| Luke crawls out of his tent, and is greeted abruptly by a blast of cold morning air. |
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| As usual, his mom already has breakfast prepared. He’s not entirely sure how she can make pancakes taste so good, cooking them on a portable camp stove. |
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| A second helping of pancakes later, he finally registers that his mother had asked him how he slept last night. She has that cat who swallowed the canary look on her face again. It takes him a moment to figure out what she is really getting at. |
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| And when it finally hits him, it does so rather suddenly; like a soggy, butter and maple-syrup soaked flapjack to the side of the head. For the first time since he can recall, he had actually slept. |
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| Now that he thinks about it, he always sleeps when they are out camping. He had just never really stopped to think about it before. But evidently, his mother had noticed it. It’s the stuff like this that drives him crazy. Why does she have to be so dang smart? Before they have a chance to talk about it, two of his friends come barreling into the camp site, ready to have some fun. |
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| Chase and Alex are kids from Luke’s Sim Scouts group. They’ve learned the hard way that Luke has some crazy kind of energy to burn off, and that neither one of them can keep up when he goes on his marathon bike rides up the side of a mountain. So rather than try to keep up, they just tell Luke that they’re not interested. |
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| After packing up the tents and fishing for awhile, they all head home and make plans to meet up at Luke’s again later, to play in the tree house. Luke’s mom is cool that way. She always has kids over. And best of all, she always feeds them hamburgers and snacks. They arrive later that day to find Luke already outside. |
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| As usual, he wants to play “Army”. Who can blame him? Luke’s house has tons of great places to hide and attack from. Alex gets the tree house as his fort first, and Alex picks the weeds over by the fishing hole. Those spots are pretty good, but Luke knows an even better one. |
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| There are some rocks over by the bluff that make a perfect hiding spot. There is no way to sneak up on him from behind, and it provides perfect cover for him to set up an ambush. He goes to his spot and readies himself for the attack. |
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| But as Luke is crawling into the cracks and crevices of the rocky slope, a weird sensation comes over him. It feels as though the shadows cast by his cover are closing in around him. Chase had been counting down from ten. But his voice fades, and is replaced by the sound of something terrible. It is the sound of killing. |
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| This place is special for many different reasons, Luke. All you need to know now, is that an unspeakable terror was committed here. You are standing as close as any sim can stand to that place. Why? Because it was destroyed a long time ago. The land itself was crushed under the same twisted hooves and claws responsible for the atrocity… |
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| How can it be possible? Luke huddles in his hiding spot, listening to the murderous massacre rage on around him. This is not right. Something is happening that shouldn’t be happening. He has never in his life been afraid. But right now he is simply terrified. Unable to listen to the sounds of merciless killing any longer, Luke leaps from his hiding spot and runs toward the estate, his eyes filled with tears. He has only one thought going through his head. He wants his Momma. But he stops in his tracks after having taken only a few strides. His breathing comes in gulps as he stares straight ahead. The estate has been replaced by a tiny log cabin. |
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| The estate is still there, but it is faint and transparent; shifting and wavering as though he were looking at it through a pool of water. All he hears now is a strong, gusting wind blowing through pine trees. This sounds to him, like hundreds of women whispering his name. This is another special place; another reflection of the broken world were countless beings had been killed in a merciless, horrifying ambush. |
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| Luke screams when Alex grabs him by the arm, declaring proudly that he got Luke with a hand grenade. But Alex immediately senses that play time is over when he sees his friend’s colorless face and terror-stricken eyes. Without saying a word, his friend runs through the back gate and into the estate, leaving Alex at a loss for words. Chase emerges from the tall grass and trots over, asking his buddy what the problem is. All Alex can do is shrug his shoulders and offer up a confused expression. |
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| Both boys wait for awhile, but eventually give up and head for home, wondering what in the world just happened to Luke. |
Stories by Zoxell 
First Comment! ^^
Omg! Some crazy things are happening! Luke always liked adventures, well this is probably his mos risk-tacking ride… I can’t wait for you to post up the next chapter to see what happens. Great cliffhanger!
Auburn
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This chapter is where I get to let all my little “secrets” go, and Luke is the one who gets to hear it all 🙂
It should be fun!
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I’m probably just being paranoid or something, but I noticed that Chase has silver hair. Kasey had silver hair, and we haven’t heard from her since I think Ben’s story. oh well. Need more!
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Heh, no cause for alarm. My townies end up with really weird hair colors.
But do hold on to that thought…
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Lucky! The only color that is “different” that my townies have, is that really ugly vomit green hair color. I hate that color.
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Ok, I hate it when I get behind like this. I am intrigued by what Luke heard. It’s interesting that he sees the cabin. I am very curious how this will play out.
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Heh, me too… 😛
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