5-26-08 Written & Copyrighted by... Short ending~

[AxelVal]

Um, thank you?

~~
I didn’t know where I was going at first, but then a thought hit me.  We weren’t very good friends yet, but a new neighbor had moved in down the street and I thought it would be good to get to know him better.  Jalen Quinlin, was his name.  We had only met in passing at the store and we had gotten along pretty well for five minutes.  And besides, if we didn’t mesh I could just move on.

To say the least he was surprised when he saw me at his door.  “Dylan?  What are you doing…what’s the suitcase for?”

I explained the situation and Jalen ushered me in.  I must have already been at the point of tears because after he took my suitcase to another room he came back and hugged me gently.  The dam broke and I began to sob.  I’m not sure why it didn’t start until then.
Maybe because Dustin and I had been so distant and I was finally getting some kind of attention from an adult man.  Even if it was just a hug.

The next thing I know I was sitting on the couch and, smoothing my hair, Jalen told me he would be back.  I told him to not do it, though what ‘it’ was I didn’t know.  He smiled and said he was going to get a movie for us to watch.

I laid myself down and buried my face into a pillow, trying not to cry again.  It was too much after weeks of silence on both mine and my husband's parts.  Now that a new voice was in my ears instead of just my girls’ it was seriously messing with my mind.  An hour later Jalen stepped in the door again, holding a bag heavy with boxes.

“I don’t know what kind of movie you like so I got a bunch.”  He was still smiling and it made me do the same.  We sat together and picked out a few good ones.  We’d both seen a couple of them already, but the others were new.
I loved it.  Not because I was with Jalen, I could have felt this way with anyone at any house by that time, but because I needed it and he provided it.

It was well past midnight when the final credits stopped rolling and I was almost asleep on his shoulder.  Next thing I knew, I was being picked up and carried to the guest bedroom.  He tucked me in, like I did every night to the girls, and shut the lights off.  I was out before the door shut.  Emotions can do that you.

When I woke up the clock read twelve-thirteen and I rolled over, burying my head into the pillow again.  I got up and out ten minutes later, finding the house empty as I thought I might.
Food was in the fridge, already made scrambled eggs and pancakes.  I smiled again.  This never happened at my house.  Or if it did it was the other way around.
I pulled the plate out and popped it into the microwave, heating it to almost boiling the eggs again, then added syrup to both.  I ate greedily and then spent the rest of the day lazing on the couch and watching TV.
It was growing dark again when I heard a car pulling into the driveway and I sat up to be somewhat presentable.

Jalen walked in and immediately sat on the couch, hanging his head backwards.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly, watching him.

“I want a drink,” he murmured.  “Bad day at work.”
With that he stood and went to the fridge.  I hadn’t noticed the cabinet next to it was really some sort of wine cooler.  He grabbed a bottle and brought it to the living room along with two tall, thin glasses.  Popping the top, not for the first time by it being half-empty, and poured us both a drink, mine a little less full than his.  “You’ve been relaxing, you don’t need this as much as I do,” he said before downing his own.

I swallowed the drink whole as well and he looked at me.  “I like wine,” I said plainly, earning a chuckle.

Glasses were filled to the brim after that and before we knew what happened we had polished off the rest of the bottle.  Wanting to go to work the next Jalen refused to get another and instead insisted we got to bed.  I nodded and stood up, dizzy the second I was at my full height.

I fell then.  And Jalen caught me.  I know exactly how it happened and why, but I’ve relived the details too many times to recount them here.  You can imagine I’m sure.

[AxelVal]

Needless to say, Jalen didn’t actually go to work the next day.  We were asleep until past nine the next morning, which was two hours late for him anyway.  We woke up at the same time.  I would have panicked when I realized what happened, but my mind tried to be rational.
‘Why,’ it asked, ‘would I get pregnant after this once when it took years of trying to conceive with Dustin?  What makes you think it could happen by chance with this guy?’
And I believed my mind.

We did agree however, that I should go home right then.  Dustin would be there, and I was missing him terribly despite only being away two nights.  Jalen understood, and in fact I think he was more scared of what had happened than I was.  Of course he would be though.  He was single, I wasn’t.  My husband was a top guy in his company, Jalen was too.  Reputations need built up, but one single feather can bring them crumbling down.

I made it home with my suitcase and the door was unlocked.  I let myself in and Dustin crept around the corner.  Seeing me, his eyes lit up.  “Dylan!”  He rushed me and I was drawn into the biggest hug of my life.  “I missed you.  I can’t believe I let it get so far out there.”
We were both weeping then, and a little hand tugged at our pant-legs.  Staci was looking at us, her little head cocked to one side, her eyes narrowed in curiosity.  “Why are you guys crying?”

I laughed and scooped her up.  “Because we’re happy, babe.  I’m coming back home.”

“You were gone?” Catherin piped up from the archway, sarcastic as I remembered.  She had been that way for a year and I loved it because Dustin couldn’t tell the difference between serious and sarcastic.

I put down the younger sibling and grabbed the older one to myself as she shrieked in laughter.  “Yes I was, you little brat.  You better miss me next time!”  We giggled long and hard over that as Dustin watched on in bemusement.
Games, popcorn and movies followed the reunion, with an after dark dinner reservation for two.

Two months later, two little lines changed everything for us.  I was pregnant again.

Dustin was thrilled.  He thought we were being congratulated for making it through everything we had.  It was another tough one, but I didn’t miss Catherin’s birthday.  They offered to bring it to my hospital room but I refused.  Besides, the staff wasn’t too happy about their idea in the first place.

A miracle.  Twins.  Double boys, both perfectly healthy.  Dustin was at a meeting so he couldn’t be contacted for at least an hour after the birth.  And even then he couldn’t get out of work.  His boss was big on ‘nose to the grindstone’  So I slept off the drugs and got to see my boys.
I was speechless.  Dustin would be too.
Both boys were blond, but each had a different skin-tone.  One was light and the other was dark.  Too dark to possibly even be my grandmother’s.

But I didn’t have time to think.  I’d slept longer than I had thought and five or ten minutes after I was stricken with shock Dustin walked in.
I couldn’t help it.

I burst into sobs and for a moment the boys were forgotten by him.  Both were still laying in the hospital cribs, but he had yet to see them.
He grabbed me gently and sat down on my side.  Holding me closely he ran his hand through my hair.  It reminded me of that night I arrived at Jalen’s house and I cried all the harder for it.
“I love you,” I told him eventually.  And just kept repeating those words until he finally put his hand over my mouth.  I looked up with bloodshot eyes.

“What happened?  What’s wrong?”  He wiped away the teardrops that were threatening to fall once more.

“Do you remember our fight?  Where we didn’t know why or how it started?”
He nodded.
“I did something bad,” I said slowly.

He fell away from me, his hand landing on the mattress.  “Wh...why?”

“Because!”  I sobbed again.  “It was too much for me and there was wine and movies and…” I trailed off there and buried my face in my hands.

Dustin stood up and paced the room.  He seemed to finally catch sight of the cribs as his steps took him to that place.  Staring down at the two I could see his own tears.
“Who was it?”

“Jalen Quinlin.  He moved in about two weeks before it all started.”
I couldn’t apologize.  I wanted to, but the words weren’t available.  Nothing was coming out of my mouth except answers to questions he asked me.
Dustin continued to not look at me.  A hand stretched out and stroked the hair of the one that was obviously his.  “I’ve heard of this before,” he murmured.  “Twins with two different fathers.  Never thought it would happen to me,” he laughed but it was hollow.

It came then.  “I’m sorry.”  It wasn’t even a whisper but he heard it anyway.

He choked and turned, swiftly exiting the room.
I rolled onto my side and cried some more.

~~~~~
Please, whether you like this story or not, if you take some time to read it please comment.
Constructive criticism is just as good as compliments!

[Sam the T-man]

Hi Axel Interesting concept you have here, I've read about it in a book before quite a few years ago.

I'm gonna be honest though, and say it seems a little too matter-of-fact - it may be that I'm not familiar with the other stories, but I'm not connecting with the characters that well. I'm not getting much insight into why they're acting a certain way, for instance, and not enough emotion's coming through. Also, the pictures of the wedding - described as beautiful, but the setting was a bit.. blah.

You do have interesting ways of using the camera though, which I've noticed before. Sorry if I sound harsh, just keep working on your writing and you'll draw readers in a lot better

[AxelVal]

Yay, creative criticism!!
Thank you, Sadie - this idea intrigues me for some reason.  Just the fact that it's so odd I guess.


I know what you mean about emotions though.  Reading this story again even I feel detached from the characters.  :oops:
I don't know why that is unless...it could be the long break I took from writing?  I'm not really into the groove yet?  *shrug*  I think I'll do better at emotions with Shayn's story.  I'll be able to expand on him and his family a lot more than I did with Dylan.
I never thought of my pictures as very good personally, so I'm glad you like them/think they're different.  I definitely see the 'blah' factor in that one scene.  I think when I was making the sets I was already fed up with all the other rooms I built for no reason (I built more than was shown...) that I just gave up after getting the basics.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this though.  I will definitely keep your comments in mind as I write Shayn's story.  I'm willing to re-read the next story to make sure there's a connection and make sure my sets are up to par.

[AxelVal]

I fell asleep again and when I woke up my boys weren’t in the room.  They’d been taken back to the nursery room.  Jalen was there though, he said Dustin had called him and left an angry message.  It wasn’t so much anger at being instrument to what happened as it was anger at not being there with me.  Dustin confirmed later.  He sat with me too, holding my hand.  “I’m sorry, Dylan.  If I had known I would have been here with you.  If I’d known you wouldn’t have given birth alone at least, right?”

“Yeah.”  I leaned on him.  Again, it was the attention factor.  Ever since I was little I was the most demanding of my siblings, always crying if someone else was getting more attention than myself.  Always the jealous child.
He didn’t pull away or try to push me off.  His arm wrapped around my shoulder.
He was there for hours.  He knew it was hard on me and he knew it was both our faults.  But he didn’t rub it my face.  It was getting dark when he finally said something else.
“I have to go home.”  He rubbed my head shortly.  “I have work tomorrow.”

I nodded, not wanting to be left alone but not wanting to be a burden either.  He stood up, re-arranged my blankets a bit then walked out.
On my side then, I closed my eyes.
Stars shone outside the window when they bolted open again, instead of the twilight that had been there before.
Dark blue stared back at them.  “Dustin?”
He nodded.  The weight shifted on the mattress and before I knew it my husband’s arm was around my waist, a kiss being planted on my forehead.

“I can’t blame you, Dylan.  If I didn’t have the girls to keep me occupied I may have done the same thing.  You were alone, upset and attention-starved.  I know how much you need to be in the spotlight.”
I smiled.  Everyone knew that.
“I still love you, Dylan.  That’ll never stop, I swear.”

I thought my tear ducts had shriveled up already but they must have had something left in there, because it happened again.  I’m surprised my face ever stopped being red with tears.
But I was still smiling this time.  Never, in all the dreams I had that day, did I expect this.  I had imagined every other possibility.  Dustin walking back in with divorce files, with custody papers, everything but being taken back by him.
He shushed me softly.  We slept together in the hospital that night.  Dustin had brought over a “Do Not Disturb” sign from a recent business trip and the nurses actually paid attention to it.

We named the boys the next morning.
Jalen was on speaker phone for his son.  He said he gave us full legal rights and that we would settle in with a lawyer as soon as I was up to it.
Dean Russell and Theo Hartwin.  Dean was Jalen’s and Theo Dustin’s.

It’s been ten years.  I still can’t believe just how good life has become and how stable we are again.
Dustin and I haven’t fought in all this time unless you count playful arguments and arguing whose turn it is to do a certain chore.  But we never let it get out of hand.  We never go to bed without saying goodnight or without a kiss…or five…
No more kids for me though.  We’re over that.  The both of us are more than content with our babies we have now.
Catherin is nineteen and Staci is fourteen, while the boys are ten.  Dustin and I have aged too, forty-five and forty-three respectively.  And we’re loving life.

Hoping to you all to have a great life too.
This life has been written and copyrighted by yours truly,
Dylan Reinhilde Marconi, nee Lusaka.


~~~~~~~~~~~
What is this?  *smacks self*
I should never stop writing for this long again.  Three pictures?  What's wrong with me?

Hopefully Shayn's story will be better.  I have a proofreader-person!  *cheers*

[Stelio Kontos]

Decent work, if a bit hard to get attached to the characters.

[AxelVal]

Thank you, SecretAgentZero!  I'm sure the next one will be better.

Update -ifanyonepaysattention- I'm in the middle of Shayn's story right at this very moment.  The word document is open and I'm thinking of random plot-twists right now, trying to make them seem not so random.
I'm about to take a break to write something else though.  Rest for a bit.
So I'll buckle down soon!

ETA: Ohh, how did I do this?
I did not take a break, ideas just kept flowing.  And now I'm ready to start taking pictures as soon as my computer is done packaging lots.  Whoo!

[Sam the T-man]

Hi Axel, I have a big problem; I'm trying to PM you my reply (finally got around to proof-reading it yesterday), and every time I try to send it, I get a "Connection reset" error Can you give me an email address please - that is, unless you're also having problems? I'll keep trying, but so far no go -_-

[Elven_Song]

Ahhh! >.< I'm so sorry I missed this update! I've was away from this site for so long... and then I forgot to come back to the stories forum and cheer you on!
This was a great chapter, if not short. I did kind of feel like you were not so connected to Dylan, but I can totally relate to that. They can't all be your favorites! She has such a beautiful family though.

Hopefully this has warmed you up for more brilliant picture filled chapters in the future! ^^ Looking forward to them!

[AxelVal]

Thank you, Elven!
I'm stil not sure why I was detached, but I do feel like I can really write now.  I've barely stopped since Dylan's story was finished!

Thank you so much for the proof-reading, Sadie!  I will never forget it, trust me.


Okay, so my friends have gotten me 100% addicted to Guild Wars and I've been absorbing a nuch of time into that.
Also, without the InSIM to aid me it would be a lot of stress to try to get the pictures for this story as it requires high relationships, low relationships and lots of general management for the photoshoots.
So, I swear on this, the first weekend I have to Sim after the new InSIM is released I will get the pictures and start uploading the story.  But for now it just won't happen.
(I installed FreeTime and it makes me happy)

[Sam the T-man]

You can still use Insim for relationships, just get the OBJ edition and use it that way. Hasn't blown up my game yet

And you're welcome Looking forward to seeing the pics

[AxelVal]

Just not for interests and stuff, right?
I can do that, easy.
So...still not this weekend, I have a final to study for and a big three-part, 100-point project for English due on Monday.

Maybe if I finish all that stuff I'll start it.

[AxelVal]

19.....

[AxelVal]

20!
I want a new page for this.

[AxelVal]

Did I get it?
Yes, I did!  I have gotten good at this.
Here he is folks, I've been talking about it, and I really hope this makes up for Dylan's story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were too different.  I think that’s what it all boils down to.

   It’s been building, and building, and now I need an outlet.  I think writing this all down is exactly what I need.
   Here’s the story of Shayn Lusaka’s failures.


   I met my beautiful ex-wife when we were about nineteen.  I was going for a job interview and she was just leaving.  Just a few words were exchanged, and I thought we’d never see each other again.  Well, gut feelings can be wrong, right?
   We both were called back, a few others too.  But we didn’t formally meet until the bus ride after being told we didn’t quite make it.  She was already at the bus stop so I sidled up next to her on the bench.
   “You didn’t win either?”

   She jumped.  Then shook her head.  “Nope.  Not enough enthusiasm.”
   This made me laugh.  She put on a Barbie-accent for the last word, eyes widening obnoxiously.  She chuckled while I got myself under control.  “You didn’t get it?”

   I just shook my head.  “My name’s Shayn,” I said, sticking out my hand.
   She took it, and gave a firm pump.  “Kora.”

   And it was sealed.
   We waited, unlike Dylan, and got married when we were twenty-three.  Four years of dating, on and off, just to get the chance to meet other people, but we always managed to find each other again.
   I want to say it was three months in and we had to buy a pregnancy test.  And nine after that we were in the hospital.  Nicolas Marcel Lusaka.  He was a momma’s boy from the get-go.  Only stopped crying if Kora picked him up.

   Nic grew like a weed, but before we knew it another bump was growing on Kora’s abdomen.  We had a hard time naming our boy, so we had the ultrasound technician tell us the gender this time.  Another boy we were told.  So, Benoit Aeron was decided on this time.
Until the birth prompted an extra ‘e’ on the first name.  A girl.

Oh well, we had hope for a second male but if it wasn’t meant to be then we would simply roll with the punches.  And she was neither a momma nor a papa’s girl.  She wanted her big brother to check on her more.  And we were okay with that as long as one of us went with Nicolas when she cried.  If we didn’t hear he would come get us and take us with him.
But, one difference of opinion set it off.

It wasn’t anything big or family related.  In fact, I can’t even remember what it may have been there were so many fights after that.


Maybe it’s no wonder Nic ran away three years ago.  He was ten when the divorce was finalized and when mom up and left he was devastated.  I don’t know why she hoisted parenting two children on me, we both decided to have them.
But, that’s the way it worked out.  *sigh*

Family life went on as normal then.  As normal as I could get it that is.
But six years later Nicolas couldn’t take it anymore.  I woke up one day and he was just gone.  I didn’t know what happened until he reappeared.  Benoite and I were sitting on the couch – I was helping her with homework – and the door opened.  I hadn’t had the lock changed in twelve months so we knew who it was.  Nic stepped in the house but he wasn’t alone.  A bundle rested against his shoulder as he took those steps and shut the door.  Looking up he saw us and turned back away.

“What is this?” I asked him.  Nic ignored me and went upstairs.  I followed to the foot of the steps and looked up, watching him slip into his room.  The room that hadn’t been touched in a year.  The door latched shut and there was nothing to do but wait.  Leaning against the wall I ran my hand down my face.
Just what I needed.

Kora kept tabs on the kids and I could imagine what would come of her learning this had happened.  Though what just ‘happened’ I wasn’t capable of knowing just then.

Benoite hugged me on the way upstairs a few hours later.  I had barely moved except to sit down, and now she was on her way to bed.  That’s when Nic’s door opened at last.  He looked like a deer in the headlights, but he still came down.  Standing up, I waited.

Nicolas went and sat on the couch, ignoring me again.
I lost my patience.  “What is that about?” I fumed.  “Is that how you react to the upbringing I gave you?”

He shook his head.

“Then what is that?  Do you have any idea what your mother will do when she finds out?”

“She already knows,” he said quietly.  Nicolas was never quiet.

“How?!”

“I went to her when it started.”

“’It started’?  What ‘it’?  Who and where is the mother?”

He looked at me then, eyes narrowed.

“Who is it?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Always nice to end on a cliff-hanger, isn't it?
I bet at least half of you know what's coming though.
Next week (read: Monday afternoon) it shall all be revealed!