Part 3 – Get Into the Sea
"We think we know what we are doing. We have always thought so." -Prey (Michael Crichton)
"I don't know what the police thought they were accomplishing, bringing me back here. It's not like either of you can make me stay, and the worst they can do is make me ride in a squad car."
Pyro glanced at Kyo, but the bird didn't return the look (because, of course, Kyo couldn't see Pyro) and instead Kyo chirped something rather vague about yetis, fire and loud noises.
"It's the law, Sammi," Pyro said, "They only enforce it."
"The law is stupid," Sammi spat, "I'm in just as much danger of being burglarized here as being mugged in the subways. And, besides, I was out at a club."
Pyro just gave her a look that suggested he didn't believe that was any safer.
"Jessica was there," Sammi told him, "She'd take care of any dangerous thug types."
"Bad music is fire and vampires. Bad," Kyo said.
"What he said." Pyro said.
"You don't even understand what he said," Sammi pointed out.
"I know he said Jessica is bad news."
"Bad news!" Kyo exclaimed, just as if he'd heard Pyro (though more likely it was because it was one of Kyo's favorite phrases).
"Ugh, that's enough out of both of you!" Sammi shouted, throwing up her hands, "I'm going to bed!"
"And I'm going home," Pyro said.
"Shut up, Pyro, you are not," Sammi said, stalking off to her room.
Pyro gave Kyo a significant look. Perhaps Kyo couldn't see him, but the bird knew when Pyro teleported. As the teleportation went into effect, Kyo flapped his wings, shrieked and flew around the room once before returning to his perch and alighting on it, grumbling again about loud noises.
The way the cookie had unfortunately crumbled ensured that Sammi's descent into sorrow was abrupt and disastrous. She spent no time on her homework. She had frequent mood swings which resulted in her wandering through the city putting whoopee cushions on every bench she could find until she was violating curfew and got driven home by the police, and she was often late for school (or ditched it entirely because there was no one at home to ground her). She ignored or was mean to her classmates (particularly her crush). She refused to be comforted by Pyro. She fed Kyo and cleaned his cage, but otherwise neglected him. Making discoveries at her chemistry lab station became an obsession.
It would make for a nice story if Sammi's phone had rung, if the Landgraab Marine Science Facility had offered her the opportunity of a life (and afterlife) time, saying that they were prepared to conduct experiments on the remains of the recently deceased using their Automagic Ghost-O-Tron to resurrect the dead. It would be nice to think that Griselda came back from the grave with an umbrella and a copy of the Bridgeport Ghost, a far wiser woman who spent the rest of her life in a line of work more productive than dumpster diving and maintaining a hate blog.
But this is not what happened. Perhaps Sammi's phone did ring but, if so, she didn't answer it.
What she did do was read the paper, mainly the sports section and ads for discount classes in the morning.
"Pyro, Kyo, I'm going out."
"Where are you going?" Pyro asked, "You're skipping school."
"I got a discount coupon out of the paper for a class in fishing, so I'm going to the grocery store."
"Fishing? Why do you need to learn how to fish?" Pyro asked.
"I don't, but this is 80 simoleons off! Can you even count that high? 80 simoleons!"
"What does that matter if you don't need to know how to fish in the first place?"
"Don't be stupid, Pyro. It's not about what I need, it's about what I want. Besides, I want to buy an Orb of Answers anyway. Don't wait up," she closed the door behind her.
Once she got it, Sammi mostly asked the Orb if she would find true love and whether or not she should play outside, to which it never gave a certain answer and usually advised her to try again later.
One day, not long after Griselda's demise, there came a ring of the doorbell. Sammi was curious, wondering who it could possibly be. Meanwhile, Kyo reacted by flapping wildly around the house, as if he knew just what sort of creature had come for a visit.
The creature in question was Jessica Talon. It was the first time that Pyro had seen her, and he instantly felt wary and threatened (Kyo eventually returned to his perch, and sat there chirping about Beethoven). Just like Griselda, Lady Talon proved to be only subconsciously aware of Pyro's presence, in that she did not appear to see him and yet carefully never stood where he was standing and waited for him to get out before using the bathroom. While Lady Talon was using the aforementioned facilities, Pyro tried to distract Sammi from spending time with the Lady Talon, whom he distrusted.
"I like the color blue," Pyro began, because that used to be the opener for one of Sammi's favorite conversations when she was a child, but now she was having none of it.
"Oh shut up."
"What color do you like?" Pyro persisted, a wary eye on the bathroom door.
"I like the color that makes you stop talking," Sammi retorted.
"How about music? Do you like country music? I like country music."
"You know I don't like country music," Sammi told him, "Now what's your problem?"
"That vampiress. I think you should be careful around her."
"She's my friend, Pyro. A better friend than you've been lately."
"Sammi, I just think-"
"Go away!" Sammi interrupted emphatically.
It was the phrase which consistently got Pyro to leave her alone. It worked this time, as it had all of the others. The magic he was bound by did not allow Pyro to disobey the command. Sammi picked up the toy and put it in her bedroom before the Lady Talon emerged from the bathroom.
"I heard about your mother, child," Jessica was saying as she exited the bathroom, "Terrible thing."
"Yes," Sammi said quietly. She didn't especially want to talk about that.
Lady Talon smiled, as if she understood.
"How about we go for a drive, dear?" she asked.
"Oh, I can't," Sammi confessed, "I don't know how to drive, you came here in a taxi."
"Well, of course I did. You wouldn't expect me to teach you to drive in my car would you?"
Sammi had wanted to learn to drive from the moment she was old enough, but her mother hadn't had time before her death to teach her. Jessica seemed to have come specifically to fulfill this wish of Sammi's, despite the objectionable nature of the jalopy they had to use.
Pyro may have been suspicious of Jessica Talon, but Sammi still saw nothing wrong with her. The Lady Talon was the only person who'd ever come to visit Sammi, the only one who could teach her to drive, and the only one to ever have encouraged her in the pursuit of her own goals instead of someone else's. The only one, that is, except for Pyro, but he wasn't real and so didn't count.
It took a long time and a lot of effort, but finally it was accomplished and Sammi could at last drive the car instead of having to take the subway. She and Jessica stopped at the beach. Sammi got out and strolled into the sun, but of course Jessica could not and quickly left.
Sammi didn't mind. She wanted to go for a swim.
The ocean around Bridgeport was absolutely terrible, and Sammi had a lot of fun swimming in it. She also spent some time splashing other swimmers, who agreeably splashed back. By the time she decided to get out, the sky was growing dark (well, darker than usual) and night was well on its way. Sammi decided that she wanted to jog home, even if it might be past the police-enforced curfew of Bridgeport by the time she got there. She needed time to think. Some time during that swim, she had stopped being in mourning, as if the grieving process had an actual beginning and end, and now it was complete.
All of a sudden, she wanted to go to school, to do her homework and to attend prom (which she had been scoffing at the idea of for awhile now). She resolved to do just that tomorrow. Well, maybe not prom. That wasn't for another few days. But the rest of it she was definitely going to do.
When Sammi got home, she couldn't find Pyro anywhere. It didn't really bother her though, as she didn't especially want to apologize to him. She didn't feel she had done anything wrong. She had wanted to chat with Jessica and he had been getting in the way. He did the same thing every time Sammi wanted to shower. She didn't know why he always followed her in there. There was nothing she did in there that she wanted him to see, and it wasn't as if he used anything in the bathroom. Even if he did occasionally mop up when the shower broke, there was no reason for Pyro to follow her. She was actually beginning to find the habit irritating instead of endearing.
Things that had been cute and funny before now just seemed weird and obnoxious. Pyro had been great for an ignored toddler and lonely child, but now he was just getting pushy and odd, and Sammi was beginning to wonder if maybe it wasn't time to finally let go of the idea of having an imaginary friend.
After all, she had real friends now, people who didn't follow her into the bathroom like a mysterious Mr. Gnome, and who weren't always twiddling with the glowing ball on their heads because they didn't have a glowing ball on their heads. Maybe Jessica didn't like going out in sunlight and maybe she had a habit of calling late at night, but at least she was real, at least she was an actual person.
Pyro... well... he wasn't any better than Kyo. In fact, if anything, he was actually worse. Kyo seldom interfered with what Sammi wanted to do, and he actually helped her practice her stage whispers and discussion tactics. On the other hand, Kyo did bite and of course Pyro didn't.
But really, what was a little biting between friends?
