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!!!!

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Chapter 2
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