Chapter 1 - Cycle 1, round 1
There is noise all around Bella, light everywhere— then, suddenly, there is only silence. Not the usual kind, though — it’s as if all sound has been erased from existence.
Her skin burns with dryness, and unlike the heat prickling her arms, this dryness is everywhere — in her eyes, her nose, her mouth. And then she just knows: she’s back home. Or at least, as close to home as she’s ever been since she can remember.
She’s in Strangetown; she finally recognizes the place. She’s wearing the same clothes she had on that night at Don’s. She doesn’t know what happened — or how much time has passed.
But she wants to go home. She feels the urge to step inside those old, moldy walls she once learned to call home after marrying Mortimer. Surely, when she sees her husband and her children, everything will return to some kind of normalcy inside her head.
When she finally arrives, she knows things are… different. It’s hard to pinpoint what feels so wrong when all she can see is the gate and the front door of her house.
Then Mortimer walks past the window inside the house. Bella catches a glimpse of him — and he looks older. How long has she been gone?
And then she hears Don’s voice. Panic grips her instantly. What is he doing on her lawn? During her absence?! What is happening here?
Bella calls Mortimer’s name. Cassandra must be away — maybe college is in session — and Alexander is far too young to be opening the door on his own.
Mortimer appears in the doorway. He freezes when he sees her, his face livid. She stares at him, desperate to understand his reaction.
Then Alexander comes running from inside — but he’s no longer a little boy. How long has she been gone?!
He throws himself into her arms, and she hugs him tight, her baby boy who is no longer a baby.
“Cassie! Mother is here!” he shouts, over and over again.
Cassandra appears from the side lawn, followed closely by Don. Her daughter is now a grown woman. She comes to hug Bella too, while she’s still clinging to Alexander.
“Where have you been?” Cassandra asks. She would give anything to know how to answer that. But Cassandra doesn’t give her time. With a wide smile, she blurts out: “I’m getting married, Mom! You came just in time to see me marry Don!”
Bella raises her eyes and stares at him. Don. And Mortimer, too, has stepped closer. Both of them look older than she remembers.
“That…” she whispers, looking from one to the other. “What the—? Don? My daughter? What the hell is happening here?” she demands, exhausted by so much nonsense.
The weight of it all crashes down on Bella — the missing years, her children grown, Don by Cassandra’s side, Mortimer’s silence. And underneath it all, the gnawing sickness twisting in her stomach.
She barely makes it inside before she throws up violently into the toilet.
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The first couple of days were absolutely chaotic. Bella vomited constantly and spent most of her time lying in bed. Cassandra postponed her wedding until she felt better. Mortimer refused to share a bed with her — literally — because he said it wouldn’t be fair to “anyone” until “everyone” had a real, long talk about “everything.” Eventually, she learned that it had to do with Dina Caliente — her former sister-in-law, once married to her late brother, and now involved with her husband.
...with her ex-husband? She was considered dead, Cassandra told her, and even showed her the official documents. Bella didn’t exist anymore in SimNation.
She has to admit that felt very strange — but somehow liberating, too. Not that she could ever say that aloud — not to Cassandra, anyway. But it wasn’t like she was madly in love with Mortimer anymore. If Bella is honest with herself, she never really was, not even in the beginning. He’s an amazing man — distinguished, kind, handsome — and undoubtedly a very good marriage prospect when she was still single. It felt right to accept his courtship. (Yes, that sounds old-fashioned, but that is the right word — being with Mortimer always felt like living a hundred years ago.)
But the truth is: there was almost nothing between Bella and Mortimer after Alexander was born. She was bored to death in that relationship, so Don’s charm fit her like a glove. He was fun, alluring, exciting. And honestly, most of their time together wasn’t even physical. She just liked his attention. She liked being desired. She liked the flirting and the casual, forbidden kisses.
It wasn’t even serious — but it was fun. He bought a telescope and told her all that Strangetown nonsense about aliens and conspiracies, so she went to his place just to hear him talk, just to be clandestinely adored. Maybe Cassandra would’ve been more interested in the stars than Bella ever was — she was always a nerdy kid, like her father. She could have gotten into Le Tour even if she hadn’t been a Goth. But not her.
Bella looked at the stars — and it felt like the stars looked back. Next thing she knows, she’s in Strangetown, four years later, her head full of jumbled memories: sounds, lights, flashes of pain, a sensation of floating in water, of lying on a fluffy mattress, of being touched by cold metal. And sometimes she thinks she remembers black almond eyes on light green skin — but the more she tries to make sense of it, the more confusing it becomes.
Now that the chaos has dulled, she’s had the chance to reconnect with Alexander — he’s obsessed with these old Goth tarot cards he found around the house. He’s a smart kid, with a huge heart. Not as bright as Cassandra was at his age, but definitely more talkative. He has such a vivid imagination, too — he’s been dreaming of green fields surrounded by fog, of the smell of apples and wood, of women sailing boats — and she envies him, just a little, for being able to make sense of dreams while she can’t remember the last four waking years of her life.
He insists she should see the huge statue Geoff Rutherford and Armand DeBateau built in her honor. Alexander tells her his father avoids looking at it when they go to Belladonna Cove, but both man made a very cool party in the park when they released it. Alexander thought it was very beautiful, but he says Bella in person is even prettier. Bella agrees to visit the thing with her son.
The statue is, indeed, impressive. At least they got her nose right. But the nausea worsens when she finally understands what that massive stone figure truly is: a monument of grief for a woman who is not dead at all — a tasteless display commissioned by people with too much money and too little heritage, trying to buy their way into Mortimer’s world.
This isn’t her. This is their idea of her.
Someone who never even bothered to ask how Bella wanted to be remembered.
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Bella’s gotten closer to Cassandra too. Cassandra graduated from Le Tour with honors, and Bella’s so proud of her. She loves Don — and that frightens Bella. She knows his type. He’s a cheap womanizer. She didn’t fall for him; she jumped — because she wanted something cheap and fun, and that is exactly what Don is: cheap and fun. But Cassandra? She’s young, naïve, and completely enraptured by him. That will only lead to heartbreak.
And now Bella’s in a position where no matter what she does, she’ll hurt her daughter: Either by telling her she cheated on her father with her fiancé, or by staying quiet and watching her get cheated on by Don Lothario. Cassandra deserves so much better.
Well,only one of those choices has a chance to spare Cassandra a lifetime of pain. So Bella decides to tell Cassie what happened between her and Don.
She doesn’t plan a speech or rehearse the words — she just asks her to sit with her in the garden, and she tells her the truth.
Cassandra doesn’t cry. She just looks at her with a face that reminds Bella of her grandmother — perfectly still, unreadable. Then she stands up and leaves.
Bella doesn’t know what will happen next. She imagines Cassandra will need time, and she intends to give her that. But she also knows she can’t keep living like this. She and Mortimer haven’t truly been married for years. And if she was declared dead, maybe that’s the clean slate she needs.
Maybe she can go back to her maiden name — legally, officially, and emotionally. Perhaps she can begin again, once more as Bella Bachelor.
Oh, and the vomiting? It wasn’t nerves. She’s pregnant with an alien baby.
