simstationdance | Long Road Ahead: Curious Branch 2, Round 1

[ archived from the #lra: curious2 tag and heavily edited for readability ]

From trying and failing to salvage a catastrophic marriage and all the way up to being saddled with the ‘unwanted alien spawn’ of her ex-husband, Glabe Curious has never had what one would consider an ‘easy’ or ‘fair’ time in her life. But she’s nothing if not stubborn in her refusal to just lay down and accept it.

She wishes to raise Glarn’s abandoned alien daughters with the same kind of love and care she’d grant to her own flesh and blood. And while keeping her children safe and happy requires a bit of sacrifice, Glabe always knew it wouldn’t be easy. She’s doing her very best to ensure that Chloe and Lola will… eventually… grow into kind, intelligent, and strong young women.

But for now, it couldn’t hurt to keep them little for just a little longer… could it?

Glabe had taught Chloe and Lola everything - how to walk, how to talk, the nuances of language and basic arithmetic… All things considered, if she wasn’t in politics, she’d love to be a school teacher.

Chloe: Ugh… Math is boring. Can we be done now?
Glabe: Don’t worry, Chloe. We’re almost done with today’s lesson.
Chloe: …And then we can go outside and play, right?
Glabe: Um… Well, why not play indoors? There’s plenty of things to do indoors!

But that was just the thing. Glabe never let them play outside. All the doors were locked and only Glabe had the key. The giant window in their tiny in-house ‘classroom’ served to tease the adventurous younger twin with promises of sunshine and fresh air a little more every day.

Chloe: Hey Lola?
Lola: Yeah?
Chloe: Don’t you ever wonder what playing outside would be like?
Lola: Hm… not really. I like it in here. There’s lots of toys, lots of books to read, and lots of movies to watch. And plenty of chores to do, too. Lots of stuff to keep you busy.
Chloe: But it’s sooo boring! It’s the same stuff over and over, every day…

In all honesty, Lola did sometimes wonder what going outside would be like. She also wondered about other things, such as where she and Chloe came from, if their alien dad was out there in space somewhere, and if he’d someday come and get them…

She’d never tell Glabe that, though.

For dinner, Glabe prepares her famous vegetable soup. Her super-special secret ingredients are love, and a little bit of something else…

Even dinner was the same thing every day. It was a soup recipe that Glabe said her mother passed down through her family for generations. It was delicious, but after the three hundred millionth time of having soup for dinner, Chloe secretly wished Glabe would cook something else for once. For once.

Glabe: Um… Enjoying the soup, girls?
Chloe: …y-yeah, I guess, but-
Lola: Mm-hmm! It’s delicious as always, mama.

It was always cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and soup for dinner. Every single day. And Glabe never seemed to gain any confidence in her cooking skills, or anything else for that matter.

Whenever Glabe went to work, it was always just the two of them home alone. They knew how to take care of themselves, and they followed all of the rules - including the ‘not going outside’ rule, and the ‘not letting anyone see you’ rule.

It was routine at this point. They knew how to make their own fun, anyway.

Chloe: Truth or dare?
Lola: Um… dare.
Chloe: Okay, I dare you to climb out that window and see what’s on the other side!
Lola: Th… that’s against the house rules, Chloe.
Chloe: Ugh. You’re no fun anymore!

Glabe returned home that night, around the time the girls were in bed. She made herself a rather miserable TV dinner - without the TV, as it seemed the girls had worn it out and broken it - and quietly contemplated her life choices.

Glabe: I can’t cook… I can hardly pay the bills… What kind of mother am I? I really need to get out of this town… I can’t keep them stuck in here forever… But it’s just not safe to let them go out…

The next morning, Glabe decided to use her day off to train herself in the mechanical skill. She could hardly afford to pay the bills every week, hiring a repairman for the TV was out of the question.

Beside her, Lola was studying anger management from a self-help book, and Chloe was trying to take her toy boat apart.

A few hours of studying later, Glabe decided to give repairing the TV a try, silently praying that a stray electric shock wouldn’t be the thing that kills her.

Glabe: And this wire here should be–

Glabe: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–
Lola: Mama?! Are you okay?!
Glabe: YES, SWEETIE, I’M FINE–

Glabe: Oh, wow. That’ll wake you right up, huh…
Chloe: I can’t look… tell me when it’s over–
Glabe: It’s over now, sweetie, I’m okay!
Lola: M-Mama, look!
Glabe: What th- oh, for the love of-

Glabe: GO TO YOUR ROOM AND LOCK THE DOOR! I’ll handle this!

Keeping the girls in her thoughts, Glabe had to pray to whatever god was listening that this wouldn’t be the way she dies.

Unfortunately, Glabe has never had an ‘easy’ or ‘fair’ time in her entire life.

And now she never will.

Things went quiet hours ago, the only thing breaking the silence ~~inside these miraculously fireproof walls~~ were the giggles and joyful squeals coming from Chloe’s mouth as she bounced around on her bed to keep herself entertained and distracted from the roaring inferno raging just outside.

Lola, on the other hand, couldn’t stop worrying about Glabe. If things were okay, wouldn’t she have come in to tell them that by now?

Lola decided to see for herself, finding piles upon piles of ashes that she alone had to clear away in order to locate her adoptive mother’s urn. It took everything she had to not start screaming right then and there. She had to hold it together, for Chloe’s sake if nothing else…

It didn’t take Chloe long to piece together what had happened, however.

Chloe: Um… uh… okay! Don’t panic!
Lola: Don’t panic?! What do you mean ‘don’t panic’?! Our mom is- she’s- she’s…
Chloe: She’s… gone.
Lola: Y-Yeah…

Chloe: She’s really gone…
Lola: What are we going to do?! We can’t stay here forever, can we?
Chloe: We- we have to tell somebody. We need to get help.
Lola: B-but that would mean…

Chloe and Lola: …Going outside.

In all honesty, as much as Chloe wanted to go outside one day, she didn’t want it to be like this.

She wasn’t sure what to do with all of these mixed emotions… Glabe told her that the best thing she could do was write it all down, to get it out. But thinking about what happened hurt worse than any pain she’d ever felt before.

Once the sun started to rise, the two girls knew they had little choice but to break the locks on the doors and head out into a big, dangerous world, with the clothes on their backs and only each other to keep themselves safe. Chloe held onto Glabe’s urn like a lifeline, as if the cold stone would be enough to replace the warmth of a hug.

Chloe: Are- are you ready?
Lola: …No, not really.
Chloe: Me neither. Let’s go.

With only pocket change in hand, they left behind an unopened mailbox with a check from an anonymous sender.