Chapter 21
"Children, what did I say about spawning inside the house?!" a shrill mother's voice called out from the kitchen.
Two children giggled from the living room, as orange and black butterflies fluttered around the room. The mother, a beautiful woman with dark hair, in the crux between Young Adult and Adult, looked over at the half wall that divided the living room and the kitchen.
"Xander, Chloe, look what you've done!" she shouted, as she exclaimed at the butterflies that wafted around the house. She set down the dinner she had been preparing, and began angrily marching into the living room. "Hand it over!"
"But Mom...they're just butterflies." Chloe protested.
Xander nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and they'll spawn even at night, or when its raining."
"Exactly, and that same spawner will spawn spiders, and...cockroaches that'll destroy our house!" she yelled."Now, who has it?"
Xander shied away, his hands behind his back, and Chloe followed suit, "We're sorry Mom." they apologized in unison.
The mother smiled, lightening up a bit, "I know, but still, this isn't your toy. It's for Daddy's work. Now who has it? Don't make me empty your Inventories."
Xander sighed, before placing the sleek, blue piece of plastic onto the ground.
"Honey, are the kids playing with the Controller again?" a deeper, immediately more friendlier voice asked, as a skinny Adult stepped out from the hallway.
"Yes Sean, and your children put a bug spawner right into our living room." she explained.
Sean laughed, his eyes carefree behind his horn-rimmed glasses, "You know, that's actually a great idea Narissa. That way, bugs will spawn at night, and during the winter."
Narissa rolled her eyes, "Another one of your business ventures Sean?"
"Hey, they've never failed me before." he countered, as he walked over to his two children, "Now, who wants to spawn bugs in the basement?"
"Yes!" they cheered in unison.
Their funerals were short and sweet. We couldn't get a tombstone for Melissa, since people almost never die at such an early age. In fact, I'd never heard of a toddler dying, ever. How could this have happened?
I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had returned from quitting my job, because, all of a sudden, for some reason I felt like I just wasn't qualified for my job anymore, and besides, being a Scientist had never been my lifetime wish. I sat down on the couch, imagining what life would be like when I became an astronaut, something I has always dreamed of being as a kid. I had just called the Military Base and was getting ready for my first day of work when I turned on the TV and saw the news report. My sister's house was aflame. I rushed over to Pleasantview, an hour drive from our childhood home in Sunset Valley. She had just bought the house with her husband, and former imaginary friend, Boinky. Yes, their wedding was just as awkward for our parents as it was for me, with him technically being part of the family and all, but at the same time, it seemed kind of natural that they'd get married. The fire department had already doused most of the flames by the time I'd arrived. I saw Boinky and his son, Marcus, who must've been at school.
"What happened, here?" I asked, stepping out of my car.
Boinky stood completely still, clearly having just come out of a freakout session. Marcus looked up at his father, expecting him to give a response.
"I...I don't know. I just got here when I saw the flames from work. Cindy was inside, so was Melissa. I don't know if they made it out…" he choked out, as he fought back tears.
Just then, a firefighter approached Boinky, and pulled him away from Marcus and I. With his father gone, Marcus looked to me, "Uncle Tommy, why can't the fireman tell everyone what happened?"
"Well, that's because your Dad is the Adult of the house, so the fireman has to tell him first. Then he can tell us." I explained the best I could for a thirteen day old child.
Boinky returned, his expression dejected, "They didn't survive the fire."
Now here I was, back at the funeral. Cindy was to be buried next to her father, but building restriction prevented us from doing so. So she's buried on the edge of the our parents' lot. Out of all of the ash, we couldn't properly identify Melissa's body, combined with the fact that we couldn't get her a tombstone, we placed a momentum to represent her: her Wugglesworth Schuggles Bear, right next to Cindy's grave. It wasn't much, but it was all we could do.
"There's no way we can afford to rebuild the house." Boinky confessed, as the funeral ceremony ended.
I nodded, "You gonna move back in with Mom?"
"What other choice do we have? Marcus will have to change schools, and he's already having trouble at his current school."
I looked up at Boinky, "Marcus is having trouble at school?"
Boinky blinked, "I passed on my ability to change into an Imaginary Friend to him, but he can't control it."
"But, how is that any different from having a kid Vampire or Werewolf?" I asked.
"Guess its just not as common." he figured.
It was strange to think Marcus would have trouble at school, he's such a good kid, and pretty smart too. I didn't remember anyone having trouble going to school when I went there, sure there was always drama, but it was never specifically targeted at one person. But then again, I guess things were pretty different back then.
We all walked back into the house and saw Mom already back to work. She had quit her job at the local bistro when we were teenagers, but she had recently picked it back up. On top of that, she often took requests from neighbors to cook meals for them. She was just finishing a plate of Goopy Carbonara when she saw us walking in. She smiled warmly, and placed the plate into her Inventory, "Oh, hello everyone."
Slowly, she walked over to greet us, paying special attention to her grandson, "I'm going to go see the Altos and drop this off for them while its still warm."
"Mom, aren't you gonna take a bit of time off of work?" I asked, while she stumbled halfway across the living room on her walker.
She looked back at me briefly, "Oh, believe me I would, but...you know, I just don't got that kind of time anymore."
She walked the rest of the way, and as the door closed behind her, I sat down on the living room couch. I've never seem Mom this active before, and of all times to be so!
"Marcus, how about you go outside and play? Dad needs to talk to Uncle Tommy for a bit." Boinky explains.
Marcus nodded, before he ran out the door. Boinky sat down on the couch next to me, "She had the Controller with her in the house."
"I know. For all we know, it could've burned up with it." I told him.
"Well, I don't think it did." Boinky argued. "When we were in the cemetery, confronting the Tragic Clown, there was this other guy who attacked us, someone we'd never met before. But we knew one thing, he was after the Controller."
"You're saying he set the house on fire?" I asked.
"Its a possibility we can't afford to overlook. And what else could've set the house on fire? No fireplace, no running stove...it can't have been pure accident."
I sighed, "Even if this guy did set your house on fire, how did he do it? Sims don't just, set things on fire on command."
Boinky, for the first time in quite awhile, gave a brief hint of a smile, "Sims don't, but Wizards can."
Author's Note: I am back! After a long hiatus (and several final exams) The Green PlumbBob (now titled The PlumbBob Saga) has returned. So, thank you for those who've endured the long wait and welcome to new readers, hope you enjoy the ride ;)