“Hurry up Cyrus! You move like an old lady,” I yelled as I ran ahead of Cyrus, laughing. I could hear his pace quicken by the sound of his feet on the concrete, and I heard the strangled gasps of breaths. Taking pity on him, I stopped, allowing him to catch up with me.
“W-We c-can’t all b-be on the track t-team,” He gasped, panting. I laughed at him and rolled my eyes.
“If you would just run with me, yes, you could.” I replied. He looked up at me and glared, sticking his tongue out in the process.
“Are you sure we can go to this beach?” Cyrus suddenly asked, unsure of where I was leading them.
“Not exactly…My brothers took me there when I was younger, so it might not be legal,” I said. They used to take me there all the time when we were younger. One would pick my up by my legs and the other by my arms, and they’d throw me into the ocean. That’s how I learned to swim.
Cyrus let out a nervous groan, but continued to follow me nonetheless. After a few minutes of walking (for Cyrus’ sake) we finally arrived at the beach.
Honestly, It wasn’t anything amazing. The sand was a weird, dingy color, nothing at all like the beaches advertised on brochures in Isla Paradiso or Sunlit Tides, but it was the best thing I’d had.
I hurriedly took off my shirt and pants to reveal my bathing suit underneath. I looked over at Cyrus, who had yet to move an inch,
“Well, aren’t you going to swim?” I asked.
“What if it’s cold?”
I rolled my eyes, and ran straight into the water. “It’s not!”
“What if there are sharks?”
“Cyrus, get your butt in over here!” I called. Cyrus groaned, but took his shirt off anyway. He walked slowly into the water until he was almost close to me. I began to splash him, starting an all out splash war.
When the splash war was over, and both of us were out of breath, we moved out of the water to begin to dry off and prepare to leave. I was about to change into my clothes when something caught my eye.
“Cyrus, do you see that?”
Cyrus squinted. “What?”
I walked closer to the object, discovering that it was a ripped piece of notebook paper. I looked at curiously, and picked it up.
“That’s weird,” I muttered. Cyrus came up beside me and inspected the paper.
“Well, do you know?” He asked. I looked at him, baffled.
“Of course not!” I said. “Come on, let’s go. I’m hungry.”
When I arrived home, I was met with toothy smile of my little brother. He ran as quickly as he could with his chubby legs in order to greet me properly.
“Gacy!” He said excitedly. I smiled down at him, and picked him up into my arms.
“Hayden!” I answered back, just as excitedly. I began to tickle him, causing him to shriek loudly.
“Where’s Mama?” I asked when he was done giggling.
“Kiten,” He answered.
“The kitchen? Must be making us something yummy.”
“Gacy, found somefin.” He suddenly said. I looked down at him in confusion.
“What’d you find, booger?”
Hayden opened his chubby hand that I hadn’t realized was closed, and presented me with a scrap of notebook paper.
I read the paper hesitantly. It was torn like the paper I had found on the beach, and written almost exactly the same.
“Gacy?” Hayden asked, drawing me from thoughts. His eyebrows were scrunched up.
“I’m okay, Hay. Let’s see if Mama’s finished supper.”
Since Gray and Jaden moved out, supper wasn’t as boisterous as it used to be. Not that I was complaining. At least I wasn’t getting hit with peas like I used to.
My brothers had moved out a little less than two years ago. They lived close, sure. But the house still felt kinda empty without them. Jaden had determined that he wanted be a great journalist, while Gray held onto the dream of being a master athlete. Really, they hadn’t wanted to move out, but they lived to party late into the night at the various clubs in Bridgeport, and decided that it wouldn’t be fair to Mom and Dad to be coming in at four in the morning.
“How was work, Daddy,” I asked my father. He didn’t normally get to eat with us, so it must’ve been pretty slow today.
“Well, most of the city’s getting over this string of flu, so it wasn’t nearly as packed today.” He said, smiling over at me. My father was my hero. I remember wanting to be a doctor just like him when I was younger, but now, nearing the time when I would need to decide, I just wasn’t sure. I was sure about one thing, though. I wanted to help people.
“Oh, Grace. A letter came for you today while you were gone. It’s in the kitchen,” My mother said.
“Really? May I be excused?” I said, slowly creeping from my seat.
“You barely ate anything,” My father said.
“I’ll eat later.”
“You can go,” My mother answered, smiling up at me.
I hopped up, and quickly made my way to the kitchen, where I found a letter sitting on the counter. I grabbed it quickly, and began tearing it open on the trip up to my room.
I got into my room, and finally got the letter open.
I almost dropped the small scrap of notebook paper. What the hell did this mean? Was-Was somebody watching me? Was I being stalked. I took large breaths and slowly walked over to my bed.
I sat down, and heard a crunch under me. I quickly got up, and saw another piece of notebook paper.
My heart almost stopped. Suddenly, a large hand wrapped around my mouth, making it so that I couldn’t make a sound. I struggled against the person’s grasp, but it was almost impossible.
I suddenly felt warm air beside my ear. “Hello, Alice.”
I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder, and suddenly my world was black.
AN: I would like to thank Mr. Lewis Carroll for coming up with the brilliant quotations found on the ripped pieces of paper…Hopefully, y’all have realized what novel it’s from, haha! Love you guys!
,” He giggled. He pressed a button, and suddenly, I felt nothing and everything at once. My muscles contracted and felt as though they would snap. My body was twitching uncontrollably, my vision was blurring. I smelled the scent of burning skin
The de Marco Legacy for Sims 3 