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The Hardy Family Chronicles V

A Tale of Several Sims

The Prophecy Years – Part 4

She spent another week in Shang Simla, waiting for Shen Su to come back. But it was obvious after one day that he wouldn’t. She spent the time saying goodbye to all her old haunts and gazing down upon the ancient city.

But she knew it was time to go.

She wondered if she would ever return to that peaceful spot, and vowed never to forget the view on that, her final morning.

For Laura, the trip home was ridiculously short. In a few days she was home, staring up at the house she’d not seen since she was a young teen.

Nothing had changed, not even the locks. Laura opened the front door with her old key.

Immediately she was enveloped in hugs from her astonished parents. Their daughter had returned from the dead! Hannah and Jesse welcomed their prodigal daughter home with few questions – they could wait.

But Joanne was not as happy to see her sister. She remembered the horror Laura had been, constantly belittling her and fighting with Rachael. The adult Laura could only have gotten worse.

But even she had to admit, this stranger was not the Laura she had known.

Laura was not surprised by Joanne’s reaction. She remembered how nasty and manipulative she had been with her siblings, even as a child.

As she drifted off to sleep, her mind began to wander to how else her homecoming might have been, had she made another choice.

A nightmare developed, of Laura as she might have been. Empress Alura, queen of the undead. Evil, insane, and dangerous.

It was an intoxicating thought.

The next morning, Laura worked extra hard, to somehow purge the images from her mind. It did the trick.

Laura was now the highest rank of martial artist – black belt.

As Laura struggled with the last of her inner demons, Hannah and Jesse were planning a party to celebrate her return. It would be nice to get everyone together, Laura had missed much on her journey, the family had split and grown estranged since her departure.

Holly Hardy’s depression had not gotten any better. She now refused to believe she had ever had a daughter. As far as she was concerned, she and Jake were still living the quiet life between Bjorn leaving and her pregnancy.

It was tragic, she kept Angelica’s cot just in case she ever had a child. She said sometimes she dreamed she had a daughter. No one had the heart to force her to confront the truth. Eventually she grew old, though her mind remained childlike in its serene optimism.

Jake aged too, he sometimes dreamt about how death would be a release. He’d failed with both his children, and he couldn’t even talk about it to his wife. He blamed his meddling little sister Hannah, and they hadn’t spoken in years.

Meanwhile Angelica had aged into a street-smart child, surviving the poor quality state care of Simerica, not knowing her family was rich and famous, not knowing anything.

The extra media attention the family was attracting had put a strain on Richard and Sadie’s relationship. His brothers repeated failures, his uncle’s parenting scandal and his little sisters disappearance had made the Blue Diamonds entire family a regular in celebrity mags.

To save their marriage, Richard agreed to move away, out of Sunset Valley to a small village on the other side of Simerica, Larks Wood.

He told his parents, who took it well. Hannah was just impressed she’d raised such a conscientious child in the media spotlight.

It was with a heavy heart that Sadie left though. This was the house she’d grown up in, where her parents had both died. It was for the best.

Although they kept in touch on the phone, it would be years before they came back to visit.

Their new house in Larks Wood.

They never had children of their own. Sadie became a teacher, and a bit of a neat freak. Richard worked from home, managing the Blue Diamonds assets online for his mum.

Life was quiet, and good. No pressures, scandals or heartache. Sadie and Richard were at peace.

Andrew, by comparison, was not doing as well as his twin. Being the son of a national treasure could only get him out of so much.

So Richard employed George Wyatt to keep an eye. To be an official handler of his broken brother.

At first Andrew thought this was great. Someone to mop up after his mistakes.

But he soon learned that George wasn’t going to cut him any slack because of his mums musical career. He was going to kick him into shape.

Andrew didn’t take kindly to being spoken to like a child.

But he’d tolerate this man until he could figure out a way to shake him off.

Perhaps George would be useful.