Stories / The Boarding House
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Hello everyone! It's been ages since I last produced a story. This is a stand alone story but it's also a sort of prologue to my new series. This story and the new one have both been chopped and changed, characters made and re-made, lots built and deleted so many times I can barely remember the originals! I'm finally happy with this result and I hope you enjoy the story!

Hello everyone! It's been ages since I last produced a story. This is a stand alone story but it's also a sort of prologue to my new series. This story and the new one have both been chopped and changed, characters made and re-made, lots built and deleted so many times I can barely remember the originals! I'm finally happy with this result and I hope you enjoy the story! The young woman gingerly walked towards the pub. She'd been driving the little car for hours. She didn't have a map, a phone or- she thought bitterly as she shivered- any warmer clothes. She paused on the doorstep. The patrons were sitting in small groups with their friends. Memories of herself and her friends in clubs in the cities flooded through her mind. She sat tentatively at the bar next to a couple of loud and tipsy women. "What's a pretty city girl like you doing in this god-forsaken part of the world?" the blonde said, slopping half her wine onto her lap as she turned to look. "Um. Relationship trouble. I'm looking for a fresh start," she said bluntly. The blonde grunted with sympathy and peered blearily at her glass.
"Is there a motel or something where I can spend the night?" she asked. Normally they would shake their heads and say there was a hotel in the next village. But it was Happy Hour, and the blonde had had a lot to drink.
"There's a place along the end of Quarry Lane. It's called the Boarding House!" she giggled, slopping more drink on her lap. Chatter in the pub stopped instantly.
"Jan, you can't send her there!" her friend hissed. "Oh, I don't mind if it's horrible. I've slept in pretty bad places before," she said quickly. The silence worried her. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back. "Hm. On your head be it," the punk said, swirling her drink in the glass. She edged the car along Quarry Lane slowly. It was packing up, she could tell. The lights of the Boarding House glittered ahead. She looked around the clean airy hall with surprise. From the reaction of the pub patrons, she expected a hovel, not this room that looked like something out of a country mansion. "Um, hello? Is someone here?" she called. An old woman scurried out of a nearby door.
"Hello deary," she said, waving her hand quickly. "Do forgive me, I was just preparing supper for my guests. Have you been waiting long?"
"No, I just got here."
"Excellent, excellent. I'm Ella, owner of the Boarding House. I trust you are looking for a room?"
"Yes please. I'm not fussy. You can stick me anywhere!"
"OK, I have two rooms free at the moment. What is your House's name?" "Um. My name is Nina Parker."
Ella paused at the girl's expression of bewilderment. Doubt clouded her kindly face. Nina thought she heard her murmer "Oh God, a Breather."
"Um, does the name Errelion mean anything to you?"
Nina shook her head.
"How about Annelise?"
"It's a pretty name but I don't know anything else." "And you... don't need a kennel?" Ella asked.
"No, I don't have a dog," Nina stammered. Ella brightened.
"Well, I'll let you see the rooms and then I'll find the rate for you!" Sudden realisation flooded through Nina. Her shoulders shook and she felt tears welling in her eyes. "Oh deary don't cry!" Ella wailed, slipping an arm around her.
"I'm sorry, but I've been driving for so long and my car is nearly dead and...... I don't think I have any money!" Nina sobbed. "Oh deary don't worry. When I opened this place, I made a vow that I would never turn anyone away. I won't kick you out."
"But I have no money to pay for a room!" "Look, I need a helper. I'm not as young as I once was. You can stay here, but you have to earn your keep. Would you be willing to do some housekeeping?"
Nina sniffed and wiped her eyes. "You'd let me stay here? If I did some cleaning?"
Ella smiled and nodded.
"Let me take my apron off and I'll give you the tour," she said quietly. "Ok, here we have the lounge. The residents prefer to stay in their rooms but occasionally they venture down here. The door at the end leads to the Garden Suite. Miss Fleur is currently staying there." She sprang back out to the hall and up the stairs. Nina hurried after her.
"That room on the right is currently empty but someone will be coming in a few days," Ella called over her shoulder. "And here we have Mr Krueger." A low sobbing came from the other side of the door.
"He's been my longest guest. Poor man. Left at the altar by the love of his life. He is very touchy about people interupting him. You can only go in to clean at 9 am when he has his bath. Don't bother cleaning the bathroom, I think he cleans it himself." "And here," Ella said indicating a ladder leading to the loft, "we have Dr Frank. I rent him the attic room." "Dr Frank! Come and meet my new member of staff!" Ella called. From the attic came some whirings and a dreadful crash. A voice screeched "IT'S ALLLLLIVVVE!!!!"
Then came a loud explosion and some furious swearing. "Ah, let's come back later," Ella said quickly as the smell of burnt flesh drifted down to them. "And here is the last of the residents. Excuse me! Can we come in?" Ella called through the door.
"Of course!" said a musical voice. "This is Zqrgislp."
Nina blinked at the strange name.
"Call me Miss Z, don't bother trying to pronounce it," the creature at the telescope said.
"Any luck this time Miss Z?" Ella asked in a conversational tone. "Honestly! The People must be blind! That's 195 of your Earth nights I've been sending the SOS signal now!" They moved on to a small room near the stairs,
"This is my..... son's room. He's away... working at the moment so I guess you can sleep here."
"Thank you," Nina said quietly. "It's perfect." The next morning Nina gratefully sank into a bubble bath. She washed her lank hair and pushed it up into a rough bun. Lying back in the bath, she wondered why the villagers didn't want to send people here. Other than the unusual Miss Z and the odd Dr Frank in the attic, everyone seemed pretty ordinary. Ella certainly was.
A hand rapped on the door.
"Nina? There's some clothes you can wear in my warderobe!" Ella said. She wrapped herself in a towel and went through to Ella's room. She smiled as her fingers stroked the rose-coloured pine of the warderobe and she yanked the door open. "Oh, wow," she gasped softly. She couldn't resist it. She tried on the beautiful dress and twirled in front of the mirror, the moss green and earth brown velvet swishing against her legs. "Lovely, isn't it?" Ella asked softly. Nina nearly overbalanced from shock, she hadn't even heard the old woman come in. "Sorry!" she stammered. "I opened the door and I saw it..."
She stopped when she saw Ella laughing.
"Don't worry about it! It looks far better on you than it ever did on me!" "Where did you get it?"
"One of my dearest friends gave it to me shortly after we met. About the same time I opened the Boarding House actually, thinking about it." She smiled at the memory. Nina settled down into an easy routine of cleaning each of the bedrooms, starting each day with Mr Krueger's. She had yet to meet him. She only heard him crying when she passed his room or humming to himself in his bath while she changed the sheets on his bed. One day she noticed the portrait hanging on the wall.
"Hmm, Bella Goth," she said. Bella Goth had been a socialite in her hometown who went missing about 10 years ago. Nina had been friends with her daughter Cassandra. She had also yet to meet Fleur. The Garden Suite had an adjoining private garden. Nina only cleaned the room but she sometimes saw movement out in the garden. She had met Dr Frank though. He had come downstairs one day with Miss Z trailing behind him.
"Miss, please eenform Madam Ella that ve vill be late for dinner this eevening," he had rumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the helmut. "Um, OK," she said, trying her hardest to suppress laughing at his ridiculous outfit. "I, uh, like your diving suit," she had told him, her shoulders shaking dangerously.
"Young lady, they are not diving suits. They are deep space life supporters to keep Miss Z alive on her journey back to her planet. Ve are testing them." The Boarding House's residents had also increased with the arrival of Stevie and Ruby, a newly married couple who, Nina gathered, had first met there.
"Helloooooo? Is Ella here?" Ruby screeched. Stevie laughed and squeezed her. She laughed too and ducked under his arm.
"Yo, maid! Take our bags up to our room and tell Ella we are here!" she sang. Nina bit her tongue and did as she was told. Later that night though she was up and banging on the wall.
"Cut it out! I'm trying to sleep!" she yelled hoping they could hear her. "Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"
Nina spun round in shock. "Oh, you must be Ella's son. She said I could sleep here because you were working," she said. He was so handsome but so pale. She couldn't believe it.
"Her son? Hmm, excuse me, I have to go speak to her." Something was wrong with his tone. Nina quickly slipped into some clothes and ran downstairs. He was talking with Ella in the kitchen. "So Mummy Dearest, nice to see you have a Breather running around the place. Has she even seen some of the guests? What was going through your mind when you took her in?"
"Be quiet Christian. I'm getting old and I need to make sure there is someone to take over the Boarding House when I die." "Let me Change you."
"No."
"Please Ella. I don't want you to die. I hate watching you grow old."
"No Christian. I don't want to be like you. I'm fine being human." Nina slipped outside to take in this information. On the otherside of the pool there was some sort of commotion. "Oh, Stevie," Ruby whimpered. Stevie howled with pain as the orange light engulfed his body. Nina ran around the pool. "What is that!" she yelled, pointing at Stevie.
"Hey! "That" is my husband!" Ruby yelled back. Stevie panted and scratched behind one ear absent-mindedly "What's wrong with him," she whispered, horror filling her. A green figure in a dress of leaves skipped out the house.
"What's going on?" she asked. Nina grasped her hair. Her mind was spinning crazily. What were these creatures? Dr Frank also ran out the house. "I heard screaming!" he announced, brandishing a blood stained meat cleaver. Nina watched in horror as a drop of blood rolled off the tip and fell with a splat on the flagstones. "Urggghh."
A horrible grey..... thing dragged itself onto the patio. It had to be Mr Krueger. Nina really started to panic. She had never seen monsters like these before. "Nina." Suddenly Christian was beside her.
"Nina, please try to calm down."
She noted with horror the moonlight glinting off his long fangs.....


The world turned black. "She's coming around."

That was Ella's voice. Nina stirred. She propped herself up on the sofa. Ella and Christian were watching her with concerned expressions on their faces.
"Ella needs to talk to you." Christian said quietly, standing up. He left the room. They sat in silence.

"I'm so sorry Nina, I should have told you as soon as you got here," Ella said, her voice welling up with sadness. "Christian isn't your son, is he?" Nina said quietly.
"No. He's my older brother," Ella whimpered. "It was years ago. I had been at a party and like the sweet older brother he was, Christian was walking me home." "We were nearly there when an old lady sprinted for my brother and grabbed him in a strange lock. She pulled his neck towards her mouth." "He managed to gasp "Ella, run." "So I did. Ignoring my brother's screams of pain and a strange purple flash of light, I ran blindly for home." "I didn't expect to see him ever again but after months I did." "He explained that he was now a vampire. He told me about what had happened to him, what the old lady had done to him." "He also brought with him a young elf named Annelise." "Annelise explained that she was not just an elf but queen of all magical creatures. She had found my brother, taught him to control his lust for human blood. She had come to me tonight because she needed someone to set up a safe haven. A place to which her people could hide from the Breathers, and operate out of, if need be." "And even though we are now both old and gray-haired, we are still firm friends. It was she who gave me that dress, as a uniform to wear to show I was a staff member of the royal household, the House of Errelion. My brother and I have stayed her loyal subjects althroughout these long years, him, her bodyguard, forever watchful at the foot of her throne, and me, the guardian of the safe haven between her world and ours." "I promised her I would care for everyone who stayed here. Everyone here would be locked up or killed if they were exposed to the greater human population or Breathers as they call them. I keep them safe."
"Tell me," Nina murmured. "Mr Krueger was engaged to marry Bella Goth or Bachelor as she was then. On their wedding day she ran off with the best man Mortimer. Mr Krueger died alone, a broken-hearted man. A silly young wizard was trying out a spell to reverse death and directed it at his grave. But the spell failed. It made poor Mr Krueger a zombie, doomed to walk this earth crying for his lost bride." "Ruby is a witch. Witches still exist as do wizards, they have just learnt to keep themselves hidden. Stevie is a werewolf.Werewolves turn every night, it's only at the full moon that they can transform others. They are nice enough folk, even if they are technically aligned to the Evil powers." "Miss Z crash landed on Earth on a scientific misson to Venus. She made her way here and sends out a distress signal, scanning the heavens for signs of her People, waiting for a rescue I privately doubt will ever come." "Dr Frank is the descendant of a very powerful wizard called Frankenstein. You've probably heard of him, the story leaked through into our world. Dr Frank is trying to perfect his ancestor's research. He keeps getting it wrong though." "And Fleur? She's a plantsim. She is very frail and vulnerable and has very little sense between good and bad. She is content to just dance away all day, playing in the garden." "I've done all I can to protect them. I'm not going to live forever and need someone to help me. Please Nina, I know you've been through a lot tonight but I need you to help me. I can take you to meet the queen if you are unsure. She can expain things a lot better than me..." She left Ella on the sofa and went outside. Her little car was where she had left it. It would be so easy to get in and drive away. Start again. Again. But she did like it here. Even with all the ... people. "If you are going to run, now would be a good time to go," Christian told her softly. Damn. Why did he keep creeping up so quietly on her. "I'm not sure if I will go. What is the queen like?" Christian smiled. "The queen? She's terrifying when she's angry but so sweet when she wants to be. And she is a doting mother to her sons, Gariad and Joren. Mind you, that is my view of her. Everyone sees her differently. Ella sees her as a best friend." Nina chuckled. I could do it, she thought. After all she had found what she was looking for when she ran from her past. She ran looking for a safe place. And she found one.

She found the Boarding House. *BLOOPER*

You do not spy on Annelise!

Hehe. Couldn't resist putting that in, I laughed so hard when she came running in and shoved Miss Z. Hope you enjoyed the story/prologueytypething! I will hopefully be uploading Chapter 1 of the new series soon! Happy Simming!

The Boarding House

May 24, 2011 by pixi449
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    15 Comment(s) posted so far

    On May 25, 2011 kanzen wrote:

    That was by far the most interesting read I've ever had. But alas, where is Bigfoot who I named 'Bob'?! XD

    On May 25, 2011 Yukosan wrote:

    You have some very, VERY intriguing characters here. You just gotta wonder, what other kind of creature could show up next? \:eek\: Wow!

    On May 25, 2011 IeHeLi wrote:

    Oh I loved this story! \:wub\: Waiting for the next chapter!

    On May 25, 2011 CloudwalkerNZ wrote:

    Very interesting \:wub\:nicely done\:rah\:

    On May 26, 2011 Mangio wrote:

    Nina must've been really scared.. i'm glad she's found the perfect place. Days will never be normal again \:D Your missing our furry friend, Bigfoot! Can't wait for more \;\) \:wub\:

    On May 26, 2011 Mangio wrote:

    Also, congrats on the feature \:rah\: You have some amazing shots too 

    On May 26, 2011 martoele wrote:

    To be honest, I felt like not reading when I saw so many screenshots but I must admit that I'm pleased to have read them. It really is a very nice story and I hope that you will continue writing it. \:\)  I like your style. Congratulations for having it featured on the Sims2 index. \:cool\:

    On May 26, 2011 Yvon wrote:

    Nice story! Like it very much! \:rah\:

    On May 26, 2011 urm0m wrote:

    I totally loved this, well done \:D

    On May 29, 2011 fabrizioammollo wrote:

    Very interesting beginning! \:\)

    On Jun 27, 2011 xx kikuras2 xx wrote:

    Great story. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thankyou.

    On Jun 30, 2011 johndenver wrote:

    good shots and story \:\)

    On Jul 23, 2011 theosakasun wrote:

    Dazzling story and excellent shots!

    On Jan 8, 2012 wrote:

    Sweet!

    On Apr 8, 2012 fabrizioammollo wrote:

    It's trully a delightful story. It's so touching and sweet! \:wub\:

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