more than I could ever promise, part 1

July 2083 - Orion Deppiesse is 49, Violet is 48, Dallas is 18, Delphie and Dakota are 12.

* soundtrack: "The Way I Am," by Ingrid Michaelson *

Dallas is leaving next week, and his sisters haven't wasted a single minute trying to decide who gets to move into his bedroom when he's gone. They've been sharing a bedroom since they were born, and Dakota, for one, is ready to break free into her own space. She's already staked her claim. "I'm the second-oldest," she says. "I was born fifteen minutes before her."

"I hope you don't think you're getting the stuff in my room," he says. "It's just a room. It's going to be empty. I know you just want my computer."

"You can't put it in the attic," Dakota says. "Electronics shouldn't be stored outside of room temperatures, in the winter, that attic can get down to fifteen degrees."

"It does," Delphie says.

"Only you guys would know that," he says.

"Well what are you going to do with it then? Somebody might as well use it."

"Somebody might as well," Delphie says.

"Lucy needs it," he says.

"Lucy needs to get her naked pictures off of it."

Delphie laughs. "She probably does."

"She does not," Dallas says. "I mean, there aren't any on it."

"Dakota!" Violet shouts from the living room. "Stop pestering your brother."

"Who's getting your car?"

"I'm giving it to Lucy," he says.

"I knew it," Dakota says.

"I knew it too," Delphie says.

"You can't even drive it yet," he says. "And besides, it's already kind of hers, we built it together."

"It's alright, you guys have been all naked in that too, I'm sure."

***

Violet is happy that her girls are finally old enough to share her love of literature, and after having finished the first two of her trilogy, she lets them read the final drafts of the third book, just before it's released to the public.

She writes apocalyptic science-fiction. The City, her first novel, was about the powerful and prosperous city, the capital of the state, and the people who lived there. The Violent Underground was about the sadness of a small race of citizens living there, who had to go into hiding because of the conflict of war.

She was stalled for so long before writing the third book. Ending a trilogy of this magnitude is such enormous pressure! They're calling this the richest and most engrossing collection of a generation! How do you live up to that?

But then the third book just came to her like a vision, it spilled out of her fingertips as if through a muse. It's finished, and she reads it to her daughters.

It's called, The Exodus. Their leader is assassinated and The City falls apart without her. She was the greatest leader they'd ever known. All races of people flee from The City in a mass exodus, not just the underground races, but everyone. There are a few who stay, because they have ties to the land, or because they don't want to leave their families. Some are too weak or afraid, and some of them are killed in the conflict. But the city that remains is only a shadow of what it once was.

They break apart, they spread throughout the land. The strong ones go, and the shattered families fall apart. There is a rumored town on the East coast that is filled with acceptance and life. This is where some of them are going.

Delphie and Dakota look on, shock on their faces and sadness in their eyes.

"Oh," Delphie says. "They leave?"

"They can't leave," Dakota says. "That's a terrible ending!"

"Why?" Violet asks them. "The city is destroyed, they're going somewhere better."

"But they're all split apart," Dakota says. "They're all giving up."

"They're protecting themselves the only way they can," Violet says.

"Do they ever get there?"

"Well, it's an open ending. The reader doesn't know if they ever make it. But you're supposed to be left with a feeling of hope."

"There has to be another book," Dakota says.

"There isn't another book, it's a trilogy, that means three." It isn't that she wants to end it - writing these stories has been her absolute joy. But all things have to end, naturally. Nothing goes on forever.

"It can't end like that."

"No, it can't end like that."

"That's a terrible ending."

"That's not the end, Mom."

They've spent time searching before, scouring pages of the internet for other people like them, different. There aren't any. It seems they really are the only four aliens on the whole planet.

Delphie says, "Did you know there's a scholarship set up for people who think they've been abducted by aliens? I'm gonna try to win it."

"I bet you won't," Dakota says. "Unless you make it up."

"I'm not gonna lie."

"What, you don't think those other people are lying?"

Delphie doesn't answer her.

"Anyway," Dakota says. "Dad says they're not coming back. Especially not now."

"Yeah, I guess not now."

Then Delphie starts to smile, even more doe-eyed than usual. "Did you know that from here, you can totally see into Mr. Kim's bedroom?"

"His bedroom?"

"His bedroom."

Dakota turns and takes a quick peek over her shoulder.

"You can see, like, his window."

"I saw him coming down the stairs once," Delphie says.

"What was he doing?"

"You know, walking."

Their father comes home then, the old car sputtering to a stop in the driveway and he bursts into the room. "My game," he shouts. "It got bought! I just banked a fortune!"

"Now we can have our own computers?"

"Now we can build bigger robots! And pay back that second mortgage. Maybe you girls might get to go to college after all!"

Delphie does indeed decide to apply for that scholarship anyway. She won't lie and say she's met aliens, but she writes a three-page essay about her passion for those who have, and that she feels in her heart for what they've been through.

It's kind of ridiculous, if you ask Dakota, that her sister ends up getting declined anyway. The rules state that you have to have met an alien, and not just be one. Though of course, Delphie didn't tell them that she was an alien. They aren't allowed to tell people that.

But the aliens aren't coming back. Especially not now. Especially not with other, meaner, aliens out there, and all of our troops guarding the planet. They wouldn't dare. But still, Delphie goes out there, searching the sky as if searching back through her own heritage, like she's proud or something.

***

It's twenty-five minutes to Lake City Memorial Hospital, and Violet takes Dakota out there for her therapy session once a week. It's been almost a year now since her teachers noticed the aggression and recommended professional help. Her doctor says she's making progress, though not as fast as they'd like.

There have been words thrown around, if strides aren't made soon, talk of prescription medications, and a more prestigious hospital in Pennsylvania. Her mother is always worried, but lately she's taken to carrying around these books on every topic you might imagine - on adolescent daughters, on teen depression, on youth rebellion even though Dakota isn't rebelling against anything she could put into words.

They sign in and wait for her name to be called. "How are you doing, honey?" Violet asks. "I mean, do you think it's working? How do you feel?"

"Mom," Dakota whines.

"Okay," Violet says. "Is there something you need? Are you mad at us, me and your father? You know we love you more than anything."

"I know, Mom."

"I just don't understand," Violet says, a crackle in her voice giving away the tears she's been hiding. "Your sister is so happy."

Dakota cringes.

A nurse calls from the corridor, "Dakota Deppiesse? She's ready for you."

Dakota doesn't mind being in therapy. The office is comfortable, and the lit candles smell like candy. Her doctor is nice, and asks her to call her Mariah instead of Dr. Buchanan, and she just listens.

"My dad just got a bunch of money," Dakota says. "I guess we'll be making even more robots now."

"What kinds of robots does your father make?"

"Just toys mostly, and we sell computers and cameras and stuff. But he's working on this one that waters plants, like that stupid automatic vacuum thing, except it's supposed to work. The people who come in to buy robots are so weird. They're not aliens or anything, but just weird - maybe the kind of people who like robots are just weird. Somebody wanted to order this realistic kind of robot, that can walk around and talk and go to work and stuff, but my dad hasn't figured out that one yet."

"That does sound weird," Mariah says.

"But we got a bad review," Dakota says. "Because I wasn't nice to this one guy, and he just happened to be a newspaper reporter. But I don't even want to be talking to customers, I hate talking to people. I want a real job, but my mom says I'm not old enough. And she says, why do I even need another job when our family has two businesses I can help out at. But it's not the same. I want to do something else. I don't even know what, just something else. I mean, how do you know what you're supposed to be when you grow up?"

"I don't think most people figure that out at your age," Mariah says. "You're just supposed to be getting to know yourself."

"But Delphie never cares about that kind of stuff, she just does what she's told. Even Lucy likes Delphie more."

"Is that really true?"

"Yeah, well, at least since I hit her."

"You hit Lucy? Do you feel mad at Lucy?"

"No, why would I be mad at Lucy?"

"She probably spends a lot of time with your brother, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess it's kind of annoying. They're always hugging, and kissing, and you know, other gross stuff. And it's not like we get to ever see him anymore. And he's leaving next week, and what if he never comes back? He might want to live there forever and we'll never see him again."

"And how would that make you feel, if he didn't come back?"

"That would really suck." Dakota sighs. "I'm not mad at Lucy though, I like Lucy."

"And my sister likes Lucy too, and she's always sticking up for her. And my sister gets good grades, and she wants to learn how to make robots, and she wants to help out at the shop."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to win a dance competition, at The Roller Pit, or a gaming competition. I want to go to college - I'm already in the AP classes, but it's not the same. I'm bored. This is all so boring, but Delphie isn't bored, she's just so happy and nice. And she always does what she's supposed to do, and she likes it."

"But you're not your sister, are you?"

"No," Dakota says. "I'm not."

"Oh," Dakota says.

Her session ends and Dakota walks out into the corridor, the white walls and floors and ceilings brighter than humanly possible.

"Okay Mom," she says. "We can go now."

*** to be continued ***

(footnotes: the robot shop // Dakota is angry // Dakota is still angry)

notes: all this, and I've finally managed to get Dakota into the low green, lol! What a miserable, miserable young lady! Her wants panel is always filled with ridiculous things, jobs she's not old enough for, dance contests she can't win (she doesn't even like dancing!), expensive things her parents can't afford to buy, and the constant want to be BFFs with Lucy, lol!

Lucy is already BFFs with Delphie, but not Dakota yet, probably because of the smackdown incident. It's kind of interesting though, when Dakota had her meltdown, the two people she hit were her sister and Lucy... hmmm... ;)

Delphie is funny too though, over-achiever much? lol!

Funniest glitch ever! - Violet fears that her angry rabid daughter might chase someone? lol! :)