Chapter 18- Harm's Way

Chapter 18- Harm’s Way

                It hit him rather suddenly. The familiar jerk in the pit of his stomach. With all the commotion lately, things had simply been forgotten. A lot of things were changing, not just him.

                It was William’s birthday. Today was his last day of high school. Today was the first day that two of his triplet siblings had lived here for one full day. Today his step-mother had announced that she and his father were expecting a baby. Today, William was going to be an adult. Young Adult.

                William’s eyes popped as the familiar pain flooded through him signaling the sudden growth spurt that came with your first 4 birthdays.

                Now this was a get up he could get used to!

   

                Hey, you expected William to like wearing something normal? 

                Note the reaction to “Normal Everyday” clothes. Dress shoes with no socks hurt, yo. Bring on the flippers!

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                At William’s graduation the following day, the absolutely inevitable death at City Hall happens. Seriously. Can I not have a graduation ceremony without the attendant funeral? Maybe I should rename it City Hall, Funerals for Cheap!

                Craig gets onto William’s flippant attitude toward those for whom the reaper toils. He didn’t mean to upset anyone. Honest.

                Graduation and Funeral over William takes Marcie and Fred out to eat. The kids didn’t have breakfast that morning and the festivities have the three of them famished. Helen and Peter elect to go back to the house with Kiley and Craig. On the way home, Helen mentions that the upstairs stereo is busted and she plans of fixing it as soon as possible. In Kristine’s house if you wanted it fixed, you did it yourself. As a result, Helen and Peter are rather talented with a wrench.

                Craig feels a stab of remorse that his kids had to do such menial jobs and offers to call a repairman. To his horror, both teens laugh. They can do it easily, and for free. Why spend the money?

                Craig then rashly decides to show that he can take care of his house just as well as his kids can. He promises that he can fix the stereo, and he’ll do it as soon as they all get home. He just thought they might be amused by his hiring a handyman. Kiley glances at him sharply, but leaves the matter at rest.

                “Stupid,” Craig mutters under his breath. “PlumbBob Darned stereo. And all I want to do is go to bed.”

                Jabbing the screwdriver in any hole he can find has so far not produced any results, and the more he tries the more tired he is.

                “I oughta just stick this stinker on the curb and buy a new one,” Craig continues to pry at a plastic bit that seems like it might move if he sticks the screwdriver in hard enough. “Come on… Come on! Almost got it in there… THERE!”

                It takes Peter a moment to register just what he is seeing. The music pumping through the high end speakers fails to make it into his ears. The broken panel on the stereo, and the screwdriver on the floor however, wake up his brain.

                His feet root to the floor. His mouth opens and closes making him look like he wishes to be a fish. There is no sound he hears. Nothing he feels, tastes, or smells. It is all about what he is seeing. All he sees is death. He had no idea that he had been screaming for a full minute, barely pausing to take in more breath.

                Peter’s still endless scream brought Helen racing up the stairs. Kiley had been out back and was just now trying to waddle toward the house.

                Helen stopped short of where Peter stood. He had finally stopped screaming and was instead sobbing loudly. Her gaze followed her distraught brothers and found what had him so upset. Lying curled on the floor was Craig. It took her a moment to realize that he was lying extremely still, far too still to be so close to the pounding bass line coming over the stereo. It was Marcie’s new 50-Simolean rap CD. The lyrics were not the clean ones. She had been listening to it while the adults were out of the house. She had the bass cranked up far too high without adjusting the treble. It’s what had broken the stereo. Most likely knocked a wire loose…

                And so Helen’s mind reeled, refusing to dwell on her father’s body, lifeless, on the floor.

                Kiley was seriously alarmed when she heard Peter and Helen’s yells, their crying. She was hurrying, but everything was shifting to make way for the baby she carried and walking was different and unsteady.

                When she reached the top of the stairs and turned, everything went numb. She still had no idea how she had ended up on this side of the room. She had no idea why all she could do was stand there, clasping her hands together as she breathed heavily on them. She saw nothing else, heard nothing else. It was all only one thing, Craig.

                Craig felt so light it nearly made him giddy. He couldn’t understand why Kiley, Helen, and Peter were sobbing by the now working stereo.

                ‘Hey!’ Craig thought to himself.  ‘I actually fixed something! No need to cry over a working stereo.’

                His concern for Kiley was greatest. He didn’t want her to do anything to put her or the baby in harm’s way.

                Only when the door of the Master Bedroom opened and the Grim Reaper came through did Craig properly look around.

                “Aaaaawwwwww, PlumbBob!” He said angrily. Now he got why everyone was upset. Heck, he was upset.

                Craig and Helen both looked at Kiley as the Grim Reaper glided silently to collect Craig’s soul.

                Not a tear had fallen, and she seemed to avoid looking at the spectre her boyfriend had become.

                “Hey,” Craig was startled at the whispery low sound of his own voice.

                “Yes?” Grim must have heard him just fine though, as he answered promptly.

                “I was just a little hungry, you know? I know I shouldn’t have been messing with things I don’t understand, but I’ve got a baby on the way! Think you could cut me a little slack? A few more months at least? For the Kid?” Craig pleaded. To his relief, the Grim Reaper actually seemed to consider it for a moment.

                To say that he was surprised when Grim lifted his scythe and forced him into an urn without any further ado might be an understatement. He thought Grim’s laugh might mean leniency.

                William, Fred and Marcie had just returned. William recognized the deep booming laugh and ran up the stairs two at a time. Fred was close on his heels. William ran around the long way, trying to avoid the skeletal soul catcher, coming to a halt to stare at what could only be Craig’s remains. Fred, however, stared at the Reaper.

                William was startled, and rather afraid, when he saw the Grim Reaper gliding toward him. His mind cast about trying to light on what he could be wanted for.

                It was his birthday and he had had a few too many drinks for a first timer while he was out with the kids. They had been amused by William’s antics. However, William was not amused by the antics of his vision. He wanted to keep a weather eye on Grim for his duration in the house. Blurry spots didn’t help him in this.

                “Catch anything lately?” Grim’s deep voice rumbled around the room like thunder.

                “Only a cold!” Williams jocular reply startled most of his audience. Kiley finally felt a tear slide down her cheek.

                William and Grim continued to banter for a while as the others slowly left the room, appalled at William’s light hearted manner. The drinks had made him slightly expansive and very witty in his drunken opinion.

                It was Peter’s howl of rage and anguish that caused Grim to disappear. William was startled to hear the normally calm Peter explode like that. It made his head hurt, too.

                Peter let his cry die out in a huff.

                ‘How can William act like that?’ This thoughts were red and boiling, like his blood. ‘He has no parents left, and now I only have Mom!’

                William turned to him as well, nearly tripping over his feet. However, when he looked at Peter he saw a pink figure out on the sidewalk below through the window. He decided to grab a few drinks from the bottles locked in the bar, then he would go down and see what it wanted.

                After getting a few bracing drinks, he turned to go out front. As he went, he tried to give Peter a reassuring smile. Unfortunately, it merely came across as a rather nasty leer that left Peter even more stunned than he had been before.

                Peter balled up, his rage boiling at the unfairness of it all. They had just been allowed to move back in. Now Craig was gone, and his older brother was drunk and making a fool of himself in a manner eerily similar to his mother.

 “AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” His howl of pure rage left him loud and long.

Downstairs, Kiley hugged Marcie and Fred closer. They had just told her of William’s drinking at the restaurant. Now, upstairs, his brother was acting just as unstable. Amidst her grief, Kiley felt a jolt of fear amidst the grief and pity.

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                Kiley had slept poorly. She had tossed and turned, tried both sides of the bed, been up and down. She didn’t know when she had finally fallen asleep, she only knew that today would be as hard as yesterday had been.

                She stood still for a moment. Memories washing over her. Emotions, feelings, plans. All of it needed to be tended to today. So much, so much, and she felt so weak.

                “Craig,” she sobbed. “You idiot!”

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                The teenagers had all just returned from school. Starla Pink had tagged along with them, she decided that as they were all grieving they could all grieve together. No one else was nearly as keen on “support group crying” as she was though.

                “It’s for the best,” Kiley was telling William as they all trooped in. “I’ve already taken the house, we’re going to leave tonight. I need my kids to settle down, and this isn’t their home without Craig here. We have no right. And I want a fresh start before the baby comes, to give it the very best chance.”

                Helen turned sharply. ‘They’re moving out tonight?’ She was a little distressed. If there was no parent figure in the house, how could she and Peter not expect Kristine to come in and try to take over?

                “I understand,” William said. His speech was still slurred. He’d kept up his drinking for nearly the entire day. “But you have to promise to call when it’s time for the baby to come. Dad would never forgive me if someone wasn’t there with you. The baby will be family after all.”

                “Of course,” Kiley said. “I’ll need someone with me. I can’t do it alone.”

                The catch in her voice caught Helen.

                ‘She doesn’t realize he’s drunk again! She thinks he’s crying!’ Helen was secretly disgusted by it. How could she not realize?

                Kiley turned away from William to call her kids. The cab would be there shortly. She had spent the day with the maid getting all of their clothes packed and ready to go.

                When she spotted Helen standing so close, listening, she felt a pang of remorse. Those poor kids needed someone to be here for them, not a half mad drunken brother. But she had her own children to think about, and she needed to take care of herself right now as well.

                Fred stopped for a moment to stare at the little kitchen table. Craig was the only father he had ever known. At this table, he had learned a lot about life from hearing his Mom and Craig talk. He’d miss those times. He’d miss the house. He had no idea where they were moving, where he would be laying his head. To him, most importantly, when would he ever see the brothers and sister he was leaving here? They were family to him. He hadn’t known anything different. Why did it all have to change?

                William watched them head out the door. Too much of what he loved had walked out that door and never returned. Too many people had left him. They all left eventually. He needed a drink.

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Icky Icky Yucky emotion and all that. But, I am preparing for my Random Legacy and you’ll just have to see what else fate, or the Watcher, throws at the three left in the house. Iron forges Iron. Steel sharpens Steel. You have to hit rock bottom to ever think you might one day see the top.
Another note: I had to kill Craig twice, TWICE! with Master Controller. The first time the reaper just laughed and said Craig was funny. He then restored Criag to normal and left. It's also why the reaper and Craig moved from the early pictures of his death to the later ones. I found it both amusing and frustrating. Oh well.
Note the third: Kiley and Craig's pregnancy was an accident. I was following another sim in the household and had left them at home to their own devices. It wasn't until I heard the baby chime that I realized what had happened. Come to think of it, that might be why the reaper spared Craig... Huh...