Chapter 2 - Gen 6 - Neo

LIFE BEFORE THE FIRE

My brother Nial drives me insane, I am the youngest and he is the oldest and for some unknown reason he seems to think I am some sort of threat to him, competition, probably because I have something he just has not been able to get.  We hate each other with a passion!!!!!

There he is sat on the couch making out with the third different girl this week - I really don''t know what they see in him!!!!  All these girls that he brings home from school, they all know what he is, they know they won''t get any commitment out of him -  so why?? - its not like he is some sex god or anything, there are way better looking boys at our school - so what does Nial have that makes these girls want to fall stupidly for him, when they know he will be messing about with somebody else tomorrow!!??

So I should have known that there would be trouble brewing when I keep having Violet round our house.
Nial thinks any female is game - even MY girlfriend!!!!
  If you were any sort of brother you just wouldn't do that would you - go after your brothers girlfriend - well mine did!!!!

Violet had stayed over on Friday night and in the morning while she was eating breakfast Nial started.

"So come on then Vi, when are you going to let me take you out?"

"I've told you already I am not!!" she replied

"Come on Vi, you won't regret it"

"No thanks Nial, I'm quite happy with Neo thanks"

"I am surprised at you - you can do way better than Neo?"

"And how do you work that out"

"Come here and I'll show you"

"Get lot Nial!!"
Violet made the mistake of getting up to take her bowl to the sink, walking past Nial, that's when he grabbed her.

"What iss all the yelling about you two?" I asked

"Oh nothing your girlfriend just hurt her toe, kicked the chair as she walked past, didn't you Vi"

"LIAR!!!"

"WHAT was all the yelling about Nial???"

"He tried to kiss me and he has been hassling me for weeks every time your back is turned"  Violet blurted out then ran into the bathroom crying

"YOU DID WHAT???!!!"

"She needs to lighten up - she is frigid!!"

"YOUR KIDDING ME RIGHT!!!"

"Its only a matter of time Neo I am doing you a favour!!"

"WHAT!!"

"Well come on - you can't pull the fittest girl at our school and expect to keep her - your dreaming!!"

"Your the one dreaming, she is not frigid - get it through your thick skull she is telling you NO  -  OOPS somebody said NO to the stud - how dare she turn you down!!!!!!!"  I said sarcastically

"Ha ha you are so funny!!"

"I am right aren't I  Vi has dented your ego!!!!"

"I am warning you KEEP your filthy hands OFF Violet!!"

"We'll see!" Nial said laughing

"NO we won't see - YOU WILL keep away from Violet!!!!"

I was so angry with him I could have killed him right there and then.  He was so full of himself, he could not see how he hurts people - his own brother and he could not care a shit as long as he got what he wanted, another notch on his bedpost!!!

I have never been a naughty boy, I was a spoilt boy - I was the baby in our family, so I was the one who got away with murder!!!  Technically you would say I was not the baby - Noah was, as out of us two twins I was the first one born, but Noah was never like me, he was quiet and reserved, shy, sit him down with a toy and he would be happy to stay there playing, he would not budge content in his little world.  Where as I was everywhere, into everything, never still for more than a minute, very curious and full of life.  I was classed as cheeky and cute and different to all my other siblings with the awful genetic combination of my Mothers skin colouring and my Dads hair and eye colouring.  I stood out and got everyone's attention.  I was the one that had to be watched because if there was mischief to be had, I would find it!!!  My personality and look overshadowed Noah and the poor kid never got a look in!!

You think I am sat here by choice doing my homework, no, for the hundredth time I have to be reminded by one of my parents to get my homework done.  I quickly learnt that I could push the boundary out further than any of my brothers and sisters would even dare to.  Plain and simple I was spoilt, and most of the time I got away with doing things that I really should have been shouted at for  - much to the disgust of  my brothers and sisters who would probably have been read the riot act and grounded for a week if they had done the same thing that I had just done and gotten away with. 

As I got older I used to do things just to see how far I could actually push my parents to see what would make them shout at me.  It might sound a little stupid to you but it is actually no fun being the spoilt child when all of your brothers and sisters aren't and they start to resent you for it.   I wanted my parents to shout at me, so my brothers and sisters would stop being so resentful and stop calling me names - I actually wanted them to treat me in the same way.  It is no fun to be singled out and treated differently to the rest.  I looked different, I was treated differently - this really was no fun for me!!  Just look at me - a face only a mother could love!!!  How come I was the only one out of my brothers and sisters to turn out looking like a chocolate orange??!!

My Dad was the one that was the hardest one to get shouting and he really had to be pushed to shout at me!!  I never did work out why, me sneaking off to the dance club under age and getting absolutely paralletic never provoked the reaction I had hoped for!!   My Uncle Max has spotted me sat at the bar wabbling on my bar stool, and he had dragged me home by the colar of my jacket.  Uncle Max was furious and gave me a lecture all the way home.  That is what I hoped my Dad would do.  Instead he just stood there and laughed, because he was laughing I was laughing, my head was merrily swimming I couldn't help it!!

"You think its funny what you have just done don't you??"  Dad said

"No Dad I ...." I said

"Well get to bed, you wont find it so funny when you get up in the morning with a banging headache, go on scoot!!"

That was my telling off!!

Now if Nial or one of the girls had done what I had just done, he would have rared at them for hours, just like my Uncle Max had at me, but even worse!!!

The one and only time my Dad did actually lose it with me and shouted at me properly, was purely accidental on my behalf - it was not something I had provoked or even meant to do.  Finally I found something that tilted him to snap - and I hated every minute of it!!!

I had been round at Violets and curfew was getting close and kissing her goodbye took a lot longer than it should have done, a lot longer than I even realised it had.  So when I did finally leave her house it was well after curfew time and I did not even realise.

I had not even got off her driveway and set foot on the pavement when a patrol car slowed up and stopped and the police man got out.

"Son do you know what time it is?" he asked me

"errr No sir" I said to him

"Well its way after curfew you are going to have to come with me"

Great!!!!!!!!

The next thing I know I am bundled into the patrol car and he has my name and address and I am heading home in a police car, an experience I really did not want to repeat.

My Dad was out front waiting for me, he had been phoned and told that I had been picked up and was being brought home in a patrol car.  Dad was really not impressed at all!!!  In fact that was the very first time he had looked at me in total fury and the first time he absolutely exploded with rage and gave me the first good telling off of my life.

He screamed and shouted at me and when he finally started to calm down he asked me where I had been.

"I am sorry I was at Violets and we did not realise the time"

"Well if you can not be responsible enough to watch the time, maybe you are not responsible enough to have a girlfriend just yet, maybe you should stop seeing her till you finish school"

That was it I just exploded. there was no way he was stopping me from seeing Violet,  he could have said anything and I would have taken it, but where Violet was concerned I became unhinged and we ended up standing in the street screaming and shouting at each other and I said some really awful things to him that I really did not mean.  He gave me another round of telling off told me I was grounded till I left school and stormed of inside in a fowl mood.   I had never seen him this angry before!!!  For days afterwards we did not speak, he just cut me an awful look every time he passed me and I did the same.

This was the last time I spoke to my Dad, I can never undo the things that I said to him, I can never tell him I am sorry and that I did not mean what I said - I think he died thinking that I hated him and I could never put it right because only days later the fire took him away from me never giving me the chance to say I was sorry!!

In fact, my last memories of all of my family members who died in the fire was not good.

My Mom, what can I say about my Mom, to be honest, I hardly knew her!!!  When me and Noah started school she got herself a job at the stadium on the sports team.  Mom started work as we finished school, and by the time she came home we were in bed.  The only time we really saw her was on her days off work which was twice a week.  Dad worked mornings and was always there for when when we got out of school and so I was always a lot closer to my Dad than my Mom.  Now I am really regretting not getting to know her better.

Nicole and Naomi, we got on ok but I did not really spend that much time with either of them.  They spent alot of their time together and away from everyone else.  Naomi had the loner trait which meant she prefered her own company and Nicole being a bookworm always had her head stuck in a book, so most of the time they were hauled up in their room Nicole reading, Naomi on the computer doing what they did.  Now I regret not spending more time with them!!

Noah, like Dad, the last words I spoke to him were not nice ones either!!  After school on that fateful day, I had plans and Noah was having none of it!!!
"Come on Noah, Vi and Shantel are expecting us" I spoke quietly knowing Dad was at the computer

"Your grounded remember!!"

"Like I am taking any notice of that!!"  I said

"No Neo,  Dad grounded you, I am not going and neither are you, tell him Nat please!!"

"He's right Neo, you are grounded"

"And what is he going to do if he finds out I have been out - ground me some more??!!  I am sick of you Noah, your nothing but a wuss!!!"

That was the last thing I said to him before I took off alone to violets house

"Where is Noah"

"He was too chicken to come and I am the one who is grounded Shantel not him!!"

Shantel was pretty disappointed.  Shantel and Noah were both very shy and actually were very alike and would have suited each other, we had been trying for weeks to get the pair of them together, Shantel really liked Noah but Noah was just being Noah.
I had only been there an hour when my phone rang it was Nat, I thought she was about to tell me I had been busted for sneaking out while I was grounded.
"Neo you have to come home , there's a fire"  she shouted crazily down the phone at me

"Yeah yeah - is this your plan to get be back before Dad realises I am out"

"No Neo pleeeeeease I am not joking - I don't know what to do"

I could hear she was crying, then I heard somebody screaming

As soon as I got home I could see people hanging around on the front, I could see the fire engine and I could smell the smoke.  When I got into the house I just followed the screams up to the girls bedroom where Nial and Natasha were.
"Where is everyone?" I asked
"Everyone went in there" Natasha said pointing at her bedroom
The doorway was blocked by fire, none of us three could get in and none of them could get out.

When the fire fighters eventually put out the fire, we never expected to find everyone gone - nobody came out of the fire alive. Mom, Dad, Noah, Nicole and Naomi all gone!!!!!

All that was left was the three of us.

------------------------------
Chapter 3
-------------------------------

Chapter 1 - Gen 6 - Neo

Standing looking at the five gravestones, I am thinking my teenage years have been the most awful years of my life!!!  How could things have gone so horribly wrong in such a short space of time??  I was annoyed with what I had when I did have it -  now - I am wishing I had appreciated what I had when I did have it - you don't realise what you have until you lose it, and I have lost mine - my family!!  

There used to be eight of us My parents, two brothers, three sister and me.  Now there are only three.  

One day, one computer, one fire, five graves and my world was torn apart.

The Cemetery.  This is where I come most days to do my homework and this is where at first I spend most of my time - just so that I had the feeling that I was close to them - my Mom, my Dad, My twin brother Noah and my two sisters Nicole and Naomi. They all died when somehow the computer in the girls bedroom started a fire.  I had been at violets when it happened, Nial with one of his many string of girls and Natasha, the only one at home to watch the rest of our family die, she was the only one to survive.  Natasha maybe should be the one suffering the most from this, but it isn't its me!!

I feel like I have lost part of me, I don't feel like I am complete anymore - losing my twin brother Noah has been the hardest part of all this for me.  I have lost half of me, my sole mate, by best mate, we should have been best friends forever, now I have to go through the rest of my life alone.  Sometimes I blame myself, he should have come with me that day, I had been trying my hardest to get him out of his shell, to get him fixed up with violets sister Shantel, they were a lot alike both being very shy, Shantel and Noah would have been good together, but as usual he chickened out and went home instead - I should have put my foot down, I should have made him come with me - then he would be at home with me now instead of here under this lump of stone that has his name written on it!!

"Neo, Nial says get back home now your curfew is up in twenty minutes and he isnt having you brought home AGAIN in a police car!!"  Natasha suddenly appeared behind me

"I'll be home when I am ready"

"No, NOW Neo before you get us both into trouble!!"

"Tell him to get lost - he is not my Dad!!" I snapped
"We know but he is the one looking after us and keeping the three of us together, come on Neo, it is time you tried to start getting over this!!"

"Come on Neo - don't you think things are hard enough without you and Nial always fighting!!" 

"It's not fair Nat, why Noah, why not HIM!!"

"Don't talk like that Neo, you would be just as upset if it was Nial here too!!"

"You recon!!"

"He tried to steal your girlfriend so what, he didn't get her did he - so what's the problem??"

"The problem is he never stops - and he does not really care about violet its just another notch on his bed post that's all he is worried about - he eats women up and spits them out then moves onto the next, he doesn't care who he hurts and you do know what he's up to now don't you!!"

"Are you on about Kandice!?"

"Yes Kandice - he is obssessed - you have heard all the stories - you know what she is like - and if he does not stop you know the trouble it is going to cause!!"

"I know I have tried to talk to him about it - he just doesn't want to know!!"

"I have to laugh though that he does actually care about that "praying mantis" - he has just met his match, he is going to be the one eaten up and spat out this time, he is about to get a taste of his own medicine at last - they both deserve each other I just feel sorry for everyone else they are going to hurt!!"

"Dad would be going balistic by now"

"I know and that is why I get so angry with him Nat, he is supposed to be the adult here, he is not doing a very good job is he - and he has the NERVE to tell me, that me and Vi are rushing things!!!!"

As you might be able to tell - me and Nial do not get on very well for a number of reasons, he is my brother, I do love him but as a person I do not really like him very much.  He has no respect for women or himself, he thinks he is god's gift and no female can resist his charms, unfortunately most don't,  he plays with them and hurts them, he was even selfish enough to try to do it to me and my girlfriend,  but on this one occassion he did not manage to get what he wanted -  now he hates me and I hate him back.   He was like it as a teenager and now as a young adult he gets worse - his games have started to become dangerous.
Natasha has always been my favourite sister and really she should be taking the deaths of our family even harder than me she being a triplet and losing both Nicole and Naomi, but Nicole and Naomi where like me and Noah inseparable, Nat has always been on the outside, she being different to her two sisters, she did not have the same connection that the rest of us had, Nial has always been one on his own, in more ways than one!!
"Come on Neo" Natasha urged

"Ok I am coming - for you not for him!!"

"You should not be spending all your time here - Nial is right about one thing - it is not doing you any good, keep mourning all the time - you need to move on from it Neo"

"I can't!!"

This is home now, we live in a different house.  None of us could face living in the house where the five of them all died, everywhere there was constant reminders, it became unbearable.
Nial luckily was a young adult when it happened, only a few days after his birthday and graduating from school.  In a way I suppose I should be grateful to him because he has taken care of me and Nat, he has kept what bit of family we have left together, and he is taking control of our lives even though I hate it sometimes.  He was thrown in at the deep end - suddenly he had responsibilities before he was ready to look after a house paying bills and two messed up teenagers, five funerals and all the mess that followed that horrible day - but he did, and I would never admit it to him, but I think he actually coped with it all pretty well!!!  In fact he did a few things that surprised everyone.

Days after the fire he purchased a plot of land at the end of our road which he had turned into a cemetery and this is where he had a mausoleum built and this is where our five family gravestones were placed.  He moved us to a new house, which was only next door to where we used to live, but so we did not have the constant reminder he had the old house bulldozed to the ground, the house has now gone and the land is now just a flattened lot.  Luckily our parents had been very wealthy, so money was never really a worry for us, but Nial was not content on sitting back and spending all the money our parents had left, he went straight out and got himself a job and he said if we were careful with what money we did have left, the three of us  could all have a decent house built out of it to give us a good start to our future.  This is the sensible side of Nial that I like -  but he also has a none sensible side that I hate, and his none sensible side is controlled by his hormones!!

Our new home is a lot smaller than we are used to but it is still a lot bigger than most.  There are three large bedrooms and one small box room.  Even though I have my own bedroom with my own double bed, I tend to sleep with Natasha - something we started the night of the fire and have not as yet broken the habit, we are both teenagers and it has been a very hard time in our life to cope with, I suppose we need the comfort from each other, both of us scared of losing now what little bit we have left.

All three of us have had to grow up over night - we no longer have the carefree life that we took for granted when our parents were around to take care of us, now we have to take care of ourselves and each other.  I think back to when my parents were nagging us about our school work, skiving school, not doing homework, letting our grades slip - it is not like that any more.  Me and Nat are both now grade A students and I quite often make it onto the honour roll - if only they could see us now - my heart breaks just thinking about it - why were we not like this for them when they were alive!!

Up until the day of the fire, I had not really thought much about what I wanted to do with my life, but as I stood there watching the grim reaper taking my family away one by one, I knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to go into medicine, be a world renowned surgeon, I wanted to save lives, like I wished I could have saved my families.  Natasha and Nial both have the same Life Time Wish, they both want to be Rock Stars, understandably as music is both of their lives, and while I spend most of my time moping around at the cemetery they spend most of their time filling the house with their music.

" You need to stop hanging around the cemetery - its not going to bring them back Neo"

"So Nat keeps telling me but I am dealing with it in my own way, so drop it Nial"

"No its unhealthy, I am going to ban you from going there - it is getting ridiculous"

"I'll stop going to the cemetery when you stop messing about with Kandice"

"Leave her out of this - it has nothing to do with you!!"

"Well, what I do in my spare time is nothing to do with you - so back off"

"I am responsible for you Neo, and both me and Nat are worried about you, maybe you might listen to Grandma or Grandad, maybe I should get them round to talk to you"

"Do it - Nial, but I am sure me spending time in the cemetery is not going to be their main concern, what you and Kandice are doing is what they need to be having words about - do they actually know about it??!!"

"Shut it Neo!!"

"Fine!!"

"Stop it you two, you are getting on my nerves keep bickering!!" Natasha steps in as usual

This is the way it goes these days, me and Nial bickering, Natasha breaking it up.  I do feel guilty for being partly responsible for upsetting her after all we have been through, but it is never going to work between me and Nial, we have a love hate relationship that I can only see getting worse not better.  In a way I do feel sorry for them both, while I still remain "the baby" of the family Natasha has taken on Mom's role, Nial has taken on Dad's role, life has definitely become a lot harder for them than it has to me.  I know deep down for us anyway Nial is doing his best and I should listen to what he saying sometimes, he is responsible for us, he is doing his best to take care of us, and I am too busy being stubborn because he winds me up - how can he know what is best for me when he can not even see what is best for himself - he can not see what a mess of his own personal life he is making!!!

The one good think in my life right now is my girlfriend Viiolet.  We have been really close friends since primary school, she was my best friend outside of family all through school and the older we became the closer we became and our friendship naturally progressed further.  For me she has always stood out, I remember standing in the playground at school it was her first day of school, I had started the week before and she was stood their looking pretty lost.  I went over to talk to her, drawn by the colour of her hair and as I got closer I noticed how piercingly green her eyes were.  I think I fell in love with her before I even spoke to her, even at such an early age, I felt differently when I was around her, but I was too young to even understand what it might mean.

We used to joke about what we would do together when we were older, we used to tell everyone we were getting married when we were old enough, our parents especially used to laugh at us - we were just kids, six years of age, they found it highly funny.  Now we are teenagers soon to be young adults we both look back at our primary school days and laugh about the way we were.  Now we are a lot older and we know the subject of marriage is a lot more serious, but still we say when we are old enough we are getting married.  Now everyone says, don't you think you are rushing into things, I don't see it myself when we have been together since we were five years old.  I could never imagine my life without her!!   Losing Noah was bad enough, but the thought of ever losing Violet would probably kill me - one of the reasons why I hate Nial so much, because he tried to take her away from me!!

But for now life goes on regardless - while my mind keeps rewinding back to my memories of life before the fire, especially the last memories of my Dad I just wish somehow I could go back and put things right!!  The guilt was just killing me!!!!

------------------------
Chapter 2
-------------------------

Generation 6 heir vote

 

NIAL

LTW = Rockstar

Virtuoso - Bookworm - Hopless Romantic - Artistic

NATASHA

LTW = None yet

Neurotic - Virtuoso - Artistic - Born Saleswoman

NICOLE

LTW= None yet

Good Sense of Humour = Bookworm - Excitable - Genius

NAOMI

LTW = None yet

Loner - Neurotic - Lucky - Friendly

The following two children have been aged up in CAS to teenagers

in game they are at the moment children

NEO

LTW = None yet

Good - Genius - Artistic

NOAH

LTW = None yet

Shy - Loves the Outdoors - Athletic

Chapter 11 - Gen 5 - Mason

My agent has sent me to the Dance club to order a drink from the bar, normally I would grumble but at the moment going a little stir crazy and still kicking myself for not being careful - another baby on the way - I needed a drink!!!

I was amazed to see Eva was now elderly.  Looking at her now I am so glad to be a vampire and not human.  Human life is so short - it is actually quite frightening how short!!  My young adult years is longer than the whole of a humans life, which makes me wander why every human would not want to become a vampire even if it was just for the longer life!!

All the girls are walking and talking they just need to be potty trained.  I am not really sure that we are going to get this done before the new baby arrives which is pretty soon!!

 Nial is a good boy and never any trouble!!  He always does his homework without being reminded and keeps himself pretty amused most of the time.  He has actually started to spend a lot of time outdoors, and has taken up fishing, I never even realised there were any fish in that little pond on our front garden!!

 Yet again, during the middle of the night the baby decided to put in an appearance.  Scarlet was not quite sure that we even had time to get to the hospital, the labour pains were so intense, but we went.

As soon as Scarlet walked through the door the baby arrived, I never even got into the hospital.

I did  not think I could be surprised again - but we came home this time with a set of twin boys.  So three pregnancies has produced six children - three boys and three girls.  I would say we need to stop now don't you!!!

First came Neo

He is Genius and Artistic

Neo is definately the darkest skinned of the six children

Next came Noah

Loves the Outdoors and Athletic

So we are back to exchanging smiles over the cots and crying babies.  Even though twins are a lot easier to cope with than triplets - still were were getting very tired with the three toddlers as well to contend with!!!

Nial made me smile, helping out by giving all the girls a bottle, but I think they may be a litte over fed, because he can not help but feed them a bottle everytime he passes them!!

I think he was very brave to tackle emptying that potty chair

Five birthdays today - what fun!!!

NATASHA
gained the Neurotic trait

NICOLE
gained the Good Sense of Humour traint

 NAOMI
gained the Loner trait

Then it was the boys turn

NEO

He has Scarlets skin colour and eyes and my hiar colour
what a combination!!!

NOAH
has turned out just like Nicole and Naomi

With four children now at school it only left us with the two boys to deal with during the daytime.  I was back to work and life was getting back to normal again.

I have told Scarlet there are definitely not going to be any more babies in the near future!!!  We have three boys and three girls what else could we ask for!!! 

I was pretty surprised when I emptied the mailbox.  I did not even know that Nial had even written a novel that had been publish, a copy of it was in among the post.  I sat down to read it.

 I am not really into sci-fi but had to admit that it was a pretty good book to say it had been written by a child!!



 I achieved my Life Time Wish today - I am now a Star News Anchor.
--------------------------

Chapter 12
--------------------------