WEDNESDAY


"And Suzy is the winner of the world cucumber eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.

Not even feeling full, you wipe away the ranch dressing on your lips, graciously stand up and bow for your adoring fans. The Minotaur on your right looks at you in disbelief and then turns away to puke in a trough.

Meanwhile the little Asian satyr on your left just shakes his head wondering how the hell you could've beaten him.

"I don't understand it...all my training. I glanced over at you during the contest...you...you were barely even chewing! How?" He asks.
"Oh just natural talent at swallowing cucumbers I suppose." You reply humbly and wink at the audience, which continues to praise you.

While you're blowing kisses at your fans, you suddenly get a feeling you've done something like this before. In fact you remember you HAVE participated in similar contests and you can't help but think there's some sort of connection with what you've been eating at these things.

Suddenly a hand touches your shoulder and you spin around to see a woman with long raven colored hair and a low cut black gown. It's Bobby's grandmother. This time she's a little older and she still doesn't look too impressed with you.

"Yeah that's great you got a skill and its real obvious that's one of the things Bobby loves about you because men in general tend to make their most important decisions with their dicks." She says to you.
"Excuse me?" you reply.
"To be honest I'm not even too sure about him, but nobody appears to have the ambition to stand up to him or are otherwise too much in love with him. That's Diana's problem right there. Anyway, MAYBE there is more to you than meets the eye. You might just meet Misty yet."
"Okay who the hell is Misty?" you ask.
"Sheesh, you really are slow on the uptake there blondie. Well maybe you'll get it, maybe you won't. I don't give a shit either way. Off you go then." Bobby's grandmother at this point snaps her fingers and at this point the Minotaur grabs your upper body and the satyr grabs your legs while the audience cheers them on.

You attempt to struggle without success, then a giant hole in the ground between the stage and the audience opens up. A swirling black void appears at the bottom. Without another word, you are tossed in which is followed by your screaming, the audience's cheering and Bobby's grandmother laughing.

You fall and eventually the light from above grows dimmer until you are enveloped in complete darkness.

Then you wake up suddenly with one of your hands tightly clutching to the side of the bed.

"No! Huh? Shit! Oh. Good. Not falling. Fucking bitch." You incoherently mumble, which is heard by Bobby who is in the room getting dressed.
"You okay over there?" he asks.
"Hrm? Oh. Nothing. Just another fucked up dream. What's going on?" you ask rubbing your eyes.
"Nothing much, just some more of my family showed up here in the middle of the night. I was just about to wake you up to finally have you come meet everyone properly. Now I know you probably don't really want to but…"
"Yeah, whatever let's do it." You interrupt and get out of bed.
"Wow, I didn't expect you to be so accommodating so quickly."
"Don't have much of choice now do I? I mean I'm going to have to get along with all these people. Better I make my good impressions as soon as possible before Diana starts spreading lies about me."
"Suzy, I wouldn't worry about…"
"Have you spoken to her yet?" you interrupt again.
"Well no."
"Well until you do and lay down the fucking law, I'm going to assume she's already caused a shitload of damage."

Bobby stops dressing for a moment.

"Suzy, what's wrong? I thought we were good with our talk yesterday."
"WE are good. Diana and me though? Never will be and something is going to have to be done about it."
"Suzy, I TOLD you I'd fucking talk to her alright?"
"Yeah, we'll see." You say and close the bathroom door.

As you wash up, you wonder if you were unnecessarily bitchy with Bobby, but then you think no you weren't. You have a legitimate gripe against a woman who is trying to kill you and he's SUPPOSED to be doing something about it. Honestly at this point you wish he'd do more than talk, but you suppose that's wishful thinking.

That dream really put you in a bad mood.

Especially since you've had it three times now and it always ends with you getting fucked up in some way. Not to mention Bobby's grandmother has started appearing in them. You've never been one to believe in the supernatural, but the dream shit is really starting to get too weird for you to ignore as just your subconscious in play. You're starting to wonder if Bobby's grandmother is mocking you from beyond the grave and one thing you don't need right now is yet another Morningstar woman on your case.

On top of all that, you still ache from yesterday's fight, but the hot shower at least feels good.

After leaving the bathroom you get dressed. Bobby is still in the bedroom waiting for you. He doesn't say much, but that's probably because he's trying to avoid an argument just before the pair of you are supposed to be "formally" meeting his people.

"Okay, I'm ready." You say when you finish getting dressed, Bobby nods and the pair of you leave the room.

Bobby finally speaks to you again as you walk and talk, though you're mostly just listening to him going on about the other family members you haven't met yet and how to best handle them. To be honest, you've already made up your mind that you're going to treat them how they treat you.

Eventually you get to the large living area where you see familiar faces along with unknown ones. William sits in a large comfy looking chair and nods at you, taking a drink. You see that Brandon guy with a slightly chubby woman, you're guessing that's his wife Veronica. They both greet you, but nothing more than that.

You also see three new people who are more of Bobby's cousins. They all introduce themselves, but much like Brandon and Veronica, they don't do much more than that. You don't get the impression any of this is personal either. Aaron doesn't seem like he wants to be here at all. Ronald and Denise look more interested in each other than anyone else at the moment.

You then see Helen again who looks like she has her hands full with several boys and girls. She still manages to wave hi to you though. The kids themselves look at you, but seem to be pre-occupied with bickering with each other.

"How many of those are your siblings again?" you whisper to Bobby.
"Oh just the three. The oldest boy there Jordan and the twins Aiden and Nadia. The other half are Brandon and his wife's kids." He answers.
"Um, shouldn't they be looking after them then?"
"I'm sure they do all the time and are just taking advantage of the extra support system they have now. I mean they trust Helen to look after them and Helen said she was happy to do it. Besides, everyone is family here so it hardly matters who is looking after them directly."

While you haven't known these people long, you know Helen's personality well enough that she'd agree to anything since she seems to be the family doormat.

You don't see Diana, but someone mentions she's in the kitchen making food for everyone.

"Okay, I'm going to go do this now, because I don't want to do it later. I'm going to go speak with Diana and straighten everything out and make it clear there is to be no more dissension in the family today."
"Hm, while you're at it make sure she's not putting rat poison in my food." You remark.

Bobby heads into the kitchen leaving you alone with the rest of his family. Having little else to do, you make the attempt to be social.

Brandon and Veronica are more talkative than the rest. They ask you a few questions and you answer. They don't seem to really care too much about you though. As far as they're concerned it isn't their place to disapprove of you even if you caused such a negative reaction in them, which apparently you don't.

You almost get the impression they find you more boring than anything else, which unfortunately due to your basement dwelling past might very well be a fair assessment. But you'll take apathy because it's better than hatred.

Bobby's other cousins are more of a mixed bag. Aaron barely speaks to you at all and he's pretty snappish when he does. He seems like he's a pent up ball of nerves since he's tapping his foot and moving one of his hands the entire time. In fact the more of an effort that you try to speak to him, the more hostile he starts to look. The moment you get the feeling of his eyes burning a hole in you the more you decide to move on.

By the time you get to Ronald and Denise, they're making out, so you don't even bother.

Which leaves you with William and Helen, the latter of which has already left the room with all the little kids of this family presumably to be out of the way as usual. William on the other hand is still relaxing in a chair at the far end of the room and watching something on TV.

Well at least you know those two are friendly with you.

You go speak to Helen

Well at least you know Helen is going to be friendly with you. She's pleasant with everyone.

You head into the next room and see Helen sitting in a chair preoccupied with watching the six children also in the room. While they're being loud, they're at least playing games and not being too disruptive. Helen sees you and smiles.

"Hey Helen." You say sitting next to her on the couch.
"Hey Suzy. As you can see I'm just doing my role in this family." She says pointing to the children.
"Do you really need to look after them? Seems like they're old enough to play by themselves." You ask.
"It's not them we'd worry about, it's the rest of this compound! While it may not look like it now, these little ones are balls of chaotic energy. Morningstar children have always needed a little extra supervision if only so they don't end up burning the entire places to the ground. However it is true they all seem to be a little more subdued today. Even Jordan is playing with his siblings rather than fighting with them." Helen says.
"Um, which one's Jordan?" you ask already forgetting Bobby already told you.
"Jordan's the oldest boy. He's over there playing with his siblings Aiden and Nadia. They're twins as you can tell. Actually those three are also my younger brothers and sister, so I do have a bit of a duty to watch out for them. Jordan's getting to the point where I think Bobby is going to have to start training him though. He's just becoming a teenager and he really wants to be like his older brother, but sadly he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's a still a fine boy though, he even has a bit of a crush on me which is sort of cute." Helen says with a minor giggle.
"Erm…yeah…so what about the twins?" you ask changing that last mildly disturbing remark.
"Oh those two are very intelligent. They even got a mental link to each other."
"What really?" you ask.
"Really. They often just sit across from each other nodding and occasionally changing expressions at each other. It's like they're having a conversation with their minds or something. I dunno, but sometimes it feels like they're making private jokes about all of us. Jordan in particular and while he's not the brightest, he's smart enough to know when he thinks he's being made fun of. And that's when I often have to step in and tell them not to mock their brother."

At this point both twins look in your direction and Helen's. They give a peculiar smile and then return to the game they're playing with Jordan. It's enough to make you feel a little uneasy.

"Um, Helen, they can't read our minds can they?" you ask.
"Oh no…at least I don't think so. I mean I never even thought of that before. Oh dear, now I'm going to wonder about that." Helen says.
"Sorry didn't mean to add to your worries Helen…or my own for that matter." You say.
"Oh, I'm not really that worried. Even if they can, we're all family anyway and they know I have no ill thoughts about them or anyone connected to it…and that's going to include you too soon." Helen says and smiles.

Helen next mentions that ever since Veronica and Brandon arrived, their children have pretty much been put under her care. She then points out Ione and Hannah (Who are playing another game with each other) and Leon (Who is building something and seemingly content to play by himself).

"Geez Helen, you look like you always got your hands full, are you really okay looking after all the children all the time?" you ask.
"Oh…it's not so bad. I mean like I said, we're all family. What's family for if not to help one another? Besides, I know nobody else really wants to do or otherwise has other major responsibilities."
"What responsibilities do Veronica and Brandon have? I haven't seen them do anything since I got here. I mean they got three kids, and they've obviously been taking care of them before coming here. They shouldn't just be passing them on to you just because it's convenient. You deserve to have your own time to yourself."
"Really it's okay Suzy. I like looking after all of them. Besides, I don't think the children would want someone other than myself doing it anyway. When you and Bobby have children I fully expect you'll want help on the supervision front won't you?"
"Well…probably. I was talking about this subject a little to Bobby last night and to be honest I'm still not exactly enamored with the notion of popping out a bunch of them. The idea of the pain involved isn't exactly something I'm looking forward to."
"Well I don't think any woman looks forward to that part. It's the joy of bringing a new life into this world, raising them and loving them."
"I…guess…I dunno. Hell I'm still having trouble with the concept of marriage, let alone kids."
"Oh? Is it the ritual sacrifice to Tiamat that's got you a little baffled? Don't worry, you don't need to memorize any prayers, Bobby will probably tell you what to say or he'll make the appropriate chants himself." Helen asks.
"What? Wait. I know you guys sacrifice people, but is that going to go on at the wedding?"
"Well of course. It's tradition for the one to marry into this family to prove themselves to be worth of Tiamat by making a sacrifice."
"Wait, you mean I'M going to be the one doing it?"
"Well yeah…you mean Bobby didn't tell you? Oh dear. I didn't mean to ruin the surprise." Helen says.
"Oh it's a surprise alright."
"Well if you're worried about messing up, we've got more than enough prisoners in the dungeon you could practice on tomorrow."
"Prisoners? Dungeon? Oh geez…" you say and rub your hand over your head.

Helen pats you on the back a bit and tries to look understanding.

"I take it, you've never killed anyone before?" Helen asks.
"Of course I haven't! Why would I?" you exclaim.
"I just figured you having a serial killer uncle and all…plus Bobby said you helped him kill your uncle."
"I didn't really have a hand in that directly. Are you saying YOU'VE killed someone before?"
"Oh yes, but I'm not exactly fond of it, but we all have to do our part to serve Tiamat."

The fact that Helen just told you so cheerfully and without any hesitation that she's committed murder, makes her seem a lot less harmless in your eyes.

"Wait, so how many? When?" you ask.
"Oh not many. First time was about when I was Jordan's age. However, since Bobby is the head of the house, he mostly does it. Just like our father did before him. Diana sometimes does it, but I try to avoid doing it unless I really have to…I know I shouldn't feel anything for infidels, but sometimes I can't help it. Then I try to remember that their souls are going to feed Tiamat so it's all for a good cause."

This is nuts…

Right now you're just wondering how deep of shit you've gotten yourself into.

"I…dunno if I'm going to be able to do this Helen…" you say.
"Oh don't say that! You'll be fine!" Helen says trying to be supportive.
"I don't think I will. The most fucked up thing is, I'm still more worried about having kids!"
"You still concerned about that? That will come naturally, I don't think you should worry."
"I dunno Helen. I'm obviously not like you. I thought we were more similar in many ways, mainly because we both had to put up with an asshole older sister, but it's turning out we're pretty different. I mean unlike me you'd obviously make a very good mother. You're nice, attentive and everything." You say.

Helen's eyes light up a bit when you say that and she grabs your hand.

"Thank you. You have no idea how touched I am right now to hear those words." She says and then leans in quick to give you a quick peck on the cheek.

It surprises the hell out of you and you recoil a bit. Helen's expression turns from one of happiness to one of worry.

"Oh no. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that! By Tiamat, what was I thinking. I'm so sorry Suzy!" she starts saying which causes a lot of the children to start watching the pair of you.

Helen stands up and begins to panic still repeating to you about how sorry she is, you think she's going to have an anxiety attack.

"Helen. Helen. Calm yourself. It's…well…it's okay. I mean I know you were just trying to be friendly and didn't mean anything else by it. You just caught me by surprise, no harm done…" you say.

"No…I can't…you'll have to excuse me!" Helen suddenly says and runs off. You try to call her back, but she's gone.

You wonder if you should tell someone or go after her. Then one of the kids speaks to you.

"Hey what's wrong with Aunt Helen?" Hannah asks.
"She's having a lover's quarrel with her girlfriend." Ione says smirking.
"She is not! My sister isn't a dyke! Besides this woman is Bobby's girlfriend!" Jordan remarks indignantly.
"You're just saying that because YOU like Aunt Helen!" Leon says and then makes kissy noises, which causes Jordan to punch him in the arm.

At this point they look like they're going to get even more unruly, but then one of the twins speaks up.

"She loves Bobby you know." Aiden says.
"Yes, Aunt Helen loves Bobby very much." Nadia adds.
"You and Diana must…" Aiden continues.
"…die." Nadia ends.

The creepy tone they say it in causes utter silence, not to mention sends a bit of a shiver down your spine.

"Um…are you telling me… Helen plans on killing me and Diana?" you utter.

The twins just look at each other and smile. They don't say anything else and just calmly go back to their game.

They've also managed to successfully creep out their brother and cousins who start to leave the room.

Meanwhile, if Helen IS planning to kill you, you need to find out now. As much as you're hesitant to speak to them again, you have little choice but to ask the twins where their sister's room is.

"Uh…hey, where is Helen's room?" you ask.
"Left wing…" Aiden says.
"Second floor…" Nadia adds.
"Go right then…" Aiden continues.
"Through the last door." Nadia ends.

Great now they're being creepy in rhyme. They didn't even look at you the entire time.

You don't even bother to thank them, you just follow their directions. Eventually when you think you're getting close, you hear some faint crying. You slowly look in a room to your right and find Helen weeping softly to herself on her bed.

She notices you and she tries to wipe away her tears.

"(sniffle) Oh. You didn't need to come see to me. Really I'm fine. I just acted foolishly, I apologize again for kissing you Suzy." Helen remarks.
"Um, yeah I'm not really bothered by that…or rather I mean that was unexpected, but…look nevermind about that. I'm here about something else of a more serious nature and I'm hoping we can hammer this out because whether you realize it or not, a lot of shit just got sprung on me within the last few minutes." You say.

"Is this about the sacrifice?"
"No, this is about something your creepy twin mind reading sibling just said to me. They said you love Bobby."
"Huh? Oh…well of course I love Bobby. I mean he's my older brother of course I love him." Helen says a bit nervously.
"Yeah and in any other family that wouldn't mean anything more than friendship at best, but love goes to a whole other level in this family. There's also the fact they said you were going to kill me."

Now Helen goes from nervous to shocked.

"WHAT?! They said that?!"
"Well technically they said you were going to kill Diana too and they didn't say it so much as they heavily implied it, but given that they're creepy as fuck and you said they can read minds, as well as your own guilty behavior on the whole loving Bobby situation and well what the hell am I supposed to think? So is it all true?"

Helen just give you a sad look and then begins to tear up again and put her hands to her face.

"Oh fuck Helen! You were lying and just plotting to kill me the entire time?! Goddamn it, had I known I was going to have to deal with not one but TWO of Bobby's murderous sisters, I would've just stayed at home. At least I would've only had one to deal with there!" you shout.

Helen tries to compose herself to address you.

"No, that's not true. (sniffle) I wasn't lying to you. I genuinely like you and after our most recent conversation I like you even more. I mean…I really like you…but it is true I love Bobby. I've always loved him…(sniffle) I mean I always thought Diana was wrong for him and they were only together because she happened to be the oldest sister. Did you know I had two other older sisters and Diana killed them both for fear of competition? Everyone thinks they were accidents, but I knew the truth. Never said anything of course, I was too afraid and I didn't want to cause any problems."
"Bobby never mentioned he had two dead sisters before."
"It's not really something we discuss. It was a pretty traumatic experience for everyone at the time. My dad was very upset especially since Mom had died of natural causes no long before. It was a lot of family to lose within such a short period of time."
"So how come she didn't kill you or Nadia?"
" Nadia's a twin and will most likely bond with Aiden. Plus she's much younger so no threat either way. As for me, well I was still young enough at the time when she killed my other two sisters. I guess I was just so weak in her eyes that she thought I wasn't any threat. Maybe she even knew that I loved Bobby and enjoyed flaunting it in my face. In any case things really changed when you came into the picture. I wasn't sure what to think really. Then when I finally met you, I could see why Bobby liked you. You were so nice and I want you to know I always felt like we were very similar too. You know, under appreciated in our own families. I wish you'd been my sister instead of Diana."
"Yeah? Well if I'm so nice, why were you still plotting to kill me?" you ask.
"I wasn't! I…mean not really…I mean…(sniffle) I just had this… this… idea and I dunno… it was just my mind! I wouldn't have acted upon it! Especially not after getting to know you more! I can see you're very good for Bobby. I'm genuinely hap…hap…(sob)."

And Helen starts crying again. At this point you're starting to wonder if she did have any intention on killing you, if she'd end up apologizing for it the whole time.

The fact is though, you're still not entirely sure if she was going to do it or not. Maybe the twins were partially fucking with you. (Helen did say they liked doing that with people) Maybe Helen just had wishful thinking on her mind. It isn't like you haven't had thoughts about killing your own sister Kelly on more than one occasion. Of course the difference is, Helen's actually got some bodies under her belt to go through with such a deed.

Any other right thinking person would probably be trying to leave this mad house right now, but quite frankly the more you think about it, you don't have many options and despite this fucked up situation with his sisters, you still love Bobby.

All of which means you're probably just as fucked up as the rest of them (more than you realized actually) which also means you fit in here much better than you think, you just have to figure out how to deal with everything. First of which is Helen who against all odds, you actually still feel sorry for.

Of course the other option is to start getting your hands dirty now and do away with her. It's not like anyone's around and she probably wouldn't put up much of a fight.

You kill Helen

You already got one sister to worry about; you aren't about to worry about another one. If you're going to have to kill someone on your wedding day anyway, you might as well get in the practice.

You aren't exactly looking forward to doing it, but you don't see much choice. The question is how to go about it without making it look suspicious.

You take a glance around the room and see a window. You're only on the second floor though, if you pushed her out of it, it might not kill her immediately. You then think maybe you could choke her first then throw her out…

Yes, that's what you'll do. Choke her and throw her out the window. It'll look like a suicide and if anyone asks, you'll just tell them the truth, she was in love with Bobby and was having a hard time coming to terms with him marrying you so out the window she went.

You walk over to Helen and sit next to her on the bed.

"Helen will you stop crying for one moment?" you ask which causes her to comply.

You take a deep breath and exhale.

"Okay, You seem genuinely distraught about all this…so this is going to make this harder." You say and then you punch Helen in the face as hard as you can.

Helen yelps and falls back on the bed and you pounce on her immediately with your hands wrapped around her throat.

"Suzy…no! No! You…(cough)…" Helen squeaks out and attempts to hit you, but you ignore the pain and focus all your strength on her throat.

"Shhhhh….Helen, stop struggling, just let go." you say wishing she wasn't making this so hard.
"Bobby…he…help…" she utters with tears in her eyes.

This pitiful plea that she utters almost causes you to stop choking her, but you've come too far now. You can't stop. The only thing you can do is get it done and try not to feel too sick about it, because you almost feel like you're going to throw up.

Helen's face turns a different shade and you continue to focus on your grim work at hand. Eventually her squeals and punches disappear altogether when you successfully crush her windpipe and deprive her of any more oxygen.

And the deed is done. You've killed a person and you feel pretty terrible even though you know it had to be done.

You're exhausted and emotionally drained as you sit there straddling Helen's dead body. You choke back tears, though you no longer can contain the rising illness and you immediately sprint off of her and the bed and vomit into a small wastepaper can in her room. You don't even think about the fact that you're going to have to clean it or all the loud noise your retching is making.

Not that it mattered since Diana was apparently listening in and spying on you both the whole time.

When you lift your head up out of the trash can still recovering from your bout of sickness, you look up just in time to see Diana's swing a bat upside your head. You collapse on the floor, tipping over the trash can causing it to spill your sick back on to you.

"Guess you didn't want any more competition huh? You had the right idea though and I do thank you for saving me the trouble. Now I can legitimately blame Helen's death on you and I was merely coming to the aid of my poor late sister. I can see I was just being tested…Tiamat's glorious chaos sure works in mysterious ways." Diana says and then hits you in the head with another bat swing.

And then another…and then another…and then another…