Chapter 109 - Soaring Through Isn't my daughter beautiful? She's just so bright and colorful, pink fireworks surrounding her.
Liya was more excited about my birthday than I was, so I let her throw a big formal party with both her friends and mine. She wore her party dress and ran around setting up lights, taking food from the fridge to the table, and kicking the paparazzi off the lot.
I may be the only person in this dynasty who is actually
looking forward to becoming an elder. I can't wait for the golden years of my existence! Well--orange years, anyway. Besides, the sooner I become immortal, the sooner this dynasty ends and I spend forever with Jer-bear.
Don't look different, don't feel different. Wait, there is something--I see the butterflies swirling faster and faster, swooping around my head and towards the sky. A deep, infinite mind is pressed up against mine, separated only by a thin layer of sparkling wings. It won't be long, now.
The way I see it, elderhood is not a door closing, but a window letting orange light stream through. It may not be as bright and sparkly, but it's still there.
Posing in the art room, I looked out the window to see something truly beautiful: my daughter, my beautiful daughter, holding the fishing pole out over the water with a dreamy look in her eyes, as if she's seeing an entirely different picture.
My predecessors were hard at work all night, making the final keys to my immortality. I stayed up with Jerry, holding hands in the living room and laughing at the latest episode of the Bachelorette*, like nothing else mattered. I'm rooting for Uncle Nathaniel, and Jerry is a fan of Dimitri, because they're both writers.
A new door has appeared in the wall behind the house, a door that is clearly meant for me.
"
Hi!" I said cheerfully, waving at the mirror.
The face took a few minutes to appear. "Percy! Put that vase down!" It cleared its throat and glanced at me. "Sorry, Mikayla dear, it's so hard to train the help. Now, is it time for your Ambrosia? Already? Seems too soon."
"The happiest life is the fastest one, I suppose."
"
I have had the happiest life," I agreed. "
Perfect parents, perfect husband, perfect career, perfect daughter--"
"And you're way too optimistic! But I thought I should let you know that you're a huge fan favorite with the commoners--I mean, readers. I've enjoyed our relationship, too. You've been closer to me than any other immortal."
I walked down the long, long hall to Jerry's memorial. Every picture, every memory. It should have been painful, but I just felt a deep sense of peace. We were young, once upon a time. Now we are old. It changes nothing.
Past the wall that belonged to my father and mother. I had known them as adults, but the young, beautiful people in these photographs were barely familiar! They were once young, I was once young, now we are all old, and my daughter will be old someday.
I've seen Bianca in the pictures in Grandma Kara's room, but these are even more . . . something. A red fog is descending on me, clamping down on my aura, grinding my optimism beneath its heel. It's so strange--I've never felt this way before.
Then I see Miles, and I realize what the fog is. There are hardly any pictures of him on the wall, and the largest one has photos of Bianca on the wall behind him! I feel so guilty for him, even if I don't know him and had nothing to do with his pain. I need to fix this, even if it takes me one hundred more years.
I raise my fork above the Ambrosia, which has an aura like nothing I've ever seen before. It's like time and space coming together into a tiny, beautiful rainbow glow.
Daddy tossing me up and down in my little bunny suit, playing in the dollhouse with the toddler who would become my husband, screaming at Zykara Ludaris as just a little child, feeling the butterflies around me and suddenly realizing that I was the only one who could see them . . . Cleo's soft fur between my fingers, her tongue licking my palm, water balloons splashing against my face as I shriek with laughter, playing astronaut with my little toy radio . . .
. . . the explosion of ecstasy I experienced the first time I kissed Jerry, listening to him breathe across the room at night, the joy of making a broken radio play music, working for hours on Level B2, the petals fluttering down at the wedding ceremony, orange lights illuminating the house, the thrill of watching Jerry leap through fire, waving my cell phone in the air with the rest of the crowd, my first trip zooming through the stars to confront the alien commander, kicking her rear end, meeting the Watcher for the first time and being given a cryptic riddle . . .
. . . the pain of Daddy dying, watching Mama become a recluse, crying on Jerry's shoulder and knowing that we would have what we had craved most desperately. A child. The most perfect, beautiful child in the entire world, a daughter with an aura of fireworks and pink-streaked hair.
The fog has lifted, and butterflies soar through the wisps to take flight, at last.
Guess what I got a tattoo of?
My entire life has been so peaceful, yet exciting. I was a toddler when my parents first realized I was
special, and instead of running away from that they accepted how different I was for the rest of the world and were proud of it. I first met Jerry as a toddler, believe it or not, and I knew right away that he was the butterfly for me. As a child, I met someone else very important--Zykara Ludaris. I vowed, then and there, to stop her, and first began to cultivate my dream of becoming an astronaut.
I remember being thrilled and relieved when Jerry could finally talk to me, and I to him, and we fell in love despite the family relationship. He was always the one for me. My young adulthood was absolutely wonderful--I married my panda bear and watched him become a world-renowned acrobat, while I became the youngest astronaut in Sunset Valley history.
I know I am special, because I choose my adulthood as the stage I would like to relive the most. I was at the top of my career, married to the most beautiful man in the world, and watched my parents enjoy their own golden years. Then Daddy died, and I was able to overshadow the gray with a pink firecracker. As for being an elder? I don't have a very good idea of it yet, but it's fun so far!
My name is Mikayla Elysi, and I am the Sixth Immortal. Also, ducks are awesome. See? The ducks down there? They're so cute!
*The Sims version of the Bachelorette is hosted by Ombradellarosa on the Miscellaneous Stories board. The opinions expressed by characters in this story do not necessarily represent the opinions of the writer or characters. Thank you.
