Living in The Dark- Baby 11

The first thing to do after Colin is born is to age the two boys up. I personally wouldn't mind a baby and a toddler, but Bella has been a bit lonely since Sapphire aged up, so maybe Duncan can strike up a friendship with her. 

Duncan as a child. The second he aged up, a spark of intelligence came to his eye and he began observing everything. He quickly adjusted to being a child and literally RAN to the computer to play chess. Tyler would have gotten along great with him. 

Colin as a toddler. I was pleased to see that he got his father's blonde hair and most likely his highlights and tip colors. He was crossed eyed for a few minutes after aging up. I was getting worried but he uncrossed his eyes and started grinning. After Bella, I'm sensitive to eye problems. 

Colin was being a very easy, so I took the time to straighten up the house. I wrinkled my nose as I smelled the plates that had been left out. Bella, Sapphire, and Luke all try to be neat, but Chase? Forget it. Tyler wasn't Mr. Spotless either. 

I listen to Cookie racing around on his wheel. His food bowl is empty and his cage is a mess. Getting rid of Cookie is getting more likely, the kids pretty watch ignore him, aside from Bella. Maybe when Bella moves out, I'll give her Cookie. She's the only one that really seems to like him. 

I was walking down the street when the bus dropped the triplets off. Sapphire saw Colin and I made a beeline towards us. Chase wasn't far behind, but Luke was trying to keep up. 

"Will you guys slow down?" Luke complained. 

"Your supposed to be the athletic one."  Chase said. 

"Is that our new sibling?" Sapphire squealed.

"Yep. His name is Colin." I said. 

"He's so CUTE!" Sapphire screeched. 

Chase winced. "Cut it out!" 

"Lighten up Chase." Luke said. 

Chase frowned. "Says the guy that-"

"Hi!" Colin yelled, just as the boys were about to start fighting. The boys looked at him, then burst out laughing. 

"Good job." I whispered into Colin's ear. He smiled in reply. 

Just as I hoped, Duncan and Bella seemed to get along. Sapphire seemed a little hurt by this, but she just listened and ate her grilled cheese. 

"So maybe I'll go into the science career when I age up. If my eyesight gets better that is." 

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Duncan said. 

"I can't see well." Bella said. 

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Duncan said. 

"Duncan, knock it off." Sapphire said. "Speaking of aging up, you have an A right?" 

"Yeah." Bella said. "I hope I can age up tonight or maybe tomorrow." 

"We can do that." I said, hovering by the archway. 

Bella looked at me, or least where she thought I was standing. "Really?" she said. 

"Yeah. How about tomorrow after dinner?" I said. 

"Oh my gosh mom! Thank you!" Bella squealed. She slowly got up and hugged Sapphire. 

"I can't wait to be a teen!" Bella said. 

Sapphire smiled. "Hey Mom!" she said. "Can we go do something together? Just the 3 of us?" 

"Why not." I said.

"Great! Let's play some video games!" Bella said. 

"Bella, you can't-" Sapphire started. 

"I'll manage." Bella said. 

"Sapphire, where am I going?" Bella squeaked, squinting. 

"You just crashed into a wall!" Sapphire said. "Ah, Mom just passed me!" 

"I'll beat you all!" I grinned.

"Bella, you got a speed boost! USE IT, USE IT!" 

"What button do I press?" Bella yelled. 

"You just lost it." Sapphire groaned. "And mom won." 

"Victory!" I cackled. 

We played about a half dozen more rounds before Sapphire went upstairs to bed. Bella and I continued to play, but the game was hard for Bella to play without Sapphire guiding her. I tried my best, but Bella still kept missing turns and crashing into things. She refused to give up though. 

"Mom, I'm scared." Bella said suddenly. "About aging up." 

I sighed. "Well, your older brother-"

"I'm not talking about that." Bella said. "What if my eyesight gets worse? I don't want to live completely blind." 

"Bella..." I said. "The doctor said it may get better-"

"It's more likely to get worse though." Bella said.

"The doctors are trying to figure out how to fix it." I said. 

"I know." she sighed. "But what if-" 

I got up and hugged her. "Bella, we don't know. But you need to stop worrying. You are going to be fine."

"Alright Mom." she whispered. 

"Do you still want to age up?" I asked. 

"Yes." she said. "I wanna be with Sapphire." 

"Alright. Goodnight Bella." I said, leading her to her bed. 

"Night ma." she said. 

I had just stepped out the shower the next morning when I saw my reflection on the shower. Was my hair... yellow? Rubbing my head, I looked down and saw bright yellow dye all over my hands. One frantic shower later, my hair was back to normal. I couldn't figure out who did it either. I decided to let it slide and go teach Colin something. 

"Alright Colin." I said, setting him on the potty chair. "Ready to be out of diapers?" 

"Diapers yucky." Colin said. "Smell bad." 

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. How'd he figure out how to talk?

"Good for you. No more diapers for Colin."

"No diapers!" Colin cheered. 

Then we moved on to walking. Colin found it easy and he didn't fall once. He had a big grin on his face, clearly ready to go. His eyes her brimming with intelligence.

I guess the neglect got to poor Cookie because he passed away when I was teaching Colin. I cleaned out his cage and told the triplets who had just walked in that he had died. Chase and Luke just shrugged, but Sapphire seemed a tad upset. She didn't say anything, she just went to do her homework.

Then it was time for Bella to join Sapphire as a teen. 

Bella's beautiful long hair was chopped off, but not by her choice. When she stepped away from the birthday cake, she fell over. 

"Bella!" Sapphire and I had screamed, rushing to her side. Her glasses had fallen off her face and she had crushed them.

"I can't see anything!" Bella cried. "It's all dark... I'm blind, I'm blind!" 

Sapphire and I tried in vain to calm Bella down, but it was no use. She was hysterical. On top of that, she hit the knife I had put out for cutting the cake with her head when she fell. The knife wasn't nearly sharp enough to stab her, but it did manage to cut all of Bella's beautiful hair off. With help from Sapphire, I managed to put her hair into a suitable style for Bella. I couldn't believe how close Bella was to being rushed to the hospital.  

Losing her hair was the least of Bella's worries, along with her brush with death. She was freaking out. The only way I could somewhat calm her down was by telling her I would make an appointment with the doctor after breakfast tomorrow. Bella wasn't happy that I was waiting, but by the time Bella would finally be seen by a doctor, it would be close to midnight. 

Sapphire seemed to know how to calm Bella down. She calmly picked up the guitar in the study and began strumming. All of her siblings watched her as she plucked each string. Bella seemed hypnotized by her music, her eyes huge, not saying a word. 

The next morning, I mastered the cooking skill! I would have been ecstatic, but I was worried about Bella. From what she had said last night, she was now completely blind and it didn't seem like they could fix it. I was incredibly worried. On top of that, a challenge father decided that they wanted to be in the challenge TODAY, so it was going to be hard to juggle everything. I just hoped he wasn't picky like Colin's dad. 

Here's a picture of him by the way. His name is Spark Falcon and was MUCH more agreeable then the most challenge father. 

While I was with Spark, Sapphire decided to continue teaching Colin to walk. All the time with Bella made Sapphire realize there's nothing more important to her then family. She has always made time for her siblings and loves them to bits, no matter what. Sapphire is the only child that I've had so far that really understands why I'm doing the challenge. 

"Are you ready?" I asked Bella as we stood outside the hospital. 

"As ready as I'll ever be." Bella said, her slight smiling wavering. 

I put my arm around her and guided her inside the hospital. 

There wasn't a lot of people in the waiting room. I saw Jason, but I only had time to wave before a doctor called Bella's name. It was the same doctor that had checked over Bella as a toddler. 

"So, anything new Bella?" the doctor said, sitting down in a chair. 

"I can't see." Bella said quietly. 

He sighed. "Your mother informed us of that." he turned to me. "We need to run a few tests on Bella before I can tell you what the next course of action is." 

"Of course. Bella?"

"Alright." she said. The doctor put a hand on her shoulder and guided her out. 

About an hour later, they came back, Bella looking grim, the doctor worried. 

"Miss Falls, can I speak to you in the hallway?" he asked. 

I nodded and stepped outside. The doctor closed the door.

"It's just as I feared. Bella is now completely blind." he said. 

"Is there any way to fix this?" I asked. 

"Well, there is one way. We can perform a surgery on her eyes." 

"Okay..."

"However, it is a very risky operation. Most patients don't survive and if they do, they have severe brain damage. I would advise against the surgery, but it's the only way to restore her sight."

"I see..." I said slowly.

"I've already spoken with Bella about the surgery. I think you should talk this over at home." he said. 

I nodded. "Thank you doctor." I sighed. 

The ride home was silent. We were both lost in thought. Bella could either never see again or most likely die on the operating table. It was a lose-lose situation. I didn't want to lose Bella, but I didn't want her to never see anything again. 

"Hey guys!" Sapphire said brightly when the two of us walked in the door. "I just finished teaching Colin to walk. I'm just starting to teach him to talk and he's already speaking full sentences! How cool is that?" 

"Good job." I said quietly, walking past her to the shower. 

Sapphire looked at Bella. "Are you guys okay?" she asked Bella. 

Bella sighed. "We'll tell you later." she murmured. 

I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on my thoughts after my shower. The boys shower had broken and needed to be fixed. But after I had mopped the floor, nothing to do. The only thing that needed cleaning was the toilet and Sapphire was cleaning it. I could continue teaching Colin to talk... yes, I would do that. I needed to get away from my thoughts. 

Sapphire knew something was wrong, so she took on the task of making dinner. The only thing she knew how to make though was macaroni and cheese, so that's what she made. It turned out pretty good, but Sapphire insisted mine was better. 

After dinner came the conversation I was dreading.

"Mom, I've thought about it..." Bella said to me. "I want the surgery."

"Bella, you could die!" I said. "I can't..." 

I wanted to forbid her from having the surgery, tell her she'd have to suck it up and be blind. But how did I know? I could see. Bella used to, but it was ripped away from her when she aged up. What gave me the right to forbid her from even seeing her sibling's faces? 

"Mom, I want the surgery. I don't care if I get brain damage or even die, I want at least die knowing that we tried to do something-" 

"Bella don't!" Sapphire cried. I hadn't even realized she was there. "You can't die! I won't let you!" 

"I have to-" Bella said. 

"No you don't! You can stay here! Who cares if your blind-"

"I care!" Bella yelled. "You don't know what it's like, not seeing the sky anymore, not even knowing what your eating... I can't even see you smile at me Sapphire! I can't live like this!" At that point, her voice broke and she burst into tears. 

The boys had come over to see what was going on. I was going to shoo them off, but then Luke spoke up. 

"Sapphire, it's her choice." Luke said. 

"Of course you don't care." Sapphire, said, her voice full of scorn. "You don't even like her."

"I do too like her!" Luke said.   

"We all like Bella!" Duncan piped up. "When she was a child, she helped me with my homework!" 

"Sapphire, we all want Bella to live. But she wants her sight back." Chase said. "She's willing to die for it. I know you don't want her to die, but it's her choice."

Sapphire stared at all of us, eyes wide. "You all are heartless!" she screamed before running off to the study. 

Chase was about to go after her, but I stopped him. "I'll do it. You get Colin to bed." 

I followed Sapphire into the study, where she was painting. "Go away." she mumbled. 

"Sapphire, I know your upset..." I began. 

"That's an understatement." she mumbled. 

"But this is Bella's choice. She wants to see." 

"At the cost of dying?" she said. 

"She just wants to have her sight back. She could see before, but now it's been taken away from her and she wants it back. She just wants to be normal. I don't agree with her decision, but it's her choice. I'm her mother Sapphire and I'm yours too. This is just as hard for me as it is for you. I don't want Bella to feel like we're holding her back."

Sapphire didn't say anything for a moment. "When's she going into surgery?" Sapphire asked. 

"Monday."

Sapphire bit her lip. "Can I visit her after school?"

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" I asked. 

She shrugged. 

"Tomorrow is her last day at home. Let's make it special okay?" I asked. 

Sapphire nodded. 

I smiled. "Now let's go get into bed." 

It was a peaceful night until a robber decided to break into our house. I told the kids to get back into bed while I watched to see the outcome. Luckily the cop won, but I wasn't happy that my kids refused to sleep. After I promised them a big batch of chocolate chip waffles, they finally agreed to go to bed. 

Our house was slow to come alive the next morning. As promised, I made a big batch of chocolate chip waffles. It was decided we would go to Central Park. Chase need to shower, but he said he would meet us there instead of holding us up. 

I don't think I need to say anything about our day. The pictures say it all. 

All too soon, it's time to leave the beautiful park. Dinner is served and we all sit down for a family meal. It's a struggle not to cry as I look at Bella. Will this be our last family meal together? Will this be her last night at home? 

Will she live? 

Then the dishwasher breaks. Again. I swear, this thing breaks more then everything in our house combined. It's not like I have anything to do though. Colin's in bed and the kids are all cleaning or talking to Bella. I want a moment to talk to her, but this dishwasher needs to be fixed first. 

I never get a chance to. By the time I screw in the last bolt, it's close to ten and the kids are heading up to bed. I sigh and head upstairs. There's always tomorrow. 

Sleep doesn't come easy for any of us that night. I can hear the boys whispering and Sapphire trying to keep her sobs quiet as I toss and turn in my bed. Eventually my eyes close and I dream of emptiness and desolation. 

We all wake up early, but no one wants to go back to bed. Chat is idle as the kids get up and come downstairs. Everyone looks at Bella, but no words are spoken. Sapphire's eyes are red and the second she sees Bella, she rushes off to paint. Breakfast is even worse. No one says a word as they look around the room and look away when they catch each other's gaze. 

As the minutes to eight draw nearer, everyone suddenly bursts with life. Bella is surrounded by her siblings who are hugging her, teasing her, wishing her good luck. Then the bus honks and everyone makes sure to give Bella another hug before they reluctantly head to the bus, Bella and I to the hospital. 

As we are just about to walk through the hospital doors, Bella suddenly hugs me with a fierce grip. 

"Mom, if I die-" she said.

"Let's not say that." I said. 

"Let's be realistic mom. If I die, don't stop the challenge. on't let my death hold you back. Mourn me yes, but don't let it stop you from completing your goal."  

"Bella-"

"Promise me." she said. "Please." 

In her eyes was a fire, blazing with determination. I opened my mouth to say the words that would let her go into surgery with no regrets. 

"I promise." 

And together, we walk into the hospital. I am with her the moment until she's taken away by the doctors for surgery prep. 

"I love you ma!" she says as she's led down the hallway. 

"I love you too!" I reply. I know she can't see me, but I wave anyway. 

Leaving without her was the hardest thing I had ever done. Coming home and seeing Bella's bed by the stairs makes me want to cry. But I don't allow myself to mope around and throw myself into cleaning the house. Toilets are scrubbed, beds are made, showers are cleaned, trash is taken out... I'm not going to let myself become depressed. 

Cleaning gets me through most of the day, but I still have time to kill, so I go on the 100 Baby Challenge Mother's chat in hopes of talking to another mom. There's quite a few people on and they are quick to offer sympathy and uplifting messages when I tell them about Bella. They all urge me to stay strong and tell me they are hoping for the best. The chat is enough to get me through the rest of the day and I keep a smile on my face. 

At least until I get the call from the hospital. Bella's surgery is finished, but I can't see her until the next day because she needs to recover. And I'm due tomorrow. I beg with them to let me in, but they say they can't change the policy and wish me a good night. 

 I rush to the hospital after breakfast, reading to see Bella. I had just sat down when the doctor came in. 

"She's had some very severe brain damage Miss Falls." he whispered. "We aren't sure she's going to last another day." 

I drew in a shaky breath as he left the room. I pulled out my phone, debating if I should call the kids to the hospital, but I put it back. The kid need their education and how are they going to get here anyway?  It's a long bike ride and an even longer walk. It's useless to make them worry. 

I find myself looking at the clock as I flip through the pages of my book. Hours go by and Bella doesn't stir. It's so quiet I can hear what's going on in other rooms and in the hallway. 

Eventually, the silence is broken when my water breaks. I don't want to leave Bella's side though, so I bite my lip and hope that no one comes in or hears my muffled cries. 

Austin Falls

As I smile at my newborn, the monitor begins to buzz. A red light goes off and a half dozen doctors rush in and surround Bella. I'm ushered out into the hallway, no one commenting on  Austin. I manage to yank my yank around, but the door is closed. 

All I can hear is the doctors rushing around, yelling things to each other...