What I want is a Sim who fits in to the style and mood of the story. I won’t edit their genetics, i may put them in different clothes or hairstyles but their bodies and faces and everything solid will remain exactly how you made them. It could even be a Self Sim which would be awesome because then you’d actually be in the story! If you’re interested, make the Sim (including a distinct and exciting personality) and email me a short summary of their character and some pictures to ipswichluke@gmail.com

Closing date is 20th August 2010 so you don’t have long!!!! I’ll choose the winner (or winners depending on how many i like) on the 20th and get you to upload the Sim to either the exchange or put them in one of those hosting sites such as Zshare or Megaupload or something.

Luke x

The Fatima Complex

When Luke Blue saw the empty cot he knew exactly what was going on. He wasn’t sure how or why – but he could tell that Ben had been taken. Snatched from his bed like an egg from a nest. It was the air that told him – it was thick, heavy on his shoulders. It was hard to push through the environment’s sticky atmosphere – it felt like it was pushing him down.

He called out for his daughter, hoping that perhaps she would have Ben in her arms. He wanted her to arrive holding the wrapped up baby nonchalantly as though nothing had ever happened. He hoped that he’d be able to forget it all in an instant. He was, of course, wrong and she arrived holding nothing but a worried face. It was Ben’s birthday and he was nowhere to be seen.

She couldn’t deal with it. China’s legs buckled as soon as she saw the empty bed that once held her baby boy. The scar his love left on her heart burned harder than ever before – it enveloped her in a womb of glass. She collapsed with a hollow grunt of despair.

No one had ever prepared her to deal with something like this.

Freddie phoned the police as soon as he heard the muffled cries of his wife. She was calling Ben’s name out as best she could – but the tears were blocking her pleas. The police would try – but they had little to go on, and they didn’t classify children as missing unless they’d been gone for more than twelve hours; even though Ben was only a baby.

Luke had thought that losing his material possessions was painful enough, but that was nothing compared to the raw vulnerability of losing a child and not knowing where he was – or if he was even alive.

China felt like she wanted to die – to throw herself from the roof, to hold her head beneath the pure surface of a full bath. She couldn’t go on – she had no idea just how much she needed Ben until then.

So when she heard a rustle outside the dining room window, she leapt at the chance to see who had taken her child from her. She would settle for their death or her own – either way would stop, or at least ease, the pain.

She strained her eyes through the glass panes, hoping openly that she would see or hear something that would lead her to her child’s whereabouts.

That’s when the terrified cries of a small boy began to echo through the town, and chills wriggled their way down everyone’s spines.

Freddie followed the howls of his little boy desperately. He had to find his only son – he had to. His legs burned and his heart thumped uncontrollably beneath his chest, but he knew that nothing less than success would placate him. The cries were loud – unbearable. Perhaps the kidnapper had given up. Perhaps they’d seen sense. Perhaps a lot of things – but Freddie was certain that little Ben was either terrified or in pain.

Or both.

As Freddie scooped his newly grown son up from the brambles outside his home, the crying ceased. Ben looked up in to his eyes with his own thick, shimmering blues and smiled. Freddie should have been relieved and he knew that – but there was a more powerful emotion washing over him. He was scared – scared for his family and for himself. Why had the kidnapper just left Ben outside? Bait?

Why were they teasing them? Part of Freddie would have rather found Ben in the kidnapper’s arms – not like this. Not in this tense, forboding way. He knew as soon as he saw the child that there was more to come. It wasn’t over.

China didn’t feel any of Freddie’s fear. She just let the pure elation wash over her like the constant baths her mother used to take. She felt her heart leap in to her mouth in excitement as she saw her beautiful, brave husband scoop her beautiful, brave son up. She wanted to leap through the window and engulf both of them in her love. Tears sprung to her eyes and she felt her legs go weak again – but this time out of pure joy.

“You’re safe now,” Freddie whispered the lie in to his son’s ear with a tender smile.

Nothing could ruin that moment for her.

Freddie never wanted to lose that touch again. His son was too beautiful to be used against them – he couldn’t comprehend how evil whoever did this had to be to be able to take such a wonderful being and leave them out in the cold. Who could be that heartless?

China sat beside her son’s cot that night. She couldn’t risk it. Not again. She’d turned her back once, she wasn’t about to do the same thing again. As she watched him with his perfectly innocent little breaths she wondered if he knew what had happened. Did he recognise whoever took him? Why didn’t he cry? Scream? Howl for safety? Did he prefer them? Did he in fact want to be back there right now in their arms?

There was one thing she knew for certain however – they had to move now. She didn’t want to stay there. Whoever took their child knew where they lived now – what was stopping them from coming back and finishing the job? Burning down the house? Murdering them in their sleep? No. They had to move. There was no question about it.

But they were no longer moving for the money – their financial issues no longer interested or worried. As long as Ben was safe, she was happy to be poor. They needed to move for safety reasons – to protect themselves. It was her job, after all, as Heiress to ensure her family’s well-being. This was just one step.

She had no idea that the woman who had stolen her child away from her wasn’t finished. She’d barely even begun.

The Repo Man came again a month after Luke’s birthday. The bills hadn’t gone away. The money hadn’t covered it. Everything was crumbling, again.

Luke watched with a defeated sigh as the man entered his home to take away everything he had collected over the years. He’d given up caring much. It was too much energy to fight it. It was too much pain to watch the bills pile up without end. He’d fallen in to a numb state of indifference.

The Repo Man took almost everything.

China stared at her home. Bare. Empty. A few remaining spots of warmth stayed once the van had rattled away. Everything they’d earned and collected was worth nothing.

“We’re going to have to sell it,” China sighed later that day as she and her father took refuge in her grandfather’s old room. “We don’t have any other choice – we can sell it, put the remaining furniture in storage and move to some place else. Janet at the office has a house just off the coast on this island…it could be worth it.”

“I’m not selling,” Luke replied solemnly. “I can’t do that to this family.”

“I’ve ruined enough as it is,” he said slowly, “i don’t want to take away our home as well.”

“But if we don’t sell then what will we have to live on?” China pleaded. “We’ll be living in this empty house! If we sell it then we would raise the money to keep living. We could start again. Then, when and if the time comes, we could buy the house back. Surely you see that we have to do this?”

“I see the point, yes,” Luke admitted begrudgingly, “but i can’t face the humiliation of having to do that. What if it doesn’t sell? What if we can’t buy it back again? This Janet’s house won’t be available forever, surely?”

“Please, Dad,” China said slowly. “We don’t have a choice.”

Luke didn’t want to think about any of it. He just wanted to see Sommer again. The kiss they’d shared at China’s wedding had stayed on his lips ever since. Her touch was in his nerves like poison – his heart was beating with intensified vigour. He’d missed her more than he’d known.

Every chance he got with her he cherished. He didn’t tell China or Freddie – he didn’t want to get their hopes up; China especially. He knew she’d do anything to have her mother back in her life.

But then, as he held her hand, he felt the cold metallic ring on her finger.

“You’re married?” He growled as he withdrew his hand.

“I…I was going to tell you,” she stuttered, her voice wounded.

“Who is he?” He snapped at her, furious that he’d even consider her again.

“Arlo,” she said nervously, “Arlo Bunch.”

“What the Hell?” He barked. He moved in to grab her, she struggled away in fear. “How could you do this to me, Sommer?”

“I’m sorry!” She cried out.

“I can’t believe this,” Luke groaned, angry now at himself rather than at Sommer.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. She didn’t know what else to say. Was there anything else she could say?

China watched through the window as her mother and father failed at love once again.

Her phone ringing distracted her from the Greek Tragedy unfolding through the glass.

“Hello?” She asked as she placed the phone to her ear. She’d forgotten about these calls. The ones with no answer. The ones with no sound at all. They’d stopped for a while, left her like her mother had. She’d expected them to stop for good.

“Who the Hell is this?” She hissed down the phone. No response. She didn’t expect one – but she would have at least liked a clue. A breath, a grunt, a sigh. Anything.

She had no idea that the caller was in her house.

Jane Blue was about to get her long-planned revenge on the family that banished her.

China had already grown tired of wading through her father’s hidden bill collection piece by piece. They’d paid off so many, yet there still seemed to be an ocean of yellow, red and white envelopes gathering throughout the house. Every day he’d confess to some new hidden stashes of letters and they’d have to dig them out and add them to the pile.

She’d gotten rid of the maid who, in her eyes, was just another needless expense. Luke had been intending to do such a thing, but he was too embarrassed. He knew that this was all his fault and he couldn’t bring himself to admit that to the woman he employed but could no longer pay.

Even Luke had grown tired of the endless monotony of bill paying. He just wanted to avoid the Repo Man. He wanted to avoid losing everything. He owed his future son in law Freddie a great deal – he’d almost single handedly bailed them out of this sticky situation.

Freddie didn’t mind helping – that’s what he was there for after all. He had enough money to be of aide – so why not put it to use? He didn’t expect anything back, he didn’t want to treat his future father in law as some sort of charity. He didn’t want to pity anyone – he just wanted to help his new family.

“Oh crap!” China howled as a pressure built and popped within her stomach. “Oh crap!” Pain – pulsating, burning pain followed the relief of pressure.

Everyone knew what that meant.

Little Ben Blue was brought in to the world with ten fingers and ten toes just a few hours later.

As China looked down at her newly born child, she suddenly felt as though nothing else mattered. Bills and mysterious phone calls go away in time and leave a tiny dark mark like a water stain – a child and the love which they bring leaves a permanent, beautiful scar. All she wanted to think about was that wonderful scar on her heart.

“We’re getting there,” China said hopefully that night as she and her father sat amongst the bills. “Aren’t we?”

“Sure,” Luke smiled without looking at her, “yeah. Not long now.”

But the next day came, and with it more bills. Scarier bills. Harsher, more threatening bills. China didn’t know if they’d ever be getting normal post again.

A few weeks passed and China’s beautiful scar grew even more spectacular as her wedding day came. A low budget affair on the beach – her dress was borrowed, the sea was blue and her baby was new.

She just wasn’t quite sure where her groom was.

He was on the other side of town having only just finished playing a match against the Riverview team. Sunset Valley had, of course, won – but he couldn’t care less. He had a wedding to get to.

As he travelled, more and more guests arrived at the beach in their glitzy clothes. Even Geneva and India had arrived before the groom himself.

But he got there eventually, just as everyone was beginning to question his existence let alone his arrival.

And so, as the sun began to set over Sunset Valley, the two lovers finally exchanged rings on the finest sand the area had to offer. They knew it was a low budget wedding and they knew when they got home they’d simply have to spend more money on bills that weren’t theirs – but that scar kept them going. The beautiful, loving scar that cut its way across their hearts.

Everyone watched on as their friend, sister, daughter wed. It had been a long time coming, but it was there at last – true love was really blossoming on the beach that early evening.

Even Sommer, who had been invited by China, was pleased to witness such love – after all, she was her daughter. No mother could not smile at her daughter’s wedding.

“I’m surprised you came,” Luke hissed as the ceremony gave way to mingling.

“Not now,” Sommer growled back, “can we just be civil at our daughter’s wedding day please?”

“I’m sorry about what happened, okay?” Sommer sighed truthfully. “I miss what we had – i didn’t intend for it to go so…wrong. The girls miss you too – and their sister.” Luke felt his heart flutter at the mention of the twin girls, Autumn and Winter. He missed them more than anything: they were so beautifu even though they weren’t his.

“You think I wanted it to go like that?” Luke groaned. “I never wanted us to end, Sommer – not really. It all just…snowballed, you know?” He hadn’t spoken about how he felt for so long. It felt almost like an exorcism, but he wasn’t sure if he liked it. It was exposing him in front of her. He hadn’t done that since their marriage, since the happy days.

“I am truly sorry for everything, Luke,” Sommer smiled. The sea breeze pushed her hair softly around her gentle skin and she felt suddenly very light. She felt as if she could fly, as if she could float on the surface of the brisk sea. She was free to do what she wanted.

What happened next felt almost natural – as though it should have never stopped happening in the first place. As thought it hadn’t in fact stopped.

As though she could fall right back in to place in her old life.

China didn’t know how or what to say to her father. He’d been dumped, effectively. How was she supposed to deal with that? Her mother had moved out and taken her two sisters away with her…well…half-sisters. What was she meant to do? Were adults supposed to act in this way? Childish, petty digs at one another until they eventually explode in one another’s faces? She didn’t think so. If Sommer had died, she thought for one grim moment, it might have been easier. She could deal with people in mourning. But Sommer was still out there, dangling the possibility of rekindling their love in front of him. How was she supposed to deal with that?

“You okay, Dad?” She asked as she sat beside him, the TV hypnotizing them both.

“Sure,” he sighed heavily, his shoulders hung as though a great weight sat on them. She shuddered – that was her Dad. He was meant to be eternally and unconditionally strong. Not in pain, not sad – that’s not what Dads were supposed to do.

She almost felt guilty for being so publically in love with Freddie. When Luke and Sommer had been in China, Freddie had moved in. Initially it was just to help her look after the twins whilst her parents were away…but now he wasn’t leaving, and she didn’t want him to. She wanted him there forever. It must have been hard for Luke to see that after his own marriage crumbled on a holiday created to save the relationship he craved.

But the only thing that was really playing on Luke’s mind was the amount of money pouring from their house like blood. He was expected to pay for divorce lawyers, holidays, the house, food – all on his non existant earnings. He didn’t want to ask China and Freddie for money, they had their own lives to plan. He could sort it – he knew it.

China and Freddie had other things to plan as well.

Like a family.

“Ah crap,” China sighed as she stared down at the bowl of the toilet. She knew what that meant – she could feel the child growing inside her.

“So…” China tried one day, trying to approach the subject gently, “how do you feel about being a grandpa?”

Luke heard the words and immediately saw bills – but decided not to think about it. He couldn’t be pessimistic about this as well. He needed to be happy for his daughter and her lover, he needed to put a brave face on. Whatever happened, he was sure it would be okay.

He just grinned at her – an unconditional grin.

Unconditional hug.

When she told Freddie, she found his reaction more than pleasing. She felt her heart shudder desperately with excitement as she stared at the rock presented in front of her eyes. She let out a squeal – she’d never seen that coming! She’d expected him to kiss or hug her when he heard her news – she’d only just told him and he was already on one knee.

“Wait!” She stammered as he approached her finger with the ring. “It’s not just because i’m pregnant, right?” She didn’t know why she’d even asked. He put her mind at ease and she laughed as he slipped the cold, golden band with its heavy diamond blister on to her slender digit. She hadn’t even thought about this day – part of her had assumed that it would never come.

That hug was the best hug she’d ever experienced. It was perfet – a baby, a husband and a house big enough for everyone. What more could she want?

So it came as a shock, as one may expect, when a few months later the Repo Man arrived to collect the debts he said were owed.

“What was that about?” A now much more pregnant China asked when he’d left. Her father’s eyes seemed to be turning numb – something inside him was leaving. She’d been noticing it more and more recently, but that day it really hit her.

“I owe some money,” Luke replied quietly.

“How much money?” China probed, her child kicking silently in her inflated belly.

“I’m not sure,” Luke sighed, “but i don’t have enough – not even a quarter of it.”

“How much?” Her teeth were gritting angrily. She could feel her hormones bubbling beneath the surface.

“……around a hundred thousand?” She could see his nerves. He was sweating – he was embarrased.

She was just angry.

“What the Hell?” She screeched, her skin turning an odd shade of pink. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped! We could lose our bloody house Dad!”

“I didn’t want to ask for your help! You’ve got a baby on the way!” Luke whined, his eyes suddenly filled with terror, replacing the blank stare he had so little time ago.

“Oh come on!” She howled. “We could lose everything! What are we going to do if we don’t have a house over our child’s head, Dad? What then? Did you even think of that?”

“I didn’t know…” he stuttered. He felt as though he had gone back in time and was arguing with Sommer again – it was remarkable how similar she and her child really were.

When Luke revealed the amount of bills he’d been hiding in his room, China felt her heart sink. They covered the table and some of the floor – and a few of them had to stay in the cupboard through lack of floorspace.

She felt sick. She wanted to run and hide from this, just like her father had. She knew they could pay some of them off – she was engaged to a pretty succesful athlete after all – but she also knew that sacrifices would have to be made in order to get there. It was very possible that they’d have to sell the house.

It was very possible that they’d lose everything.

Luke Blue had been called in to the offices of Karl Amis, his chief opposition when it came to politics and the running of the town. Luke saw straight through this proposed meeting and recognised the threat that it really was. Karl, no doubt, had dirt on him or a proposition which Luke would turn down. Karl never called Luke in to his offices unless he wanted to topple him.

“Mr. Blue?” Karl’s secretary sighed through her smacking, sticky lips as he rounded the corner to face her.

“Yes,” he replied calmly. He wanted to laugh at her or smirk at her voice, but he didn’t. He was the Mayor – he needed to appear grateful for all she was offering him.

“Sit down over there.” She didn’t waste her time on complex sentences.

Luke complied and perched on the deceptively hard and uncomfortable sofa with a tense body. He wanted to be there about as much as he wanted Cancer. He knew there was something going on – but wasn’t quite sure what. His children weren’t misbehaving, he hadn’t had an affair and he hadn’t stumbled out of a nightclub drunk. What could it be?

“You can go in now,” she said between chomps on a piece of gum.

Karl Amis’s office was just how any self respecting super villain’s lair should look.

It was a cavernous room that seemed to stretch for miles ahead of him. Bare except for Karl’s desk and some chairs – Luke half expected Karl to be stroking a white cat and waiting for him to step across the trap door. Every sound echoed around the booming room, whether it was Karl’s wheeze or Luke’s nervous supressed laughter.

“Sit.” Karl’s voice was a snake’s hiss, a sticky pool of slithering betrayal.

Luke sat in the chair opposite Karl’s large desk, his hands moist with nerves as he rested them on his thighs. He didn’t want to appear nervous – he needed to be strong or Karl would pounce on his weakness.

“I’ve heard some interesting news about your family,” Karl said slowly, his voice ringing through the white room. “A little birdie told me that the newborns aren’t actually yours.”

“Well that’s just an outrageous lie,” Luke replied calmly, his voice on the brink of quivering. “Your sources are misinformed.”

His hands had never been this sweaty – his trousers were turning dark around his palms.

“His source is not wrong.” There was a voice behind Luk e – a voice he recognised all too well. A voice in stilettos and a short dress.

“Always one for a big entrance,” Karl sighed as he looked past Luke’s shoulder. “And yes, as she said – my source is not wrong. My source filmed the argument you had with your lovely wife at your father’s funeral.”

“Isn’t that right, Jane?”

She nodded her silent response, her piercing eyes gouging out dark holes in Luke’s head. Jane Blue – the black sheep of the Blue family.

“I should have known you weren’t there to pay your respects Jane,” Luke sighed, refusing to look at up at the girl who was ruining everything.

“You had it coming,” she smiled back.

“Now,” Karl smiled, “the deal is you drop out of office or i make this little gem public and ruin your career and reputation. What’s it going to be, Luke?”

“That’s blackmail!” Luke snapped. “You can’t do that!”

“No,” Karl smiled, “that’s politics.”

Months passed and Sommer found herself with an unemployed husband – forced out of his position because of what she had done. Never before had she felt so sick with herself.

She didn’t want to look at herself in the mirror. She’d ruined their family – the Blues had fallen because of her. At least, she thought, they had China to lead them in to hope. She had a job, she had income. She could save their reputation.

China had been invited to a party at her friend Freddie’s house that night – it was a humble place with limited luxuries, but it did what it was supposed to do. It wasn’t in the nicest part of town either – but now that Karl Amis was the Mayor there weren’t many nice areas of the town.

“Hey!” China beamed as she slipped in to Freddie’s safe embrace. “Long time.”

“Too bloody long,” Freddie laughed in to her nest of black hair.

“How’s work?” She asked politely – people in these situations were supposed to ask such things, weren’t they?

“Oh you know,” he smiled, “sporty and all that.” Freddie had been working his way up the ladder in the local football team – he was becoming quite a well known player and (according to him) he’d been spotted by a much bigger, more expensive team.

“Listen,” he said suddenly, “i was thinking that this party is going to kind of…suck. So do you, like, want to go and get something…to eat? With me?” She laughed instinctively and he seemed to flinch.

“Oh i’m not laughing at you!” She stammered quickly with a helpless grin. “I’m laughing because i’d love to!”

A meal, as these things do, turned in to drinks.

And before she knew it he was standing on her doorstep with her at seven in the morning. His hand around hers.

His lips on hers.

The atmosphere between Luke and Sommer was more than tense – so tense at moments that they couldn’t even look at one another. Luke, perhaps understandably, had blamed Sommer for losing his job. He still loved her and she still loved him, but things had changed between them. There was a barrier they couldn’t get through.

“Why don’t we go away somewhere?” Luke asked on a whim; his last resort attempt to patch up their marriage. He’d stepped down in order to protect her honour – what more could she want from her husband?

“Sure,” Sommer nodded slowly, her eyes almost shining with a hope she’d lost.

“We could go to China – you’ve always wanted to go there again!” Luke smiled, suddenly getting in to the swing of his spontaneous idea.

“Yeah!” Sommer beamed at last, stepping towards him. The barrier was crumbling.

“I think this’ll be really good for us,” Luke grinned as she pulled him in for a hug. A sense of longing shot straight to his groin as he felt her skin upon his. They hadn’t kissed since the morning of Connor’s funeral.

“Yes,” Sommer smiled back, “yes i think it will.”

China was more beautiful than Sommer had remembered – she quickly realised just how fitting her daughter’s name was. She’d forgotten, with everything that had happened to her and her family, that travelling had always been her main interest. She’d wanted to see the world, but found herself stuck in Sunset Valley.

Luke, unlike his wife, had never been abroad. This was his first outing – his first taste of a foreign world. He planned to soak it up to the point of saturation. He wanted to experience everything China had to offer.

Unintentionally, however, the only aspect of the holiday they seemed to share was the meal they went to separately. They happened to bump in to each other there.

And even then they stood away from one another. Sommer didn’t know what it was – she’d barely even considered it. But it was there, hanging in the air between them like a putrid smell.

It was only later that afternoon when she found him in the bookstore after avoiding her for the past day that she decided to confront him. It needed to be aired. Their relationship needed an Exorcism.

“Stop blaming me for this!” Sommer shrieked.

“For what?” He grappled back.

“It feels like you’re blaming me for everything that’s gone wrong,” Sommer sighed, backing off slightly. “I feel like i’m the evil one even though you’ve been no Angel, Luke. We both know why i had an affair in the first place – you wouldn’t even look at me back then. I needed contact!”

“How dare you!” Luke barked. “How dare you blame your own dirty little habit on me! It’s not my fault that you couldn’t keep your legs crossed!”

That’s when it hit her. That’s when everything suddenly slotted in to place in her head. It was all her fault – everything. She had been so selfish in believing that it only affected her, that only she had to deal with the ripples caused by her splash.

“Don’t touch me,” she said through tears – but her voice wasn’t filled with venom or hate. No, it was full of self pity. She hated who she had become, she felt sorry for herself. She wanted it all to go away.

“I’ll move out when we get home,” she said. Under normal circumstances, this would have been his turn to beg her to stay, to make her feel better about herself. But when he looked in to her eyes he saw that there was no arguing with this decision. He saw that she meant it – he saw that she had come to her senses.

And she stuck to her word. She was taking Autumn and Winter with her as she and Luke had discussed. Not because he didn’t love them – for he did – but because Sommer needed them. She needed to look after the twins she had brought in to the world, she needed that comfort.

All she left behind was her guitar, ready to be played by future generations.

Luke would be the first one to admit that it took him a good while to appreciate and accept the twins as his own. It took a few months at least, but he got there. He saw them now as his little girls – just another two beautiful faces in his family. He didn’t even think about Arlo and the affair every time he saw them…well…usually.

But even if he did think about the torrid affair that had brought Autumn and Winter in to his life, all it would take was for one of them to smile and every bad thought he had would disappear. They were like their mother in that respect – he could never stay angry at them or wish they were different in any way. They were perfect and he loved them.

He had, of course, eventually forgiven Sommer as well. He’d managed, after a long period of coldness, seen her beauty within once again and had brought her back in to his love. He’d never stopped loving her – he knew that and she most probably knew that too.

There had been a moment of uncertainty on his part – a month or so that led him to doubt everything he thought he knew about her and their relationship. But things had changed – she had changed. Everything was beginning to look up once more.

China settled in to the role of heir surprisingly well – she was now the official head of the Blue family, despite a few wobbles at the start of her reign. She’d settled in to her new job as her father’s chief advisor in the mayor’s office very well and she was beginning to really shine through the town. Luke couldn’t think of a better Blue Queen (as she liked to think of her role).

It had become an unofficial tradition for the new leader to refurbish and redecorate the house as they saw fit – China Blue had chosen midnight blue for most of the walls and deep hardwood for the floors. She’d redone the kitchen, bought new furniture for the living room, put a small gym in – she’d really gone to town. But, as Luke had told her, the money they earned not only from Connor’s will but from Luke’s position as Mayor of Sunset Valley allowed them to be daring with their expenses.

Sommer cast her eye around the living room – she was still adjusting to the sudden change of colour scheme. She liked it, she thought, but there was something unsettling about it. Everything was so dark – everything made her feel so cold. She missed the warm vibrancy of the old green walls – but China was the new head of the family, not her. She’d never really been the head, Luke was just so soft that it felt like she was.

The biggest bonus of China’s reign, Sommer supposed, was that she’d had an excuse to take up playing the guitar again. It had happened in a heated exchange between them one night. Sommer had moaned about having to sacrifice her career as a rock star to raise China and her sisters again, so China dug out her mother’s old guitar and told her to play it. She did, and she’d only stopped since to change nappies and feed the twins.

“Hello?” China sighed down her phone as she walked back in to her house after a pleasant night out. It had been ringing all night – she’d only just decided that answering it was worth the effort. “Hello?” She’d been receiving these calls for a few days now – empty, hollow, voiceless calls. Calls from a horror movie, calls with heavy breathing on the other end.

If only she could turn to look out the window. If only she could turn and see the caller.

“I’m getting bored of these now,” China groaned. “If this doesn’t stop i will call the police – i work for the Mayor y’know? My father?” The line went dead.

“How long have you been getting the calls now?” Luke asked over his plate of food. China wouldn’t eat, she’d spent the entire evening eating with her friends. All girls of course, no men seemed to be taking interest in her alternative looks.

“A few weeks,” she shrugged, “it’s nothing. Probably one of your rivals trying to freak us out.”

“And if it isn’t?” He asked cautiously. He didn’t want to scare her, but he knew full well that he had enemies that weren’t out to seek political gain.

She went to answer him, to tell him that they’d cross that bridge when or if they came to it – but she was distracted. A rustle outside. A shadow on the window. Trick of the light? No. She was sure of it – there was someone watching her. Someone crouched in the bushes like an omen.

She had to check anyway – even if it was just a rat. She needed to put her mind at ease, she needed to sleep that night without thinking there was someone watching her from the foot of her bed.

But there was nothing on the other side of the window. Just the air, just the shadows of the bushes. She looked in at her father who sat patiently at the dining table and shrugged at him. Perhaps she had been wrong.

“Nothing?” Luke asked as China walked back in to his arms.

“Nothing,” she laughed at her paranoia and breathed in his comforting, father smell.

His phone rang, cutting the silence. He stared at the screen and China felt a sudden urge to vomit. Had her fear turned her in to a blubbering wreck? Could she no longer hear a ringtone without screaming?

“It’s work,” he sighed.

“I can’t talk right now,” he said efficiently as he pulled a face at his daughter which said ‘i’d rather die than talk to them right now’. She laughed quietly. “Yes i know it’s tomorrow – yes i’m coming in tomorrow morning….yes….look i have to go.”

He hung up and said; “They just phoned to make sure i was aware of the meeting tomorrow – do they think i’m a total imbecile?”

“Meeting?” She frowned. She didn’t know anything about a meeting.

“It’s nothing huge,” he shrugged again, “just one of those things i’ve got to do.”

“Fair enough,” she smiled back. “I’m off to bed though – what with all the stalking and the drinking i’m shattered.”

China sauntered sleepily in to her bedroom – formerly her grandfather’s bedroom – and smiled at the vibrant green walls that met her. Although she had changed a lot of the house, her grandfather’s room remained scared. She even kept his laptop in the corner. Nothing could be touched as far as she was concerned.

And so she slipped in to a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

She had no idea that there was an old rival at her window waiting to make her life a living Hell.