The Hollinter Legacy: 1.1 - Stutter

The drive from Astra Villa down to Sim State University hadn’t been too bad; Comet had stopped
over in Pleasantview for a night, and had arrived on campus the next morning.
He would be staying in the dorms for the duration of his schooling. As much as he’d wanted to rent
his own house, he didn’t a reliable means of income; his schedule would now be full with classes and
assignments, and not a lot of sims wanted to hire somebody who couldn’t speak anyways.

Inside the dormitory, Comet paused at the information booth set up in the entrance. The dormitory
was rather small, so adapting to the new layout wouldn’t be an issue, though he was slightly
concerned about the size of the campus.
Not as concerned, however, as he was when he realized he’d be sharing his room with another
student.

It wasn’t that he minded having to share; as the heir, he’d be sharing the house with his family for
the rest of his life.
His family, however, understood his condition. Comet wasn’t sure how long it would take his new
roommate to figure out that he was mute, and not just rude. And once that had happened, where
would the relationship go from there? It had taken years for his family to adapt to his lack of voice,
and learn to how communicate with him based on his mannerisms.
Would his roommate even bother putting in the effort? He left the entrance of the dormitory to
search for his room, and hopefully the answer to his question.

“Hey! Comet Hollinter? I’m Jimmy Phoenix. Guess we’re roomies for the next four years, huh?”
Comet was slightly disappointed to discover that his roommate had arrived before him; he would
have liked to have a couple of minutes to himself to adjust to his new setting. At least Jimmy
seemed friendly so far.
“Shit, sorry, forgot about the mute thing. Our RA stopped by when I got here to warn me earlier. And
just so you know; I’m totally cool with it. I mean, why wouldn’t I be? Now I don’t have to worry
about any snoring keeping me awake at night!”

Comet gave him a shy wave in return. He was relieved to hear that the school had taken care of
informing his roommate about his condition. Jimmy was a little more talkative than he would have
liked, but it was better than being ignored.
He grabbed his suitcase, and stepped into the room.

“Nice to meet you, man.” Jimmy grabbed hold of his arm, and gave it a firm shake. “You’re majoring
in biology, right? I’m doing my degree in history. Not much overlap, but I’ll sure we’ll have a couple
of general courses together.”
Courses.
Comet had almost forgotten that’d he’d have to repeat the introduction process with all of his future
classes. There was bound to be one of those ridiculous ice breaker games in at least one of them,
and the best he could do would be to hope Jimmy happened to be in that class.

Unaware of Comet’s inner turmoil, Jimmy pulled him into a hug, interrupting his thoughts.
“Oh man, we’re gonna be such good friends; I just know it. Don’t worry about the whole mute thing,
dude. I’m sure everyone will be totally chill with it. And if they aren’t? Whatever, man. You’ll always
have me to fall back on, right?”

Jimmy released him, and took a step back. Comet scanned the rest of the dorm room. Jimmy had
already moved the majority of his belongings in, it seemed.
Jimmy followed his gaze over to the wall of posters. “I hope you don’t mind what I’ve put up.” He
gestured to one of the posters on the wall. “I don’t know if you into chicks, but if you wanna put up
posters of shirtless dudes, too, I’m totally cool with that.”
Comet shook his head.

“Okay, cool. Just gotta be inclusive, you know?” He paused and then added, “So, you wanna go
check out the caf? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Hopefully the food’s not totally awful, or
we’re screwed.”
Comet nodded, and gave Jimmy a shy smile. He hoped that bad cafeteria food was biggest thing he’d
have to worry about in the future.

Comet soon found that Jimmy was easy to get along with. He was incredibly chatty, verging on
annoying at times, but it was preferable to spending long periods of time in silence, or by himself.
The two of them were short on cash, but discovered they could make a couple of easy simoleons
busking at the student union’s building. Neither of them were particularly skilled at playing an
instrument, but most of the students who passed by were kind-hearted enough to give them a
couple of bills out of pity.
Of course, when they weren't spending time together, or trying to earn some quick cash, there were
lectures to attend, and homework to be completed.

Snow arrived shortly after the first semester ended, which delighted Comet. It didn’t snow back in
Astra Villa, and he was quick to make the most of it by spending the majority of his free time
outside.
Jimmy was eager to show him all of the winter activities comet had missed out on as a child, like
building snowmen (which was fun when it wasn’t accompanied by him singing cheesy songs from an
overrated movie), and snowball fights (which weren’t very fun at all.)
The end of the second semester soon came to a close, and the snow began to melt. Jimmy had plans
to return to his home neighbourhood for the short summer break, while Comet was staying at SSU
until classes resumed. He’d been disappointed that his parents hadn’t wanted him to come home for
the summer holiday, but he understood that they were trying to keep him safe.

While his freshman year at SSU had been enjoyable, things began to change at the beginning of
sophomore year.
Jimmy was no longer content with just hanging out with Comet, and expressed his desire to expand
their social circle by spending time with the other students in their year – particularly, their female
classmates. He decided that the best way to go about this would be to attend the various free
activities offered by SSU’s student union, and Comet soon found himself being dragged to a number
of things he had no interest in participating in.
The worst was definitely the yoga. It had taken three sessions for Jimmy to realize that embarrassing
themselves with their total lack of athletic skill was not the way to impress girls.

“So, I’ve been thinking.” Jimmy and Comet had retreated to the student lounge in their dorm after
the shameful lack of agility they had displayed at that afternoon’s yoga meet. “We need to change
tactics. The student activities are totally lame.”
Comet wondered if Jimmy’s sudden change of heart had anything to do with the sorority girls
laughing after meets.
“We need to start going to parties,” Jimmy concluded as he lifted the rack off the pool balls. “Greek
parties.”

Comet gripped his cue stick tighter. He had just barely tolerated the yoga sessions, and all the other
ridiculous student activities Jimmy had insisted on attending. They had been stupid for the most
part, but most of them hadn’t required him to talk. Parties, on the other hand, were largely social.
“Urele-Oresha-Cham is having a party tonight.” Jimmy walked around the pool table to take his shot.
“I was thinking of going. You can come with, if you want.”

Comet looked down at the ground. He had little desire to attend a house party, especially a frat
party. Who would he know there, besides Jimmy? He had no doubts that Jimmy wouldn’t have any
troubles fitting in and socializing, but what was he supposed to do for an entire evening?
“Oh, come on, Comet.” Jimmy glanced up. “If anybody says anything rude about your… disability, I’ll
knock some sense into them, okay?”
He hadn’t even thought of that until Jimmy had brought it up. He had never really been teased for
being mute; he had always been surrounded by his cousins in the past, and few of the kids at school
were dumb enough to mess with a family as large as his – especially a legacy family.
But here? Jimmy wasn’t exactly threatening, and none of the students knew what certain members
of his family were capable of. He doubted that any of them would care that he was an heir, or that
realize despite his inability to talk, he was still capable of intelligent thought.

He leaned over the pool table, and pretended to contemplate his shot. He was sure that at least one
of the partygoers would notice if he failed to respond to them, and take it the wrong way. That, or
they’d just shun him for being different.
“So, are you in?” Jimmy tapped his cue stick against the hardwood floor. “Party starts at ten. I know
you don’t have any classes tomorrow, so it’s not like that’ll be an issue.”
Comet drummed his fingers against the side of the table, still avoiding eye contact with his
roommate.

“Dude, it’s a party, not a death sentence. You don’t have to come to come, you know? I was just
being considerate. Of course, I would appreciate it if you came with me, seeing as I don’t have any
other friends to go with.”
He took his shot, then looked up at Jimmy.
Jimmy raised his eyebrows. “So, is that a yes?”
Comet hesitated. As much as he was dreading the thought of going to a party, he didn’t particularly
want to spend the rest of his night in his dorm room by himself, and possibly taking care of Jimmy
the next day if he came back from the party with a hangover. At last, he gave in, and nodded.
Jimmy beamed. “Alright! I knew you’d say yes.” He lifted his cue to take his shot, then added, ”You
won’t regret it. Trust me.”

Six hours later, Comet was following Jimmy as he strutted up the walkway to Urele-Oresha-Cham’s
house. The party had officially started an hour ago, but Jimmy had informed him that it would be
“totally uncool” if they showed up on time instead of ‘fashionably’ late.
“This is going to be so awesome. I heard they’ve got a keg.”
Comet tugged at his sweater. He wasn’t opposed to the idea of drinking; both of his parents drank,
and he’d tasted alcohol at family parties before. However, he was afraid of going way over his
tolerance, and boolprop knows what would happen to him if passed out drunk in a house full of frat
boys.
He’d limit himself to two drinks, he supposed. Surely that couldn’t lead to anything disastrous.

Inside, they discovered most of the guests had already arrived, and settled into the party.
One of the fraternity members had decided to play a couple of mediocre guitar covers over top of the
music already playing, while another was getting acquainted with one of the sorority girls on a
nearby couch.

A couple of students had occupied the hookah machine, which filled the living room with scented
bubbles. Somebody had ordered a load of take-out food, and the less outgoing sims had flocked to
it. The others had turned on the karaoke machine, because apparently live guitar and a sound
system didn’t create quite enough noise.
Having eaten before he left for the party, Comet resigned himself to drinking. It helped take his mind
off how uncomfortable he felt, and had the added bonus of providing him with an excuse for not
giving anybody who attempted to talk to him a proper reply.
Not that anybody had.

As the party wore on, the music became increasingly louder, and empty cups and cartons spread
across the room.
A couple of the students had left the party, and one or two had passed out on the furniture, but for
the most part, the festivities were still going strong.

Jimmy had quickly become distracted socializing with the various guests, and it took a while before
he thought to see how Comet was coping.
He scanned the living room for his friend, hoping he had not taken off without him. He wasn’t sure if
Comet knew the way back to their dormitories, and he’d feel pretty shitty if his roommate managed
to get lost because he had forgotten about him.
Jimmy soon spotted him across the room, and frowned.

Comet looked downright uncomfortable, Jimmy registered with a pang of guilt. He was easily the
most miserable party guest there, and probably would be until one of the other students had a bit
too much to drink.
He wondered how long Comet had been standing there by himself. Surely he hadn’t been there the
whole evening, right? He swore Comet had been having a decent time earlier when he was getting
drinks, what had happened since then?

Jimmy was going to have to do something about this if he wanted to leave the party with a good
conscience.
He tapped the rim of his glasses as he thought. If he tried socializing with his friend, Comet was just
going to think he was taking pity on him. Jimmy doubted that would make him feel much better. He
was going to have to convince one of the other guests to pay some attention to his friend.

Jimmy glanced around the room, drawn to the group of sims dancing.
Dancing was a good solution; it required almost no conversation, and he was feeling confident that
he’d be able to convince at least one of the girls over there to dance with Comet. He was attractive
enough, he supposed. It would work.

The red-haired girl was cute, and looked friendly enough. He took a reassuring breath, and strutted
over to her.
There was a good chance he was about to go make a fool of himself, but what kind of friend would
he be if he didn’t give his roommate a hand in the romance department?

“Hey!” Jimmy called over the music. “You come to the party with anybody?”
“No.” The girl raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Here’s the thing…” Jimmy gestured to the corner where Comet was standing. “My friend here has a
little trouble talking to girls. Well, talking to anybody, really, but that’s not the point. He’s not
enjoying himself, and that makes it kind of hard to enjoy myself, you know what I mean?”
“So you brought him to a party? Some friend you are.”
“Hey, I’m trying to help him out here. Would you maybe ask him to dance?” Jimmy gave her a
hopeful look. “Just once? You don’t even have to enjoy it, he just needs a little confidence boost,
okay?”

The girl glanced over at Comet. “Well, he is kind of cute. A bit shy for my tastes, but cute.”
“So you’ll ask him to dance?” He folded his arms over his chest.
“Yeah, why not? Rather it’d be him than you.”
“Awesome.” Jimmy grinned, choosing to ignore the jab. He deserved it, he supposed. “Don’t expect
him to say much, though. I wasn’t lying when I said he has trouble talking. He doesn’t make a
sound. Ever.”
“He doesn’t make any noise?” The girl pondered this for a moment, then grinned. “Intriguing. Yeah,
I’ll ask him to dance. Just don’t expect me to return him to you any time soon.” She winked at
Jimmy, then wandered over to Comet.

“Hey! Mind having some company?”
Comet looked up, surprised that somebody had actually approached him. The girl smiled at him, and
cocked her head to the side.
“Wanna dance with me?” She gestured to the stereo.
He nodded, and the girl’s smile widened.

She pulled him over to where the other students were dancing, and wrapped an arm around his
waist. The song was a bit fast for slow dancing, but he didn’t mind; he couldn’t dance anyways.
Swaying on the spot was much easier to do.
Jimmy watched the pair dance with satisfaction. Comet was going to owe him for this, he was sure.
He wouldn’t have to buy himself any drinks for the next semester, at least. Speaking of which, he
definitely deserved a drink now for being so awesome.
He caught Comet’s attention, then pointed to the keg. Comet nodded, then quickly returned his
attention to the girl. Satisfied that Comet wouldn't be needing him for a while, Jimmy sauntered over
to the keg.

The song faded out, but the girl kept dancing with him. Slowly, her hands drifted further down his
back. She grinned as a light flush spread across his face, and gave him a light squeeze.
“You don’t mind, do you?”
He shook his head in reply. He felt like a dork. Briefly, he wondered if the girl had only asked him to
dance because she pitied him. He must have looked absolutely pathetic standing in a corner by
himself. He was sure she thought that she was the first girl in his life to pay him any attention.
Determined to convince her otherwise, he tentatively slid his left hand down her back, and cupped
her. The next song kicked in, and the girl leaned in towards him.

Here we go again,
I kinda wanna be more than friends
So take it easy on me,
I'm afraid
You're never satisfied

Here we go again
We're sick like animals,
We play pretend
You're just a cannibal,
And I'm afraid
I won't get out alive
No, I won't sleep tonight

Oh oh,
I want some more
Oh oh,
What are you waiting for?
Take a bite of my heart tonight

Oh oh,
I want some more
Oh oh,
Say goodbye to my heart tonight

Here we are again,
I feel the chemicals kickin' in
It's getting heavy
And I wanna run and hide,
I wanna run and hide
I do it every time
You're killin' me now
And I won't be denied by you,
The animal inside of you

Oh oh,
I want some more
Oh oh,
Take a bite of my heart tonight
Oh oh,
I want some more
Oh oh,
Say goodbye to my heart tonight

Hush, hush, the world is quiet
Hush, hush, we both can't fight it
It's us that made this mess,
Why can't you understand?
Whoa, I won't sleep tonight
I won't sleep tonight

Comet woke up early the next morning in the frat house. He hadn’t drank much last night, but he
still felt disoriented.
He leaned over, and grabbed his jeans from the bedroom floor. Slowly, he tugged them on, then sat
back down on the bed.

He rested his chin on his fist. His head was pounding. Faintly, he could still hear music playing
downstairs. Had that been going on all night? Comet glanced over at the box of condoms on the
nightstand, and felt his insides sink.
He’d always assumed his first time would be with Meadow. His grandparents had been high school
sweethearts, and he saw himself going the same route with her.
They had never been a couple in high school, but he knew she had feelings for him. She’d kissed him
on his last day in Astra Villa, and he had promised her he’d visit. It had taken him all of two
semesters to forget her, and lose his virginity to some girl whose name he didn’t even know, in a
stranger’s house at a party he had not enjoyed.
He hated himself for it.

Comet stood up, and massaged his forehead with his hand, still trying to wrap his mind around what
he’d done last night.
He’d been willing at the time, he was sure of that, at least. He regretted it, but it had been
consensual. He’d had little to drink, and even without the ability to speak, he’d have been able to
communicate that he was unwilling to go any further if he hadn’t wanted to. Did she regret it, too?
The girl had left before he’d even woken up.
Oh, plumbbob. He’d probably been awful. His complete lack of experience aside, she must have
noticed something was wrong with him when he failed to make any sort of vocal response to the way
she’d been touching him. He wasn’t certain, but it was a safe guess that a guy being totally silent
during woohoo wasn’t exactly sexy.
Filled with regret all over again, Comet resumed dressing. He needed to get out of here.

He found himself at the Flirty Flamingo later that night. He wasn’t sure why he’d allowed his
roommate to drag him out of the dorm again after the previous night’s party, but the alcohol was a
good enough reason to stay.
Comet wished he was back home. He needed someone to talk to. Not a text message; a
conversation, a personal connection. He wanted to be with his parents; he felt lost without his family.
The best he had was his roommate, who was oblivious to how he felt. Jimmy had seemed slightly
concerned when a couple of drinks had failed to cheer Comet up, but was quickly distracted by the
karaoke machine.
“They’ve got the song from that show on here!” Jimmy called from the machine, interrupting his
thoughts. “You know the one, with the brothers who hunt monsters and shit? Man, I fuckin’ love that
show. This is my jam!”
And so, he’d resigned himself to listening to his roommate butcher rock music.

Masquerading as a man with a reason,
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man,
Well, it surely means that I don't know

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune,
But I hear the voices say

Carry on my wayward son,
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest,
Don't you cry no more!

In the days following the party, Comet had been spending more and more time alone in his dorm
room. Jimmy had been persistent at first, attempting to drag him to anything he thought might
cheer him up, but eventually he relented.
In a way, Comet felt as if though he was failing his family. His parents had sent him away to give him
the best chance to carry on the family’s legacy, as well as give him a bit of independence. He was
one year into college, and he was already prepared to give in and go back home.
He’d realized what was troubling him; he had a hard time connecting with people outside of his
family members, and his first real foray into romance had left him full of regret. He wasn’t even
capable of building a meaningful relationship with girls; he had given all of himself to the first girl
who had shown him any attention since Meadow, and she had left him before he even learned her
name.

Dejected, he threw himself into his school work. He was failing at his main job as family heir, which
was to find someone to have a family with, so he might as well keep his grades up so that he had a
chance at building a solid career, and providing for what family he already had.
Even that was proving to be difficult. In his first year the coursework had been tough in comparison
to high school, but he’d gotten it done with relative ease. Now, the labs for his biology class were
growingly increasingly difficult, and his other courses continued to pile assignments on top of that. It
was as if his professors all thought their class was the most important class, despite the fact most
students wouldn’t have taken them if the credit weren’t required.

Jimmy noticed that Comet was struggling, but wasn’t sure how to help his roommate. It was difficult
enough being unable to communicate with him already, and he felt awful that he hadn’t a clue what
to do.
First, he’d assumed the boy was just lonely, and tried setting him up on double dates. When that had
failed, he switched back to spending one-on-one time with Comet. When that had also failed to cheer
up his roommate, he devised a new plan.

Jimmy had formed a bond with Comet over their first year of school, but that bond couldn’t be
rivalled by the one he had with his family.
He’d gleaned a bit of his roommates story by asking him questions, and Jimmy knew that he had
several cousins who were also college age. He’d done some research on the university back in
Comet’s home neighbourhood, and figured out that they’d be on their winter break around this time
of year. He assumed that if there was anybody who’d be able to help Comet, it would be them.
So, he stole Comet’s cellphone.

It was relatively easy to get in contact with them. Comet didn’t use the phone much, from what he’d
seen, and never bothered to put any sort of security code on it. He would have thought that
somebody who couldn’t speak would rely heavily on texts to communicate with people, but Comet’s
messaging history was almost completely empty.
Thankfully, Comet’s cousins didn’t seem to find the sudden desire for contact suspicious, and happily
agreed to swing by Sim State campus for a visit.
He felt some guilt for resorting to thievery and lies to get his roommate help, but what else could he
have done?

“Are you sure he said he was meeting us here, Autumn?” Celia Hollinter crossed her arms over her
chest. “It’s been half an hour and he hasn’t shown up. I’m freezing. What the hell was he thinking,
going to school in a neighbourhood where it snows? I didn’t sign up for this.”
Charlotte Newson sighed. “We told you to bring a coat, Celia. I read you the weather reports when
we were packing, you just never listen to me.”
“That runs in my family,” she replied with a hint of pride in her voice. Charlotte sighed. To Autumn,
Celia said, “So? Is he coming?”
“I don’t know.” Autumn tapped the screen a couple of times. “I messaged him to double check, but
he hasn’t replied yet.”

“Wait, hang on, I think I have the phone on flight mode… oops.”
“What? Give me that!” Celia held out a hand. “I can’t believe your dad let you get a phone, but my
mom absolutely refuses. They’re twins! They’re supposed to do everything together!”
“Yeah, well I think your mom is smart enough to realize that you take after her, and therefore can’t
be trusted with things like phones.” Autumn smiled.
“Oh, but she can be trusted with a fucking helicopter, even after that hospital incident.”
“I think I see Comet,” Charlotte interrupted.

It was pure coincidence, of course, that Comet happened to be walking by the plaza at that time.
Caught up in his own thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed the three familiar sims bickering in front of
the fountain.

“Oh hey, you’re right!” Celia began to wave one of her arms in the air. “Yo, Comet! We’re over here!”
“Do either of you think he looks… sad?” Charlotte picked at one of her nails. “He doesn’t really seem
all that happy to see us.”
“He’s probably just tired,” Autumn offered. “I don’t think he starts his winter break for another week.
Poor guy’s probably stressed out from finals.”
“Yeah, well he better move his ass.” Celia was still waving her arm. “COMET! Get over here! At this
rate, I don’t know what’s going to fall off first; my arm or my fingers.”

Comet didn’t register that somebody had been calling him until Celia had yelled his name a second
time. At first, he’d assumed that somebody from one of his classes was talking to him, and had been
set on ignoring them. But then, as the voice shouted his name a third time, he realized it sounded
familiar.
He glanced over his shoulder, and spotted his cousins. He hadn’t a clue why they were at Sim State
instead of Astra Villa Tech, but he was grateful to see them. He waved back, and then made his way
over to where they were standing.

“Finally!” Celia exclaimed. “I was starting to think you’d gone deaf in addition to being mute.”
“Be nice, Cee,” Autumn warned. “Just because he totally ditched us and went to SSU doesn’t mean
we have to be nasty to him.” He grinned.
“Don’t listen to them, Comet.” Charlotte pulled him into a hug, and kissed his cheek. “I’m happy to
see you.”
“Yeah, we’re happy to see you, too.” Celia rolled her eyes. “We’d just be happier if seeing you didn’t
mean a 12 hour drive to a cold-ass neighbourhood where it snows.”

“Why didn’t you text us earlier?” Charlotte demanded after she let go of him. “We were worried
about you, you know! Your parents hardly told us anything. All of the sudden we find out that you’re
not going to AVT with us, and we haven’t heard from you since!”
“Yeah, what’s the deal with that?” Celia nodded. “It’s not like SSU’s biology program is anything
special. I don’t see why you had to go here. Besides, didn’t you have something going on with
Meadow? She’s been bugging us for updates about you since we got there, and we haven’t been able
to tell her anything because you never message us!”
The sinking feeling that had been so familiar to Comet over the past semester returned when Celia
said Meadow’s name. She had been asking about him? He hadn’t thought about her until the morning
after the frat party.
“I’m sure he has his reasons.” Autumn defended him, but he had the same inquisitive looks as the
others in his eyes.

Comet rubbed the back of his neck, and gave his cousins an uneasy look in reply. Luckily, his family
knew him well enough to drop the subject.
“You know what? We can deal with this later.” Celia jerked her thumb behind her. “Does anybody
else want to go look for somewhere to grab lunch? I’m starting to loose all of the remaining feeling in
my fingers, and I’m starving.”
Autumn clapped his hands together. “Lunch sounds fantastic. Comet can show us to a diner or
something, I’m sure. You in, Charlotte?”
Charlotte still looked upset about being ignored, but relented. “Lunch is a good idea.” She gave him
a small smile, and added, “Besides, it’ll give us a chance to fill Comet in on what he’s been missing
out on.”

After wandering campus for twenty minutes, the four cousins managed to find a small diner. Comet
had been largely useless, having eaten most of his meals in his dorm’s cafeteria.
To everybody’s surprise, Celia only complained about being cold two more times.

The diner was fairly quiet inside, and the four of them were quickly seated at an empty booth.
After a small argument, Celia ordered a pie for the group, and after their waitress left they wasted no
time in telling Comet what he had missed back in Astra Villa.
“Your mom caved and let Cynthia have a big family party for her birthday,” Autumn told him.
“Aunt Bellatrix has become really paranoid since you've left,” Celia added. “It’s driving everybody up
the wall.”
“Meadow hasn’t started dating anybody since you’ve left… she told us she kissed you. Oh, but
Cynthia has a girlfriend!” Charlotte contributed.

“Speaking of dating, we have a bet going.” Celia grinned. “Autumn bet me 50 simoleons that you’d
be the last to go all the way with a girl. I, however, had some faith in you, so I bet that Charlotte
was going to be the last. You know how her moms are; they’re doing their best to keep her away
from boys at all costs.”
Charlotte scowled. “And I bet that Autumn was going to be last. There’s no way he’s going to be
picking up any girls in the math departments; there aren’t any.”
“Hey, you’re making the assumption I’m even looking for girls. I thought you’d be more progressive
than that, Charlotte.”
“You know who’s going to be last out of all our cousins? Cheshire,” Charlotte said in attempt to turn
the conversation away from herself. “She spent the entire party with her nose in a book. I’m sure
she’d rather read some smutty novel than experience any of that herself.”

“Oh, definitely,” Celia agreed. “Boolprop help us if somebody shows her Fifty Shades of Green.”
“I bet you Auntie Alyss has it hidden somewhere in their house. I’ve heard it’s popular with moms.”
Autumn snickered.
“My moms told me that Aunt Alyss met Uncle Reginald in the erotic fiction section of the bookstore,”
Charlotte chimed in. “She’s bound to have a copy of that filth somewhere in the house.”
“I say we look for it the next time she hosts one of her dinner parties.” Steal it, and see how long it
takes her to notice. She’d blame Aunt Cora for it, you just know she would.”
“And what are you going to do with it, Cee? If you want to read it that badly, I’m sure the library has
a copy.” Autumn teased.
“Oh, that’s disgusting.” Celia shuddered. “Would you borrow porn from a library? I wouldn’t.”

It didn’t take much longer for their conversation to derail into teasing and inside jokes he didn’t fully
understand. Listening to them bet about which of them would lose their virginity last was bad
enough, but at least it involved him.
Comet slumped over in the corner of the booth. They probably wouldn’t remember that he was there
until the food arrived. His initial excitement at seeing his family again was wearing off quickly. Was
the rest of their visit going to be like this?
He almost wished he was back in his dorm room, alone. He was sure it would hurt less than seeing
how his cousins were doing just great without him.

Charlotte glanced over at him, then slammed a fist down on the tabletop. “Hey! That’s enough with
the jokes, guys. We came here to visit Comet, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” Celia stifled a giggle. “You know how Autumn and I get.”
“Yeah, sorry Comet. We didn’t mean to exclude you, it just kind of happens when you can’t really
contribute to the conversation,” Autumn added.
Their apology didn’t make him feel much better, but at least they had acknowledged his presence.
With any luck, maybe they wouldn’t forget about him again until after the food had arrived.

“Hey, are you okay Comet?” Celia had turned away from Autumn. “We thought you were just tried
earlier, but you look downright depressed now.”
“Did something happen?” Charlotte’s voice was full of concern.
Comet brushed back a couple strands of hair. He wasn't okay. He desperately wanted to tell them he
wasn't okay. But even if he could, what were the three of them going to do about it? They didn’t
understand how hard it was for him; socializing came to them easily. They had always assumed he
was fine with not being able to speak.
And he had, in a way, as a child. He and he cousins saw each other frequently, and he thought they
would always be there to have his back, that’s they’d always be best friends. Now, the three of them
were distant from him, still tightly knit as ever, and he was left by himself.

“Cherry pie for four?”
The arrival of food drew their attention away from him. However, the mood had changed. They had
seen that he was upset, and he was sure they focus on it until they figured out why.
He wasn’t sure if that would be enough to fix his problem.

“Don’t worry.” Charlotte leaned over. “It might take us a while, but we’ll figure out what’s troubling
you later, okay? We’ll help you, I promise.”
Comet nodded. He wished her words were as reassuring as she wanted them to be.

Tired from the long drive down to SSU, his cousins had passed out in a couple of vacant dorm rooms
long before they had gotten around to talking about his problems.
It didn’t matter, though. Comet had a feeling it would happen, and had devised a plan of his own. He
was determined that curing his condition would help with his troubles. If magic had caused the
problem in the first place, it must be the solution. His parents had mentioned that a cure was
possible, after all. He’d just need to figure out how to do it himself.
So, he broke into the science building that night. The snow had melted in the late afternoon, which
made his task slightly easier. An absent-minded staff member had left the window open before
closing the building, and he was able climb through it with relative ease.

The science building had a greenhouse attached, something that Comet knew from previous visits for
class work. There were a couple of rare plants housed there that he recognized from his parents’
store of reagents. He wasn’t entirely sure which he needed, so he gathered a bit of everything. He
could always return later if he needed more.
Being a biology student, his student ID granted him access, so getting into the greenhouse itself
wasn’t an obstacle. He was concerned that security would track the missing plants to him, but it was
a risk he was willing to take; having a voice would help him out in so many ways.
He failed to see how it would make anything worse. At last, he’d be able to communicate with his
family. Maybe he’d meet a girl and build a relationship at his own pace, instead of rushing into things
he wasn’t ready for.
At the very least, he’d be able to tell Jimmy to shut up whenever he started getting too chatty.

“So, how’s Comet been doing?” Jimmy had joined the Hollinter cousins in the student lounge early
the next morning. Comet was still asleep upstairs, and Jimmy wanted to know if he’d had any
success with his plan.
“We’re not sure.” Autumn took a shot. “He seemed kind of off yesterday. Not his usual self.” He lined
up his cue for another shot. “Have you noticed that, too, or has he been like that since he got here?”
“He seemed pretty cheerful when I first met him. Everything was great freshman year. I thought it
was a bit strange that your family would send him here on his own when he can’t talk… no offence,
but yeah, we got along pretty well. He didn’t really hit the wall until last semester.”
“What happened?” Charlotte asked.

Jimmy kicked the cue stick. “I took him to a frat party. It was a stupid idea, I know, but at the time I
thought it would be nice to make some friends besides him, you know? I mean, he’s great, don’t get
me wrong. I just wanted to meet new people. I took him with me, obviously. I didn’t want to leave
him here by himself, and I thought he would be okay, I really did.”
“Comet at a frat party? Okay, that’s hilarious.” Celia said from the couch. “Did he get absolutely
plastered and do something stupid, or what? I fail to see how a party could have upset him that
much.”
“No! I’m not that bad of a friend, okay? I made sure he didn’t drink too much; I didn’t know his
tolerance. I noticed he was off by himself, so I convinced a girl to dance with him. That’s all. She
started getting a little grope-y, but Comet was feeling her up too, so I was like, whatever. Next thing
I know, they’re gone. One of the sorority chicks said they were going at it in a spare bedroom. I
thought he’d happy about losing his virginity, but he’s been super depressed since.”

“Woah, you mean Comet lost his virginity before any of us?” Celia raised an eyebrow. “Wow. I
thought he was saving it for Meadow. You know what this means, right Autumn?”
Autumn groaned. “Now’s not the time, Cee. I’ll pay up after we deal with Comet.”
“Meadow? Who’s Meadow?” Jimmy asked with interest.
“Comet’s high school crush,” Celia answered. “They were both pretty shy, nothing really came out of
it until he left for SSU. According to Charlotte, Meadow gave him his first kiss. I just assumed his first
time would be with her, too.” She shrugged. “You know, after he came back from college.”

“You don’t think… maybe it wasn’t consensual?” Charlotte asked carefully. “I don’t want to throw any
accusations out there, but it would explain why he’s so upset.”
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t think so. The drinks weren’t very strong; more fruit punch than
alcohol. He seemed sober when she first asked him to dance, and he was okay with the groping and
the kissing. I don’t know for sure, okay?”
“Still… was it really a good idea to let him go off with a girl like that? Did you ever think maybe you
should have just taken him home? You don’t know if he was sober enough to consent, and you do
know that he can’t talk.”

“Look, Comet’s an adult. Him not being able to talk doesn’t mean we should treat him like he’s a
child. If he didn’t want to woohoo her, he would have made it clear to this girl. Personally, I’m more
interested in this Meadow chick. Maybe he just misses her?”
“Okay, but can he really give his consent if he can’t actually say no?” Autumn watched the cue ball
bounce off the side table, and swore under his breath. “Charlotte? Your one mom’s a police officer,
what do you think?”

“I don’t want to make any false accusations,” she said firmly. “We weren’t there, we can’t say for
sure. Unless Comet lets us it know wasn’t, we’re going to assume it was consensual.”
“I guess. If that’s not the problem, what is? It can’t be Meadow, can it? He kissed her once, it’s not
like he’s in love with her… I think.” Autumn stepped back from the pool table to let Jimmy take his
shot.
“He hasn’t messaged her since he got here, if that helps,” Jimmy added.

“How would you know that?” Charlotte asked.
“I kind of stole his phone.” Jimmy admitted. Charlotte glared at him, and he fumbled with his next
shot, missing the ball. “Fuck. And don’t give me that look; if I hadn’t stolen it, you guys wouldn’t be
here, and your cousin would still be moping in his dorm room.”
“You were the one who texted us? Something is definitely up with him, then. He’s been ignoring us
since he left for university. We thought he wasn’t allowed to text us until we got that message from
him. Well, you, I suppose.” Celia shrugged. “His mother’s been kind of paranoid lately. It made
sense.”
“So what are we going to do?” Charlotte looked up at Autumn. “We still have no clue what’s
bothering him.”

“You could always ask him, you know.” Jimmy leaned on his pool cue. “You guys know him better
than I do, that’s why I wanted you to come here. I don’t know how you’ve been communicating with
him before, but surely that’ll still work now.”
“He’s right. We have a couple of things we could ask him about. Namely, Meadow, and that frat
party. Basic yes or no questions should at least narrow down the problem, right?” Autumn’s next
shot sank the last ball, and he grinned.
“We’ll track him down after his first class,” Celia suggested. “I don’t think he’ll be very co-operative if
we start interrogating him about this sex life first thing this morning.”
Autumn snorted. “Yeah, probably not.”

After his lab had ended, Comet took over an empty table in the campus library. He’d been able to
find a text about the magical properties of plants, and settled down to figure out how to mix the
potion he wanted. At least, he assumed he needed a potion. If an incantation was what he needed to
restore his voice, he was out of luck.
The text was old; a couple of pages were loose, and some were missing altogether. On top of that,
the directions themselves were complicated to understand. He drummed his pen against the table as
he read the sheet for the tenth time.

“Hey, Comet?” His cousins had found him. He’d been hoping that he’d be able to avoid them long
enough to make sense of at least some of the textbook. “Your roomie says you’re finished with class
for the day. Do you want to grab lunch or something?”
He didn’t look up from his papers. Maybe they would go away if he ignored them long enough. He
didn’t need any distractions at the moment, and he doubted they would be of any use when it came
to deciphering magical texts.
Autumn sighed, and continued, “Look; we’re worried about you, okay? Jimmy is, too. We just want
to talk.”

“Maybe we could come back later,” Charlotte suggested.
“What the hell are you reading, anyways?” Celia leaned forward to examine the textbook. “Man, this
thing is ancient. Is this what they force you to read for class?”
Comet shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Celia was majoring in a science as well, and he was sure
she was smart enough to figure out that his reading material was definitely not university level.
“I can barely understand any of this. Do you seriously expect us to believe you’d rather spend time
reading this than hanging with us?”

He froze as she continued to stare at the page, her brow furrowed. She scanned it a second time,
then flipped to the page before it.
“Hang on,” she said, and his insides sank. “Why are learning about magic in a biology class? Do your
parents know you’re taking this class, Comet? This doesn’t seem like something dear, Auntie
Bellatrix would approve of.” Celia smirked.
He bite his lip as she flipped through a couple more pages of the textbook, and stopped at one
containing a list.
“Okay, these are definitely directions for mixing potions. Never thought you’d be the type to
experiment with strange substances,” she teased. Celia turned the next page, and frowned.

“Voice restoration?” She yelled. One of the other students in the library sighed audibly. “What the
hell are you thinking?”
Comet cringed. He hadn’t planned on telling them what he was up to until after he had mixed a
successful potion, largely because he suspected they would react like this.
“Do you know how dangerous fucking around with something like this could be? Is be able to talk
really worth risking your life? You aren’t a warlock, Comet! Do you honestly think this is a smart
thing to do?”
“Don’t be so harsh, Cee.” Charlotte tugged at her braid. “You don’t know what it’s like for him. It’s a
dangerous thing to do, but you can’t blame him for thinking about it. ”

Celia sighed. “I’m sorry, okay? I just think it’s a bad idea. I don’t know why you’ve decided to want
to do this all of the sudden.”
“The party,” Autumn suggested. “That’s why, right? Jimmy told us you’ve been acting odd since then.
You hooked up with that girl, and realized how much you love Meadow, so now you want to talk so
you can get back together with her, right?”
Comet shook his head. He wasn’t sure how Jimmy had figured out what transpired at the party after
he’d gone up to one of the bedrooms, but he had obviously filled Comet’s cousins in on the details.
“So it’s not about the party?”

He shook his head again. Couldn’t his cousins see how frustrating this was for him? He’d realized
after the party how hard his future was going to be without having the ability to socialize, and he had
felt hopeless knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do about it. His cousins had picked up on
the fact that he was feeling depressed, and still they couldn’t figure out why. They were right that he
missed Meadow, but the issue was so much larger than that.
“Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere,” Celia said, interrupting his thoughts. “I don’t think it’s the best
idea, but we should help him with his plan. It’s dangerous as hell, but if it works, at least he’ll be
able to tell us why he’s upset.”
Comet wasn’t sure why they couldn’t see that the answer was right in front of them, but he was
grateful that they had at least accepted his plan.

He stood up from the table, and Celia pulled him into a hug. “We’ll get you your voice back, okay
buddy? Then we’ll help you fix what’s bothering you.”
Comet nodded into her shoulder. He definitely didn’t want to discuss the events that had led to his
revelation with his cousins, but if the potion worked, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.
He just hoped Celia was wrong about it having the potential to kill him. His parents would likely be
able to bring him back from the dead, but they’d spend the rest of their life time lecturing him for it,
he was sure.

Celia helped him concoct the potion, claiming that her being a physics major meant that she had
more knowledge of science than Autumn or Charlotte, who were majoring in mathematics and
literature respectively. It wasn’t the kind of science expertise that he needed, but it was the best
they could offer.
The potion took a week to brew, which was cutting it close to the date that his cousins needed to
return to Astra Villa Tech by. Still, it was better than other potions listed in the textbook, some of
which took well over a year to mix.

The final product was green, and emitted a blue aura. The book did not contain a physical description
of the finished potion, so after double-checking that they hadn’t missed any of the steps, the two of
them decided that it must have been mixed correctly.
Its scent was fairly pleasant, so Comet had that going for him. He just hoped it tasted at least half as
decent as it smelled.

With the potion ready to drink, the four of them met in the basement of the science building that
night to conduct the ritual. As it turns out, the potion required a spoken spell in order to take effect,
and apparently, a pentagram.
They had been able to steal a couple of blood samples from one of the biology labs, found an old
podium in the basement to prop the spell book on, and a couple of candles had been taken from a
supply closet in one of the figure drawing studios
“Are you sure we aren’t going to… you know, exorcise him?” Charlotte asked. While she was the
more sympathetic one of his three cousins, she was felt the most uncomfortable about performing
the ritual.
Autumn crossed his arms over his chest. “Can you even exorcise someone if they’re not possessed?”

“I don’t know, I’m not an expert on exorcisms, Autumn!” Charlotte bit her lip. “All I know is that my
mom has busted a few kids messing around with witchcraft in old buildings, and there’s some weird
stuff that goes on.”
“I bet your mom exaggerates what happens on her shifts. She does it to piss off Aunt Alyss, you
know she does.”
“Would you two shut up?” Celia peered at the text in the dim light. “If you guys ruin this spell with
your blabbering, I’m going to blame you for Comet’s death.”
“Oh, that’s real cheerful, Cee.” Autumn rolled his eyes. “Glad we’re going into this with high hopes.”
“I said shut up.”

“Ready?” Celia looked up from the book.
Comet nodded, and lifted the vial to his lips. He swallowed, and Celia began to read from the book,
running a finger along the page as she spoke.
The vial glowed brighter as he drained it. The liquid stung the inside of his mouth and throat, then
spread throughout the rest of his body, but he was able to drink the entire thing.

Celia read the final line of the spell, and the shards of brilliant blue light were replaced by faint
beams of purple.
Slowly, the lights dissipated, and he drifted back down to the ground.

A soft, blue aura emanated from somewhere inside his throat. His cousins were silent, staring at him
intently. Hesitantly, Comet opened his mouth to say something…
…and the best he could manage was a cough. It was progress, but not what he wanted. He tried to
speak again, and his breath caught in his throat. He glanced over at his cousins, and made one last
feeble attempt to talk.

He collapsed, curled into the fetal potion. His vision began to fade as he lost consciousness. The last
thing he was aware of was Charlotte piercing the silence with a scream.

Thanks for taking the time to read the second chapter of my legacy! It took two chapters for me to
go back to cliff-hangers and song lyrics. This legacy story is off to a terrific start. I hope it was
enjoyable, at least!
- Heather
Song Credits:
Animal – Neon Trees
Carry On My Wayward Son - Kansas

The Hollinter Legacy: 1.1 - Stutter

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