1.25 - End of Generation 1

That morning, Erika woke up late.  It was a weekend and she was feeling lazy.  Not that she'd been going to school.  She'd pretty much worked from home the entire rest of school and had only gone in to take her finals.  The school had been very accommodating, letting her work from home and arranging for her to take her finals in a room without distractions... or anyone staring at her.  And now she was done with school.  She wouldn't officially graduate until tomorrow.  But before then was the big day, her birthday.

When she finally did manage to get herself out of bed and dressed she emerged from her room to find her mother waiting for her.  At first she was surprised to see her mother there.  True, it was the weekend, but her mother usually was catching up on sleep on a day like this or working from home.  She had been making more of an effort recently to be around for Erika in case she 'needed her' but even then it was just casually being nearby.

"Um... morning, Danisha.  Is something the matter...?" Erika asked uncertainly as she looked at her mother.

"Matter?  Nothing's the matter!" Danisha exclaimed quickly.  Looking just as awkward as Danisha felt.  "So... um.  How did you sleep?  Did you get all of your work in to the school on time?" she asked, looking even more painfully awkward as she tried to make conversation.

"I slept fine.  And yes, I did," Erika replied, eying her mother suspiciously.  Danisha noticed the way her daughter was looking at her and sighed.  She'd never really gotten good at these motherly conversations.  It was one of many regrets she had.

"So, today is your big day," Danisha murmured instead, and now Erika understood why she was doing this.  She looked sad, nostalgic, and a little bit happy.  Probably because her youngest was now about to become an adult.  And where did that leave her?  Erika felt a pang of sympathy for her mother.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Erika agreed, smiling back at her mother.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?" Danisha asked, wondering if Erika was going to move out right away the way Nielson had.  She wondered what she'd do with herself when she was all alone.  But given how she'd been acting for the bulk of her children's lives it probably wouldn't be that different, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Well, I'm going to get a job right away.  I already have a place in mind," Erika admitted, not specifying what job it was.  If her mother pushed for more than that she'd have to lie about what type of job it was, so hopefully that would be enough to satisfy her mother's curiosity.  "And hopefully Collin won't take too long to propose," she added with a dreamy smile.

"You know, you could always propose to him," Danisha suggested.

"No way.  I want it to be perfect.  He'll take me to the beach or to a fancy restaurant... get down on one knee..." Erika explained, her face going dreamy.

"It sounds like you have quite the dream.  I hope it goes exactly as you plan," Danisha responded with a smile.  She remembered how romantic it had been when Nielson had proposed to her in her grandmother's garden.  She hoped that Erika had a similar experience.

"Oh, it will," Erika assured with a smile.  "And I hope you don't mind if I don't move out right away.  I want to move out into my dream house so it may take a little while before Collin and I have our own place," she added, and Danisha felt a rush of relief.

"Of course that's all right.  Take as long as you like," Danisha assured.

"As long as I like?  No offense, but I don't want to be starting a family in this little two bedroom apartment.  That would be a bit too cramped," she commented with a grin.

"I suppose so," Danisha agreed with a laugh.

When the laughter faded, Danisha felt a wave of regret hit her again.  How many more happy memories like this might she have had if she had spent more time with her children.

"You've grown up into a fine young woman, Erika," Danisha murmured, looking ready to cry.  Before Erika could respond she wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug.

Erika wasn't entirely sure what to do in response.  It was rather painful and hard to breathe in her mother's vice-like grip, but at the same time she could count on one hand how many times her mother had hugged her like this since she was a child so she was reluctant to end it.

The hug was ended for them when the doorbell rang.  "I wonder who that could be..." Danisha commented.  She pulled back from Erika, which she was secretly grateful for.  Awkward family moment had been awkward.  She watched her mother leave the room and then looked around, trying to remember what she'd come in here for.

Breakfast, that's right.   She was about to go get food when she heard a voice behind her.

"Erika, look who it is," Danisha commented and Erika turned to see Collin standing there.

"Hey," he greeted.

"You came!" Erika exclaimed, trying not to seem too excited.  She'd actually been planning on going to his house later, but seeing him come here for her made her even happier.

"Of course I did, it's your big day, after all," Collin replied with a smile.  He'd been a little hesitant to come over given what had happened the last time he was here, but it seemed that Erika's mother either hadn't noticed what they'd done or had chosen to pretend she hadn't noticed so Collin was going to pretend nothing had happened along with her.

"I'm glad you're here.  It wouldn't have felt much like a celebration without you hear," Erika responded coyly.  Blushing and glancing invitingly up at him.  She probably should have been a bit more subtle with her mother standing a few feet away, but Danisha already knew she was going to marry this boy so she was sure her mother wouldn't be too shocked.

"Well, I'm happy I could make your day," Collin replied, blushing at Erika's words.  He was also aware that Erika's mother was standing right there, but with Erika looking at him expectantly like that there was no way he could resist stealing a kiss.

"If I didn't know already that I was the only one you've kissed, I'd wonder where you learned to kiss like that," Erika commented breathlessly when they parted.  It would never even occur to her that Collin might have kissed someone else over the course of his life.  He was her perfect man, that made him just for her.  If he ever did lay eyes on another girl it could only be because she'd somehow bewitched him, and Erika would make that girl pay dearly for that.  She wouldn't tolerate anyone else putting their hands on him.

"I... I..." Collin stuttered, blushing furiously at Erika praising his kissing skills.  What was a guy really supposed to say to that?  Collin certainly didn't know.

He wanted to lean in and kiss her again just so she'd praise him more, but Danisha cleared her throat, awkwardly ruining the moment.  "I bought cake for the special occasion," Danisha announced, producing a cake for her daughter and setting it on the table.  And she totally hadn't ruined that moment intentionally before the teenagers went into a full make-out session.  Of course not.

"You really didn't have to do that, mom," Erika commented, being sincere in that.  All those calories and processed sugars...  She eyes the cake uncertainly.

"Don't worry, it's not the cake I got your brother.  It's supposed to be healthier.  Sugar-free and low calorie or something," Danisha assured quickly.  Of course, she wasn't all too sure how it was going to taste, but at least this way her daughter would be willing to give it a try.

Erika was honestly touched that her mother had known all of that and had gotten her a cake to suit her tastes.  Maybe her mother paid more attention to her than she thought...

"Well?  Are you going to blow out the candles now?" Danisha prompted and Erika smiled and took her place by the cake.

Despite all of Danisha's misgivings she was excited to see her daughter growing up into a woman.  She'd always be sad about the times she'd missed but she also could continue making memories with her adult daughter too and focused on that as she cheered for Erika.

"Make sure you make a wish!" she encouraged happily.

Her mother's encouragement caught Erika off-guard.  A wish?  What did she have to wish for?  Everything was going exactly according to her plan.  The only thing she could 'wish' for was that her scar would magically disappear, but no amount of wishing would make that happen.  Still, her mother seemed to expect it so she made a great show of thinking up a wish.  Not that she could really do any thinking with Collin blowing his party favor directly into her ear.

Still, she made a show of having decided on the perfect wish and then leaned down to blow out the candles.  She had no hesitation or trepidation about becoming an adult.  She'd been eager to be an adult since she was a child.  Now she would finally have the ability to do something about her plan to perfect this city.

The first thing she wanted to do as an adult was rush to a mirror to see how she looked.  But that simply wasn't an option yet.  It would be rude to leave Collin and her mother standing there while she looked at her self.  One thing she was aware of was that most of her missing hair had grown back.  It wasn't as long as the rest of her hair, but that was easily solved by cutting the rest of her hair to that length.  She did prefer long hair over short, but she could live with this length.  And it was just long enough to cast the imperfect side of her face in shadows.  She was sure, shaded by her hair, the scar would be mostly concealed.  Just another example of how shadow and darkness could perfect the imperfect.

"You look amazing, Erika," Collin praised with a smile.  Erika smiled back at him, although she couldn't take him on his word.  It seemed that even if she turned into a hideous mutant he would still find her beautiful for some inexplicable reason so just because he called her beautiful didn't make her so.

Still, she was flattered by the praise.  "Thank you," she replied, taking a seat with her cake.  Collin and Danisha helped themselves as well and enjoyed a conversation at the table.  Collin was sorry to say that he wouldn't be able to come to Erika's graduation.  He had his last day of school that day and couldn't afford to ditch.  Erika couldn't imagine Collin ditching school anyway and assured him it was fine.  Instead she promised to stop by his house after school so that she could celebrate his birthday with him.

By the time they had finished eating and cleaned up it was late.  "You should get going, you do have school tomorrow," Erika reminded him, even if she wanted him to spend the night with her.

"All right," Collin agreed, heading towards the door.  "Oh, wait!  I almost forgot something," he announced, grinning widely as he turned back to Erika.

"Forgot something?" she repeated.

"It's your birthday, right?  Well, happy birthday!" Collin announced, before producing a present he'd stowed by the door when he came in so he could surprise Erika.  And Erika was very surprised.  She expected her mother to get her a present for her birthday, but for some reason she hadn't thought Collin would get her something.  For a moment she was hopeful that it might be an engagement ring... but Collin was still a teenager, and the box was much too big to hold just a ring.  Still, she was happy Collin had gotten her anything.

"I hope you like it.  I may or may not have had my mother help me pick it out," Collin admitted sheepishly.

"I'm sure it will be perfect," Erika assured, smiling at Collin.  This seemed to reassure him and he smiled back at her.

She opened the present up and sighed happily over the beautifully decorated jewelry box that it held within.  "It's lovely," she assured with a smile.  She set it down and wrapped her arms around Collin.  She wanted to do more, but he was still a teenager.  She could hold back until tomorrow night anyway.

"I'm glad you like it," Collin replied with a smile as he returned the hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow night, then," Erika assured as they finally parted.

"I'm looking forward to it," Collin replied with a smile.  Despite her restraint, Collin did give her a kiss to the cheek before he finally went out the door.  Erika sighed and picked up her new jewelry box, admiring it and momentarily forgetting her rush to look at herself properly in the mirror.  Already her life was looking just as perfect as she had always planned it would be.


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I was originally planning on making this the first chapter of generation 2, but I ended up making it the end of generation 1 instead.  Next chapter will be 2.1 since Erika will be an adult for the entire chapter.  Not a lot happened in this chapter.  I originally planned on making it longer to include Erika starting her new career but I'm holding off on that.  I'll be keeping that secret for now, although some of you might have already guessed it.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  I look forward to reading your comments!