In Shadow - Afterword

There you have it - In Shadow. 

I have to admit, I'm not entirely happy with it, but there it is.

In Shadow has its roots in the final chapter of College Years, where Miranda has a vision of her future life with Mariah. I actually put some thought into the course of their life together. One thing seemed obvious... Mariah having testified against the Alto Family had to come back to bite her, and the young couple would end up living in hiding. I thought it would be a great opportunity to give the "sidekicks" a chance to take the main stage. So the core idea of In Shadow was born...

I knew I wanted to feature Genie and Jenny, and that they had the potential to be a great team. Unfortunately, I didn't really know what the story was going to be. 

I contented myself at first with the short stories Lobo's Den and A Tartosan Wedding, both of which were intended to re-introduce, or introduce, readers to our main characters and kind of sum up all that had come before. (I really wanted In Shadow to be accessible to new readers.) 

Still, I couldn't stall forever. I went through several ideas before settling on Genie trying to help her friends by investigating the Altos.

Orange was actually a late addition to the cast. I had decided the ladies need a male supporting character who would be supporting without taking over. At first I considered making a new character, as a potential love interest for Genie. Then I remembered Orange and his little teaser moment from Lobo's Den. So I decided to include him.

That was probably my first mistake. 

My second was George T. 

George has been lurking in the darkest corners of the Wyrd Tales since before I started writing my first story, back when this was just me playing the Sims with Gwen and Cassie. For reasons probably better not examined, his major claim to fame was sexually assaulting Cassie on New Years Eve of her final year at university (and then being set on fire). He has remained in the background ever since, never taking the stage or even appearing except for a brief cameo and mention in Raven's Apprentice. (He actually, entirely autonomously, stalked teen Cassie during my setup playthrough for Raven's Apprentice.) 

I have, several times, wanted to tell their story, but never felt comfortable doing so because it always felt too dark. I have hinted at it, alluded to it, but never directly addressed it. I honestly didn't plan to here. I just wanted a gangster to fill out scenes involving the Alto family. So, put him into the background, intending him to stay there, as an underboss working for Marco. I gave him a henchman and a girlfriend (who I deliberately modeled on Cassie, reflecting George's obvious obsession with her), but I assumed he'd stay in the background again.

To understand what happened next, you need to understand that I usually play each of my characters for a few sim-days before actually starting the story, just to get to know them. Well, I was playing Orange. He was out jogging and suddenly there was Corrie, George's girlfriend, looking sad. Orange being Orange, I knew he had to stop and ask what was wrong.

From that moment, I derailed my entire plan for In Shadow. A story that was supposed to be about Genie and Jenny taking on Marco and Max V became a story about rescuing Corrie from George, and confronting at last who George was and what he'd done. The dark story I'd been avoiding, I wouldn't avoid any more.

I consoled myself that, in the end, the bad guys lose. George would lose. How exactly he would lose went through as many different plans as any other part of the story. I feel rather pleased with his final fate. Gwen is terrifying sometimes.

Anyway, despite my going off the rails and not being completely happy with the results, I hope you enjoyed In Shadow.

Of course, you can't have missed that, epilogue notwithstanding, we ended on a cliffhanger with Axis, the Elderberrys, and Representative Friend (who, yes, is green). I'm already well into outlining the next story, tentatively entitled In Moonlight (because In Shadow, Part 2 is just a little too on the nose). It should deal with some of those threads left dangling and some of the original ideas behind In Shadow. 

My current plan is to take Thanksgiving week off. After that, I have a collection of single-chapter shorts that could be thought of as an extended series of "post credit scenes" to both resolve a few other dangling threads and to set up others for Moonlight. I expect to have those in December and into the new year.

Meanwhile, I plan to do some more outlining and planning in the (probably foolish) hope that I can keep In Moonlight on the rails. 

Genie Elderberry and her friends will return.

In Shadow - Ch 33 - Epilogue

Content Warning: misogyny, profanity 

George T sat alone in his cell.

Irongate Prison was in serious need a good decorator, he thought. The stone walls, cold and damp, were probably as old as the musty castle that had held prisoners of the Crown since before the royals had handed power over to the Republic. Modern justice had added a few homey touches, like running water, electric lights and new bars. 

George was looking forward to getting out and making every single person responsible for him being here pay. What was keeping his people, he wondered with a sigh.

Looking up, he was stunned to see two women stepping impossibly out of the shadows. For a moment, he wondered if he was hallucinating. Some flashback from when he'd been young and stupid enough to sample his own product.

Cassie Goth looked perfect. Was perfect. Her raven black hair framed her pale, beautiful face with her bottomless dark eyes and lush red lips. Her sleek black dress clung to her soft, flawless curves. She was a work of art. As he always did, he longed to possess her, to mark her, to damage that perfection in order to prove his ownership of her.

The woman next to her was white to Cassie's black. A tall, lean white taper that made his scars burn to look at. He knew ought to extinguish Gwen Silveroak's flame, but deep down in his secret heart he screamed to run, to hide, anything to escape that pitiless fire.

"What, did you bribe the guards to see me?" George snarled. "A little conjugal visit, maybe. Don't worry, when I get out of here I'll be looking you up... you and your little bitch, Miranda."

They just watched him. Cassie's fathomless dark eyes and Gwen's cold violet ones, studying him through the bars as he ranted.

"You think you've won?" George snapped. "You think you've beaten me? You'll never beat me!"

"Enough," Cassie said softly, to herself. "It's enough."

As George continued to rant in his cell, impotently threatening lurid acts of revenge, she turned and walked away. He was powerless, she thought. The last, lingering echo of power he had once held over her was broken. It was enough. It was over. 

With a whispered Word, she vanished. 

George stood, stunned, cut off in mid rant. "She's... she's gone," he gasped. She was really gone.

"Yes," Gwen replied softly.

"She's just gone," George said. He couldn't believe it, wouldn't let himself believe it. "She thinks she can just leave me here?"

"I would have killed you," Gwen said simply. "She asked me not to. Not, you must understand, out of any feelings for you. No, she simply said that she did not want me to. I think she felt that it would be the wrong thing to do. I did not understand, but I stayed my hand because it was what she wished. I wonder if perhaps she foresaw your fate, here."

"I'll get out," George snarled. "I'll get out and..."

"No, you won't," Gwen said. Her voice held neither rage nor pity. Just inevitable, undeniable truth. "You will never get out."

The ancient stone walls seemed to shake, echoing the merciless flame of that voice . "George Tobar, this Doom I place upon you.  You will never again walk as you will upon the earth. You will never again breath free air. You will never again touch the open waters. 

"This Doom I place upon you. You will live out all the long days of your life as a prisoner. You will endure all the dark nights of your life with only your guilt, your shame and your fear. You will die alone, unmourned and all but forgotten. 

"This Doom I place upon you. By the Oak, the Ash and the Elm. By the Sun, the Moon and Stars. By the Earth, the Wind and the Sea. So may it be." 

She spoke a Word that seemed to gather up all the despair that had long ago sunk into the stones of the ancient prison into invisible chains and wrapped them around George's soul. Under the weight of it, he sank back onto the cell's hard bed.

Satisfied, she spoke another Word and was gone.

George T sat alone in his cell. 

The stone walls, cold and damp, were probably as old as the musty castle that had held prisoners of the Crown since before the royals had handed power over to the Republic. Ancient justice, older than the castle itself, imprisoned him. 

He was a prisoner of his own guilt, his own shame and his own fear. 

He would never be free.

----------------

Gwen stepped from the darkness and despair of Irongate into the cool, fragrant twilight of Glimmerbrook. With deep, calming breaths she drank in the rich green of the earth, the sweet stirring of the breeze and the sound of the rushing brook. She set aside the Aspect of Vengeance and allowed herself to be simply Gwen again. 

She found Cassie where she expected to, standing by the side of the brook.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I am," Cassie smiled. "You know, I never really believed he would even go to jail. No matter what he'd done to me, to anyone, I never really believed he'd be punished. I think I owe Genie and Jenny and Orange an apology and thanks... though it was still a horribly dangerous and foolish thing they did."

"It is the path they have chosen," Gwen smiled. "Just like our daughter and her wife."

"I know Miranda and Mariah can't come home yet," Cassie sighed. "It will take time for the authorities to dismantle enough of the Altos' organization for it to really be safe... but I hope they are... safe, I mean."

"I don't think 'safe' is in their nature," Gwen mused. "But they are well."

"I guess that's enough," Cassie smiled.

The past floats away

Like leaves on the water

As I stand by the brookside

and let them go.

- the chorus of Brookside, by Cassie Goth