Edward knew in his heart that Isabelle would never leave the lot without him to guide her, and never leave Jessica alone by herself. The only other possible explanation was with the complete destruction of the house, Izzy was gone forever. On the few occasions that he had guided Izzy to her parents burial place, Izzy had sat and talked to them, he was only barely able to make out their forms, and had only been able to hear Izzy's voice. Edward took Jessica and his belongings to the graveyard to let Izzy's parents what had happened.
As Edward entered the graveyard, he saw a dark winged creature conversing with the Salter ghosts, Edward sat at the edge of the treeline on the hill overlooking the graveyard and waited for her to leave.
"Mister Salter, Mrs. Salter, I don't know if you can hear me, but I think Isabelle has been made to move on, I'm hoping she is with you." Edward paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I don't know who was just here or why, but I think she might be hunting either baby Jess or me, so we are leaving town so I can keep her safe."
Edward stood silently for a few minutes, the only response was a gentle breeze that touched his cheek, which Edward wanted to believe was Isabelle saying goodbye. He trudged back up to the treeline, collected his bag, and made his way to the rail yard.
Edward woke up in the dingy boxcar, his eyes scanned to make sure some hobo hadn't stolen his backpack while he slept. He stomach growled as he moved to open the sliding door and inspect his surroundings. Edward had taken the line for Starlight Shores, still another day and a half away. He'd mostly likely be starving by the time he got there, or worse, he wouldn't be. The train began slowing down.
"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.", Edward sang quietly to himself, wishing that he had a cake, or anything else to eat. Jessica was out of formula, and he hadn't eaten in days. He had fought against becoming a true Gobbler for years, and he felt like he was loosing the fight.
Edward knew he needed to find real food and soon, he wasn't looking forward to jumping from a moving train with Jess, no matter how slow it was going. Edward looked in through the top of the Backpack, Jessica was still sleeping soundly, snuggled among their belongings. Edward tucked a few more things around Jess to protect her and hefting the bag gently, prepared to jump off.
The train slowed almost to a walking pace to cross an old rickety bridge over a dried up river bed, as the train reached the far side of the bridge, Edward suspected the train would pick up pace again, and he held the backpack tightly to his chest, offering a quick prayer to the maker as he jumped. Edward followed the tracks to the edge of town, and putting down his pack, took Jessica out of her makeshift sleeping bag, and assembled his fishing rod.
"Reach in ter yer pocket, and pull out yer fishing license real slow", demanded a voice. "I.. I.. don't have a license, I.. didn't know!", stammered Edward. "No license, and a commercial quantity, that's a §200 fine, and a week in lock up son.", growled the voice.
"Joe, how about you head back to the car, I'll handle this.", suggested a female voice firmly. "Yes Ma'am.", barked Officer Joe, a hint of disappointment in his voice as he retreated to the squad car.
"Don't mind sergeant Miller, he is very old school, and if he was in charge, he would have the whole town locked up until they could prove themselves innocent.", stated the new voice. "I am Police Chief Diffy, Kim Diffy, and you and this little mermaid are?
"I'm Edward and this is my daughter Jessica, we just arrived in town this morning, and, uh, she, um, isn't a mermaid.", Edward offered as his mind raced for a way out of this social entanglement, 'Especially with the law.' Edward thought.
"Oh I know, she is a Vampire like me.", Police Chief Diffy stated, as she smiled down at Jessica. "Now, I'll let the fine and jail time slide, but you need a §10 fishing license before you real in another fish, or residential status if you plan on stayin' here in Midnight Hollow."
Edward pleaded "Look, our house just burned down, my girlfriend just died, all I have left is that bag, a broom, my daughter and §3, I cant afford a license, or food, or accommodation or anything, I'm just trying to survive and feed my baby!"
"I'll tell you what, I have a good feeling about you, get in the car, I'll take your up to the town hall, get you a new residents pack, and a fishing license, if you plan on staying, that is?", offered Kim, who felt sorry for the newcomer.
Police Chief Diffy escorted Edward through the maze that was town hall, arriving at a desk where a young dark haired fairy was shuffling a huge pile of papers into different boxes. "Chief Diffy, how can I help you?", the Fae asked enthusiastically. "I need a full new residents kit, Saffron, with a commercial fishing license for my new friend here.", Smiled Kim. Saffron disappeared into a back room, and emerged with a large cardboard storage box.
Kim reached out to take Jessica, "You'll need to fill out a few of these forms first, and brush the hair of your face for your fishing license photo." Kim advised Edward. Saffron handed Edward some papers, "You will need to fill these forms out immediately, the rest are for the future, school enrollments, pet registration, that sort of thing.", she smiled.
"He is so cute!", Saffron mouthed at Kim, while Edward was distracted with paperwork. Kim grinned as she snuggled the baby. "Ah, um, address, I'm not sure?", Edward asked hesitatingly. "42 Blackthorn Road.", stated Kim.
Chief Diffy drove Edward and Jessica to the listed address. "This is my old house, I was renting it to my sister, she just moved out to Brightwater Bay, left most everything behind, I'll rent it to you cheap, the first two weeks free, give you time to earn some simoleons."
"I, ah, don't know what to say.", said Edward. "You can say thank you Kim, I won't let you down, I won't cause any trouble, I won't burn down your house, and I won't make you regret helping a stranger.", suggested Kim.
"You'll need a car soon, It's illegal to two up in a broom, I can help you there as well.", Kim stated. "Also, do not, under any circumstances let stray cats inside the house, or hire a baby sitter except through the council offices.", Kim added as she handed over the keys.
"Also, I suggest you stay out of the garden until you get yourself a chainsaw and a suit of armor, it's pretty wild back there.", Kim grinned.
Edward entered the main room and inspected his new dwelling.
It had one large bedroom, with a crib and a double bed.
A small kitchen with the bare essentials.
And a sparsely decorated bathroom.
He put Jessica in the cot and wandered back out side to look at the garden.
Kim hadn't been joking, the garden was a jungle.
Edward found a small unopened tin of baby formula in a kitchen cupboard, it was good for about a week's worth of feeds. He had to surrender the illegal fish from earlier in the day, and his stomach was empty.
Edwards stomach growled loudly and he quickly place Jessica on the floor with the two fluffies that he had rescued from the bunker for Jessica, and retreated to a safe distance.
He pulled out his fishing rod, and locking the door behind him, went in search of the nearest body of water to try some night fishing.
Edward threw the handful of anchovies into a frying pan, it was a measly dinner, but it stopped his stomach from making noise. Edward opened the bedroom door, expecting to find Jessica sleeping in her pink blanket, he was in for a shock. Instead of a baby in a blanket, Jessica was now a naked toddler!
Edward picked up his daughter, now that he had eaten and it felt safe to do so. "Lucky for you, I brought some big girl clothes with us, let me see what I can find."
"I don't know about you, but I could sleep for a week!", Edward told Jessica as he placed her in the crib.
Edward sat on the dresser to watch his baby girl fall asleep, he went over the events of the last week in his mind trying to make sense of everything.
He passed out long before Jessica.
Who watched her father sleep before her eyelids became heavier than lead.
The next day Kim arrived in an old beat up F-100, "Oooh, look at you, aren't you a cutey-pie." Kim gushed.
"I gave my sister §800 for it, it looks a little rough, but mechanically it's in perfect condition, it has a baby seat, and the best damn heater ever put into an automobile. Pay for it when you got it."Kim stated.
"Thank you Kim, but, I, uh, never learned to drive.", Edward said quietly. "Seriously? why not?", asked Kim, shocked. "Well, to be honest, nobody else had green skin where I'm from, not even my parents, so I tended to avoid people and stay indoors.", Edward confessed.
Kim assumed it was a racism thing. "Look, here in Midnight Hollow we have the highest Supernatural rate in Sim Nation at around eighty percent, I do not tolerate racial intolerance in my town, I don't care if you're blue, green, yellow, orange, or rainbow, don't matter to me if you're Vampire, Werewolf, Witch, Human, or Mermaid!", Kim stated furiously. "I got no time for racists, and I'll run em out of town, quick smart!", Kim vented.
"I can drop in tomorrow after work and give you some drivin' lessons, oh, I nearly forgot, there's a bag of groceries in the back.", Kim stated in a calmer voice. "You can pay me back for that in fish, I prefer lobster or salmon", she grinned as she walked off. Edward carried the bag of groceries inside, on the top was a book with the title 'A Fishersims Guide To Midnight Hollow'. Edward looked for a page on salmon.
Jessica sat in the bedroom playing with her Rag doll and her Bunny.
The full moon was well overhead before Edward came in to put her to bed.
Authors Note:
Welcome to Generation 4!
I had originally intended to have Edward and Jessica move to a train yard CC lot in Starlight Shores, the game become impossibly laggy for reasons still unknown, so I went for Midnight Hollow and a chapter concept change instead, as I'd played there pre-RLC without any problems.
When I play I come up with ideas as I take screenshots, most get forgotten if I don't write them down,
I then add all the images to the blogger page, and write the story from the pictures while referring to my notes. Some chapters tend to wander away from the 'Goal' of the generations overall part in the plot. Chapter 4 will be mostly trying to draw the Jettstars back to the main overall plotline.
Kim Diffy! I created two randoms for the police and one for the council office fairy. I got quite a shock when the game offered up Heatherfeather19's Kim Diffy, from generation 5 of her current RLC! Instead of having Kim as a 'screen cap and delete' temp like a lot of non permanents in my story, I decided to keep her around as the chief of police :)
I have downloaded a few sims from other people, but I've never had the game do that before!
