Unloved: A Sims Story by orenjiAi

Thanks for dropping by @rosemow! It’s nice to see a familiar face! I’ve thoroughly embraced being the Storyteller that I am (hence my absence from the Builder thread). I’m glad that you experience it as you would a movie and mostly that you enjoy the story. :heart:

You’re welcome @orenjiAi :)

@orenjiAi As I mentioned, I'm a lurker to this thread. I have been really enjoying the story as well. And it kind of it like a tv series/movie based style. The way you to tell it, the reader gets to be on a personal level with both Elia and Robert separately. Looking forward to reading this continuing saga. :smile:

Yay @orenjiAi your story getting quite popular now woot :smiley: B)

Unloved 5

https://i.imgur.com/WLJtBwU.png
Every so often, when it rains hard enough, Adriel and Elia would sneak out to the Children's Home's backyard. They would make paper boats from scrap papers they smuggled from art class. When the runoffs began to stream, they would carefully place their handiwork atop the waters and gleefully chase after them until they float out of the yard and into the street. They would peer through the gates and watch the boats bob idly in gutter-deep floodwaters. They circle closer and closer to the maelstrom that is the sewer drain 'til they eventually get caught in the rapid downwards current and flushed out of sight.

Adriel felt like he was riding one of those paper boats right now. He felt a gentle but dizzying rocking sensation that made him want to keep his eyes closed. To fall deeper and deeper into unconsciousness. But a dull sting around his left cheek was keeping him just slightly awake. It must be one of those pesky bedbugs again—dang things. He made up his mind not to touch it. It had been the fifth time this week he told Mother. And it had been the eighteenth-or-so time she brushed him off.

A bedbug bite will not kill him, she used to say. So often, In fact, he had grown quite used to them. At best, it will only leave him itchy. At worse, it will leave a bite scar. Either way, it will pass. Just like everything else he had gone through under Mother's "care", it will not kill him. It will leave, eventually, once its had its fill.

Except it cannot be a bedbug is what he thought. Didn't he leave them all behind that night?


On that old rotten mattress?


In that damp attic room?


In the orphanage?


https://i.imgur.com/Juh06wE.png
Adriel jolted upright. But he did not see the roughly hewn wood sidings of the tiny home he was sitting for like he did when he last woke up. Instead, he found himself in the middle of a soft, large bed in a stark white room. Sun rays filtered in through a window that seems to be overlooking a grand garden. He could hear birds chirping, invisible in the trees' branches. The wind flowed in through a slightly open window. It was strong enough to turn the pages of an open notebook beneath but not strong enough to sway the thick silk curtains. A white marble fireplace stood proudly across the bed. While a bowl of delicious-looking fruit was placed on the table beside it. He looked down and he saw his wounds have been dressed. He was also now wearing a white dress shirt.

"Huh?"

Adriel hid beneath the sheets. He learned of this place from the cook. It is where the good go to when they die. Where there is no more pain or hunger or heavy work like scrubbing large, greasy pots. Where there were no beaches and bad people. Where the Watcher and his angels live in holy light. He squeezed his eyes shut, frantically trying to recall what he was doing last and how that could've ended him up in heaven. The police... they tried to take Mother... Then the children... There was a fruit truck... And a pale man with a beach house... Paint... Two thieves... And the fight... That must be it! He must have been killed when he fought off the thieves!

"Hey! You're awake now!" a sweet voice said.

Adriel peered through the bed covers and gasped. He could not believe his eyes.

https://i.imgur.com/GNEaqhF.png
"An angel!" he screamed.

"What? Don't be silly! It's me, Elia!" the figure said.

"Elia..?" He asked as his vision adjusted to the room's garish light. "Big sister Elia?!"

https://i.imgur.com/OtDWNZp.png
He hugged her tight. He didn't think he would ever see her again. Or so soon after, for that matter. Not this way. Not in this place. The last he saw her was getting into what he thought was a hearse after some creepy guy paid to adopt her. He didn't like to think what must have happened to her at his hands. But he had to know. He squeezed her ever so lightly. Looked her straight in her vivid eyes. He then asked:

"So how did you die?"

Adriel had finally come to his senses. All it took was for Robert to walk in the room, offering tea, to know that he must not be in the place called "heaven". Not with that creep. Now that he thought about it, he did not really believe that he would just die from a single punch. Not from him. Elia says he's harmless but she's been wrong so many times before. Mostly in art class.

"This is Adriel," Elia introduced the young teen to Robert, breaking off his thoughts.. "He's a dear friend from the San Myshuno Children's Home.

We were both brought to the orphanage when we were young. I'm older by a few years but he had always stood up for me. He has always protected me and warded off the mean kids.”

Robert gave a short nod to acknowledge him.

“And this is my guardian, Robert Dubois. He serves as the butler to the Thebes.”

“To you, my lady.” he clarified.

“Right...” Elia said quickly as she tugged at her own sleeves. She looked rather shifty and nervous to Adriel. That was odd, he thought. He knew she had always wanted to be a part of a family—to get out of the Children’s Home. But she didn’t look very happy to him. In fact, she looked just as worse as she had been in the orphanage! He wondered again what this butler might have done to her in the past few days for her to make such a reaction.

“Robert is the keeper of the ch-chateau,” Elia continued. She was getting breathy and turning red in the face. “He cooks for... And he cleans... and takes good care of...”. She never got to finish her sentences. She turned away from both men and buried her face in her hands. Adriel could hear her taking deep breaths. Was she crying? It didn’t seem like she was but it was clear to him that Robert definitely bothered her.

Elia turned to face them again as she blurted out. “Anyway, he’s super smart and handy and a real gentleman!”

“Yeah, real gentle of him to clock me.” Adriel retorted without thinking.

“Adriel! I told you we’re sorry! He thought you were attacking me!” Elia reprimanded.

“Only because you snuck into my house!” Adriel was shocked at himself and how he was answering back Elia. But he was more shocked that she chose to defend him when he was clearly making her unhappy. She needed to understand that she was wrong. He didn’t know who exactly Robert was in her life, but to him he was a stranger. One that had been a bad influence on her.

“I think you should apologize to him! He’s the one who carried you here, treated your wounds—”

“He caused them in the first place—!”

“Apologize now!”

Robert cleared his throat. It was a trick that he had learned from Mistress Adelaida to make guests feel self-conscious . It worked as it immediately stopped Adriel and Elia from bickering.

“It seems the young master has recovered his strength, if he has become this feisty.” Robert said with a sly smile. “Let’s put that energy to good use.”

Robert pulled one of the servant’s chairs propped against the walls. He pushed it right at the edge of the bed with its back to the mattress and sat on it the wrong way so he was leaning forward on the backrest facing the teen. The tight fabric of his uniform stretched across his arms and shoulders. Adriel noted him to be a lot more muscular now than how he looked when he was standing. He can now see how that one punch knocked him unconscious. Robert lowered his head so that his eyes were level with his own.

https://i.imgur.com/vxPhech.png
“Now, young master, I have some questions I’d like you to answer.”

* * *

There was just something about Elia’s butler and apparent guardian, Robert, that just didn’t sit right with Adriel. He had gone soft on him after he honestly answered his interrogation. But although he now treated him as warm and kindly as he did Elia, he cannot shake off the growing discomfort he felt whenever he was around. And he was around all the time. Wherever they went, Robert was there too. From the corner of his eye, he can always tell he was watching them incessantly. He never talked much, but his presence is sure to be felt. He wondered if Elia felt the same. Could it be the reason she was behaving so strangely?

At tea time, Robert "accidentally" served Adriel a considerably smaller slice of castella than Elia’s. To make up for it, he shaved off narrow slices from the rest of the cake until it was about equal in size with hers albeit looking very unappetizing. Adriel took it as a hint to leave.

Elia offered to walk Adriel to the front gates. They made paper boats, just as they used to with scrap paper every so often when it rains hard enough at the orphanage. But the boats they folded now were made out of fresh pages they tore off from a notebook in the white room. And instead of storm runoff they carefully placed their handiwork atop the crystal waters of the front fountain. They stopped by its edge, pensively watching their boats as they bobbed idly.

“So, what a way to meet again huh?” Elia sighed. "I’m really sorry for what happened and how I acted earlier... Does it still hurt?”

“Not so much anymore. But that man can sure throw a punch! I’ll return him the favor one day!” Adriel said while shadowboxing.

“I wish you’d lighten up to Robert. He’s not that bad. He can be a little intense, but he really looks out for me.”

"Quite literally,” Adriel said as he pointed to Elia one of the upper floor windows of the chateau. He can make out Robert’s figure standing behind it, watching them. “And we thought Mother was strict!”

Both teens snickered, then Elia waved at the silhouette. Robert raised his hand to give a short wave in response.

“But I’m glad it turned out to be someone who can protect you...” Adriel cut off what he was going to say. ‘Because I couldn’t...’ It had always been his regret that he didn’t get there in time to defend her. He thought it weird that such a young man was adopting a teenage girl. So he grabbed a baseball bat from the toy room to fend him off. But by the time he came back downstairs, they were already riding on the long black car. The gossipy cook said they were off to a place named Cape-something. She wasn’t sure, they did not file the paperwork. So he was worried he had lost her forever to some sick freak that night. Through some string of coincidences, he was led again to her. Only, he found that she wasn’t exactly the same person. It was still wonder to him why she was acting like she did when she had everything she wanted. He continued, “And this house... just wow!”

Elia smiled weakly,. “It’s a lot different from how I imagined. It’s grand. But it’s lonely. I guess I wanted something different. It’s stupid, really. All this time I wanted to get out of the Children’s Home. But now that I’m out here... I feel like I just moved from one cage to another... Like I don't belong. Robert is all I have right now. Even if he’s like that, he is my only family now. I’ll take anything else than being the unloved.”

https://i.imgur.com/sl285Kg.png
“You were never the unloved, Elia. You always forget that I’m always right here beside you.” Adriel said making Elia blush a little, “When you get lonely, just come down the hill and hang out. Robert’s not your only family anymore. Your little bro’s right here!”

He pulled a pose. He held his head high and puffed out his chest. He put his fist against it and beat it three times. He would have looked cool if he wasn't wearing that messy dress shirt, skimpy yellow shorts, and the leather shoes Robert gave him.

Elia laughed hard and began to walk towards the gate, her blonde hair shining golden in the afternoon sun. Now this is the Elia he knows, Adriel thought. He stopped posing and chased after her, leaving two paper boats floating on the fountain’s calm waters.


Author's Note:
Hey! Sorry I took too long to update. I've been busy procrastinating. This episode had been a hurdle to finish, I revised more times than I did any of the others combined. But I quite like how this turned out. I'll try to push out regular chapters. Thanks for the continued support! ?

It was lovely reading the update and hearing more about Adriel and his thoughts :) It was a very special touch that you started and ended the update with the paper boats. The update is very beautifullly written! I am looking forward to the next update to read what happens next!

Hi @rosemow! Thank for leaving a comment! I’m glad you liked it. I’ll try to update every week, you know, if I don’t get distracted when the new EP gets announced on Tuesday… But if I’m not here next week, I’ll be in the builder thread. ?

Yay ep 5 at last! :smiley:

"orenjiAi;c-17691413" wrote:
But if I’m not here next week, I’ll be in the builder thread. ?

Hummm so totally sounds like a long wait for ep 6 though cos you'll be slacking off supporting us builders as the good friend you are Kev :joy:

All jokes aside was another great read and where it answered some questions others came to mind Like Why was the cops there? Who called the cops there or was they going to be turning up for their own reasons? Why and how did mother end up laid in the street?

@Shaymantha Sssshhh! You’re scaring off the readers! Hello there! Please come back! This is an active storytelling thread!

In all seriousness though, thanks for leaving a review! Also here’s to hoping the next EP will inspire.