Chapter 10 : Last Hope

Captain’s Log,

Ruby and I decided to try for one last baby. I don’t know how she convinced me to go for it again. I think that she believes that if she has a boy this time then I won’t end up following my plan of leaving here as soon as I can. I don’t even know how she found out about it. I’ve been trying to keep it a secret because I don’t want to worry anyone. However the more I see my family the more I am convinced that it would be for the best if I left. I no longer can care for them like I used to even though I have been trying. Maybe that will change in the future and I can stay, but it doesn’t seem very likely right now.

The worry of me leaving has strangely also caused Ruby to leave me alone more and spend more and more time with her children. This came as a relief to me, but the greater time apart may also have been because I was no longer at home when I could avoid it.

Before hiding at the library for the rest of the day, I helped out in the garden. It really takes a long time and is really good for gaining gardening skills. I have decided that even if I am going to leave eventually, I should still try and make my family’s life easier while I’m still here. Five of them didn’t ask to be brought into this life so I owe it to them to do what I can for them. I have begun to hide my depression, and desire to leave, better and am putting on a mask for my family, to protect them.

Nelly was a fast learner and mastered her toddler skills in no time. We had nothing left to teach her, so she is left alone even more now. It’ll probably be easier on her once she turns into a child and can interact with others more easily, but she seemed happy enough to just sit and play with her toys. I was right, by the way, once she finally did start playing with the xylophone she turned out to be very good at it. Although her attention span was much shorter then Maria’s when she played.

One of the girls, I forget which one, brought home a boy after school. Ruby made sure to intercept him right away to interrogate him about his intentions. I think she might have scared him off since he was gone by the time I returned home. Scaring him away was probably a good thing because from what I hear, he’s a rather girly kind of boy and I don’t want any of my girls fooling around with any boys.

Ruby’s guitar had just been collecting dust since probably before the twins were born and Maria had been eyeing it ever since she turned into a child, but only now worked up the courage to ask Ruby if she could play it. Ruby agreed immediately and Maria turned out to be just as gifted on the guitar as she was on the xylophone when she was a toddler.

In the evening, we gathered around for Nelly’s birthday. I made it home just in time to watch Nelly being brought to the cake, but Hilda was noticeably absent. Putting thoughts of my other daughter from my mind, I cheered along with the others, putting on a brave face to celebrate Nelly’s birthday.

With a twirl and a flash of sparkles, Nelly turned into a lovely child.

Nelly ran off after a dinner of cake to change her hair and clothes. Even though she doesn’t seem as friendly as the other girls, she has really developed a big personality and definitely lets the world know that she is there.

Before bed she was able to find the toy oven that I had bought a while ago hoping to interest one of the girls in cooking. She took an immediate liking to it and tried to make a few muffins before bed. They turned out really good even though it was her first time even thinking about baking or cooking anything.

It wasn’t until most of us were in bed that I finally found out why Hilda wasn’t home for Nelly’s birthday. I had told my girls that even though they were old enough to hold part time jobs, they weren’t going to be allowed to work. They need to concentrate on their schoolwork and besides, I didn’t much care for the idea of any women working in my family.

Well Hilda chose to ignore me, and when her school offered her a little boost to her grade if she went after school to work for the day at the local corporation office she leapt at the chance. Instead of coming home straight after she stayed there for half the night to do her homework, partly so that she could say that the work didn’t affect her schoolwork, but also partly so that she would have less of a chance running into us when she got home.

Doing her homework outside the office meant that she was out past curfew so she had to run home through side streets to avoid being found out by the cops. However all of her planning didn’t help too much. I was still awake when she came home and confronted her about it. After a stern talking to, I informed her that for willfully disobeying me she was going to be grounded for the rest of the week. She didn’t think it was fair because she thought that since I took so little interest in the family now I should have no say over what she does anymore. She may have a point, but I couldn’t let her know that otherwise all my authority would have been gone.

After sending her to bed I too went to bed exhausted.

I didn’t even wake up when Ruby rose to find out that she was pregnant for the fifth, and truly last time.

Ruby heard of an old wives' tale that if she ate enough apples, then the baby would be born a boy. So she grabbed all of the apples that we had been harvesting and made sure to eat as many as she could even though she just found out about being pregnant.

I’m starting to have misgivings about having another child. After my talk with Hilda, I don’t think I can continue trying to lead a double life. I need to try and chose one way or the other, I just don’t know if I can.

Chapter 9 : Uncaring

Captain’s Log,

It was good to have Leila home again. Even if for us no time had really passed, I’m glad that she is back. Ruby has started to drive me crazy with all of her crazy pregnancy hormones and her sudden clinginess. I don’t know how I dealt with this when she was pregnant with Leila or Hilda and Maria. I can’t remember too well but I swear she couldn’t have been this bad. But when Leila is around it seems like things just go smoother.

With the extra money Leila brought home we started to save up for some more additions on the house. Until then, we stored the nectar racks, filled with nectar, that she brought back in the living room. She insisted on placing them herself and making sure that none of the bottles were hurt in the transportation. When she was finally satisfied we all went to bed tired from the long day.

However Ruby didn’t get much sleep. She woke up in the middle of the night to give birth to our final child.

Not wanting to bother me since I had work the next morning, Ruby moved to the living room to give birth, leaving me in our bedroom to fall asleep to worries about her health and our future.

I really shouldn’t have worried about anything though since soon enough Ruby gave birth to our fifth daughter, Darryl. I was upset that we didn’t have a son. I tried no to show it, but I think Ruby secretly knew. I’ll still try and care for Darryl as much as I can, but I really wish that she had been born a he.

Since Ruby was exhausted she immediately put Darryl to bed and went back to bed herself.

Maria and Hilda are early risers these days. They are always getting up before dawn. I told them very strictly that they were no longer allowed to go outside in their pajamas so now they just hang out in their shared room and talk until it’s breakfast time or the school bus comes.

Leila is really a savior. She doesn’t complain at all about having to help take care of any of her sisters. She just steps up to the plate and makes sure that Darryl and Nelly are fed and clean in the morning before making sure that Hilda and Maria eat something before school. She’s also maintaining an A in school, staying on the honor roll. I really don’t know how she does it.

I think she might be doing everything she can so that she can go on another adventure though. As soon as she returned from France she was immediately wanting to go to France again. I wish I would be able to continually send her places, but with so many people in the family and so little money coming in we just don’t have the money to afford it even though sending her on adventures actually makes us money.

Once the girls went off to school and I went off to work, Ruby sat down with Nelly to teach her how to talk. She already knew how to walk and go to the bathroom, so this was the last skill she had to learn. Ruby was anxious to teach her how to talk so that she would have less work to do.

I honestly don’t know what Ruby does all day when she doesn’t care for the girls. She’s always complaining to me that she has too much to do and she can’t do what she wants, but she never does anything even when Leila or I am around to help with the toddler and baby. All her complaints are starting to get on my nerves. She was so willing and eager to have this lifestyle at the beginning and now all she does is complain. I think her attitude is one of the strongest factors that drives me away from the family and life here.

After work I didn’t even bother going home. I couldn’t face Ruby today. Every time I looked into her eyes I saw her accusations about me wishing Darryl was a boy. I know it was wrong of me, but I accept so many of her faults that her not being patient with me on this one really hurt. I hid in the library until the evening to get away from her. I knew that Leila would get home soon after I should have and help with the children so I wasn’t worried about Ruby getting over worked.

That evening was Hilda and Maria’s birthday. I made sure to get home right before their party so that I could support them. However when the time came, I just couldn’t smile. Luckily Hilda was too preoccupied with growing up to notice.

She was so happy that she was becoming a teen that I felt really bad for not celebrating with her.

After the transition, she showed off the beautiful young woman that she was becoming. She decided to change her look, like normal, but I think that she’s rather stunning.

Maria’s turn was next and she was just as excited about becoming a teen as Hilda was. I had to turn around once so that she wouldn’t see my unenthusiastic expression.

She too turned into a very pretty young lady and I was able to muster myself to cheer for the two of them when they turned to me for approval.

We sat down for a dinner of cake before the girls had their make-overs. Ruby mentioned to me that she was still young and we could always try for another baby before it was too late for us to have children. Maria gave me a questioning look, but thankfully said nothing. I really don’t want my sour mood to ruin her birthday.

First up for a make-over was Hilda. She chose to go back to her old hair style and update her clothing to a more easy to move in outfit.

Maria decided to change everything about her other than the fact that she was wearing a dress.

Both of them have turned into amazing women. I have just realized that I barely know either of them. I spent so much of my time when they were children off at work of gaining skills that I barely know my own daughters. The thought scares me a little, but the one that scares me even more is that I can’t even summon up the want to know them better.

Chapter 8 : Adventures

Adventurer’s Log

Hello! It’s me Leila. Since my dad couldn’t come with me on this crazy adventure that I’m about to have, he gave me this weird book thingy and told me to keep track of what I did when on vacation. He’s been acting a little funny lately and I want to make him happy, so here’s my adventure log!

Well since this was my first time out of our boring little country, I was only able to leave home for three days, but I decided to make the most of it. I talked to a local and they said that to get a higher visa level (so that I can stay longer) I’d have to complete adventures and travel around doing things for people. This sounded like a fantastic idea, so I went straight to the adventure board and looked for my first adventure!

I was told to go to some lady and see what she wanted. The place I was staying at had a free moped rental service for everyone staying there, so I chose a red one and raced off through the streets of France, oops I forgot to say where I went, to find the lady I was supposed to talk to.

I eventually was able to find her. It took a lot longer then it should have, she ended up just being a little ways down the street, but I swear I traveled all over town before finding her. After talking a little bit I mentioned that I was there to find out what she wanted me to do. She got really excited and said that she lost her toy baseball down a hole near some ruins and asked me to go find them for her. I agreed instantly and set off following the map that she gave me (this time I didn’t get lost).

When I got to the ruins, I found some stairs that led down and ran down them. This was just so exciting! I had never seen anything like it. Oh sure, my dad had used to tell me tons of stories about his old home and the adventures he had had while there, but there are just some things you can’t describe.

I immediately set about digging through ruins, clearing rubble, finding hidden doors and exploring the great tomb like structure thoroughly.

Finding hidden doors seemed to come to me naturally. I don’t know how, but I just seemed to know when there was a room on the other side and all I had to do was examine the wall in between me and that treasure to find the hidden switch to get in.

The lady had given me a map which was super helpful because it was like a maze down there! Anyway, I wasn’t always able to make heads or tails of the map sometimes and got horribly lost.

Luckily I was able to find clues like holes in the wall that helped me find all sorts of switched and treasures. I didn’t even think twice before shoving my hand in the holes. I guess some would call me brave, but I just want to explore everything.

Then I discovered what a keystone was. The lady had mentioned something about them, but I was too eager to get on with the adventure to really pay much attention to her. So this keystone thing is like a key that you have to place in a slot and once you do it glows all blue and the door gets unlocked. It’s really a basic concept I guess.

The worst part of the exploration was having to lug huge stones around. I have to drag them to certain places on the floor so that doors would unlock. I have absolutely no body skill so it was really hard work.

Well, maybe the worst part would have been when thousands of bugs attacking me for invading their home in search of a hidden switch, but I didn’t really mind them really. I’m sure Maria would have, she’s such a girly girl sometimes.

I even found this weird maze down there. I don’t know what its purpose was. I was easily able to see above it and gather all the treasure I wanted with ease.

At the end of my exploration I found this really neat statue. Later in town I found out that it was part of a collection that was unique to France, sort of like a historical collection I think. Anyway, I was sure to grab it before grabbing one last thing.

When I saw the hole in the ground I knew for certain that this was where the baseball was. It would have been really hard to miss with all the glowing streaks coming out of it.

With gathering the baseball I knew that I had fully explored this tomb. The fun time that I had had convinced me that what I really want to do with my life is go exploring for a living. I really want to travel all over and fully explore at least 6 tombs in each location. I think I’ll be able to do it too since just exploring this one tomb has made me more money than I had when I set off.

When I came out of the tomb I realized that it was night time. I guess time really flies when you’re having fun. I went back to the place I was staying to get some sleep. Unfortunately the only place they had available was a big dormitory style room with 8 beds in it. I didn’t mind too much though since it was fun talking to the other people that were staying there and I was used to sleeping with other people when I shared a room with my parents and then younger sisters.

In the morning I found out that there was a fully stocked fridge and kitchen. I decided to work on my cooking skill since practically all I had ever eaten was cake and I know that soon enough I might have to start cooking for myself, so I might as well start now!

Unfortunately my adventure in the kitchen was not as successful as my adventure the other day was. I ended up burning the waffles that I tried to make. Not being one to turn things down, I ate them anyway.

This time when I went to find the lady I saw that she was at the market. I quickly gave her the baseball. She was really happy about that and gave me some visa points.

I then immediately went to find another adventure. I was hoping to find another one that would send me to a tomb, but I had no such luck this time around. Before heading off I made sure to read the board more carefully and I found out that I had to go to the nectary and talk to a guy about helping him build a better nectar maker.

I set off to talk to him. He seems really nice and told me that I needed to talk to some lady and get her to give me plans that will help him build the best nectar maker ever. I agreed and he told me where I could find this lady.

When we met, I greeted her like a proper French person would, with a kiss on both cheeks. She told me that since she had no clue who I was she couldn’t possibly even consider giving me the plans. I was almost expecting that response so I got to making her a friend. I don’t know what dad has such a hard time gripping this concept. All I had to do was talk to her over and over for most of the day to get her to think of me as a friend and give me the plans.

It was too late to go back the nectary when I finally got what I wanted so I headed back to my place for some sleep and some food before going out again.

After I gave the guy what he wanted he mentioned to me that there were some secrets hidden down stairs. Hoping to be able to explore another tomb I set off to find all the different secret doors I could.

I was mildly successful, but I wish I could have gone further. I found a lot of nectar and ended up buying some racks so we could store it at home, but when I got as far as I could I was blocked by a locked door that must have required a keystone that I didn’t have. I sadly had to leave knowing that I’d have to return someday and finish exploring down here.

I didn’t have much time left in France, really just a few hours, so I decided to head to the market instead of trying to find another adventure. I stopped first at the food store because I was really hungry. I asked the merchant what he would recommend since I was willing to try anything. I ended up eating some frogs legs. They actually were pretty good.

My last stop was at the local bookstore. I wanted to be able to bring back something for the family since I had been gone so long. I decided that I would buy each of the skill books, cooking recipes, and fishing books. I still had some left over money, so I also bought a few random books. I know that mom really enjoys reading since she has nothing else to do, being cooped up in the house and everything. I think she uses the books as a way to escape from everything.

Since I had an hour left I decided to just talk to one of the locals. I met this funny boy. He asked me where I was from and when I told him I was from Riverview he seemed to think it was a different planet. I corrected him saying that my dad was from another planet, I was just from another country. Before I knew it the taxi was honking at me telling me it was time to go home.

When the taxi got me home safely I rushed inside to see how my family was doing. To my surprise they all were as if I never left. This was the first time anyone in my family had tried traveling before, but I guess I was in a different time stream and none of us aged at all. I showed my gifts to the family and they were really happy about them all.

All in all, I think this was a very successful trip and I can’t wait to go traveling again.