From Sims to Real Life

In the first chapter we saw how John and Melissa Newman left their hometown because of a fire that destroyed their home and everything they owned. The only thing that was saved was their car and a key they found in the rubble. John remembered that it was the key to the house of a long forgotten heritage. Now this house would be the only possibility to give them a roof over their heads. That’s why they had driven all the way to the State of Hidden Springs.

*****

After he heard his wife scream, John ran into the house and found her lying on the floor. He knew that she had fainted at the mere site of the condition of this place. All the stress they had gone through lately… and now this! It had been too much for her. He gently took her up and wanted to put her on the bed. He put her down again. No he wouldn’t do her a favor putting her on the dirty sheets of that bed.

There were cobwebs all around.

John kneeled next to her and by talking sweetly, he tried to bring her to consciousness. He helped her up and they walked outside. The air definitely helped Mel to her senses. She took a deep breath and said: “Now, let me get organized. First of all we have to open all the windows to get some fresh air in. I really think there’s a serious lack of oxygen inside at the moment.”

They walked back into the house where Mel opened some windows.
– “We have to go to town to buy bed covers and sheets, and wow…, I don’t even dare to open that fridge. When it looks that filthy on the outside, what will I find when I open it? I don’t even want to think of it! We need a new fridge.”
– “Honey, we don’t have money for that.

– “Then we will have to sell the car!”
– “How can you say that? We are not really in the center of the town. You cannot go for groceries walking…, and what… if there isn’t the same carpool service as back home?”
Melissa said bitterly: – “Back home…; forget about back home. It doesn’t exist anymore. We have this house and we must try to make it our home!”
John felt comforted that his wife had adapted to this new situation so fast. – “Well, I suppose we could buy some bikes.”

His wife smiled at him. – “That’s a good idea. Let’s go to town to see if we can sell the car, buy a new fridge, some groceries, sheets and 2 bikes. I hope we can get a good deal on the car and at least have some money in our pockets.”

Yes…, the car was sold for a good price and they ordered a new fridge asking them if they would also remove their old one. They had enough to buy the essentials they would need for the time being. They drove back on their new bikes.

When arriving there, Melissa looked at the garden and said out loud – “You still have to wait a bit…; first of all I must clean the house.”
John laughed. – “Are you talking to the garden?”
– “Yes, I do. The sooner we get acquainted, the better.” She smiled and thought that her husband had never noticed before that she talked to plants. Probably because when she was gardening, he always had been working.
John picked up the newspaper, took it inside and said: – “I think that the paper delivery is gifted with a 6th sense. They delivered a newspaper already. How the heck do they know we moved in here?

Mel, who was busy cleaning up, looked over her shoulder and said “Honey, you might as well have a look in it to see if there’s a job for you. We really should have an income on a regular basis.”
John accepted a job in management. It was what he was used to do back home, but here he had to start at the very beginning.

When he came home, Mel was waiting for him. She looked happy and told him that the new fridge had been installed. “John, I’m really pleased that the essential cleaning is done.”

– “Don’t you think it’s awfully quiet here John? It looks if though people avoid us.”
– “Honey, that’s because we’re new here. We ought to get to know the next door neighbors…; I think I have seen some houses down the road. Now, let’s go to bed…, we need to rest. You will have much more cleaning to do tomorrow and I have to go to work.”
– “Go to bed John. I’ll be right up. I think I am going to have a bath first.”

When Mel finally went to bed, John was still awake. They talked a bit about the many changes that had taken place in their life in only 24 hours. It was not much later that John fell asleep.

Mel was about to fall asleep when she got a strange feeling…. It sounded if though the house was breathing. No, that couldn’t be true…; houses don’t breathe. It must be the unfamiliar sounds. She cuddled up closer to her husband and fell asleep.

That first night in their new house was quiet, although they woke up several times to some of the uncommon sounds that were probably caused by impact of the wind on the old weathered boards of the house. John made a mental note that he had to do something about that as soon as they would have a regular income and some more money to spend.
In spite of the bed being old, it was rather comfortable and they felt rested when they woke up.

They had breakfast together and after that, John took his bike to go to work.

After a while, a pool car stopped in front of the house and when Melissa noticed it, she went over to tell the driver that her husband had taken his bike already. They didn’t know there was a pool car service. The driver thanked her for telling him so and then he looked behind her to the house and garden. “So… you are the owners of this old house… uh…? You better be careful ma’m, strange stories are told about this house.” He drove away. Mel looked puzzled. What did he mean by that? Then she shrugged her shoulders and went back inside to continue her ongoing cleaning task.

When John came home after work he complimented his wife on all that she had done. If it weren’t for the garden, it already started to look like a real home. Mel wouldn’t have a problem, she had the green thumb. Oh God…; that gazebo must have looked pretty once, but it surely needed some repairs! John decided to read a book about tinkering because he wasn’t a handy man; never had been!

Mel had done many repairs in their former house so she was more skilled. That’s why she easily could repair the sink that broke. She had thought of buying a new bed but it was comfortable and money was scarce so she decided to give it a make-over; she sandpapered and polished it. There was still a lot to be done but they had to wait until they had saved up some money.

It was that evening that she noticed that the butterflies in the boxes were still alive. It filled her heart with sorrow. Although it was already late, she took the boxes out and freed the butterflies. No animals should be in cages. That was not their natural habitat. She loved nature in all of its forms but every being in its place. The ivy that grew around the house, making its way up to the roof was pretty and good looking but it almost came through the open window and that would bring insects. She didn’t like that either and decided to trim it a bit.

A few days passed and Mel had begun to do some cleaning up in the garden.

There were two young plants and she took care of them. She had found a seed of some sort in the house. She didn’t know what it was, but decided to plant it. Later, with more time, she would plant vegetables.

To her delight she found out that after having talked to the small tree, it grew much faster and turned out to be a money tree.

Very soon she could harvest money. She was so happy with that! It meant that she could do something more in the house; and that was what she did. She didn’t lose one single moment.

She painted all the doors and windows. She renewed the bathroom and tiled the walls. Then she went to tend to the garden againand looked at those benches …; they really needed a bit of paint as well.

When John came home he noticed all the work that had been done but he didn’t see his wife. “Mel…, where are you honey…?” He walked outside the house and heard her humming.

He approached the bench and saw her sitting on the ground. – “What are you doing?”
– “I’m painting the bench. It’s very necessary.”
– “Oh honey…, relax a moment will you? After all that you’ve done today… you must be exhausted. Besides that…, you make me feel guilty. I would like to help you.

Mel got up and followed her husband to the gazebo. He said: – “This gazebo must have been beautiful. How about repairing it the next weekend?”
– “I’d love to see it in its original state but, to be honest, I think that we should do something to repair the house. Have you seen that many of the wooden sidings have loosened? We could take them away and plaster the walls until there’s more money for better sidings.”
– “Good idea; tomorrow after work I will hire a cement mixer and we’ll try to get the job done as soon as possible.

They went into the house; had something to eat and then Mel caressed her husband’s cheek…“Do you know what I would like to do right now? I feel like doing something we haven’t done lately because of all the stress…; I’d like to relax with you and perhaps… something more….”
John felt very much for that idea and they went to bed.

It was some hours later when John woke up to the sound of something; he didn’t know what, but he saw that his wife wasn’t with him. He jumped out of the bed, got dressed in a spin and ran towards the living room. There he saw Mel who had apparently fainted.

To be continued….

Welcome to this new story. Before starting I would like to thank Wolfspryte for the lot ‘The Tumbledowns’. It was exactly what I needed for this story. Of course I would like to express my gratitude as well to all the creators of the CC that is used in the story and a special thanks to Fredbrenny for helping me with the language. Big hug to you, Fred.

*****

Now come along with John and Melissa Newman who are moving to another state. Both are rather nervous. It’s not the same starting from scratch again at forty years old. Not the same as when they had been just in their twenties

The man started the motor of his car. He wanted to get away quickly; away from the past horror. He looked at the woman, his wife, sitting next to him and noticed that she was even more nervous and desperate than he was. She couldn’t keep hands and feet quiet. Both didn’t want to look back to the remaining of the house they were leaving behind.
He tried to pull himself together and said: “Honey, please stop thinking this nightmare over and over, there’s nothing we can do about it anymore. I’m sorry…. I know that I’m to blame and it’s true…, if I had taken insurance on the house then at least we would have had some money to start over again.”

The woman thought back a moment. They had worked hard to pay the mortgage and they could presume that their house was one of the fanciest houses in their neighborhood.

She thought about the quiet moments they lived there, and lately they had been surrounded by luxury.

Every moment of the day had been scheduled. John had his job in management and she had the house and garden to attend.

On Fridays they always dined in a nice restaurant; sometimes inside and at other times outside on the terrace, but always the same restaurant. Yesterday they had been there without suspecting what they would find when they got home.

In her mind she saw their lovely house again being consumed by the fire and how it took a long time before it fell apart. When the fire fighters arrived… there was nothing they could do anymore.

They sat there on the rubble, trying to assume their destiny. It had been heartbreaking to see her husband, who always used to be so strong, crying.

She said: “We are both to blame. I guess I always tried too hard for the equality between men and women. I have a mind of my own and I thought as well that it would be a good idea to postpone the insurance issue until we would have more money. We postponed it until we completely forgotten about it. We didn’t even think about getting ourselves a smoke alarm!” She remembered the desperation both had felt when they became aware of the range of the past event and the impact it would have on their future. They both sat there in silence for some time.
Until the woman asked: – “John, are you sure you know where you’re going?”

– “I think so Mel. I’ve never been there but I very well remember that my parents inherited that lot after my great-grandmother’s death. It was theirs but they never went there to see it. And since they’re not here anymore, I inherited the house from them. I never thought I would be interested in that house but I’m afraid that it is all we’ve got now.”
Melissa sighed: – “Well… if we don’t like it we could always go back…!”
– “Back to where? To our house that has been destroyed by the fire? No, my dear, we are in this and we better get used to the idea.” John continued driving fast.

– “Damn!” he suddenly had to brake to avoid a cat that ran across the street.
– “John!” Melissa shouted “It’s a cat…, a black cat!”
– “Will you please stop being superstitious? Besides that…, it was a grey cat!”
Melissa put her hands over her face and tried to hide her distress.

In order not to hear her sobbing, John switched the radio on. The transmission wasn’t very clear. He was about to switch it off again when it got in tune. They had arrived to another State because a voice on the radio said: ‘ …And now we continue with Golden Oldies…; here on Radio Hidden Springs where we have World’s best climate; although folks, Fats Domino found his thrill on Blueberry Hill….
– “Honey, we are almost there; I suppose that we will arrive at our new home in less than an hour. Listening to the music relaxed them a bit. Melissa even managed to doze away. She woke up because she missed the familiar sound and feeling of the car in motion.

– “This is the address honey. Here lies our future.” It was a very small house; nothing compared to the one they had before. They got out of the car and felt relieved that they could stretch their legs. They had been driving for hours and especially John was stiff. They didn’t notice that they were being observed.

Cold lifeless eyes watched how that car stopped…, how two people got out of it and how they took some suitcases and boxes out and headed towards the house. The cold eyes now shone with malignity! Now there would be two more people available…, the fun could start!

The house desperately needed some paint. The garden was a terrible mess. Melissa had always loved to work in the garden, but seeing the weeds that had even overgrown a bench, she sighed.

Her husband looked at her if though he wanted to make excuses for the house. “Mel, this house has not been taken care of in at least twenty years. So it’s quite normal that we have to change a few things.”

John put the suitcases down, rescued the key from his pocket and opened the door for his wife who immediately went inside while he picked up the suitcases again.

Then he heard her shout, and he ran through the open door.

To be continued…