Sim’s Eye View

Nothing could have prepared her for what she felt when she first held her daughter in her arms. It was a fierce and violent love, so strong it could consume them both. She knew she would gladly give up her life for this child. This feeling reminded her of wildfire, strong and all-consuming, so that was what she named her daughter. Wildfire.

Aleris was growing older right alongside Wildfire, and one day she realized she was nearing the end of her life. This worried her; not for her own sake, but for Wildfire’s. What if she died before Wildfire grew up? What then? Her daughter was so vulnerable; without Aleris’s protection, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Wildfire was always so happy, and Aleris grieved to know that her daughter would one day lose that innocence.

Then Wildfire grew up and started going to school. Every day Aleris feared sending Wildfire off to school; she worried that one day Wildfire wouldn’t come back. Wildfire had told her stories of classmates who had simply disappeared, never to be seen again. But Aleris knew she had to let go sometime, no matter how hard it was. She bought Wildfire a teddy bear, and it soon became Wildfire’s favorite thing in the world. And, Aleris was glad to see, Wildfire still hadn’t lost her innocent joy in life.

Wildfire really wanted a pet, but Aleris told her that there was no way they could afford to keep a pet. They had enough trouble keeping themselves alive with the little money they had left.

Wildfire had a natural physical agility that Aleris knew would serve her well if she ever had to fight for her life. Then she wondered just what this world had turned into. If things had gone as planned, she would be sending Wildfire off to gymnastics classes, not thinking about how well she would do at self-defense. And Wildfire had never known a different world; to her, this was what life was. Would she even care about making the world better? Aleris resolved to teach her daughter the value of such things.

Then they finally ran out of money to pay the mob, and the mob started taking their stuff instead. Among the things to go were the sink and the toilet.

Aleris hated to fail her daughter like this. She would go get a job, but she couldn’t risk leaving Wildfire alone for any length of time.

She was so angry at their situation that she sometimes spoke harshly to Wildfire without intending to.

When Wildfire grew into a teenager, the family still had no sink and no toilet. She wasn’t able to keep up at school, so she quit going; she wanted to get a job to help out the family, but she feared for her safety, and so did Aleris. Aleris hadn’t kept herself in good enough shape to be able to defend herself, but as soon as she got herself back into shape, she planned to find a job.

At last, Aleris found herself a job; she was working for a local politician who claimed to want to rebuild the area. Aleris had no doubt that he was as corrupt as the military had been, but at this point she had no choice but to work for him anyway. Otherwise, she and her daughter wouldn’t survive; it was that simple.

Though she tried to hide her fears from her mother, Wildfire sometimes wondered if things would ever get any better for them or if they were just going to die.

Despite Aleris’s new job, she still didn’t have enough money to pay the mob, and the next thing they took was the bed.

She didn’t understand why it had to be like this. What had she and her mother ever done wrong? They were slowly losing everything, and her mother was forced to work for a man she despised in order to get money that wasn’t even enough to survive on.

With no bed, Wildfire and Aleris had to sleep on their feet. Wildfire had the hardest time of it; she barely got any rest, so spent most of her time sleeping. She began to wonder why they were even bothering. Why hold on to such a miserable existence?

She didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did - Aleris was fired from her job.

And to add insult to injury, she was sprayed by a skunk that very same night.

Aleris could see Wildfire’s despair, and tried to comfort her. But privately she didn’t know if she believed any of what she said to her daughter. Even when the disaster had first happened, it hadn’t been nearly as bad as this.

And Wildfire didn’t believe it either. She wanted them either to die or start living a real life. Either would be acceptable to her, but not this life they were living now.

And not long after that, Aleris did die. She had lived much longer than she had thought she would, but her time was finally at an end.

Now Wildfire was all alone. Once again, things had gotten worse for her. She wondered how much worse they could get before she simply collapsed.

But the politician that Aleris had worked for gave Wildfire over $2000 in life insurance. With the money, she replaced most of the family’s missing furniture. She could sleep in a bed again, and use a toilet, and give herself a sponge bath in the sink. She could hardly believe it.

For the first time in a very long time, she could relax and have fun.

She even started socializing with the neighbors - those few of them willing to venture outside.

The years passed quickly, with Wildfire getting herself into shape and relishing having basic necessities again, and eventually she realized she was an adult. Old enough to not have to worry quite as much for her safety if she left the house. Besides, she was in better shape now. That, coupled with the realization that almost all the money she had gotten after her mother’s death was gone, made her decide it was time for her to get a job.

After some deliberation, she joined the army. She remembered what her mother had told her about the military’s corruption, but that corruption wasn’t going to stop unless somebody stopped it. Maybe that somebody was her.

One night Wildfire was awakened by the sound of footsteps in the house. She woke up to see a burglar stealing her new mirror. She thought this was just a simple robbery, until she got a good look at the burglar. This was one of the men from the mob. She had paid them a day late, and they must have sent this man to take some of her possessions in retaliation. Thankfully, this wasn’t like her childhood; she had money now. She had a job. So she stayed silent, and let him take whatever he wanted to take.

Wildfire had always wanted a family, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. She hardly had any friends, and wasn’t at all interested in anyone romantically. Most of her free time was spent alone with a book. And she was okay with that. At least she was getting high enough up in the military that people were willing to listen to her. She had already made some headway in getting rid of some of her corrupt peers.

Finally Wildfire found the one person who was responsible for nearly all the corruption in the military - and after a confrontation, she got him to step down. She feared the mob might retaliate, but for now that didn’t matter. She had done what her mother had always wished she could do. She had accomplished her goal. The next day, the man from the mob, the one who had robbed her house years ago, came to the house again, but it hardly mattered to Wildfire. She was still walking on air. He could take everything she owned if he wanted; she didn’t care. She could buy it all back. And what she had done had been worth it.

But he paid no attention to any of her things this time. Instead, he dragged her to bed. This time, it was her he wanted.

When he left, he told her he would come back and kill her if she didn’t resign from her position immediately.

She obeyed; how could she not? She consoled herself with the fact that at least she had accomplished what she had set out to accomplish. But now she had nothing. Her job had been everything to her, and now she had been forced to give it up. What was left? And what would happen when her money ran out? Would it be like her childhood all over again? She avoided thinking about these things by spending most of her time in bed. It seemed like she was tired all the time lately, anyway.

When she started feeling nauseous as well as tired, she had to face the fact that she might be pregnant.

Her suspicions were confirmed when her belly began to swell. Her heart sank at the thought of having that man’s baby. She had wanted a family, but not like this.

Labor was just as bad as her mother had told her it was.

Despite herself, Wildfire loved her son. She might hate his father, but she loved this little boy. She named him Theisen. She knew she had to keep Theisen hidden from the mob; otherwise they might claim him as their own. Whenever they came by the house to collect her money, she hid the baby and prayed he wouldn’t make a sound.