Chapter 1.2: Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Last chapter, legacy founder, Antillar Maximus Gaiman (or Max for short) literally fell from the sky.

Warnings: a little blood and a little coarse language

Dearest Diary, Max wrote. Things are going quite well.

I’m married now and a father! My wife, August, is the best wife ever! Not that I have much experience with wives or anything, but she’s really great. And Sydney, my daughter, is an absolute delight. Cutest baby ever!

I love that little girl so very much.

So does August. Sydney is already so spoiled, but she deserves it.

The thing is though, I still can’t remember anything from Before the Fall.

But I’ve been having this dream. A nightmare, really. Actually, it’s more like a memory. I haven’t told August yet because I don’t want to worry her.

I’m in this house, but it’s not strange. Like if you asked me where the bathroom was, I’d be able to point you there. I know the house. And I know every noise the stairs will make as I come down them. It’s morning, and I can see the sun shining in through the windows. I’m younger, maybe a teenager? All I can smell the whole way down the stairs is the tangy scent of iron. It hangs in the air.

I walk into the kitchen and I see the body. And the blood. So much blood from one little body.

I stop in my tracks and just stare, my mouth hanging open. It’s as if my eyes are glued to the back of the dead woman’s head.

And I know her.

She’s my mother.

There’s movement in my peripheral vision and I turn my head to look. There’s a man and woman. Strangers. They look grim like they’re sad too.

“What?” I ask, unable to finish my thoughts. I wanted to scream at them, demand them to tell me what happened. Why is my mother dead? Who did this? Why? Who are you people? But I can’t.

The man just shakes his head. The woman looks at the floor.

They approach me. “You need to come with us,” the man says.

I want to ask why. I want to tell them to go to hell, that I won’t leave my mom dead on the kitchen floor. But I don’t.

Instead, I follow them. I don’t even fight them. I don’t even say no. I just go with them like some lost sheep. I’m still in shock, I know that, but my mother is dead. My mother.

We get to the front door and there’s a sound of breaking glass upstairs.

“Get him out of here,” the man tells the woman. “I’ll take care of this.

“Agent Dekker,” the woman says, her voice shaking.

“Agent Hollinter, get him out of here. Now.”

The man takes off towards the stairs and I feel a pinch in my side and hear the woman whisper in my ear, “Sorry about your mom. Sorry about all this. Just…sorry.”

And then I wake up.

It’s always the same. Everything is always the same. And I’m certain this isn’t some recurring nightmare. It’s a memory. Like some part of my brain remembers what happened to me and wants me to know. And I don’t know why, but part of my believes the JSS Corporation has something do with it.

Between the memory and what August told me about them, it just makes sense. Except I don’t know why it makes sense or maybe I’m just trying to connect dots that aren’t really there. I don’t know for sure, but there’s something strange about it all.

And why? Why kill my mom and take me? Did they even kill my mom? They couldn’t have. They wouldn’t have been so sad if they had. But why didn’t the agents care that my mom was dead?

“Max?”

The sound of August’s voice pulled Max back into the present.

Max put away his diary and rose to his feet. “Hey,” he said. “Something wrong?”

She smiled. “No, nothing’s wrong at all. I was just wondering if you wanted to do the honors of bringing Sydney to her cake tonight after you get home from work?”

“Is she going to be a toddler already?” he asked.

“Yeah, I know. It really does go fast.”

Max grinned. “I would love to do that.”

Later that day, Max took Sydney to her birthday cake.

Sydney grew into an adorable toddler. She was a very neat and outgoing little girl who was also quite playful though on the lazy side with a mean streak to boot.

Between teaching Sydney her basic skills and taking care of her necessities, there wasn’t time for much else.

But Max and August did have some alone time when Sydney was asleep and they soon discovered the August was pregnant again.

It was a little while later that day, after Sydney went to bed, that the two even had a chance to celebrate their growing family.

“Another baby,” Max said as he glanced down at August’s protruding stomach.

“Another demanding toddler,” August said with a laugh.

“Sydney’s not that bad,” Max said, frowning. “Is she?”

“No, she’s great, but it’s a lot of work, you know?” August said. “I haven’t even had a chance to think about my report about the JSS. I thought I’d have at least some evidence of their nefariousness by now.

“What about the situation with the homeless?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t found anything concrete. Mostly speculation and witness accounts from other homeless sims, and while I believe them, others won’t. I just have to…” she trailed off, biting her lip.

“What?” Max prompted.

“I…I have to get in there. Their headquarters. I have an idea about where it is, but—”

“I’ll help you. I want to go just as much as you do.”

August sighed with relief. “You do? Thank goodness. I never wanted to go there alone.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I have a bone to pick with them anyway.” And he told her all about the recurring dream—his memory. He told her every last detail including how the dead woman was his mother.

“Oh my god,” August muttered when he was finished. “Holy shit. That’s awful. And you’re sure it’s your memory?”

He nodded. “It’s either that or some terribly vivid dream, but I think it’s a memory.”

“And your mother. Oh god. Your mother. Do you think they killed her?”

“The agents? No, probably not. At least I don’t think so. But whoever was upstairs did, I think, and I want to know who that was.” he said. “And I want to know why they took my memories from me. There has to be a reason, but I don’t understand why. I don’t even know if the JSS had anything to do with it.”

“But you have a feeling they did?”

“In my gut, yeah. I just want to know why.”

She pulled him close and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

The scent of her lavender shampoo filled his nostrils and the warmth radiating off her made his head swim.

And he broke down into tears. His knees buckled as his body shook, but she was there to catch him.

“Shh, it’ll be okay,” she whispered as she patted his back. “Like I said, we’ll figure it all out and if they did anything nasty to you…”

“But we can’t yet,” he said as he wiped away his tears. “The baby.”

She sighed. “Of course we’ll have to wait. The baby comes first. The baby always comes first.”

“You seem annoyed.”

“I’m not. I’m just upset that you have to go through this.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, most nights I don’t even dream.”

This did make her grin. “Well, then, we should probably get some sleep.”

“Guess what, Sydney,” Max said as he scooped Sydney off the floor. He felt well-rested from a dreamless sleep and better than he had in days. “You’re going to be a big sister!”

“I know,” Sydney said with a giggle as Max tickled her sides. “Mommy big. I saw. She has babies in there.”

“Baby! Just one baby!” August called from the kitchen.

“See, just one baby, Sydney,” Max said.

“No. Babies. Brothers. I know.”

“Now you’re just being silly,” Max told her but the matter-of-fact tone in his daughter’s voice unnerved him a little. He dipped her upside down for a brief moment, smiling at her delighted giggles. “And guess what else?”

“I be big girl!” Sydney squealed.

“That’s right! Tonight you’ll be a big girl!”

That night, it was already time for Sydney to leave the land of diapers and high chairs behind and for her to become a child.

As a child, Sydney was starting to look more like her mother.

“I can’t believe our family is almost complete,” Max said long after the birthday cake had been consumed and Sydney had gone off to bed. He held August in his arms and together they danced slowly though there was no music.

“Not long now,” August said with a happy sigh. “I can’t wait to not be pregnant anymore.”

“But you’re so beautiful when you’re pregnant. I mean, you’re beautiful every day, but more so when you’re pregnant because it’s my baby in there and—”

“Max.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

So he did.

She pulled away suddenly, a ripple of pain cascading through her midsection. “Max! It’s time!”

“The baby?” Max asked, slapping his hand against his face. “Already?”

“Yes, already!”

After the fussing and yelling, August gave birth to a blond-haired, green-eyed baby boy they decided to call Michael.

“Here, take him for a second,” August said as she handed Michael to Max. “I have a feeling we’re not done yet.”

“Wait. What?” But he took hold of Michael anyway.

Sure enough, labor wasn’t over just yet.

And after another round of yelling and fussing, August gave birth to another boy. He had his mother’s blond hair and his father’s gray eyes. His name, they decided, was Eddie.

After the babies were fed and put safely in their cribs, Max and August settled watched some much needed TV together.

“You know, she was right,” August said after a few minutes of trying but failing to concentrate on the show. “Sydney was.”

“About you having twins?”

“Not just twins, but boys. She said she was going to have brothers, Max. Somehow she knew.”

“A coincidence.”

August shook her head. “You heard her just as well as I did. She said ‘brothers.’ Somehow she knew she was going to have brothers.”

“Oh come on,” Max said. “It was just a coincidence. How could she possibly know?”

“Maybe she’s—”

“Psychic?” He shivered. “She’s not psychic. She can’t be.

“What if she is? I mean, what if…what if…”

“What if what?”

“What if it was something the JSS did to you. Maybe it came through you and went to her.”

Max frowned. “What d’you mean? Like they altered my genetics? They made her psychic through me?”

“Or maybe it’s always been there. The psychic gene or whatever you want to call it,” August said quietly. “It’s not like you would remember.”

Max snorted softly. “Sad but true. But what would they have to gain from it?”

August shrugged. She had no idea.

“I guess it’s something else we can put on our list of things to ask them when we finally get a meeting with someone at the JSS, but with us now having twins, who knows when that will be.”

“Soon. I promise it’ll be soon.”

****

Later that night, as the house fell quiet…

Max dreamt.

It was a beautiful summer day. A balmy breeze kissed his skin. The plastic slide was hot beneath his feet and the scent of cooked hot dogs, dirt, and freshly cut grass lingered in the air.

“Be careful, Max!” his mother called up to him.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he told her. He grabbed ahold of the warm bars at the top of the slide to put himself into position.

“I mean it, young man! You be careful!”

Max gave his mom a toothy grin before letting go of the bars.

He catapulted down the chute, the noise of it rattling in his ears. He couldn’t stop himself in time, and he landed butt first in the dirt at the end of the chute.

“Max!” his mom yelled as she ran to him.

He just sat in the dirt and laughed. “I’m okay, Mom!”

And he was okay.

They began to walk away from the playground. It was time to go home.

“Can we do this every day, all day, Mom?” Max asked as he skipped along side her.

“We sure can!”

“Even at night?!”

She stopped and knelt down in front of him, her expression suddenly serious. She reached up and brushed a streak of dirt off his cheek. “Max, there are some things you should know.” She paused, waiting for the girl in the orange sweater to pass them by, and when she did, his mom continued, her voice low, “The first thing you should know is that people like us should never be out for long at night—at least in certain area and especially in cities.”

“People like us?” Max asked, confused.

“Antillar Maximus, the second thing you should know is that you come from a long line of—”

“WAH! WAH! WAH!”

The shrill cries of two babies cut through the night like a klaxon, waking the whole household and cutting Max’s dream—his memory—short.

As Max and August tended to the each baby’s needs, Sydney came into the room, her eyes bleary with sleep. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Are they okay? Can I help?”

“Go back to bed, sweetie,” August told her. “You’ve got school in the morning.”

“Yeah, but I can help. I’ll need the practice anyway, for when I’m older and I take over the family.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked, confused.

“Well,” Sydney said as if talking to her brothers instead of her father. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? I mean, I’m the oldest so it makes sense that I would take over the family one day when I’m old enough.”

Max and August glanced at each other. It did make sense, but it wasn’t fair to Michael or Eddie if that was decided so soon.

“We’ll discuss this when you’re all older,” Max said.

“No, you won’t, because that’s how it’s going to be. The oldest is the heir,” Sydney said in the same matter-of-fact tone she had used when talking about her brothers before they were born.

“How do you know that,” Max asked her.

“I don’t know. I just do. Just how I knew Mom was going to have twin boys and how you have dreams about your past. I just know things, Dad.”

“Sweetie,” August said, frightened. “How do you know any of that?”

Sydney shrugged. “I dunno. I just do. I know who I’ll marry and who Michael will marry. I know how many kids I’ll have. I just know things, Mom.”

After putting the twins back to bed, Max and August approached Sydney.

“We believe you,” Max told her as he knelt down in front of her. “And we’re going to find out why this is happening and how to stop it.”

Sydney shook her head. “I don’t want it to stop. I like knowing things. Please don’t make it stop.”

“But, Sydney,” August said. “It’s unusual and a little scary.”

“I don’t want to be usual and I don’t care if it’s scary,” Sydney said with a pout.

“But what if someone says something mean?” August asked, concerned. “What if someone bullies you for it?”

“Well, I’ll know before it happens, won’t I?” Sydney said. “So who cares if it happens. I’ll know anyway. I don’t care if people say mean things, they don’t know what it’s like to know things like I do. There’s no harm in it.” She paused. “Is there?”

“That depends on why it’s happening,” Max said, leaning in to give Sydney a hug.

“But I don’t want it to go away,” Sydney said, accepting the hug.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, okay?” August said. “But for now, we should all go back to bed.”

****

The next night, Eddie and Michael became toddlers.

Aside from how outgoing he was, Michael was pretty even-tempered.

The same went for Eddie but he was a little less outgoing than his brother.

The next days seemed to blur by as having to teach two toddlers their basic skills and keep them from being taken by the social worker was practically a full-time job. Luckily, Sydney was willing and able to help keep them out of trouble.

In between all of that, the family moved into a bigger house.

But a new, bigger house meant more opportunities for little Eddie to find himself having the time of his life in one of their new bathrooms.

Sooner than any of them realized, Eddie and Michael were set to become children.

Michael…

…and Eddie.

But despite their physical differences the two were already inseparable.

*********

End chapter notes:
-Sydney is named after Sydney Sage from Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines series (and she’s also in Mead’s Vampire Academy series for a little bit, too). Sydney’s personality is 8 sloppy/neat, 10 shy/outgoing, 4 lazy/active, 7 serious/playful, and 1 grouchy/nice.
-Michael is named after Michael Carpenter from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. Michael’s personality is 5 sloppy/neat, 9 shy/outgoing, 4 lazy/active, 4 serious/playful, and 3 grouchy/nice.
-Eddie is named after Eddie Castile who is from Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. Eddie’s personality is 5 sloppy/neat, 7 shy/outgoing, 4 lazy/active, 4 serious/playful, and 5 grouchy/nice.
-I forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter, but the main neighborhood and the all the subhoods are named after certain places. Sunnydale, the main ‘hood, is named after the fictional town in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Twin Cities is the downtown district and is named after the real life nickname for Minneapolis and St. Paul. Avalon, the tropical vacation destination, comes from the legends of King Arthur. And The Misty Mountains, the mountain vacation destination, comes from the Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.
-The two agents in the first dream sequence are the simself of my dear friend, Heather (pixelatedollhouse on Tumblr), and Lennon Dekker, a sim from another legacy attempt of mine.
-Thank you so much for reading. Sorry it took a while to get this chapter out. I had computer trouble and game trouble, but it’s all good now, so hopefully, I’ll be able to update on a more regular schedule.