Chapter 3.1- The Only One

            It was certainly true, what they said, about the number 1. It was the loneliest number Mariah had ever known also. Not that she’d intended to be the only one in the kitchen as she stepped up to the cake.

            Her mother was off doing who knows what, and Mariah didn’t feel like wrestling with her. She’d tried to call Andre, but he and Kelci were at some dinner party her dad was throwing for the big wigs in his company. If she’d wanted to, she could have called Roger. He would have been here in a heartbeat she knew, but something held her back. And so it was her, and only her, celebrating her birthday.

            A particularly heavy roll of thunder dully shook the window panes.

            At least the weather mimicked how Mariah was feeling. The sun was still out revealing a blazing sunset, but the sudden downpour was gloomy and dreary, muting the brilliance of light.

            Shrugging a little, Mariah watched the smoke from her candles drift upward. Oh well. If nothing else, she was graduating tomorrow, finishing with school forever. That was something at least.

            Well, uh, look out world. Here I come, was Mariah’s wry thought to herself as she posed, trying to get used to her new body.

            Oh, who was she kidding anyway? It was high time she got used to being alone in the big house, doing things by herself, for herself. She was being pathetic! Wanting someone else to be here? Puh.

            Feeling useless because she had no one to take care of since her mother was actually being active, for once? That shouldn’t be bothering her! She should be happy! She wasn’t a teenager any longer!

            And so she sat to nibble at her cake, trying not to think about how many more empty hours had to pass before graduation tomorrow, before Andre would come to say his goodbyes, before her mother would pass leaving her truly, and utterly, alone.

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            Mariah checked the stove for the umpteenth time that day with the burner ON. She’d been so nauseous though! Surely the stove wasn’t getting hot enough and so she was eating undercooked foods. Then she’d get worms. And mutant bacteria. And she’d die an agonizingly painful death in the hospital while news channels obsessed over her grizzly demise, using it as a warning to all other sims to properly cook their food.

            Yet no matter how much she checked the temperatures on all her cooked foods with a food thermometer, the nausea persisted.

            It could also all be chalked up to losing her mother. Waves of grief would also hit her at random moments. 

            Of course, a lot of that could be guilt over selling off so many of her mother’s precious collectables shortly before she died.

Layla had emerged from her room, took one look at the bare floors and thin shelves before suddenly expiring. Mariah was sure it was her fault. She shouldn’t have changed things around. She knew it was traumatic for some people in her mother’s condition to have things suddenly change.

            The worst was when the nausea and the guilt of grief would hit at the same time. When she’d gone to visit her parents’ graves to lay flowers she almost thought she’d have to find a bush the nausea was so bad.

            Slowly, Mariah adjusted to being on her own. Roger would call occasionally to give her updates on how Police Academy was going for him and she began to think about getting a job herself. Maybe the tedium was causing the nausea?

            Or maybe not.

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            I Don't

            Is Over

            I Can't

            Never Wanted

            The End

            Massaging her temples, Mariah read through the letter in front of her again. Again, the words slipped through her mind leaving only traces of their meaning behind. If only the pounding might stop, maybe she could focus.

            “Dammit, Mariah!” Roger’s voice boomed out after beating fiercely on the door for the umpteenth time. “I can see you through the windows! And I hear you crying! Let.Me.In!”

            A few hiccupping sobs was the only reply she would give him though. Or could give him either.

            “I know your mom is gone,” Roger’s voice finally had softened enough for her to hear the slight catch. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be here for you. But Academy is over and I’m here now. Please let me in.”

            Judging by his shadow, Mariah assumed he’d put his forehead against the glass and she scoffed. Wouldn’t this all be so much simpler if it were only about her mother?

            “Please, ‘Riah.”

            Sighing heavily, she rolled her eyes. Maybe if she just let him in he’d see the mess she’d created for herself. And then he’d go away. And then she could figure out just what the letter was saying, determine how bad it all actually was.

            And despite herself, she was curious. She hadn’t seen him since graduation. How had he changed after training to join the police force?

            “If you don’t open this door by the time I count to five, I’ll break it down!”

            There was no need for that. And so she hefted herself out of her chair, slowly, trying to keep her precarious balance.

            But she was too late. She’d barely taken 2 steps when Roger finally tried the unlocked door knob and came crashing in, nearly falling himself.

            Well, Police Academy hadn’t made him that much more coordinated. Oh well.

            Eyes closed, she took a deep breath, trying to give him time to regain his composure. Then she squared her shoulders, defiantly showing him just what kind of a state she was in. Hair unkempt. Makeup smeared and melting. Tear stained. Round bellied. 

            Then she saw who stood in front of her.

            That was Roger?

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*Ducks and hides from Urunwa. Better shots will be next time! I promise! But I did promise, and deliver, shots of Roger without glasses this time. Sorry they’re so far away.

            Welcome to Mariah’s rein as the 3rd Sixkiller Heiress! Woot, yay! So, quickly, just to make sure it made sense since a lot of that was silent. As you can see, Mariah grew up all and she’s Layla passed the day after Mariah aged up. I’ll put a pic or two up of her passing on Tumblr, but it wasn’t anything special. It happened shortly after Andre came over graduation night. (And I hope you noticed that he didn’t even stay the entire night.) After that it was just, well, Hey look! Generation 4 is on the way!