Here is my sims story.
Morgan was 13 when she killed a man to protect her mother. Her fathe took the blame and went to prison.
Morgan sat on her bed and looked out of the window. She sighed deeply and shrank into herself. Silent tears spilled inside her. It was the evening of her birthday. Neither of her parents had come to see her. She hadn’t even received a card. She looked down at her hands remembering how they had destroyed her family. That one act of protection had ended everything good in her life. How she wished she could turn back time.
The last she heard her father was in prison for a crime that she had done. She pictured him in her head. Alone in some dingy prison cell all because of her and what she had done. She wanted to feel his strong protective arms around her like when she was little. She loved the scent of him. Closing her eyes she imagined the smell of his aftershave. He always wore it. She remembered the feel of his slightly whiskered chin against her cheek and how he used to tickle her face with it on purpose when she was small.
She would never again have that because she had protected her mother. She remembered watching her mother being beaten by that man. His face twisted in anger and her mother on the floor trying to protect her-self. He would have killed her if she hadn’t have stepped in. She saw herself running into her father’s room and grabbing the gun that she knew he kept in the wardrobe. She had seen enough to know how to load it. Not thinking like the child she was she had gone back to the hall where mother was being attacked, closed her eyes and fired. It wasn’t until he fell to the floor that she had realised what she had done.
Her body had started shaking uncontrollably and the tears just fell. Her father was at the door. She turned towards him. She remembered the horror in his eyes. Her mother still down on the floor, looking at her with total shock.
Morgan took a deep breath and forced her memories away from that night. She didn’t want to remember; she didn’t want that to be the last image she had of her parents. She missed them both deeply, but she knew she would never see them again. If she could just tell them both she was sorry.
She had asked over and over again if she could see her mother or if she had called, but always the answer had been the same. “No”
Isabelle, her foster carer was nice enough. She ran a house full of kids from many sad and different backgrounds. Occasionally Isabelle had tried to console Morgan, but she didn’t want it. She wanted her father; she wanted to turn the clock back. She wanted to be small and innocent again.
Morgan pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes. The tears running coldly down the side of her face. She breathed slowly trying to make it all better, but it never would be, ever. She was tainted. She was a murderer, no better than the man she had killed.
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Morgan opened her eyes, she squinted her sleep filled eyes trying to adjust to the dark. She sat up slowly on the bed; she didn’t want to make any noise. She reached down at her feet and found the bag the she had packed earlier. This was it now. She turned on her small bedside light gently illuminating the room. Quietly she eased her wardrobe open and changed into jeans. She gave the bag one last check to make sure that she had everything she needed. Tip toeing she crept to her door and twisted the handle. The door creaked open and Morgan looked silently down the dark hallway. She closed the door behind her, making sure that it was gentle enough so that it didn’t click too loud.
Quietly she walked along the side of the hall. Alex and Ethan’s room was only two away from her own, and she wasn’t going to leave with out them. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and crept into the twins’ room.
Looking down at both of them she knew she was doing the right thing. They couldn’t stay here, they need their mother, and they needed her. She bent down over Ethan’s cot and gently lifted him out. Slowly she put his coat on. He stirred slightly in her arms, but she hushed him back into his dream.
Morgan froze as she heard another door not far away open. Her heart pounded in her chest as she listened to the footsteps getting closer and closer. Holding Ethan to her chest she looked quickly at Alex. She couldn’t carry both of them at once.
Tears fell down her face as she leant over Alex’s cot.
“I’ll come back for you Alex.” She whispered. “I promise.”
Pushing back the voice in her head that screamed for her to take Alex, she climbed out of the window with Ethan in her arms. She held him close to her and ran. She needed to get away before anyone knew that she had gone. She felt the fear running up her spine as she ran. Sure that if she looked back she would see someone coming after her.
She ran for as long as she could. Ethan was awake and crying as his sister clutched him tight. He was cold and tired. Morgan’s chest was heaving badly trying to get the air in that she needed to run. Stopping she crouched down with Ethan.
“Ssshhh Ethan, its Morgan. Everything’s alright.”
Ethan calmed a little as he heard his sister’s voice. She reached in her bag and got a tissue to wipe his tears.
“Let’s go and find mummy shall we?” she said trying to cheer him up. She knew he didn’t quite understand, but the statement was as much for her benefit as his.
Morgan picked Ethan up again, but her body protested and pain shot through her legs as cramp took over. Weekly she managed to walk over to the bench and sit down with Ethan. She gently ran her hand through his soft brown locks, as she rocked him, hoping that he would go back to sleep.
“Morgan!” a voice called from the distance.
Morgan sprang to her feet her heart suddenly hammering again. She turned to look into the darkness. Trying to adjust her eyes to see who was running towards her. Turning around she tried to see if there was somewhere to run too.
“Morgan wait!” The voice called closer this time. She let out a scared gasp. She couldn’t fail, not now.
Ethan woke up again in her arms.
A hand rested on her shoulder.
“Morgan, will you stop?” said the voice between exhausted breaths.
Morgan stepped back. Adam stood there in front of her, bent down and gasping for air.
“Leave me alone Adam.”
Adam straightened himself and put his hand on his stomach trying to relieve the stitch. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“Home.”
“You can’t go home.”
“Why cant I?”
“Your father killed someone right?” he asked.
She clenched her jaw, the bluntness of his statement cut right through her.
“Your home is a crime scene; you won’t be able to go home.”
Morgan hadn’t thought that her home wouldn’t be home anymore. The thought of returning to it had kept her going. Without it she had nowhere to go, no one to turn too. Tears threatened to fall as she desperately tried to think what to do. She looked down at Ethan. His eyes focused on her. Totally dependant.
“I can’t go back.” She said her voice quivering. “They’ll take me away from Ethan and Alex.”
Adam ran his hands through his short blonde hair as he thought what to suggest.
“Do you know where your mother may have gone? Does she have friends or family that she may have turned to?”
“She could have gone to my uncles, but he was living with us before I er…” she stopped herself before she blurted out what she had done. She didn’t want anyone to know she was a murderer.
“Ok.” Said Adam hoping that he was getting somewhere. “Does your uncle have a house of his own that they may have gone to?”
Morgan bit her lip to keep from sobbing. She nodded at Adam. “But I don’t know the address.”
Adam reached for her, not sure if she would push him away. He didn’t like to see people cry. It reminded him too much of his own pain that he had quenched years ago.
“Come on Morgan, don’t cry. We’ll figure something out.”
Adam led Morgan back to the bench and sat her down.
“Do you know which area your uncle lives in?”
Morgan wiped the tears from her face and tried to calm her self before she spoke. “He lives just outside of Imperial Town. I would recognise it if I saw it.”
“Well that’s a start isn’t it?” He said smiling, hoping that he could some how cheer her up and get her concentrating on the task ahead.
“Why are you helping me? You should go back before you get in trouble.” She said hoping that he wouldn’t.
“I am sixteen; already they have started to teach me how to be independent. Soon I will be living out in the world on my own, I am quite sure they won’t really care where I am.”
Morgan heard the hint of sarcasm in his statement. “But won’t they inform your parents.”
“Oh yeah I could just see my fathers reply to that one.” Adam laughed. “What's it to do with me? He didn’t come from my loins, let the bleeder rot for all I care.” He said in a voice mocking his fathers. “Do you really think if I had a family who loved me I would be living this crappy life? My father doesn’t want me, and he wouldn’t give a damn if I was dead in some gutter somewhere.”
“Well my parents love me and they would care but I am still stuck in the same ‘crappy life’ as you put it.” Snapped Morgan.
“Ah look I’m sorry I didn’t mean yours don’t love you. They do, but when you have experienced my life then you would be a bit negative too. Anyway are you ready to go, my backside is getting numb sitting here and if I shiver anymore I swear I’ll break my teeth.”
Morgan laughed at his remark, and he smiled. It was his intention to get her to laugh. She didn’t know him, but she was happy to talk to him. Not like everyone else who knew that he wasn’t good enough to be spat on.
Adam reached over and took Ethan from her. “I’ll carry this one for a while.”
Morgan tired to protest scared that he might run back to the home with her brother. He saw the fear on her face. “Don’t worry, I’m only helping.”
They walked side by side; Morgan secretly kept hold of the loose tag on Ethan’s top just in case Adam did decide to run.
They walked for just over an hour. Ethan had fallen asleep, even when they had passed him too and fro between them he hadn’t woken. Morgan’s feet were aching. Cramp ran up her calf muscles, but she pushed her self on, if they stayed out in the cold they would they would all certainly catch a chill. Adam had kept her going with his silly jokes and comments.
They arrived at a run down trailer. Morgan stopped and looked at it. It was filthy and decaying where it stood. Broken furniture littered the yard that surrounded it.
“This is your dads place?” she asked.
“Yeah it was, he doesn’t live here anymore, after he dumped me in the gutter, and I mean literally, he moved so that the authorities wouldn’t have his address.”
“Nice dad.”
“Yeah, well you get used to it. At least if he isn’t here he can’t beat me.”
“He beat you?”
“Yeah but that’s another story.”
Adam kicked himself mentally. He didn’t want Morgan to know his past, but he couldn’t help it from spilling out of his mouth with every joke. He didn’t want her to know what he was, he was ashamed.
He could see his father in that house. Sat there waiting for him, the smell of stale beer and a weeks worth of sweat coming from him. He hated that smell. He showered at least three times a day just so he couldn’t be reminded by his own scent.
Adam took a breath and walked towards the trailer. It had been a long time since he had been here, but he doubted it had changed. The odd rat may have moved in, but other than that the trailer was like the rest of Imperial Town. Dead, dirty and forgotten.
He grabbed the handle of the trailer door and forced the door open. Years of neglect had rotted the door so much that it broke when he pushed on it.
“Oops” he said trying to make a joke of it. “Not to worry, I’ll find a board and cover it, not like any one is going to come here.”
Morgan stayed at the door. She was apprehensive about entering the trailer. She didn’t want to fall over anything with Ethan in her arms, in fact she didn’t want to go in there full stop, but she had little choice.
Adam managed to find a couple of candles in the mess in one of the draws. Pulling a lighter out of his pocket he illuminated the dark corners of the room. He looked around; it was just as he left. He could still see his childhood clothes on the floor where his father had thrown them as he was having yet another drunken rage.
“You can come in you know.” He called to Morgan.
Morgan cautiously walked into the trailer. She expected it to smell foul, but gently allowing her nostrils to take in the air all she could smell was the damp. Looking around the place was a mess. There were clothes and papers everywhere. A thick layer of dust rested on everything. She stood and watched as Adam tried to tidy the room and make it as presentable as possible.
“No rats” he joked. Morgan smiled at him. “Right, the couch is as clean as I can get it, you and Ethan take that and I’ll take the floor. In the morning we’ll head out. What do you think?”
Morgan nodded at him. She walked over to the couch to inspect it. As much as she didn’t want to put Ethan down on it, she knew she had to. Her arms were going numb with the strain of holding him for so long.
Adam saw her apprehension. “Here.” He said as he laid his coat down for Ethan to sleep on.
“Thanks.”
She gently lay Ethan down; he stirred slightly, his eyes threatening to open. She stroked his hair gently soothing him back to sleep. He yawned and opened his eyes briefly.
“Close your eyes Ethan.” She whispered to him.
Morgan lay down on the floor next to Ethan and let her thoughts wonder.
“You’re not sleeping on the couch?” asked Adam.
“No I’ll let him have it. At least one of us can have a comfortable night. I don’t think I’ll sleep much anyway.”
“Oh, well I’m gonna board up this door and try to catch an hour if you don’t mind?”
“No, sure.”
Morgan sat stroking Ethan’s brown hair as Adam tried to board up the open doorway as quietly as possible.
After blowing out the candles he settled him self in the chair near the door.
Cade sat in the dark cell. Lights out had been hours ago, but he couldn’t sleep. It was his daughter’s birthday. She would be thirteen. Morgan was growing up fast and everyday she looked more and more like her mother. She had the same beautiful eyes and her nose was decorated with the same gentle scattering of freckles.
He smiled as his mind went back to the time he had playful joined them up in a game of dot to dot. Mia, her mother had rolled her eyes at them, until he had pinned her down and done the same to her too.
He closed his eyes and wished her a happy birthday. He imagined holding her, watching her. She was his first born and he would do anything for her. At least she was safe at home with her mother. He hoped that she had enjoyed her birthday as best she could. He just wished he could have shared it with her too.
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Mia slammed the phone back into its cradle. It was useless; no one would tell her anything. She had missed her daughter’s birthday the day before. The social workers refused to let her have contact until the children were assessed.
Mia had pleaded over and over to just see Morgan on her birthday, but her request had been refused. They wouldn’t even pass a card and a present onto her.
She sank down onto the couch and cried. It had been two weeks since Morgan had shot her ex husband Jimmy in a brave act of protection. Two weeks since she had seen her children and her husband. Two weeks of utter hell.
The authorities had continually fobbed her off, every day she had called and each day she had been given an excuse. Who were these people? What right did they have to deny her children the love of their mother?
She wished Cade was with her. He was the strong one, not her. She missed him terribly, but she understood why he had taken the blame. Morgan was his first born, his daughter. He had to do it for her.
Morgan opened her eyes. Disorientated she jumped up and looked around her. Ethan lay asleep on the couch still. Memories of a few hours before came back to her and she relaxed remembering what she was doing here. She looked over to the chair for Adam, but he was gone. Pulling the board away from the door where it was propped up she looked outside and found him sat and an old barrel.
“Morning.” He said smiling at her.
“What time is it?”
“Just after 6.”
“How long have I…”
“Been asleep? Just a couple of hours. I got breakfast, you want some?” he said holding out a bread roll to her.
She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until she saw the food, her mouth started watering almost instantly and she reached for the bread. She ate it dry. Forcing the large bites down her throat, she tried to get the food inside as fast as possible.
Adam laughed at her. “I take that as a yes then.”
Morgan tried to speak but her mouth was to full, she gave him a bread filled smile and nodded.
“Did you go shopping?”
“Er sort of.”
“You mean you stole it?”
“Borrowed it.” He said winking at her.
“You shouldn’t steal.” She scolded.
“Ah come on.” He said. “It’s a big super market chain, I am sure they won’t suffer from the loss of some bread and a couple of drinks. I got the little guy a carton of milk and there’s some bread left for him too. I didn’t really know what to get him.”
Morgan was annoyed at him for stealing, she just wanted to get to her family, and she didn’t want to get in trouble for stealing. She had already had her share of crime in her short life and she didn’t intend to have any more. Adam held the bread and milk out. She stood their not sure if she should take it. Ethan needed it, but it was stolen.
“You can’t let him suffer because you have morals.” Adam said thrusting the bread at her. “You better get him up, if you want to get to your uncles before dark.”
Morgan reluctantly took the bread and milk and went back into the trailer to wake Ethan. Adam stayed outside. He looked up at the new morning, enjoying the sun shining down on him. It was the first time he had been able to sit outside the trailer and not have to worry about being attacked by his father. He could imagine his dad inside, passed out from the drink the night before. Cans littering the floor and the remains of a takeaway on his lap. Adam had many times tried to take what was on his fathers lap when the hunger got the better of him, but whenever his father had discovered what he was doing he had beaten Adam for it.
Shaking the thoughts from his head Adam went to get Morgan, they really did need to set off if they wanted to get to her uncles.
“I want to go back for Alex.” She said as Adam entered the trailer.
“You can’t. They will know we are missing now.” He replied to her sadly.
Her eyes glazed over at the thought of not going to get her. She cursed her self. She should have gone back for her the night before. Before any one would know they were missing, but she had felt so defeated that she hadn’t had the strength.
They walked most of the day, stopping occasionally to rest from the strain of carrying Ethan. Adam had suggested snatching a pram or a buggy from a park while the un suspecting mother was occupied with the her child, but Morgan had put her floor down, making it very clear that they were not going to steal anything no matter what they needed.
They had stopped in a library after Adam had suggested that they take a look on the Internet to find her uncles actual address. They had stuck lucky and Nathan had been listed. Printing it off along with the directions they had set off again with the sun beating down on their backs.
When they arrived at her uncles the night had started to draw in again. The sun turning the sky orange as it slowly sank. They stood outside a small two-story house in a row of houses that all looked very similar.
“This is it.” Adam said.
“Yes, it is” she nodded.
Morgan passed Ethan to Adam and crept up the driveway of the house to the front window. She stooped down below window level and tried to listen through the glass. She could hear her uncle laughing. Carefully she rose up and peeked through the open curtains. She could see her uncle lounging on the sofa watching television. Karen, her soon to be aunt was sat on the floor with Nathaniel their two-year-old son. He was laughing at what ever Karen was doing.
Morgan’s heart sank at the thought. She couldn’t wreak their lives. For the first time in a while her uncle looked happy. She didn’t want to destroy that. If she knocked on their door the police would have to be called and they would be dragged into the nightmare that was her life.
Adam joined her bringing Ethan with him.
“What's wrong? Knock on the door.”
She looked him in the eyes, her bottom lip quivering. “I cant, I can’t do it.”
“What? Why not, this is what you came for. This is what we walked all day for. Here hold Ethan.” Adam thrust Ethan into her arms before she had time to protest. He got up and walked to the door.
“Please don’t.” she pleaded.
Adam shrugged his shoulders. “Too late, they have seen me.”
Morgan crawled over to the bushes with Ethan and hid. “Please” she begged as the front door opened. She listened as she heard Nathan’s voice. She wanted to come out and throw her arms around. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t.
“Hello?” said Nathan to Adam
“Hi. I er.” Adam thought quickly what to do. He couldn’t understand why she had, had such a change of heart, but the look on her face showed the sincerity of her fear.
“Can I help you?” Nathan tried again.
“I’m sorry to disturb you sir, but I am just looking for directions. Can you tell me where the local telephone box is?”
“Do you want to use my phone?”
Adam grimaced at the suggestion.
“No it’s ok; I just need a telephone box, if you can just point me in the direction of the nearest one.”
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck, not sure whether or not to question the boy more.
“It’s just round the corner, but if you need some help, I don’t mind you using mine.”
“No its ok. Thank you for your help.”
Adam walked off cursing himself for coming up with something so pathetic. He could feel the pressure of Nathans stare as he walked quickly back down the drive.
Morgan watched. She pleaded in her head for Nathan to go back in the house before Ethan started to voice his complaint about being in the bushes. She had already had to clamp her hand over his mouth to silence his childish mutterings.
Once Adam was out of his sight Nathan gave the outside a glance and went back into the house, locking the door behind him. Morgan watched from the bushes as she saw Nathan enter the lounge and talk. Carefully she eased herself out, trying to keep in line with them as she crept down the garden. She kept her eyes on Nathan, hoping that he would resume lounging on the sofa so that she could get up properly and ease the cramp that was starting in her calves.
Ethan chattered happily. She had no idea what he was saying; just the odd word was understandable. She cringed as she tried to keep him quite and move at the same time.
Finally getting out of the garden, she saw Adam peeping out from being a tree further down the street. He motioned for her to join him and she signalled to let him know that she had seen him.
Looking back into the house could see that Nathan had finally sat down or left the room, as she couldn’t see him anymore through the window.
Morgan rose to her feet, taking please of her leg muscles stretching.
“Hey” called Nathan from the door.
Morgan gasped, she hadn’t checked the door, and she hadn’t expected him to come back out. She turned on her heal and ran. Ethan started screaming in protest at being bopped up and down with her running, but she clutched him tight and carried on. She could hear Nathan calling out behind her. She had to get away; he couldn’t see it was her.
