Generation 1, Chapter 12: I'm terrified of growing old

Friday evening, and things are really jolly tonight... Well, it's jolly to us, but probably not to other people. For once, Kaylin and I are doing something together as mother and daughter. Sadly, that "something" is watching movies in Kaylin's room.

"Kaylin, honestly, we've watched this movie a hundred times before - why do you feel the need to watch it again?" I groan, my mouth angled right against the covers which causes my question to come out sounding muffled.

"Because it's a classic," Kaylin states, still engorged in the film. "And because you wanted to watch something with me, and this was the only thing I had available."

A soft tap against the door grabs Kaylin's attention, and she sighs. "It seems we might have a visitor tonight!" With a lazy attitude, she gets up to open the door, which allows Bridget to crawl into the room.

"Aww, sweetie, are you tired?" I smile to my youngest daughter, who's staring at me with big, beautiful blue eyes. She stubbornly shakes her head, to which Kaylin and I both sigh.

"This is gonna be a long night," Kaylin comments.

I scoop my little angel into my arm, tickling her stomach till giggles erupt from her. It's the first step to tiring this toddler out. The second step would be to play with her till she passes out, but luckily, I can skip this step - for her birthday, Alex got her a cute, new swing, that might put her to sleep for tonight.

For the rest of the evening, I act like a clown, and if I was in the presence of normal people, my reputation would have been done for. Bridget cackles loudly at any face I pull, which shows you just how tired she actually is.

"Are you starting to see the sheep that are riding on a rainbow, on their way to fetch you and take you away to LaLa Land?" I coo. Bridget gives a sluggish nod, and her eyes start to droop. "Alrighty, then, sweetie. Just rest your head against of the sheep's warm fur coat, and you'll have the most wonderful dreams."

And with that, Bridget drifts off to sleep, and I head to bed, exhausted.

After a whole night of tossing and turning, without getting too much sleep, I get up early and freshen up for the day ahead. The first thing I do is knock at Keegan's door, as he planned to go to a friend's house today.

"Keegan, if you don't open this door in five seconds, I'm gonna barge in there and...," I don't finish my threat, and stand back to count the seconds. After exactly five seconds, I open the door...

...And find out my boy is still fast asleep.

Grabbing the remote off of his cupboard, I switch the TV on, and skip till I find the music channel, turning the volume loud enough to wake the entire household. And possibly the neighbors as well.

"Like, seriously mom, I'm trying to sleep here," Keegan points out in a monotone voice.

"That much I noticed. Now, get up, go shower and get dressed. I don't think your friend would like seeing you in your PJ's."

There's no need to wake Kaylin, as she's up and dressed early for her first riding lesson with Odyssey. As much as Kaylin loves pets, she doesn't seem too skilled at handling them.

"Mom. Help. Me. Please," Kaylin begs, as she tries to mount Odyssey.

"I can't, Kaylin," I mutter. "You have to figure it out for yourself. I did as well, and trust me, I didn't do half as well as you're doing - I did it with heels."

"That kinda makes me feel better," she answers a little more confidently.

Confident or not, terror still manages to creep onto Kaylin's face.

I watch on as Kaylin "confidently" leads Odyssey around the backyard, and laugh when she almost falls off of the horse's back.

"Mom, stop laughing at me! I'm sure you made mistakes like this in your youth," Kaylin grumbles in my direction.

"My youth? Honey, I'm still young!" I frown.

"Sure, sure," she shrugs. "Whatever makes you happy."

That remark stung real deep; it's hard when your children start viewing you as "old".

Alex is nowhere to be seen around the house, so I head to the attic to gather my thoughts, and funnily enough, that's where I find him. His entire demeanor seems...closed, almost hostile.

"Y'know, before leaving the house, Keegan asked if I've spotted any grey hairs on my head yet, seeing as their teacher already has them, and he is supposedly as old as me. That really ruined my day."

"Mine too," I sigh. "Kaylin pretty much confessed to me that she thinks I'm old. And that thought scares me."

That's the biggest thing Alex and I have in common: we're both terrified of growing old. To not be able to play with your kids (or grandkids), run rampant in the streets, dress up in the latest fashions... Those are some of the things that bother me.

Biting back the tears, I hug my husband from behind, and pull him backwards, away from the flames. "It's nature. We can't fight nature. We're gonna get old, die, and there's nothing we can do about it."

A few seconds pass before Alex responds. "There might be something we can do about it."

Alex points at the stairs, and leads me down to the dining room. With a shifty look in his eyes, he pulls out a box from under the table.

"How come I've never noticed that box?" I frown.

"I brought in only yesterday," he explains. He uncovers the lid, and pulls out two flasks filled with steaming, pink liquid.

"This... This could be our future."

"Oh, really? Two 'magical' potions? What do they do? Turn us into ponies for an hour?" I ask sarcastically.

"No. They keep us young forever. Y'see, there's something called a 'Young Again' potion some scientists created in Bridgeport. This is just something more developed - an 'Age Freeze' potion. It could keep us young forever, and we'll never have to die." 

"Are you... Are you serious? Drinking this will grant us eternal life?" I ask, carefully picking the potion up from the table. "We can live forever, without having to become vampires?"

"Yes. That's the greatest part - we don't become abominations, and don't effect  Mother Nature in any way. This is all science."

Hands shaking, I bring the cold bottle to my lips, and chuck it down. The feeling that overwhelms me... I can't describe it. But if I had to, I would say it's like a thousand "pins and needles" pricking at me, all over my body. And goosebumps - I definitely felt those.

Looking over at Alex, I see how much confidence and self assurance he has that the potion will work, and he drinks it without hesitating. A smile pops up on his face.

"I feel different, yet exactly the same. 

What Alex said proves to be right; as I stare at myself in the mirror, I know that I'm somehow different, but I feel and look exactly the same. Only time will tell, whether or not the potion really worked.

"You know, you would look beautiful, even with grey hair," Alex murmurs, and twirls me around to face him. For a long moment he stares into my eyes, and I stare into his.

"But would I look beautiful, even with hundreds of wrinkles, plastered all of over my face?"

"You would. You'll always be a beautiful person to me, Rose, because of your caring personality."

I'm not ashamed to say that I cry as he admits this.

Filled with new joy, I literally skip my way up the stairs to Bridget's room to make sure she's not up to trouble. I softly open the door, and peek in, watching as she's busy playing with a doll.

But it's not just any doll.

It's the accursed "Keegan" doll, complete with the black clothing.

How is it possible that it keeps appearing?!

Will we ever be free of it?

~♥~

Hi there, hope everyone is having an awesome Saturday so far. Thanks for reading this short-but-sweet (hopefully sweet) chapter!

Okay, I have some sad news. The next chapter... Will be the last chapter of this generation. I will be ending it at 13 chapters, for this generation only - the next  few generations will definitely be longer, chapterwise.

I'm gonna explain how it'll work: The story for the next chapter will be narrated out of Kaylin's POV, and I will have done a time skip, to where Bridget is already a teen.

I'm still debating whether or not to put up a poll for the heir vote, but to be honest, I actually want Kaylin to take over as heir.

OH, and for those wondering why on Earth I used those potions... All will be explained at the end of the next chapter.

;)