A Touch Of Randomness, Chapter 23.2: Scare Chord

[jothirteen]

NOTE: Since the last chapter was uploaded a very long time ago (over 9 months now), I would advise you to reread it (if you have the time) before reading this one.




First of all, I have to thank my (very) patient readers for sticking with me and my story for this long, through cliffhangers and times of procrastination. I didn't post anything about it this year, but back in July, the 6th anniversary of the "birth" of ATOR (creating Calvin Random) took place. That's an awfully long time to be writing the same story, alphabet legacy or not, but I owe to all my readers, past ones and current ones, the fact that I always end up coming back to it, no matter how many times I think about giving up.
Who knows, one day I might even finish it.

And so, without further reflections and acknowledgements, here is Chapter 23.2.



~~~

"Be brave, dear one, be changed or be undone."
~"Be Brave" (My Brightest Diamond)


~~~



Ichabod Random turned another page of the book he was currently flipping through - saying he was actually reading it would have been untrue.
His mind had been elsewhere for the past few months, ever since that fateful day he had discovered Felicia had convinced his grandmother Lillian to murder his mother, so that the wicked woman could add another ill-fated generation to the heirline she had to all purposes created, by making him give birth to the Grim Reaper's child.
Ichabod had been planning his escape for a long time now. Right after he gave birth, he would wait until the two women were too busy plotting to notice him and run all the way to Randomville. Once he was there, he could surely find someone to help him rescue his father, Howl, and his child from the House of Fallen Trees. He was certain that they would be both safe left with Felicia and Lillian for a while. After all, Howl had always been Lillian's favourite child, the only person she would never harm. And the child would be the new heir - Felicia couldn't afford to lose him or her before they had any children of their own.


Yes, he had everything planned, and was even beginning to feel something akin to hope for the first time in months.
What Ichabod Random had not counted on, though, was his child's decision that that would be the day of their birth.


When Lillian Tale-Random went upstairs a few hours later to check on her grandson, she was in no way prepared to what she would find.


Ichabod was lying curled up on the floor, motionless, and with a terrible certainty Lillian knew it was too late to help him.
A newborn purple-skinned girl was lying next to her father's body, wriggling her toes, her dark blue eyes staring at the ceiling.


"He's gone. You said he would live. I don't know what happened, Felicia, the baby- you said that a person usually died when a Reaper Child was born, but it could be anyone! You never said that Ichabod could die during the birth!"
"Lillian. Calm down. Yes, I said that anyone could die...clearly, this is an unusual event, though probably not unheard of. Normally, the person that dies due to the birth is not the parent. This time, well, the odds were against Ichabod. There's nothing we could have done to prevent it. We couldn't have known."


"But then...you also said that when the Reaper's child itself dies, there is a third death of someone around them..."
"Yes, that is correct."
"That means it could be either of us. I never though we'd be in danger, I- Felicia, that child can very well be the death of one of us! The effect that that will have in our plans...what are we going to do about it?"


"We keep her alive, Lillian."


"And, since poor Ichabod is gone now, it's your job to raise the girl."

***


Shortly after the birth of Ichabod Random's daughter, Randomville was ravaged by a thunderstorm. At Joker Random's household, Frida Rodiek was stargazing when it started.
Before she could even realize what was happening, her telescope was set on fire by lighting, and seconds later she was burning as well.


Joker and Frida's four children were terrified, especially since their father was at work and could not help them. The youngest, Mary-Sue, quickly went to call Randomville's Fire Department, as her twin sisters held each other in tears, and the oldest child, Leander, ran outside to try and help his mother.


As he tried to reach his mother, Leander found himself caught in the flames as well.


After what seemed like hours to him, a firefighter eventually arrived. But it was already too late for Frida.


Joker Random, who only returned home after everything was already over, would blame himself for years to come.

***


The main legacy house, though, was going through much happier times. The young heiress, Muriel Random, was pregnant with her first child, and everyone was eagerly waiting for the birth of the first main line child. David was absolutely thrilled about his son or daughter's impending birth, and, even though they had four grandchildren already, Landon and Lala Random's enthusiasm was in no way diminished.


"For the last time, David, I feel fine." Muriel told her husband, for the fifth time or so that morning. She did know that her husband's constant worrying was born of a need to keep her and their baby safe. But, truth be told, that day he was starting to annoy her.
"Are you sure? If you want, Muriel, I can go and get-"


"No. David, seriously, everything is fine with me and the baby. We're as healthy as we can be, no need to worry. Now...Marta did call me this morning, asking if you could go with her, Miguel and Fran to Bluewater. I know - and so does she - that you want me to stay home for now, and well, you've been so restless lately. I'm not the only one who needs to relax, you know? I think you'd enjoy it." she said, with a sweet smile.
David did not try to contest her decision.


The next few months went by on a similar routine. Muriel was just grateful it was almost at an end now. The pregnancy was starting to wear her out, and at this point she only wanted it to be over and her baby to be in her arms.
She soon got her wish, as she went into labour one morning, not too long after those thoughts first crossed her mind.


While David was panicking and anxiously pacing around the room, Muriel gave birth to a little blonde girl, who had the same bright blue eyes as herself.


"Hello there, little Nialla." she whispered into her daughter's ear. "See, here we are safe and sound, and wasn't your dad so silly for running around like that? Worrying takes you nowhere, now you just remember that as you get older and you're set for life."
David, now feeling blessedly relieved, just shook his head, but Muriel could see a smile on his face.

***


Weeks and months went by, and still Lillian couldn't bring herself to feel any sort of love for her great-granddaughter, who had been named Jezebel on Felicia's suggestion. Sure, she was raising the girl as she was her own, and she couldn't really complain about the child's behaviour so far.
That, truth be told, was part of the problem. Jezebel was a sweet, quiet child, who had never given Lillian any trouble. But she was...odd, somewhat. Lillian couldn't even explain why, but there was some unseen eerie quality about the girl that disturbed her deeply.


It might have been Ichabod's unexpected death that started the whole thing, true. There was still something else, though, and Lillian knew, deep down, that she would never feel truly comfortable around that child.
She just felt wrong, after all.

***


Lala soon found herself as the one responsible for her granddaughter Nialla more and more often shortly afterwards.


There was a very obvious reason for this, though: despite Nialla being so young still, Muriel was already pregnant with her second child, and not feeling well enough to tend to her daughter during most of those days.


"Who'd have known that I'd become the grandfather to so many children in such a short time. I really thought that you and Muriel would have more sense than me and Lala did. Do you want to end up with six children as well?" Landon snickered.
"Just three or four, actually." David replied, trying to ignore his father-in-law's disapproving comments. "After all, won't it be better if they're all close in age?"


"Ha! Very true, that, David, I must admit. It was the case with my children, sure, and with me, Lawrence, Lliane and Light too. And none of us can complain much about it. It sure made things interesting. But I still think that you may very well end up with more children than you expected - multiples run in my family, don't forget!"
Having said that, Landon started laughing once again. David just rolled his eyes and shrugged.


Mocking remarks aside, Landon was much happier with his status as grandfather than he'd ever admit. Even before she reached toddlerhood, little Nialla was already the apple of her grandfather's eye.


Around that time, Muriel was enjoying a rare good day (as morning sickness was concerned) when she ran into a very unexpected visitor.
"Mary? What are you doing here?"
"I was just coming to visit you, Muriel. That's what friends do." the girl said, smiling.


Muriel would not call Mary-Sue Rodiek a friend of hers, not really. More like an acquaintance. She had briefly dated Mary's brother Leander during her teen years, and that was when they first met. To Muriel's confusion, the girl had started following her around whenever she happened to drop by, and had likely adopted Muriel as a role model. Then Muriel had stopped seeing Leander, and she had not seen Mary either since.
Muriel was about to ask the girl if she shouldn't be at school, when she suddenly realized that the poor girl had gone to her because she probably had no one else she was close to now. Mary's mother had died in a freak accident before Nialla was born, her siblings were all quite a few years older than her, and had never been close, as far as Muriel knew, and her father...well, Joker Random had become a different man after Frida's death. A cold and aloof man, who had buried himself in his work and forgotten about his children.
So she let Mary stay.


Mary quickly became a regular visitor to the legacy household, much to David's disapproval. He couldn't bring himself to fully trust that girl for some reason, and often asked Lala or Landon to keep an eye on her when he was about to leave for work.


Nialla, who had recently become a toddler, took Muriel's mind away from David's suspicions almost every time. Having her grandfather dote on her so much had started to turn her into a somewhat spoiled child, though Muriel still hoped the situation would improve after the new baby's birth.


During her second pregnancy, Muriel would find Mary-Sue at her house more and more often every day. She always made sure to ask the girl if she shouldn't be at school, and if her father knew where she was, but Mary's answer was always the same.


"My father doesn't care if I'm here or anywhere else. And I am where I'm supposed to be."


Mary was no longer a child, after all, so Muriel usually stopped questioning her at that point in the conversation. Besides, there was still enough going on to make her forget about Mary potentially skipping school.


It could be said that, while caring for Nialla was no easy task, those were some of the happiest years of David and Muriel's life. David adored his little daughter, and made sure that most of Nialla's training would fall to him (as Muriel's attention would soon be demanded by their second baby).
The only thing he would have changed about those days was Mary-Sue Rodiek's presence. The girl being there so often disquieted him, and he frequently found himself thinking that Muriel was too soft on her. One day, he'd have to have a long talk with Joker Random about his apparent neglect of his youngest child.


Soon enough, Muriel went into labour, which was fortunately very quick and easy this time around.


Her second daughter, Nuria Random, had her mother's dark hair, but her father's light blue eyes.


The whole family rejoiced at Nuria's birth, and Landon and Lala were especially thrilled, since they were now the grandparents to seven children (as Marta had given birth to a second child around the time Nialla was born). And, since Miguel's long-time girlfriend Lucy was due to give birth any day, they'd soon find themselves as proud grandparents to a brood of eight.


Young Nialla did not care much about her sister's birth, even though she seemed to understand what was happening somewhat. The baby was just uninteresting to her, so she just ignored her little sister in favour of her toys.


After Nuria's birth, Mary-Sue started visiting the legacy household more and more often (which could, or not, have something to do with the fact that David had recently been promoted and now worked longer hours).


She had proved to be quite fond of Nialla before, but she absolutely adored baby Nuria, spending long periods of time softly singing to her or just watching her sleep.


One day, however, David returned home to find Mary in his daughters' nursery, and promptly lashed out at the girl. Mary kept telling him that she was a friend of Muriel's, and that she was just trying to help her caring for the girls, she had no intention of letting harm come to them whatsoever. That did not convince David, though, and he sent her away in anger.


His intention to talk to Muriel about Mary-Sue's constant visits had to wait, though, as Muriel had just found out she was pregnant for the third time.


Nialla reached her childhood years soon afterwards. Still very much the family's golden girl, she felt nothing but indifference towards her sister Nuria and the idea of yet another younger sibling.


She had the pose of a princess, and constantly expected to be treated like one too. Despite her parents no longer having as much time for her as they used to (David because of his job, Muriel because of her pregnancy and caring for Nuria), she knew she could always count on her grandparents, especially Landon, to cater to her many whims.


Nuria Random was not anything like her sister in temperament. Not only did she favour her mother in looks, but she was also a more easygoing and optimistic child, even during her toddler years.


Which was very much of a relief for her mother. Muriel just hoped that Nuria and the yet unborn baby would grow up to be positive influences for Nialla. A difficult child was usually bad news in the Random family.


She would still have to wait quite a while to see if her wishes came true. For now, Nuria was just a sweet toddler, content to spend her days playing with Nialla's old toys or sleeping peacefully.


Muriel's third labour started very much like the one she'd had with Nuria.


Soon, she was holding her newborn son, who had the same black hair and bright blue eyes as herself.


But there was still a surprise in store for Muriel, David and the rest of the household.


A surprise that came in the form of a baby girl with David's blonde hair and light blue eyes.


Muriel thought she shouldn't have been surprised - she was a twin herself, after all. For some reason, she had not imagined she'd end up with twin children as well.
The new babies, grandchildren number nine and ten for Landon and Lala, were named Neville and Nymeria Random.

***


Lillian looked at the girl, feeling uneasy as always in her presence. That had not decreased over the years as she had hoped, instead, it seemed to get stronger year after year.


The girl, however, was still a well-behaved, sweet-natured child, which just disturbed Lillian further.


And now...now Jezebel had finally gone to her and asked her what had happened to her parents.
"You're the Grim Reaper's child." she managed to mutter after a while. "So, you see, one of your parents would never have been able to raised you. Do not think that's an unique situation, though: through the Reaper, you have many half-brothers and half-sisters spread all over numerous cities, countries, worlds. Just not here in Randomville."
"Oh. I see." Jezebel said, eyes wide open. She then was silent for a while, until she turned to face Lillian again.
"What about my other parent? He, or she, would be here to raise me."


"Your other father was my grandson, Ichabod. He died when you were born." Lillian replied, coldly.
Jezebel looked sad for a short moment, then she started questioning Lillian again.
"Oh, then you're actually my great-grandmother. Not a mother or grandmother or anything...but the man upstairs...then he is my grandfather, right?"
"My son, Howl. Yes, he is. You shouldn't go and disturb him, though. The death of his wife before you were born and the death of his son when you were born broke his heart. He hasn't been himself for many years now."


Jezebel had not replied after that, but she did start visiting Howl often after that day. She was careful, though, always making as little noise as possible when entering the room.


No matter how long she spent there, hoping her grandfather would notice her, ask why she was there, maybe talk to her, he never did. Howl Random just lied there, looking at the ceiling, lost in his own mind.


So Jezebel started visiting the dead as well. With Howl unresponsive and Felicia and Lillian cold and indifferent towards her at best, there was no one else for her to turn to.
She discovered her ancestors' urns scattered in an empty room in the second floor. She made sure they would at least have end tables to stand on, and then brought a lamp from another room upstairs. She would spend many hours there, talking to them, or herself, or maybe even all of them.

***


That day started as innocently as any other.
Mary-Sue had been there, playing with Nuria, that morning. That everyone was sure of.


David remembered taking Nuria to the kitchen after that to give her a bottle. Muriel had been there then, feeding little Neville.


Then David had gone to work. And Muriel had received several calls over the day from siblings and friends, and had been busy looking after the twins as well.
It was already dark when she entered her oldest daughters' room to tuck them in. Nialla was already asleep, and snoring, which made her smile. Then she turned around and froze. Nuria was not asleep on her blanket. Nor was she anywhere else in the room.


Muriel ran to the nursery, but only the twins were there, sleeping in their cribs. She screamed for Nuria, but there was no answer.


Terrified, she ran in search of her parents.


"Dad, is Nuria with you? Is she with Mom? I need to-"
"Muriel, your mother took Nuria to her room hours ago. She should be sound asleep by now."
"She's gone. Gone. Dad, she's not in her room, or the twins' room, and I can't find her anywhere, I tried calling for her, but she...she didn't-"
Muriel broke into tears at that point. Landon, seeing how serious the situation was, immediately called for Lala and David.


They searched the house trying to find Nuria, checking every place they could think of.


A cold, gripping fear clutching at his chest, David ran outside, trying to find even the slightest hint that Nuria might have been there. But he found nothing.


Landon, meanwhile, went to wake Nialla up, a terrible suspicion starting to take form in his mind.
"Nialla! Nialla, sweetie, I need you to wake up, please. It's your sister. Nuria is missing."


Nialla looked up at her grandfather, still not quite awake.
"No, Nuria was asleep. Grandma brought her here ages ago. Then I fell asleep as well."
"Did you hear anything? Was anyone here, Nialla? Besides me, your grandmother or your parents?"


"No..." Nialla said, looking confused. "Well, Mary-Sue was here today...can't remember when she left...but she is here every day anyway, right?"


"Yes, indeed... Every day."


"Muriel, sweetheart, you have to try and calm down, just for a while... Your father is already calling everyone he can think of, David has gone out into the streets...they will find Nuria, I'm sure of it. You have to be strong, for her and for your other children. We are all here for you, baby girl."


Landon Random lost count of the number of calls he made that night. Soon, a team of worried friends and relatives was searching the whole town, hoping to find the missing child.


Soon, a group of worried friends and relatives was searching the whole town, hoping to find the missing child. Yet, Landon still feared it would only be in vain.


And so was David, relentlessly crusing the streets closer to their house, hoping to find any sign Nuria had been there, anything that the others might miss.


Meanwhile, Lala, who had never seen her daughter so upset, decided that giving Muriel a sedative would be for the best, and just hoped Nuria would have been found, safe and sound, by the time Muriel woke up.
While her husband and son-in-law were doing everything they could to find her granddaughter, she sent Nialla back to bed and made sure the twins were cared for.


When David returned home, after hours of a fruitless search, Landon took his suspicions to him, telling him what Nialla had said, and how he was starting to think Nuria's disappearance could very well have been a well-planned kidnapping.
Needless to say that David took it very badly, screaming in anger at how his distrust of the Rodiek girl had been right all along.


Landon knew they should be cautious when dealing with Joker Random, no matter how upset they were, they had no proof that Mary-Sue had actually taken Nuria.


Joker was a man with a notoriously bad temper, and that accusation would likely have them make an enemy for life.


Still, this was a grave matter, and as he saw David looked as if he was about to cry, Landon made up his mind.


The next morning, Landon called Mary-Sue over, and coldly explained the situation to her. The girl did admit she had been there (but they had known that already), but said that she had left during the afternoon, and Nuria had been with Lala by that time.
She seemed shocked that they would think her capable of such a horrible thing, and denied every accusation. She just kept repeating that she was just a friend of Muriel's, and that she'd never do anything to harm her or her children.


That was when David lost his patience, and started yelling at her, calling the girl every insult he could think of, while threatening both her and her father.


Mary-Sue just turned very pale and quietly muttered that it would be best for her to leave.


Landon and David paid a visit to Joker Random that night, which did not go well. Outraged at the accusations, Joker had quite a few threats to throw back at Landon and David as well.


When he started insinuating that it was much more likely that the girl's disappearance had been orchestrated by a closer relative, Landon knew he had been right.


Seeing David dangerously close to starting a fight with Joker, Landon quickly grabbed his son-in-law by the arm and told him they should go home.
He had never felt as empty and miserable before.


As she overheard her father talking to her mother in the next room, Muriel knew that, despite everything Landon and David had done during the past day, they were nowhere closer to finding out what had happened to her little girl.
She tried not to cry as she told herself that at least she was sure Nuria was still alive. She would have known if something had happened to her. She would know.


Mary-Sue Rodiek was forbidden by her father to talk to Muriel Random or any other member of that household ever again. Even though he was quick to defend his family's reputation, he seemed to lost little sleep over the consequences of this scandal for herself, his own daughter. He had just told her to "keep out of sight over the next few months".


It was all so unfair, so terrifying. She hadn't done anything. She had just been there that day to entertain Nuria while Muriel and her mother were busy with the twins. She had told the truth, yet no one had believed her. Not even her own father, she suspected.
And now, as the news of Nuria's kidnapping spread, she was well on her way to becoming a social pariah in Randomville.


Later that week, Lala went to Nialla's room while her granddaughter was away at school, and silently picked up Nuria's blanket, putting it in her own closet.
It would stay there, untouched, for many years to come.



~~~



R.I.P. Ichabod Random
Only child to Howl and Rosa Random, heir to the House of Fallen Trees heirline, whose life was cut too short. A good man, despite his short reign as heir, who tried to break free of Felicia and Lillian's rule, and might have even succeeded, had he not unexpectedly died after his daughter's birth.
He will be dearly missed.



R.I.P. Frida Rodiek
Oldest daughter of Amílcar and Error Rodiek, the first girl after five boys in a row. Had a quiet and happy (if short) life with her fiancé Joker Random and their four children. She was the only character in this story so far (not counting those who died of old age) whose death was not part of the plot, but due to a freak accident in game.
She shall be missed.

Comments

[seventeentheye.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much, Ashley. :D

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

My flist is flying past faster than Mario Cart with Myshuno on.

I wasn't expecting Ichabod to die, but seeing the end-it was an accident? Also Frida's death, Oh gosh that must have been terrible to play.

So the big question, did Mary do it? I'm going to say no, but I guess I'll find out next chapter maybe.

I'm hoping Jezebel might be the downfall of Felicia and Lillian.

Great chapter, sorry to be so late with the comment.

[seventeentheye.livejournal.com]

Ichabod's death was sort of an accident (but still part of the plot, unlike Frida's). I've made it so that in my personal story canon, the birth of a child of the Grim Reaper is always associated with 3 deaths, not only the death of a sim that has to occur for them to be conceived. So, that "usual" death is the first one, and the deaths of two completely random sims in the same area (a vaguely defined area that can even be larger than the neighbourhood said Reaper child was born in) will happen when that Reaper child is born and at the moment of their death. So, the thing with Ichabod was that he was really unlucky, and ended up being the one to die at the time of Jezebel's birth - it could have been anyone else in the neighbourhood, anyone at all.

I was so sad when it happened. No one could even plead for her, since Joker was at work, Leander had also been caught on the fire, Mary-Sue was a child, and I was terrified of having the twins catch on fire too and have Mary-Sue taken away by the social worker if all her siblings died as well, leaving Joker without a family. :( I ended up saving the game because...I don't even know, I usually end up doing that when my sims die accidental deaths (which luckily does not happen often at all). My reasoning is something like...good things can happen when playing the game, but the bad ones are also a part of it.

I can't confirm or deny anything about Mary right now, but I can say that the chapter after the next one (23.4) will deal more closely with Nuria's kidnapping, who did it and why. The next chapter (23.3) will be more focused on the other three gen N children (Nialla, Neville and Nymeria).

Jezebel is not very good news for Lillian and Felicia, which might end up being a good thing, yes. ;)

Never mind that the comment was late, Jo, I do the same thing when commenting on stories I follow all the time. :) And thank you so much for your feedback, comments really make my day every time.