| Pleasantly Bewitched, Prologue - The Door to the Unknown | |
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| Name: | Pleasantly Bewitched, Prologue - The Door to the Unknown |
| Series: | Pleasantly Bewitched |
| Written by: | Isabelle87P |
| Release date: | September 26, 2012 |
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| Chronology | |
| Previous chapter: | None |
| Next chapter: | Chapter 1 - Strange Flowers |
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The Prologue Chapter deals with the events that occurred directly before the actual setting of the story. Lilith Pleasant and her twin sister Angela wake up for their first day in school, as well as Lilith's best friend, Isabelle Aebi. Meanwhile, Mary-Sue Pleasant and Ceserita Aebi are preparing to cast the spell on the wardrobe that would change their lives forever.
Prologue, Part 1 - Back to School for the Rebel[]
BRRRRING!
I slam my hand down on the nearest surface I find and reach in the darkness, grappling around for my beloved stick of wonder. Once I do find it, I promptly mutter something incomprehensible and open my eyes to find the Alarm clock on fire, listening to the ticks becoming progressively slower and slower as the clock is burned to a crisp. Like a countdown.
Damn. Back to School.
Opening my eyes wider I hastily mutter an incantation, and my wand begins to gush out a small stream of water that extinguishes the Alarm clock, leaving it singed and burned. With a quick tap of my wand I repair the clock and it's as good as new, and I get up up with huge owl's eyes as the full length of the sun hits me. It's 6AM Monday morning, and I'm a very beat-up looking Pleasant struggling to comprehend that vacation is over. Oh the pain.
I've never liked school. It's not that the subjects were dull or boring, but the amount of idiots - teachers and students alike - just made it insufferably horrible. Sure, the students were colourful and had unique personalities in their own right, but once you've got so many clashing opinions together it turns into a Noise fest that only the bravest can try to quench. Contrary to its name, the Pleasantview High School was not as Pleasant as the principal claimed it was. You had all sorts of quirky action going on around the corner. Girls head over heels for boys, teasing and bullying other girls, bookworms reading, computer savvy-nerds spending time on the school Laptops, a pummeling the next corridor, even the occasional smoker who manages to smuggle some Cigarettes into their locker. In Pleasantview High, the possibilities are endless.
As I walk to the bathroom I'm serviced by a floating cup of coffee on a saucer and sugarcubes which promptly dunk themselves into the hot, steaming latte. I grab the nearest floating piece of toast and start munching down on it. I'm almost to the bathroom when the door swings open and my tidy twin sister emerges in her usual pink shoulderless top and mini-skirt. If it weren't for the fact that we shared the same face I'd have called her hideous on the spot, but my early-morning grumpiness tells me now is not the time to start arguing. Angela looks me over for a moment and eyes the toasted bread flying around my head.
"Don't get butter on the carpet. Mom hates that." She says, and she spins on her heel and waddles off to her room.
"Thanks." I call after her. Angela and I don't really hate each other, but we're not exactly on the best terms either. While I grew up accidentally making toys and other sorts of things disappear and learning things alone and the hard way, she grew up showered by endless gifts and the favour of our parents. Why? Because she wasn't normal in our family. It's sort of ironic to use that term, but when you're a normal human Sim born in a family of eccentric Witches it's the only word that comes into my mind. Our parents saw her as a weak and fragile child that needed lots of attention because of her magical deprivation, but I was practically ignored and told to learn it all by myself because I had the power that she didn't. And I did. Everyday for sixteen years, I did. I had learn how to cast spells by myself, how to cook for myself, how to ride a broom properly. And everytime I learned something new, I took pride in the fact that I was self-sufficient enough to do it. In the family, I was considered the Black Sheep. While my mother and father were also Witches and Wizards, they acted like I was some ghost. Me, closed off from any parental guidance, having to learn to live independently. Me, the odd urchin who liked Dark Wave, Books, Video Games, and being alone. But hey, that's just how they raised me... or didn't.
Once I'm in solitary confinement within the Bathroom, I begin to eat away at my toast and finish my coffee. I strip and take a warm shower, and within a few minutes I'm soaking wet. A towel automatically flies over from the rack to Auto-dry me as I'm untangling my damp and messy hair.
"Lil?" There's a pounding on the door and the sound of my sister's unmistakable high-pitched voice, "Is my perfume in the Cabinet?"
I sigh and roll my eyes, looking around for that musty "Beyoncé" perfume brand. Once I spot it lying on top of the shelves behind me, I give my wand a swish and it goes flying towards the door, shattering into a million miniscule shards as it hits the wooden boards.
"Lil! Did you--?" An angry voice of indignation. Oops. Well, of course, I did mean that on purpose, but who says you can't have fun with magic? Another swish and the broken shards and dripping contents of the perfume are fixed and in top-notch condition. I lazily let the door door creak open in the tiniest gap possible and direct the perfume to fly safely between the gap.
"Thanks." The voice sounds put off and I know it's because I used magic to break and repair her things. I don't know what goes in her mind but I can tell you she's crazy to think that all of this spellcasting was utter rubbish. Who made her believe that all those flashy sparkles weren't real but just a bunch of magician's tricks?
Mum and Dad, of course. Isn't it obvious?
While I raised myself as a Self-reliant Witch with magic on my fingertips, Angela was made to believe that our "offness" was just thanks to us being "magicians". At this age it would be rather silly to believe those stories now that we were older, but for reasons unfathomable to me, Angela hates us Supernatural Sims and constantly denies the fact that magic exists, using Science to prove our little stick-flicking as a silly "lunatic's game" in her words.
A honk alerts me to the schoolbus' arrival on our home. I consider taking the broom just to annoy mum and dad but decide against it as I realize that the bus will be leaving in five minutes. I hastily dab on my make-up, put on a pair of faded cargo pants and my favorite Eluvetie T-shirt, and bounded down the steps. I direct the floating dishwares and coffee-cup towards the kitchen before pocketing my wand and stepping out into the Sunlight.
Prologue, Part 2 - School for the Preppy Girl[]
Why can't vacation be longer? I ask myself. I'm so irritated I swear that the next person who gets on my nerves is about to receive a good pummeling. I climb onto the bus with a rather grumpy expression and before I know it, a pair of flying arms crashes into me and envelops me in a tight hug.
"Angie! How was your vacation?" A brunette with ponytail and glasses swims into my view and I grin at her.
"Great, thanks. You?"
"Oh, it was great, we went to Shang Simla." She beams at me while I stare on in disbelief.
"You're kidding?" I ask indignantly. When she shakes her head, I smile brightly. Then, a pair of girls appear beside Tiffany and greet me with a kiss on my cheek each. Euch, so much for being alone.
Tiffany was probably the only friend I could really trust in here. All the other students were either weird, stupid, or idiotic. Amanda and Gina fall into the idiot category here. That's the girls who just kissed me on my cheek to greet me. They do it a lot because they were raised with proper manners, as the children of Pleasantview's powerful. Around school that automatically makes them the popular ones because they have access to the Designer stuff that no regular Sim Family could afford. Girls often swarm their benches at lunch to ask where they got this certain handbag, that new hairclip....
Just about every girl in my school is an idiot.
I seemed to have made it into their social circle just because I had access to cigarettes and was pretty. I know I'm pretty, and I also know I'm nothing short of perfect. Mom and Dad raised me with a well-off lifestyle so I'd say I was on-par with Gina and Amanda's way of life, minus the designer stuff. Lilith was ignored for the most part, something I didn't mind as a child and something I hardly acknowledge now because of her close circle of friends, and I was given to good stuff. I did feel pity for her though, wondering why Mom and Dad didn't raise her with a lot of love. They told me it was because they wanted only me, not her. I liked that thought a lot. I was their favourite daughter, not her.
The sound of Gina and Amanda's laughing makes me realize just how much I hated them. Amanda was the brains of our group, who always got good grades in every test we have. I'm only good in Science. Gina, the black-haired, is Asian but an utter ditz. Their families were nice, but rather stuck-up from my point of view. I only befriended Gina and Amanda to get up on the social ladder. So that people will acknowledge that I'm different from Lilith. Lilith, the introverted bookworm, the lover of video games, the one who can stick up for herself without help. Me, the shallow one, the one that wants to be different, the klutz...
Once I get off the Bus, Amanda offers me a cigarette. I don't object and we go to the nearest tree for shade and sit there, smoking our little cigarettes. I stare at Isabelle Aebi's backside, watching her walk to the school building with some sort of interest as she clutches at the skateboard underneath her arm, chatting with Lilith.
"They say she's addicted to computer games." Tiffany says lamely, puffing out a small breath of smoke.
"It's sort of like our cigarette addiction, isn't it?" I reply. I've just about realized that ever since I started smoking, Gina, Tiffany, and Amanda have been dragged into it as well. Our parents didn't know. Lilith did, but she never said anything. Isabelle (Did I mention I hate her guts?) was pretty much addicted to computer games, and she says she understood our predicament, though I wasn't sure if that was sarcasm on her part. It isn't rare to see her without her laptop at school lunch, playing away on some stupid game called "The Lord of the Rings Online". Lilith also liked to play, but not on the scale of Isabelle's magnitude. They were both fans of the books, and Isabelle loved the Elves in that fantasy crap.
"Who cares?" Amanda says aggressively. I realize I had drawn the red bell by mentioning our nicotine addiction. Amanda hated it when people mentioned our smoking habits. She says it reminds her of the fact that our addiction overrides all logic. That was the only thing I liked about her. She wasn't afraid to acknowledge that her addiction was slowly burning away her lungs. But she was still an idiot in my eyes. She started smoking in ninth grade to impress the seniors. We're juniors now. I started smoking three years ago, in eight grade, because some people at a party convinced me to grab a ciggy. That was when Amanda befriended me and persuaded me to become her groups' main cigarette provider.
We finish our cigarettes and head into the school. At once, the entire chaos in the hallway unfurls before me. There's my twin, next to my locker, talking to her boyfriend and to Isabelle. Beside them, Dustin Broke, my boyfriend. I liked him, and I try my best to help him and his struggling family. They didn't deserve to live in poverty, not after his father died.
I make a note of every person I want to avoid in school today, or at least, ignore should I be forced to spend time with them. Regina Mantle, the prissy shallow girl of her posse. Matt Andrews, the local bully. Leyra Dewis, the weird freak with an obsession for aliens. Damien Stillins, the jock with the bloated head and big ego. And of course, Isabelle and Lilith, the two video game nerds with an unhealthy obsession for the Lord of the Rings.
It's going to be a great day.
Prologue, Part 3 - In the Eyes of the Tomboy[]
Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t.
The first day of school, and some kid's idiot parents are out of town already. Now the whole school's talking about the party. Worst part: I haven't been told. So I promptly raise my head and scan the hallway for the boy who was holding the party.
"Hey!" I yell down the hallway, causing several students to turn their heads, "I'm invited, right?"
The boy, Sam, simply grins at me and nods. I smirk in satisfaction, knowing the charm I cast soundlessly, before turning back to Lilith and Dirk.
"Well, that was easy." I remark. Lilith bursts out laughing. We both know I cast a spell on that boy to make him say yes.
"You talk too much, seriously." She says. I grin back, "Oh wait, you want me to turn back to the Computer? Sure as hell could use it, I want my Warden to seventy-five pronto."
The Pleasants were the only magical family said to exist in Pleasantview. Apparently, they were the only ones with any magical blood left, because the earlier generations had bred out into extinction. Not the Pleasants though, the Pleasants were pure thanks to their great-grandmothers and grandfathers who forbid marriage with Non-magical Sims. Mary-Sue's lucky her biological parents were Witches. Her adopted parents probably don't have a clue on her abilities.
I trudge down the Hallway for my Arts class. Arts... the best thing ever. Where I could express myself, my feelings, my love for drawing... and where I could learn to draw the portraits of my LotRO Characters. Lilith shares Arts Class with me. We both love it, but her favorite hobby is writing and poetry. We were both people of language and art, crafty ones. I consider myself fairly good in Mathematics, but I hate that subject like hell so I won't go into that.
We spend most of the morning flitting around to various rooms. Arts, English, Math, History, Biology. Just a few on the schedule. Even though I speak English like a native speaker my first language is German. I was raised as a Half-Swiss, Half-Filipino and spent a few years in the Philippines before we came over to SimNation and moved into Pleasantview. Simlish was easy enough, but I thought it sounded like utter gibberish, but I won't say that out loud. Makes you look like an idiot, y'know?
The afternoon rambles on slowly. It starts drizzling a little and Sports goes by breezily and quick enough without any agony. By the time we get out of class, I'm smiling because of how quick the day went. Bring on the Night! I get home.
"I'm home!" I say as I open the doorway. My mother's in the kitchen, cooking no doubt, "I'm going to a party tonight, so don't bother cooking for me, okay?"
"What party?" The sound of my mother's voice, aggressive, is enough to make me defensive, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I just found about it this afternoon." I lie bluntly. A broom comes flying out of the nearby closet and begins ushering me into the room.
"You are NOT going to a party!" My mother shrieks, clearly angered. I feel my stubborn temper flaring.
"Like hell I am!" I yell defiantly, swishing my wand and causing the broom to zoom back into closet. I am so not going to pass up the chance of going to a party, and my mother isn't about to stop me going. After a few shouting matches and snide remarks, we eventually settle down into an agreement: I'd go to the party, but come home at 11PM.
I don't bother to ready myself because I know it's going to be one of these rough teenage parties, filled with smokers, alcohol, and the occasional ecstasy. I don't do drugs, nor do I smoke. I'm usually called the "Pure" tomboy because of that. Smoke-free, and Drug-free. The only thing I tend to indulge in is alcohol, but I make sure not to get too drunk. Already have an addiction on my plate, can't get more, can I?
I hate myself for that addiction.
Once I'm out Lilith's broomstick zooms into view and skids into a stop before me, almost crashing into the nearby hedge. With a chuckle of laughter I mount my own broomstick, and we're up in the sky.
Flying feels wonderful. It's truly exhilerating. I'm not concerned about people seeing us because it's pitch dark and it's a New Moon, so we traverse the skies freely. Once in a while we dive to the ground and conjure eggs that fly towards neighbour's front doors, leaving a nice, egg-scented mess to be discovered the next day.
I don't know how long we've been pranking the neighbours with our silly tricks. I guess it's been around two years since I moved in, met Lilith, became her BFF. Started causing ruckus in the neighborhood a few months after I found out she was also a witch. Been a regular routine for... half a year now? I don't remember anymore. But then again, you tend not to remember the day you started pranking, because there was nothing significant about it.
We fly into a clump of bushes and cast a spell that camouflages our brooms into the hedge. We step out and walk across the street, and judging from the loud music inside the white-shingled home, I guess they must have really started getting it on. Once we go inside, we're greeted with a loud booming music filled with scratching. I see someone brought a DJ along to sweeten the music. Around us people are dancing, drinking, smoking, or tossing things back and forth. I spot a group of kids chucking brightly coloured pills into their mouths, and I know it's going to be one of these troublesome parties we'd have to get out of sooner or later.
She doesn't, though. I see her huddled in by the staircase, grasping a cigar and a bottle of beer, half-awake. I want to alert Lilith, worried, but before I'm able, I'm dragged by someone's invisible hand into a throng of dancing kids.
Prologue, Part 4 - Spinning Out of Control[]
At first it sounded like fun, this party. Now I'm having second thoughts about it. I see Isabelle raising her brows at me and I know we're both thinking the same thing: Get out sooner or later. I want to tell her about leaving, but before I can motion anything, someone's hand drags Isabelle into the middle of the dancing. I'm all alone now.
Damn it. This isn't my idea of "enjoying a party"! I look around helplessly lost, and begin cutting my way through the clump of dancing kids. My hand defensively clutched over my pocket in case anything's about to happen. I see many faces in the crowd. Too many. I spot Dirk brooding in a corner, a bottle of beer clutched in his hand, but he doesn't look too drunk, so I go over to him. Seeing my worried look he creases his brows, "Hey Lil, what's up? You look like someone who worries disaster will strike."
"Well doh, someone just snagged Isabelle from me and I can't find her. I have a bad feeling about this." I say irritably, "The party was a bad idea." I make a note to myself to confront Isabelle for the terrible idea of attending party. But she did look as worried as me, so I guess I can't blame her. She probably didn't expect the party to be this rough anyway. I grab Dirk's beer bottle and take a small swig, trying to look normal in the party. People are surely gonna think I'm thinking of ratting out the party with my current worried look.
"Damn it, Lil, that was my last drop." He sounds annoyed but I don't retort back and scan the area.
That's when I see her. In my anger, I drop the beer bottle, ignoring the shattering noise, and march straight towards her, noticing half a dozen bottles scattered around her half-awake form. She looks dizzy, huddled by the staircase, but I don't care so I grab her wrist and promptly force her to stand up. She stares at me with an unfocused look. She's drunk.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I yell at Angela. Who, of all people, decided it'd be a good idea to drag my sister into this? Frail kid who couldn't survive through two bottles. Beside her, Amanda and Gina, fast asleep. They probably passed out from all the alcohol. Tiffany is nowhere to be found, which is unusual considering she's always with Angela.
"Oh... hey Lil...." Angela bursts into a fit of giggles, "You look weird... like two faces!"
"Stop being silly. We're getting out now." I force Angela with me, tearing her off the stairpost and dragging her along. People have been forming a large circle around the living room now, and in the center there's two boys showing off a few dance-moves. I look around frantically, trying to spot Isabelle. I eventually see her, also with a bottle of beer, standing by a separate group near the bathroom. Her cheeks are red and she's swaying slightly, but she doesn't seem too drunk because she just swats away a palm full of ecstasy pills. I go over to her, half-dragging Angela behind me, and shake her hard on the shoulder.
"What's up?" Then she notices Angela, woozy and drunk behind me, and the red leaves her face, "Oh... cr*p. Who let her in?"
"No time for questions. We're getting out now." I say firmly. We push our way through the crowd, about to make a beeline for the door. The sound of a siren stops us.
F*cking... this isn't good! I start swearing. The last thing I needed was to get rounded up by cops. People around us begin to realize something's wrong, and when someone yells, "COPS ARE COMING!" I know we have to squeeze into the crowd of fleeing teens or risk getting busted. I grab Isabelle's hand and take a deep breath, and we force ourselves into the crowd.
What happens next is so utterly uncomprehending I don't get it. Angela rushes over to Isabelle, and without warning, delivers a sloppy punch.
"What the f*ck?! Seriously?!" Isabelle is caught off guard and stumbles slightly as the fist makes impact with her nose. Blood begins running down her nose and I'm struggling to restrain Isabelle from hitting Angela back, who's now standing there and laughing herself senseless.
"You b*tch!" Isabelle screamed, attempting to wrestle herself free from my grip. I give her a smack on the head. "Idiot! We got the cops on us, no time! She's drunk goddamn it!"
After much hauling and squeezing, we've managed to make it out to the back door. Isabelle looks in a bad shape with her bad nose, and still rather angry, but compliant. We make a run for the bushes where our brooms are parked. Panicked teenagers fly by us, taking no notice of us, and we're mostly left alone. Angela, in the meantime, has begun daydreaming about things. Then she begins shouting, "Gina and Amanda are in the house!"
"Shut up already!" Isabelle whips out her wand and casts a sleeping charm on Angela, causing her to fall into a sort of drunken slumber, but I see the reason behind her words, "She's right, Is. Gina and Amanda are still inside."
"So what?" She scowls. I forgot she hated the trio, "I'm sure they were the ones who dragged Angela into drinking."
When this thought occurs to me, I find myself angry as well. Stupid sister. She shouldn't run off with such retarded people. Might as well smack her head for it. When I do smack her head though, she wakes up with such a startling yell that I have to put a sleeping charm on her again. I know we're in trouble the moment the yell ringed in the air.
The coops were there, and they have handcuffs.
Prologue, Part 5 - Escape[]
"This is Unit 451 calling in. We've found three hooligans hiding in the bushes." A tall man, laughably lanky but somehow intimidating, speaks into one of those cop-thingy speakers. I look at Angela and Lilith, and my fear is echoed in their faces: We were going to be arrested.
"You're under custody, ladies." He says, I shoot a panicked look towards Lilith. What are we going to do now?! Magic? Smooth-talk our way out? Run? All three options are dubious at best, and it's obvious we can't convince them we're innocent. Angela stinks like Alcohol, I have a bloody nose, and Lilith looks roughed up from all the towing and restraining me. They know we were party-goers.
I curse slowly and silently to myself for going to the party in the first place. Mom is going to be all over me when I get home. It's Lilith who eventually decides our course of action though. When she looks at me, I catch her eye and the look in her eyes makes it clear that she know what we should do. I know as well and we give each other a small nod of acknowledgement. My hand is grasping my wand.
And then we both yell, pointing our wands at the officer. The blast of Ice that engulfs him is so strong that we're thrown onto our backs, lying in the grass. Before us, the Officer is frozen solid into a block of Ice. Now is the time for escape.
Without hesitation, I mount my broom and I'm off wheeling into the night. Lilith appears behind me, a half-conscious, but obviously terrified Angela clutching at her with fright. I slow down a bit to fly beside Lilith.
"That was...." I say slowly.
"Close. Really close." She finishes. I nod. We had a lucky escape this time. But now worry creased me. We used magic openly. When the officer thaws out, he'll tell them all about our spellcasting. In my uncertainty, I ask, "Do you think he'll tell them about our Ice Blast?"
"Of course. Question is, are the cops stupid enough to believe him?" She said. I look down at the Pleasantview suburbs, craning my neck behind me. I could see the flickering of the police sirens and small dots being rounded up and compressed into a tight ball. Teenagers getting arrested. Gina and Amanda must be somewhere among them. That was possibly the only positive thing about it.
"What do you mean?" I ask, unsure. But once she opens her mouth I still her as I realize, "Oh... of course... people in Pleasantview hardly believe in Magic. I forgot."
Back where I lived it was usual to see people with broomsticks on the street, flying around and enjoying themselves. But apparently in SimNation, Magical communities were rare, if not, non-existent.
We gradually descend towards the Pleasant's house. The lights are on. I check my watch and it's about 10PM. We've been gone for about an hour. Mom mentioned this morning she'd be off to the Pleasants in the evening for something big. She probably arrived just now. I can see her through the window, headed down the basement where the Pleasants kept all their magical things like regeants, Cauldrons...
Burnt out and tired, we head into the hallway. Angela seems to have fallen unconscious during the flight, as she only gives out a faint moan when shaken. She's still breathing though, so that's a good sign. Lilith resorts to carrying her piggy-back. We tidy ourselves up using our wands. I manage to make the bloodflow of my nose stop for a while, but if I'm gonna have to fix my nose, I'd need to see an expert healer (in this case, Mom) to heal it. We're going to have to be honest with our parents though. After all, how are we going to explain why Angela stinks like Alcohol? We can't make the stench disappear with magic, since Angela's got the alcohol in her bloodstream and is sweating it out right now. And trying would be risky. Magic is dangerous business if it isn't handled right.
And it seems our parents haven't handled it right this time. The sound of yells alarms us. It's coming from below, so I know it must be our parents. As much as I hated mother, I loved her to the core as well, and I'm sure Lilith does too with her parents. Their screaming alarms us to the point we go a pale white sheet. In mere moments, we're crashing down the stairway leading into the basement, yelling frantically for our for mothers and Lilith's father.
"Open the bookcase!" I shriek. The bookcase was used as a magical concealer to hide the Pleasant's magical artifacts. Our families agreed, long ago, to keep our Witchery a secret for fear of being discovered by the townsfolk and having our powers abused. But that isn't relevant. Nothing is right now. All I wanted now was to burst through the bookcase and find my mother and make sure she wasn't harmed.
BANG!
I'm thrown off balance as a blast echoes through the room. Lilith must've blasted the bookcase open in desperation. With no time to spare, I stagger through the hole. There's Lilith yelling with Angela, my mother, with her wand out, and there's Mary-Sue and Daniel, also with wands out. They all look troubled, yet unharmed, but before I manage to ask, I'm captivated by the glow of a bright vortex spinning in the middle of an ancient, withered wardrobe.
It was something unstable. Very unstable. I could tell by the way sparks of magic were flying out of the vortex randomly. The colour of the Vortex shifted randomly, from black to red to purple to blue. And it looked dangerously on the point of bursting. I see the frantic faces of my mother and the Pleasants, and I know this is some experiment gone horribly wrong.
I'm about to reach out for my mother, when the vortex pulses into a bright light. There's a flash of light, and then, we were gone.
Thank you for reading my story! Please go here to see Chapter 1, and please leave a comment!