Good Morning Starshine [Alison's diary]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

June 14, 2003

Hi! My name is Katie Wright and I'm 7 years old. I have a really big family, but I love them all! I'm the only girl, though, which is kinda lonely at times. My brothers try to include me in stuff, though, especially Orville, which is really nice of them! My mommy's name is Susan and my daddy's name is Milton.

I have four big brothers. Reuch is 20 and hardly ever around the house. That's okay, cause I never really talked to him much anyway. Lorin taught me how to read books. He's 18. He and Reuch are in college now. My other big brothers, Will and Orv, are still around the house. Will is 15 and Orv is 10. [/i][/size]

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August 10, 2003

Orv made a big mess in the kitchen today. He put a pot of water on the stove to see what it would do, and a bunch of water ended up flying into the air and got all over the floor! He had to clean it up afterward, but it was still really fun to watch. [/i][/size]

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August 19, 2003

Orv and I had our birthdays today! I turned 8 years old, and Orv turned 11! Mommy says she can't believe her youngest is 8 years old already.[/i][/size]

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April 18, 2004

I almost blew away in a tornado today. At least that's what Will and Orvy keeps saying. I don't think I was going to blow away, but he keeps teasing me about it. I was a little scared for a bit, though. I was pressed against the barn and I couldn't move one bit![/i][/size]

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May 1, 2004

Orv and I went around asking people for scrap metal today. He's trying to collect some to sell to the scrapyard so that he can have a bit of extra money. He said he'd split it with me if I helped, and I'd like some extra money to buy candy too! A lot of people seemed to like talking to us too. It was fun![/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

October 20, 2005

Found this old notebook after cleaning my room. Haven't written in it for over a year! I guess I should explain my first pages in here.

My name is actually Alison Driscoll, though I like to pretend I'm a girl from old times named Katie Wright. I'm 9 1/2 years old. I actually only have one older brother, though sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have more. I guess that's why Katie has so many big brothers. Nathan is 11, and likes to be called Nate. He's usually in his room playing with things, though sometimes I go in there and bug him. He works on some cool things sometimes!

I'll probably be writing in here as me from now on. Mom suggested I write in a diary, and I figured why not use this old one?[/i][/size]

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November 18, 2005

Today at school we got to play teacher ourselves. Each of us had to teach the class about one thing. The teacher said I did really good! I made Katie a teacher too, but she taught big kids, older than Nate even! I think being a teacher is fun, and I liked it too. Maybe I should be a teacher when I grow up too.[/i][/size]

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December 25, 2005

Today was Christmas. I got Dad a mug for school and Mom an organizer for all her pens and notebooks. Nate got a bunch of plane stuff, as usual. I got a few things to play school. I'm going to use them right after I finish writing this up![/i][/size]

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March 20, 2006

Mom has a pretty bad case of bronchitis right now. I think I spelled that right.

My 10th birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. Daddy told me to stop growing so fast, because it means he's getting old. I told him there's not much I can do about that, but that he wasn't that old yet. He isn't Grandpa's age, after all. I think that cheered him up a bit.[/i][/size]

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June 5, 2006

Mom and Dad are already discussing where we're going for vacation this year. Mom and Dad's jobs don't make us rich, but we usually do go on one trip a year. This year Mom says she has a surprise for Nate. I wonder what it is? Maybe a trip to Space Camp. It's not planes, but I think he'd still like it! And don't tell anyone, but I'd like it too.[/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

June 20, 2006

Well, it's not Space Camp.

It's still something kinda cool, though. We're at the hotel right now, and we just got here. It's a place called Kitty Hawk, which sounds familiar to me. Not sure where I heard it before, maybe class? Oh well, gotta go, Nate's getting impatient and we're going down to see some memorial. Why he's impatient to see a memorial I have no clue, but apparently it has something to do with planes. Of course.[/i][/size]

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June 21, 2006

I don't know how to explain today.

We visited the memorial, the Wright Brothers memorial today.

It was really weird. The guys on the monument were familiar to me. Actually, they weren't just familiar to me. I had these names for them, Ullam and Bubs. I asked the tour guide we had and he said those were the nicknames they had for each other. So I wondered how I knew their nicknames for each other when I wasn't even sure where I'd seen them before!

And then? Then I found out their names. Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Wright. Will and Orv. Two of Katie's brothers. I don't get it. I thought I made them up...[/i][/size]

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June 22, 2006

We're leaving for home tomorrow. I picked up a book in the gift shop to take home.

You know, besides this whole Wilbur and Orville thing, there's something else really weird about this trip.

We came to a place about planes. Nate usually won't shut up about planes. Yet he hasn't said much of anything since we left that memorial. It's really strange. Wonder if he's sick? Even Dad joked and tried to feel his forehead once, and he just squirmed away.[/i][/size]

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June 29, 2006

She exists. She exists...and I think I'm her.

I was reading that book I got back at the memorial. Wilbur and Orville Wright had a little sister named Katharine. Katie. Kate. I know it sounds silly, but I know everything about her. I knew she had glasses like mine before I even saw them. I knew she was a teacher. I knew she and Orv had Orville had the same birthday.

I knew because I did it all when I was playing pretend when I was a little kid. Even Reuch and Lorin were in there. I didn't make them up. They were my brothers, cause I'm Katie Wright. I really am her. It wasn't all pretend, because it's all right there in that book.[/i][/size]

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July 19, 2006

Nate is just like them. It's kind of funny.

Well, he's started talking again. I'd almost say even more than usual. He says he's going to build a flying car.

I asked him if he thought he was one of the Wright brothers. He didn't answer me, just rolled his eyes and tossed a paper airplane at me. Boys.[/i][/size]

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September 8, 2006

Mom is sick again. Dad says the doctors aren't sure if it's bronchitis, because it keeps coming back, so she's going to get tested for pneumonia (I didn't even have to look that word up in the dictionary!).

Pneumonia scares me though. It's how K...it's how I died. I don't want my Mom to die. She's too young to die.[/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

September 19, 2006

The doctors say it's not pneumonia, but they're still looking, because she hasn't gotten any better. I hope it's nothing big.[/i][/size]

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October 5, 2006

Apparently it doesn't matter what I hoped for, because you can't get much worse than what she has.

She just turned 40 this year. She's too young to have cancer. She doesn't even smoke, how can she have lung cancer?

She'll be okay, though. She has to be. Mom's too tough.[/i][/size]

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December 18, 2006

I get along pretty well with the kids at school, but I don't feel like I really belong with them.

Dad says it's normal for a girl my age. But Dad doesn't get it.

I don't think anyone else at school has memories of another life with another family. I love my memories, but it's kind of lonely sometimes not to be able to talk about them with anyone. I remember my Mom back then was sick too. It's scary how alike some things are.

That's another thing. No one else has a sick mom. No one other than Nate, and he's back to not talking much. He's not even playing with his planes. I'm scared, and I think he is too. Sometimes I think even Mom and Dad are, but they're just doing a good job of not showing it. [/i][/size]

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January 23, 2007

Nate turned 13 today, but it wasn't the same kind of party we'd usually throw for him. Mom thought he'd want to go out with friends, but he just wanted to stay home and spend it with us. He didn't even have mom cook his favorite food. Instead, he told her to stay in her room. He cooked dinner, with me helping, and we took it upstairs to eat with Mom. Dad came home late from school, but he joined us near the end of it. It was nice. Kind of reminded me of a bit of before.[/i][/size]

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January 30, 2007

Nate's actually been really good with Mom. It kinda reminds me of Will when our Mom got sick before. He'd carry her up and down the stairs and everything. While Nate doesn't do that, he does his best to try to help her with things.

She's doing chemo, but we don't know how well that's working right now.[/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

February 2, 2007

Mom had to go to the hospital today. She was coughing up blood for the first time in a while.

The doctors said that the chemo isn't helping. Mom and Dad aren't even hiding that they're scared anymore.[/i][/size]

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February 16, 2007

She's going to have to stay in the hospital. Dad's going to pick us up from school to visit her every day.

I don't want to admit it, but I'm honestly worried she's not going to make it. My first Mom didn't make it when she had TB...[/i][/size]

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February 21, 2007

The doctors say it's only a matter of time, but it's to the point where I don't think we actually need to hear it from them. It's obvious in other ways. Mom can barely talk, so she usually talks to us by writing what she wants to say down. Nate has been in there with her for a long time. He said he wanted to go in there alone, and I wasn't going to argue with him. I'd like some time to myself with her too.

He just came out. Now it's my turn to go in.[/i][/size]

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February 24, 2007

She's gone.

Mom...she lost her battle. I knew it was coming, but I still don't want to believe it. I still want to think that this is some sort of dream, and that I'll wake up tomorrow like nothing happened. I know the truth, don't get me wrong, but it helps sometimes.

One of the last things she wrote to me was 'I'm sorry I'm not going to make it to your birthday, Lissy Loo'. I...can't write anymore. -Teardrops on page-[/i][/size]

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February 28, 2007

I think I'm going to take a break from writing in here. I can't write in here without looking back at my old entries, and I just can't read those right now. Not with everything that is going on.

I'm sure I'll be back, but it may be a while.[/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

August 23, 2010

I said it would be a while.

Things have more or less returned to something resembling normal. Nate is back to fiddling with his planes, I'm going off to high school, and Dad...well, he's spending an awful lot of time at school preparing for when classes start.

I think Dad expected it before I even came to him to raise the issue. Two years ago, when Nate started high school, he expressed an interesting in attending the same school that Mom.

So when I came to him to ask the same thing for myself, he okayed it. That said, he seemed more hesitant with me than he did with Nate. I had the feeling that it has more to do with the fact that I'm his youngest child and his daughter. Of course, I can handle myself, but I don't think I'd expect anything less out of my father. Either father, really.

I found this while I was packing up for Riverdale High, and have decided to bring it with me. I'm sure I'll find something to write about there.[/i][/size]

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September 2, 2011

Not too much of note has happened yet, though I'll get the basic details out of the way so that I can refer to them later on as a reference point.

Here at Riverdale, three people share a dorm. I should say three people of the same gender - Riverdale does not have co-ed dorms, and I can't say that I entirely blame them.

My roommates are also freshman, which I thought was how it worked at first, though my brother enlightened me that it was actually luck of the draw. Students are only sorted by gender, and not by grade. First there's Kodi, who I'm getting along with pretty well already, and then there's Anya. I'm not sure what to say about Anya, since I haven't talked to her much yet.

I kind of get the feeling that she's not one to talk much period. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but she seems almost afraid to say anything.

Classes are going pretty well. I've already met someone who I think I'm going to become easy friends with, if only because he's that good at getting himself noticed. His name is Chi, and he's an extremely attention-grabbing Japanese boy in one of my classes.[/i][/size]

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December 20, 2011

I'm going back home for Christmas this year, though Nate's staying at school for the first time. Apparently he's grown pretty close to his roommates, which is cool, but it will be weird having Christmas without him. Just feels like our family keeps getting smaller and smaller.[/i][/size]

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December 27, 2011

I miss the nicknames.

I miss hearing my mom call me Lissy Loo on every occasion she could find. I miss Will and Orv calling me Sterchens and/or Swes. I even miss Lorin's 'Dear Little Deutchens'. The closest thing I get is Nate calling me Lissy, and while it's refreshing, it's not quite the same. He and I don't even talk much as school, and Dad and I didn't talk much at home.

It's not that we didn't talk. He asked the usual questions. He asked how school was and how Nate was. One thing we never discussed was Christmases in the past, and I think that's why I'm feeling so down, even though I should be happy to have seen my Dad after several months of only communicating through email and phone calls. Going home didn't feel like going home. It was a decent enough time, but every time the subject of Mom even came up he'd quickly change the subject. I can tell it still bothers him, and I wonder if it will ever stop. I also suspect that this is the reason why he has been more obsessed with his job than ever as of late. My last few years at home were mostly spent home alone or at a friend's house, while my Dad was working late nights. I think going home reminds him of her. I can't say I entirely blame him, though...like I said, it didn't feel like home. [/i][/size]

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January 18, 2011

I've been back at school, and I think I've figured out why Nate is so caught up in doing things with his roommates and other people. Apparently he's part of this group called RSOR. The interesting part is, no one but the members themselves actually know what RSOR is. Well, scratch that. The principal apparently knows, and so do some of the staff.

I know Nate's a member of this, and so is his roommate, which explains why they've been hanging around so much.

Now this begs the question of what RSOR is, and Kodi's wondering the same thing. We find ourselves discussing it quite a bit. Kodi seems a bit more interested than I am in the whole thing, but it's still fun to discuss it with her. Anya still doesn't talk too much, but at least have her on speaking terms. The only thing I don't like about Kodi is that she picks on Anya sometimes. I usually say something when I'm around, but it makes me wonder what happens when I'm not around. I almost feel like I'm teaching high school again![/i][/size]

[Alison Caroline Driscoll]

February 23, 2011

There's a very strange rumor circulating right now.

My brother's roommate, Oliver Winchester, has a 'plane habit' like my brother's, as our mother used to call it. So a couple of people around the school have taken to calling him Orville Wright. I personally find it amusing, given that I knew the real Orville Wright quite well, but what can you do?[/i][/size]

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March 8, 2011

Alright, I'll admit it. I took one of Nate's planes for a test drive. Hey, he tests them out so much it's hard not to want to try one out yourself! Plus I kind of know planes better than he realizes. I did have to live with the boys men who invented it, after all!

A girl, I believe her current name is Isabella, caught me playing with it, and of course first thought that it was either my brother or his roommate. She definitely wasn't expecting me. We started talking...imagine my surprise when I found out that she knew French! That wasn't the biggest surprise of the evening however, not in the least bit. Isabella revealed herself to be Joan of Arc, just as I revealed my true identity as Katharine Wright.

I'd like to say that was the most exciting development of the night, but that would be a lie. She told me what RSOR really was - It stands for Riverdale Society of Reincarnates, and took me up to the attic to supposedly 'show me around'. As it turned out, she had another surprise waiting for me up there.

I don't know how I didn't connect the dots sooner, in retrospect. Isabella formally introduced me to Oliver Winchester, a fellow member of RSOR. As it turned out, much to my (highly welcome) surprise, that supposedly 'silly nickname' that those bullies gave him is actually a name that he readily answers to.

Yes, Oliver Winchester is indeed my brother. He remembers me too, and apparently has for all his life, just like I've remembered him all along. I think I'm going to like RSOR very much!

Oliver...Orv...told me he has a surprise for me, and told me to come to his dorm at some point. I told him my concerns, seeing as my brother is also a denizen of that dorm, but he assured me that I have nothing to worry about. I can only assume that means he'll get rid of Nate, but what if Nate comes back in the middle of what's going on? The last thing I want is for him to uncover this secret.[/i][/size]