Live, Laugh, Love

Umm, ok, before you read the story I want to introduce you to the characters.1

Ariel: A bright and cheery lesbian mom whose cooking sucks (She burns everything). 2

Sydney: The other lesbian mom. Usually bored but has fun with her kids. 3

Myke: A beautiful individual young girl who was adopted by Ariel and Sydney.4

Seamus: Pronounced Shay-mis. A young boy who was also adopted by Ariel and Sydney but where he comes from is a mystery.5

Jay: An adorable little hamster, who's orange with some brown and arfs when you squeeze him. How would I know this? 6


Ok, now that you know more about the characters, go ahead and read the story! Sorry for this introduction that may have seemed to have been wasting your time but trust me it's easier reading the story knowing who everyone is.
Now read!7

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Seamus sneaked by the cloudy kitchen just barely quick enough to reach a few snacks and stash them in his pocket without his step-mom, Ariel, noticing. He was only 8 years old, he can get away with almost anything. He strolled into the kitchen awkwardly, showing he was guilty for something. He fingered the snacks in his pocket. Seamus was usually guilty though, so Ariel didn’t seem to mind.
“Ariel, whatcha cookin’?” Seamus inquired. Instantly after that he thought, Or at least, trying to.
“Uhh... I’m trying to make, umm... uhh... sausages...” She said, only half thinking about what she was saying. Ariel was a beautiful young woman. She had brown hair and big blue eyes. Her hair was long, down to about her waist. She looked like an anime character.
“Oh.” Seamus said as he often did.
Just as her face turned to a worried look after seeing more smoke appear, Ariel saw Sydney and a smile spread across her face.
“Good morning,” Ariel greeted Sydney. Sydney rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and yawned back.
“What’s that smell?” Sydney asked, concerned.
“Oh, heh, I’m making breakfast.”
Seamus turned his immature face at the sight of Ariel pecking Sydney on the cheek.
Just then, there was a loud wail from upstairs.
“I got it,” Ariel said. “Seamus, would you set the table? And, Sydney, could you watch that?” Ariel pointed her finger at the sausages.
“Sure,” Seamus and Sydney replied at the same time.
The kitchen was in the corner of the house, so it took a while for Ariel to get there. She came downstairs with a wailing toddler in her arms. “Shh, Mykie, calm down,” Ariel comforted the baby in a soothing tone. She lifted Mykel up do their eyes were levelled. “You’re so beautiful,” Ariel commented. Right now, the poor kid looked miserable. Her eyebrows were pink and tears were smudged all over her face. She had one green eye and one blue eye, and her eyelashes were stuck together in clumps.
Mykie had been taken away from the Doctors. They began to genetically alter Mykie to be part seagull. But people caught them, and put Mykel up for adoption. The lesbian couple of Ariel and Sydney happily took Mykie. They had no idea how they would get a baby before they got her. Ariel had also recalled Mykie saying she had dreams with seagulls and people on them. Mykel had small wings that weren’t able to fully develop. No one knows why, but they think something probably just went wrong with the experiment. What they did know, though, was when the Doctors were being pulled away by the police, they kept yelling, “Seven! Seven! Seven!” No one knows why that happened either. Sometimes Ariel called Mykie “Mystery” as a nickname.
“Want me to take her?” Sydney suggested. Sydney struggled to get the three-year-old into her arms. She kept Myke in a position where she couldn’t get away because she was inbetween her knees but her feet were still touching the floor. Sydney’s arms were around Mykie’s waste.
Seamus sneaked off to his room to eat the snacks he stashed in his pocket a little while ago. As he was crossing the hallway, he spotted their pet hamster. Seamus picked him up. He looked like a small wooly bear. “Hey Jay,” He babied the animal in such a tone that he made a squeak-squeaking noise. The hamster nuzzled Seamus’s ear and licked his cheek. Seamus was holding him a bit too tight, though, because the poor hamster let out an arf-arfing wail that his sister could hear from the kitchen. She ran over to Jay’s rescue.
“Hey, what are fose?” She pointed to the crackers in Seamus’s hand. Seamus loved the way Mykey said her words.
“Uh, nothing,” Seamus replied. He hid them behind his back and then sat on them.
“I want some,” Mykie said, putting her hand in front of Seamus’s face, her expression greedily showing, Hand them over!
“Oh, come on Mykie... I’ll give you a few, ok?” Seamus pleaded. Mykie just replied with a stern, “Hmmph.”
“You won’t tell mom, will you?” Seamus just had to make sure.9

“Come on you guys, hurry up, the movie’s starting! Ariel shouted a reminder to the kids. They were rushing their pyjamas on so they could snuggle up to Ariel and Sydney sooner. One Seamus was done, he helped Mykie get her pyjamas on. They both ran into their mothers’ room. Mykie lifted her sippy cup from her mouth to say to Sydney, “Momma, I’ve gotted my jammas on!” She said “on” with a cute accent that sounded like “owan.” Her voice was cute and babyish. Sydney happily lifted the toddler into her lap and settled in to watch the movie.10

Once the movie was over, everyone was sleepy. As a matter of fact, Mykel’s eyes were drooping and nearly shut, she looked so tired. Sydney picked up Mykel and brought her to her room to tuck her in. Ariel barely managed to bring Seamus to his bed but it was on top so he ended up having to climb. Ariel had to climb up on the ladder to tuck him in. 11

A few months later was Mykel’s birthday. Seamus’s birthday would be a month later. Mykel was turning four years old today. She was very excited, and her jaw dropped when she saw her birthday cake. It had a red robin on it, and robins are her favourite animal. With blue ooze, five letters spelled out “M-Y-K-I-E.” She blew out all the candles at once, and probably wished for her wings to grow larger, she had always dreamt of flying.
It was an “at-home” party, just for family. Seamus even made them each a paper party hat. They were purple with yellow polka dots, and it was drawn with crayon. Seamus was very creative. 12

Seamus’s birthday was fun, but he wasn’t as excited for it. Apparently he learned that a year isn’t so long.13

Well, a few years passed, and by now Mykie was seven years old and Seamus was twelve. Mykie had recently been acting differently. She started to like raw fish more than she used to.
Mykie came downstairs for supper. She picked up Jay from his cage, his cage was in the kitchen. Her mother was cooking lasagna. They usually had extra time for meals because they were home-schooled. If they weren’t, kids would notice Mykel’s wings.
“Wow, hun, have your wings been growing?” Ariel looked astonishingly at Mykel’s wings and turned her shoulders around and looked at her wings. The feathers had grown longer, and the bones were growing a lot bigger.
“I don’t know...” Mykie answered, surprisingly embarrassed.
“Sydney! Sydney, come quick!” Ariel called. Sydney came a few seconds later, with a young boy and his nintendo DS behind.
“What? What is it?” Sydney asked. “Is something wrong?”
“No... Take a look at Mykel’s wings.”
“They’re growing!” Sydney exclaimed. Seamus rubbed the corner of his nintendo DS on her wing. “Ow!” Mykel exclaimed and reached her hand behind her wing.
Apparently they were sensitive too. 14

By a few months later her wings were even bigger than a seagull’s. They began to doubt she even was part seagull. They all went outside. They climbed up the playground. Ariel and Sydney agreed that Mykie should start off with practising gliding. She had seen that flying could be pretty rough. Mykie jumped off the top of the playground over and over again. Just one more time and she could get her landing perfect. 15

Sydney and Seamus got bored and went inside. It was also starting to get a bit dark. 16

“Hey, Mykel, try turning a bit. Like this.” Ariel spread her arms out as if they were wings and pretended to fly around, modelling how to turn the easiest way. Mykie was beginning to get just a bit frustrated even though she was doing very well, because everyone else made it seem so easy.
“Okay,” Mykel seemed more confident now and less embarrassed. She tried and barely landed perfectly, only stumbling a little bit.
“Good job!” Ariel praised Mikey and gave her a good pat on the back. “You know, you’re very special,” Ariel said quieter. Mykel just blushed a blossom red colour. 17

By now, Seamus and Myke had their own rooms and they got rid of the bunk bed. Seamus went to his room with Jay and his Nintendo DS. He loved spending quality time with Jay. Jay nuzzled Seamus on the ear and licked his cheek. Seamus replied with a kiss on the forehead. “I love you,” Seamus told the hamster and he thought he heard the hamster respond. He knew it was just his imagination. Jay was orange with a few brown patches of fur. He was more loving today and just in the mood for cuddling. Seamus decided to give Jay a treat, which were some apple crisps that Jay always loved. As a matter of fact, Jay even reached his tiny hands out to grab it. He began gnawing on it like a little squirrel would gnaw an acorn. Turning it, turning it, as he chewing off the tender pieces, like a mouse with some cheese. He was adorable, so sweet and especially friendly... even though he did smell a bit.
Apparently it was time to go to bed because Sydney came to tuck him in. She said no matter how old he was, he was never too old to be tucked in, and when he was little, he promised Sydney she could always tuck him in. Little kids make the silliest promises. He looked at his alarm clock. He saw green neon numbers flashing “9:15 PM.” Yep, he was even a bit late to bed. But these days it was summer, so so it was hard to tell time when you aren’t constantly keeping your eye on the clock. Sydney came into Seamus’s room without a word, and tucked him in.
“Go to bed, okay?” Sydney said.
“Okay.” 18

Because of the fact that Sydney always took her time doing things, Ariel was already waiting at the door for her.
Of course, as soon as Seamus was alone in his room, he opened his nintendo DS and started playing peter pan. As soon as he calmed down a bit, he shut off his nintendo DS. He was more tired and decided to go to sleep. Just before his eyelids closed, he got a bad feeling about something, not sure what. He had to force himself out of bed to investigate. By now, the smell of smoke was very strong. He was almost sure there was a fire. He ran into the hall and bolted into Mykel’s room. His eyes were pretty puffy and had a hard time breathing. He was allergic to smoke. He paced over to Mykel and shaked her shoulders. “Myke, Myke, come quick, there’s a fire!” He immediately raced over to his parents’ room. “Get up! Get up! There’s a fire!”
They got up immediately, and Ariel bolted through the kitchen. Though it was in the corner of the house and it was difficult to get to, Ariel got there pretty fast.
“Damn it, damn, damn, damn!” She hissed through clenched teeth. “Kids, quick! Get out of the house!”
She forgot about supper! How could she forget about that?! Seamus had eaten so many snacks, Mykie was occupied on testing her wings, and Sydney was just so tired that no one remembered to remind Ariel about supper! So much smoke was pouring out of the oven that it made Ariel gag. 19

Meanwhile, the kids were still wondering what the fastest way out of the house was. 20

“Mykie, your wings!” Seamus bellowed, gagging. Mykel twirled around with a terrified expression on her face. Without a word though, she allowed Seamus, a twelve-year-old boy, to slide onto her back. He gripped a few handfuls of feathers, and she took out through the window. It was frightening, an older boy’s life depended on Mykel’s flying abilities. Meanwhile, Sydney fled from the house and ran to the neighbours’ house. She banged as hard as she possibly could on their door.
“Call the police! Call the police!” They immediately did. They probably heard the news from someone because they immediately knew what to do. Sydney looked back and saw the house blow out in flames. She immediately regretted leaving the house without Ariel.
At the neighbour's house, the old lady was gone calling the police, but the old man was still there. The old man was just scowling at the huge bird that was flying just above their house, landing in their yard.
“Holy! That bird just landed in your yard!” The old man hollered.
“Don’t worry,” Sydney assured, “I’ve seen it before.” She wasn’t usually social with the neighbours, but they chatted for a few minutes and she felt like he was nice enough to trust. Also, it was dark, and they really needed help.
When Mykie landed, she wasn’t used to the weight so she stumbled a lot and landed on her side. But everyone was okay. Mykie felt heroic. The kids raced over behind their fence, hand-in-hand, so the neighbours wouldn’t know that the “bird” was actually a “Child.” Sydney rushed over because the signalled to each other Mykie needed to tell her something.
“Ariel’s still inside!” Mykie hollered over the blasts of fire.
Sydney stood, frozen with fear for about ten seconds, standing in front of Mykie, trying to analyse what Mykie just said.
She sprinted into the house and only saw one clear spot that didn’t have fire- a heart-shaped space Ariel was laying in. She had collapsed, Sydney didn’t know if Ariel was dead or knocked out by the fumes. But she had to keep her calm. Ariel was completely limp. Sydney picked her up, which was very hard, and her feet were dragging across the floor, through the back door. Sydney pulled her a safe distance from the fire of the house, and sprawled her across the dewy green grass. After all, it was about 9:45 PM. Sydney could tell Ariel was badly burned. The kids stayed farther away because they knew they would be snapped at if they got any closer. Mykie started to cry, but Seamus was too brave to cry.21

“Jay!” Mykie screamed, with fire in her eyes (no pun intended), terrified, yet weary. She began to run inside but Sydney caught her shoulder.
“No.” Sydney whispered softly. They both knew why.22

It was too late. 23

His cage was in the kitchen, and that’s where the fire started.24

With extreme sadness, she let out a deep wail and cried, “Nooo! Jay! He’s probably arf-arfing by now!”25

She collapsed on Sydney and began to sob. Sydney was done checking Ariel’s pulses and began to listen to her chest to hear her heart.
“It’s ok, Mykie, we can get a new one,” Seamus answered, a tear strolling down his lonely face. He sniffled. 26

Then, the ambulances arrived.27

They didn’t even talk to anyone, just hauled them away and left with Seamus and Ariel in the back of the truck. Sydney had to explain to the neighbours not to be afraid of the “huge bird” because she was actually a child. Luckily, they understood. It’s a good thing Sydney and Ariel just finished the medication and healing unit in home schooling. 28

After an hour or so of checking Mykie out to make sure she was ok, the immediately took their car, whose nickname was Ocean Blue, to the hospital to visit Ariel. It was very sad seeing Ariel and Seamus being pulled away in the ambulance when Sydney wasn’t able to go. 29


They stopped by at the store to buy violets. They were Ariel’s favourite colour. Myke and Sydney knew Ariel would love them. They went to the counter where a lady was sitting.
“Umm, excuse me, is it all right if we visit someone?” Sydney asked, trying to be calm, she had never done this before.
“Yes, and who are you trying to see?”
“Um, Ariel Vendera.”
“all right.” They lady said as she typed Ariel’s name on the computer. “Room 103,” She answered. Then she had a sorrowful look on her face.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am... Ariel has flat lined...” Sydney’s eyes poured tears of terror.
“No... She can’t die!” Sydney yelled frantically. She slapped her hand on the desk.
“No... You’re... lying!” She yelled some more and sped over to Ariel’s room. “No, you can’t go...” She uttered lonely words. She sat the chair next to Ariel and her head on Ariel’s chest. She could feel her tears washing over the bridge of her nose and she heard a small squeak behind her. She looked back, and she saw a small child with clenched fists covering her mouth and pink eyebrows.
“Mommy...” She cried, her arms open, ready for a huge hug. They were both crying, which scared Mykel even more, because she only saw Sydney cry once before, when her father died. Their arms locked for a few minutes, both of them weeping on each other’s shoulder. This time, Sydney didn’t even try not to cry.
They peered over at Ariel’s snow white face, and hugged her too. That just might’ve been the thing that gave Sydney the strength to open her eyes.
“Uhh...” Ariel made a noise and Sydney wasn’t sure what it was.
“What is it, honey?” Sydney whispered.
“I love you guys... hold my hand...” Ariel whispered, putting her hands out for her family. They surely held Ariel’s hands, because they loved her and they knew it was all over for her.
“What am I going to do without you?” Sydney asked, crushed, because it was too hard, just too hard.
“Live, laugh, love.” Ariel whispered, her voice even more hoarse than it had been before. Sydney reached her hand under Ariel’s neck, and hugged her. She would have to let her go. Mykel was small enough to fit into the hospital bed and she snuggled up to Ariel.
BEEEEEEP, Sydney heard, she wasn’t “out of it” anymore. She hated that reminder, the reminder that her lover was dead. She took the collar that Ariel always wore from her first kitty and wore it herself.
She passed at 11:37 PM.
They went to visit Seamus after an hour of saying their last good-byes to Ariel. Sydney was still crying by the time she saw Seamus. She broke down when she remembered she still had to tell Seamus the news about Mom. His eyes were already watery and Sydney thought he might’ve already guessed she was dead. After all, Sydney WAS crying, and she wouldn’t cry if Ariel were only hurt.
“Umm... Seamus-”
“Let me guess. Mom’s dead.” He sounded angry, even though it wasn’t Sydney’s fault. She began to wonder if it really was. Sydney just sat next to the boy and pouted with puppy dog eyes. A wave of deep sadness rushed over Sydney. She could tell Seamus was sad too, but he tried to cover it up with hate. Sydney knew he needed a hug anyway though so she gave him one. She felt bad, as if she weren’t good enough for the kids or something.
“What were her last words?” Now his face was smudged with tears, plus a few more strolling down pink, puffy cheeks.
“Live....Laugh....Love.” She said, restraining the rest of her sentence.
His sad face and pink eyebrows changed their expression. Seamus smiled. “Really?” He took about ten minutes to visit her. He felt like he should’ve been there when she said her last words, like he did something wrong. He felt like he didn’t matter as much to her as the others did because he wasn’t the last one Ariel saw. Then they went home.30

“You know...” Sydney started, “I know it’s really hard for us now. I know we’re in a really sad time. But later, when we’re not mourning, we will be able to laugh at being sad. We should be happy, happy we were able to know her, happy she had the chance to live. Some people live a few weeks and then die. And Ariel... Ariel was happy. She was one of the nicest people I met.” Sydney wanted to reach the kids, show them exactly why she meant this and even thought so at all.
“I’m sure when she was alive if she thought about her funeral, she wouldn’t want us to wear black. She would want us to wear bright colours. Funerals aren’t supposed to be sad, they’re supposed to be a celebration of life.” She ended finally. The kids just stood beside her next to the stove, and they looked up at her.31

“Well, I’m always going to be sad that she’s gone... But... I guess I am glad she was here at all.” Mykel answered. “She always believed in me. Her beautiful face is shining down at us now, guiding us through.” 32

This was the time Sydney ever saw her make a certain kind of smile. It was the kind that was mostly happy but a bit sad, somewhat excited and also anxious.33

“When’s the funeral?” This was the first time Seamus spoke since they got back from the hospital. It had been a whole day and right now Sydney was cooking breakfast.
“I’m not sure... I was thinking about Saturday.” Sydney replied. Right then it was Wednesday. 34

A few years later, Sydney was now a school teacher for the seventh grade. They were doing a project on big lessons they’ve learned and how they’ve changed someone. As a matter of fact, for a change, Sydney did the project too. She put up a poster with the picture of Ariel on it. It said,
“The lesson I’ve learned is to live and love. To appreciate life and never take it for granted. Everyone’s life is special and unique. It changed me because now I know the true meaning of life. We all need to remember: Live, Laugh, Love.”