From Sims to Real Life

In the previous chapter we left our survivors very worried because Jerome had disappeared. They were so right to be worried… but not for the obvious reasons…

Jerome was going through a bad moment. He had noticed George almost succeeded in making a transmitter and he definitely didn’t want to go home.

He hated himself for what he planned to do, but he did it anyway. He was the one taking some necessary parts for the transmitter away.

For the moment he hid it underneath his bed. But where could he hide it for it never to be found?!!!

That would be very difficult, unless… he would go through the dark, foggy forest.

The forbidden forest where no one of the others ever would go…

But when? People were always around him; at school and at home. Thinking it over…, he decided to skip school.

That morning he got up earlier than usual and instead of going to school, he went running through the canyon.

On the other side, he turned left and went to the forest. He made sure to stay near the mountain side, so he would find his way back.

Then he saw something very unexpected.

In some sort of a niche in the mountain side, stood an old weathered statue or totem!

What does that mean? he wondered. Could this island have been inhabited a long time ago? So it seemed.

As there was a lot of fog around the totem, he hurried away from it and continued going deeper into the forest. While running he thought that if it looked creepy now during the day… what would this forest look like during the night?

In the distance he noticed a rock formation. He approached it and investigated it from all sides.

On the back side of the rocks there was a large mysterious looking cave. He was almost sure nobody would find the robbed stuff if he hid it in there.

He was thinking to go back to the canyon when a noise drew his attention. ‘What was that?’

Since he was a very curious young man, he went over to the place the sound had come from, trying not to make much noise himself.

Then he saw something that made his jaw drop… There was some kind of a hut and stuff scattered around it… Hell… now it started to rain!

He ran towards the hut and noticed that there must be someone living there.

Then a man stepped out through the door. He seemed as surprised as Jerome was.

“What the heck…! This is supposed to be a deserted island!”

“What are YOU doing here?” asked Jerome.

“I was setting up the stage and the preparations for a reality show but… if this isn’t a desert island I’ll have to inform Channel 5. They’ll have to look for another island that can be used for their reality show ‘Lost’. Heavens, think of all the work I’ve done here during the week I’ve been here already!”

“How did you get all this material here? I don’t see anybody else.”

“It has been brought here last week and it cost us a hell of a lot of work to get it all here. I am in charge to prepare everything for the stage.”

The man took a picnic basket and brought it inside the hut. He invited Jerome to come inside to get out of the rain. 

Jerome’s brain was working at full speed. He had been lucky to find this man here. As he didn’t want to be rescued… he said: “Yes, there are many of us living on the other side of the canyon… and I don’t think they will be very pleased with your presence here.”

“Thank you for telling me, young man. Have something to eat as well!”

“No, thank you.”

The man didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

“I want to rest a while before informing my boss. If I do that right now, he’ll send me to do some other job… so I might as well take the rest of the day off and inform the director afterwards. We’ll come back later to pick these materials up. It seems it stopped raining.”

They went outside.

The man still wasn’t in a hurry. He sat down on the grass to enjoy the afternoon’s sunlight.

“Weren’t you going to leave?” asked Jerome.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t wait too long because here, in the Tropics, we don’t have twilight time and without electricity in this forest… you might not find your way out! Besides that, this forest is very foggy during the day… so just imagine what it will be during the night.”

The man said: “That’s a good point you have there. I didn’t think about it. Well, I suppose this material is safe here until it will be picked up. Hey… it’s started raining again!”

He started running away.

“Yeah sure… don’t you worry!” said Jerome out loud. “It will be safe here”.

After that, Jerome made his way back through the forest and to the canyon. The sun was setting already, and the rain was pouring. He doubted he would make it home before dark.

He almost made his way out of the forest when he heard the other survivors call his name. It sounded as if they had been looking for him for a long time.

“There he is!” Lizzy exclaimed. “He’s coming out of the forbidden forest!”

They were relieved they found Jerome after all. Well… as a matter of fact, the boy had been coming to them.

“Where have you been? I told you not to go into that forest!”

“Hey, I’m not a child anymore. I can take care of myself and I don’t think I have to tell you about my whereabouts!”

We will see about that… young man! While you are still in your scholar years, you are considered a boy and we grownups will decide about what’s good for you.

For the moment, you go straight to bed and tomorrow, you’ll take me where you’ve been hiding today!”

Seeing the unwilling expression on Jerome’s face, John raised his voice “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes John… sorry”.

They all went home.

Jerome didn’t sleep very well that night. He hoped the materials would have been removed by the time he and John would arrive there.

Wait…! He could always say he had to go to school first, and after school he would show him that place. Then there wouldn’t be anything left there… He was sure about that.

At last he fell asleep.

To be continued…

 

In the previous chapter we got to know more about Jeff’s background. Our survivors were worried about the future. There wouldn’t be other sims around for a serious relationship. They decided to try and make some kind of transmitter.

John took on the task to teach little Nikki to talk. He was feeling relaxed for the first time since they shipwrecked. He had a beautiful wife and daughter, and he would give his life for both of them… He was happy.

The only shadow over his happiness was the uncertainty about whether they were going to be rescued or not, but he hoped George would finally find a way to communicate with the outer world.

Wishing to make a transmitter was one thing, but making it gave George more problems than he had expected. There always was something missing. Besides that, he couldn’t find the soda can he thought he had seen before.  Now what should he use as an antenna?

He often dreamed about it and would wake up with an idea.

Then he went to the scrap pile in the middle of the night to see if his idea was a good one. Mostly he was disappointed.

At a certain point he asked Jeff and Jerome to help him look for what he needed. Jerome didn’t feel like it and used the ‘…I have to make my homework…’ excuse, but now and again he couldn’t escape and had to lend a helping hand as well.

Jerome was going through the ‘difficult’ age, and Jeff and George understood why. It hadn’t been that long ago they had been teens themselves. But they were still too young to handle the situations the boy created.

More than once they had to bring him back into line. That gave some conflictive moments.

Rose adapted reasonably well to her new life on the island. She was happy she had taken up her job as a teacher.

Her only fear was that when the children would grow up, she would be out of a job and wouldn’t have much to do anymore. She was already imagining it would feel like she was retiring way too young. She pushed away those thoughts and continued her tasks.

Miriam liked her life. Of course, she didn’t have all the luxury she had been used to when living in the beautiful mansion where she grew up, but here she felt healthy, really healthy for the first time in years.

No doctors she had to visit, no more sessions of chemo therapy after which she had always felt worse. After that last session, they told her she could pick up her life again… but before doing so, she decided to go on this cruise.

She hadn’t even told John about the dark moments she had gone through, never wanted to talk about it, because she hated it when people looked at her with a pitiful expression on their face… No, she felt definitely better here, where nobody knew her background. She felt ‘complete’ with her husband and her daughter.

She liked Rose very much and they often went for a walk together. As a matter of fact they had taken up the habit of walking through the canyon and visit the place where they buried Evelyn. They didn’t go there every day, but once every two weeks.

They never dared to go through the forest because there was a creepy looking haze.

They wanted to climb the mountain from where they would be able to overlook the west coast of the island, but that path was too inclined. They would have to work on their skills to be able to climb the entire way up.

John and George already found their way up there, because they had been looking for a high place to build the antenna. Today it didn’t cost them much effort to climb that mountain again. They did noticed however, it would be a hell of a task to bring materials up there.

George said: “You know, John, if we only could make a good strong antenna on a high point we wouldn’t need a radio transmitter or receiver because we could use our cell phones as such.”

“Hey, how odd we didn’t think of that before! John said “Perhaps you can use the aluminum blades I have used to make the solar panels? But it would mean we would have less energy potential for our homes.”

“Yeah, I could use the aluminum to make the receiver’s part of an antenna. Let me think it over.” George answered

“George, why did you not pick up on the first idea you had about the receiver? The plaque I saw at your place looked good to me!”

George scratched his head and answered: “Something very strange has been going on with that plaque. I thought it was complete but then the next day, there were some parts missing and I couldn’t find them anymore. I know it’s impossible here, but I would almost think somebody took them on purpose… If though someone didn’t want us to communicate with the outer world! But then… who in his right mind wouldn’t like to go back home?”

John looked puzzled: “Gee… not even Evelyn would’ve tried to abort that project. No, I think this is not possible.”

They went down the mountain again and headed to the camp. They walked in silence, each with their own thoughts.

Then Lizzy came running to them and seemed to be panicked… “Hey Lizzy… stop running! What’s the matter?”

“I…, Jerome….” she gasped for breath.

“Just wait a moment girl… You have been running too fast. Catch your breath first.”

After she had recovered her breath, Lizzy said: “Jerome hasn’t come to school today and I can’t find him anywhere!”

The two men looked at each other and couldn’t believe what they heard…

John was the first one who reacted. Let’s all go and find him. He might be hiding somewhere.

To be continued…