael always cried at every death. He was still a child at heart even if it didn’t show that much anymore.

Joss was understandably devastated. She had only just sneaked out three or four nights ago. Not that Kazi had cared much since she would’ve done the same thing as a teen, especially if she’d had to live with three old geezers.

Pandora was able to witness her mother’s passing. She had vowed to do that, after all.

“Let’s go, Kazimiera. Everyone is waiting for you,” the Grim Reaper finally said. Kazi grinned as she accepted the drink that he gave her.

Everyone that was gathered around Kazimiera watched as she faded away.

Kazimiera “Kazi” Keeble. You were named after a computer game character from Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six games. But that’s beside the point. You were quite better looking than I thought you’d be. You brought back the grey eyes. You fell in love with Chandler and refused to take any other guy. Even though he had a girlfriend, he dated you despite the fact that he figured that he’d break Brittany’s heart. No one can really blame you guys for what happened to Brittany, though.

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“Um. Hello. I’ve decided to finally tell my story. Well, someone put me up to it. She told me that I needed to do this. So, here it goes. The story of my life so far.

This is my mother when she was in college. She met a nice guy and they started dating. She really did like him.

He sent her love letters. He gave her roses. He gave her love.

But my mother knew that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t him. It was her. She didn’t feel like she belonged with him.

But then he cheated on her. It broke her heart. She cried for days on end. Her fellow dorm mates were worried about her. Until a week later…

…she met this man. They seemed to…click. Mom suddenly decided to change her hairstyle to something…that felt right to her. Everything about this man made her feel wonderful.

He eventually proposed. He felt the same way. He had the same exact feeling of completeness around my mom. This man is my dad.

Graduating college was out of the question. Mom said it wouldn’t feel right. Dad said he never felt like he was supposed to be in college. He’d often have dreams about cleaning peoples’ homes.

So, they dropped out of college. They built a house. They had to get a red truck. Mom would feel incomplete without that truck.

Then she became pregnant with their first child. With me. It was then that they both kept having dreams about another place. Mom had a twin in her dreams. Mom was the generation sixteen heiress of some legacy. Dad was a maid and quite lonely. They dreamt about meeting each other. Dad was a maid, mom was in college with her twin brother. They ultimately got married. They had a son. They had a granddaughter. They died. It was their memories. They found this out. They were dead in some other place. An alternate Lush Canyon, it seemed.

Then they had me. Penelope Keeble, the oldest daughter of Darren and Gracian Keeble. They wanted more children, of course. In the other Lush Canyon, they’d only had one son.

Mom had another child. A son whom she named Bryce. He was named after their son in the other Lush Canyon. He looked just like that Bryce. Then they had yet another son whom they named Gerald.

They had three more children. Cecily was their second daughter. Then they had twins named Topher (in the yellow) and Isaac (at the far end). By this time, Gerald was a child and Bryce and I were teenagers.

I went to college. I don’t even remember what I majored in. But that doesn’t matter anymore.

On Cecily’s birthday, right after she became a teenager, my mother gave me a gift. I asked her, ‘Shouldn’t you be giving this to Cecily?’ She just looked at me and said, ‘Sweetie, this is yours. You must have it.’ I took the gift from her. It was a book.

Shortly after she gave me the book, she went into labor. She had twins named Liam and Tanith.

I went home. I read the book. It detailed a story about a man named Grant Keeble. It went on and on until it got to the part about my parents. It continued. It told me all about the current generations. Then the pages went blank right after Joss became a child. Joss. That was a nice name. For the most part, it was a nice story.

At least, that’s what I thought until a bright light flashed in my room. I thought that until I ended up standing front of some house wearing a dress that wasn’t really my style. Purple dress, a multi-colored necklace, heart covered leggings, and green suede boots. A nice combination but not for me.

Then a woman came out of the house. I thought I had recognized that house. The woman embraced me and told me to come inside since it was rather cold outside. I hadn’t even noticed the cold until she pointed it out. I also hadn’t realized that I was a full-fledged adult.

This woman, Jenieve Keeble, explained to me that she had called me here. ‘I’m sorry that I plucked you out of your world and into this one,’ she had apologized. ‘Where exactly am I? No. Wait. I think that I know. I’m in Lush Canyon, aren’t I? I’m in Country, right?’ I had replied. She confirmed this. Then she said, ‘Now then, you should leave. Staying here will attract too much attention. Also you can’t use your real last name. I’ll bet I know which name you’ll choose. Penelope Reid, right?’ I still have no idea how she knew this.

I left her house and moved into a condo. I did sign my name Penelope Reid. I went and met the neighbors after that. They were all kids. Two teenagers and four children. The oldest was a boy named Gavin Newson. They seemed like well-behaved kids. I guess that they had to be to live alone like that.

As nice as that dress was, it wasn’t my style. So, after I repainted and redid every single room in the condo, I went and bought some new clothes. These clothes fit me a lot better.

I haven’t really done much since then. I fixed up an old car. Yeah. That’s about it. I didn’t want to attract attention to myself, so I laid low.

That is, I laid low until Jenieve came by my house today. ‘Nel, it’s time. Both Chandler and Kazimiera have died. It’s time for you to prove yourself,’ Jenieve told me.

But could I really do what she wanted me to?”------------------------------------------------

This is where I end the chapter: with a nice picture of Aleeta’s first kiss with Prof. Tucker. And a plot development too. Anyway, here’s some questions to think about while you wait for chapter 68: Why is Penelope here and what is her mission? What has been going on with Brittany? Will Ender ever find someone to love? Will Megan end up getting into some real trouble? Why does the birth of Jordan and Ethan change anything about the future? Has Morgan fallen in love with Joss or was he just overanalyzing things? Why has Bree’s Choir stopped singing? What did Jaiden’s visit with Joss mean?

I hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!