The Atwood DITFT: Generation 5, Chapter 1
Author's Note: Wow, I am finally finally doing this. I'm so sorry for my terrible absence! The content of this story was just too close to home for awhile. I think I'm finally ready to deal with it, and I'm actually hoping writing about it will help me in my real life. So, we'll see. In the meantime I've been playing a lot of the Richmonds, and have almost finished that legacy. Although it's generation 10, if you want to read it, it's totally not necessary to read any of the previous chapters. You could start here, the intro chapter of generation 10, if you're interested. It's a bit more light-hearted, which has been good for me lately. If you're not interested in jumping into the middle of a legacy you've never read, that's fine too. I will be starting a new for-fun legacy once I finish the Richmonds, so you can have that to look forward to! I realized I've missed playing in the regular style, since the way I play for a drama legacy is pretty different. Anyway, that's enough of me talking. Please enjoy the first chapter of Joey's generation, which is already FIVE! I'm so impressed with myself, ha.
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 5, Chapter 1
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Want to get caught up? Check out the archives.
Need to remember what's going on? Here is the last chapter of generation 4.
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“Joey, darling, what’s the matter?” Genie said softly, sitting on the edge of her daughter’s bed.
“I’m-I’m scared,” Joey whimpered. “Nightmares.”
“Sweetie, I know how hard those can be,” Genie said. “Just try to remember they aren’t real. None of that is real.”
“But you’re real, right?” Joey asked, looking up at her mother. Genie looked the same, although something about her features was almost… too perfect. Her hair too white to be blond, her eyes almost silvery instead of their usual blue.
“I’m here to warn you,” Genie said, her tone suddenly somber and deadly serious. She hadn’t answered the question, Joey noticed.
“Warn me about what?”
Genie stood up, her eyes shining terrifyingly. “Warn you that you are going to die!”
Joey whimpered but didn’t reply. Her entire body was shaking.
“Your father doesn’t want to tell you! But you are sick just like me, and you will die just like I did!” Genie said, her voice rising to a shrill scream. “The day is coming, closer and closer, every hour bringing you nearer to your own death!”
Joey screamed. “No!”
“Yes!” cackled Genie, swooping around the room. “You are going to die, going to die, going to die!”
Joey woke up screaming. “No! No! I don’t want to die! Mommy! No! Mommy, help!” She thrashed around in her sheets, but Genie was nowhere to be seen. It was just a dream. She knew that after a moment, knew it because she had had the same dream every night for months now.
Trembling uncontrollably, she sat up. Why hasn’t Daddy come in? she wondered. But she knew the answer. Daddy had never come in when she had nightmares. He never heard. That had always been Mommy’s job, something she wasn’t even sure Daddy knew about. And that was why this dream was especially terrifying-it started out familiar and comforting, her mom soothing her just like she had always done in the middle of the night.
Joey had an idea, then. She climbed out of bed and made her way out of her room, thinking, remembering. One of her earliest memories was of Genie coming into her room in the middle of the night after a nightmare. Joey had been unable to stop crying, so Genie had picked her up and carried her gently downstairs, where she set her down on the sofa. Then, Genie had gone to the grand piano and begun to play. She had played song after song, calmly, softly, until Joey’s cries subsided.
Joey found her way to the piano now, where she sat down carefully and began to tap the keys with her fingers.
* * *
Graham awoke with a start. He heard something that sounded like… a piano. Like Genie playing the piano in the middle of the night, as she had done so often before.
He struggled to keep the tears from coming. He recognized that melody. Genie always played this song. Why do I hear that? he wondered.
In the hallway, he stopped in his tracks. He hadn’t realized he’d gotten his hopes up until he felt the crushing sense of disappointment. Of course it’s not Genie, he berated himself. Genie is dead, and you have to remember that.
Instead, it was his beautiful daughter, playing from memory all the melodies Genie had once performed. Joey’s playing took Graham’s breath away. She had never once touched the piano. Yet here she was, playing almost as skillfully as Genie had done.
“Joey,” Graham said when the song came to a close. His daughter jumped violently and turned around, eyes wide as saucers. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry to startle you,” he said, coming closer to her.
She stood up from the piano warily, still looking as nervous as a horse in a thunderstorm.
“Joey, honey, what are you doing down here? It’s the middle of the night,” he said gently.
“I… couldn’t sleep,” Joey said. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t admit to the nightmares. Her dad had heard the piano but not her screams… maybe he didn’t want to know what kept her up at night.
“Here, come sit down,” Graham said. The two of them made their way to the sofa nearby. Graham didn’t know what to say. It was obvious his daughter was missing Genie just as much as he was. Why could he never bring himself to talk about it with her? He had to be strong for his Princess, he had to… but for the last few months, he hadn’t been able to.
It had been all right when his family was here. His siblings and some of their spouses had flown in from the various corners of the world in which they lived, holding a second funeral, taking care of all the cooking and cleaning and horse chores, and trying their hardest to be there for Joey.
Graham, feeling like he had somehow taken on the spirit of his wife, couldn’t bring himself to leave the bedroom. He slept all day in the spot where she had died, hoping every time he woke that he would see her there next to him. Each time he did not, it felt like the hole in his chest was being torn open all over again.
But the time with his siblings had eventually come to a close. His parents, a bit too old to travel, still called every day, but the rest of the time he was alone. That loneliness was crushing, something Graham had never known. He and Genie had been together since they were children. He had never thought to imagine life without her, and ever since he was eight years old he had not needed to. Sure, there were days, weeks, even months where she hadn’t left the bedroom, and other times where she had rarely come home. But at the end of the day, she had always, always been in bed beside him.
In the months since Genie had died, Graham felt like he had become a different person. Unable to bring himself to get out of bed most mornings, Joey more often than not got herself ready for school. Before, Graham had always cooked her breakfast, packed her lunch, helped her pick out her clothes. All that was gone. She did her homework without help now, and entertained herself during the afternoon. The only thing the two of them did together anymore was take care of the horses.
Sometimes, he could hardly look at her. Those bright blue eyes looked just like Genie’s, and often he couldn’t stand it.
As Graham sat with his daughter on the sofa at two in the morning that night, however, it felt like a slap in the face. He had vaguely heard her crying earlier, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to get up. It was only when he heard the piano and thought, in his half-asleep stupor, that it was Genie downstairs-only then did he get up. What kind of a father does that make me?
He forced himself to say something. “Is there anything you want to talk about, sweetheart?”
Joey looked at him tentatively, assessing. Did he really want to talk about it? Did he really want to know? How could she even put into words what she was feeling right now? Besides, she thought, he’s probably even sadder than me. I lost my mommy, but he lost his wife. Why should he feel sorry for me, anyway?
Then she thought of something from her dream. That would be a good thing to ask, she decided. “Daddy… how did Mommy die?” She had been told that her mother was very sick, but she needed to know more than that.
Graham sighed deeply. “Princess, your mother was… very sick.” He struggled to find words. “I know your aunts have told you some about this…”
“That’s all they said.” Joey nodded. “But sick with what? Was it…” she hesitated, “because of Sam?”
Graham swallowed. “Yes and no, sweetie. Let’s see.” He thought back to all the online forums he had been glued to the last few weeks, ‘how to explain suicide to children’ and things like that. Anytime he had the energy to read such things, that is. What had they advised, again? “Well, you know how everyone has a bunch of organs inside them, hearts and lungs and stomachs and things? And people’s different organs can get very sick and stop working properly.”
Joey nodded. “Like Grandpa’s legs?”
Graham thought about this. “Well, legs aren’t exactly an organ, but yes, it’s the same idea. Grandpa can’t walk because his legs don’t work quite right, so he uses a wheelchair.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, the brain is also an organ, and it can also get very sick. That’s what happened to your mother. It was partially because of the pain of losing your brothers, yes, but some of it was totally out of her control.”
“So… Mommy died from sadness? Because her brain couldn’t handle the sadness and it made it sick?” Joey asked.
“Something like that, yeah,” Graham said, nodding. He would tell Joey it had been a choice… well, later.
Joey twisted her hands together nervously, avoiding eye contact with Graham. “I’m… I’m sad too, Daddy… Am I going to die, too? Just like Mommy did?”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Graham said, feeling his chest ache. He pulled his daughter close to him. “No, Princess, you’re not going to die. I know it might feel like it right now, and I know it’s hard to understand what happened to your mom. But it’s not going to happen to you, I promise.”
Joey sniffled. “Okay.” They sat in silence for a little while. “Are you going to die too?” Then I would be all alone.
Graham sighed. “No, Princess, I’m not going to die either. I’m very sad, just like you are. But neither of us are going to die.” No matter how much I want to sometimes.
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So, this was more like an intermediate chapter between Graham's story and Joey's than a real first chapter. But I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Let me know what you thought, yeah? I'm kind of still in the early planning stages for some parts of Joey's story, which I guess is unusual for me (I tend to plan way ahead) but I'm excited to see where she ends up taking the story. To me the aftermath of Genie's death is just as important to explore as the events leading up to it (and those will be described in greater detail in a later chapter that I've already planned). So I'm excited, which isn't really the right word, to get into some of that with Joey and Graham here.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
PS: Did any of you watch Game of Thrones last night? Holy shit. I am still traumatized from that episode.