Melinda had a terrible night’s sleep and awoke that Saturday morning with a deep ache in her gut.
It was probably hunger, she told herself. She had gone days without eating. Melinda wasn’t sure if it was the memory of April’s blood-stained teeth or… the other thing that she couldn’t yet bring herself to think of that had put her off her food. She wasn’t sure how long a person could live without eating – her insides already felt like they were already chewing themselves apart.
Her mother called upstairs to announce breakfast was ready, but the thought of even the plainest toast churned Melinda’s stomach. Another wave of nausea rolled up inside her. How much more could she throw up before nothing was left?
She clamped her hand to her mouth but it wasn’t vomit that bubbled up. It felt hot and sharp and all encompassing. Like whatever it was, was growing inside her, stretching her skin, trying to find a way out.
The pain intensified to the point where she thought she might pass out.
The only way she could describe what happened next was that it felt like her body opened up and all the warmth fell out. The hunger was fading and was replaced by a new kind of empty. As she gasped for breath and grasped for the bed frame, she felt the presence of something around her, swirling like a mist. She clamped her hands harder over her mouth but she could still feel this darkness penetrating her, lifting her and turning her around until it found a way through her defences.
“Mum,” she whimpered as coldness took over and she felt like she was flying.
As her feet landed softly back to the rug, Melinda blinked. Whatever it was that had just happened, it had ended as soon as it had began. Surely it was just some sort of hallucination. She knew that sleep deprivation could make someone hallucinate; perhaps hunger could do that too.
“Breakfast, Melinda!” her mother called again.
“Coming!” Melinda replied and hastily threw on whatever clothing was on the floor.
“Everything OK Mellie? Heard a bit of commotion.”
“Fine mum. I think I had a nightmare or… something. All fine.”
Her mother smiled. “You hungry today? I made you cheesy porridge.”
Melinda was ravenous and cheesy porridge was one of her favourites. So why did it sound so unappealing?
She had only managed a tiny mouthful before the nausea was back and she had to run upstairs to the bathroom.
As she returned downstairs she found her mother waiting for her.
“Mellie. Can we talk?”
It wasn’t really a question. Melinda sat down.
“I’ve noticed that you have been off your food and rather sick lately…”
Oh gosh.
“…and as you know, both of those things can be symptoms of something…”
Please mum, stop talking.
“…so I was wondering if there’s anything you wanted to tell me?”
Melinda shot to her feet, her mum jumped up beside her.
“I’m not pregnant mum.”
“Are you sure? Because you know you can tell me if you are.”
“I’m sure and I know I can, but I’m not”
“A hundred percent? Nothing’s a sure bet, Melinda, not since that new mod.”
“A hundred.”
“Because you know sometimes people can get carried away; these things can happen by accident—“
Melinda lost her temper for the first time ever. “I’m absolutely, a hundred percent positive mum, because no guy has ever paid even the slightest bit of attention to me. Not that it’s got anything to do with you.”
“Oh.” Her mother’s mouth was puckered and small and Melinda instantly felt bad. Where had that come from?
She sighed, the anger dying as quickly as it had risen. “I’m sorry, mum.”
“I’m sorry too. I really didn’t mean to pry, Mellie.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s just you know, your birth mum was so young and-“
“It’s OK mum.” Melinda couldn’t hear this story again, not today, not in this weird frame of mind. “It doesn’t matter.”
Melinda had very few memories of her life before adoption. All she really knew about her birth mother, Rose, was that she had apparently loved Melinda very much; she just hadn’t loved herself enough.
She had spent the rest of the morning drawing in her sketchbook. As with so many times before, it featured various images of a woman. Her hair would change, her nose would change, even her chin. But Melinda would always draw the same brown eyes. It was the only feature she was certain she had inherited from Rose; they always looked so sad.
Today she lacked inspiration. She placed her pencil down and headed to her bedroom mirror. She would do this sometimes; gaze at her own face with a soft focus and try to imagine it was Rose staring back at her.
At first she couldn’t quite believe was she was seeing. Or not seeing. She subconsciously rubbed the mark April had left on her wrist. Someone was winding her up. It was a photo, a trick.
Melinda backed away from the mirror, unable to take her eyes off it, wondering who had set her up and why. As she brushed back against the bed, she nudged against the curtain. She saw it flutter in the reflection where she should be.
No. It couldn’t be.
Now the panic was setting in. Melinda picked up a book and threw it towards the mirror. She watched it flying towards the glass from nowhere.
Then everything fell to pieces.
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Almost Eternal 
Ahh man this is getting out of hand.
So in this sim universe when a vampire feeds, they convert their food into vamps? Wouldn’t that create a vamp army in just days? So the only reason Caleb survived his hunger is because of plasma food and an iron tummy? 😆
This feels like a zomb- vampire apocalypse incoming he he he he! 🤩 I can’t help thinking about the compounding effect. First there was one, now there is two… four…
Btw I love your description there of the warmth falling out and the darkness piercing through her. I instantly thought of silent hill. urrrrgh. So blown away but so uneasy too!
The last one left is Faith… and then we have the three musketeers ready for some action! ❤
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If you think it’s out of hand now, just wait til Friday.
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“Nothing’s a sure bet, Melinda, not since that new mod” LMAO 😂 Some good old meta humour!
Poor Melinda. I like that we’re getting some of her backstory, I wonder if she’ll perhaps manage to find her birth mother with her newly heightened senses.
So April’s somehow pulled off turning her. Interesting. Seems unlikely she’d know how to do that if it was intentional, so was it an accident? (This is just me speculating out loud, I’m not really asking for answers 😊). I suppose she did a lot vampire tomes. Hm. Hard to say, as there’s still gaps in what we get to see (yeah I see you! 😆)
We’ve seen very little of how April is adjusting to her vampire life so far, I hope that changes. She seems fairly calm about it (which Melinda was too, to a degree) – like that’s some sort of after effect of them turning, emotions getting a bit more muted, perhaps.
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I love your speculating, even if I do have to literally sit on my hands to avoid answering you. 😂
Gaps? 😇
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“Nothing’s a sure bet, Melinda, not since that new mod”
XDDDDDDDDDDDD Nothing like breaking the fourth wall to make your readers laugh.
Aw man, does this mean that whenever a vampire feeds on a human, they turn that human into a vampire? Are they going to end up turning everyone in town? April already bit Melinda, and I can see her biting Faith. And those two can bite more people, and then they bite even more people, and before you know it, you have the vampire version of the apocalypse 0.o
Also, how the heck is Caleb the only vampire, if it’s that easy? He’s clearly not a vegetarian vampire, seeing how he bit April and all. What’s your angle, dude? Do you feed and kill? Is that how you were the only one? Do you know what’s happenening? Is this on purpose? Gah, I want to know! xD
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My American keister (is this one of the blogs where I can swear? I keep forgetting where I can and can’t swear in this community) had to look up ‘cheesy porridge’ and is still stuck on the idea of cheesy porridge. I distinctly remember the last time I had a meal where cheese was injected into a normally-sweet breakfast food, and it was a cheese blintz at IHOP, and I was three, and my mother kept shoving it in my face chanting “Try it. You’ll like it,” and it made me vomit on the spot. The filling wasn’t cottage or cream cheese, which would have made sense. It was the ersatz-yellow garbage they put in airline food, the kind of cheese already tinged with butyric acid before it came back up. So anyway, yeah, Melinda’s a vampire and plot is happening, but all I can think about right now is my livid mother dragging me by the hand out of an IHOP we never went back to.
Actually laughed out loud. Lampshading dumb Sim stuff is the best, always.
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I heartily encourage swearing here.
Why does everything in America have butyric acid in? What is wrong over there? Says cheesy porridge girl.
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This is probably how the vampire apocalypse starts. Am I assuming correctly that sooner or later some vampire hunter is gonna be summoned to contain the ‘infection’?
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What’s a good vampire story without a vampire hunter?
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Melly’s mom is such a sweetheart. I think it’s the first time there was some genuine sweetness here.
Nvm me, I’m in a condition that craves sweet bubbly stuff more than usual.
Anyway I’m here bc this story got me hooked and I can’t stop laughing, also the writing is 👌
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Oh dear. If you want sweetness think it’s few and far between over here.
If you want laughs, totally got those. There is also writing. 2 out of 3, not bad.
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I can deal with little sweetness if there’s enough to laugh 😏
Vice versa, I have my limits too 😆
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“A hundred percent? Nothing’s a sure bet, Melinda, not since that new mod.”
So… does that mean to say you´re running MC Command? 😀
What Mel says about her real mum… they believe Rose committed suicide? I guess it would make sense, all things considered.
Then there is the thing with Mel being invested so much…. I guess she´s one of the unlucky ones who place a lot of stock in blood. I mean, who cares if she is your birth parent? She gave you up and you never even met her. If you did, she´d be a complete stranger. You got an awesome mum right there who loves you. *pout*
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I did have a risky woohoo mod at some point and this is sort of why some of the plotlines came about, yes. I now play mostly mod free because there’s enough characters as it is, haha.
Even with the most wonderful upbringing, there’s often a desire with adopted kids to know about their birth parents, why they were given up for adoption, what went wrong. Some are happy to accept what they have, but some people just like to have all their pieces and Mel is definitely one for details. Especially when everything she has is so vague; never even seen a picture of Rose.
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XD Oh yeah. Plus sometimes that kind of surprise can really complicate things.
…yeah. I guess that is different. Mel definitely does come across as one who would like to know as much as she can, too.
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