Chapter 2.9 Evelyn - Stupid Kids

Arlyn had been right, Lily passed away later that week. Even though Arlyn knew it was going to happen, she still grieved the loss of her great grandma. Lily had been there her entire life, stepping in when her parents couldn't, reassuring her when grandpa said something mean, made her all her favorite foods, and even let her stay up way past her bedtime to watch movies.

She didn't know why or how she had known grandma would die soon, she just felt it.

For weeks after, the house had a dark cloud hovering over it, smothering everyone inside. Lily had been this family's rock. Her death pained Silas more than he was expecting, but deep down, he knew she was finally with Nathan after all this time. She was at peace.

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A year had gone since Lily passed away, and they had all nearly moved on, accepting that she was gone from their lives, rejoining Nathan in the Afterlife. 

Arlyn still missed her, though. 

Ryan had shot up like a weed that summer, now towering over Arlyn. He just started highschool, finally glad he was no longer under his father's watchful eyes. 

"And then the zombies attacks! Ahhh!!" Arlyn squealed as her brother finished reading her a bedtime story. She wouldn't tell mom it was a scary story if he didn't.
"So, little sister, when are you going to sleep in your own bed?" he set the book on the table and looked at her.
"I dunno...I miss grandma." Arlyn picked at her fingernails, suddenly engrossed in the dirt under them.
"If you start sleeping in your own bed, I'll read you a scary story every night, how about that?" he offered.
Arlyn thought about it for a few moments.
"Do we have a deal?"
"Okay!"
Ryan let out a heavy breath, "finally," he thought. He was really starting to worry about her. After Lily passed, Arlyn had taken to holing up in Lily's bedroom for hours every day. Sometimes he could hear her talking to herself, sometimes he heard her crying, but mostly she just played with her bears. She still hadn't outgrown her imaginary friends.

Maybe she'll perk up tomorrow, he thought. They were all heading down to the beach for the first time since grandma's passing, an attempt at cheering Arlyn up. She was turning 12 soon and still had no friends. Ryan heard whispers and rumors about his little sister, nasty ones. People called her a freak, a weirdo, no one wanted to play with her. Arlyn didn't seem to be bothered by the name calling, but Ryan just was.

At the beach, Arlyn's spirits seemed to lift right up, much to everyone's relief.
"Splash, splash, splash!" she yelled, "I have the biggest splashes!"
"We'll see about that!" Ryan took a running leap from the shore, splashing water over Arlyn's head as she fell in a heap of giggles.
"Okay, okay, you win!" Ryan beamed at his sister. He'd never let anyone hurt her.

They played for hours, well into the sunset. Everyone was having too much fun to go home, a more than a little afraid that Arlyn would withdraw back into herself. Even Evelyn had started to worry about her daughter's behavior.

Out of nowhere, Arlyn stiffened, then a huge grin spread across her face. She sprinted out of the water, over to another little girl that had arrived at the beach with her parents.

Arlyn ran over to the girl, stuck out her hand, and told her, "Hi! I'm Arlyn. We're going to be best friends!"
"Um...hi. Jennika. You can call me Jen?" Jennika shook Arlyn's hand, not sure what to think of the weird girl in front of her.
"Wanna play tag?"
"Okay!"

And just like that, they were best friends. Ryan wasn't sure what to make of this, but at least his sister made a friend.

"Hey, hoverboards are cheating!"
"Nuh uh! You're just jealous!"

Ryan smiled to himself. Yep, things were looking up.

"Ugh, my parents grounded me!" Loki complained. Although Ryan knew he deserved it, he still let Loki rant about how "terrible" his parents were.
"All I did was ring a few doorbells, what's the big deal!?" he slammed his book down on the table, "this place SUCKS. There's nothing to do!" Ryan just nodded along.

Loki had been his best friend since the first week they moved to Aurora Skies. He was a great friend but he had a bit of a wild streak. Loki's favorite activities included lighting bags of dog poop on fire, TPing their teacher's house (except for Ryan's, of course), and rigging things to break. It was all mostly harmless fun, but Ryan wasn't always up for potentially getting grounded all the time. He was glad that he hadn't joined Loki for last night's activities, or he'd also be grounded right now. Phew.

"And then Jen told Karl he's a big, giant stinky head!" Silas smiled at his granddaughter as she recounted her day to Evelyn. He was getting old, he thought. White hair covered his head and face, sprouting seemingly overnight. His past had caught up to him, too, and old injuries from many years of fighting caused his knees to hurt; he was almost embarrassed of his cane, but it did serve a purpose when he needed to prove a point. Silas's days were numbered, he knew that, and when he looked into the sweet, innocent faces of his grandchildren, he knew that life would keep marching on even after he was gone from this world.

That didn't keep him from picking fights when anyone that happened to glance his way, though.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Silas, I didn't touch your stuff," Anthony tried not to roll his eyes as Silas went on a rampage about his missing books. Anthony rarely even saw the old man reading, he wasn't even aware that Silas had any books to go missing.
"Did you ask the kids? Maybe Arlyn borrowed them and forgot to put them back." he suggested, anything to get Silas off his back so he could go back to working out.
"What would a child need with a book about ghosts!" Silas roared, "She's too young for that nonsense!"
"You know she likes scary stuff, Silas, she probably thought it was another horror story. I can go ask her if you want."
"Yeah, you better, you useless meathead!"
Anthony was going to take that as a compliment.

During this entire exchange, Arlyn was about 10 feet away, playing with her blocks. Stupid grown ups, always fighting and blaming her. She only borrowed the book to study! It's not her fault she forgot to put it back before grandpa noticed! She just wanted to learn more about ghosts, that's all. Maybe it would help her find grandma's ghost. Arlyn inspected a few blocks before sighing and pushing them away. Blocks were stupid anyway, she had better things to do.

"You can't just throw eggs at houses during the day, Loki, of course you're going to get caught."
"I didn't know anyone was home, it's Thursday!"
"How are you surprised that you got caught? You get caught every week! I can't believe your parents haven't shipped you off to military school by now." Seriously, if Ryan got into as much trouble as Loki did, he probably wouldn't even be alive right now. Ryan shuddered at the thought of Silas finding out about half the things Loki dragged him into.
Loki shrugged, "whatever, dude. Wanna throw water balloons at people?"

Luckily most of Loki's targets laughed and decided to join in on the fun, it was a pretty hot day, after all. Trouble avoided...for now.

"Ryan. Ryan!" Arlyn called after him, "I have something to tell you!"
"What is it, squirt, I'm busy."
"Brace yourself."
What? ".....for...?"
"I had a vision about you." Arlyn giggled at him. What a weirdo.
"You mean a dream?"
"Sure."
"Oooookay...." Ryan stared at his sister, not entirely sure what she was on about. Did Silas let her have ice cream for breakfast again? Anytime dad annoyed Silas, Silas let Arlyn have way too much sugar, so she'd annoy Anthony....and everyone else in the house at the same time.
"You're going to marry Jen someday."
"Uh...what?" Wasn't Jen her little friend? She's like, 5 years old, "Don't you think she's a little young for me?"
"She's only one year younger than me! And I don't mean right now, stupid!"

Arlyn leaned in closer to Ryan and whispered, "You're gonna have lots of babies."

"What the hell, Arlyn, you are so weird!"
"I am not! I'm just telling you what I saw!" tears formed in her eyes, no one ever believed her.
"It was a stupid dream, that's all!" Ryan stomped out of the room. This is why the little freak had no friends. Stupid brat. Ryan's face flushed in embarrassment, he'd never even had a girlfriend, he'd probably die a virgin anyway. Whatever. He couldn't stay mad at the little twerp for long anyway.

"Then I told him you guys would have lots of babies!" the girls giggled behind Ryan's back. He tried to ignore them.
Jen smacked Arlyn's arm, "He's stupid anyway, I don't wanna have his babies! Nuh uh!" Her bright red face showed otherwise.
"Can't you two go play somewhere else? Somewhere away from me?" Ryan grumbled. Stupid kids. Jen was almost as freaky as his sister, just in a different way. The way she stared at people made him shudder. She had this look in her eyes, like she had sized you up and determined that you weren't worth her time. She was like, 12.

At least she kept Silas busy. Every insult seemed to encourage Jen, and they both egged each other on until it looked like Silas was seriously considering hitting a little girl with his cane. The she'd laugh at him, taunting the old man before running off to find Arlyn.

Stupid kids.

Ryan didn't know just how much Arlyn knew.

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Author's notes: Confession time: Lily was old. Her age bar reset twice, once when they got to Oasis, then again when they moved to Aurora Skies, plus that time when Mr. Cat saved her during the one time she did reach death's door. I got so sick of constantly keeping an eye on her an Anthony, that I decided to move her out and was going to write that into the story, but 24 Sim hours later, I got a pop up that she finally passed away. I guess she really did stick around just for her family....or maybe just for Anthony. She was my intended founder and I'll miss her, but I can't say that I'm entirely upset that she's finally gone. Homewrecker. 

It's probably painfully obvious, but Arlyn is my heir. I like how Ryan looks, he's really cute, but because I rolled Deadbeat Parents for Evelyn, his personality isn't that great (sorry, Ryan). He rolled slob, inappropriate, genius, and something else I can't remember, which does not fit at all with the rolls I got for gen 3. Arlyn's traits are a lot milder, she's absent minded, friendly, genius? maybe. I vaguely recall wondering how an absent minded genius would function in real life. 

I'll post the rolls for gen 3 on the Generation Rolls page, so there aren't any spoilers here.

I almost just left Silas with his pigtails since he loves them so much. I bet he was a cheerleader in another life.