What is Wright - Episode One
It's times like these I'm happy rarely anyone stumbles across my Sims corner of the internet.
Anyway, I feel so asinine posting this but I spent a lot of time on it. I might as well show it off. Maybe it will *gasp* amuse someone.
Please ignore historical inaccuracies, namely how Charlotte speaks.
And no, I couldn't think of a better title.
Good morning! You didn't have any trouble finding the place, did you? I know it can be such a hassle - the whole "over the mountain and through the woods" part can get tricky.
Anyway, my name is Charlotte Wright. Well, it used to be Charlotte Gardiner but now it's Wright. Mrs. John Wright. Right.
I should give you a little background information, shouldn't I?
After a short courtship Dr. John Wright and I were engaged. It was more of a marriage of convenience than attraction. John was quickly approaching thirty and since his first choice of a wife turned him down he asked me, his second choice. I said yes, of course, but I had my own reasons.
I was the last unmarried daughter in a family with five children so my mother's number one priority was marrying me off. Now her number one priority is grandchildren. Mothers.
But I had no other suitors and so many women my age were already married. Not only was my mother pressuring me to snap up the first man who showed an interest but I felt society was frowning at me.
Not that I regret marrying John. Oh no, I am sure there are many worse husbands and some better husbands.
John is a doctor in a small asylum on the outskirts of town - asylums have to be on the outskirts of town, the patients scream at night, you see. He's a good man, quiet and serious and proper nearly to a fault. He spends most of his time at the asylum doing God knows what to God knows who. I always wondered what kind of people ended up there. Where they rich old men driven mad with paranoia? Were they your old senile grandmothers who thought the sky was collapsing?
But I digress. I do that quite a lot. If I ever get too far off topic just say, "Charlotte -" Oh there I go again. Sorry.
John and I were married in April a few months after the engagement. It was a small wedding, but I was terribly embarrassed. My veil fell in the mud on the way to the church but the wedding had to go on. My brothers still tease me about it.
Married life isn't much different than being single except you share a room with a man instead of your sisters. When I have children it will change. I'm not looking forward to that so much. I mean I am but I'm not. I've barely been married six months and I've known my husband for what, a year and a half now? Two years? Not like that matters. So many other people have been married and had children a few months after meeting.
There I go again, getting off topic. Like I was saying, married life isn't much different than being single. I entertain guests more often - less to do in a house of two so I invite company over regularly.
I sew more often, too. It's less mending than living at home but John always gets his shirts so messy and sometimes there's a tear or one of the buttons fall off. He works in an asylum, how much physical activity does he do to ruin his shirts?
Apart from that, I sew for recreation. The first month we were married I completed a suit for a young woman. I hoped to create a career from my hobby but John said there was no need for it, his wages supported us quite well. I personally think he was threatened by the idea that I could get along without him.
I mean, a woman should be able to get along without a man, shouldn't she? Sometimes I don't know what to think ...
You have enough background information now, right? Good. Background information is such a bore - that's slang, I know. John doesn't like me to use slang; he says it's too common.
Anyway, let's start with what you came to hear.
The first time I went to the asylum was sometime in March - I remember that because it was still cold and I had to put on my coat. John and I were engaged then and I decided to stop by and say hello. It was around lunchtime. I figured the patients would be eating so the doctors wouldn't be busy.
I should mention the asylum wasn't very large. From what I saw of the second floor there were five rooms for the patients (the doors had glass in the front and you could see the padded walls inside). I don't know how many patients were in each room - two, maybe? From what I could see there was no third floor but maybe there were some rooms in the basement.
Upon entering, a green-suited man greeted me and took my coat. His name was Dr. Edwards and he explained he had just been on his way upstairs when he saw me coming in.
"May I help you, madam?"
"Yes, I'm looking for Dr. Wright, sir. If you could tell me where ..."
His voice and mannerisms were polite but I could tell I had interrupted him.
"Yes, yes, I will tell him you are here. Is he expecting you?"
"No I just stopped by."
Dr. Edwards led me to the sitting area.
"Who should I say is calling?" he asked.
"Miss Gardiner, thank you."
So I waited. And waited. And waited. Twenty minutes passed and I grew tired of waiting. I hadn't seen anyone since Dr. Edwards left so I decided to look around.
I should mind my own business more. I really should. There was a small building in the back that caught my interest. It didn't occur to me that there might be people in it, people who would not appreciate a nosy woman poking around, but I was lucky and it was empty. Dr. Edwards took my coat so I hurried through the cold.
It looked like an operating or experimenting or medical room. There was a steel table in the center with bottles and test tubes and books and jars piled on the counters. It was an absolute mess - blood and rust stains everywhere. It looked like something out of a horror novel.
What left the biggest impression on me was the smell. It smelled like, oh I hate to say it! But it smelled like a rotting a corpse. It was difficult to breathe in there; the windows hadn't been opened in ages. I left quickly and returned to the main building.
I was anxious about the state of the room - what were they doing in there? No normally functioning asylum today should look like that!
Again, what I saw of the first floor was deserted. I doubted Dr. Edwards had come back for me so I continued exploring. Upstairs.
It was utterly desolate upstairs. The wallpaper was worn and yellowed, the curtains stained and dusty. A man in a blue suit, another doctor I suppose, was outside of one of the five windowed doors. He didn't notice me, I guess, because he entered the room shortly after I saw him.
In front of me was a short hallway with the last door open. This is when reason should have kicked in - go back downstairs and wait for John. There's no way I would do this, though. By now you should know what a pry I am. And to top it off I heard John's voice. I approached the open door quietly.
"Where did you say you went?" John asked threateningly.
"Blppfffff...."
"Where is he? You met him, didn't you?"
"Plbtttt....."
Who was he talking to? Who was he talking about? I had to find out.
"Where is he?"
"Uh...."
The floor creaked. The floor had to creak. A creaking floor is a staple in such settings. John spun around, shocked. He slammed the patient's door shut and pulled me out of the short hall.
"Charlotte, what are you doing here?"
"I came here to see you. I thought it would be a nice surprise."
"Nice? You thought it would be nice to visit me here?" He calmed down slightly. "Why are you upstairs? Who told you to come up here?"
"No one told me to come up here," I replied, more irritated at his tone than his words.
"What did you hear?"
"What does it matter what I heard?" I snapped. "If it's so secretive you should shut the door. Anyone can wander in with the kind of security this place has."
"Charlotte..." he said through gritted teeth. "I'll see you at home."
After that, John led me downstairs and made sure I took a cab home. That was my first experience at the asylum. I didn't go again until a month later and that time I was invited.
Notes
- Charlotte's lack of veil is attributed to Pronup Sims's screwy mesh and my zero motivation to go download another one.
- I have no idea what old asylums looked like so I used my imagination and awesome decrepit Victorian CC.
- After I made John and Charlotte argue, they made out. Go figure.
- The blue suited doctor is actually the patient with a makeover.
- You win at life if you catch what phrase I stole from Dracula. And by "win at life" I mean totally PWN at life.
Charlotte is an edited version of PeachT's beautiful Genevieve
at GoS.
The asylum is a renovated version of a house by Christine at CC4Sims
.
On the off-chance someone found this and read all of it, constructive criticism is welcome, but please be nice about it. This is my first sims story.