People Like Us - Chapter 1: New
Warnings: death, depression, also shirtless Vidcund Curious. Also, your eyes might hurt in the last scene, where the only colours are red, black, green and brown. Well, mine do.
Everytime I close my eyes
It's like a dark paradise
No one compares to you
But there's no you
Excepting my dreams tonight
Oh-oh-oh-oh, hah-hah-hah-hah
I don't wanna wake up from this tonight
Oh-oh-oh-oh, hah-hah-hah-hah
I don't wanna wake up
From this
Toni--
Again.
"Dear Watcher, if you're still there, please, don't let me cry again..."
"I'm so tired of it."
Ophelia took aunt Olive's casket, one of a few things that have been saved from the fire. She remembered the place where it had been standing, in her aunt's bedroom, on the end table. Next to the withered black rose standing in a beautiful vase since forever.
Inside, there were beautiful earrings, silver chains, golden bracelets. And, the most important thing, those were the memories. The memories of home. The fragrance of Olive's perfume seemed to come out of the casket. On the bottom of it, Ophelia noticed a few grains of desert sand.
Shetook an old necklace and put it around her neck. And lost herself in memories.
Two weeks ago Ophelia Nigmos had it all - she was young and healthy, had a boyfriend, a best friend and people she could call her family. She had Jenny, the most awesome woman in the world, somebody who loved and cared about her. A mother.
She had a hobby, good grades, a place to call home.
She had an aunt, and although the woman seemed to have a mysterious past and rarely spoke about it, Ophelia learnt to deal with it. (And with this graveyard outside the house.)
So, she did have it all.
And then she lost everything, all because of two idiots that had ruined her life.
When Johnny and Ripp woke her up, the town was already on fire.
If they didn't come for her, she'd surely die.
Like Olive.
"Don't worry."
"She'll be fine."
"She will make it."
She didn't.
Neither did Lazlo Curious, Crystal Vu, Loki Beaker. Neither did PT#9 Smith.
Neither did Johnny.
"Ripp?! Where's Johnny?!"
"I don't know! I can't see anything because of this damn smoke!"
"Johnny!"
"Johnny!"
After all this, she was still crying out his name.
"Johnny, come back. You shouldn't have gone there for me. I should've died instead of you."
"I love you..."
But he wasn't coming back.
***
Vidcund Curious was torn.
If you had to pick between loyalty to your family or own heart, what would be your choice?
He never meant to hurt anyone; in his life, there wasn't a single time he wished for it. This was just coming naturally. Everytime.
He closed his eyes. Choice. His choice has brought Crystal and Lazlo to their end, hasn't it? He'd chosen between the family loyalty and his heart. And the worst part was, he didn't fully regret it.
Vidcund sighed, putting his hand on the door handle. Crystal wasn't even in her thirties when she died. Lazlo was 33. He always claimed them as 'weirdos', a little childish, careless, teenage-like.
And now, they were gone.
His sister was washing her hands when he entered the room in their shitty little apartament in SimCity. Hearing the footsteps, she turned around to look at him.
"I was about to call you for breakfest. For goodness' sake, it's September, Vid! You were on the balcony for half an hour, shirtless! And... is this a cigarette? What were you thinking?"
"Dammit, Jenny, it's not that cold."
"I'm asking you about smoking. I've said you had to quit!"
Vidcund only rolled his eyes.
"I'm gonna prepare something for breakfast, "Jenny continuead," and you can talk to Jill."
"Huh?"
"Your niece."
Vidcund noticed the girl sitting at the diner table on the other side of the room. She was staring at the tabletop and didn't bother to turn her head to him when he sat next to her.
"How are you, kiddo?"
She mumbled something between "quite fine" and "terrible". Vidcund didn't give up.
"You know, I was on the balcony, and there seems to be somthing interesting in this flat opposite to ours. I saw someone in the window..."
"Were you peeping our neighbours?" she asked, still not looking at him, but less sadly than before.
"Kind of," he smiled. "Erin, Ophelia and Nervous have just moved in."
She rised her head, "really? You're not kidding"
Jenny appeared next to them, holding a box of donuts.
"It's true," she stated. "I've received a phone call from Erin yesterday."
"Great!" Jill exclaimed, biting into her donut. "Can I visit them?"
"Maybe tomorrow. I guess they need some time to settle in."
The girl didn't reply because she was chewing.
"Jillian," Jenny said after a while, "if you finished your meal, go and dress up. I don't want you to be late fo school."
"Okay." she stood up, washed her plate and went to her room.
Vidcund bit his lip. He already knew what was coming.
"I saw Circe at the shopping mall yesterday," Jenny started.
"And?"
She looked upon at him and in this moment he could see the pain in her eyes, which she has been hiding because of Jill.
"Don't blame yourself," she spoke. "It's not your fault. They hasn't died because of you."
"They has died because I ran to save Circe."
"They would die either way, and you, and Circe, would die too."
"Great" he stood up, unable to control his voice anymore. "Then we should have all died, and it would not be anybody's fault."
"Vidcund..."
"You don't know anything" he added, walking away. "Anything."
"I know more than you would expect," she whispered, but she was already left alone.
***
"You're gonna be fine."
"I know, Erin."
"No. You really are."
Ophelia sighed.
"I'm afraid, honestly. When we were running away from Strangetown, we lost Ripp. I'm afraid he... won't be here... or..."
"Hush," Erin touched her shoulder. "You'll find him. We'll find him. He'll find us. I promise."
"Mhm..." she mumbled. "I gotta go. I don't want to be late."
"Sure thing," Erin smiled weakly and got inside the car.
Ophelia pushed the front door after the sound of the engine had gone in the whole city noise. She entered the school.
These voices, laughing, everything seemed so familiar, but yet so strange. Ophelia didn't belong to this place.
When she was walking through the halls to find the Maths classroom, some heads were turning to her, but nobody said a word. People kept just staring at a new student, that new girl in SimCity, and whispering to one another after she'd passed them.
"Here it is," she said quietly to herself. The bell rang.
Ophelia waited 'till the other students enter the classroom, and then she walked in. Everybody immediately looked at her.
The teacher stood next to her.
"This is your new classmate," he said to the students. "Can you tell us something about yourself, dear?"
"Um..."
She didn't want to be judged. People stared at her, waited for her words, and whispered to one another. "That's her," said someone. "I've seen her already," replied somebody else.
"I'm Ophelia Nigmos," she finally spoke. "I like playing the piano and painting, and listening to the music."
A black-haired girl sitting in the back of the classroom was looking straight at her and something in her nod, when Ophelia said her name, in the look look she gave her made her thinking that... this girl just knew.
"Ophelia, sit with Gvaudoin," the teacher said, showing a desk next to the black-haired girl.
When Ophelia passed the students, they were suddenly getting interested in the blackboard, but right after she had reached her desk, every head turned to her.
"So, you’re that new one?" Gvaudoin asked as Ophelia sat down.
"Yes… Yes, I am."
"Where are you from?" that was definitely a stupid question. Whole SimNation knew about what happened in Ophelia's hometown.
"Strangetown. But I don’t want to talk about it. Sorry, I'm just..."
"Okay, I get it. And I'm sorry for you."
"I'm... better now." Ophelia looked at the blackboard where a girl wearing a pink shirt has been presenting her lack of knowledge of Maths.
She turned her head to the right and froze. That was not possible... It couldn't be--
"Ophelia?" Gvaudoin's voice seemed to be coming from a distance. "Are you alright?"
She blinked and glared at the poster once again.
"Yeah... I'm fine." Ophelia shook her head and blinked the vision of her dead boyfriend away. Then she put on a faked smile. "Hey, wouldn't you mind showing me the city after school? It seems I need to take a break from all this."
"Sure!" Gvaudoin clapped her hands together. "We can also go to my place - you have to meet my cousin, Fricorth. I am sure you'll like him; he wasn't at school today because he slipped on my grandpa's spilled paint and fell off the stairs... it's a long story."
***
In Belladona Cove, outside the city, there was a small cottage placed near the sea. Children were calling it "Baba Yaga's hut", although there was no witch living there (or rather not currently). All in all, hardly anyone ever visited it. It was a perfect hideout for a runaway, somebody who has been out of the society.
Frances McCullough knew it well. The cottage belonged to her, but it stood empty ever since she'd become the High Witch. It seemed to be just perfect when she needed to place her kinda... lost friend in some hideout, temporarily. For now, nobody was allowed to know about her, along with the girl herself.
"Hi, dear! Were you missing me?"
"Frances!" a black haired girl standing next to the oven exclaimed. "Of course I was!"
Frances hugged her.
"You look awesome as always, darling."
"Look at yourself! Where did you get this dress?"
"It's my sweet secret."
The girl broke the embrance.
"Do you want something to drink?" she asked. Frances nodded.
"A large cup of coffee, if it's not a problem; I'm tired and exhausted."
The smell of coffee started to spread around the room. Frances sat on the sofa.
"So, how's life?" she asked, turning her head to her friend.
"Honestly, boring.
"But at least comfortable and peaceful! Imagine what I am going through every day. All this light-versus-dark war is making me wishing to just crawl under some rock and not go out until it is finally over."
The black-haired girl giggled. She knew Frances for quite a long time and was familliar with her whining and complaining. She also knew there were just a few things her friend loved more than fighting against the "good witches", especially Phoebe Adams, her biggest enemy.
"Yeah, and meanwhile Phoebe will take over the world. You need to take a break, dear," she said, handing Frances a cup of coffee.
"I certainly do!" the witch exclaimed. "I wanna leave this damn world for a few weeks, hide in Takemizu Village and sleep for days."
"I'm coming with you."
There was a silence for a few seconds. Frances took a sip of her drink. Then the black-haired girl spoke nervously, quieter than before.
"Um, Frances?"
"Yeah?"
"Who is..." she hesitated, "...Bella Goth?"
"How... did you know about her?"
"Read the newspaper. There was something about a woman who has been missing for 5 years now, and there was a picture of her."
"So you know who she is, don't you?"
"But she looks kinda like me."
Frances stood up. It was an emergency.
"People often resemble other people," she said in the most ordinary tone she could. "I don't think you should worry about it."
"I need to go," Frances hugged the girl briefly. "I'm sorry I can't stay longer. Will you take care of yourself, darling?"
"Me? Of course! It's not that hard when you have such a comfortable and peaceful life."
She made her way to the stairs. The girl called after her.
"Hey, Frances?"
"Uhuh?" she replied, turning around.
"Um, once you said something about a great spell you had learned..." she looked at the redhead hopefully.
"Ah, you mean this one!" Frances laughed, pulling out her wand. Yeah, this girl was crazy about cats,
"Apello Cattus Amicis!"
With a flash of green light, a black cat landed on the floor. The black-haired girl crouched down next to it.
"Oh dear, it's just the cuttest kitty I've seen in my life! Hey there, miss adorable!"
Frances laughed again.
"Have fun!" she just said and teleported away.
Author's Notes:
IT IS DONE. IT IS FINALLY DONE.
Well, it's almost 20 minutes past midnight and I think I'm gonna fall asleep right in front of the computer. But the work must have been done.
If you discover any mistakes with grammar/vocabulary, missing letters (dyslexia >.<) or something else, please tell, and I'll make it correct :)
Thank you so much for reading! If anyone was curious about the age of the characters: I guess Ophelia and other teens are 16/17 (yeah, rather 17), Nervous is around 24 and Erin's maybe two years older. Jill was supposed to be 10 years old, but she looks so innocent and sweet here that I'm going to age her down to 9.
The song - Lana Del Rey Dark Paradise :)