Mod The Sims - Solitaria

em90

25th Jan 2010, 08:03 AM

My brother thinks I need a hobby.
He told me this one day, when I was busy organising my books and CDs alphabetically. For some reason, he ambled into my room and heard me muttering to myself about whether to organise my books by title or author.
With a deep, heartfelt sigh, he leaned on my doorframe and said to me, "Ellie? You seriously need a hobby."

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I looked up. "Have you read Ice Station?" I asked him, holding up a book. "It's fantastic."
He glanced at the mass of books lying spread out on my bed, and continued on as though I hadn't spoken. "I mean, I know there isn't much to do in this place," he admitted. "But you could at least find…something."
"What about Temple?" I said.
"What about Temple," he replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean, have you read it?" I flipped though the first few pages. "I didn't think it was as good as the others, though."
He just sighed and walked out, murmuring something like "I don't know why I bother."
However, I did realise that I need a hobby. Something constructive to do with my time, apart from schoolwork and reading and writing and trying to play my Dad's piano and thinking of creative ways to file my Mum's research papers.
So I decided to start this journal. It's not like I don't already keep a journal, because I do, but that's for my eyes only. This one can be like a novel. Only it's a true account of everything that happens in Solitaria.
And I've decided – occasionally – to write it like a typical first-person narrative, as opposed to a standard 'Dear Diary' style of writing.
"Wow!", you say.
I know. I'm thrilled to bits as well.

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When I told Amelia about it, her eyes lit up. "Cool!" she exclaimed. "Can I be, like, the photographer? I'll take pictures to go with the story. And that can form part of my major work for my photography course."
So she's going to take some pictures, which is good, and she's a pretty good photographer, too.
I think I should start by telling you about Solitaria, which is where I live. It's a miniscule, isolated town (hence the name – whoever thought it up was either a total genius or obsessed with playing cards) with a grand population of thirty-four citizens in nine households. It's such a small place that it isn't on most maps, which is why delivery men get so confused when they're asked to deliver stuff to Lou's shop. He gets a lot of phone calls asking for directions from Eridessa to here.
Eridessa, by the way, is the nearest place that could even be called a 'town'. It's still pretty small, but it has a proper shopping mall and school and a few clubs and stuff. It's a forty-five minute drive from here to there, and the nearest big city is two hours away.
Solitaria is where strange people collect like sediment in a river. Often they're outcasts from the rest of society – people who aren't wanted, or who technically shouldn't even exist.

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Here's an example: the guy I called Lou, who runs a shop? His name isn't actually Lou, it's some weird alien name that everyone had trouble pronouncing, so he waved his green hand and said "Look, just call me Lou, OK?"
Anyway, he runs the only shop in Solitaria, which we rely on for pretty much everything we need to buy – food, clothes, and other bits and pieces like CDs and books and things. If we want something else, we have to either order it in from Eridessa or drive there ourselves. He lives above his shop on the second storey, and he has a room for rent, so his house sometimes doubles as a motel for passers-by.
I won't go on with a detailed list of all the families just now, because that would get stunningly boring, and I don't want to lose valuable readers before I even acquire them in the first place. So here goes with an attempt to tell a story about an ordinary day in an extraordinary community.

* * *

"Please, Nathan?" pleaded Amelia.
The rest of the group looked over at him. He just stood next to the wall, shifting uneasily from foot to foot.
"I, uh…have a phobia of camera flash," he said pathetically.
Tamara made a derisive noise in her throat, while I said "Well, let's see what happens when we try taking a photograph without flash at night time. I'm sure Amelia would love to try that."
Amelia wasn't listening to my sarcasm. "We really need the whole group in the shot. It's for my major project."
"And my major hobby," I added.
Nathan glanced uneasily from Amelia to me. "Why?"

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"Because you're part of the group," I said. "And I wanted a photo of the whole youth population of Solitaria."
"I've only been here a few weeks!" he protested.
"And you still don't trust us?" Anastasia asked, sounding a little hurt. "We're not blabbermouths, Nathan. And we don't exactly have anyone to tell."
He fidgeted. "I'm meant to keep a low profile," he whispered.
"You're living in Solitaria!" yelled Tamara. "You can't get much lower than that!"
The loving and gentle conversation went on for a while. Nathan tried every excuse he could think of, and we tried every encouraging line we could imagine.
Finally, after several minutes of tense arguing, Nathan reluctantly shuffled into the side of the frame. Amelia shifted the tripod slightly to fit him in.
"OK, the timer's set…now," Amelia said, rushing quickly to stand on the side. "Smile!"
I smiled.
The camera beeped at us, then assaulted us with a blinding flash.

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Anastasia groaned.
"Ah, my retinas," she exclaimed. "My eyes aren't used to so much light."
Amelia inspected the photograph. "Nup, we have to take another one," she said, and we all groaned. "Adam was blinking."
"Adam, how could you," I admonished my twin. "I mean, honestly. Blinking."
Such are the joys of taking group photographs. It took quite a while before Amelia was finally satisfied with the shot and we could get back to the important task of hanging out.
There are thirteen of us teenagers here in Solitaria, which is a surprising number, considering there are only thirty-four people here in total. We meet each evening after dark in the youth room of the community hall, to discuss school (which we all do via correspondence over the Internet) and just to socialise.
Our group contains two vampires (Anastasia and Oswald – the reason we meet after dark), a zombie (Hannah – the tragic result of parents consulting a voodoo mystic to bring back their dead daughter), and semi-ordinary human beings (Tamara and Jake, children with a werewolf father; Tia, stuck-up daughter of a retired exotic dancer and movie star couple; Artemis, a wannabe emo; Mystery, a wannabe goth; Nathan, whose family settled here very recently and are under witness protection; Adam, my twin brother; Julian, the most annoying person on Earth; and of course myself and Amelia.)
Amelia studied the final image on the screen of her camera. "Mystery, you're not smiling," she told her sister. She tilted the screen. "And neither are you, Artemis."
Mystery gave a sigh. "Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken, Spiritfire," she said, a little irritated.
Amelia frowned in annoyance. "Please don't call me that," she said.
"Is that your real name?" Nathan asked, with interest.
"Is Nathan your real name?" I asked innocently. He dropped his gaze.
"Hey, has anyone else seen those two new girls in town?" Tamara asked us.

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Hannah made a noise of agreement. Julian just asked, "New people?"
"That means not someone we currently know," I told him sarcastically. He ignored me.
"I've seen one of them," Tia acknowledged, caressing her hair. "The blonde one. She has gorgeous hair. I wish there was a decent hairdresser around here."
"What, so my sister isn't good enough?" Anastasia asked coldly. Her older sister was training to be a beautician. She was a fast learner and was able to give excellent haircuts. To everyone except Tia, it seemed, who was never satisfied with anything or anyone.
"Does that mean someone's finally renting the room above Lou's instead of just staying for a night?" Adam asked.
"I think so," Tamara said doubtfully. "I saw one of them about to carry a freaking massive suitcase up the stairs, so probably."
"They were strong enough to lift it?" Julian smirked. "Considering what the average girl can fit into a suitcase, combined with the normal amount of upper body strength on a female, that surprises me."
"Would a punch surprise you, Julian?" I asked sweetly.
He looked at me. "From you? It would surprise me, considering your general lack of follow-through on so many things."
"Excuse me, when have I not 'followed through' on something before?" I shot back.

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Julian's eyebrows shifted upwards. "It's getting late, I'm not sure we have time to go through the whole list--"
"OK, guys, we get it, you hate each other, now let's go home, yeah?" Amelia interrupted, just as I'd opened my mouth ready to fire back another angry retort.
Instead, I fired it at Amelia. "Oh come on, 'hate' is a strong word. We don't hate each other--"
"I beg to differ," Julian murmured.
"Home time!" Amelia said loudly, grabbing my arm and pulling me in the direction of the door.
"You're a real charmer, Julian," I said, allowing myself to be led towards the door. "If you ever manage to get a girlfriend, I'll send her a sympathy card."
Amelia pulled me out of the room, through the main front door, and outside onto the tiny front porch. "That was a bit harsh, El," she muttered.
"What?" I said. "He was being a real di--"
"So were you," she said, cutting me off.

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I stared at her. "Thanks."
"No problem," she replied. "That's what you have friends for, Ellie: to tell you when it's time to pull your head in. We really don't need to witness an argument every single week between you two. I don't even know why you hate each other so much, to be honest."
"Because he's a pretentious wa--"
"Look, never mind," Amelia said, sighing. "Home?"
I exhaled noisily. "Yeah."

em90

25th Jan 2010, 08:16 AM

Now, dear readers, I do apologise for what follows. I realise just how boring it seems, but I feel I need to describe our community, if only for reference. I'll try to keep it entertaining. At least it's jazzed up with Amelia's photos and stuff.

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Dessler – the Desslers moved here just a few weeks ago, apparently under witness protection. It was a bit strange, because it was all so secretive, and in a town this small there aren't really any secrets. We don't know their real names, but we do know about the witness protection part, which we're technically not meant to know. There's Marie and Anthony Dessler, and their children Nathan (who sulks a lot but has great hair) and Joanna (who's pretty cute for a seven-year-old.) They keep to themselves a lot, and we don't bother them.

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Druitt – Rosie Druitt is a lovely person with an ugly disease, which causes great scar-like lesions to randomly appear on her skin and stay there. None of the doctors have a clue what's wrong with her, and when the disease began to show, her shallow D.H. of a husband decided to divorce. She moved out here with her son, Julian, whom I greatly dislike (and everyone knows it). He's arrogant, smug and patronizing. He's into philosophy and politics and all this other stuff, and always acts like he knows everything. The jerk. It must be hereditary. Paternally.

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Guildenstern – a family of vampires. This, of course, provides a great opener when they meet someone in an Eridessa pub:
"Can I buy you a drink?"
"Sure, can you get me some blood? With a little paper umbrella in it, thanks."
According to Victoria, she actually tried that line on a guy who tried to pick her up once. She said he looked confused, but was probably too intoxicated to remember anything anyway.
They do share some similarities with the popular fictional vampires of literature, but they also lack some famous vampiric traits too. For instance, they don't drink blood at all. They eat regular human food. However, they cannot be exposed to any sunlight (they don't 'glitter', they burn), they can turn into a bat at will, they all have very pale skin, they are supernaturally strong, they are perpetually freezing, and - oh, yeah, they just happen to be immortal.
Because of this lack-of-mortality, the Guildensterns have a big family. Sophie and Edward's first child was Victoria, who has been twenty five for several decades. A little more recently, they had Oswald and Anastasia, who are currently teenagers, followed by Casper and Catherine, who are children. (They do 'grow' older, at an extremely slow rate, and stop growing when they reach what would be the equivalent of about 30 human years).

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Larson – Enter yours truly. My mum's a biochemist, by the name of Doctor Jamie Larson. She moved our family here when Adam and I were two (we're twins), because she was deeply involved in researching some special plants, and she'd discovered an enormous population of them growing natively here in Solitaria.
Dad was a little unhappy at first, because he knew it would be difficult for him to find any work out here. He's a professional musician who used to accompany solo singers for their concerts, but now he works as a freelance composer. Instead of playing for the upcoming Australian Idols, he writes for them!
And if you think that's not much of a claim to fame because the hit songs for Idols are always stupid and sappy, it's because he deliberately makes them that way. Then he nearly kills himself with laughter as they're performed, and even moreso when the hit single starts rising up the charts. It also brings in some nice royalties.

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Meyer – the most singularly weird family in Solitaria. Consists of Dream Meyer, Arthur Meyer, and their three children. My best friend Amelia belongs to this troupe, and she once so perfectly described them thus: "I'm a teenage girl striving to be normal in a household full of fruitloops. My mother thinks she's a Wiccan, my father thinks he's Neo and has to choose a red or blue pill, my sister's a goth who only speaks in Evanescence quotes and my brother's an emo who cried when I killed an ant. But none of them actually are what they think they are. Like, my mum isn't actually a witch, and Artemis isn't actually an emo, they just try to live up to their perceptions of what a witch or a goth or an emo is. We all have stupid names thanks to my mother and we have the strangest house in the entire country. How am I going to survive?" Her name is, in fact, Spiritfire, but she demands that everyone call her Amelia, which is "much more normal and a really pretty name."

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Mink – a glamourous couple straight from the pages of gossip magazines. When the gossip got too much to handle, Yvette and Liam Mink decided to retire from their media-saturated, paparazzified lives early. Yvette was a well-known exotic dancer and actress in some dubious films, while Liam was also a famous actor from some big movies. Their equally glamourous daughter, Tia, is about as stuck-up as they are.

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Reilly – A mostly ordinary family. Clarisse and Tom were a normal family with two charming daughters, Hannah, 14, and Kelly, 8. They lived an ordinary, happy life until one day Hannah was violently struck down and killed by a drunk driver while crossing the road. Her family was devastated, and were so desperate to get her back that they consulted a Vodun mystic who claimed to have a phone with a direct link to the underworld. She promised, for a fee, that she could return Hannah from the dead. Clarisse and Tom paid the fee she asked, and – surprising everybody – Hannah was indeed brought back to life.
Sort of.
Hannah came back as a zombie. Her parents, horrified at what they had done and what their daughter had become, fled their comfortable suburban community and settled in Solitaria to try and rebuild their shattered lives. Hannah's quality of "life" has fallen far lower than it had ever been before the accident. She has trouble communicating and can barely walk. Thankfully, we've accepted her for who she is, and not what she is. A truly tragic situation.

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R'hu – Lou runs the shop, which I told you about earlier. His real name is Ul'udru R'hu (I think it's pronounced 'ool-a-ood-roo ra-hoo', with 'oo' as in 'book'. What a tongue-twister) and he's a genuine article alien - you know, green skin, pointy ears, black eyes, the whole shebang. I got kind of excited when I first met him, because I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who, and I thought maybe the Tardis was parked just around the corner and the Doctor was transporting some random alien back to his home planet but had difficulties and was stopping for repairs.
My imagination sometimes runs away from me. It's hard to get it back.
He's a really decent guy, despite being an alien. In fact he's surprisingly human. I'm not sure exactly how he ended up here. I am sure he makes great coffee, though. I know this because I regularly drink his coffee.

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Rosencrantz - They're a mostly normal family. It's just that the father, Christopher, is a werewolf. Naturally, someone who turns into a man-wolf every time the moon is full wasn't a highly valued member of society. Luckily he found a sympathetic girlfriend and decided to move out here to start a family. It's good for us, because Christopher is a fully qualified policeman. It's ever so helpful for difficult criminals to be arrested by a werewolf. They become so much more compliant. He married an ordinary woman, Debbie, and they have three ordinary children: Tamara, Jake and Anna.

So there you have it: our totally bizarre congregation of citizens, here in Solitaria.

Phoeberg

26th Jan 2010, 05:37 PM

I feel surprisingly sucked in by this story. I didn't find chapter 2 boring at all!

em90

30th Jan 2010, 08:02 AM

"That," I told my mum, "was a particularly good dinner."
"Really," she asked me, as she started picking up our empty plates from the table. "And why was it so particularly good tonight?"

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I considered this for a moment, then said "Well, it had a good salad, good potatoes, and no bacon."
Adam groaned. "I love bacon," he said.
"I don't," I said. I always have to hold my nose if I smell cooking bacon, otherwise I feel a sudden urge to purge.
Mum started carrying the plates into the kitchen, while Adam stood up and wandered over to the fridge, where he immediately started searching for more food, despite the perfectly satisfying meal we'd just eaten.
"Will you be coming to the community meeting, honey?" my dad called to Mum.
"Ah…no," she replied. "I have so much stuff to file."
"How's it all going, anyway?" I asked.
She nodded. "Pretty good," she replied. "The new seedlings are coming along really well. I'll be able to start making some more slides of the mature ones tomorrow…if I can clean up my lab."
"I'll send your regards, then," Dad said, getting up. He looked at me and glanced in Adam's direction. "Coming?"
Solitaria has regular community meetings each Sunday evening, where all of the residents gather at the hall to chat or discuss important stuff. Apparently, at this meeting we'd be introduced to Lola and Adrianna, the newcomers.
It doesn't take long to walk to the hall. In fact, in Solitaria, it doesn't take long to walk anywhere. The hall is a leisurely five minutes away, Lou's shop is right next to it, and they form a central 'hub' from which anyone's house is no more than ten minutes away (fifteen if you're lazy).
There were already quite a few people there when we arrived; in fact, it looked like most of the town. Typically, everyone had divided into age groups – children were clustered around the swing set, teenagers were gathered near the tree, and most of the adults were already inside.
I sidled up next to Tamara. "Are we planning to go inside?" I asked.

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She shrugged. "Yeah, probably," she replied. "When the adults start calling us in."
I nodded. "Is Amelia here yet?" I inquired.
Tamara nodded. "Yeah, I think she's inside though," she said. "She said something about mosquitoes and left."
I smiled to myself. "Thanks," I said, and went to find Amelia.
The community hall is divided into two main rooms: the youth room, where we meet during the evening (and where the children meet for their classes during the day), and the meeting room, which is just a general room with some seats and a kitchenette. I headed into the latter.
It was filling up surprisingly quickly. Scanning the crowd, I managed to spot Amelia, who was talking to the Desslers while holding her camera. Marie kept looking hesitantly at her husband, who was looking rather uncertain and scowling as Amelia spoke to him.
I moved through the crowd until I was a little closer, and I was able to hear Amelia talking.
"…not going to be displayed anywhere, it's not going on the Internet, it's just a private interest project that I'm sort of sharing with Ellie, I promise…"
"But what I don't understand," Anthony Dessler said, "is why you need a photo of us in the first place."

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"Well, you see, Ellie's got a kind of journal-slash-scrapbook thing happening, about what happens in this town. And you're a part of this town, so you get your very own page in the scrapbook. But it would look really odd if we didn't have a picture of you guys anywhere. So I'm just asking if, please, it might be possible for me to take just one quick group shot, while you're all here…"
I had to hand it to Amelia - she was using her very best 'dealing-with-difficult-people' tone that she was able to use so well. It came in especially helpful when we went shopping together in Eridessa and I needed help convincing store assistants that I didn't want to buy that particular dress, that I wanted to order in a particular book, that I hadn't actually stolen the CD but had just thrown away the receipt, etc. I have next to no social skills when it comes to people I don't know – I trip over my sentences, mix vowel sounds, and generally end up stammering my way through my clumsy words. This is why I prefer writing words rather than speaking them.
Before I could hear the Dessler's reply, someone gave a loud, high-pitched whistle and the room fell quiet. Someone ducked out of the room to call the teenagers and children in, while I heard Lou begin speaking.
"It'd be great if everyone could gather round, take a seat, you know…" he suggested, prompting the crowd to shift through the room and roughly assemble themselves facing towards Lou. I quickly headed for one of the seats, and ended up behind him as he spoke.
Two twenty-something girls were standing beside him, and I assumed that they were the people we were here to meet.

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The girl closest to me had long, flowing blonde hair, pale skin and dark eyelashes, and was wearing a short pink summer dress. The girl next to her was her total opposite – dark skin, a narrow face framed by short black hair, and she was clad in skinny leggings, high heels, a blue T-shirt and a cropped black leather jacket. I tried to figure out how such complete opposites had both arrived in Solitaria together.
As it turned out, they were an example of how opposites attract. Lou gestured towards them and announced, "Now, the reason we're gathered here tonight is to meet our town's newest arrivals, Adrianna Smythe and Lola Marchetta. They're going to be renting the room above my shop for a few months at least – so, husbands, you can't come to my place now when you've been kicked out for forgetting your anniversary."
There was a general murmur of chuckles – it seemed quite a few of the town's members had made use of Lou's spare bed on dire occasions. Lou waited for the noise to subside before continuing.
"They'll also be helping me out in the shop, since they've decided to work for part of their keep, so don't be surprised to see them working the espresso machine or cash register."
"Aw," I murmured to no one in particular. "I want Lou to keep making the coffee."
"Anyway," Lou went on, "please make them feel welcome here, and – well – I'll let them introduce themselves." Lou moved aside and gestured again to Adrianna and Lola. "Fire away."
The two girls looked at each other, before Adrianna spoke. "Well, I guess I should say thankyou," she began, "and especially for the, ah, welcome…we've never really had that kind of welcome when we've arrived in a new town before…"
"That's because you've never come to Solitaria before!" someone called out, and people around them laughed.
Adrianna smiled. "Oh, we've been to some other small towns before…just never one quite as small as this."
She paused, and Lou said, "Tell us why you've come to Solitaria."
This time it was Lola who spoke. "Well, we've just come from a fairly enormous city, so we were kind of looking for a change."
"We're kind of like nomads," Adrianna added. "We tend to keep moving around from place to place all the time. In fact, the last time we stayed somewhere longer than six months was…oh, I can't even remember—"
"Littleton," Lola provided, nodding. "Which wasn't little, by the way," she added.
She paused again, and Adrianna glanced over at Lou, looking a bit uncomfortable at all the attention. Lou smiled encouragingly, and said "So - tell us about yourselves. What do you do to earn a living, what are your hobbies, and so on."
Adrianna smiled. "Well, we've both had a lot of different jobs over the years," she said with a small laugh. "Mine have mainly been secretarial work, office jobs, so on."
"I do a bit of this, and a bit of that," Lola said evasively. "Worked in a music store once. But that was a long time ago."
"Hobbies?" Lou prompted.
Lola tilted her head to one side, considering. "Uh, I dunno about that one, actually," she said. "I don't really have...hobbies, as such. Adrianna likes cooking..."
Adrianna smiled at this, nodding timidly. There was another lengthy pause, before Lola finished "So…yeah. Thanks, everyone."
Lou started clapping, and we all joined in. People started drifting away, forming small conversation groups and talking again, until a steady level of chatter filled the room. A few people made their way towards the newcomers to introduce themselves personally.
Amelia came and found me. "Ugh," she said.
"Hello to you, too," I replied.
She made a face. "Hi. You would not believe how long I've spent trying to convince the Desslers that I'm not going to spread the word about their presence here, and that all I want is one harmless photograph of them."

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"Maybe they have a phobia of camera flash," I suggested. "It could run in the family."
"Just one photo!" Amelia exclaimed, grumpily. "That's all I'm asking for."
"Well you'd better hurry up and take it, because they're all waiting around for you over there," I said, pointing.
Amelia turned to look. "Oh!"
She bustled off with her camera, leaving me seated on the couch. Since people were standing directly in front of me, chatting, I couldn't easily get up without having to ask someone to move. Not wanting to interrupt anyone, I simply stayed put for a moment. The only other person sitting down was Julian, on the couch near my own. I deliberately avoided looking at him, for fear a glaring match would start – or for fear he might look at me and I'd have no idea how to arrange my face into some kind of appropriate expression.
In a few minutes, however, Dad provided my escape for me. He gradually weaved his way through the crowd towards me, looking a little anxious.
"Mum just called," he said, holding up his mobile phone. "She's hurt her finger rearranging the lab and she's asked me to bring Edward back to take a look at it."
I sighed. "What does she think she's done?"
"She thinks she might have dislocated or fractured one of the joints," he said. "Anyway, we'd better leave now…where's your brother?"
I shrugged. "Probably outside or something. I'll go find him, where do I meet you?"
"Well, I'm just going to start walking back. Edward will probably fly there before we arrive, so if you wanted to start making your way back, I don't mind when you do that…in fact, you can stay here if you really wanted to—"
"No, I'm coming," I said quickly, finally able to get off the couch. I walked out through the crowd to look for Adam, while Dad went to look for Edward Guildenstern, who was a fully qualified doctor. It seemed strange that a vampire – someone attracted to blood – would want to be a doctor, but he was brilliant at it. He was also a fully qualified electrician, plumber, carpenter, lawyer, schoolteacher, mechanical engineer, and architect.
When you're immortal, apparently, you spend a lot of time studying different things.
In the end, I discovered Adam outside under the tree, talking to Anastasia and Oswald. When I approached, they suddenly stopped talking and just looked at each other kind of shiftily.
I looked at them. "What's going on?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing," my brother said nonchalantly.

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I looked at them suspiciously for a few more moments, then told Adam what was going on. While I spoke, I noticed a bat fly out of the community hall and fly towards my house.
"There goes Dad," Anastasia said, somewhat unnecessarily.
Adam and I left, walking quickly towards the house. Just before we went in the front door, I tried to catch him off guard.
"What were you guys talking about back there?" I asked.
He cast an irritatingly knowing look in my direction, then tapped his nose, before silently walking inside.
Brothers, I thought, following.
Mum was sitting on one of the couches, looking dejectedly at her hand. Her middle finger was swollen and red, and Edward was studying it carefully.

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"Ouch," I said, taking a seat. "How'd you do that?"
Mum winced. "I must've really slammed the fridge door shut last time I closed it, and it was really hard to open…so I tried pulling extra-hard, but at a strange angle, and I felt my hand crack." She shrugged. "The door opened, though."
Dad just shook his head. "I leave you alone for a moment…"
"Don't start that," Mum said, mock-crossly. "When I left you alone once, you ended up breaking your leg!"
I guess we're an accident-prone family.
Edward let go of Mum's hand and sighed. "Well, it will have to be X-rayed, but I'd say you've either sprained it, torn a ligament, or somehow damaged the cartilage in that joint," he announced. "You'll need to get that X ray as soon as you can…try taking some ibuprofen, that should settle down any inflammation, and keep a cold pack on for a while to stop the swelling, OK?"
"OK," Mum sighed. She looked up at Dad. "Looks like we're travelling into Eridessa tomorrow, then."
Dad nodded. "It does look that way, doesn't it?" Eridessa has the closest medical facilities, including an X ray and pathology place.
"Thanks a lot for your help, Edward," Mum said. She smiled ruefully. "I'd shake your hand, but it might aggravate it."
Edward smiled. "Probably not a good idea."
"How much do we owe you?" Dad asked.
Edward shook his head. "Don’t worry about it," he said, gathering his things. "Free of charge."
"Are you sure?" Dad asked.
They haggled for a while – Edward refusing payment, Dad refusing the refusal of payment. Edward eventually won when he smiled, said a firm 'Goodbye', and turned into a bat before flying off.
Dad looked miffed. "How am I supposed to argue with a bat?"

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em90

30th Jan 2010, 08:13 AM

...oh my goodness, you would not believe how stressful it is having 35 sims gathered in the same room, and then trying to get them all to behave while I take pictures (even with 'free will' off)! :rolleyes: I think my parents must think I'm getting a bit too obsessed with the Sims; there were a couple of occasions I ended up yelling 'NO, SIT DOWN, ELLIE!' at the screen. Sigh.

TheBoyFromMars and BewitchedPrue, thank you so much for your kind words! :) Glad you like it.

Phoeberg

30th Jan 2010, 10:50 PM

...oh my goodness, you would not believe how stressful it is having 35 sims gathered in the same room, and then trying to get them all to behave while I take pictures (even with 'free will' off)! :rolleyes: I think my parents must think I'm getting a bit too obsessed with the Sims; there were a couple of occasions I ended up yelling 'NO, SIT DOWN, ELLIE!' at the screen. Sigh.

:lol: Well believe me, it was worth it! This was another awesome chapter. There's something decidedly suspicious about those newcomers...

em90

4th Feb 2010, 02:15 AM

Unfortunately, the only time Mum was able to book an X ray was very late in the afternoon, almost before the X ray place closed. The next day, the middle joint of her middle finger had swollen to twice its normal size.
"Look at that!" she complained.
I looked. "Wow, Mum!" I exclaimed. "If someone annoys you, it'll be double the insult!"
I walked off before she figured out what I'd meant. When I was halfway up the stairs, I heard her make a noise in her throat and mutter "Ellie…"
I doubted she would've been able to raise that finger enough at anyone, anyway.

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After Mum and Dad had embarked on the fairly long journey to Eridessa, I informed Adam that I was going to go over to Amelia's place for the rest of the afternoon, and that we'd arrive at the community hall that evening together. He nodded, then asked, "Is there anything important you're planning on doing tonight?"
I shrugged. "No, why?"
He shook his head. "Just wondering," he replied.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why?" I repeated.
"If you don't start heading to Amelia's soon, I'll put your books out of order," he threatened.
I scoffed. "I'll put them back again soon enough. Why?"
"You'll see," he said.
"You'd better tell me, you know," I warned, hoping I sounded somewhat threatening.
He smiled challengingly. "Or else...?"
"Because you can't just say stuff like that and not tell me what you mean."
"Actually, I think I just did."
I glared at him. "You're planning something."
"Am I?" he said innocently.
"Just tell me!"
"That would ruin the plan," he said. "Anyway, as much as I've enjoyed this little conversation, El, I really need to get back to this work I'm doing, here."
He turned away from me, grabbed the headphones that were lying on his desk, and clamped them over his ears, ignoring me. I strode over defiantly and yanked them viciously off his head.
"Hey," he exclaimed, flinching and automatically reaching for the headphones I was holding.
"What are you planning," I asked furiously.
"I'm not going to tell you," he replied, slowly.
We glared at each for a moment. Well, I was glaring, Adam just looked at me in a 'Give-me-back-those-headphones-please' sort of way. But, in the end, despite the arguing, I knew he wasn't going to tell me. I threw the headphones back onto his desk, disgusted, and walked out.
Brothers!

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I made my way to Amelia's house. It didn't take long, since she only lives down the hill and around the corner from me. I climbed the steps to her front veranda and rang the doorbell.
She answered it soon enough, throwing the door open and inviting me in. "Welcome to the madhouse," she said.
Visits to the Meyer household are never dull. In all my years of being Amelia's friend, I think I can safely say that something out of the ordinary would always happen on any given day.
I headed towards the stairs, and turned my head to look into the enormous library where Amelia's dad, Arthur, spent nearly all of his time. Books lined the walls, a few were scattered on coffeetables, and comfy chairs were strategically arranged around a large fireplace. Arthur was, as usual, sitting on one of these chairs, immersed in a book.

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I squinted. "Is he reading the Bible?" I asked Amelia.
She peered through the glass doors herself for a moment, then said, "Probably. It wouldn't surprise me. He was flicking through it yesterday, too."
Arthur Meyer had long ago decided that all of life was nothing but an illusion, with everything that happened controlled by some master being, and we humans had no real control. Nothing was real unless we believed it was. Consequently, he had made it his quest to discover the truth behind the illusion. I wasn't quite sure what the long black coat, long black hair, bushy moustache and dark sunglasses had to do with this. Perhaps he was trying to shield himself from illusionary predators.
"Where's your Mum?" I asked, as we started up the stairs to the second floor of the three-storey house.
Amelia shrugged. "Not sure," she replied. "Probably in her study, consulting with someone about the meanings behind their nightmares, or telling them how to make a love potion or something."
I was greeted by the usual sight of two shut doors once we reached the second floor. This floor was where the bedrooms were located for Amelia, Mystery and Artemis. It was also the location of the main bathroom. The third floor was reserved for Dream and Arthur only. I'd never been up there, and wasn't sure what I'd find if I did eventually go exploring there one day.
Amelia strolled through the only open door, leading to her own sunny-hued bedroom. It was a stark contrast to the dark, textured colour schemes of the rest of the house – something I knew was intentional on Amelia's part.

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She stretched out on her bed, while I sat on her lounge. Amelia sighed. "I've finally got photos for every family in this place."
I nodded. "Cool."
"The Desslers were the biggest problem," she continued with a slight groan. "All this witness protection rubbish…it nearly drove me insane. All I wanted was a photograph."
"But you got one, right?" I asked.
She nodded. "Not without a lot of encouragement, pleading, and persuasion," she said. "But yeah. Got there in the end."
We nodded at each other, as though in deep mutual agreement about something. Amelia picked at a loose thread on the bottom of her T shirt.
I suddenly remembered something else to talk about. "Hey, I haven't told you what happened to my Mum's hand yet, did I?"
"I heard Edward made a visit to your house last night," Amelia said. "What happened?"
Before I could begin, a bizarre rumbling sound seemed to vibrate through the floor, followed by some more scratchy, distorted electronic noises.
Amelia rolled her eyes and looked cross. "Hang on a minute," she muttered, striding across the room, opening her door, and walking quickly over to knock loudly on the door to Artemis's bedroom.
"ARTEMIS!" she yelled over the din. It stopped, and the door opened a fraction.
Artemis looked dully up at his sister. "Yes?"

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"Can you keep it down?" Amelia asked. "We're trying to have a conversation, and you should know by now that you need lessons before you can play guitar properly."
"Are you trying to stifle my artistic expression?" Artemis asked.
"I'm trying to convince you that you can't actually play that thing."
There was a brief pause, and I could hear some kind of hardcore screamo music playing in the background. Artemis looked dejected. "Nobody understands me," he whispered pathetically.
"Don't start that again," Amelia sighed. "We understand you well enough to know that you can't play guitar—"
"But you don't understand me, really," Artemis repeated. He let out a little sigh. "I feel so…"
"Disaffected?" Amelia suggested. Artemis nodded, and Amelia snorted. "Well, write about it in your journal and stop playing guitar, OK?"
Artemis didn't reply. Instead, he just shut the door.
Amelia rolled her eyes at me again. "Hopeless."
We went back into her room and resumed our conversation. "Will he be alright?" I asked.
"He's fine," Amelia said, flapping her hand at me. "Stupid tryhard, that's all. Anyway, you were telling me about your Mum's hand?"
I briefly described what had happened. Amelia was a great listener – she really participated in whatever conversations she was having with people. Instead of nodding and making agreeable noises on autopilot, she actively gasped, laughed, or frowned in all the right places. It was an admirable trait that I was yet to find in anyone else.
We hung out for a while, watching TV and checking Amelia's MySpace. MySpace was one of the main methods of communication between the youth of Solitaria. It was the ideal form of non-verbal communication between people who were awake at different times (such as the Guildensterns) or who never left their room except to go to the hall meetings (such as Mystery and Artemis). The only one of us without a MySpace was Hannah, but we weren't sure exactly how much she could really understand, as no one had any idea what shape her addled brain was in.
After a while, Amelia looked at her clock and frowned. "Mum should've called us for dinner by now…I'd better check."
Once again, we left Amelia's room. This time, there was some kind of noise coming from behind Mystery's door: a high, long wail set against familiar guitars and strings.
"Ahhhhhh, ahh-ahh-I'm, looooo-sing my mind…"
Amelia banged on the door. "Mystery, give it a rest, yeah?"
"…staaaaand, there and staaaaare, as my woooooorld divi-iiiiiiiides—"

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Amelia threw the door open, and the music crescendoed before falling away dramatically. Mystery pivoted on the spot, stared directly at her sister, and crooned "Yooooooou! Belooooooooong! To meeeeeee…"
"Dinnertime," Amelia said.
"…my snoooow, white, quee-eeeeen…"
Amelia shut the door again without comment. She then proceeded to knock on Artemis's door, but there was no response. She gave up and started walking downstairs in disgust.
A little concerned by the lack of noise coming from inside the room of her brother, I opened the door to check on him. He was sitting in his chair, sobbing, and I noticed angry red marks on his wrists.
"Artemis!" I exclaimed, rushing over. I stopped in my tracks, then yelled, "Amelia!"
"What?"
"Your brother's hurt!" I cried. A second later, I heard footsteps hurriedly thumping up the stairs again, and Amelia came into the room.
"What's happened?" she asked me, genuinely concerned. She then looked at her brother and let out the biggest sigh I'd ever heard her give.
"Oh, for God's sake, Artemis. Grow up." She turned to me, and led me out of the room. "Come on…"
"But what about his wrists?" I exclaimed. "He's hurt!"
"He's done this many times before," Amelia explained patiently. "He tries to do the whole emo thing, you know…" She mimed cutting her wrists, and I cringed. "But he's so pathetic and lacking courage that he ends up just getting a few raw red marks. He then pretends he actually cut himself whilst getting those marks. It's definitely nothing serious. Come on."
A little bemused, I followed Amelia downstairs, where she started looking for her mother. It didn't take long to find her: she was outside, meditating under a tree.

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Amelia stood in the doorway. "Mum!" she yelled.
Dream opened her eyes very slowly and raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Are you planning on starting the dinner?" Amelia asked.
Dream's eyebrows lowered. Then she went on with her meditation, leaving Amelia to cook.
She sighed again. "Ellie, what am I going to do with my family?" she wanted to know.
I couldn't reply.

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em90

7th Feb 2010, 04:29 AM

The meeting at the hall that evening was fairly short. No one seemed to have much to say, and a lot of us were still pretty tired after the previous night's late meeting.
"I didn't get home from the hall til eleven," Tamara yawned, "and didn't get to sleep til about twelve-thirty."
"Well I didn't get to sleep til two in the morning," Tia said, then grinned slyly. "But Jake had a lot to do with that."
"Thanks, Tia, we don't really want to know," I cut in.
We chatted for a while, before about half the group decided to go home early. Some of us stayed: Anastasia had to do lab work for her biology course, Julian had to do research, and Oswald just had nothing better to do.
I was about to leave, when my phone rang. I examined it and noticed 'Mum' was calling.

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I flipped it open. "Hi, Mum."
"Hi, Ellie," Mum said, sounding tired and exasperated. "Listen, we're not going to be home until quite late."
"Why?"
A sigh. "Apparently, something showed up on the X ray, but it needs some other further test to see how much damage I've done."
"What have you done?"
"They think I've torn the cartilage in my joint."
I winced. "Ouch."
"Anyway," Mum sighed again, "I need to go to the hospital for this further test thing, but it means we won't be home until fairly late. Do you think you can manage?"
"Yeah, sure," I said. "I hope everything goes well."
"I hope so too. Can you put me on to your brother for a moment?"
"Yeah, hold on…" I handed the phone to Adam, mouthing 'Mum'. He started talking away.
Anastasia was standing at the lab bench, looking confusedly from a row of test tubes to a piece of paper beside her. She yawned a little, then looked at me. "Ellie?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you help me out?"
I wandered over to look at what Anastasia was doing. She sighed. "It's too early in the night to be thinking…have you done this prac yet?"

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Both of us were taking biology as one of our HSC courses* (see footnote), but I was able to make use of my mum's lab and expertise when it came to practicals. Anastasia, on the other hand, had to rely on written instructions and the small lab setup in the community hall.
Adam interrupted me before I could answer. "Ellie, you've got your house keys, don't you?"
I patted my pockets. "No, but since you were the last to leave, you should have them…don't you?"
Adam looked sheepish. "I think I locked them in the house."
I exploded in exasperation. "How did you manage that?"
"I'm talented."
"Great," I muttered. "Now I'm stuck here with this moron—"
"Hey!"
"Not you, Anastasia…" I sighed. Adam and I wouldn't be able to get into our own home until our parents returned, and we had no idea when that would be.
"Well then, Anastasia, I guess I'm going to be able to stay here and help you for a lot longer than I thought," I said, sighing again.
"Thanks," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Um, anyway. Yeah, it's something to do with rennin and milk and stuff, but I can't get it to clot…"
It was a fairly simple prac, involving enzymes and substrates, so I was able to help Anastasia without too much trouble. I started off by pointing out a crucial error she was making in her experiment.
"Ohhhh!" she said, understanding. "Oh, right. No acid. OK. That makes more sense." She looked at her experiment for a moment. "I'm going to need more test tubes, then."
I nodded. She then glanced up, appeared to make eye contact with my brother for no apparent reason, then called out to Julian, who was studying an encyclopedia on the couch (seriously, who even does that any more? Hasn't he ever heard of the Internet? Google? Wikipedia? Honestly).

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"Oi, Jules, can you get me some more test tubes from the store room?" she called.
Julian looked up, looked from Anastasia's face to the experiment, then reluctantly put the book down. "You're sure you can't get them yourself?"
Anastasia shook her head, although I didn't see why she couldn't get them herself. Perhaps she was just lazy.
Julian got up, leaving his encyclopedia on the couch, and walked into the store room attached to the youth room, which held plenty of miscellaneous supplies for the hall.
Suddenly, Anastasia grabbed my right arm. It didn't hurt, and she was gentle enough, but vampires are ten times stronger than the average human – and soon, Oswald came and grabbed my other arm, completely overpowering me.
"Hey!" I cried. "What's going on?"
"Oh, nothing," Oswald said, grinning from ear to ear. They both started pushing and dragging me towards the storeroom. "It's just another…experiment."
I tried breaking free of their grip, but it was impossible. I knew they didn't have anything malicious in mind—
It clicked when I saw Adam holding the key to the store room door. "Oh, no," I said, shaking my head and trying even harder to break free. "No, no, don't you dare—!"
"This is going to be interesting," Oswald commented casually to Adam, and he laughed.
"ADAM!" I yelled.
"Yeah?"
"STOP IT!"
But they didn't. In fact, they'd already dragged me right up to the store room door, and with a gentle shove, they pushed me inside, next to a surprised Julian.
I whirled around as soon as they'd released my arms, but the door was already closed, and I heard the key turn in the lock.
"ADAM!" I yelled again, slamming my hands against the door ineffectually. "Let me out of here!"
All I could hear was laughter coming from the other side of the door, and a slap that could have been a high five. I banged on the door again. "Let us out!"
More laughter. "Goodnight, Ellie," Adam called through the door. "Goodnight, Julian…"
I kicked the door, swearing loudly at the people on the other side. They'd been planning this all along: shutting me in the store room with my known adversary and the biggest jerk on the planet, Julian Druitt.

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I was livid. I kept banging on the door for a while, but I realised they'd all left, and there wasn't much use. With another pang of anger, I realised I didn't even have my phone to call for help – Adam still had it from when Mum had called. As well as that, Mum and Dad wouldn't even be home for who knows how long, so no one would realise I was gone!
It was all so frustrating. Plus, I could already feel bruises blossoming on my arm where I'd struggled against Anastasia's grip. I vowed that I would get them back somehow, in some other kind of nasty prank.
But until then, I had to get through being shut in a small room with Julian.
Once I'd had enough of clamouring for release, I stood and turned to him, avoiding eye contact. "Some wonderful friends we have," I said acidly.
Julian nodded. "That's the last time I go to get test tubes for anybody," he said.
There was a long, awkward silence, during which neither of us looked at each other. I looked around our prison, taking in the dusty books on shelves, the disused cleaning equipment, the abandoned artwork that someone had left on the floor, and some writing in black crayon on the ceiling: JENNY WAS HERE 2004.
"Huh," I commented softly. "What an achievement. I'm so proud of her. Such vision."
Julian glanced up, then looked at me. "I wonder, have you always been this sarcastic?"
"No," I replied quickly. "I'm only sarcastic around arrogant people."
"So, what is your problem, exactly?" Julian said, starting to sound a little angry.
"You!" I yelled, then corrected myself. "No, not you necessarily. Your attitude. I cannot stand your attitude."

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"My attitude!?" Julian exclaimed in disbelief, his voice beginning to rise.
"Yes, your attitude," I emphasised. "You're always so arrogant and patronizing, like you know everything, but no one else can hope to understand it, like we can't all ascend to your highly esteemed level of intelligence—"
"Patronizing?" Now Julian sounded angry. "I don't see what you're getting at— at least I don't blow my top at anyone if they don't understand something. I try to talk to people on their own level—"
"See?" I yelled. "You're doing it again! Just listen to yourself for once!"
"Maybe you should listen to what you say a bit more often, too!"
"Oh? And what do I say that's so terrible?"
"You always think you're being so funny," Julian sneered. "So witty. They say sarcasm is the lowest form of humour, you realise."
I made an 'I don't believe this!' noise. "So now I'm the one with an attitude problem, am I?"
"Yes!"
"Well, that's news to me, buddy! Because to me, it seems as though you're the one with the superiority complex, and I'm the one trying to find humour in things—"
"Don't play me for a fool," Julian said, casually, but with venom.
I stopped. "What?"
"You heard what I said," he said, simply.
"Oh?" I stopped for a moment, trying to figure him out. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that."
"Don't say things if you're not going to explain them!" I cried in frustration.
"But according to you, that involves being patronizing," Julian countered swiftly.
I stopped again and just glared at him. "There are different— ways of explaining things," I said. "You don't have to be smug about it."
"And you don't have to be spitting sarcasm every time you want to make people laugh."
"That's just what I do!" I cried. "It's part of who I am!"
"Then you have no right to insult part of who I am!" Julian retorted.
"Well, you asked me what my problem was," I said. "So I told you, you absolute tool."
I stopped, and stood there with my arms folded, challenging him to reply. He just looked at me as though trying to figure me out.

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"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" he said. "As though every conversation is a contest that you have to win, and you always have to be right."
"No, that's generally a male mentality, I've found," I replied.
Julian stayed silent. He just stood there, looking at me.
I wasn't sure if he was acknowledging that I'd won, or disproving what I'd just said about males always wanting to win, and thus proving me wrong. Whatever it was, it felt uncomfortable. As though there was too much hot air hanging between us. Too much pressure.
Acting on impulse, I turned quickly to face the shelves of dusty old books, picked one at random, and sat down to pretend to read it, deliberately not looking at Julian. Inside, I was still fuming. I wouldn't have been surprised if smoke had started pouring from my ears.
After a few seconds had passed, Julian pointed out, "Do you realise you're trying to read 'A History of Art' upside down?"
I looked up at him, still holding the book. There was just a trace of a smile on his face, and I felt a brief whisper of a smile flit across my own lips, too, despite myself.
I sighed, putting the book back onto a shelf at random, and Julian sat down near the abandoned artwork, facing me. He glanced up at the ceiling. "I wonder how Jenny managed to write that on the ceiling?"
"A ladder?" I suggested.
He shrugged, nodding. "Possible, I guess."
Silence. I was suddenly worried that there would be awkward silences that neither of us would be able to fill, and I could feel one about to take hold very soon. I tried to prevent it.

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"Did Amelia take a good photo of you and your mum?" I asked.
Julian nodded. "Yeah, she showed it to us afterwards. I'm not usually a fan of photos myself, and Mum definitely didn't like it. She hates anyone looking for too long at her face. But Amelia's nice enough."
"Nice enough?" I asked, slightly teasing. "My best friend is only 'nice enough'?"
He shrugged. "You know what I mean."
More awkward silence. This time, Julian broke it. "I think I'm going to kill those three when we finally get out of here."
"Well, I'll kill my brother," I offered. "But I'd like to see you take on two vampires."
"I'd somehow force them into surrender," he said.
"I'd like to see you try," I challenged teasingly.
He looked thoughtful. "Well," he began, "I guess I could…" He trailed off, still thinking. Then he said, "No, I probably wouldn't be able to do much, actually."
I laughed a little. "That's a change," I said.
"What?" he asked, grinning slightly.
"Admitting you're wrong," I said.
He shrugged. "I know I'm wrong sometimes…just not very often." He threw a quick sideways glance at me, as if to check whether I'd explode at the comment, and start the fighting all over again. But I didn't. I just raised my eyebrows and gave him a disbelieving half-smile.
We somehow managed to fill in the time, talking a little awkwardly about various things. I began to wonder, though, exactly how long we'd be stuck in here. My legs were starting to ache, and I was feeling thirsty.
I stood up, groaning with effort and stretching my aching limbs. "I really shouldn't be sitting on the ground," I muttered.

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"Why?" Julian asked, also standing. "Too dirty for you?"
I shot him a nasty look. "No," I replied, a little offended. "I had deep vein thrombosis a few years ago, remember? I'm not meant to sit for too long with my legs crossed, on the ground."
His eyebrows went up. "I do remember that, actually...you were wearing some kind of strange medical stockings for a while?"
This, of course, provided another conversation avenue to pursue. I told him all about my medical crisis: the aching legs, the ultrasounds showing clots in my veins that I didn't understand, the endless blood tests, the painful injections, and the gruelling six-month long ordeal of a revolving door of blood thinners and blood tests.
Then, surprisingly, he opened up as well, telling me about his own demons: the mysterious disfiguring disease that haunted his mother, how his father left as soon as she developed scars, how she was shunned by her community because of her shocking appearance, their flight to the isolated community of Solitaria, and the process of trying to come to terms with their lifestyle.
"It was good, because everyone here was very supportive, and eventually my Mum wasn't afraid to walk out the front door. Lou was especially good to us. I think he sort of understood how Mum felt, being stared at all the time. Anyway, he helped us set up the house, and gave us free food and coffee for a few weeks while we settled in." He laughed. "Then, once we felt more comfortable, he grinned and started charging."
I laughed. Lou had a mischievous streak that belied his gentle, intelligent personality. I could imagine him smiling cheekily at Rosie and telling her the price of coffee.

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"What did your mum say when he started asking for money?" I asked.
"She just smiled, and handed it over," Julian replied. "She really didn't mind. And she was more than grateful for his hospitality."
Suddenly, after what had turned out to be several hours, I heard the rattle of a key in the lock of the store room door. It was thrown open to reveal Amelia, standing there, stunned to see us.

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"Oh, my God!" she said, then launched straight into her tale. "So, I called your mobile to tell you that you'd left your wallet on my desk, and your brother answered it. So I asked him why he was answering your phone, and he told me that you weren't available. I asked him what on Earth he meant, threatened to blackmail him, and eventually he told me that you'd been locked in the store room with Julian." She leaned around the doorframe and waved. "Hi, Julian."
He waved back. I stood up again, groaning. "Blackmail, huh? I wish I'd thought of that."
"I can't believe they did that!" she exclaimed, eyes wide. "That's really slack! I started telling your brother off, but he hung up on me."
"Don't worry," I assured her, "he's going to cop it sweet when I get home."
"Are you OK?" Amelia looked concerned. "Like do you need anything?"
"A glass of water would be nice," I admitted, "but—no, don't worry about it Amelia, I'll get one when I get home."
"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded.
I was surprised that I hadn't noticed how stuffy it had become in the store room – going out into the hall again was like entering a fresh, new world. Julian followed, saying "Thanks" to Amelia on the way. He looked at me briefly, said goodbye, and walked out of the hall, heading home.
As we walked out, Amelia said "I hate to ask, but…how did it go?"
"What?"
"In there." She gestured with her head towards the storeroom. "With the person you hate."

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"I don't hate him," I said, affronted. "I've been through this before; I never 'hated' him. I just couldn't stand him. But we both survived."
Amelia looked surprised. "Wow," she said.
Even I had to admit to myself – it had been an interesting experience.

------------------------------------------
* AUSTRALIAN REFERENCES 101: 'The HSC' = Higher School Certificate. In the state of New South Wales, students in their final two years of high school choose various subjects to study (usually between 5 and 7 courses). Over two years, they complete assignments and other coursework that goes towards their 'HSC', which is the qualification they leave school with. There are also final exams at the end of all this coursework. These exams generally cause much stress and media attention, since the marks you get at the end of your HSC generally decide where you go after high school - which university course you get into, college, etc. Other Australian states have an equivalent to the HSC in New South Wales.

Phoeberg

8th Feb 2010, 09:50 PM

Whoops, I almost missed two chapters there! I shoudl check back here more regularly. I can't wait for another update, I just find this little world you've created so fascinating!

el_flel

8th Feb 2010, 10:57 PM

I am really liking this story so far. I love your writing style.

I don't think I've quite had 35 sims in the same room, but I have had to handle quite a few and that was stressful enough, so well done for getting through the situation without throwing your computer out a window!

em90

12th Feb 2010, 11:30 PM

Well, I'm taking a bit of a break from writing like a narrative. Not much has happened for about a week, except for a few important things which I'll quickly update you on:
My brother did come to justice. When I finally trudged through the front door (I'd been in that storeroom for just over three hours!), I immediately told Mum and Dad – who were home by that time – what my brother had done. They weren't impressed, and he's been forbidden to leave the house for a week. For someone who enjoys socialising with people, grounding is a pretty decent punishment.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2531/0601g.jpg

Mum's X ray and test results came through a few days later, and apparently she'd torn the cartilage in the second joint of one of her fingers. Although there were no broken bones as such, this almost guaranteed that she'd have shocking osteoarthritis in that joint later on in her life. She seemed to accept this, though. She got back to work pretty soon after that. It was difficult to work with the plants with a bandage on her finger, as the bandage became repeatedly soaked with whatever was in the plants, and generally stayed that way for the rest of the day. She didn't seem to mind; in fact, she said it had an almost soothing effect on her injured finger and started investigating whether the plants had anti-inflammatory properties.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3544/0602f.jpg

My Dad enlisted my help the other day. I was in my room, happily typing away at a novel I was writing, when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in!" I called, quickly saving and minimising the story.
Dad wandered in. "Ellie, I was wondering if you're up to a bit of songwriting," he said.
I laughed. "I'm not much of a musician, Dad."
"No, no, not the music," he said. "I thought you might like to help with the lyrics."
I raised my eyebrows. "OK," I agreed. "What's it about?"
He led me downstairs to his music room. It had such a different atmosphere to my mum's lab – where the lab was clean, white and smelt of plants and detergent, the music room was cosy and cheerful. I noticed the electric piano was turned on and Dad's laptop had a document open on the screen.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1807/0603.jpg

"Apparently," Dad said, sitting down on the piano stool, "I've been commissioned to compose the song for the next Australian Idol winner."
My eyes bugged. "Really?" I asked. Dad had written for Idols before, but never the winning single that they'd release if they won. This was a big deal for him, since the single invariably made it into the top ten on the music charts, meaning Dad would be raking in the royalties if it did.
Usually, though, Dad liked to write songs that were cliched and self-mocking, and I wondered if he was going to do the same for a song that was destined to be so big. The stakes were pretty high.
"So is this going to be a serious song?" I asked. "Or one of your mock-songs?"
"Oh, it'll be a mock-song," he said, grinning slyly. "I can't wait to see what'll happen to this one."
I grinned. "What have you got so far?"
"I'll show you…" Dad started to play what he'd written, giving me a bit of a commentary as he went. "OK, so it starts off with these repeating empty fifths, played gently with a moderately slow tempo, see…just simple, but used in so many songs…and it uses a standard chord progression, one-five-six-four…and the lyrics I've got so far go a little bit like this…"
He cleared his throat and began to sing along to the soft piano backing.
"I'll be your shelter in a storm,
And in the dark, I'll be your light
And when it's cold I'll keep you warm,
All through the long cold winter's night…"
"That sounds really familiar," I said, and he nodded, still playing.
"It's one of those uplifting, hopeful, I'll-be-there songs," Dad said, smirking. "I was wondering if you'd like to write the chorus, here are the chords…"

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1820/0604n.jpg

He played some chords on the piano, looking at me. I glanced from the lyrics on the screen to the keys as Dad was playing them.
"Um…" I thought out loud. "How about…something about…looking inside yourself?"
"Sounds good," Dad said, nodding. I typed it in.
Dad kept playing chords, and I kept thinking. "What about…listening to your heart?"
"That was the title of one of the past Idol songs, but…yeah, chuck it in," Dad said, nodding.
Eventually, as Dad played, I cobbled together the corniest lyrics I could come up with. Dad read through them, added the second verse and the bridge, and laughed.
"If this goes to number one," he said, still chuckling, "it will be hilarious."

* * *

A few days later, I noticed Mum had removed the bandage from around her finger.
"Your bandage is gone," I said, surprised.
"Yeah," Mum said, glancing at her hand. "My finger doesn’t hurt much any more." She frowned. "Doesn't hurt at all, in fact. I think it's time to book another X ray."
They drove into Eridessa for another X ray the following day. When the results came back, however, both Mum and Edward were shocked. Edward suggested that Mum have another test at the hospital, similar to the one she'd had the first time. So she did that, and when those results came back, they stunned everyone.
It seemed that the injury had healed much, much faster than expected. Mum's cartilage was now completely normal again. Which, in itself, was completely abnormal.
Mum, of course, was convinced that the plants had something to do with it, since her bandages had been routinely soaked in the extract from the plants every day, as she said it was soothing. Consequently, she spent increasing amounts of time in her lab, conducting investigations and experiments throughout the day and long into the night.
Finally, one day, she came striding out of her lab, grinning from ear to ear. I just happened to be coming down the stairs at the time to see this.
"Ellie!" Mum said, before she reached over and inexplicably gave me a hug.

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8125/0605a.jpg

I was surprised. "Wow, I should come downstairs more often!"
"Have you seen your father?" Mum asked, still excited.
"He's probably in his music room…why?"
"I've just made a big breakthrough," Mum said, sounding thrilled. Intrigued, I followed her into Dad's room.
"Honey," she said to Dad as he typed on his laptop.
"Mmm?" he murmured, still typing. He paused, rolled his chair over to his electric piano, and played a short sequence of notes before rolling back to his computer and typing again.
"I've just made what I think is a really big breakthrough," Mum said excitedly.
Dad finally stopped typing and looked up at Mum. "Really?"

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7395/0606u.jpg

"Well, you know how I thought those plants had anti-inflammatory properties," Mum said. Dad nodded, and Mum went on. "I kept conducting some further tests, especially after all my X ray results showed my cartilage had grown back so quickly. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it appears that the extract from those plants promotes cartilage growth and repair."
Dad blinked. "Cartilage growth and repair?" he repeated. Then his eyes widened. "What about regeneration?"
Mum nodded. "That too," Mum said. "And I faxed all my results over to Bosrich, who then tried out the experiment on a patient who had almost no cartilage left in his knee because of arthritis. And you wouldn't believe it, but after a few days, he started growing fresh cartilage in that joint! The plants seem to kick-start the stem cells to start producing new cartilage tissue, and self-repair the damage caused by degenerative arthritis."
Mum paused for a moment for dramatic effect. "If all goes to plan, I think I've just found the cure for osteoarthritis!"
Dad's jaw dropped, and he got up to hug Mum. "Honey, that's fantastic," he murmured.
Bosrich was the main pharmaceutical research facility that my Mum worked for, and they were also connected to a big hospital. If Mum had found a cure for arthritis, for which there was currently no cure, she would be improving the lives of people all around the world. It was a discovery of tremendous proportions.
Mum and Dad stood there for a while longer, discussing Mum's work. I started to get a little bored, and went to leave.
"Ellie," Dad called as I left. "I've almost finished the final score for our song."
"OK," I said, "what's the title?"
"'Together'," he smirked. "And I've just recorded the demo, too."
"Hey, does that mean that if the song is big, I'll get some of the royalties?" I asked, grinning.
Dad nodded. "And your name on the liner notes."
"Cool," I said, grinning from ear to ear. It was a big day for the Larsons.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5055/0607d.jpg

em90

12th Feb 2010, 11:37 PM

Whoops, I almost missed two chapters there! I shoudl check back here more regularly. I can't wait for another update, I just find this little world you've created so fascinating!

Heh, thanks again...I've actually already written the entire story in full, and so now it's just a case of taking all the pictures and uploading it here. I have to keep trying to space out the uploads a little and resist the urge to just put the whole thing up at once.

And thanks, el flel...I start kicking myself every time I see I've written 'all the town gathered at the community hall' because I know it means some serious abuse of the teleportation shrub and boolprop are on the way! :rolleyes:

KyleTheArtist

13th Feb 2010, 12:16 AM

one picture seems different is it supposed to be like that?

And this is a great story :D I love the vampire family.

el_flel

13th Feb 2010, 12:47 AM

Haha yw :D love that first picture, really illustrates sibling rivalry! And the bits about writing piss-taking songs for Australian Idol is just hilarious! Reminds me of Peter Kay's 'Britain's Got The Pop Factor And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTr7wSLvqY). Don't know if you'd have seen it (or even heard of it) but I get the distinct feeling you would enjoy it!

em90

18th Feb 2010, 10:45 AM

"That one looks good."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"I thought it made my arms look kind of fat…"
"Amelia? You couldn't look fat if you tried."
"Do you think it's too…grannyish?"
"Grannyish? No. Why?"
"The lace…"

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7817/0701ow.jpg

It was the following Saturday, and Amelia and I had decided to make a trip into Eridessa to do some shopping. Amelia happily drove us there (she'd gotten her P plates* about a month ago – the only teenager in our town to have got them), claiming she needed to buy 'a nice dress'. We'd already been to several stores, where Amelia had tried on 'nice' dresses, but none had passed her test – whatever that was. The dress she was trying on at that moment seemed to be the most promising yet.
Amelia studied herself in the mirror. "I think I might shop around and come back to it," she said decisively, heading back into the change rooms to change.
I'd been clothes-shopping a little myself, since there was such a bigger range in the Eridessa stores compared to Lou's tiny selection in his shop. I'd already purchased some new jeans, a black polka-dot skirt, and a few tops, one of which would have made Mystery jealous (a black strapless top, designed to look a little like a corset but made of soft, comfortable material). And – an added bonus – it had been on sale for only $15. Bargain.
Amelia returned from the change room and handed the dress to the shop assistant. Then we walked out of the store, hunting for another one.
"So, a cure for arthritis, huh?" Amelia asked. "And your mum found it."
"We're still not entirely sure yet," I cautioned. "But we think we've found it. Of course, they still have to do heaps of testing, and that could take years. Mum seems to think though, based on all the theory behind it, that yes, she's found a cure."
"Perhaps your mum should try the plant extract on cancer!" Amelia suggested. "It might be a miracle plant!"
I laughed. "I doubt it. To me it just looks green and viney."
We kept walking and chatting until Amelia pulled me into another clothes store and we both started browsing the racks. Suddenly, I heard Amelia give a little gasp.
"I've found it!" she cried.
"What?"
"The dress!"
I looked at what she was holding up. It was short, strappy and a vivid dark blue, with a large black bow at the back.
"Try it on!" I urged, and Amelia happily found her size and trotted off to the change rooms again. I kept browsing while I waited for her to emerge.
In a few minutes, she did. The dress looked great on her.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8701/0702c.jpg

"That looks great on you!" I cried enthusiastically. She beamed, and looked at herself in the full length mirror.
"I love it," she sighed. "Much better than the fat-arms granny-lace one I almost bought. God, I'm glad I shopped around."
Before I could tell her that her arms didn't look fat, she pranced back into the change room. I smiled and rolled my eyes heavenwards. Amelia was a very excitable shopper.
Before long, we were walking out of the shop, Amelia with a new bag to carry. She seemed very happy with her purchase.
"Well, now that you're satisfied," I said, "I'd like to go to the library."
"Don't you already have enough books?" Amelia sighed.
"One can never have enough books," I said firmly. Although I wasn't able to borrow from the library, it provided me with a good browsing opportunity: if I found a book that looked promising, I'd note down the title and author, and then ask Lou to order it in for me to buy, or I bought it online. It was a pretty good system, in my view.
Amelia, however, was easily bored by the library. If she ever wanted something to read, she generally borrowed books from my personal collection. "How about you go to the library, while I go to the art place?" she suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," I agreed. Amelia, on the other hand, could spend hours in the art supplies store, where she purchased all her photography gear.
Just before we reached the spot where we'd split up, we walked past a café, with tables spilling out onto the street. My nose was assaulted by a familiar, pungent odour.
"Uh oh!" I groaned, clutching my nose.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8838/0703.jpg

Amelia looked worried, and sniffed the air. She quickly understood, and sighed.
"It's really not that bad," she said, while I felt my stomach roll with nausea.
"Not for you," I said, nose still resolutely blocked.
Amelia shook her head. "I cannot believe you actually react this badly," she said. "Most people love the smell of frying bacon."
"Not this one," I grimaced, and located the source of the smell: a man had ordered a serving of bacon and eggs, even though it was nowhere near breakfast time. I glared at him. He didn't even notice.
"Anyway," Amelia said, when we'd walked far enough away from the cafe so that the offensive smell was no longer detectable. "You go to your library and I'll go to my art store, OK?"
"Uh huh." We went our separate ways.
The smell of books was much more pleasant than the stench of bacon. I inhaled deeply as I entered the library, savouring the scent of old, printed pages. I wished I could bottle the smell and take it with me – I didn't go into Eridessa Library as often as I wanted to.
I also liked the peacefulness of the place. The only noises came from the soft whir of computers behind the librarian's desks and the occasional whisper of an enquiry. There was also a comparatively noisy self-checkout machine, which clunked alarmingly every time someone scanned out a book to borrow. I tried to ignore it.
I headed towards the youth fiction section, passing the desks of public-access computers along the way. As I glanced at them, a particular person caught my attention, staring intently at the screen. I was surprised – I thought that people under witness protection weren't meant to make themselves so obvious when out-and-about.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3927/0704h.jpg

"Hello, Mr. Dessler!" I whispered, coming over and smiling.
He jumped about a foot in the air, and hastily minimised whatever had been on his screen. I'd caught a glimpse of it – it looked like lines and lines of some obscure code, scrolling down into oblivion. He turned quickly to look at me.
"Shhh!" he hissed angrily. I stepped back, holding up my hands apologetically.
"Sorry," I said. "I was only saying hi."
"Well, hi," he said irritably. He kept looking around, suddenly extremely nervous. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't approach me in public," he continued. "I'm trying to keep a low profile…"
"Then why are you in a public library, in full view?" I asked, annoyed. I walked off before he could reply. The next time I looked, he was gone.

* * *

"What, he just left?" Amelia asked. "Man, what a weirdo."
I shrugged. "I don't know what I did wrong."
Dark had fallen and we were driving back to Solitaria. The boot of the car was full of bags, including our clothes and photographic equipment for Amelia. I also had a list of books stowed safely in my pocket, which I would follow up as soon as I could. I'd told Amelia about my encounter with the reclusive Anthony, and she was just as confused by his reaction as I had been.
"If he doesn't want to be noticed, he shouldn't be out in public like that," Amelia went on, defending me.
"I know!"
"And I don't see why he should get so upset just because you said hi."
"Speed," I murmured, pointing to the speedometer. Amelia grumbled and slowed down a little.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9837/0705.jpg

"I hate speed limits," she complained. "They're unrealistic. And I don't see why I should be restricted to 90 k's on a wide road with no traffic." Amelia preferred to view speed limits as "guidelines, rather than actual rules". I had to say I agreed with her most of the time.
We continued towards home at speeds which generally hovered a little above the 90km/h limit. We chattered away about things that annoyed us, things we'd bought, things we'd like to buy, what we'd do tomorrow…
We finally swept into Solitaria, and Amelia dutifully slowed down. In fact, she slowed down enough that as we went past Lou's shop, I caught sight of something very surprising.
"Amelia!" I exclaimed, looking out the window.
"I'm doing the limit," she replied in annoyance.
"No—look!"
"I can't, I'm driving," she said. "What is it?"
We'd already passed the shop by that time, but I was able to describe it fairly clearly in words.
"Oh, just Lou and Victoria, having a good old pash," I replied.

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7828/0706u.jpg

Amelia's eyes bugged, but she kept control of the car despite her astonishment. "What!"
"Kissing," I repeated, beginning to smile. "On the verandah!"
"Lou and Victoria!" Amelia couldn't quite comprehend it.
"Yes!"
She shook her head. "What!"
I snorted. "Talk about an odd couple," I commented.
Amelia laughed. "Imagine what their children would look like!"
I thought for a moment. "I guess they'd be…vampire aliens!"
"And then, if they got bitten by the same wolf that bit Christopher…" Amelia's eyes widened.
I joined in. "They'd be…werewolf vampire aliens!"
"And," Amelia added, slapping the steering wheel, "if they were killed and brought back to life by that crazy mystic who resurrected Hannah…they'd be—"
"Zombie werewolf vampire aliens!" I said, nodding very seriously.
Amelia snorted. "That's ridiculous."
Our little world was just too crazy to comprehend sometimes.

----------------------------------------------------
AUSTRALIAN 101: P plates - provisional driver's licence. Once you've finished learning how to drive (L plates), and manage to pass the driving test, you are put on 'P plates' and given a Provisional Driver's Licence. The length of time spent on P plates varies according to state. In New South Wales it's generally a minimum of three years (first 'red' P plates, then 'green'...it's complicated and irrelevant). Basically, you're allowed to drive (independently), but with a whole bunch of draconian restrictions imposed upon you (for example, a maximum capped speed limit, a limit of the number of passengers in your car after 11pm, etc), and you also have to display 'P plates' on the front and back of your car.
Oh also, boot = trunk. ;)

em90

18th Feb 2010, 10:51 AM

Soon, the news of Lou and Victoria's romance had spread through the town. In a place so small, no one really had any secrets – or if they did, they were some of the best-kept secrets in the world.
I asked Lou about it the following Saturday afternoon, when Amelia and I were having coffee in his store. "Lou!" I called.
He came over from behind the counter. "More coffee?" he asked.
"Nope, just questions," I replied. "How long has this little romance been going on, then?"
Lou grinned, a bit bashful, and sat down at our table. "About a month," he answered.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5818/0801a.jpg

Amelia nearly choked on her cappuccino. "A month!" she cried, spluttering everywhere. "How come we never knew about it?"
"Well, since I've been working and Victoria's been sleeping during the daytime," Lou explained, "we could only meet up at night time. So we made sure we kept it as secret as possible, for as long as possible." He glanced at Amelia. "Do you need a serviette?"
"Huh?" she said, then looked down at her front. "Oh, crap," she muttered, noticing the droplets of coffee now decorating her T shirt, as a result of all the spluttering.
"Here," Lou offered, handing her a clean tissue from his pocket. Amelia started dabbing at the spillage.
"What did Edward and Sophie say?" I asked. I wasn't sure how they'd react to their daughter going out with an alien.
He shrugged. "They were fine with it," he said. He grinned mischievously. "And we were definitely fine with it."
"Well, that's a relief," I said.
"Hey, Ellie, is it all gone?" Amelia asked, still peering down at her front.
"Amelia, your T shirt is black," I said. "Even if it wasn't all gone, you wouldn't be able to notice, seriously."
She looked uncertain, and gave it another dab.
I rolled my eyes, and turned back to Lou, suddenly remembering something. "Hey, can you get some books in for me?"
"Sure," Lou said, holding out his hand for the list which he knew was coming. I fished around in my pocket and handed it to him.
He tut-tutted under his breath as he read. "More rubbish, Ellie?" he asked.
"Hey, don't knock it," I said. I knew he was only kidding. In all likelihood, he probably read most of the books before he sold them – mine included.
"Give it a week or two, and they'll be here," he replied, pocketing my list and getting up from the table. "Have a good day."
"You too, Lou," Amelia said, smiling at the rhyme.
She came back to my place afterwards, where we hung out in my room, chatting about everything and nothing. Sometimes we ran out of things to talk about, though. It often happened, since we spent so much of each day together. Whenever this occurred, we turned to the online world of MySpace.
I fired up my computer and brought up the login page. Amelia leaned over my shoulder, looking at the screen.
"What's your password?" she asked innocently.
"Wouldn't you like to know," I murmured, quickly typing it in and pressing 'Enter'. Soon, the familiar blue and white boxes filled the screen, with the words 'Hello, Ellie!' written above my own photo.

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/9025/0802r.jpg

I scrolled quickly down, checking for any comments or messages. I could understand the appeal of MySpace (or Facebook, I guess), and how easy it was for people to become addicted. There was something deeply comforting and exciting about getting 'New Comments!' or 'New Messages!' – it affirmed your existence, and proved people wanted to communicate with you. It made you feel wanted.
"Message," Amelia intoned, stating the obvious. "And—ooh—friend request." She thought for a moment. "Probably some random band or porn star, you've already added everyone in town."
"Probably," I replied, clicking on the 'Message' icon. Anastasia wanted some more help with her biology prac.
"She's got some nerve," I grumbled. I still hadn't fully forgiven them for the store room prank.
"Don't reply," Amelia suggested. "There is nothing more annoying and insulting than not replying to a MySpace message."
"You know what?" I said, clicking 'Back'. "I don't think I will."
Instead, I clicked the 'Friend Request' icon, preparing to deny the band or 'sexy web cam girl' who dared to randomly add me in a desperate attempt to gain popularity.
I was very surprised by what I saw – and so was Amelia. It wasn't a band, a porn star, or even a totally random person who'd found me by mistake.
"Hannah got a MySpace?" I exclaimed in wonder. She'd been the only one of the youth of Solitaria to not have one, so we were both amazed.
"Wow," Amelia said as I clicked 'Accept'. "That's a big step."
"So there is something in there," I mused, then went to her profile.
She didn't have a flashy layout yet, or any photos, or even lists of favourite bands and descriptions about who she'd like to meet. There were only the bare bones of a MySpace, but I did notice one blog entry titled 'I wish'.
"Click on it," Amelia urged.
The blog entry came up on the screen – and it stunned both of us.

I wish…
Current Mood: Frustrated
Category: Life

There are so many things I wish for that no one even knows about. Because nobody thinks a fat, smelly, retarded, spastic zombie could have wishes at all. Everyone thinks I'm useless or worthless or just stupid.
But I'm not.
I wish people could know that I'm still normal. I'm still Hannah Reilly as she was before she was hit by the car. I'm still an ordinary fourteen-year-old girl who doesn't like school but loves hanging out with friends. I have crushes and dreams, I like music and TV, I have good days and bad days. (Although these days most days are bad days). My mind is perfectly lucid and in full working order. It's just that it's trapped in this broken body. Like I want to speak, and the words are perfectly formed in my head, but by the time they reach my mouth, only grunts and moans come out. I want to move, and my brain sends an order, but my body doesn't obey. I wish I could appear as normal as I really am, stuck inside my head.
I wish I could go back to how things were. I used to be fairly average: not pretty, but not ugly. Not stick-thin, but not fat. I had flaws and stuff, just like any other person, but I think most of the time the good outweighed the bad.
But then I didn't look as I stepped onto the road. And I paid the ultimate price.
I can say that I did get a glimpse of the afterlife. Or, rather, the afterlife that I had unwittingly chosen without fully realising it. It was terrifying: there was nothing there. Just darkness, and total isolation, and nothingness. Nothing but my thoughts on a continuous loop.
But I'll save that for another blog. My life-death-life isn't the point.
The point is, I wish people could know that I want so badly to reach out and talk to them. I want to tell my mum and dad that I still love them, despite what they did, bringing me back in this way. I want to have friends. I want people to know that I'm still here!
I wish I could tell them everything.

I turned to Amelia, in shock. She was still reading, but only a fraction slower than me. I saw her mouth the final line.
She just stood there, silent, for a moment. "Oh my God," she finally said.
I exhaled. "Yeah."

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5598/0803.jpg

"That probably took her ages to type," Amelia said, shocked. I had a terrible mental image of poor Hannah, sitting slumped awkwardly in a computer chair, painstakingly tapping out her message. She must have been so desperate.
"I had no idea," I said slowly, shaking my head. "No idea."
"Me neither," Amelia agreed.
There was another moment of silence, while we both just stared at the screen, reading Hannah's desperate message to the world.
"What are we going to do about it?" Amelia said suddenly.
"Send a message?" I suggested.
"At least," Amelia agreed. "Tell her it's from both of us."
We replied – saying how we were sorry, how we never knew what she'd been through, how we'd be there for her if she needed us. Amelia volunteered to go over to her house if she ever wanted company, saying that Hannah 'only had to call, and she'd be there'.
Then I logged off, Amelia went home, and I eventually went to bed at the end of the day.

em90

18th Feb 2010, 11:00 AM

I've uploaded two chapters at once, because a) they were both pretty short, and b) both kind of 'meh', but still necessary to the overall plot. :)

one picture seems different is it supposed to be like that?

And this is a great story :D I love the vampire family.

Thank you! :D I'm not quite sure what you mean about the picture - could you be more specific? Or do you mean the one with 'GROUNDED' written across it? If so, yeah, it's meant to be that way.

Haha yw :D love that first picture, really illustrates sibling rivalry! And the bits about writing piss-taking songs for Australian Idol is just hilarious! Reminds me of Peter Kay's 'Britain's Got The Pop Factor And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTr7wSLvqY). Don't know if you'd have seen it (or even heard of it) but I get the distinct feeling you would enjoy it!

Haha, thanks. "Piss-take", that's the phrase I was looking for but couldn't remember when I wrote the chapter! Dunno why. And no, I haven't seen/heard of what you linked me to, but I'll take a look at it!

KyleTheArtist

18th Feb 2010, 05:18 PM

Em90: nevermind, I could have sworn you had a photograph(not sim picture) mixed in there XD

Nice updates. Vampire Zombie werewolf aliens is indeed ridiculous XD

Phoeberg

23rd Feb 2010, 09:23 PM

Stupid laptop troubles, I've missed three chapters! That grounded picture made me laugh so much! But poor Hannah! I can't wait to see that storyline develop!

em90

25th Feb 2010, 09:58 AM

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On Sunday afternoon, I was calmly lying on my bed, reading, when there was a sudden, urgent knocking on my bedroom door.
"Yeah?" I called.
The door swung quickly open, revealing my Mum standing there, looking worried. "I've just got a call from the Desslers," she said. "Joanna's very sick, apparently. Unconscious, even." I gasped. "Anyway, they've called me over there, so that's where I've gone, if you're wondering."
"Can I come?" I asked.
Mum shrugged. "If you like, but make up your mind, because I have to go right now."
I put down the book and swung into action, following Mum out to the car. Although the Desslers lived within walking distance, I knew Mum would want to get there as quickly as she possibly could. Mum was the 'default' backup to Edward in a medical crisis, since she knew more about the workings of the human body than anyone else in the town (after Edward, of course). Edward couldn't come simply because it was daylight, and venturing outside his home would've been fatal.
"Do you know what's happened?" I asked while Mum drove.
She shook her head. "Not sure," she said. "But it's very worrying in someone so young." Joanna, the Dessler's young daughter, was only seven.
It didn't take long to reach the home of the mysterious Dessler family. Marie was waiting for us out the front, worry lines decorating her forehead and a crumpled tissue clutched in one hand. She looked up in relief as we arrived.
"She's in the lounge room," she told us, leading the way with unmistakeable haste.
"What's happened to her?" Mum asked as we walked.
"We're not entirely sure, but we think there was something in a muffin she ate."
"Do you have any more of the muffins?" Mum asked.
Marie nodded. "It was just the one, but she didn't quite eat all of it. She bought it fresh from Lou's, I think." By this time, we were inside the house, and Marie was leading us over to Joanna's unconscious form, spread out on the floor, surrounded by her father and brother.

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Marie continued to explain. "When she was about halfway though, she said that it tasted funny, so she stopped. Then she started complaining of a headache, then a bad stomach ache, and then she started vomiting a few minutes before she collapsed."
Mum held Joanna's wrist in her hands, feeling her pulse. "Does she have any allergies?" she asked.
Marie shook her head. "None that we know of. We've had her tested before, too."
Mum's brow furrowed. "Look, I think the safest thing to do would be to get her over to Edward's as quickly as possible."
"Edward?" Marie repeated. "But he can't come out in daylight, can he?"
"He's not too bad if he stays inside his house," Mum said, standing up and taking out her mobile phone. "And he has a makeshift emergency room for occasions like this. I'll call him while you get her in the car and start driving."
Everyone seemed to go into action, leaving me feeling like an awkward fifth wheel. I wasn't sure if I had the right to intrude on what was obviously a major medical crisis for the family, but I knew it would be impolite to just leave. I watched as Marie, Anthony and Nathan gently carried Joanna to lie on the back seat of their car, before Marie and Nathan drove away.
Anthony watched them drive off, standing out the front, tears in his eyes and worry clouding his face.
I felt awkward, but still felt the need to comfort him in some way.
"She'll be fine," I said encouragingly.

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He shook his head. "No, she won't," he said bleakly. "And it's all my fault."
"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "It's not your fault."
"Yes, it is," he said, turning dead eyes to face me. "All my fault."
I realised there wasn't much more that could be said to someone whose mind was already firmly made up. Meanwhile, Mum had stopped talking and motioned for me to get back into the car again. I gave Anthony one last look of sympathy, then got back into the car.
"Poor Edward," Mum sighed as she drove us to the Guildenstern's mansion. "He'll be feeling very sick after this. Whenever he gets up during daytime…"
"What do you think happened?" I asked.
Mum shrugged. "Poison, perhaps? I don't know. I don't think it's an allergic reaction, because that would've brought on a different response. Also, if she was that badly allergic to something, her Mum would've known about it."
When we reached the Guildensterns, the Desslers were nowhere in sight. Presuming they'd already gone inside, Mum went to ring the doorbell.
"Come in!" called Edward from the other side.
I'd been over to the Guildenstern's place several times, but once again, the grandeur of the building really struck me. It was an enormous castle of a place, complete with elegant antique furniture and old, disused candlestick holders attached to the stone walls. It was rather dark, since there were only dark stained-glass windows in the walls, but the artificial lighting gave off sufficient light with which to see.
Mum led me into a small room towards the front of the house, where Edward was already examining Joanna, who was lying on the bed, still out. Marie was telling Edward everything she'd told my mum, and he listened patiently, nodding as he worked.

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When he'd finished his examination, he frowned. "Do you still have the leftover muffin?"
"Right here," Marie volunteered, handing him the remains.
He sniffed it carefully and nodded. "Arsenic poisoning," he announced, putting the muffin in a plastic bag and quickly going over to some cabinets full of medical supplies. "She'll need to get to a hospital as soon as possible."
Marie inhaled sharply, looking horrified. "Poisoned? By who?"
Edward shook his head, still gathering medical equipment. "No idea. We'll have to tell Christopher, and there'll be a full police enquiry into the matter. Until then, I can try pumping her stomach, and then call for a chopper to come and pick her up pronto."
Marie blanched. "Pumping her stomach?"
"At this stage, I think this would be the safest course of action," Edward said. "At the hospital they'll be able to give her better treatment, but I don't have any dimercaprol here at the moment, so we'll just have to try and flush as much of the arsenic out of her as we can. Marie, do you know Joanna's blood type?"
Marie nodded. "A negative, we had some blood tests done a while back—"
Edward nodded briskly and addressed my mum. "Jamie, can you call the hospital and ask them to prepare for a paediatric case of acute arsenic poisoning, tell them to have some blood units of A negative on standby for transfusion, as well as dimercaprol and the rest…"
Edward kept rattling on in medical jargon for a minute. I decided to leave as soon as he started inserting a long tube into Joanna's stomach. I knew I wasn't needed and felt like a useless spectator, watching something I didn't really want to see anyway.

Mum went with them to the hospital, and later told me that Joanna was going to be OK.
"Apparently, it was just enough to make her very sick, but not kill her," Mum said. "Although I wonder if she would have survived if we hadn't acted quickly enough."
Of course, since it was obviously a deliberate criminal act of poisoning, a police investigation was underway, headed by Christopher. And of course, since it was a muffin from Lou's shop that had been the culprit, Lou was immediately looked upon as the prime suspect.

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Later, he told me that he was extremely sorry that the accident had occurred, and that he was helping the police in every way he could. He did feel a little hurt that Christopher suspected him, though.
"I've only been the shopkeeper here without trouble for over twenty years," he sniffed.
Suspicion quickly fell on Adrianna and Lola as well, since they helped Lou run the shop. They, too, claimed to know nothing about the poisoned muffin, and said that they were in an Eridessa pub at the time the poisoning occurred – a fact that was confirmed by several witnesses.
The news of Joanna's near-death experience shocked our community. No kind of criminal activity had ever happened in all the years I'd been living there, except for one famous night when Lou's store was nearly robbed. The fact that some kind of malicious crime had occurred in sleepy Solitaria was stunning, and suddenly people began to distrust one another: was the killer one of us? And more importantly, would they strike again?

em90

25th Feb 2010, 10:01 AM

Em90: nevermind, I could have sworn you had a photograph(not sim picture) mixed in there XD

Nice updates. Vampire Zombie werewolf aliens is indeed ridiculous XD
Heh, thanks, I'll take that ("I could've sworn you had a photograph in there") as a compliment :)

Stupid laptop troubles, I've missed three chapters! That grounded picture made me laugh so much! But poor Hannah! I can't wait to see that storyline develop!
Don't worry, the chapters aren't going anywhere, they'll wait. ;) Thank you!

Lynet

28th Feb 2010, 02:39 PM

I like this town. You're doing really well at keeping all these different personalities sorted out. I feel sorry for Hannah. And I'm enjoying the conflict between Julian and Ellie. Can't wait to find out what's going on with the Dresslers.

Phoeberg

28th Feb 2010, 05:50 PM

I'm wondering who that muffin was really intended for...! Adrianna and Lola still seem very suspicious. After all, they are the newcomers.

em90

3rd Mar 2010, 02:09 AM

In the wake of all the distrust and intrigue, all the youth decided not to have their regular meeting at the hall the next day. Instead, they opted for a night out in Eridessa.
Well, some of us did, anyway. Artemis and Mystery, ever anti-social, decided to stay home (Artemis wanted to work on some poetry, while Mystery said she wanted to stay "in my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullabye, watching my purple sky fly over me", to which we all just nodded patiently). Nathan was already in Eridessa, visiting his sister in hospital.
Amelia spoke directly to Hannah. "Are you coming with us, Hannah?" she asked.
Hannah looked at her, her jaw slack as it so often was, but I thought I saw the corners of her mouth twitch upwards a fraction. She shook her head clumsily from side to side, let out a soft grunt, and started lumbering out of the room. As she went out the doorway, she half-turned and looked at Amelia and I, lifted a hand, and nodded her head. Then she continued out.

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Tia snorted. "What was all that about?"
Amelia glared at her. "I think it was her way of saying, 'I won't go, but thanks for the invite'."
"Hey," I said suddenly. "Where's Julian?"
This, of course, prompted grins from the two vampires and my brother. They looked at each other, and I rolled my eyes. Whatever the answer was, it appeared Julian wasn't there.
"Jake and I are going to check out some of the clubs," Tia announced, twirling her hair and smiling at Jake. "Aren't we?"
"Yep," Jake said, hugging her waist from behind. I noticed Tamara roll her eyes in disgust.
That left Amelia, Tamara, Adam, Anastasia, Oswald and myself. Eventually, we decided to go bowling. We were able to borrow the Rosencrantz's people-mover*, and Amelia drove us in.
I wound up in the back, sitting next to Anastasia. She looked at me, then said "Are you still upset about the store room thing?"
I looked at her grumpily. "I can't imagine why," I replied.
"Can you get over it?" Adam called from a seat further forward. I suggested he do something very unpleasant to himself, but he just laughed.
"Well, I feel kind of bad about it now, if that helps," Anastasia said to me.
"Me too," Oswald added, twisting around in his seat to look at me with his glowing red eyes.
I looked out of the window impassively for a minute, then turned back to look at Anastasia with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile on my face. "'Kind of bad'?" I repeated.
"Yeah. It was slack. I'm sorry."
I looked out of the window again, then said "Whatever." But they seemed to take this as forgiveness, which is what I'd intended.
We eventually arrived at Speedy's Bowling, our favourite bowling alley. It was decorated in cheerful 50's style décor, complete with checkerboard linoleum flooring and Formica tables in the small cafeteria. Classic 50's rock and roll music was playing on a large jukebox in the corner. Some dusty pinball machines stood over on one wall between some arcade games. I was surprised we didn't have to follow a dress code demanding poodle skirts to get in the door.

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We quickly claimed a lane, although it was fairly quiet, and started our game. We earned ourselves a nasty glare from the manager when Oswald forgot about his vampire strength and hurled a bowling ball down the lane at a terrifying speed, where it ploughed through the skittles with a thunderous crash, shattering two of them and leaving a dent in the wall behind. Oswald apologised to the guy and offered to pay for replacement skittles, but the manager just sighed and waved him away grumpily, telling him to behave and tone it down a little.
Between goes, I chatted to Amelia and Tamara (who, by the way, ended up winning by a mile) about Joanna's poisoning, and we all agreed it was very mysterious. Amelia seemed particularly suspicious of Lola, since we were all convinced that Lou didn't do it, and Adrianna looked too girly and incapable of such a feat.
We'd almost finished our game, when the door to Speedy's abruptly clattered open, and Tia and Jake entered. Well, by 'entered' I mean they almost fell through the door, laughing hysterically and clearly very, very drunk.
Or high.
Or both.
As we looked on in mild disbelief, Jake suddenly grabbed Tia in a firm embrace, and they started passionately making out, complete with hungry groping hands and a soundtrack composed of moans and heavy breathing.

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"Oh, man," Amelia muttered.
"God, Jake!" Tamara yelled. "Get a room!"
"They're completely trashed," Amelia added.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," I replied.
The drama intensified as the manager walked over to the snogging couple and asked them to leave. They didn't even appear to hear, so he shook his head and walked over to a telephone, where he started dialling.
After about five minutes (during which Tamara sealed her victory, winning by more than twenty points due to a couple of amazing strikes), some police arrived. Tia and Jake were now both sitting on the floor, giggling and trying to talk to each other.
"Hey, Dad!" Tamara called. I looked up and noticed that one of the policemen was her father, Christopher. He saw her, gave a little wave, then turned his attention to the inebriated pair on the floor.
He shook his head sadly. "Jake, what's going on?"
Jake kept laughing even as he looked at his father. "Oh, hey, sorry man," he giggled, prompting hysterical laughter from Tia.
Jake turned to face her, still giggling. "Look out," he stage-whispered. "It's the fun police."

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Tia burst into noisy laughter again, and the two policemen exchanged a look. I wondered if Christopher was going to arrest his own son. He took a deep breath.
"Turn out your pockets, Jake."
By this time, our group had fallen silent, and were all watching the proceedings with great interest.
Jake unsteadily got to his feet, and Christopher took the opportunity to plunge his hands into the pockets of Jake's jacket.
"Hey—hey, what're you doing?" Jake slurred, surprised.
Christopher slowly pulled his hand out of the jacket pockets, retrieving a small plastic bag. In it were two white pills.
Tamara gasped beside me. "Where on earth did my brother get those?" she whispered.
"Dunno, but I sure hope they're just Panadol or something," Amelia said.
Christopher looked angrily at Jake. "Where did you get this?"
Jake looked confused, his eyes unfocused. "What?"
"You have illegal drugs in your possession!" Christopher barked. "I didn't raise you to be like this!"
Jake's skittering eyeballs tried to focus on the little bag in his father's hands. "Oh, nah, man," he said seriously. "They're not...they're just tricking you."
Disappointed, Christopher walked behind Jake and handcuffed him. "Jake Rosencrantz…"
He started reciting what I called the 'arrest' speech. Tia started to swear at him angrily, but he took no notice.
"…you do not have to say or do anything, but anything you do say will be recorded and may be used in court…"
In a matter of minutes, Jake and Tia had been led out of the bowling alley, leaving us astounded and with renewed respect for Christopher – arresting his own son must've been the toughest thing he'd ever had to do. As the doors swung open and shut with their departure, I thought I glimpsed a figure standing on the pavement outside. I squinted - surely it wasn't...?
"Back in a minute," I muttered to the others.
"Where're you going?" Amelia called.
"To get some fresh air," I replied.
I walked purposefully out of the bowling alley. It was quite dark, and difficult to see much, but after walking a little towards the back of the building, I found – of all people – Julian.

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I was surprised. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
Julian turned to look at me, startled. Then he shrugged. "I was passing through, and I heard everyone was here at bowling," he replied. "I wasn't sure whether I should join you or not."
It was then I noticed he was wearing a characteristic white mask over half of his face. "What, so you're trying to be the Phantom of the Opera now?" I asked.
Julian laughed shortly. "No, I just thought I'd try and make a fashion statement."
"A fashion statement," I repeated, smiling wryly. "Now, there's something you need to work on."
He didn't smirk. Instead, he seemed to swallow and turn away.
Sensing my chance, I took two quick steps over and pulled at the mask. Almost simultaneously, as it came away from his cheek, he lashed out surprisingly with his hand – possibly to strike out at me, or possibly to instinctively hide his face. Whatever happened, I copped a sharp slap on the face, and he swore loudly. But I had still managed to pry the mask away.
In astonishment more than pain, I turned back to face Julian, and saw an ugly red gash running across his cheek.
A gash that looked oddly similar to his mother's scars.

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I gasped. "Oh, my God…"
"That bad, is it?" he asked, his voice strained. He tried to shrug. "I thought it looked pretty sexy, actually."
But he wasn't his usual cocky self at all. Silently, I handed the mask back to him, and he quickly replaced it.
There was an awkward silence for a minute, where we both didn't look at each other. Instead, we stared down at the pavement, as though mesmerised by the cracks that wound their way across the concrete.
Eventually, I broke the silence. "So, I guess it's…a genetic thing, then?"
Julian nodded. "It would appear that way."
I just looked at him, and he glared at me. "I don't want your pity, of all people," he muttered.
I felt real tears sting my eyes. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, as if to acknowledge what I said. Then he sighed. "I got my lines wrong. I was meant to say 'Damn you, you little prying Pandora', wasn't I?"
I was surprised. "You know the Phantom of the Opera?"
He nodded. "My mum, she watches it all the time," he said. "It's one of her favourites, even though it makes her cry, every single time…when the Phantom is rejected by Christine…"
He trailed off, and for a moment his eyes looked unnaturally bright. With a deep sense of sadness, I quickly drew the parallels between his mother's life and the Phantom's.
I tried another attempt at conversation. "So, how does it stay on, anyway?" I asked.
"Superglue," he replied, straight-faced.
I smiled. "No, really," I said. "I've often wondered how…"
"That," he said theatrically, "is a secret between me and Phantom."
"Do you know him?" I joked.
"What, the one from the movie?" he asked. "The one played by that Butler guy?"
"Yeah," I said. "Can you introduce me?"
He looked perplexed. "Why?"
I shrugged. "He's really freaky, but strangely attractive."
Julian looked at me in disbelief, and started to laugh. "You think a murderer with an obsessive fixation and a facial disfigurement is attractive?" he cried, grinning. He shook his head. "Girls…"
"I don't care about looks," I said simply.
He looked down and scuffed his toe on the ground. "Nice to know there's someone who doesn't," he said bitterly. "Unlike my excuse for a father who I never even knew." He paused. "I don't even want to know him, to tell you the truth. Does that make me a bad person, Ellie?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so."
He sniffed. There was a brief pause, and I was about to speak again when I heard a shout.
"Ellie?" a voice called. Footsteps. "Is that you?"
"No," I called back. The footsteps came closer.
Amelia appeared out of the darkness. "It is you," she said, then stopped when she saw who I was with. "What, no bloodshed?"

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I was about to respond, but saw her squinting at Julian. "Is that a Phantom mask you're wearing?"
Julian got in before I could say anything. "Yeah, it was for a role play thing at one of the drama clubs in Eridessa. Just a small part, you know."
Amelia nodded, not entirely convinced. "Right," she said, glancing from Julian to me. "Phantom. Small part. OK. Um, Ellie, are you coming? We're leaving."
"Yeah, I am," I said. I glanced up briefly at Julian. "You coming?"
He shook his head. "I'll make my own way home," he replied.
"You sure?"
Shrug. "Yeah. I got a taxi here, I can get a taxi back again--"
"Or you can just grab a lift and save the money," I pointed out.
He shook his head again. "It's OK. Really."
I raised my eyebrows, but he seemed resolute. "Well, OK then," I said. "See you."
He waved goodbye, and I walked off with Amelia. She hissed in my ear, "What on Earth was going on back there? You were actually civil, and you're never civil to each other. And what's with the mask? He doesn't do role playing! What are you two up to? And—"
"Let's just say it was an interesting conversation," I said shortly, and she dropped it.

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* "People-mover" = minivan. (Because really, if a vehicle designed to seat 6+ people is considered a minivan, then regular vans must be enormous!)

Lynet

3rd Mar 2010, 12:05 PM

Poor Julian. And I wonder what Jake meant by "They're just tricking you."

Phoeberg

4th Mar 2010, 10:47 PM

Poor Hannah, I wish she could have gone with them! And poor Julian. :( Maybe Ellie's mother can help find a cure for him and his mother though!

em90

9th Mar 2010, 09:16 AM

A few days later, I received a text message from Tia, inviting me to a party she was throwing. I called Amelia for advice.
"Are you going to Tia's thing?" I asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "Apparently she invited all of us." By 'all of us', Amelia meant all the teenagers in Solitaria.
"Oh, OK…then I'll probably go," I said.
"Yeah. Me too."
I turned up at the Mink's place a few minutes late. I could hear the party was already in full swing, somewhere around the back. I knocked on the door of their huge Mediterranean mansion.
Tia's mum answered the door with a percussive jangle of jewellery. "Hi, sweetie," she said. "Just go round the side, they're all out the back."

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"OK," I said, a little irritated. I hated being called 'sweetie'. It made me sound like confectionery.
I walked around the side, where there was a pathway between the enormous garage (the only one besides the Rosencrantz's that housed two cars) and the far more enormous house. I soon located the source of the party noises.
Tia's dad was playing DJ, standing in a small booth behind enormous speakers which were blaring out house and techno music. Nearby was a buffet table loaded with salads, cold meats and jellies for dessert. Next to that was another table with pizzas and barbequed hot dogs. I knew I wouldn't be hungry by the end of the night.
Nearly everyone had arrived by that time and were standing around chatting. Tia's place was well set-up for entertaining large crowds – there was the large stone patio, with the DJ booth and food tables, as well as a lower paved area with a bar and portable fireplace. There was a pool, a spa, and an indoor entertaining area with lounges, coffee tables and a karaoke machine. That room also had its own small balcony.
Tia came over to greet me, dressed in a short black skirt, tight-fitting low-cut tartan top, and black boots.

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"Hi, Ellie," she said.
"Hi," I replied. "Is Amelia here yet?"
"Yeah, she's over in front of the fire," Tia said, already uninterested in me and moving away.
I went over to join Amelia by the fire, where she was chatting to Tamara and Anastasia. "Hey," Amelia said, looking up at me.
"Hey," I replied, sitting down.
"Do you know," Amelia said to me, "apparently Tia's thrown this party because she's missing Jake? And she needed a distraction."
"What's happened to Jake?" I asked Tamara.
She sniffed. "Well, he was arrested and taken away for questioning and all. I don't know exactly what's going to follow, but Dad's decided to place him under his own personal house arrest for at least a few months. And I," she said, sounding pleased, "get to make sure he doesn't try and sneak out, like he so often does."
"You wouldn't side with your own brother?" Anastasia said, smiling.
"Nah!" Tamara said shortly. "Can't stand him a lot of the time. I'm more than happy to be his jailer."
"Sisterly love," I commented.
"Poor Tia," Amelia said, sighing. "She can't be with her lover boy for all that time."
"Hey," I protested. "Sarcasm like that is reserved only for me."
"You wish. I'm surprised she hadn't dumped him yet, you know."
"Oh, she probably will soon."

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We stayed there for a while, chatting about nothing in particular. I watched as the last few invitees rolled in. I noticed Julian arrived later than I did, wandering in, trying to sneak through unnoticed. He was still wearing his Phantom mask. When I saw him arrive, I felt strangely happy. As though I would've been disappointed if he hadn't come.
Where did that come from? I wondered. I hate the guy!
I was still trying to figure out why I was so happy when Amelia said, "He's still wearing that?"
"What d'you mean, 'still'?" Tamara asked.
"He was hanging around outside the bowling place last night," Amelia said. "After 'going to an Eridessa drama club'." She'd made inverted comma signs with her fingers as she'd spoken.
"Why didn't he come in?" Anastasia wondered.
"Maybe he didn't want to be seen in his mask," Tamara volunteered sensibly. "Although I don't know why he couldn't just take it off."
I stayed silent, feeling it wasn't my place to reveal what was concealed beneath the mask. Julian would tell everyone when he was ready.
"What were you two talking about last night?" Amelia asked me teasingly.
"What?" I was caught off guard.
"You and Julian. You were talking about something before I arrived. Something 'interesting'," she said.
"Oh." I shrugged and studied my fingernails. "Nothing. I'll tell you later. It's complicated, anyway."
"What did you do to your nails!?" Anastasia asked in horror, looking closely at my hands.
"I painted them," I said. "Sparkly silver. It's the only nailpolish I own."
"Dude," Tamara pointed out. "They look worse now than they did before!"
I laughed. "I know. I was bored."
"It's chipped already…" Anastasia was dismayed and started telling me how to do my nails properly in the future.
As we kept chatting, I glanced back towards where I'd last spotted Julian. Tia was in the process of greeting him, and I noticed her pointing to his mask. He leaned back, bringing his hand up to his face, smiling slightly, gently fending her off. She kept bugging him for a while, until he got visibly annoyed and said something angrily to her. She responded with her own snappy retort before going to serve the food.

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A loud belch nearby brought my attention back to our small group by the fire. Adam had come up behind Anastasia and burped in her ear.
"Adam!" she complained. "That's disgusting!"
"Hello," he replied, grinning. "I got you a drink."
"I don't accept drinks from other people," Anastasia said.
"You do now," Adam replied, handing it to her.
She took it and sniffed it gingerly. "This is alcoholic," she said suspiciously.
"No, it's not," Adam said. "Try it."
Anastasia tossed a small amount of the drink into the fire, which blazed alarmingly on contact.
"It is, you idiot." She gave it back to him.
"No, you take it!" he protested, pushing the drink back towards her.
"No!"
"Yes!" With a particularly sudden shove, he pushed the drink back towards Anastasia, where it spilt all over her lap.
Amelia, Tamara and I flinched, wondering what would happen next. Adam looked sheepish.
"Oops," he said.
Anastasia leapt up, hissing at him. "You're in big trouble now, Adam!" she yelled, and started chasing after him.
Tamara sighed. "Your brother seriously needs help," she said to me.
"Is that his way of flirting?" Amelia asked.
"God, I hope not," I replied, watching the chase.
Anastasia, being a vampire, was very strong and a very fast runner. It didn't take long before she'd caught up with Adam and grabbed his arm in her vice-like grip. She started hauling him towards the pool, in much the same way that she'd dragged me to the community hall storeroom.
"You're really cute when you're mad," Adam said, struggling.
"'Cute', am I?" Anastasia growled.
"Yeah, like an adorable kitten."
"Really," Anastasia hissed at him angrily as they neared the pool. "Well, I think it's time you had a drink of your own."
With little effort, she calmly pushed him into Tia's pool, fully clothed. She stood back, looking at him in satisfaction as he came to the surface, gasping and shaking water out of his eyes.

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"Oops," Anastasia said scathingly, and walked off to find a bathroom.
"Snap!" Tamara said approvingly as she walked past us. I think I saw Anastasia smile.
"Hey," I said to Amelia. "Where's Hannah?"
Amelia looked around. "Dunno," she said. "Maybe she's not coming?"
"Maybe," I said vaguely. I'd been counting heads, reasoning that without Jake, there should have been twelve of us at the party. Instead there were only eleven.
"I'll ask Tia," Amelia volunteered, getting up from her seat and going to find the hostess.
Adam clambered out of the pool, soaking wet and leaving a trail of puddles as he walked. As he walked past me, I caught his eye and grinned.
He grinned, too, before flicking water into my face from his dripping hands.
"Hey!" I cried, wiping the drops off with my hands. Little droplets had landed all over my glasses, too, so I took them off to wipe them on my top.
"Brothers," Tamara muttered.
"Tell me about it," I agreed.
Amelia soon returned, shrugging as she sat down. "Apparently, she's coming later," she told me.
"That's good," I said, then turned to Tamara. "Did you see Hannah got a MySpace?"
"Really?" Tamara said, surprised. "Cool."
I looked at Amelia, whose forehead was slightly wrinkled as she considered this reaction. It meant that Hannah had only added certain people – probably, I thought, just myself and Amelia.
"Guys!" Tia called out in a sing-song voice, addressing everyone. "The food's ready now!"
"Excellent," Tamara said, stretching and getting up. "I'm starving."
Soon there was a great cluster of people around the food tables, helping themselves to hot dogs, pizza, turkey (turkey?) and salad. I eagerly headed towards the pizza, but noticed…
"Bacon?" I said to myself sadly. "Why?"
"You can always just pick it off, El," Amelia pointed out, overhearing me. "Don't let the dreaded meat spoil a good slice of pizza."
I decided to take her advice, taking a piece of pizza and carefully picking all the bacon off before eating it.

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I started surveying the people at the table while everyone around me chattered between mouthfuls. Julian, I saw, was having a little difficultly eating his pizza, since the mask obviously restricted some of his face movements a bit.
He noticed me watching him, and our eyes met for a minute. I'd never noticed just how brown his eyes were - like the fine dark chocolate made with 70% cocoa that I liked better than ordinary milk chocolate.
Stop! I thought to myself, breaking the eye contact quickly, instead staring intently at my pizza slice. Why am I comparing his eye colour to chocolate? This isn't right.
Anastasia finally returned from the bathroom, her clothes now only showing a faint mark where the drink had spilt. Adam followed a little while later, still wet, but not dripping everywhere.
"Hope you don't mind me borrowing some fresh undies of yours, Tia," he said as he sat down.
Tia looked horrified, and I had to assure her that my brother was an idiot and was only joking. She exhaled loudly with relief ("Thank God").
"So, Jules," Adam said, "what's with the mask?"
I bit my lip, wondering exactly what was going to follow this question. The table went quiet – everyone wanted to hear the answer. Julian looked briefly at me and raised his eyebrows fleetingly before he calmly said "I'll show you" and removed the mask.

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The reactions were spectacular. Amelia gasped loudly and pressed her hands over her mouth, Tamara's eyes bugged, Adam's mouth fell open, Anastasia and Oswald stared in dismay, Nathan gazed in wonder, Artemis burst into tears, and Mystery said "Without the mask, where will you hide?"
Before Julian could try to respond to Mystery's latest Evanescence quote, Tia interrupted. "Urgh, that's gross," she exclaimed, screwing up her face. "Can't you do something about it?"
Julian's eyes flashed. "Do you think my mum would still look the way she does if there was a way to get rid of it?" he said pointedly.
Tia seemed to consider this, her face still etched with revulsion. "It's still yuck," she shuddered.
"No, Tia, tell him what you really think," I snapped sarcastically, glaring.
She gazed back at me, surprised. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think you could be any more insensitive? It's not like it's his fault."
She shrugged indifferently. "It's still gross," she repeated.
"Wow, you just make friends everywhere you go," I said. "I'm sure that attitude will be helpful when you go running off to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune, or whatever. Good luck with that."
Tia's black-rimmed eyes narrowed. "At least I have a couple more friends than you do, Ellie."
I pretended I was deeply offended. "Ooh, Tia, I'm deeply offended," I said flatly.
"You're real charming, Tia," Amelia added. "I notice no one's come to your defence so far."
"If Jake was here, instead of in jail," Tia snapped, glaring at Tamara, "he'd protect me."
"I wouldn't count on that," Amelia said.
"He's not in jail!" Tamara exclaimed.
"He might as well be," Tia said.
"And you should be, too, if you were sneaking into clubs with a fake ID, drinking underage, and taking drugs," Tamara shot back.
Tia reddened. "At least I know how to have a good time," she said.
"Your idea of a good time is breaking the law and destroying your body?" Tamara said with raised eyebrows. "I know what I'd prefer."
"Bowling!" Tia snorted. "Children go bowling."
"OK, um…guys?" Oswald interrupted. He was rubbing his forehead, brows knitted, eyes shut. He looked like he had a migraine. "As much as I'm enjoying the catfight, it would be great if we could get back to the actual party."
We all fell into an uncomfortable silence, during which a lot of staring at food occurred. Eventually, we returned to normal (if a little strained) conversation and food consumption. In an effort to steer the party back towards normality, Tia suggested that once we'd finished eating, we should gather in the indoors party area.
Which we did. Mystery surprised us all by immediately going to the karaoke machine, but didn't surprise us when she began singing 'Bring Me To Life'.

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"Your sister is just so predictable," I commented to Amelia after we'd sat down.
"Careful," she warned. "That's a Delta Goodrem song. Delta's pop. You might upset her."
"Who, Delta?"
"No, my sister."
We chatted for a minute or two, until I felt an urge.
"Um," I said to Amelia. "Do you know where the bathroom is in this place?"
She shrugged. "No," she said. "You could ask Tia."
"I'm kind of trying to avoid her, if you haven't noticed," I said, going off to search for the bathroom on my own. Thankfully, Tia's dad was still there on the patio, packing up the DJ booth.
"Excuse me, where's your bathroom?" I asked.
He fixed his ice blue eyes on me and smiled. "You're the third person to ask that this evening," he commented, then pointed behind him. "In there, at the end of the hallway."
"Thanks," I said, walking through the door and coming to a very short hallway. There were doors at both ends and one going off to the left. I headed for one of the doors at the end, and to my relief, found the bathroom.
Ahh.
After I'd washed my hands in the ivory basin with the gold taps and dried my hands on the pure white Egyptian cotton hand towel (hung on a smooth gold ring), I headed back out into the little hallway. As I walked past one of the other doors, I heard a soft chuckle coming from the room behind it.
Curious, I gently turned the door handle and entered the room. It appeared to be an enormous library, similar to the one in Amelia's house, only with much posher surroundings. Sitting on one of the lounge chairs in the middle of the room was someone I knew.

em90

9th Mar 2010, 09:29 AM

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"Julian, you're an absolute party animal," I said. "You should really calm yourself down."
Julian looked up at me, raising one eyebrow. "I'm not really into loud music."
I shrugged. "Neither am I. I'm more into bathrooms, myself. Have you had that experience yet?"
Julian shook his head and returned to his book. I bent down, trying to see what he was reading.
He saw me trying to look, and tilted the book so I could see the cover and spine. " 'What Were They Thinking? Really Bad Ideas Throughout History' ", I read aloud, before sitting down on the couch near him. "Sounds interesting."
"I was surprised to find it, actually," Julian said. "In fact, I was surprised to see that the Minks even had a library. I thought it might've been fake or something, but all the books are real – I've checked."
I glanced around at the shelves of books lining the walls. It certainly looked impressive, but it didn't have the same atmosphere as the well-stocked library of Amelia's father. It felt like a library maintained only for show, and the couches seemed too stiff, as though they were hardly ever used. The books looked too new, the shelves looked too neat.
"What were you laughing at?" I asked.
He smiled. "This," he said, handing me the book and pointing to a quote.
I read aloud, "'Things are more like they are now than they have ever been. President Gerald Ford'." I laughed, handing the book back to him. "Typical."
"It's an excellent quote," Julian said, still amused. "Very poignant. Good observation, I thought."
I smiled. "Let me know if you find any more," I said, starting to get up.
"I thought you didn't like loud music, either?" he said, sort of hastily.
I shrugged. "Not the techno rubbish Tia's chosen," I said. "And not Mystery doing her best Amy Lee impression, either."
"What music do you like?" Julian asked, sounding interested.
I sat back down again. "Well," I said, "mostly, you know, pop-rock sort of stuff. At least that's what I call it, even though other people don't. You know…Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Paramore…my brother calls it 'teenybopper rubbish'."
Julian smirked. "What do other people call it?"
"Everyone has different opinions," I said. "Like, for example, some people day Green Day is punk, and other people say they're not. Some people say Paramore are pop, and others say it's rock. It's impossible to pin genres on music these days, and I don't care. I just figure if it sounds good, then it's worth listening to."
Julian nodded. "A good philosophy," he said.
"What do you like?" I asked.

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He sat back. "Depends, really. Some instrumental songs, some rock bands…Red Hot Chilli Peppers are pretty good."
I shook my head. "Can't stand them."
"Don't care, as long as it sounds good," Julian replied quickly, deliberately.
I smiled.
He smiled.
"Thanks, by the way," Julian said.
"For what?"
"For unleashing your stinging sarcasm on Tia," he said.
"She deserved it," I said.
"But you didn't have to do that," he said.
I shrugged. "Yeah, I did."
I smiled.
He smiled.
It was getting silly.
"Well," I said, getting up again, "they'll think I've fallen in if I don't get back soon."
"Fallen in?" Julian asked.
"Into the loo," I said over my shoulder. I stopped again. "You said instrumental songs, right?"
"Depends, but yeah," Julian said.
"What about classical?"
"Some classical is alright," he said.
"Do you like Vivaldi?" I asked.
"Vivaldi's excellent," Julian replied.
"I agree," I said, smiling. We had something in common! "Although," I added, just as I walked out the door, "Vivaldi is baroque, not classical."
Julian rolled his eyes. "You always act like you know everything," he said.
"That's because I do," I replied, and left.
As I walked down the little hallway and back out to the party, I tried to make sense of our conversation and my feelings, which I totally didn't understand. I leaned against the wall, frowning.

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“No, no, no, Ellie,” I mumbled to myself, eyes shut. “You don’t like him. You always fight with him. He’s arrogant, he’s patronizing, his eyes are not food, you do not like him. Stop it.”
But why did I keep visiting his MySpace profile every single night?
Why was I disappointed when he didn't turn up to a group outing?
And why, whenever our eyes met across a room, did I quickly avert my gaze, as though embarrassed – and notice him doing exactly the same?
I shook my head vigorously, driving the thoughts from my mind as I walked back into the party room and sat down next to Amelia again.
"Welcome back," Amelia said. "Mystery's moved on to 'My Immortal' now."
"Wonderful," I said.
We both watched Mystery for a minute as she stood there, eyes closed, clasping the microphone in both hands, gently singing.
"She's actually not that bad," I said to Amelia.
"She's had lots of practice," Amelia said. She paused. "You know what I've noticed?" she said, changing the subject. "Hannah still hasn't arrived."
I frowned. "Do you want to call her?" I suggested.
Amelia nodded, and motioned for me to follow her out onto the small balcony attached to the room. Since Hannah didn't have a mobile phone, she called her home number.

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I listened as she spoke to her mother. "Hello, Mrs. Reilly? Yeah, it's Amelia Meyer here. Um, we're all at Tia's party and were wondering when Hannah was going to turn up? . . . no, now . . . Tia's party. You know, the Minks? They—sorry?"
Amelia's expression changed suddenly, and I saw her face darken. "You didn't know?. . . well, did Hannah know?. . . you're sure? . . . OK. OK. No, don't tell her. Look, I'm really sorry to bother you, Mrs. Reilly. We—no, no, I'll get it sorted out. We thought she'd been invited. Anyway, I'll take care of it, don't worry. Thanks. . . OK. Bye."
She hung up the phone with a snap. "Hannah was never invited to any party," she told me, in a forcedly calm voice.
"What?" I exclaimed, furious.
"Tia was lying," Amelia confirmed, striding back indoors to where Tia was standing, cigarette in one hand and drink in the other.
Amelia strode right up to her, with me following closely, and stuck a finger in her face. "You lying, insensitive, scheming bitch," Amelia spat.
Mystery stopped singing, staring at the fight that was unfolding.
Tia rolled her eyes and let out a puff of smoke. "What now?"
"You told me you'd invited Hannah," Amelia said quietly. "But you never did any such thing, did you?"
By now everyone had gone quiet. So everyone heard as Tia replied.
She snorted derisively. "God, no," she said. "Why on Earth would I want that fat, spastic zombie at my party? She'd probably just drown in my spa."
Amelia, in a very uncharacteristic spurt of intense fury, snatched Tia's drink from her hands and threw the contents into her face.

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Tia was shocked, and stood there for a moment, trying to comb the droplets out of her hair. Everyone else was silent, just watching.
"Thanks for inviting me," Amelia said coldly, and stormed out of the room.
"Yeah, thanks. Crap party," I added, storming out after Amelia. Tia was left in shock, standing in the middle of the group of people she'd invited, devoid of any allies and covered in some kind of alcoholic beverage.

em90

9th Mar 2010, 09:34 AM

Thanks again for the comments, people. :) They brighten my day.

Lynet

9th Mar 2010, 11:54 AM

Tia definitely had that coming. Sheesh, what an unpleasant person she is. The pictures are good. Julian is a very attractive guy. I'm glad he and Ellie are getting to be friends. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Phoeberg

11th Mar 2010, 01:21 AM

^Totally agree, ugh, Tia deserved everything she got. She's so arrogant. Poor Hannah, I really like her!

KyleTheArtist

11th Mar 2010, 10:24 AM

Tia had it coming.

em90

11th Mar 2010, 12:40 PM

Tia had it coming.
^Totally agree, ugh, Tia deserved everything she got. She's so arrogant. Poor Hannah, I really like her!
Tia definitely had that coming. Sheesh, what an unpleasant person she is.
Heh, seems people don't like Tia very much. :P Yes, she is a pretty nasty character.

The pictures are good. Julian is a very attractive guy. I'm glad he and Ellie are getting to be friends. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Thank you! (I'd actually just had all my wisdom teeth surgically removed a day or two before I took the pics for this chapter - that was in early Feb - and was worried they might be slightly crappier than usual due to not quite thinking straight. It's nice to be reassured that the pictures aren't too bad.)

KyleTheArtist

11th Mar 2010, 06:14 PM

em90

12th Mar 2010, 03:18 AM

Only suggestion I can make about pictures is trying to play with the angles, so they look realistic. Like in some pictures, some poses seem to unnatural and broken. I'm not trying to offend. I have not played TS2 for a while, so when I come back to them later this week, I will probably take worse pictures XD

Haha, thanks. And no, I'm not offended :) I do try my best to make things look as realistic as possible, but sometimes, when I look at the enormous collection of 'pose boxes' scattered on nearly every lot, and then have to search for the right combination of selections from all the pie menus that come from those pose boxes...I tend to think 'Oh, that one will do' fairly often :P (And sometimes there simply isn't any way to get the sims to do exactly what I want. Or there is, but then their foot disappears through the floor, or something, which is frustrating.)

KyleTheArtist

13th Mar 2010, 06:35 AM

I am same in most cases XD

Can't wait for update :D

em90

16th Mar 2010, 11:11 AM

A few days after the party, Amelia invited me to sleep over one night. I accepted, knowing that sleepovers at the Meyer household are always full of interesting surprises.
Unlike last time I was there, Dream remembered to cook dinner that evening. After I'd dumped my overnight bag in Amelia's room, we both headed downstairs to the dining table to eat.
Dream was standing in the kitchen, humming and smiling as she sniffed a pot, which was cooking on the stove.
"What's that, Mum?" Amelia asked as we came into the kitchen/dining room.
"This, my dear, is kidney stew," Dream replied dreamily.
Amelia looked aghast. "What?"
"Kidney stew," Dream said again. "Herbs, spices, mixed vegetables, and goat kidneys."

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Amelia swivelled to face me. "Don't worry," she said to me. "I'll make pizza."
I felt relieved. Bacon was one thing. Kidneys were entirely another.
"Maybe you should cook more often," I suggested to Amelia.
"Oh, I do," Amelia said. "I cook normal food for me and Artemis and Mystery most nights, since Mum is physically incapable of cooking anything, um, edible. I'm actually becoming a pretty good cook." She paused. "Home-made pizzas, chicken salad, and beef stroganoff are my specialties."
We didn't have to wait too long before Dream let out a piercing, mysterious birdlike cry ("That's her way of summoning us to dinner," Amelia explained as I covered my ears with my hands). Soon, family members came rolling in.
Artemis sniffed the air. "I smell the burning scent of an animal slain," he announced dejectedly.
"Take me away from me!" Mystery cried.
"Has this animal been killed and prepared according to the rules and regulations?" Arthur enquired, pointing at the stew.
"Certainly, dear," Dream said.
Amelia's eyes narrowed. "Wait, Dad," she said. "What rules and regulations?"
Arthur then proceeded to recite a long list of food preparation procedures from multiple and various religious texts. Amelia's eyes glazed over as he spoke.
"Still searching for truth?" I asked her, and she nodded.
Somehow, we all managed to sit down at the table and not run away from the plates set before us. After Dream sat down, we waited while Arthur gave thanks for the food to several different deities. It took a long time, after which Dream insisted on reciting a chant she'd read in a book somewhere.
Then we were permitted to eat.

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"Don't touch it," Amelia warned me. "Trust me, she never gets offended."
Artemis looked sadly at his plate. "This kidney was once part of a living thing," he mourned, sullenly prodding it with a fork.
Mystery was also looking unhappily at her meal. "I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come," she said.
"I'm making pizza later, guys," Amelia told them.
Artemis looked at her. "Vegetarian?"
Amelia nodded. "Yep. Whatever you like."
Artemis paused, then said, "Vegan?"
Amelia frowned. "Well, probably not," she said. "Vegetarian will have to do." Pause. "Since when did you become vegan, anyway?"
"Today," Artemis said.
Arthur was the only one of us who was actually eating the meal. He noticed his family's reluctance to join in, and said, "Look, it's only an illusion. If you have the knowledge that it doesn't taste bad, it won't. It's only an illusion. Reality is whatever you make it."
Suddenly, Dream cried out, clutching her throat. Amelia stood up suddenly, rushing over.
"Mum!" she said urgently. "What's the matter? Are you choking?"
"The forces," Dream replied breathily. "They're...they're coming!"
Amelia looked slightly exasperated, but rubbed her mum's shoulders comfortingly. "I'm sure they'll leave in a minute," she said encouragingly.
"No, they're here!" Dream insisted. She pressed her hands over her ears, knocking Amelia's arms out of the way. "They're here! I need my amulet!"
Amelia just kept looking at her mother with concern. "Why do you need your amulet, Mum?"
"I am at risk of being attacked by negative energy if I don't have it with me!" Dream said, distressed. She got up suddenly from the table to look for it, breathing rapidly and flapping her hands.
"There's no such thing as negative energy!" Arthur called after her. "It's only an illusion!"
Amelia glanced around, and saw a necklace lying on the kitchen bench. "I've found it, Mum," she called, holding up a necklace with some sort of dull gemstone attached to a silvery chain.
Dream hurried back into the room. "Oh, thank goodness," she murmured, clutching the necklace with both hands. "I could feel the energy rushing towards me, hot like fire…I must record it in my book of shadows." And she rushed out of the room again.
Amelia sighed. She seemed to decide that dinnertime, though unusually short, was over, and started collecting untouched plates of kidney stew from everyone - everyone except Arthur, it appeared, who was still bravely eating the meal, constantly muttering "illusion, illusion" between mouthfuls, his eyes darting wildly from side to side as he ate.
Meanwhile, Artemis had stood up and had slouched over to the fridge, where he let out a desperate cry. "There's no milk left in the fridge!" he gasped desperately, tears brimming in his eyes.

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"Then run down to Lou's and get some more!" Amelia said. "And put down the butterknife!"
Artemis, looking thoroughly grieved, put down the butterknife with which he'd been preparing to cut himself again. He slouched out of the room in tears, with Mystery following.
"God," muttered Amelia.
"Don't take the Lord's name in vain!" Arthur yelled, and I jumped.
She ignored him, glancing in mild disbelief at the knife on the kitchen bench. "He can't even summon the courage to pick up a sharp knife. Hopeless."
"Do you want him to pick up a sharp knife?" I asked.
"Who said 'summon'?" Dream called from another room.
"No one," Amelia called. She sighed, tossed the knife back into one of the drawers, and looked at me. "What kind of pizza?"
"Whatever you want it to be," I said.
Amelia rolled her eyes at me. "Don't you start. Dad is bad enough. Never answers a question with a proper answer. It's a wonder I'm still sane in this place."
She ended up making two small vegetarian pizzas, and then added barbecued chicken pieces to one of them. While they cooked, we both stood in the kitchen chatting and occasionally having a brief pretend swordfight with the wooden spoons. Arthur eventually finished his kidney stew, put the plate in the dishwasher, and walked straight back to the library with a furrowed brow.
When the pizzas finally finished cooking, Amelia took them upstairs to the second floor. Artemis and Mystery insisted on staying in their own rooms, even when Amelia suggested we all eat together in the middle room. Amelia just sighed, split the vegetarian pizza in half, gave some to Artemis and some to Mystery, and then plopped herself down on the couch next to me, where we quickly finished off the chicken pizza.

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"Ah," I sighed in satisfaction. "That definitely beats kidney stew."
"That's not the worst meal we've ever been served," Amelia said. "Mum tried deep-fried spiders once."
"Ugh!" I exclaimed. The pizza threatened to resurface for a minute. "How did you deal with that one?"
"Same way I deal with all the others," Amelia shrugged. "Don't eat them, and find something else to eat later. Like pizza. Or macaroni and cheese."
"Where'd she even get spiders from, anyway?" I asked.
Amelia shrugged. "Who knows."
The door to Artemis's room slowly opened, and he shuffled out, clutching his journal. "I've written a poem and I wonder if you could tell me what you think," he said quietly to me and Amelia.

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Amelia shrugged. "Go for it," she suggested, slouching back on the couch.
He cleared his throat. "It's called 'The Milk Is Gone'."
Amelia rolled her eyes and I hid a smile as he started reading.
"My heart is a black abyss,
And as cold as snow.
Cut my soul and let it bleed,
Crimson sorrows flow.
The rose and its thorns
Are shattered
Lying broken and crushed.
Sadness and shadow.
My suicide in the dark.
Rain."
Artemis looked to us for an answer. "Well?"
"It's lovely, Artemis," I said. "Very deep."
"Thankyou," he said quietly, retreating back into his room and shutting the door once more. From behind Mystery's door, I could hear the mournful strains of Mystery singing something about 'going under' and 'drowning' and 'falling'.
"I think," Amelia declared, "it's time to retire to my room."
"I think that sounds like a good idea," I agreed.

em90

16th Mar 2010, 11:23 AM

For the rest of the evening, we just hung out in Amelia's room, chatting about different things and listening to music and watching TV and checking Amelia's MySpace and yelling at Mystery to stop singing and yelling at Artemis to stop playing his guitar and then yelling at him to stop crying or he'd make his eyeliner run. All part of a typical night at the Meyer's house. At one point, after we'd been banging on Mystery's door to tell her to be quiet, Dream wandered up the stairs completely naked.

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"Mum!" Amelia cried, shocked. "We have a guest, remember!?"
Dream didn't seem to hear. I wondered what on Earth had been going on downstairs.
"Don't worry, nothing's happened," Amelia hissed, reading my mind. "I think she's just been to a ceremony in the woods."
"Naked?" I exclaimed.
Amelia nodded. "To be 'closer to nature'," she explained, rolling her eyes again.
"Right," I said. "Maybe we should just stay in your room from now on."
And that's where we were when I heard it. We were sitting in Amelia's room, talking away and listening to the radio, when I heard the familiar empty fifths being played gently on a piano.
I sat up suddenly, frozen, and listening. "Oh my gosh!" I cried to Amelia.
"What?" she said, perplexed.
"Turn up the volume!" I exclaimed, taking out my mobile at the same time. "It's our song!"
I was still dialling my Dad's phone number as the singer began to sing:
"I'll be your shelter in a storm,
And in the dark, I'll be your light…"
Dad answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Dad, tune your radio to 104.1 right now!" I said excitedly. "It's our song!"

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"Really?" he exclaimed, and a few seconds later, I heard the same music in the background over the phone.
"It is!" he cried happily. "Well, who would've thought…"
He started singing along, and I joined him over the phone as Amelia watched me, now completely confused.
"Did your Dad write this, or something?" she asked, and I nodded. "Me too," I said between words.
As the music built up to the chorus, both Dad and I sang with gusto the lyrics I'd penned:
"Take a look, deep inside yourself,
Hear what your heart has to say,
Look above, reach up to the stars,
You can move mountains today,
Just keep moving forward, open the door,
I'll be right beside you if you start to fall,
Together…
Together we can make it through."
Amelia groaned. "That's so bad!"
"I know!" I grinned. "And I wrote it!"
Dad and I sang to each other until the song finished. I listened carefully to the DJ as she spoke about the song.
"And at number one this week, that's our new Australian Idol, Rhiannon Turner, with 'Together'. We'll be catching up with Rhiannon tomorrow on our breakfast show…"
"Did you hear that!?" I cried to Dad. "Number one! Just like you said!"
"That's astonishing!" Dad exclaimed. "Although, obviously it was mostly due to your brilliant, heartwarming chorus lyrics…"
"Yeah right, Dad," I laughed. "You wrote it."
"That's amazing," Dad said again. "I have to call George. Have a good night."
"I will. Bye."
I pressed the 'off' button on my phone and looked at Amelia, an ecstatic expression etched across my face. She smiled in return.
"Number one, eh?" she said. "And do you get to share the royalty payments for every copy sold?"
My jaw dropped. "Oh, my gosh," I said. "Yes. I do."
Amelia smiled again. "That's awesome," she said.
"At least, I think I do," I said, thinking. "Dad said he was going to call his agent, George, but I'm not sure if he'll remember to ask about that…technically, I should, because I helped write the song…"
Something about Amelia's face distracted me. "What?" I asked, my smile fading.
Amelia shook her head. "Nothing."
"Not 'nothing'," I insisted. "What?"
"Nah…" Amelia looked hesitant, then seemed to make up her mind and continued in a rush. "It's just that…sometimes, you don't know how much I envy you. Here I am, stuck in this place with fruitloops for family, spending my afternoons trying to stop my brother killing himself and my sister from ruining her voice box and my mother from blowing up the house trying out 'spells' and thinking up creative ways to avoid steamed asparagus and tripe for dinner, for God's sake. And then, there you are, the wonderful best friend with awesome parents and a normal house, eating normal food, and now you're going to be raking in the money to boot. Plus, you always get brilliant marks in everything you do, and you've got parents who care about you, and you're excellent at writing, and, God…what I wouldn't give to be you sometimes."
My jaw dropped again, and I stared at her, stunned. "Amelia," I said.
"What?" She wasn't smiling now.
"My brother locked me in a store room with the person I hate as a little prank," I began. "My mother spends so much time in her lab, or out in the greenhouse with her plants, that I only really see her for a few hours in the evenings. My father's always getting distracted in the middle of conversations, and he keeps dashing off to jot down the latest melody or song lyric or idea that's entered his mind. I spend so much time in my room, reading, because my family are always too busy to talk to. Plus, how do you think I get those 'brilliant marks'? I have to spend hours and hours, nearly tearing my hair out, studying and working hard to get those. And look at you! Even though you say I'm good at writing – although I don't think I'm very good at all – I'm hopeless at art. You're an amazing photographer, and you can capture stuff as it is, not how it's imagined, the way I do with writing. Plus," I added, "you have your driving license, which no other teenager here has got. To top it all off, you're the most caring, loyal and honest person I've ever met, and I think if you weren't my best friend, I might be a lot less sarcastic and a lot more like Artemis."
Amelia looked tearily at me. "Do you really mean all that?" she asked.
I nodded. "Of course I do," I said, giving her a hug.

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/240/1403y.jpg

We stayed like that for a moment, and when we broke away, Amelia was smiling through her tears. "That was quite a speech," she said approvingly.
I shrugged. "You're lucky it was coherent," I said.
After that, we both decided it was time to go to sleep. After we had quick showers and changed into our pyjamas, we went back in Amelia's room for the rest of the night. Amelia turned off the lights and got into her bed while I lay down on a spare bed she'd set up for me.
I figured it was about time to voice something that had been concerning me – and it would also serve a double purpose in distracting Amelia from her ridiculous notions of jealousy. "Amelia?" I began.
"Mmm?"
"I think I like someone."
Amelia sounded interested. "Who? Someone I know?"
"Yeah. Julian."
Amelia let out a snort. "Good one, Ellie," she said. "So do you actually like someone?"
She thinks I'm being sarcastic, I realised. Steeling myself, I tried to correct her. "No, really. I think I like Julian."
Amelia sat up. "Are you being serious?"
"Yeah."
Silence.
"What were you guys talking about outside bowling that time?" she asked, intrigued.
"Stuff," I said evasively. "What do you think I should do?"
"I don't know. I thought you couldn't stand him!"
"I thought so too! But now…I'm not so sure."
"Are you insane, woman?"
"Possibly."
Silence again. Amelia shifted around under the covers.
"How do you know that you like him?" she asked.
"I keep feeling like I want to give him a big hug," I said lamely, addressing the ceiling.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/5079/1404c.jpg

Amelia snorted again. "A big hug?"
"It's how I feel whenever I like someone," I explained, slightly embarrassed. "Like you know David Tennant? Doctor Who?"
"Yeah."
"I want to hug him. Nothing more."
Amelia sighed. "I have to say, most people want to do something more than just hugging when they like someone."
"I know, but I'm different. And I hate it when guys take their shirts off. I prefer guys when they're fully clothed."
"So, on your honeymoon night, you plan to just hug your husband while he's got all his clothing still on," Amelia said.
"Well, it'll probably be different by then…"
More silence.
"You never cease to amaze me, El," Amelia said, sighing. Pause. "Should I tell Julian that you want to hug him?"
"No!" I exclaimed loudly. "Don't tell him anything!"
Amelia laughed softly. "I won't," she said. "But it is pretty funny. I'm going to be interested to see what happens."
"Me too," I said, yawning. "Me too."

Phoeberg

16th Mar 2010, 09:25 PM

Amelia's family make me laugh, especially Artemis and Dream...The Milk is Gone, what a classic! :lol:

Lynet

17th Mar 2010, 05:45 AM

I love Amelia's family. You have so much imagination. As crazy as they are, they seem very real.

And just like Amelia, I'm going to be very interested to see what happens between Ellie and Julian

KyleTheArtist

17th Mar 2010, 11:06 PM

I laughed at her naked mom for some reason XD Great update keep it up :D

em90

24th Mar 2010, 06:05 AM

Apart from my confused emotional state, all of us in Solitaria lived fairly normal lives for the next two weeks. There were only two things particularly out of the ordinary: Tia was a social outcast due to her treatment of Hannah, and I successfully got my revenge on Adam one evening.
After meeting as usual at the hall, he decided to visit Oswald and Anastasia for a few hours, while I went home. Seizing my opportunity, I snuck into his room and sat down at his laptop, where I spent a few minutes hacking into his MySpace account and sending peculiar comments to various people, as well as defacing his profile and changing his password. After I was done with that, I found a folder on his hard drive where his high scores and game data were stored for his favourite game, some car racing thing he played all the time, and deleted them. Then, to complete the humiliation, I played the game several times and set new high scores in my name.
I know, I know, it's all very juvenile and immature. A seventeen-year-old should have better revenge ideas than that. But gosh, at the time, it felt so good.
Grinning, I left the laptop exactly as I'd found it, and went back to my room to read and wait for him to notice my changes.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7416/1501v.jpg

He came home later that evening, and as usual, I heard him go into his room, followed by the soft creak of his desk chair as he sat down on it.
I waited a few minutes…nothing.
What was he doing?
Then, the sound I was waiting for: a strangled bellow of shock and rage, followed by a thump (I wasn't sure what that was, perhaps he hit the computer?), and then stomping footsteps approaching my room. The door flew open. "What the hell, Ellie?" my brother fumed.
I looked up from my book innocently. "I don't know, Adam," I replied. "What is the hell?"
"You should know full well," he spat. "I just went to my MySpace to find my layout completely changed, comments asking why I was sending spam comments to people, particularly Anastasia, and a ton of photos in my album that I never put there. Of course, I only know this because I had to view my profile rather than logging into it, because someone has changed my password!"
I clicked my tongue in sympathy. "Bummer," I said. "Don't you just hate MySpace hackers?"
Adam seriously looked like he was about to kill me. Instead, he settled on swearing very colourfully at me, using a multitude of words that I'm sure my parents wouldn't have liked him to say.
I waited for the barrage of verbal assault to end, then said calmly, "Maybe you shouldn't go around locking people in store rooms with their enemies, and then never apologising."
Adam looked stunned. "That was frigging ages ago!" he spluttered.
"So you've had ages to say sorry, but you haven't," I said. "Plus, there are a whole lot of other annoying things you've done that have so far gone unpunished. I had some catching up to do."
"Change it back, Ellie, or I will seriously make your life hell," Adam threatened, furious. "Starting with telling Julian how much you're deeply in love with him."
Now it was my turn to be shocked. I actually felt the blood drain from my face.
"Wh—I'm not deeply in—" I spluttered, trying to form a basic sentence. "How did you know that!?" I bellowed finally, standing up.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2087/1502d.jpg

Adam's expression changed from incensed to smug. "You should put a lock on that journal of yours," he said, nodding towards my 'Soltaria' story-journal that was lying on my desk. "It's just too interesting to resist. I had a ball reading it while you were at Amelia's a week or so ago for that sleepover."
Now I was angry. "How dare you read my private journal!" I yelled, enraged.
"How dare you mess up my MySpace!" Adam countered.
"I deleted your high scores and saved games in that car game of yours, too," I sneered, and watched his face spasm alarmingly.
"You what?"
"Maybe you should put a padlock on that laptop of yours," I said. "It's almost too interesting to resist."
Adam pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipping it open theatrically. "Well, you can start restoring my MySpace and game data, or Julian's going to get a fascinating phone call."
"And you can put that phone away," I countered, pulling my own phone out with equal dramatic flair, "or I'm telling Anastasia how much you love her."
Adam seemed to consider this for a moment. Checkmate, I thought.
He narrowed his eyes at me, his gaze flicking between my face and the phone I brandished in my hand. I just glared fixedly at him, hoping to wear him down with my penetrating stare.
I let out a tense, exasperated sigh. "How about a compromise," I suggested.
"How about you just fix everything you've broken?" Adam snarled.
Ignoring him, I said, "If you apologise to me for locking me in the storeroom and reading my journal, I will tell you the password for your MySpace, and we both won't tell anyone any secrets."
"And what about my high scores?" Adam hissed.
"I'll tell you how to get them back," I said.
He stood there, grinding his teeth, eyebrows plunging, breathing heavily, and generally behaving like a rhinoceros. I stood there, arms folded, waiting for his answer.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3420/1503f.jpg

Finally, he exhaled noisily. "OK," he said. "I'm sorry I locked you in the storeroom and read your journal."
"You have to mean it," I said.
"For God's sake, Ellie, what else do you want?" he cried.
"You're not showing any remorse!" I said.
"That's because I'm bloody angry!"
"Well, stop being angry!"
"I can't just go and turn off how I feel!"
"Work on it," I suggested, beginning to dial.
Adam noticed. "Stop that."
I looked at him again, challenging. "Say sorry."
"I did."
"Mean it."
"I did!—OK." He sighed loudly and whirled his arms around a bit. "I am really, really, sorry for locking you in the store room and for reading your journal. I feel very remorseful."
He looked grumpily at me. "Password," he demanded, "or I call Julian."
"He wouldn't believe you anyway," I said flippantly. "But it's 'bananasrcool08', all lowercase, with the 'r' as in the letter, not the word."
"Thankyou," Adam said grudgingly. He started walking out of my room, then paused. "'Bananas are cool'?" he repeated incredulously.
"It was the first thing that came to my head," I said. "Now get lost."
"You still haven't told me how to restore my games," he said.
"The files are all in the recycle bin," I said. "If you don't know how to put something back from the recycle bin, you've got problems."
He trudged out of my room, leaving me to metaphorically kick myself for leaving my journal lying around. Thank god he didn't find my real journal, the one I actually record my private feelings and stuff in! Then I probably would have refused to give him the password at all.
Still, the writing in this journal is incriminating enough.
"Did you save a copy of the code for what was on my MySpace before you wiped it?" Adam called.
"Nope," I called back. "What an oversight. I'm so dreadfully sorry."
"Keep that attitude up, and I'll ring your loverboy," Adam called.
"Empty threat," I called.
I heard the house phone ring in the hallway, but couldn't be bothered to go get it. I was still sulking. Let mum or dad get it, I thought. I started rummaging in my desk drawer, looking to see if I had an old padlock I could perhaps fix to my journal.
The phone rang for a while, then stopped suddenly. I kept rummaging, wondering if I even had a spare padlock (does anyone? Seriously, who keeps spare padlocks in their desk drawer?), but after about half a minute, I heard hurried footsteps coming up the stairs.
I opened my door just as Mum pounded on Adam's door, so I heard her say "Quick, we've got an emergency meeting at the hall. Something's happened."

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5886/1504k.jpg

"What?" I said, startled.
"I'm not sure yet," Mum explained to me quickly, taking off her lab coat as she spoke. "Debbie Rosencrantz just said to get to the hall as quickly as possible, so we're going now. Let's go."
"In the car?" I asked.
Mum shook her head. "No need, we'll just walk quickly."
"Someone else been poisioned?" I asked.
"I don't know," Mum said, sounding snappish.
"Just let me clear my profile…" I heard Adam mutter.
"No, Adam, we have to go now," Mum insisted.
"It'll only take a minute—"
"Now!" Mum said forcefully.
"OK…" Adam grumbled, swivelling on his chair and glaring at me as he came out of his room. I shrugged at him.
It was only as we were walking out of our front gate that Mum's sense of urgency really caught on, and I started to panic.
"Mum, do you have any idea—"
"No, I don't, Ellie," Mum said irritably. "Debbie just called me and said she was calling everyone in the town to get there as soon as we could because she had some important news. It didn't sound good."
My stomach lurched, and my overactive imagination started dreaming up worst-case scenarios. Joanna's dead…someone found, and killed, all the Desslers…we've been struck by a plague…someone's house is on fire…there's been a werewolf attack again…Amelia's a werewolf…Amelia's dead… the government want to redevelop the land…we all have to leave Solitaria…the hall burnt down…someone's dead…
By the time we actually reached the hall, I was a bundle of nerves. My mind continued to present me with horrible situations, but kept sticking on one in particular, like a broken record player: Amelia's dead…someone's dead…Amelia's dead…
"I have to go to the loo," I gasped to Mum, and bolted for it through the crowds of hushed-talking, anxious people. Luckily it was unoccupied.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/428/1505q.jpg

Whenever I get nervous, my digestive system ties itself in knots. My stomach rumbles, and then I have to find a toilet extremely quickly, where I…well, I don't think you need to know the details. Let's just say it's an explosive experience.
And that's where I was when everyone else heard the news: sitting on the toilet, trying to listen through the door, horrified at what might be happening on the other side. I heard a sudden stillness in the hall, and the too-quiet, muffled noise of Debbie Rosencrantz speaking calmly to the assembled. Before the muffled speaking finished, there was a scream: a piercing, full-throated animal shriek of pain that ripped through me where I sat. It went on and on until I heard someone else speaking rapidly, obviously trying to calm someone down, followed by noisy, racking sobs and hushed, sympathetic tones.
By now, my nerves were at breaking point. I wanted to scream through the door: Tell me what's going on! I need to know what's happened!
But nature prevented me from leaving. I had to be sure nothing embarrassing would happen once I got out.
I waited a few minutes, until the volcano in my stomach had stopped erupting, then finished up, washed my hands, and nearly broke down the door in my haste to get out. I hurried towards the archway which led to the general community room of the hall—
I stopped dead in my tracks, everything hitting me at once.
A few faces turned towards me, etched in varying degrees of pain and suffering.
Debbie was still talking – something about a police investigation – but I didn't hear her.
Victoria was hunched over on one of the couches, crying hysterically, being comforted by her mother, Sophie.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8946/1506i.jpg

I caught sight of Amelia's face in the crowd, streaked with tears, and for a moment I felt relieved: At least she's still alive…
She noticed me standing there, shocked and still not understanding what had happened. Her face crumpled as she started making her way gently through everyone towards me.
"What happened?" I whispered, heart thumping, dreading the answer without even knowing what the answer was.
Her lip quivered, and she brushed tears from her cheeks. "It's Lou," she said, her voice cracking. "He's—he's been shot. He's gone, Ellie. Gone."
Once again, my brain was hit by a barrage of emotions and thoughts all at once: Amelia in tears – Victoria crying – Lou gone – gone – shot?
"Shot?" I whispered, my mind swirling. I felt tears start springing into the corners of my eyes.
Amelia nodded, forgotten tears dripping off her chin now. "Shot."
I breathed very quickly, feeling the drops of salty water streaking small rivers down my cheeks. Lou was gone.
"Oh, my god," I whispered as it hit me. The tears flowed faster now. My throat constricted, my head throbbed, my nose was blocked…
Amelia hugged me, and finally, the shock and anxiousness overflowed. I clung to her as I cried, and felt her chest shuddering as she took shaky breaths in and out, knowing that she was crying too. My scrambled brain kept focussing on the one thought: Lou was gone.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4720/1507.jpg

He was the one person in the town who everyone was friends with. You couldn't help it – since he ran the only shop of any kind, most people came into contact with him quite regularly, and there wasn't a single one of us in Solitaria who didn't like his loyal, caring, and slightly mischievous personality. He was the leader of our tight knit community, who was always ready to help with utter selflessness. More than just a shopkeeper, he was a good friend of everyone – someone you could really count on.
The thought that someone so kind and gentle had met such a violent, shocking end made me sick. Someone had taken a gun and fired a bullet into him, tearing his body apart, taking the life of someone special in a single, bloody act of brutality.
It made me angry. An angriness which only intensified as Amelia tearfully added, as though an afterthought, "Victoria found out she's pregnant today."
I gasped. Pregnant?...
I glanced back into the room full of bereaved people, and my gaze fell upon the weeping vampire. The image would be one I'd remember for the rest of my life: the sight of Victoria, sobbing desperately into her hands on the couch, grieving for the father of her unborn child.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3276/1508w.jpg

em90

24th Mar 2010, 06:14 AM

Well that was depressing :/

Thanks for the comments again everyone! I'm trying to update this about once a week, but with all the work piling up for university I tend to lose track of time...please hit me over the head with an imaginary pillow if I haven't updated the story for over a week.

On a side note, this is something that made me lol a bit: as I was gathering all the sims at the community hall lot to take the pics for the most recent chapter, I let them mill around for a minute (free will was 'on' at this point) before entering all the cheats etc. I noticed, in amongst the crowd, in the background - a disturbance!

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9387/aside1.jpg
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4858/ameliaisstillpissedatti.jpg

Amelia hasn't forgiven Tia yet. :D

Phoeberg

24th Mar 2010, 09:58 PM

^ :lol: Tia did deserve it.

I liked all the sibling rivalry, reminds me of me and my brother. But Lou!! Dead! :blink:

Lynet

25th Mar 2010, 02:59 AM

That was an extremely sad chapter. I wonder who shot him.

KyleTheArtist

25th Mar 2010, 05:54 AM

This is sad, and I thought drama in Veronaville is sad D8

great update, keep it up :) Also, rated this :D

Lavaster

26th Mar 2010, 04:01 AM

Wow... so dramatic. I'll be keeping a read on this one ;)

em90

30th Mar 2010, 10:21 AM

I woke up the following morning with puffy eyes and a hollow feeling in my stomach. It took a while for my brain to remember the events of the previous night, but when I did remember, it was like a tower of bricks falling down inside my skull with a loud crash:
Lou's dead.
He was shot.
Victoria's pregnant.
A whole town grieves.
I let out a deep sigh and rolled over, staring at the wall. I didn't really want to get up. I didn't want to face everyone else, didn't want to struggle to hold back tears during normal conversations, didn't want to discuss the horrible news.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/6182/1601s.jpg

It was my first experience with death. I was surprised at how well I was handling it. I'd always imagined how I would react to the death of someone I knew, someone I was friends with: I'd collapse into a depressed, shocked state of mind, staying in my room for days, crying at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason, other than remembering a sudden moment connected with the deceased. I thought I'd never be able to look at a picture of them again without bursting into tears. I thought I would take weeks, if not months, to heal.
Instead, I felt as though my mind had divided in two. One half was emotional. It was angry and sad and empty and everything else you'd expect a mourning person to feel.
But the other half shocked me. It made me feel like I was, deep down, a cold, heartless human being. It shrugged, and thought, So he's just not going to be around any more. I can live with that. It suppressed the emotional half of my brain, overriding any notion of hysterics, as though it was telling it to grow up and snap out of it.
It was this side of my brain that caused a numb, passive feeling to invade my body, prompting me to get out of bed and start the day as though nothing much had happened. It's just that there was one less person around.
I drifted through the morning. I ate breakfast like a robot with my family – none of us wanted to talk about the previous night's news. I had a shower, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and sat down at my computer to start the schoolwork for the day.
But my mind wandered, unable to concentrate on the lesson. I tried another subject, but to no avail. I felt like there was something I had to do before my mind would settle. I believe it had something to do with my anger.
I stood up, left my desk, walked downstairs and announced that I was going for a walk. No one objected.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7118/1602.jpg

As I walked towards Lou's shop, I wondered why I felt so compelled to find answers to his death.
Teenagers only solve crime cases in unrealistic storybooks, I told myself. In the real world, it's the police that do the case-solving. Sometimes, the case isn't even solved.
It's not that I don't trust Christopher. I just want to see something for myself. Ask some questions.
As if he'll answer them anyway.
He might – he trusts me.
It's a police case. He can't give you details.
I can try.
Is this how schizophrenics feel?
"Stop it," I muttered to myself.
I soon found myself outside Lou's shop. It had yellow police tape stretched in a border all around the perimeter, and Christopher's car was parked out the front. The shop seemed to have a completely different atmosphere: empty and impersonal. Lou had always filled it with life. Now it was full of forensic investigators with cameras, fingerprint dust, plastic bags and numbered markers. A makeshift memorial had already started to sprout up next to the letterbox.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/4193/1603.jpg

I stood there for a while, looking in at the scene, until Christopher noticed me and came over. "Ellie, what are you doing here," he asked quietly, shaking his head sadly.
I shrugged. "I was just curious," I said.
"You shouldn't be here," Christopher said.
I pointed to the tape. "Hey, I'm on the right side of the tape," I pointed out. "Technically, I'm allowed."
Christopher let that one go. "Were you after something from the shop?" he asked.
"No," I replied. "Do you have any suspects yet?"
"You know I can't tell you—"
"You don't have to tell me who they are, just if you have any," I interrupted.
Christopher pressed his lips together. "We are currently questioning two women who are helping us in our enquiries," he told me.
I smiled. "I'm not a journalist. You don't have to talk like that."
Christopher sighed. "Just used to it, I guess."
"So, it's Adrianna and Lola then," I said quickly, trying to catch him off guard.
It worked. He didn't say anything, but I saw a slight flicker of alarm in his eyes. He quickly replied, "I didn't say that."
"But who else would the two women be?" I asked.
"There are plenty of women in this town, in case you haven't noticed," Christopher pointed out.
"But even to me," I said, "they seem like the obvious choice, don't you think?"
Christopher frowned. "I think you should not try to solve this yourself, Ellie, and leave it to us."
"Actually, that's exactly what I was telling myself before I came here," I said truthfully. "Don't worry. I'm not trying to solve it. I read too many stories where people end up in huge trouble if they get involved."

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7733/1604kw.jpg

Christopher seemed to relax, and gave me a half-smile. "That's good."
"Found the murder weapon yet?"
"Ellie…"
"Just asking."
Christopher looked tense now. "Well, I'm not answering," he replied sternly, just as a voice crackled over his radio: "Still no sign of the murder weapon, Chris. We've searched the grounds and the house, inside and out."
Christopher sighed, glaring at me. I just smiled back at him as he responded to the voice on the radio.
When he'd finished speaking, he sighed. "I have to get back to the investigations," he told me. "I strongly suggest you go home."
I nodded. "OK. I'll do that."
Christopher nodded. "Good."
He started walking away. I was struck by a sudden thought.
"Hey, Christopher?" I called.
He sighed, turned around. "What is it, Ellie?"
"Who's going to run the shop now?"
He shrugged. "It will belong to whoever he says it belongs to in his will."
"Do you know—"
"Not yet. Goodbye, Ellie."

em90

30th Mar 2010, 10:27 AM

A pretty short chapter this time - I'll try to update again within the next couple of days or so.

Once again, thanks for reading everyone (and thank you, KyleTheArtist, for rating :))

Lynet

30th Mar 2010, 12:41 PM

Really good scene. Really good pictures, too.

KyleTheArtist

31st Mar 2010, 09:28 AM

Love the pictures :) take your time with the updates and I love how she is persistent XD

(btw, Anastasia is my full name XD)

em90

31st Mar 2010, 11:09 PM

Ahahahaha, randomly logged on this morning an everything beist in ye olde English - including our stories! lol. The chapters with Tia's party art ye best.

Love ye pictures :) take thine time with ye updates an I love howe she beist persistent XD

(btw, Anastasia beist mine full name XD)

Oh really? :) Do thee look anything like this?

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1078/anastasia.jpg (http://img175.imageshack.us/i/anastasia.jpg/)

And art thee a vampire? :D

KyleTheArtist

1st Apr 2010, 02:49 AM

I adore not Sparklin' vampires and you can see how I look here (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3116528#post3116528)

I guess close enough :)

dizzysommer

2nd Apr 2010, 12:20 PM

This is a pretty Epic story. Definitely and instant fave. =D

em90

3rd Apr 2010, 06:53 AM

I couldn't sleep that night, even though I felt exhausted. My thoughts were still in turmoil, mulling over the events of the past two days. I still thought that maybe I was in the middle of a really bad dream, and that one day I'd wake up, and Lou would be there in his shop, selling coffee and handing me the books I'd ordered, and we wouldn't have the possibility of a killer in our midst.
I felt my stomach rumbling. I'd eaten dinner, but sometimes I grew hungry during the night if I wasn't asleep. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at all if I had a grumbling stomach.
I heaved myself out of bed, quietly opened my door, and started walking quietly down the hallway to the stairs. I noticed the door to my parents' room was slightly ajar – they usually closed it at night. Maybe someone got up to go to the bathroom, I thought.
I made my way downstairs, intending to go to the fridge and get a glass of milk to drink, but I heard low voices and stopped. I glanced around, and saw light peeking out from under the door to my mum's lab.
I frowned. What would Mum be doing at this time of night? Surely she wouldn't be working this late?
I heard another voice – a male voice – that I thought I recognised, but I couldn't be sure. Then I sighed, figuring it was none of my business, really, and continued on to the kitchen.

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Once my stomach was satisfied, I went to head back upstairs, but stopped. My curiosity was really getting to me, especially when I heard a muffled thump coming from inside the lab. Mum definitely wasn't working on her plants.
I quietly turned the doorknob, opened the door, and looked inside.
The first thing I noticed was the shocked expressions on their faces: Mum was there, with Edward Guildenstern, and both of them looked stunned at the interruption.
The second thing I noticed was Lou's body on a mat on the floor.
And that's when something snapped, and I started to scream.

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My eyes locked on the dead alien lying there on the floor, and I couldn't look away. I just kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming. I thought I'd never stop.
Mum flew over and started trying to calm me down, pushing me out of the door, but I just screamed more and fought her away.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" I screeched. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!"
Lights went on upstairs. Mum kept trying to shush me and push me out of the lab, but I hit her away.
"Ellie!" she yelled in my face. "Stop screaming! Calm down!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HIM? LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I screamed at her, still fighting. She looked over her shoulder at Edward, and she yelled something to him, and before I knew it, Mum had moved aside and Edward was swiftly moving towards me. He grabbed by arms and held them in his vampire grip, and gently but firmly dragged me away into the lounge room.
He tried to get me to sit on one of the chairs, but I refused, and I remained standing as I faced him. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" I screamed, on the verge of hysterical tears.

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Edward held up his hands, trying to placate me. "Ellie, I need you to calm down before you wake the whole neighbourhood," he said quietly.
"WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN?" I shrieked. "I COME DOWNSTAIRS AND THERE'S LOU'S BODY ON THE FLOOR—"
"Ellie, be quiet!" Edward barked, and I stopped screaming, the words abruptly cut off in my throat. I knew I was being irrational, but I just stared at him, eyes nearly popping out of my head, my heart racing, not knowing what to think…
"It's obviously a misunderstanding," Edward explained.
"SOME BLOODY MISUNDERSTANDING!" I yelled.
"Do you want me to give you a sedative?" Edward snapped, and I stopped again. He rubbed his forehead, brow furrowed. Then he sighed.
"If you'll just listen for a moment, I can explain," Edward said. "But if you're going to keep screaming at me, I won't be able to get a word in, and I might have to give you a sedative anyway, whether you like it or not. Now. Are you going to calm down?"
Furious, I nodded. Edward sat down on the couch, and suggested I do the same, but I refused again.
He sighed. "I assume you're thinking that your mother and I had something to do with killing Lou," he began.
I laughed humourlessly. "No, of course not," I said, my voice cracking weirdly. "What on Earth would make me think that? Just the sight of Lou's body lying on the floor of my mum's lab in my own bloody house, with you two bending over—"
"What did I tell you about staying quiet?" Edward growled. "Just listen, will you?"
I shut up, just as Dad wandered down the stairs in his pyjamas.
"Hello, Edward," he said sleepily. "Is everything OK?"

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Edward smiled fleetingly. "It's all under control," he said. "Ellie just saw what we were doing and freaked out, but I'm explaining everything now. Make sure Adam doesn't—"
"He's still asleep," Dad said. "Amazing. He could sleep through an atomic bomb. Anyway, give us a call if you need anything, alright?"
"Thanks, Andrew," Edward replied, sounding tired. My Dad nodded, looked at me in concern, and went back upstairs to bed.
"He's in on this, too?" I exclaimed, my voice still wavering wildly.
"Technically, he is 'in on' what we're doing," Edward said, sounding vaguely annoyed. "But what we're doing isn't bad."
For once, I stayed quiet. Edward looked at me, surprised, then continued.
"It's simple, really. Basically, Lou has stated in his will that when he died, he wanted to donate his body to science, so humans can understand what aliens are really like. Since that's what he wanted, we're honouring that wish. Now, with this murder case, we're doing everything we can to stop the media finding out about it. Imagine what would happen to our community if trucks full of journalists and TV crew and newspaper reporters turned up one day. Not only would they get to report a murder in a small community, they would find out that the victim was an alien. Also, think of everyone else they'd find! All of us living here are in this isolated little place for a reason. The media could find out about Christopher. Imagine the sensation that would be caused if they found out he was a werewolf! He'd almost certainly lose his job. Then there's the chance they could expose the Desslers and compromise their witness protection status. They could find out that the famous Minks were living here, and then we'd be covered in hordes of paparazzi, which is exactly what they came here to avoid. Not to mention, of course, the family of vampires living in that big place on the hill, or the fourteen-year-old zombie shuffling around. Just one inquisitive journalist could completely destroy our lives here."
Edward paused to draw breath and rub his forehead again. I waited for him to continue, wondering what all this had to do with Lou's body lying on my mother's laboratory floor.
"All of the investigators on the case have signed a contract – Christopher's idea - stating that they won't discuss it outside of Solitaria. I'm performing the post-mortem on Lou's body rather than sending him into the city morgue, which would definitely cause a sensation. Then, it's up to your mother to arrange the secure delivery of his body from here to a CSIRO research building. Since she has the only fully equipped scientific laboratory in Solitaria, we're storing his body here for a few days while we wait for all the paperwork and transfer details to be finalised. When you came in and saw us there, that's what we were discussing. It's nothing underhanded, and we definitely didn't kill him, Ellie."
I wasn't sure how to respond to this. It was all too much to handle, I thought.
Edward seemed to realise this, and stood up. "I think you should go back to bed," he suggested. "Get some sleep. It's been a stressful time for all of us, and staying up won't do you any good in the end."
The door to the lab opened and closed, and my mum came out, looking at me in a mixture of concern and frustration. "What are you doing up at this time of night, anyway, Ellie?" she asked crossly.

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"I was hungry," I said. "Couldn't sleep. I was getting some milk."
She sighed. "Well, in future, don't come barrelling into my lab for no good reason, OK?"
I felt annoyed. "I wasn't barrelling—"
"You entered without knocking, in any case," Mum said. "There's a reason the door was closed. You're not to tell anyone about this, OK? The less people who know, the better. Some of them might not understand…"
"No kidding," I murmured. I noticed Mum and Edward exchange a glance, and the corners of Mum's mouth twitched.
"It seems she's back to normal," Mum commented.
Edward nodded. "I told her what's going on. I think she understands…do you, Ellie?"
I nodded sleepily. "Yeah."
Mum sighed. "Go back to bed," she said tiredly.
"Yeah. See you in the morning," I said.
I trudged back upstairs, my mind still spinning. What kind of a crazy world did I live in? Aliens, werewolves, vampires, zombies…all I needed to find now was Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Maybe a unicorn and a dragon, too.
I walked down the hallway to my room – Adam was still asleep – and got into my bed again. I fell asleep almost immediately.

em90

3rd Apr 2010, 06:56 AM

I adore not Sparklin' vampires and you can see how I look here (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3116528#post3116528)

I guess close enough :)

Haha, I just thought it would be an insane coincidence if you happened to look exactly like the Anastasia in my story :) Life imitating Sims!

This is a pretty Epic story. Definitely and instant fave. =D

Aw, thank you!

To be honest though - there actually aren't too many more chapters to go now :( When I was writing it, it seemed awfully long, but now that I'm uploading it, it seems kind of short compared to a lot of the other stories on here.

dizzysommer

3rd Apr 2010, 07:43 AM

To be honest though - there actually aren't too many more chapters to go now :( When I was writing it, it seemed awfully long, but now that I'm uploading it, it seems kind of short compared to a lot of the other stories on here.

Well, so far your story is the only one I've gotten past chapter three on. I was hooked by the first few paragraphs. xD So, even if it's ending soon, I'm sure the ending will be very satisfying and awesome.

Lynet

3rd Apr 2010, 12:50 PM

Very exciting. Poor Ellie. What a shock. Her mom should have locked the door to the lab, what with kids in the house and all. Tsk, tsk... But scientists are often absent-minded.

KyleTheArtist

5th Apr 2010, 09:15 AM

I want a unicorn D8

great update :) For some reason made me think of Doom3.

el_flel

5th Apr 2010, 09:06 PM

Haven't commented on the last few, but they have been great! What a twist, it's so sad :(

em90

8th Apr 2010, 08:31 AM

I slept in the following morning til eleven. I still wasn't up to doing schoolwork, so I spent the afternoon sitting in my room, either on my computer or reading, as usual. Mum came in once or twice to check up on me and chat, and Adam came in at one point, wanting to know some MySpace layout codes that I'd deleted. Other than that, I was still trying to process the events of the past few days. I felt incredibly fatigued, worn out, deflated. I guess crying and screaming at your mother does that to you.
Eventually, it was time for us to meet at the hall once again, even though I know none of us would be discussing schoolwork. I turned up at the hall at the same time as Tamara. She looked as tired as I felt, even though normally she was full of energy.

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"Hey, Tamara," I greeted her, offering a small smile, which she returned.
"Hi, Ellie," she said. "How are you going?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, same as a lot of us, I'm guessing."
Tamara nodded. "Mum actually started crying when she discovered we were out of bread today. I think it's starting to hit her, that Lou won't be the one behind the counter any more."
I nodded. "Yeah."
We went inside, and I was about to turn to the right to go into the youth room as usual, but heard soft voices coming from the general room. I backtracked, and looked inside to find everyone else was already there, sitting on the couches.
Amelia looked up and waved to me and Tamara. "We thought we'd sit in here today," she said as we entered and looked for spare seats. There was only one left, which Tamara took, while I ended up grabbing a chair from the chess table and adding it to the circle.

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Everyone went sort of quiet, except for the occasional sigh or cough. Amelia spoke up, "I thought it would be a good idea if we all talked about what's happened. You know, like – like group therapy or whatever. We're all going to end up talking about it anyway, so I thought, well, while we're all here…we may as well…well…you know…talk." She trailed off, shrugging. It was unusual for Amelia to be lost for words.
She looked around the circle, willing someone to start, but no one wanted to be the first to talk. She looked, rather desperately, over at me.
I sighed. "I'll start," I volunteered. I picked a spot on the floor to talk to, since I didn't know who to look at while I spoke. Studying a design on the rug carefully, I said "Well, I was in the bathroom when everyone else heard the news, so I didn't quite get the full impact that everyone else did. But I do remember hearing Victoria." A few people nodded sympathetically, and I noticed Anastasia looked like she was about to cry. "That sound is one I'll remember, I think, for a very long time. Probably forever. It was just, that…you know. That scream. I think if someone could put the feelings of pain into one sound, that would be it. And then I finally came out, and Amelia came over and told me, and I could see Victoria crying, and Amelia told me she—"
I stopped suddenly, looking at Anastasia. "Does everyone know?" I asked quickly. She nodded.
"OK. Um…yeah. And then I found out she was pregnant, and it was just…everything at once. I couldn't believe it. All those clichés about wanting to wake up from a bad dream – they're all true. It was kind of surreal. And then to top it all off, some stuff happened last night. I can't really talk about it, but…it was pretty bad. Just, like, driving the nail in more and more, sort of thing."
I drew a shaky breath. "The thing that really struck me was hearing how it happened. How someone had taken the life of such a good, decent, kind person by firing a bullet into their body. How could someone do that?"
I let the rhetorical question hang as I sat back, indicating that I'd finished speaking, and was waiting for someone else to start.
"You wouldn't believe how it's affected my sister," Anastasia said abruptly, voice thick. "I've never seen her hurt so much. And it's hurting all of us, because we all saw how happy she was when she was with Lou. And now, she's like an empty shell. She's listless, and just spends all night sitting around, staring into space…she just randomly keeps bursting into tears for no reason. Dad's tried talking to her, but she doesn't listen. It's as though she's in a coma, or something…she even goes to sleep early, and gets up late. She used to be one of my best friends." The Guildenstern family had always been really tight-knit, and it was hard to imagine how they must be feeling now. "Now, she's…she's just not herself. Lou's died and taken half of Victoria with him."
She spoke this last sentence in the croaking, choking tone of someone about to burst into tears – which she did. Oswald put an arm around her shoulders.
We waited for someone else to talk. I was surprised when Tia, of all people, started speaking.

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"He was a really good guy," she said. "I didn't always think that, but. Sometimes I thought he was just a killjoy. He found me and Jake in one of his change rooms once, and he looked all, like, disappointed. He said something about being too young, and to be careful and stuff. I just kind of went off at him, at the time. I thought he was just spoiling our fun. But now I can see he was looking out for me. Trying to protect me from stuff. I never saw that while he was alive, but now…I feel really guilty."
"I'm sure he understood," Amelia murmured.
Tia looked over at her in surprise. "What, so you're talking to me now?" she said bitterly.
Amelia looked straight at her. "I hardly think it's time to still be holding a grudge, when something so bad that affects all of us has happened," she said quietly. Tia just bit her lip and looked away, but I think she was grateful for it.
We continued sharing our experiences and memories with each other. Almost everyone had said something except for Mystery, Artemis and Hannah (although we all understood why she couldn't say much.)
Mystery opened her mouth and spoke. "If I smile and don't believe, soon I know I'll wake from this dream," she began. I steeled myself for a barrage of quotes, knowing that there would probably be many she could choose from, but she astounded us all when she kept speaking.
Normally.

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"I didn't really know Lou all that well," she said, and we all gasped, knowing that there couldn't possibly be an Evanescence song with those lyrics. "I didn't go out of the house much. Except to come here. But I met him a few times, and he was really nice. I liked that. He didn't make fun of the way I spoke, or the way I dressed. He just accepted me for who I am."
Hannah made a noise in her throat at that point. We looked over to see her nodding slowly.
Mystery continued. "I was surprised to find out how much his death affected me. I was so depressed, and I thought I wouldn't be affected, because I spend so much time in my room with my music. But yeah. It surprised me. And I thought, if I react like this to someone I don't know all that well, how will I react when someone close to me dies?"
She shrugged. "I used to think death was cool. I thought I felt a connection with it. But now I see it was all a lie. I had a long chat with Artemis, and we've both decided to change. Death and sadness isn't fashionable any more. It's real, and it's ugly and awful and not at all cool."
Artemis nodded. "We're going to change."
Amelia looked astonished. "That's great," she said weakly. "Really."
Artemis looked at her. "Sorry for being so depressed all the time," he said quietly. "I'm not sure if it's affected how you're coping with…this…"
Amelia shook her head. "No," she said, smiling. She paused. "But it would really help if you took some actual lessons in playing the guitar."
Artemis smiled – an actual smile! I saw his teeth!—and nodded. "Yeah."
We all went quiet after that. I felt a little relieved, like I'd gotten something off my chest, but the feeling of tiredness still hung over me like a heavy cloud. Everyone else seemed to feel the same: sitting quietly, staring at the floor, thinking.
"Who's going to be running the store now?" Tamara asked quietly, of no one in particular.
Oswald answered. "Lou left it to Victoria in his will," he said, "but I still don't know what she's going to do."
Amelia bit her lip. "Look, I am fully aware of how she feels, and how she has to have time to grieve," she said gently. "But life has to go on, and people need to buy things from that store. Can you get through to her at all?"
Oswald nodded. "I can try."
"Why doesn't she let Lola and Adrianna run things for a while?" Adam suggested.
"I don't see why not," Amelia said. "They're still living there, after all."
Julian said, "I'm walking back that way after this, I can ask them."
"Isn't it still a crime scene?" I said.
"Not the top floor," Julian replied. "And anyway, even if it is still fenced off, I'll just yell." He caught my eye and smiled.
I smiled.
Tamara yawned and sighed. "I'm knackered," she announced. "I'm going to go home and get some rest, OK? Thanks, everyone."
We all murmured goodbye as she got up. I stood to move my chair out of the way, and soon all of us were standing up, saying our goodbyes and preparing to go home. Amelia came over and gave me another hug.

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"What was it you couldn't talk about?" she asked me seriously. "You can tell me."
"No, I can't," I said, shaking my head. "I'm sorry. It's nothing against you. It's…it's something I swore to someone else that I wouldn't say."
She nodded slowly. "That's alright," she said. "Want me to drive you home? I brought the car."
I smiled gratefully. "Thanks," I said, accepting her offer and leaving the hall.

em90

8th Apr 2010, 09:09 AM

Part 18 is basically the last of the mild and unexciting 'I-can't-believe-Lou's-dead' chapters - things pick up considerably in the next chapter, so stay tuned! ;)

Very exciting. Poor Ellie. What a shock. Her mom should have locked the door to the lab, what with kids in the house and all. Tsk, tsk... But scientists are often absent-minded.

Well, to be fair I don't think Ellie's mum really expected her daughter to be coming downstairs in the middle of the night, heh.

But yes, I can definitely relate to being absent-minded...I'm currently in my second year of a science degree, and if I didn't make lists all the time I'm pretty sure I'd forget a lot!

Lynet

8th Apr 2010, 12:40 PM

My father was a scientist. My mother was a poet (a few things published locally but not anything you'd find on Amazon.com, LOL.) Yup, absent-minded is my middle name. :D

Part 18 is a very moving chapter. I liked it and can't wait to find out who killed Lou. I just can't imagine who or why. It's a great mystery.

dizzysommer

8th Apr 2010, 09:15 PM

I'm on pins and needles! Who killed Lou? Was it the new girls? Some sicko passing through town randomly?

And when do things between Ellie and Julian heat up??

Ugh I can't wait! lol

em90

11th Apr 2010, 07:18 AM

I'm on pins and needles! Who killed Lou? Was it the new girls? Some sicko passing through town randomly?

And when do things between Ellie and Julian heat up??

Ugh I can't wait! lol
All will be revealed ;)

In the meantime, to everyone else - if I wrote a sequel to Solitaria (there aren't too many chapters left), what would you want to be in it? Any characters you want to read/know more about, stuff you think would be cool to happen, etc? I'm in the process of planning it out at the moment, will probably start writing it in June (after this semester's exams are over), and am definitely open to some feedback regarding what people would actually want to read. :) I won't necessarily use all the suggestions, but I could try and work in a couple.
For starters, I'm going to feature some of the adults of Solitaria a bit more, rather than focussing mostly on the teens like I did in this one. And of course there will be new characters as well as most of the current ones, and new problems, and new mystery. Yay!

em90

14th Apr 2010, 05:16 AM

I'd just walked through the door to my room, when my mobile started ringing. I took it out of my pocket to check who it was: No Caller ID.
"OK, No Caller," I muttered. "Who are you?"
I answered the phone. "Hello?"

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"Ellie," said the voice on the other end. It sounded very quiet – I turned the speaker volume up. "It's me, Julian."
I was surprised. "Uh, hi, Julian," I said. "How'd you get my number?"
"I, uh, got it off Amelia a little while ago," he said. "Anyway, I've got a bit of a problem."
Julian was calling me about a problem? "Why are you calling me?"
"You were the first person I thought of," he explained quickly. It was then I noticed he was deliberately speaking quietly, and I felt a little worried. "Listen, I—I just found the gun."
My heart thumped. "What gun?"
"The gun! The gun that killed Lou! And—"
"Where?" I asked quickly.
"Um, in their car - Lola and Adrianna's -"
"Have you called Chris?" I demanded.
"I can't!" Julian protested, his voice beginning to rise. "It's a full moon!"
I swore, and rubbed my head with my free hand. This was all happening too quickly. "OK, um…oh, god, are you touching it!?" I panicked, my own voice rising dangerously.

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"What? What's wrong?"
"Are you—"
"Yeah, I'm holding it by the—"
"Put it down!" I cried hysterically.
Julian sounded affronted. "I'm not stupid, I'm not going to shoot myself—"
"It'll have your fingerprints all over it!"
"Ah—" Julian broke off suddenly, alarmed. There was a pause. "OK, I put it back."
"That's good," I said.
"Should I try to wipe my fingerprints off?" Julian asked doubtfully.
"No!" I said quickly. "Um, no. Just leave it there and we'll tell Chris that you found it, and you had to pick it up to check what it was…and that's not even lying or anything—hey, how did you find it?"
"I was going to Lou's place, like I said," he said, "to talk to Adrianna and Lola, you know. I was walking past, and I saw the boot was open on their car, and there was all this stuff inside - suitcases and boxes and stuff - and I was just curious, you know, why was it like that? So I, I looked and on top of all the stuff, there was a gun, just lying there, and I thought, well, it must be it… So I called you. I think they did it."
"Who, Adrianna and Lola?" I asked. "Wouldn't surprise me."
"Yeah. Hey, um—"
His voice cut off sharply. My heart started to race again.
"Julian?" I said, my voice cracking. "Hello?"
I heard heavy breathing, but nothing more. I tried again. "Julian!?"
A very soft 'shh' came through the line. I paused, then whispered "What's going on?"
"A light just came on upstairs," he whispered softly. I heard him inhale.
"Who's there?" I whispered. "Do you know who—"
"It's Lola, I just saw her face," Julian whispered. "I have to get out of here."
"Can you do that without being seen, though?" I whispered, then checked myself. "God, move!" I hissed.
"I—I don't know if I can!" Julian whispered, sounding terrified. "It's the full moon, there's plenty of light, and—and they'll see me! And they'll know it's me because of the mask—"
"Take the mask off!"
"They'll still see me walking off! I'm next to the shrub thing near the—"
His voice broke off again. I nearly started crying. "Julian!"
"Oh god, they saw me," Julian hissed sharply.
"What!?" I nearly screeched.

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"Shh! Lola – she was looking out the window, and—and she stopped, and then turned and—oh my god, I have to run!"
There were some sharp, scrabbling sounds on the other end of the line, accompanied by sudden rapid breathing. Meanwhile, I was clutching the phone in terror, with my other hand in my hair.
"Where are you going?" I asked urgently.
Breathing. Then—"The hall."
"I'll meet you there," I said.
"No, Ellie, don't—"
"I'll bring help!" I promised rashly. "Bye!"
"Ellie—!"
I snapped my phone shut, grabbed my jacket, and flew out the door.
As I ran, I quickly scrolled through the contacts stored in my phone, searching for the one person I was absolutely sure would try to help us. I found the name, and hit 'call'.

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Still running, I pressed the phone to my ear, waiting desperately to hear the ringing on the other end. It started - one ring - two rings - three...
"Come on!" I hissed pointlessly. "Pick up!"
...four rings...five rings...six...
I was getting closer and closer to the hall.
...seven rings...eight...
With a strangled cry of frustration, I stopped the call, and instead tried another contact.
The ringing started again: one ring...two rings...three rings...four...
I swore. "Do none of you ever answer your mobiles!?" I growled.
Five...six...seven...
No answer. I ended the call. By that time, I'd arrived, breathless and sweating, at the hall. Usually, it's a five minute walk. I made it in two.
It seemed incredibly dark. I knew it was night time, and that was one of the primary reasons it was dark, since the sun wasn't actually in the sky. But it seemed even more dark than usual, despite the glare of the moon up above.
I looked around, searching for Julian, while rapidly flipping through my contacts in my phone again in a last-ditch effort to reach someone.
"Julian?" I hissed softly. Since calling for help hadn't worked, I stood next to the big tree and quickly started texting. It didn't take me too long to tap out the required message, which I sent, and then stuffed my phone in my pocket to resume my search.
I kept searching around the hall. Something was nagging at me, though.
The dark…
"Julian?" I breathed, looking all around me.
Why so dark?
I rounded the corner to the back entrance.
The hall always has a light on in case of an emergency…
My eyes caught sight of the smashed back light a few seconds before my brain made the connection. But by then, something hit me hard in the face, my head snapped backwards with a blinding pain, and the darkness consumed me completely.

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KyleTheArtist

14th Apr 2010, 06:03 AM

OMG nuuu!

So dramatic! and a cliff hanger...Oh you!

Lynet

14th Apr 2010, 12:04 PM

Very suspenseful and exciting. The phone conversation to build suspense was really great. I hope someone got her text message and gets there fast. And the next question is, why would these two kill Lou?

LovethMia

14th Apr 2010, 11:57 PM

Aww boo cliff-hanger!! ;_; Please post more - I must know what happens! Did they kill Julian?!? I have to know! D= Lol Great story.

dizzysommer

16th Apr 2010, 03:07 AM

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. This chapter made me short of breath and slightly jittery. I MUST know what happens!!!!

em90

17th Apr 2010, 03:20 AM

The first thing my hazy vision was able to focus on was writing scribbled imaginatively in black crayon on the ceiling.

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I groaned, and shut my eyes again. "I'm going to kill Jenny," I mumbled nonsensically.
"Good luck," said a voice, and I immediately tried to sit up.
That was a bad idea. My head screamed at me to stop and it span nauseatingly, prompting me to lie back down on the floor. "Ah…Julian?"
"Guilty as charged," he replied, sighing.
I waited for the crazy spinning to cease, and concentrated on Jenny's claim to fame on the ceiling. "I'm going to have a phobia of this storeroom soon," I mumbled.
"It seems to be a negative kind of place," Julian admitted. A pained sigh. "I am so, so sorry."
"Julian, don't be an idiot," I said, irritated with him. "It's not your fault. I was the one who came out to help you—"
"I was the one who called you in the first place," he countered. "There's plenty of other people I could have called."
"Well, if you want to play the blame game, blame Lola and her buddy." I paused. "Where are they, by the way?"
"They're getting their stuff," Julian said hollowly. "Apparently they were in the middle of packing when they saw me out the window. They were about to take off, but according to them, they had to deal with me first."
I swallowed. "And when they're finished packing?"
Julian inhaled and exhaled noisily. "They come here, pick us up—"
"But according to you they have no upper body strength, remember?" I interrupted.
Julian was stumped for a moment, then made a short sound that could have been a laugh or a noise of impatience. "Well, they moved you in here pretty quickly. Anyway, they take us away and…well, I guess they shut us up."
My heart started to pound, and so did my head. Valiantly, I made another effort to sit up. My head wasn't happy, but it didn't protest as much as last time, and I managed to prop myself up against one of the walls.
Julian was sitting in a corner, his mask still on, but I noticed a trickle of blood coming out of his swollen nose. I tried not to think about how my own face must look.

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"Did they knock you out, too?" I asked.
"No," he replied, reaching up to wipe away the blood. "I ran round the back of the hall, and then they both ran around, coming from both sides, cutting me off. They're really fast runners," he added. "Anyway, Lola had picked up the gun on her way out, and she wanted to know who I'd been talking to on the phone. I wouldn't tell her, though, so she punched me in the face, then grabbed my arm and dragged me in here. Then she shut the door, locked it, and went out to wait for whoever was coming."
"Is it broken?" I asked, wincing.
"No, I don't think so," he said. "I can pinch it between my fingers and it's still in one piece. It's just very sore."
"How long have I been out?" I asked.
"A few minutes," he said.
"I wonder how long it takes them to pack," I said, worried.
He looked me in the eye. "We should really get out of here."
"Oh, really?" I responded. "I was thinking we could just stay here passively until they come back to kill us."
Julian raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head suddenly, as though he'd remembered something. "Didn't you say something about getting help?"
"That all depends on whether our helper checks her text messages," I said.
Julian looked at me incredulously. "You sent a text message?"
I frowned. "I tried calling people while I was running here, but I got no answer," I explained, a little annoyed. "And I couldn't stand there chatting away while I was trying to find you." I sighed. "I'm guessing they took our phones?"
Julian nodded as he stood up and started to survey the storeroom. He gradually turned in a circle, looking around, trying to find a way out.
I sighed, and carefully stood up. I held on to the book shelf until my head stopped spinning, then said, "Julian, do you ever watch action movies?"
"Not usually," he replied.
"Have you ever read any books in the Worst Case Scenarios series?" I asked, examining the store room door and lock.
"Can't say I have." He paused. "Have you?"
"Excellent books," I replied, stepping back from the door. "Especially the sections on escapes. Because you never know when you might need to break down an interior door."
I pivoted on my foot, then aimed one of my best power-kicks at the lock area of the door. I missed the spot I was aiming for, and ended up kicking somewhere under the doorknob. The door clattered and juddered, but didn't move.
"Hang on," I said to Julian, and tried re-adjusting my stance. I aimed another strong kick, a little higher and more to the right. This time, I hit the door squarely near the locking mechanism. It clattered loudly, rattling in its frame, but still didn't budge.

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"Getting there," I said confidently, letting fly with another hefty kick, followed closely by another. My leg was starting to ache.
The door didn't budge. Julian was just looking at me, massaging his neck and waiting for the miraculous splintering of wood that was meant to follow all the kicking.
"OK, um," I panted, looking at the door again. "That didn't work."
"Not really, no," Julian agreed.
I looked carefully at the lock, and the hinges, trying to find its weak spot.
The hinges interested me. "I know there's a hammer in here," I began, still looking at the hinges. "But is there something thinner than these hinge pins? Something metal?"
"Uh…" Julian hesitated, then started rummaging around in the cupboard devoted to tools for general maintenance of the building and grounds. There was a lot of clattering as he searched, and I checked my watch. We'd been shut in here for nearly ten minutes. I figured Lola and Adrianna wouldn't really be too keen on leaving us to our own devices for too long.
"Hammer!" Julian announced, tossing it lightly onto the floor near me, where it landed on the wooden floor with a heavy thunk. I picked it up, feeling the weight in my hand, and kept studying the hinges as Julian kept clattering.
The clattering stopped. "What about a screwdriver?" he suggested.
"How thin is it?"
Julian handed me a screwdriver with a good wooden handle and an end which looked like a plus sign. I held it underneath the hinge pin.
"It'll do," I said. "Now, I will try very hard not to hit your hand, but can you just hold this screwdriver in place for me?"
Julian held it, looking nervous. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said.
"That's the spirit," I said, striking the screwdriver as hard as I could with the hammer. I was immensely satisfied to see the hinge pin jolt upwards.
"Progress," I grinned, giving the screwdriver another hard tap with the hammer. The hinge pin moved again. After several more strikes, it popped out the top of the hinge, landing on the floor with a clink.
"Now the bottom one," I said, and Julian crouched down, positioning the screwdriver under the bottom hinge. There was less room for me to swing the hammer to hit it, so it took a bit longer than the top hinge pin. When the top part of the pin was sufficiently out of the hinge, I used the other claw-like end of the hammer to pull it out.
"OK," I said, satisfied. "Now, we lift the door away from the frame…"
Julian took one side, I took the side with the doorknob. Together, we managed to shift the door out of the frame, and propped it up against the bookcase.
"Freedom!" I said, looking out at the youth room of the community hall. I'd never been so happy to see it before in my life.
"Grab the hammer," I suggested, "we might need it."
"For what?" Julian asked, following me out of the storeroom towards the front door of the hall.
"For breaking things," I said, striding quickly towards the door and opening it. It swung open with a loud creak, and I hesitantly stepped outside.

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"Run?" Julian suggested.
I shook my head. "They might see us, and where would we run to, anyway?"
"Our homes?" Julian said, as though I was stupid.
"They know who we are, Julian," I pointed out. "They'd probably come to our houses to find us."
"And shoot everyone inside just to get to us? I doubt it," he said.
"Julian, in your case, they'd only have to shoot one other person before you," I said. He bit his lip.
"We could go to the Guildensterns," he suggested. "They'd be awake, and there's plenty of them, and they're vampires. They'd protect us."
"Good point," I said. "But we'd have to run a long way up the—"
"Look!" Julian hissed, grabbing my arm and pointing towards Lou's shop. To my horror, I saw the lights on the top storey go out, and heard someone start the car.
"I guess," I said, ducking back inside the hall, pulling Julian with me and shutting the door, "they're coming for us."
"No kidding," Julian hissed, as we heard the car drive closer to the hall. It sounded menacing.
"OK," I said quickly. "The Guildensterns are out of the question, because Lola and Adrianna would chase us in their car and shoot us before we could get there. So, now I think our best bet is to…" I bit my lip, thinking.
"They're coming," Julian whispered, and we heard the car pull up outside the hall.
"OK, um…wait and see which door they go for," I said. "If they come to the front door, we go out the back. If they go for the back door, we run out the front. Still got your hammer?"
"Uh, yeah," Julian said, a bit taken aback.
"Good. You might need to swing it."

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I looked through the stained glass window set into the front door, staying still so they wouldn't see a moving shape behind the glass. I could just make out two blobs moving towards the hall, then moving away from the front door, heading around the back…
"Be really, really quiet," I hissed to Julian, as I carefully swung open the front door.
It creaked noisily.
I winced, hoping against hope that the two killers didn't hear it, and motioned for Julian to follow me out the door. We crept out like thieves, and I instinctively headed for the nearest building: Lou's shop.
It was situated relatively close to the hall. Lou's old sedan was still parked around the side, with leaf litter starting to collect on the windscreen.
"We could smash a window and hide in there," I whispered, pointing to Lou's shop.
"There's a phone in there, too," Julian pointed out.
"Even better," I said, already scurrying for the shop. "Let's go. Break a back window, hammer boy."
"'Hammer boy'?" Julian grunted, as we hurried around to the back entrance. I pointed to a window next to the back door, and Julian hit it with the hammer, shattering it instantly.
I carefully knocked away the shards of broken glass and reached in through the window to unlock the door from the inside. Fortunately, since everyone was mostly trusting in Solitaria, Lou hadn't felt the need to get a very sophisticated lock on his back door. Instead, it was a simple case of flicking a latch and twisting the knob from the inside.
The door swung open, and we rushed inside, trying not to step on the freshly broken glass or to think about what had happened here a few days ago. Evidence of the forensic investigation team was everywhere and there was a strange smell in the room. Most chillingly of all, a large bloodstain adorned part of the floor near the counter.
"My god," I whispered.
"Phone," Julian pointed out, indicating a phone on the wall behind the counter. "Who should I call?"
"Any of the Guildensterns," I whispered. "They're strong, and can fly here quickly—"
"What's the number?" Julian whispered, holding the phone.

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I gaped at him, suddenly realising how much I'd come to rely on my stored contacts in my mobile phone. "Crap, I don't know," I whispered.
"Well, I don't know either!" Julian hissed in frustration.
I started rummaging through the drawers in the counter. "Maybe he's got his mobile somewhere, or a list of numbers, or even a phone book…"
"Um, Ellie?" Julian said, in a tone that I didn't like. "Their little red car's starting up again, and I think it's headed this way."
"Crap," I muttered, still frantically searching. As I rifled through one of the drawers, my hands closed around a large bunch of keys, with a remote car-door opener attached.
"Keys!" I exclaimed, holding them up.
"Correct!" Julian said sarcastically.
"We'll take Lou's car and drive to the Eridessa police station!"
Julian stared at me. "That will take ages," he said. "Couldn't we drive to the Guildensterns?"
I shook my head. "Lola and Adrianna could shoot us on the doorstep," I said, already heading for the back door again. "Come on. Let me know if you think of a better plan."
The red car was indeed pulling up outside Lou's shop, stopping me as I was about to round the back corner. I peered carefully around the corner, watching Lola get out of the car, holding her gun and looking angry. Adrianna, meanwhile, stayed in the car at the wheel.
I ducked behind the corner, breathing heavily. If I was Lola, what would I do? I thought.

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I'd check round the back, a voice in my head answered, which would lead her right to where we are hiding.
"Go back inside," I hissed, pushing Julian along. We hurried quickly along the back veranda, into the back door, and I ran towards the front door.
"Locked!" I nearly cried out in frustration.
"You're the one with the keys!" Julian pointed out in an urgent undertone.
"Oh, yeah…" I quickly searched for the key which matched the lock…
Julian reached forward and flicked a latch, then turned the knob on the door. Miraculously, it swung open. Lou obviously wasn't very big on security - he'd genuinely trusted the people in the community he'd lived with.
"Move!" Julian cried. I was about to tell him to be quiet when the first bullet was fired over our heads, smashing the glass just above us in the door.

KyleTheArtist

17th Apr 2010, 07:12 AM

OOoh! Me likes the drama! Please continue, I don't want them killed D8

Lynet

17th Apr 2010, 01:43 PM

Very exciting! Reminds me of Nancy Drew, except better.

el_flel

17th Apr 2010, 08:48 PM

Oh my goodness em, vvv exciting! Eagerly awaiting more now!

dizzysommer

18th Apr 2010, 05:26 AM

I have to agree it's way better than Nancy Drew!

em90

21st Apr 2010, 06:51 AM

I wasn't worried about being quiet any more. I bolted, with Julian right behind me, through the front door, heading around to Lou's car. As I ran, I pressed the button on the car-door opener, and heard a satisfying 'bi-beep' as the car unlocked itself for us. I yanked open the door, hurled myself into the driver's seat, slammed it shut again and started to fumble with the set of keys as I heard more bullets thudding into the car. Julian tumbled into the passenger seat as I found the key for the ignition.
"Got it," I panted, giving it a sharp twist and hurriedly buckling up my seat belt as the car rumbled to life. Hoping against hope that Lou's car had automatic transmission, I looked down at the gearbox.
It was automatic.
"Thank God," I exclaimed as I threw the handbrake off and slammed the gearstick into reverse. A bullet whizzed through the back windscreen.
"Duck!" I yelled to Julian, and I gunned the accelerator. Out the corner of my eye I saw Lola dash away from the car as it sped towards her.
"Their car—" Julian managed to say. I was briefly able to glimpse the shiny red sportscar parked directly behind me before I turned the wheel slightly to the left. Without stopping, I rammed Adrianna and Lola's car out of my way with a noisy metallic thump, spinning it so that it fishtailed out onto the road.

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"What car?" I said.
I steered the car backwards out of Lou's short driveway, before throwing the gearstick back into drive and speeding off down the road with a screech of burning rubber.
As I looked in the rear vision mirror and saw Lola scrambling to climb into the passenger seat of their now-heavily-dented car, I couldn't help but grin at my heroic movie moment.
"I thought Amelia was the only one of us who could drive!" Julian panted, turning around in his seat to look behind us.
"Hey, I've got my L's," I said defensively, "and I've done about thirty hours. The only thing I'm bad at is reverse parking and merging into oncoming traffic."
"Well, you can definitely reverse," Julian said, "and you can definitely merge into traffic. Literally."
"Julian," I said. "You're starting to get my sense of humour."
He laughed. "No, I just have a different definition of 'merge'."
The road out of Solitaria to Eridessa was fairly straight, so I could go even faster than usual, since there were very few bends in the road. If we weren't in such a hurry, I would have been able to admire the pretty forest through which we drove. I knew at some point we would be driving parallel to a relatively straight part of the Fawkes River, but it was shielded by the tall trees and shrubbery, so I wasn't sure where it was.

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I think we were both feeling a bit too confident. I mean, I'd executed some astoundingly illegal and damage-inducing car manoeuvres without killing us all, we were speeding towards help and away from the bad guys (who were only just visible in the rear vision mirror), and the adrenaline combined with the speeding car was making me giddy with relief. I never even looked at any of the dials just behind the steering wheel. Not even the fuel gauge.
We'd been driving for about five minutes. Julian had informed me that Adrianna and Lola were very slowly gaining on us, but I'd figured that if I kept driving as fast as I could, we could outrun them - their car may have looked sporty, but ours had more power. That was until I saw a red light flashing on the instrument panel.
"What's that?" Julian asked, pointing to it.
"What?" I said, glancing quickly at where he was pointing while trying to keep my eyes on the road. When I saw what he was pointing to, though, I had to do a double take.
"No, no, no, no, no," I moaned as I caught sight of the flashing red 'EMPTY' light. "We can't have come this far only to run out of petrol!"
"Maybe the gauge is faulty," Julian said.
The engine cut out.
"I don't think it is," I said, a feeling of dread spreading through me.
The engine started up again quickly, and we were able to drive for about another thirty seconds before it cut out for a second time.
"We're screwed," Julian said, groaning. "And they're right on our tail."
I glanced in the mirror, and saw that they'd caught up while we were having engine troubles. They were now only about five car lengths away, and gaining fast.
The engine gave another valiant effort, starting up again promisingly, and it ran for another twenty seconds or so, until I felt the power steering cut out.
"Whoa!" I cried as the car veered towards a tree. I had to use all of my strength to wrench the steering wheel around and turn the car – and then the engine cut out again, for the last time.
"Oh, god," I whimpered, desperately pressing the accelerator, even though I knew it was of no use. The car's momentum carried us forward for a few more metres, before finally it ground to a depressing but stubborn halt. As a last-ditch effort, I tried starting the ignition again, but it refused to budge.

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Julian and I sat there panting, staring straight ahead at the road which would have led us to safety, if it wasn't for something as fundamentally simple as petrol. We knew there was no point in getting out of the car and running.
"There's a book I've read," I said, glancing in the rear view mirror. Lola and Adrianna's car had pulled up right behind ours, and I saw both of them get out and start walking towards us. "The hero keeps saying that as long as you stay alive, you have a chance of survival."
"It doesn't take a genius to work that out," Julian pointed out, just as my car door was suddenly yanked open. A hand reached in and grabbed my upper arm in a bruising pincer-like grip, before I felt cold metal touch the side of my head.
"Get out," Lola snarled. She didn't leave me much choice, though, as she hauled on my arm so that I almost fell out of the car, stumbling as I tried to regain my balance. Lola didn't help the matter by hitting me hard on the side of my face with her free hand.
"You get out, too," she yelled to Julian, who hurriedly opened his door and clambered out, holding his hands up awkwardly.
Lola snorted. "Put your arms down and just come over here," she said.
Julian lowered his hands and started walking around to the driver's side of the car. "Don't hurt her," he said.

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"I won't, as long as she doesn't try anything," Lola said, looking at me with contempt. "You guys just don't give up, do you? You break out of a store room, then break in to a house, steal a car, and don't stop until it runs dry. Unfortunately, though, your luck has just run dry, too."
"The police are coming," I lied. "Any minute now."
"Really," Lola said loftily. "Even though it's a full moon and your hero cop is a werewolf right now?"
Damn, I thought. She smiled evilly. "Nice try, honey."
Adrianna came over, holding two sets of handcuffs. She handed them to Lola, then went to open the back door on the driver's side of the car. Lola grabbed my arms, forcing them behind my back, and snapped the handcuffs on.
"These belonged to a, uh, recipient of my services," Lola said. "We always thought they'd come in handy some day. Them and the gun."
"Your services?" I sneered. Adrianna was fiddling with something on the inside of the car door as I spoke. "What services?"
"Nothing you need to know," Lola said. She grabbed Julian's arms and handcuffed him as well. Then she stepped back, still pointing her gun at us, while Adrianna went over to open the rear car door on the passenger's side.
"I wouldn't try any great escapes from this car," Lola said airily. "Although I think that would be difficult enough with your hands behind your back."
"Why don't you just shoot us?" I said bitterly.
Lola raised an eyebrow. "You want me to?"
"No!" Julian exclaimed quickly, and Lola smirked.
"Nah, I'm running out of bullets," she said, "and the rest are stashed in my bag. But don't worry. I'll use them if I need to."

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“Why did you kill Lou?” I asked bluntly.
Lola raised her eyebrows. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters!” I said angrily. “He didn’t do anything wrong, he was providing you with a place to stay, for God’s sake! Why did you have to kill him?”
“He got in the way,” Lola snapped. “Now shut up, or I might just shoot you anyway.”
I heard Adrianna fiddle with something on the other door, then heard the slam and felt the car wobble as she closed it. She stood up and nodded to Lola over the roof of the car.
I felt the gun being jabbed into my back. "Get in," Lola commanded, and I somehow managed to clamber in to the back seat of the car and shuffle over to the passenger's side to let Julian in. Once we were both in, Lola slammed the door shut.
"What did they do to the doors?" I murmured, twisting so that my handcuffed hands could reach for the door handle.
"I think they safety-locked them," Julian said, his voice hollow.
I yanked on the door handle, and it didn't budge. "What?" I asked.
"The back doors of cars sometimes have child protection locks," Julian explained. "So that little kids don't open the car doors while the car's moving. The parents have to open the door from the outside."
I sighed. "Great," I said. "Child protection. Wonderful. I've always wanted to be protected from children."
The driver's door opened, and I tensed as I saw Lola get in. She sat in the seat for a moment, just looking out the front windscreen, before slipping the gearstick into neutral and taking the handbrake off. The car gently rolled forwards a little, then stopped.
She twisted in her seat to face us. "I'm afraid the ride's going to get a little bumpy," she said blandly. "Sorry."
I snorted. "You won't get far without petrol," I pointed out.
She raised her eyebrows and stared at me – chillingly.
"Watch me," she challenged.
I felt the car start to move, like magic. Lola took hold of the steering wheel and slowly, deliberately steered it so that it was facing the forest on the side of the road. I turned in my seat to see Adrianna leaning on the boot, pushing the car along the road towards the trees.
"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, as Lola continued to steer the eerily silent car.
"You'll find out," she said enigmatically.
I exhaled, exasperated. "Well, I'm an impatient girl," I snapped. "So why don't you tell me?"
"Because then you'll just try harder to get out," Lola explained.
The front wheels left the bitumen, bumping over the side of the road with a soft buh-bup. The back wheels soon followed, and with an almighty push, Adrianna sent us rolling into the forest. The front of the car was pointing down, and Lola started gripping the wheel harder.
With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I asked, "And why would we do that?"
"You'll see," Lola said.
The car was moving faster now, careening dangerously through the undergrowth. At first, I was gently rocked from side to side in my seat, but as the terrain became steeper, it felt like a giant had grabbed hold of me and was flinging me from side to side in the backseat.

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"Stop!" I shrieked. There was a loud thud beside me as Julian's head was hurled against the window sickeningly. He swore, and groaned.
"Shut up!" Lola cried, still steering her way dangerously through the forest, crashing through branches, flattening small plants—
Adrenaline washed over me like a cold shower when I saw where we were headed. The Fawkes River was straight ahead.
"Bye!" Lola yelled, as she threw open her door and leapt out of the moving car, chucking herself sideways and rolling harmlessly onto dirt.
"NO!" I screamed. The river was getting closer. We hit a tree, and the car was thrown viciously sideways, hurling the driver's door shut again, and sending the car heading faster still towards the water and an agonizing death.
"Julian!" I shouted. "Hold your breath!"
He looked at me, dazed. "Ellie…"
I tried to shuffle myself forwards, desperately lunging backwards for the handbrake—
There was a gigantic splash and I was tossed violently back into my seat as the car hit the water. For a few seconds, we floated gently on the surface of the river.
"Oh, my god," I whispered.
Then the front of the car pitched forwards and we began to sink.

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em90

21st Apr 2010, 06:56 AM

...I do apologise about the increasing dodginess of some of the pictures :( There are one or two really terrible Photoshop jobs in the above chapter and also the next one, so I'm sorry about that. However if you stand several feet away from your computer screen, tilt your head sideways, and squint, the overall crapness becomes a little less noticeable. ;)
Also it was getting more and more difficult to take the in-game shots in the first place! "OK, I need a shot of a car floating in the middle of the river - and also of two teenagers looking horrified in the back seat of said car with their hands behind their backs." Arghh...

Thanks for the comments again! :) Interesting, I've never actually read any of the Nancy Drew stories - I was more of an 'Enid Blyton's mysteries' fan when I was younger.

KyleTheArtist

21st Apr 2010, 06:58 PM

I can't really see crapiness in the last picture xD And yeah photoshoping is pain. try adding guy in the car and also adding rain effects xD

regardless, great job.

Lynet

22nd Apr 2010, 12:40 PM

Yikes! Who's going to rescue them?

dizzysommer

22nd Apr 2010, 05:46 PM

Ooooh, intense!

LethalLaurie

28th Apr 2010, 10:16 PM

Ohhhhhh, you can't leave us hanging after that! I have to know what happeeens! :cry:

em90

30th Apr 2010, 12:06 PM

Lola stood up, brushing twigs and dirt from her clothes and face. She's never had to make the jump from a moving car before, and she thought she'd done rather well, under the circumstances. Even her gun had landed safely after she'd thrown it out – it was sitting undamaged on the ground, a few metres away. She retrieved it just as Adrianna made her way down to the water's edge.

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"There you go," Lola said, gesturing towards the sinking car. "Another successful hit. And no bullets required, either."
Adrianna nodded, staring at the car as bubbles started coming to the surface. She thought she could see the two teenagers thrashing around inside, trying to get out.
Lola looked at her. "Adrianna?" she said, tilting her head. "What's up?"
Adrianna shook her head. "I don't know, Lola," she said. "They were just kids."
"No, they weren't," Lola corrected her sternly. "They're bodies. That's all they are. A bunch of human parts assembled together like a machine. Nothing more."
Adrianna kept staring at the car, watching as it gradually became fully submerged. She flinched when the top of the roof went under and a sudden gush of air and water sprayed out, like a whale surfacing to breathe.
“Don’t tell me you’re finally starting to grow a conscience,” Lola sighed, exasperated. "Remember what I said about becoming attached, Adrianna: you can't. You have to distance yourself from the hits, otherwise you start getting sentimental, and that's when you make mistakes. You know my saying – bullets in bodies. Slugs in skulls."
"How can you say that?" Adrianna exclaimed, turning to face Lola, away from the sight of the car. "They were just children. They were somebody's daughter, somebody's son, somebody's best friend."
"That didn't stop you with Joanna, though, did it?" Lola said fiercely.
Adrianna looked away. "That was different," she said. "There was never enough arsenic in those muffins to kill her, just enough to make her sick."
"No, there was enough to kill her, and you knew it," Lola said matter-of-factly. She started walking back up through the forest to their dented red sportscar. "Come on," she coaxed. "We've gotta get to the airport soon. Paris is waiting."
Adrianna didn't move. "I'm not going," she said.
Lola stopped, amazed. "What?"
"I can't do this any more," Adrianna said. "This…killing. I can't live with myself."
Lola stared. "Well, there won't be any more killing in Paris."
"But there will be," Adrianna said angrily. "Someone always finds you, always knows who you are. Someone will find out that we're the brilliant assassination team that they've heard about: the brawn and the brain. And I'm tired of being the brain behind so many people's suffering."
She walked up to Lola. "So here's what I'm suggesting, as your friend," she said seriously. "You go to Paris. Take all our money with you. Become someone new. I won't tell a soul. I'll take the car and our stuff and stay here, and I'll find somewhere else to go. But I've had enough, Lola. I'm done with this."
Adrianna started to walk away, up the slope, distancing herself from her former best friend. Then she heard a click.
"I can't let you do that, Adrianna," Lola's voice said from behind her.
Adrianna turned, half-knowing what she'd see, but she was still shocked to find her best friend pointing a gun in her direction.

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"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Protecting myself," Lola replied. Her face was twisted into an expression of pain and apology. "I'm sorry, but you're either with me, or you're gone. That's just the way it has to be."
Adrianna was stunned. "Lola," she whispered, horrified. "I'm your best friend! Don't you remember?"
Lola looked at her sadly. "Yes, I do remember," she said softly, haunted. "Once."
"You know I won't tell anyone," Adrianna said sincerely. "Why would I? They'd throw me in jail!"
"I can't afford to take that risk!" Lola hissed. "I'd go bloody insane in prison and you know it." She gestured with the gun. "No, you have to come with me, otherwise you're a loose end."
"So will I just be another body?" Adrianna spat angrily, teeth clenched, tears flowing. "Another—machine? Something that you dump by the side of the road for the animals to eat?"
Lola shook her head. "Don't be so dramatic—"
"All our years together and you're this selfish!" Adrianna cried. "I can't believe it!"
"Shut up!" Lola yelled, raising the gun decisively.
Adrianna watched silently, tears streaking her cheeks.
Lola's face was contorted in pain. "All those years, and they have to end like this," she whispered, gripping the trigger.
Adrianna squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the end—
There was a bang, and a thump, followed by the sound of a tree branch crashing down to the ground. Adrianna opened her eyes in surprise.
Lola was standing there, frozen, gaping at the person who had just seemingly materialised in front of her.
"Victoria?"
"God, you're a heartless bitch," Victoria Guildenstern spat, her words dripping venom.

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Lola was lost for words. "What are you doing here?" she managed to gasp.
"I got a text message," Victoria fumed. "And a missed call. From Ellie. Asking for help. So I thought I should give it."
"Well, you're a bit late," Lola said loudly. "Ellie's dead. So is Julian. They're in a car on the riverbed right now. Fish food."
"Is that so?" Victoria whispered menacingly. Lola took an involuntary step backwards. "You killed my fiancé, stone dead, and he never did a thing to harm anybody," she hissed. "My child is going to grow up without a father because of you, and now you're going to pay."
"Your child won't be growing up at all at this rate," Lola snarled, her eyes flashing as she raised her gun and pointed it at Victoria.
Victoria laughed humourlessly. "Do you really think bullets can stop a vampire?" she mocked.
Lola could only watch as Victoria darted forwards with supernatural speed and twisted the gun away from her. With a cry of astonishment, she saw the weapon fly out of her hand and land softly, several metres away. Victoria clutched her wrist in a vice-like grip, and began to twist.
The vampire advanced, raising her other hand to grab Lola by the throat, and Lola screamed in pain as her wrist was broken. She stared in horror as Victoria's flaming red eyes glared into her own, her pointed teeth bared, hands like marble around her neck, crushing her airways—

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Suddenly, there was a bang, and Lola doubled over despite Victoria's hold. Victoria jerked backwards and stared towards the source of the noise.
Adrianna was standing there with glassy eyes, holding Lola's smoking gun.
Lola looked down, shocked to see red spreading across her front. "Wh—" she gasped. "How—how could you…?"
"Bullets in bodies, Lola," Adrianna said tonelessly, her voice cold and detached. "Remember that."
She fired once more. Lola's head snapped back violently, a round hole between her eyes, and she sank to the ground, dead.
Victoria looked at Adrianna, gobsmacked.
Adrianna slowly lowered the gun, and gazed at Victoria, eyes bright. "I tried to stop her from killing him, you know," she said, sounding choked. "I told her not to. He was so kind to us." She took a deep breath. "I'm so, so sorry."

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Victoria bit her lip, shaking her head as the flood of pain within her threatened to overflow. Her shoulders shook as Adrianna came slowly over, dropping the gun once again on the ground, and embraced the vampire in a hug of shared suffering and sorrow. They clung to each other for a moment, until the quietness of the night was broken by a splash, followed by a loud gasping sound.
They both turned in surprise to look at the river's edge, where Ellie was dragging a limp Julian out of the water onto dry ground. Her hands were still handcuffed in front of her as she hauled his body into the leaf litter and dirt, frantically pressing on his chest in a rhythmic pattern, then forcing his mouth open and breathing into it. She repeated this for a few cycles before Julian finally gave a great gasp and spluttered back to life, coughing up water and shaking drops from his eyes.
Ellie thumped him on the back as he continued to heave the water from his lungs. "Keep coughing, that's the spirit," she panted.
Then she glanced up, noticing Victoria and Adrianna for the first time. She looked down, seeing the lifeless form of Lola lying on the forest floor.
She glanced up at the shocked Victoria and Adrianna again.
"Victoria," she gasped. "Do you never answer your phone?"

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--------------------

All that and I didn't even get the fluffy brown blanket.
You know how in movies, if there's a girl that's gotten all wet, at the end she always ends up wrapped in some kind of blanket (usually some gross shade of brown)?
Well, I didn't get it. Julian got it, even though he's a guy and they're meant to tough it out. Just because he went all unconscious on me, he was the one the paramedics wrapped in the blanket (it was white though because they obviously have no imagination), while I just stood there, soaking wet, sticky in places I didn't know I could feel sticky as my jeans started to dry out.

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Anyway, there’s a chunk missing from this story, right? How exactly did we manage to get out of that car?
As the car went under, there I was, yelling at Julian to keep breathing as long as there was an air bubble in the car. Of course, he didn't listen, and started hyperventilating.
This was actually quite unhelpful. Apparently most people think that, if you’re about to go underwater, hyperventilation will pack extra oxygen into your bloodstream and allow you to stay under for longer. In reality, you’re not taking much extra oxygen in. You’re just breathing out carbon dioxide at a much faster rate, and since carbon dioxide content is what the brain measures, it gets tricked into thinking your blood has a lot more oxygen than it actually does, and so it sends the impulse to breathe in way too late. By that time, of course, you’re dizzy and probably underwater, and you black out.
I didn’t really have the time to explain all of this to Julian though. I was too busy trying to loop my chained wrists around my legs, thus bringing them in front of me rather than behind my back. They make it look so easy in movies, I thought. Why shouldn’t I be able to do the same?
Well, I nearly dislocated my damn shoulder. In fact, it made this horrible noise at one point and it was pain like I had never known before, but thankfully I was still able to move it, and eventually I managed to bring my chained wrists around so that they were in front of me. I noticed Julian was trying – and failing – to do the same. By that time, the car was almost resting on the riverbed, and taking on water fast.
Since I knew I couldn’t open the door even if it wasn’t ‘child-locked’, thanks to the immense pressure of water against the outside of the car, I grabbed the window-winding lever and started tugging, while thanking my lucky stars that Lou didn’t have electric windows. The window went down just a few inches before water came gushing in with the force of a fireman’s hose, hurling me back through the car and knocking Julian under the surface of the water. Thanks to the window, the car started taking on water even more quickly, and the air bubble was shrinking at an alarming rate. While the water poured in, I grabbed at Julian’s hoodie and lifted him back up to the last remaining air, where we both took a gulp before the car was fully flooded.
I managed to fight my way back over to the window and wound it down all the way. It was then pretty easy to swim out through the window, but no way was I going to leave a blacked-out Julian to drown at the bottom of the Fawkes River, so I swam round to the other side of the car, wrenched open the door, and pulled Julian out of the back seat. While my lungs screamed for air and my vision started to dim, I kicked against the car and rose up towards the surface, where I broke through the water with much noisy spluttering and gasping.
It was quite a task to then drag Julian to the side of the river, and then perform CPR to get him breathing again. For a minute, I thought it was too late. You wouldn’t believe the relief I felt when he finally coughed back into life. Then, as you already know, I looked up and saw a dead Lola on the ground, next to a teary Adrianna and stunned-looking Victoria, whom I had been desperately trying to call earlier.
It all sounds rather unbelievable, doesn't it?
That's just the kind of girl I am.

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dizzysommer

2nd May 2010, 03:44 AM

Lol Awesome!

Lynet

3rd May 2010, 12:20 PM

Outstanding!

em90

8th May 2010, 09:38 AM

I can't just leave the story there – I have to give it a decent eppy-log. Because so much stuff happened after that night, it would be exhausting to write about it all in a narrative style. You'll just have to make do with journal-style.
What a shame.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was finding out about the Desslers, who were not actually under witness protection. Their real surname is Bolton: Gregory and Meredith Bolton, with their children David (Nathan) and Caitlin (Joanna). Anthony/Gregory was known in the criminal underworld as a brilliant computer hacker called the Information Salesman. He believed that all information should be freely available to all people, and that there should be no such thing as 'classified' information or hidden government files, etc. For a price, he would 'sell' this information to certain people. The Boltons fled to Solitaria when one of their clients threatened to expose them.
Lola and Adrianna, wanted fugitives after a hit went wrong, soon found out where they were. They asked Gregory to help them forge some travel documents so that they could escape overseas, but this went against his philosophy: he wasn't just a computer hacker, he specifically only sold information. They managed to convince him to work for them by poisoning Joanna/Caitlin with a muffin laced with arsenic.
It was Joanna's poisoner, Adrianna, who exposed him in the end, as she told the police her whole story following her arrest. A whole bunch of police descended on the Bolton's home as they were trying to bolt for it (Ha, ha!...pun), arresting Anthony/Gregory and also Marie/Meredith. Nathan/David and Joanna/Caitlin were sent away to be put into foster care.

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Adrianna Smythe was arrested and charged for the many crimes she and Lola had committed over several years. It emerged that Lola was a well-known hired assassin – she went around doing the dirty work, while Adrianna masterminded the actual 'hit' process so that they wouldn't get caught, as well as handling all the communication between Lola and her clients. You could say that Adrianna was sort of Lola's secretary. She says that Lola shot Lou because he'd found their weapons and forged travel documents hidden under a loose floorboard in the shop. In typical self-preservation mode, Lola killed him before he had a chance to say anything, even though Adrianna disagreed with her actions. Anyway, Adrianna's now in prison, and she'll be staying there for a long, long, long time.

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Adam tried asking Anastasia Guildenstern out. She smiled nicely at him and refused, saying it would cause too many problems and that she'd prefer to stay 'just friends' for now. I think Adam was a bit crushed. He'll get over it.

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Mystery and Artemis Meyer transformed into completely new people within the week. Artemis shed the eyeliner, removed the red streaks of dye from his hair (it's now a uniform black) and bought new clothes with the money he got from selling his guitar on ebay ("I really don't think I'll ever be able to play it properly, even if I did get lessons"). Mystery also changed her look and now speaks normally – however, she still loves Evanescence and enjoys singing along in her room, as she did before. Dream and Arthur haven't changed, so Amelia still has to battle with unpalatable dinners.

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Tia Mink apologised to Hannah for not inviting her to her party. When she found out that Hannah was turning fifteen soon, she organised an even bigger party in her honour, inviting everyone in the village. Although all the adults left after the first few techno songs, all the teenagers stayed to give Hannah a party to remember. At the end of it, she even managed to say 'Thank you', despite her speech being slurred. We all cheered.

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Jake Rosencrantz was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation centre by his father, as well as having to pay a pretty big fine for possession of an illegal substance. Tamara says that although she enjoys not having Jake around, she would prefer it if he was back home. Upon hearing that Jake would no longer be around for partying and sexytimes, Tia promptly dumped him, then immediately embarked on a plan to win over some guy she'd met in an Eridessa club.

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Victoria Guildenstern gradually got through her grief, and chose to entrust Debbie Rosencrantz with the running of Lou's shop. It took a while to get the shop up and running again, but Debbie eventually had it back to the way it was before (although her coffee still doesn't quite match Lou's). She even remembered to sell me those books I'd ordered in.
Victoria officially changed her surname to R'hu, and a few months later she gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl vampire-alien, whom she named Louisa. She's incredibly cute. Amelia and I have both volunteered for evening babysitting if required.

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And as for me and Julian?...

I was over at his house one evening, quite soon after the big adventure. We were both sitting in his room, in front of the fireplace, watching the flames flickering away.
“Your bedroom is huge, Julian,” I murmured. “Easily twice the size of mine…and I still can't believe you have a fireplace in it.”
He shrugged. "Well, the chimney was already there for the one downstairs," he said. "So I guess whoever built this house just decided to add another one."

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"And you got it in your room," I said, looking at him and smiling.
"I did," he said, also smiling.
"It's almost…" I trailed off.
He looked at me. "What?"
"…romantic," I said, grinning coyly.
He looked at me, smirking. "Don't go there, Ellie," he warned.
"Why not?" I protested. "Come on. It's getting to be pretty obvious."
Julian sighed. "I guess not," he said.
There was a pause, during which we both stared at the flames a bit more.
"Actually, I invited you over here to ask you something rather important," Julian began.
I kept looking at the fire so he wouldn't see me smiling to myself. "Yeah?"
"You don't have to say yes, or anything," he said. "I mean, it's just a question. And it's completely up to you. And I should mention that I don't actually believe in romantic love - it's a flawed concept that's been popularised by Hollywood films and, well, really, it's nothing more than a simple biological mechanism to ensure humans find a mate to further the species, but…"
He paused again, and I said, "Julian, just spit it out, will you?"
He sighed. "Would you like to be my—my, uh, girlfriend?"
I looked at him, smiling again. "Well, I definitely don't want to be your boyfriend."
He snorted, and rolled his eyes. "I knew I could count on you," he said, shaking his head.
I shrugged. "I thought you just said you don't believe in romantic love?"
"I don't," he said. "I think it's too…I don't know. But I thought, you know, we could be…a couple. If you wanted to."
"I think I would definitely like that," I said, putting an arm around his shoulders.

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He glanced at me. "What, no more witty sarcastic comments?" he said.
"Not tonight," I replied, and he moved slightly closer.
"Keep in mind, though," he said to me, "this doesn't necessarily mean that I like your attitude."
"'Course not," I said. "And I still think you're arrogant and patronizing."
Julian smirked. "You realise now that you'll have to send a sympathy card to yourself."
I stared. "What?"
"Remember?" He nudged me. "You once yelled at me that if I ever got a girlfriend--"
"Ohh," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I can't believe I said that."
"I can," Julian said, still smirking.
"Thanks," I said, "for reminding me of how much of a bitch I am--"
"You're not a bitch, Ellie," he said. "You're just you."
"No, I'm a bitch."
"I don't think so," he said, moving his face extremely close to mine…I saw him close his eyes and tilt his head slightly—
"Uh, Julian," I said abruptly.
His eyes opened. "What?" he said, alarmed. "What have I done wrong?"
"Nothing," I assured him quickly, "absolutely nothing. It's just that…" I sighed. "Stand up."
Looking thoroughly confused, he stood up, and I stood up, too, facing him.
"You sure know how to ruin a mood," Julian said, bemused and bewildered.
"No, no, there's just something I want to do first," I said, coming towards him.
He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "And what is that exactly?" but stayed still as I came towards him and embraced him in a big bear hug.

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I sighed happily. "I told Amelia once," I said, still hugging, "that I knew I liked someone when I felt like I wanted to hug them. Nothing more. Just a big hug."
There was silence. We hugged for a few more seconds, until Julian gently broke us apart.
He looked me very seriously in the eye, and said, "Ellie?"
"What?" I asked innocently.
He sighed. "You are a strange, strange person," he replied.
And then he kissed me.

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THE END