Kimmy goes to Silent Simfield (Part 1?)
This is set ahead of what I've put up, but doesn't give anything away. If you've ever played/seen Silent Hill you'll better understand what's going on, but I don't think it's really necessary.
It's also unfinished so far as I've spent more than 2 hours on it already when I should be working, but I really wanted to do something for halloween, so you get a part 1. If people think it doesn't work/don't get it, it may be the only part, or I'll do the rest if people want. We'll see.
"You know, the name 'apocalypse' is really misleading. It almost makes it sound scary or difficult. I guess you were stupid enough to buy into it if you consider it a punishment."
The blonde girl looked up from her computer in annoyance. "You just don't realise in how many different ways you could die. Especially if I wasn't overseeing everything."
Kimmy laughed derisively. "Oh no! Not snow! However can we survive with clumps of white stuff everywhere?!"
"There are zombies too," the girl said defensively.
"HA! Yeah, one of them welcomed me to town. And I suppose the fact that she looked just like Marina was supposed to bother me? I was just so terrified. The best it could have done was bore me to death..."
"Yeah well, I could have downloaded that hack that makes zombies eat people's brains, but since somebody was supposed to lift Military first I didn't think it'd be worth it! It's probably not too late now..." she muttered as an afterthought. "And you're genuinely telling me not being able to shower and the prospect of raising children doesn't bother you?"
"I'd rather not raise kids and I do miss showers, but I am Kimmy Ryman and I shall overcome!" she said, raising a fist of defiance in the air. "So yeah, your 'punishment' is failing and you suck. Snow, zombies and your vain attempts at being all psychological are about as scary as crossing the road."
"You know, when somebody's trying to hurt you, it's generally a better idea to pretend you're suffering so it doesn't get any worse."
"And miss the chance to gloat? You clearly don't know me very well."
"Okay, you've gloated. Now will you go away?"
"Fine," she sighed loftily. "I have to start on moving a spouse in anyway. Send me back down."
Kimmy missed the smile on the blonde's face as she hit the transfer button.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Urrgh," Kimmy groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. She hated the way that blonde woman always had to knock her out every single time she went anywhere. That probably was what she got for gloating, but it was worth it.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Naturally it was snowing, but it was night-time and the snow was heavier than usual. And she couldn't see her house. In fact, she could probably only see five feet in front of her. Stupid 'Hell' weather.
She stood up gradually and noticed that there were things in her pockets - that was odd too. She rummaged through and found- a really nice phone. A camera phone, even! Seriously, what was this girl's idea of punishment? And she also had... a torch - well, she guessed that might help a bit in this weather - and... a radio? She probably could use some music, so she switched it on, but there was no sound. On any of the channels. So, a really nice phone and a radio that doesn't work? That woman really was weird. She flicked through the phone's touch-screen and found its phone numbers - Mzyra, wasn't that the woman's name? She dialled it.
"'Lo?"
"I don't know why you've given me this stuff, but the radio doesn't work and I want a replacement."
"Oh, hi Kimmy. Actually the radio does work, it's the radio stations that don't."
"... Then why did you give me a radio?"
"It... it's useful, you'll see."
"Fine, whatever. And where's my house?"
"Hm? Oh, you're not in Hell anymore. You're back in Simfield."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, like you said, you just weren't getting punished where you were, so I gave up."
Kimmy couldn't quite tell, but she got the feeling there was a serious catch coming up somewhere. "Then what's with all the snow? And where is everyone? All I can hear is the wind and I can barely see anything."
"...Have you ever heard of something called Silent Hill?"
"Nooo, why?"
"No reason," she said cheerfully. "Okay: keep the radio on, it'll... tell you stuff; keep the phone, it'll help you see things-"
"You mean the torch will help me see things?"
"No, I mean the phone will. The torch will in a different way. And obviously the phone lets you talk to me too," she said overly pleasantly. Kimmy considered breaking the phone right then. This was all highly suspicious.
"So... where do I go?"
"Home, I guess. If you ever get stuck or confused, there are often lights around that might guide you. Laters!" And the woman hung up.
Kimmy scowled at the phone before putting it back in her pocket and turning on the torch. Oh, wow. Now she could see ten feet rather than five. How amazing, she thought sarcastically. But 'home'? Where was her home? She'd only ever lived in three places - the Ryman house, where presumably distant relatives still lived; the apartment she'd briefly rented before being sent away by blonde woman and was probably being rented by somebody else now too; and Christian's place, where she didn't really want to return even if it was still empty. What was she supposed to do?
It was then that she noticed a vague light off to her left. Well, it wasn't like she'd been given much other advice... Follow the light it was. After a little while she realised that she'd awoken in the midst of downtown, but there were no lights on in any of the many buildings and all the windows and doors looked frozen shut. What had happened since she'd left?
Apparently the blonde hadn't been lying about the radio though - sometimes it would crackle faintly, oddly coinciding with what looked like movement out of the corner of her eyes. It was really unsettling, but she kept following the light and gripped the torch like a sword.
Eventually the buildings thinned out to open fields, and Kimmy guessed she was heading towards the patch of countryside where all the Rymans lived, though as to which home she wasn't certain. The lights led her up a fairly steep hill - luckily the pavements were snowy rather than icy - and she struggled right up to the top, where her jaw dropped.
It was their house. No, it was their old house. She'd seen the new Ryman house from a distance before she left - at three storeys tall it was hard to miss - and she could remember the house that she'd left after she became an adult, but this wasn't either; this was the house from her actual childhood. No, even earlier - the outside was still grey because they couldn't afford to get a brick exterior for a while and they didn't have any windows either! What the... She couldn't have travelled back in time, surely? She was almost certain there had never been a snow storm this bad when she was here, anyway. What was going on? She considered calling the woman, but... she wanted to investigate a little first.
The door handle was as cold as was to be expected in the weather, but it swung open easily, before she had a minor heart attack as her radio, which had been quietly stuttering for a while, suddenly went beserk in her pocket. After regaining her breath she slipped inside, where it was almost pitch black. As she shone the torch around she saw so much that she recognised - the old fridge, cooker and counter, the bath'room' with no walls, and- there was something in the left corner that was flickering and hurt to look at. What was that? Then she remembered what the woman had said on the phone - the phone could help you to see things. A little nervously she got it out and used the camera to take a picture of the flickering thing. And then she jumped again as she instantaneously received a voicemail message. Geesus, this place had bad timing.
She looked at the picture first. It was... It was her parents. Her father holding a dark baby and her mother holding a lighter one - her and Sean. This was a picture from just after their birth. WTF?! Cautiously she listened as she played the voice mail message:
Her father's voice came first: "You're the family one, any ideas on how we deal with this?"
Then her mother's: "Nope."
Dad again: "Just as well I have a few days off coming up soon then, isn't it?"
And all the way through there was a sound of... a xylophone and a child giggling? She guessed - and hoped - that was Marina.
This was weird and creepy. And what was the point? She knew she'd been born, kay thanks. And she knew who her parents were. And what was she supposed to do now? She looked around and then saw that the front door looked lit up a little. Back outside then?
When she got outside - where the snow continued relentlessly - she noticed there had been changes since she went inside; the outside of the house now looked brick instead of grey, there was that chocolate making machine and... oh no. There was another flickery thing - which was making the radio go off again - by the lemonade stand and now she knew exactly what was going to be happening here. Stupid blonde family sim woman was making Kimmy go back through her life and watch all the stuff that the woman didn't like in an attempt to get to her. Ugh, family sims should never be given any power, she mused. Still, now she knew what she was doing... She pulled out the phone again and took a picture of the flickering image and received another voicemail message in return. As expected, the picture was of a young Sean looking very depressed and possibly crying. As for the voicemail message:
"Hehehe! Sean's an idiot!" God, had her voice really been that high-pitched as a child?
"Kimmy!" Marina lecturing her, as always...
She could almost see the whole scene playing out in front of her, finally ending in Sean giving up crying-
But then there was a blood-curdling scream that Kimmy sure as hell didn't remember from her childhood. Not just that - there was blue ice racing across the sky and the ground, even over the lemonade stand and nearly everything in sight. Okay, what was going on now...? Then she saw the zombies running over the hill - she assumed they were zombies, she didn't have much time to scientifically classify them because they could run fast and they were coming straight for her.
She took a few steps backwards before shooting a glance at the house, realising the door wasn't frozen over, legging it inside and locking it shut. She chanced a look through the spy-hole only to see one of the... things clawing at the door on the other side. Was it a zombie? Zombies looked more human than those things did. Zombies were blue and staggered around groaning - these things were pinkish, ran as fast as most people and screamed their heads off. Though she wasn't sure how; they didn't seem to have mouths or faces in general and some of them didn't have hands - it was like their arms rejoined their torsos. Didn't stop them running though. Maybe there had been a nuclear explosion here and this was what remained of Simfield. Were any of those things distant relatives? Annoying as conceding anything was, she felt prepared to admit that this was an apocalypse scenario. She was just relieved she was safely indoors.
She felt so safe in fact, that she didn't even jump when the phone went off in her pocket: 1 new message from Mzyra. What had she forgotten to tell Kimmy? That mutants roamed the countryside looking to... well, they couldn't eat if they didn't have mouths, but they didn't seem friendly either.
They're not going anywhere, and the more you ignore a problem, the more it builds up...
Kimmy stared at the message for a minute before throwing the phone at the floor, where it vibrated: 1 new message from Mzyra. Angrily she picked it back up.
Don't do that.
Oh yeah, and what if she didn't? Did it have some kind of function to electrocute her?
She calmed herself down and looked back at the door, which was lit up again. She looked through the spy-hole again - there were definitely more mutant things, positively fighting to be the first to... whatever her to death. She thought she could see a light off to the right though. She'd have to go out there, but... A weapon! That's what she needed. What kind of weapons did they have in the house... A bread and cheese knife! Ooh, if only she had time for some grilled cheese...
She yanked open the cupboard door to find- nothing. Not even a butter knife. Not even any cheese in the fridge! She stared around the room. Nothing! She sighed. Right, when all else fails, leg it. She was Kimmy Ryman and she was not going to let some mutants force her to hide!
She counted down 3, 2, 1, before yanking open the door and barging through the mutants, knocking them flying and then running for the light in the distance. The mutants weren't down for long though and apparently they could run on snow better than she could. Several times she could feel mutated hands grabbing at her legs or arms and even, once, at her hair - that one received an elbow to the 'face'. Staggering, only just ahead of the pack, she found another lit up door on a building she didn't recognise but ran inside regardless and slammed and locked the door behind her. Then she slid to the floor, still resting against it.
After regaining her breath and a more regular heartbeat, she looked around with the torch. It looked like a house, though it had a weird artsy feel to it with the style. There was a piano to her right and portraits on the wall - there was a woman with red hair and a hat and a man with- No, that was Sean. This was Sean's house! Of course it was, she realised, he would go for something expensive and pretentious once he could afford it. There were a couple more portraits next to theirs, including a woman who looked to be their daughter. So... this house was from the present but the Ryman house was in the past? Logic: this had none.
She shone the light across a room with sofas, then practically jumped out of her skin when she saw that somebody was sat on one. It didn't move and then she realised that it was little Sean again, still looking depressed. Right, so this was clearly all about Sean. So, in family sim logic, she'd say sorry and they'd hug and then mutants would stop trying to kill her.
She went and stood in front of him. Man, even if this was to save her life, this would be embarrassing. "Hey Sean, I'm sorry I was mean to you. Running a lemonade stand isn't completely stupid." Little Sean did nothing and, listening out, Kimmy could still hear the mutants shrieking and her radio stuttering in their presence. "Fine! I'm not sorry! Screw you!" Still nothing. No lights either. WTF?!
She collapsed on the sofa next to the childhood version of her twin. Okay, so apologising wasn't enough. Maybe she had to mean it? In that case she would never leave here. Maybe if she just cheered him up... How did you cheer up Sean Ryman? She didn't have any money on her. She did have the expensive camera phone, but she was pretty sure she was meant to keep that. Still, it was worth a try.
"Sean? Would having an expensive camera phone cheer you up?" Nothing. "Well fine then! It's not like you need it, Mr I-have-my-own-piano-and-expensive-paintings-and-portraits-on-the-walls! And you get that wife, what's-her-face!" Little Sean moved slightly - it was working! "And a daughter... who's dressed like a witch? Whatever, probably grandkids too! And-" What else? What else could she say? What- Oh. Part of her almost hoped this didn't work. "And meanwhile I've been living somewhere half this size with an idiot of a husband, a son who doesn't love me and then killed me and then I was dead for ages and nobody even knows who I am any more!"
She blinked and Sean was gone. The radio had gone silent and there were no shrieks even on the edge of her hearing. She let the relief wash over her. Then she let the anger take over. That SoaB! In order to make him happy she had to tell him how crap her life was! Ah, if she ever met him in an afterlife she was going to noogy the hell out of him... Still, she just hoped that she was done now. Then she noticed the door was lit up again.
Slowly and cautiously she opened the door. It was still snowing, but now deserted again. No mutants came charging through the snow screaming. She shut the door behind her, where it froze over instantly. No more Sean then, she guessed. This time the light was back to the left, probably back to her old house. She wondered which stage it would be at now.
Actually very little had changed on the outside, but as she went back inside she saw that there were now the separate bedrooms, meaning at this point she was either a teenager or close to it. It also probably meant she wasn't finished. Ugh, how much more could there be? Her radio was crackling a little again. She decided to take whatever it was head on, and headed where it became loudest - her parents' bedroom. She hoped this wouldn't be traumatising... It was a flickery image again, by the side of the bed, so she whipped out the camera and received another voicemail. She looked at the picture: it was just after Terry's birth. She sighed, well she hadn't done anything at this point...
Her mother's voice came: "Hello there! How's about the name Terry for you, little guy?"
And the sound of a baby burbling.
No scream, thank god, but the radio still hadn't stopped. There wasn't anything else but the bed in the bedroom, so she headed back out into the rest of the house, where there was more flickery goodness. Another picture and a voicemail message and she really didn't like where this was going.
"Uh! Uh!"
"What's that Terry? You want the boat? The big, fun, shiny boat?"
"Yuh!"
"Well you don't get it because you're a little stupid baby and I'm a million times better than you!"
"Waaaaaah!"
And Kimmy heard it fade out to the sound of her own childhood giggling. She waited for the bloodcurdling scream, but got nothing, for which she was thankful. She didn't think she deserved to be killed by mutants for that anyway - kids teased their siblings all the time, surely a family sim shouldn't punish a child for that, but then she couldn't understand them generally. But she was also aware how much blonde woman liked Terry and therefore how screwed she was sure she was going to be at some point in the near future.
It's also unfinished so far as I've spent more than 2 hours on it already when I should be working, but I really wanted to do something for halloween, so you get a part 1. If people think it doesn't work/don't get it, it may be the only part, or I'll do the rest if people want. We'll see.
"You know, the name 'apocalypse' is really misleading. It almost makes it sound scary or difficult. I guess you were stupid enough to buy into it if you consider it a punishment."
The blonde girl looked up from her computer in annoyance. "You just don't realise in how many different ways you could die. Especially if I wasn't overseeing everything."
Kimmy laughed derisively. "Oh no! Not snow! However can we survive with clumps of white stuff everywhere?!"
"There are zombies too," the girl said defensively.
"HA! Yeah, one of them welcomed me to town. And I suppose the fact that she looked just like Marina was supposed to bother me? I was just so terrified. The best it could have done was bore me to death..."
"Yeah well, I could have downloaded that hack that makes zombies eat people's brains, but since somebody was supposed to lift Military first I didn't think it'd be worth it! It's probably not too late now..." she muttered as an afterthought. "And you're genuinely telling me not being able to shower and the prospect of raising children doesn't bother you?"
"I'd rather not raise kids and I do miss showers, but I am Kimmy Ryman and I shall overcome!" she said, raising a fist of defiance in the air. "So yeah, your 'punishment' is failing and you suck. Snow, zombies and your vain attempts at being all psychological are about as scary as crossing the road."
"You know, when somebody's trying to hurt you, it's generally a better idea to pretend you're suffering so it doesn't get any worse."
"And miss the chance to gloat? You clearly don't know me very well."
"Okay, you've gloated. Now will you go away?"
"Fine," she sighed loftily. "I have to start on moving a spouse in anyway. Send me back down."
Kimmy missed the smile on the blonde's face as she hit the transfer button.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Urrgh," Kimmy groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. She hated the way that blonde woman always had to knock her out every single time she went anywhere. That probably was what she got for gloating, but it was worth it.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Naturally it was snowing, but it was night-time and the snow was heavier than usual. And she couldn't see her house. In fact, she could probably only see five feet in front of her. Stupid 'Hell' weather.
She stood up gradually and noticed that there were things in her pockets - that was odd too. She rummaged through and found- a really nice phone. A camera phone, even! Seriously, what was this girl's idea of punishment? And she also had... a torch - well, she guessed that might help a bit in this weather - and... a radio? She probably could use some music, so she switched it on, but there was no sound. On any of the channels. So, a really nice phone and a radio that doesn't work? That woman really was weird. She flicked through the phone's touch-screen and found its phone numbers - Mzyra, wasn't that the woman's name? She dialled it.
"'Lo?"
"I don't know why you've given me this stuff, but the radio doesn't work and I want a replacement."
"Oh, hi Kimmy. Actually the radio does work, it's the radio stations that don't."
"... Then why did you give me a radio?"
"It... it's useful, you'll see."
"Fine, whatever. And where's my house?"
"Hm? Oh, you're not in Hell anymore. You're back in Simfield."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, like you said, you just weren't getting punished where you were, so I gave up."
Kimmy couldn't quite tell, but she got the feeling there was a serious catch coming up somewhere. "Then what's with all the snow? And where is everyone? All I can hear is the wind and I can barely see anything."
"...Have you ever heard of something called Silent Hill?"
"Nooo, why?"
"No reason," she said cheerfully. "Okay: keep the radio on, it'll... tell you stuff; keep the phone, it'll help you see things-"
"You mean the torch will help me see things?"
"No, I mean the phone will. The torch will in a different way. And obviously the phone lets you talk to me too," she said overly pleasantly. Kimmy considered breaking the phone right then. This was all highly suspicious.
"So... where do I go?"
"Home, I guess. If you ever get stuck or confused, there are often lights around that might guide you. Laters!" And the woman hung up.
Kimmy scowled at the phone before putting it back in her pocket and turning on the torch. Oh, wow. Now she could see ten feet rather than five. How amazing, she thought sarcastically. But 'home'? Where was her home? She'd only ever lived in three places - the Ryman house, where presumably distant relatives still lived; the apartment she'd briefly rented before being sent away by blonde woman and was probably being rented by somebody else now too; and Christian's place, where she didn't really want to return even if it was still empty. What was she supposed to do?
It was then that she noticed a vague light off to her left. Well, it wasn't like she'd been given much other advice... Follow the light it was. After a little while she realised that she'd awoken in the midst of downtown, but there were no lights on in any of the many buildings and all the windows and doors looked frozen shut. What had happened since she'd left?
Apparently the blonde hadn't been lying about the radio though - sometimes it would crackle faintly, oddly coinciding with what looked like movement out of the corner of her eyes. It was really unsettling, but she kept following the light and gripped the torch like a sword.
Eventually the buildings thinned out to open fields, and Kimmy guessed she was heading towards the patch of countryside where all the Rymans lived, though as to which home she wasn't certain. The lights led her up a fairly steep hill - luckily the pavements were snowy rather than icy - and she struggled right up to the top, where her jaw dropped.
It was their house. No, it was their old house. She'd seen the new Ryman house from a distance before she left - at three storeys tall it was hard to miss - and she could remember the house that she'd left after she became an adult, but this wasn't either; this was the house from her actual childhood. No, even earlier - the outside was still grey because they couldn't afford to get a brick exterior for a while and they didn't have any windows either! What the... She couldn't have travelled back in time, surely? She was almost certain there had never been a snow storm this bad when she was here, anyway. What was going on? She considered calling the woman, but... she wanted to investigate a little first.
The door handle was as cold as was to be expected in the weather, but it swung open easily, before she had a minor heart attack as her radio, which had been quietly stuttering for a while, suddenly went beserk in her pocket. After regaining her breath she slipped inside, where it was almost pitch black. As she shone the torch around she saw so much that she recognised - the old fridge, cooker and counter, the bath'room' with no walls, and- there was something in the left corner that was flickering and hurt to look at. What was that? Then she remembered what the woman had said on the phone - the phone could help you to see things. A little nervously she got it out and used the camera to take a picture of the flickering thing. And then she jumped again as she instantaneously received a voicemail message. Geesus, this place had bad timing.
She looked at the picture first. It was... It was her parents. Her father holding a dark baby and her mother holding a lighter one - her and Sean. This was a picture from just after their birth. WTF?! Cautiously she listened as she played the voice mail message:
Her father's voice came first: "You're the family one, any ideas on how we deal with this?"
Then her mother's: "Nope."
Dad again: "Just as well I have a few days off coming up soon then, isn't it?"
And all the way through there was a sound of... a xylophone and a child giggling? She guessed - and hoped - that was Marina.
This was weird and creepy. And what was the point? She knew she'd been born, kay thanks. And she knew who her parents were. And what was she supposed to do now? She looked around and then saw that the front door looked lit up a little. Back outside then?
When she got outside - where the snow continued relentlessly - she noticed there had been changes since she went inside; the outside of the house now looked brick instead of grey, there was that chocolate making machine and... oh no. There was another flickery thing - which was making the radio go off again - by the lemonade stand and now she knew exactly what was going to be happening here. Stupid blonde family sim woman was making Kimmy go back through her life and watch all the stuff that the woman didn't like in an attempt to get to her. Ugh, family sims should never be given any power, she mused. Still, now she knew what she was doing... She pulled out the phone again and took a picture of the flickering image and received another voicemail message in return. As expected, the picture was of a young Sean looking very depressed and possibly crying. As for the voicemail message:
"Hehehe! Sean's an idiot!" God, had her voice really been that high-pitched as a child?
"Kimmy!" Marina lecturing her, as always...
She could almost see the whole scene playing out in front of her, finally ending in Sean giving up crying-
But then there was a blood-curdling scream that Kimmy sure as hell didn't remember from her childhood. Not just that - there was blue ice racing across the sky and the ground, even over the lemonade stand and nearly everything in sight. Okay, what was going on now...? Then she saw the zombies running over the hill - she assumed they were zombies, she didn't have much time to scientifically classify them because they could run fast and they were coming straight for her.
She took a few steps backwards before shooting a glance at the house, realising the door wasn't frozen over, legging it inside and locking it shut. She chanced a look through the spy-hole only to see one of the... things clawing at the door on the other side. Was it a zombie? Zombies looked more human than those things did. Zombies were blue and staggered around groaning - these things were pinkish, ran as fast as most people and screamed their heads off. Though she wasn't sure how; they didn't seem to have mouths or faces in general and some of them didn't have hands - it was like their arms rejoined their torsos. Didn't stop them running though. Maybe there had been a nuclear explosion here and this was what remained of Simfield. Were any of those things distant relatives? Annoying as conceding anything was, she felt prepared to admit that this was an apocalypse scenario. She was just relieved she was safely indoors.
She felt so safe in fact, that she didn't even jump when the phone went off in her pocket: 1 new message from Mzyra. What had she forgotten to tell Kimmy? That mutants roamed the countryside looking to... well, they couldn't eat if they didn't have mouths, but they didn't seem friendly either.
They're not going anywhere, and the more you ignore a problem, the more it builds up...
Kimmy stared at the message for a minute before throwing the phone at the floor, where it vibrated: 1 new message from Mzyra. Angrily she picked it back up.
Don't do that.
Oh yeah, and what if she didn't? Did it have some kind of function to electrocute her?
She calmed herself down and looked back at the door, which was lit up again. She looked through the spy-hole again - there were definitely more mutant things, positively fighting to be the first to... whatever her to death. She thought she could see a light off to the right though. She'd have to go out there, but... A weapon! That's what she needed. What kind of weapons did they have in the house... A bread and cheese knife! Ooh, if only she had time for some grilled cheese...
She yanked open the cupboard door to find- nothing. Not even a butter knife. Not even any cheese in the fridge! She stared around the room. Nothing! She sighed. Right, when all else fails, leg it. She was Kimmy Ryman and she was not going to let some mutants force her to hide!
She counted down 3, 2, 1, before yanking open the door and barging through the mutants, knocking them flying and then running for the light in the distance. The mutants weren't down for long though and apparently they could run on snow better than she could. Several times she could feel mutated hands grabbing at her legs or arms and even, once, at her hair - that one received an elbow to the 'face'. Staggering, only just ahead of the pack, she found another lit up door on a building she didn't recognise but ran inside regardless and slammed and locked the door behind her. Then she slid to the floor, still resting against it.
After regaining her breath and a more regular heartbeat, she looked around with the torch. It looked like a house, though it had a weird artsy feel to it with the style. There was a piano to her right and portraits on the wall - there was a woman with red hair and a hat and a man with- No, that was Sean. This was Sean's house! Of course it was, she realised, he would go for something expensive and pretentious once he could afford it. There were a couple more portraits next to theirs, including a woman who looked to be their daughter. So... this house was from the present but the Ryman house was in the past? Logic: this had none.
She shone the light across a room with sofas, then practically jumped out of her skin when she saw that somebody was sat on one. It didn't move and then she realised that it was little Sean again, still looking depressed. Right, so this was clearly all about Sean. So, in family sim logic, she'd say sorry and they'd hug and then mutants would stop trying to kill her.
She went and stood in front of him. Man, even if this was to save her life, this would be embarrassing. "Hey Sean, I'm sorry I was mean to you. Running a lemonade stand isn't completely stupid." Little Sean did nothing and, listening out, Kimmy could still hear the mutants shrieking and her radio stuttering in their presence. "Fine! I'm not sorry! Screw you!" Still nothing. No lights either. WTF?!
She collapsed on the sofa next to the childhood version of her twin. Okay, so apologising wasn't enough. Maybe she had to mean it? In that case she would never leave here. Maybe if she just cheered him up... How did you cheer up Sean Ryman? She didn't have any money on her. She did have the expensive camera phone, but she was pretty sure she was meant to keep that. Still, it was worth a try.
"Sean? Would having an expensive camera phone cheer you up?" Nothing. "Well fine then! It's not like you need it, Mr I-have-my-own-piano-and-expensive-paintings-and-portraits-on-the-walls! And you get that wife, what's-her-face!" Little Sean moved slightly - it was working! "And a daughter... who's dressed like a witch? Whatever, probably grandkids too! And-" What else? What else could she say? What- Oh. Part of her almost hoped this didn't work. "And meanwhile I've been living somewhere half this size with an idiot of a husband, a son who doesn't love me and then killed me and then I was dead for ages and nobody even knows who I am any more!"
She blinked and Sean was gone. The radio had gone silent and there were no shrieks even on the edge of her hearing. She let the relief wash over her. Then she let the anger take over. That SoaB! In order to make him happy she had to tell him how crap her life was! Ah, if she ever met him in an afterlife she was going to noogy the hell out of him... Still, she just hoped that she was done now. Then she noticed the door was lit up again.
Slowly and cautiously she opened the door. It was still snowing, but now deserted again. No mutants came charging through the snow screaming. She shut the door behind her, where it froze over instantly. No more Sean then, she guessed. This time the light was back to the left, probably back to her old house. She wondered which stage it would be at now.
Actually very little had changed on the outside, but as she went back inside she saw that there were now the separate bedrooms, meaning at this point she was either a teenager or close to it. It also probably meant she wasn't finished. Ugh, how much more could there be? Her radio was crackling a little again. She decided to take whatever it was head on, and headed where it became loudest - her parents' bedroom. She hoped this wouldn't be traumatising... It was a flickery image again, by the side of the bed, so she whipped out the camera and received another voicemail. She looked at the picture: it was just after Terry's birth. She sighed, well she hadn't done anything at this point...
Her mother's voice came: "Hello there! How's about the name Terry for you, little guy?"
And the sound of a baby burbling.
No scream, thank god, but the radio still hadn't stopped. There wasn't anything else but the bed in the bedroom, so she headed back out into the rest of the house, where there was more flickery goodness. Another picture and a voicemail message and she really didn't like where this was going.
"Uh! Uh!"
"What's that Terry? You want the boat? The big, fun, shiny boat?"
"Yuh!"
"Well you don't get it because you're a little stupid baby and I'm a million times better than you!"
"Waaaaaah!"
And Kimmy heard it fade out to the sound of her own childhood giggling. She waited for the bloodcurdling scream, but got nothing, for which she was thankful. She didn't think she deserved to be killed by mutants for that anyway - kids teased their siblings all the time, surely a family sim shouldn't punish a child for that, but then she couldn't understand them generally. But she was also aware how much blonde woman liked Terry and therefore how screwed she was sure she was going to be at some point in the near future.