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Welcome to chapter Two of "The Fate Of Pleasantview" called "A Missing Woman" (reading part 1 is recommened)
PREVIOUSLY:
Dina Caliente and Don Lothario plan to kill Bella Goth to get ahold of her husband's fortune. The night of the crime, Bella is abducted by an alien ship and is returned to Earth dead. Panicked, Don has a break down and is sent to the psychiatric hospital. Dina takes Bella's body away from the city and makes Don look suspicious of the woman's disapearance. The Goth family wakes up to realise Bella isn't home and call the police, who interviews them. An investigation is launched...
And now for the Fate of Pleasantview!
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The Wednesday after Bella's disapearance, the SimCity Chronicles printed a special edition newspaper covering the case. The most copies were sold every since the great fire of 1900.
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"The citizens of Pleasantview, a neighborhood in the suburbs of SimCity, are in panic as a woman has disappeared from sight. Bella Goth, 37 year old mother of two children and wife of the famous scientist Mortimer Goth has not been seen since Friday evening. It all started when Mrs. Goth was invited for an evening with a friend, Don Lothario. Mrs. Goth left her home at about 6:30PM. Skip Broke, a local neighbor and friend says he saw Mrs. Goth on Mr. Lothario’s condo deck with him. After that, no one seems to have seen anything. However, Don Lothario reappears at 5:00AM on Saturday crashing his car into his neighbor’s house
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Dina Caliente is a friend of Mr. Lothario and saw that he wasn’t well. "He kept talking about someone dead, that had been taken or I don’t know what. I was scared and I called the psychiatric hospital!” Ms. Caliente explains. Today he is still in the hospital. For a while, he was suspected of having commited a crime. The doctors realized Don was suffering from Amnesia and couldn’t remember the previous night’s events. The police searched his condo for clues leading to Mrs. Goth and her disappearance but found none. However, they found proof that Mr. Lothario was innocent:
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Mr. Lothario’s computer was open. On the screen, an E-mail, from an old friend announcing his mother’s death. The doctors say that such news can cause temporary amnesia. This means that Don will be able to get the information back eventually but it can’t be forced out of him...
Of course, the police, still suspicious, conducted several hypnosis tests to prevent Mr. Lothario from lying. He passed them successfully. This E-mail also explained the fact that Don was talking about someone being dead and taken away. He will stay in the hospital for a certain amount of time to be able to recover. The problem now is that with Mr. Lothario being innocent, the police still doesn’t have a trail for Mrs. Goth’s disappearance.
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“We’ve eliminated the possibility of kidnapping, as a kidnapper would have contacted us by now.” explains Ramin Centowski, police officer. “We just need to find out weather this is a crime or not. After all we have to con-sider that Mrs. Goth may have simply walked out on her family, that wouldn’t be a first.” The investigations must still continue to find results. For now no one knows where Bella Goth could have gone. A wit-ess call is launched for anyone who might know something…
Karen Trucket"
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Mortimer turned the page and realised that there were still twenty pages left with articles such as "Who were the Goths?" and "Timeline of Friday evening". He had been asked to come down at the police station to make sure he aproved of everything that was in that paper.
"Let them publish what they want. I'm not one to decide what information should be released." he said.
"The point of this was for you to read this paper you know...", replied Ramin Centowski, the responsable officer for the case.
"I already know all this, I don't need to read it again"
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Motimer put the paper down and got back in his seat.
"So, where is the case up to, I mean I know that there is so much you can ever tell the press..."
"Well, some officers still suspect Lothario of having been a part of this, because it's true that Bella was still at his place that night either way, making him the last person to have seen her. We're still trying to find out if Bella ever came home that night. We don't really think so because the bed was done and in fact your room was found exactly as it should have been left the previous evening."
"So basicly she would have disapeared on her way home"
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"Well, kind of..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's also possible that Bella never planned on going home. I checked a few archived cases from other neighborhoods and I haven't found any similar cases where women disapear without leaving a trace behind and it resulting in a crime... So this could be a first. You see, crimes usually always leave hints behind..."
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"Gosh, It's so wierd to hear you talking about it like any other case... I'm sorry I mean I'm just really toubled by this..."
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"Well, don't get me wrong Mortimer. I mean it's not that I don't have feelings or anything, but right now this is my work and I can't let them get in the way. If I let every case get to my being then I wouldn't be able to be a police officer. When I enter the station I just have to be logical and well, ... a policeman. If you want to talk about it, then yeah, we can get some drinks later and I can show you my support but right now I can only work on this case with the facts."
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"Yeah, I understand..."
"So, you still want to go get those drinks?"
"No, thanks. I have to get home, my family needs me now."
"Sure, I'll call you if anything comes up."
"Thank you."
And with that, Mortimer left the station and went home.
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The next morning, everyone recieved the paper at their front door and read about the missing woman. The Broke family sat around their breakfast table listening to the news. Skip was very interested having been interviewed for some of the articles, having seen Bella Goth that night.
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However, Brandi was quite upset by these news which brought trouble to her peaceful world. She disliked thinking that any problems were happening near her home. Both Don Lothario and Bella Goth loved a few blocks away.
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Brandi had always grown up very sheltered and her mother, Betty Newbie tried to provide her a happy childhood as she could even though they were rather poor. She would tell her daughter many fairytails and they would make her dream. Brandi hoped that someday she would be saved by her prince.
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Her prayers were answered when Skip entered her life. Skip didn't bring her to a palace and didn't even have much money. He was already orphan at that time and brought Brandi the only thing he could which was millions of times better that money: he gave her love. The tale came true the day he proposed to Brandi vowing her to love her forever. She knew that life had blessed her and thought things could never be wrong.
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They lived for a few years with Brandi's parents and both couples lived happily under the same roof. They did eventually move out to start their own home. The times were beautiful and no one ever worried about crime or problems.
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Brandi had known Bella Goth at the "Pleasant Women Book Club". Her admiration for fairytales had become an interest for litterature and it only required to buy the book, read it and attend the monthly meetings. Of course, the book club had mostly high society members such as Bella, who would bring her daughter, or Coral Oldie. Brandi sometimes felt like she didn't belong, but enjoyed the group enough to forget that.
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Quickly after she joined, Bella started treating her very nicely and Brandi was suprised by such manners. One day, Skip and she recived an invitation to a very formal party held by the Goth family. They felt quite happy and did their best to look good. But they were rather unnoticed at the party, they had such a hard time fitting in this rich ambiance. They left early laughing at what a waste the evning had been. It was then that Brandi realised that the more she tried to make her dream of living in a rich life true, the more she realised how cold and superficial people there were.
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When they found out that she was pregnant, Brandi left the Book Club without any regrets and decided to leave her dreams stay dreams and not try to make them come true, because the truth would certainly be a deception. They continued to recieve the annual Goth Season Greetings card which they considered as a joke more than anything else but stayed polite and always call to say thanks. Whenever they would meet Bella in town, she would go to them like old friends and promise to invite them over because "they had so much to catch up". But Brandi and Skip learned never to expect the call. In fact, Brandi was sure that Bella was a nice woman but that she was so superficial that she didn't know the real meaning of friendship.
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A few monthes later they had Dustin, their first boy. He was a beautiful child and Brandi was so happy to be able to start a family. But as the years passed, Brandi was having a hard time waking up everyday in such poor conditions. She decided to get a job in a fast food as a drive-through clerk. A very mediocre job but it allowed her to get a little extra money for the family.
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She later heard that Mary-Sue, a member fromt he Book Club, gave birth to two twin girls. Mary-Sue was much like Bella except that she was younger and in fact, was friends with her daughter Cassandra.
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Her husband Daniel and she had now been married for about seven years. The twins, Angela and Lilith, were just a few monthes younger than Dustin and they now went to the same school.
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Angela was the favorite one. She was a good student and always pleased her parents, she was another prototype of the high society girl and had her whole life planned ahead for her in the social game and was bound to turn out like Bella or Mary-Sue. But Lilith was a rebel and never got along with anyone. She was often isolating herself and wasn't following the normal girl's path.
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That Wednesday, Mary-Sue had read the paper and while having lunch with her family, she hardly touched her plate.
"What is it?", Daniel asked seeing her upset.
"I talked to Cassandra. She saw the paper this morning with the big picture of her mother. That poor girl, she doesn't deserve this."
"No one does..."
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That night the Dreamer family talked about the mysterious disapearance too. They were worried mainly because they lived in the same street as Don Lothario and even if all proof led to believe he was innocent, they couldn't help but feel uneasy.
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Darren and Darleen Dreamer had known each other very young. They were a perfect couple and it wasn't long before they fell and love and pretty soon, Darren asked for Darleen's hand.
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As they started their life together, they soon had Dirk, their son. Together they were a happy family. Darleen was a housewife and led her life easily and Darren worked a boring job that he hated in an office. But he had to keep it until more gainful oppotunities would show up. Dirk now attented school. He was also the same age as the Pleasant twins and Dustin Broke.
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That night, Mortimer came home to find his family upstairs in his mother's room.
"What are you all doing here?" He asked.
"I was just showing the kids some pictures of their mother. They wanted to hear stories about her"
"Dad? Can you tell us about how you met mom?" Cassandra asked
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Mortimer wasn't really in the mood to tell stories but he didn't want to upset his children in such difficult times.
"So, where should I start?"
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"Well, we were on vacation, and by we I mean my parents and I. We were in this sort of rich vacation center outside the city.
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I remember being so bored there. I had nothing to do and I would spend days by the pool doing nothing.
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One day, still doing nothing, a girl came towards me. She was swimming in the pool and asked me why I was just there watching her swim.
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It was your mother. he was still very small back then, yet again, so was I. We started talking and I can tell you that it did feel good so communticate with someone my age at that time because everyone in the vacation center had been older than me so far.
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We sat down at the terace and kept talking for a long time, I think it was all afternoon. At one point we realised that we both came from Pleasantview and we decided to keep in touch.
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And we saw each other again after that once back home. We were real friends, in fact she was my best friend even if she was a few years younger than me, and let me tell you that it seemed huge when we were kids.
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I guess that at first we were essentialy playmates... We were too young to think about love and friendship was as far as it could go for us then...
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Time passed and we kept seeing each other all the time. When I went to Junior High and that she was still in primary school, we were afraid that we wouldn't see each other anymore but we were wrong. We loved each other too much and even if we weren't in the same workplace, we spent every free minute together.
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Then, one day, she told me she was moving away. It was a tragedy for both of us. We cried and couldn't believe it. When it was time to say goodbye we promised to write and call each other.
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And she did. She lived far away and told me all about her new home and the people there. You know, your mother was very imaginative and sometimes I wondered if everything she told me was reality or if some was fiction too.
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But three years later she came back. I remember that first first time I saw her again. She was all grown up and beautiful. I couldn't believe my eyes. She thought the same thing. It was just so natural, so perfect, so obvious, that we kiss each other. And just like that, we were going out.
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We quickly fell in love, and we went steady. I was just the happiest young man in the world. We would spend hours together, it was just like old times.
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But my parents never knew about us until very late. We always managed to keep away from them. And I introduced Bella, I mean your mother, to them when we were older and both adults. We eventually told them that we went far back and they remembered her as my childhood friend, they just had never learned that she moved back to Pleasantview. Right mom?
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We got married one beautiful June evening. I remember it as the most romantic night in my whole life. It was a small ceremony, just our parents and closest friends but it was a lovely one.
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Soon your grandparents moved out of the house. Well, they bought a better one and left their old one to us. Your mother was already pregnant. And we lived so happily.
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And pretty soon, you came along Cassie. Your mother was so fond of you. She just had a hard time believing that she had actually created a being. In fact she used to tell me she was afraid she would wake up someday and find out it was all a dream. You'll see, you're always told that you never know love until you have children and a wierd as it may sound, it's true.
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We had you at a quite young age: your mother was only twenty years old and I was twenty-three. You were enough for us to handle back then and we didn't want to have another child too soon. So the three of us lived happily in that house for a certain amount of years.
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But, when you were thirteen, we learned that your mother was pregnant again. Remember? And like that little Alex was on his way! We didn't have enough space in the old house for another child and so we had to find a new house, and that's how we moved here.
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We were really lucky because just a few weeks after the move, there was that terrible storm in the neighborhood that destroyed our old house, it wasn't solid enough. Hadn't we moved, we would have been homeless. That storm was awful, it totaly destroyed certain roads and remade the neighborhood lanscape practicly!
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But we didn't have much time to grief: we got you Alexander. You were just the most handsome baby boy we'd ever seen. And your sister thought so too in the way she held you, and played with you. And that's how we had both of you."
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"Oh Dad!" Cassandra cried getting up.
Motimer got up to hug her, telling her it would be okay. He knew what a difficult time this was on his family.
"Sit down, I have some news" He told her.
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"I have decided to take a sabbatical leave from work, just while waiting for this crisis to be over. I can't take the stress anymore, in between the lab and the police station and home. I need to be here for you now."
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"Oh, how long will it be?" Cornelia asked obviously worried by this decision
"As long as it takes. The police officers say they will definatley find Bella, alive or ... dead" Mortiemr said feeling so uncomfortable suggesting his wife's death, "within a few weeks"
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But the more time seemed to pass, the more Bella seemed to be escaping them. Weeks turned into monthes and monthes turned into years. Cornelia passed away of old age and the stress of losing two family members made Mortimer's hair turn grey in just weeks.
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Don Lothario finally got out of the psyciatric hospital and came home. Dina Caliente felt the need to see how he was and payed him a visit. The hadn't seen each other ever since the tragic night and they felt happy to be in the presence one another.
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They sat down on Don's couch and got to talking.
"So, tell me Don, how much do you really remember, I mean in general?"
"Well, not much from the Friday night. I don't even remember opening that E-mail. I forgot many things with my amnesia. But you kow what I haven't forgotten?"
Dina held her breath, fearing the worse.
"How great we were together." He continued.
"Oh, Don..." She sighed
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And suddenly she found herself in Don's arms. Somehow, it seemed that after the accident, Don seemed to be even a better romancer. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being back together. At least, she was sure that Don didn't remember the plan anymore and so she was still innocent to him. She had taken all the evidence that led to Bella's disapearance from Don's condo the morning after Bella died. She had done a very thorough job because the police had never found a single hint. Her fear of being uncovered was now gone.
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Pleasantview slowly moved on from the Bella incident and times were back to normal. The Pleasant twins grew into young teenagers. Angela kept on living up to her parents's dreams and was still the perfect one. The trench between the two sisters kept growing larger and larger and Lilith turned into a goth rebel. Meanwhile, Daniel and Mary-Sue's marriage started going down the drain as Mary-Sue was putting her career first and Daniel started having an affair with the maid to be able to find affection.
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Lilith started going out with Dirk Dreamer. They were in love and were quite a pair. Both of them had noticed each other at school as they were both friendless. Lilith just didn't get along with any of the girls of her level and Dirk started shutting himself away after losing his mother.
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Indeed, Darleen Dreamer passed away after a long sickness. Dirk was devastated and failed in school.
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Darren got over his pain by painting. He left his annoying job and devoted his life to his passion: his art. He did have a moment of depression but suddenly felt inspired. Nobody understood why, nobody but him.
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For Darren didn't dare tell anyone about his secret love: Cassandra Goth. He had met her at the local supermarket and they became great friends. But Cassandra clearly considered him a friend. However he saw her a the perfect woman and she was present in his paintings.
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But Cassandra's heart was decided one someone else. Indeed, Cassanda graduated forom High School and, not wanting to leave her family alone though their problems, she gave up her dream of college. She tried to study human psycology by herself with accesible books. She met Don Lothario again at the library. Don wasn't looking for such high intellect and was simply there to look at some sports magasine. Cassandra recognised the man who had been her mother's friend a few years ago and they talked.
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Don was in his usual romancer spirit and seduced Cassandra to her very core. They started seeing each other on dates, despite Morimer's disaproval. He still belived Don to have been involved in his wife's disapearance and didn't trust him. But Cassandra decided to not follow her father's opinion for the first time in her life.
After a year of being togther, Don proposed to Cassandra. They were engaged.
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Soon, however, Mortimer found himself in the love game too, as recieved a visit from the Caliente sisters. Dina and Nina came with cake saying hey were concerend about how he had been ever since Bella was gone. Mortimer found this a bit strange because it had already been three years that his wife was missing but he decided that support was always good to recieve. He very quickly realised that Dina was a highly interesting person: indeed, they had both lost a spouse and before he knew it, Mortimer was asking Dina out on dates. Little did know he was walkign right into the spider's web.
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Brandi Broke gave birth to a second son, Beau. He brought joy into the household and, even if they had little money, they were happy and strong.
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Dustin also became a teenager and started going out with Angela Pleasant. Her father highly disaproved this relationship thinking that Dustin wasn't good enough for his daughter. But this didn't stop them from loving each other.
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One night, as Brandi came home from her night shift, she noticed that the pool ladder, of the pool Skip had insisted they have built, was floating and wasn't attached to the side anymore.
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As she got closer to the edge, she realised with horror the Skip was laying at the bottom of the pool, motionless. She tried to scream, to call for help, but her voice was gone. She was so lost and lost all her common sense. Hearing Beau cry in the house made her wonder if the rest of her family was all right.
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The house was a mess and Beau was shaking his crib bars trying to get out. Brandi just walked on, not knowing what to do.
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She entered Dustin's room to find him asleep.
"Dustin? Dustin...", she whispered in a ghastly voice. Eventually, her voice and the light woke the boy up.
"Mom? You're crying.."
"Dad's dead."
"What?!"
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"How could you not have noticed?" she sobbed finaly breaking down. "He must have cried for help! And with Beau crying! How can you not have been woken"
"Mom... I'm sorry... I just...." Dutin broke of. He tried to find the right words but his world was falling appart and he couldn't think anymore.
"It's not your fault.... No..." she replied in between two tears
"Just tell me it's not true, tell me it's going to be all right..."
The both of them fell into eachother's arms crying all they could...
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"Tell me it's going to be all right..."
Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I'm sorry that I took long to make this chapter but I had some writer's bloc. Because basicly this chapter was about getting the neighborhood back to the point at which it is when the game starts, if you see what I mean. I have many ideas for what happens next so don't worry about any other writer's bloc! The ironic part of it all is that I wrote this story in about a day. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it. Remember to sign my Guestbook on your way out. If you have any questions, comments, if you found a mistake, or if you have already sign my guestbook please don't hesitate to write me at the following adresse: alexi035@hotmail.com I love mail!
I'll try to post next chapter soon. You can check my Blog for regular updates if you want to know more...
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