All the Good Girls go to Heaven

[dragonsbeauty]

great story!~
In the first chapter i believe it was when it was asked why didn't she talk and the answer was she does talk, just not to you, that was great.

Years ago my mom used to work in a nursing home and that's where it took me=).

looking forwards to more!~

[loveSims]

You are a very talented writer! Can't wait for more.

[Teacup Chihuahua]

An excellent update your writing is amazing Really looking forward to the next chapter

[ApplesApplesApples]

Chapter 3

Cayden and I spent most of our time outside, inventing games and exploring. I felt pinned in when I had walls around me. The open air, the hills and the forests were like a blank canvas for my imagination, a surface on which I could draw or paint anything. And with Cayden by my side, there was twice the fun.



One day I found myself talking about my father's computer, for some reason. I have the feeling Cayden prodded me to tell him. But as soon as I mentioned he worked for an insurance company his eyes lit up.

"Then his computer must be pretty cool."

I think I must have been around seven by then, and I still didn't have a taste for computers. "I guess. It's just a computer."

"Will you show it to me?"

"But it's inside my house."

"Yeah, so?"

I tried to think of an excuse. In truth, I didn't want Cayden to meet up with my parents. They disapproved of him enough as it was. I knew from experience how abrasive he could be; he was a year ahead of me in school, but I often saw him arguing with teachers and sent to detention.

"You're ashamed of me, aren't you?" he said, getting in my face with his eyebrows down in that way that he had that always made me at least a little nervous, even though I knew that at one word of mine he would stop.

"Why would I be ashamed of you?" I asked, laughing. "Don't be silly. I'm just worried that you're going to get in a fight with my parents and they won't let me play with you anymore."

"I won't get in a fight with them if they're not there."

"I guess..." I thought about it. An empty house wasn't exactly hard to get. I was still worried about the nanny and the maid, though. "Okay, but you have to promise that you won't talk with anyone."

"So I can't make you ashamed?"

"Stop saying that! Promise you won't talk with anyone. I know how you can be."

He sighed. "I promise."

"Cross your heart, remember?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his heart. "Hope to die."

I thought I had a pretty good idea of who Cayden was by then. We'd known each other for a little over eight months, and to a seven-year-old that seemed like eternity. Even with my limited understanding of him, I still knew that a promise like that might not be enough to hold him. "And if you argue with anyone, I'll be happy that they don't let me play with you anymore," I said with finality.

His face changed. His eyes widened and his lips smashed together. "I promise, Aliyah."

"Good," I said, satisfied. "Tomorrow after school we'll go. My father doesn't get home until six, and my mother until eight. You have to leave before my father gets home."

He nodded quickly.

The next day Cayden got sent to detention and had to stay after school hours, so we didn't get to go home immediately afterward. I waited for him. When he finally came out he was in a bad mood and ready to snap even at me.

"I heard you threw some mashed potatoes at Mrs. Green at lunch," I said.

"It was only because she'd called me a dunce earlier."

"I don't think Mrs. Green called you a dunce. She's a nice teacher!"

He glared at me. "She as much as called me one."

"You get so angry about silly things, Cayden. That's why you get into trouble. You should try not to hate the world so much."

"I don't hate the world. I just hate the people who do stupid things."

"You hate everybody!"

He scuffed his boot on the sidewalk. He always wore the same rubber boots. "I don't hate you."

"Well, come on." I checked my watch. "My father comes home in an hour and a half. We have to hurry."

We rode our bikes home. It was a long ride, since our houses sat up on a hill set apart from the rest of town, but we made it in good time with all our training from running in the woods.



When we went through the front door, I called for my dad just in case he'd come home early.

"He's at work!" said the nanny, coming in from the kitchen. "Where have you been?"

"I was waiting for Cayden. He had to do something before he came home."

"Hmmph," said the nanny, looking him over. "You're dirty. Wipe your boots off. We don't work all day cleaning the carpets to have you ruin them, you little tramp."

I could see Cayden didn't like the way she addressed him. She always looked down her nose at everyone, and I couldn't blame him. But he didn't open his mouth. He went back outside and wiped his boots off on the mat before coming back in again.

"Okay, nanny," I said, grabbing Cayden's arm and pulling him toward the stairs. Once we'd gotten safely up to the activity room I let go of him and smiled. "See? You were able to be polite."

"That was only because you'd told me you wouldn't play with me anymore if I wasn't. If you were a real friend and let me defend myself, I would have told her what I thought of her."

"Defend yourself? Cayden, she wasn't going to bite your neck! She was just telling you to wipe your boots off."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You can order me around, Aliyah, but when you're not here I'm not going to let anyone insult me."

I shook my head. "That's why you don't have any other friends. Sometimes you're so cranky."

"Is that the computer?" he asked, pointing at my father's desk in the corner.

"Yeah. It's kind of ugly, I think."

He walked over, sat down in front of it, and opened it up.

"Hey, what are you doing? I didn't say you could use it!"

"Just for ten minutes." He started pushing buttons. I waited to hear the error sound my father sometimes got when he pushed the wrong thing, but it didn't come. Cayden played with it a lot more than ten minutes, though. It was an old DOS laptop and I didn't understand what he was doing. I quickly became bored.



"I have some toys to play with if you want," I said.

"Wait just a little bit," he said.

I sighed and scratched my head. "Cayden! I'm bored!"

"There, I finished." He closed the laptop.

"What were you doing?"

"Stealing money from your father."

I laughed. "You're so weird, Cayden. Okay, what do you want to do now?"

He spotted the chess table. "Do you want to play chess?"

"I don't know how."

"I'll teach you."



I have to confess I was hard to teach anything that involved sitting for a prolonged period. Cayden had a lot of patience for me, even if he had to force a lot of it, but even he got tired of beating me after a while.

"Why don't you show me your room?"

I didn't like people in my room. It was my sanctuary. "How about if I show you the rest of the house?"

"Can you show me that funny statue down beside the stairs?"

"Sure!"

We stood looking at it for a while. I listened to the nanny's footsteps, making sure she wasn't headed our way.

"What is it?" asked Cayden.



"I think it's a man carrying a big rock," I said.

"Why would anyone make a statue of a man carrying a big rock?"

"I don't know. You're the smart one; you tell me."

He grinned a little and shook his head. "I don't know. I think they wasted their time making it. It's ugly and boring."

At that moment I heard my father's car on the driveway. "Cayden, my dad's home! You have to leave!" We ran for the front door. I'd already made it through, but Cayden ran slower and I heard my father's voice calling from behind me. I turned and saw through the glass doors that my father had spotted Cayden.



My father looked angry. I could hear shouts, but I didn't understand what they said. I covered my face with my hands, leaving just a little sliver open between two fingers.

Cayden came out, stomping angrily. My father beckoned to me from the other side of the glass. He didn't seem pleased.

"What happened?" I asked.

Cayden hung his head and looked up at me through his lashes. "I'm sorry, Aliyah."

"What were you shouting about? I told you not to get into a fight! Now they're never going to let me be with you."

Cayden frowned, lifting his head a little. "He asked if I was stealing. He asked me that!"

"You should've just said no!"

"How can he ask me that?" he almost shouted.

"You tried to steal food before."

"That was before I was friends with you. I would never steal from him now. He's your father. It's your house. He thinks I'm a robber because my mother's poor and my skin's brown."

"That's just the silliest thing ever, Cayden!" I hugged him. "You get angry over nothing. And now I'm never going to see you again."



"That's not true. Is it?" he asked from beside my ear.

"I'll try to talk to my father. I'll see you tomorrow in school, I guess." I let him go and rubbed my eyes quickly, pretending they itched. "Bye." I ran inside.

"Aliyah..." began my father.

"I'm not going to listen to you! You were mean to my friend!" I ran upstairs and slammed my door to my room, where I could plan the tantrums I would throw to make sure they wouldn't separate me from Cayden.

But I shouldn't have worried. My father came up to my room a little while later and told me very quietly that mom was sick and he had to take her to the hospital. He didn't say anything about Cayden. I asked him when mom would be better. He didn't know.

The next day I met Cayden right outside our school building.

"We can still play together?" he asked.

"They didn't say anything, so I think so. I guess you didn't yell loud enough."

He almost smiled at that. "Come on, I've got something to show you."

We went up into the hills to a clear spot with a gentle downward grassy slope. All over it, beautiful butterflies of every color fluttered, making little flashes of yellow, green, red, purple, and blue.

"They're beautiful!" I cried, clapping my hands together. "Why are there so many?"

"I don't know. They like this place. My sister showed me. Do you want to catch some? She showed me how to do that, too."

"Yeah!"

We trod softly down the slope, trying not to disturb the silence or the delicate flight patterns of the butterflies. Cayden directed me slowly right into the middle of a group of green ones. One landed on my nose.



"Cayden...!" I said, trying to stifle my cry of delight. I wasn't successful, and the butterflies fluttered away. Cayden had caught one, a big yellow one. He said he would go put it in a jar. "I'm going to try to catch another one," I said, and went back into the swarms of butterflies.

I went back a little while later, having been unsuccessful at catching any butterflies, but astounded at their beauty and ready to share my experiences with Cayden. I found him sitting on the grass not too far away and ran toward him. He stood up when I approached.

"Cayden, you'll never believe it! One butterfly landed on the tip of my finger and I still wasn't able to catch it! You have to teach me your trick..." I stopped and stared down in horror at the ground where he'd been sitting. The big yellow butterfly he'd caught lay in pieces, its wings torn into bits, the legs lying here and there, separated from the body.



"Cayden..." I said slowly. "What...?" I couldn't believe my eyes.

"It's just a butterfly. Just a bug."

"But you killed it! You hurt it! Did you pull off the wings while it was still alive?"

He shrugged. "There's thousands like it. Why does it matter?"

I stared at him. "This is wrong, Cayden! What if it was a person?"

"It's not a person. That's what I just said. It's a bug."

"Why would you do something like this? When you showed me the butterflies I thought you liked them, that you thought they were pretty like I do!" I started to tremble, skipping the tears altogether, switching straight into a spasm of dread.

"Because it makes me less sad."

I covered my mouth with my hands. "It's wrong, Cayden. It's wrong."

"Isn't it wrong that I get a mom who doesn't always recognize me and a dead sister? And that everyone thinks I'm going to grow up to be a criminal?"

I shook my head and ran for home.

"Aliyah!" Cayden called after me. "Aliyah, come back!"

I put my hands over my ears and ran harder. That night I dreamed that I was a butterfly, and that Cayden plucked my wings off and tore off my legs.
Thank you for reading! And thank you, everyone who commented! You have no idea how happy your kind words make me. 

[Katluvr]

Wow, I'm just speechless!  This is the most well-written story I have ever had the privilege to read on this forum and we have an awful lot of really talented story tellers!  It is like you are really inhabiting the souls of Cayden and Aliyah.  SPECTACULAR!

[ApplesApplesApples]

Wow, I'm just speechless!  This is the most well-written story I have ever had the privilege to read on this forum and we have an awful lot of really talented story tellers!  It is like you are really inhabiting the souls of Cayden and Aliyah.  SPECTACULAR!

Wow! Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it. I really feel like Cayden and Aliyah are part of me. They popped into my head and wouldn't go away! That's why I had to write the story. My characters order me around all the time. They have no manners.

[Teacup Chihuahua]

WOW WOW WOW your writing is unbelievable I read alot of books that I can't put down as I need to know what happens next  I count your story in that category   Brilliant

[alex51299]

I don't know how to top the other comments, but your writing is fantastic! I'm eagerly waiting for the next update. 

[MoonsAreBlue]

This story is amazing; I can't stress that enough. I was reading a book, but I put it down when I saw you had updated. I only wish the whole story was already written so I could keep reading. Kat's right. SPECTACULAR!

[ratchie]

I don't have the words to describe just how good this story is. You are a very talent author.

Rachel

[Saltypaws]

I have to agree with everyone here on your story.  I can't top other comments either, so will just say, it is a wonderful and very well written story and I have really enjoyed reading it so far.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Guys, you did it. You made me cry. I had no idea so many people would like my story. Thank you so much! 

[JudesSims]

Of course we like it Apples! You're a very good story teller

[loveSims]

You left me speechless! All I can say is, amazing story! Wow!

[ApplesApplesApples]

Chapter 4

A few days later my father got up from the Sunday breakfast table to answer a call. My mother didn't like it and played with her food until he came back. She hadn't been quite right since she'd come back from the hospital.

My father stormed back in. "Lily, I just got off the phone with Jackson. One of our accounts got cleaned out."

"What do you mean?" asked my mother.

"The money's gone. It shows up as an authorized withdrawal."

"What's going on, daddy?" I asked.

"Nothing, dear," he said, beginning to pace nervously. "I've got to verify all my employees," he said to my mother.

"But how many of them have access to the accounts?"

My father shook his head. "That's the worst part. In order to get into that account they had to have had access to my personal computer. That's where I keep all my account numbers and passwords. That means it was someone we invited into our home."

"You think, in that party last month...?" asked my mother.

"I don't know."

I stared at my plate, my heart going fast. As soon as I was excused I left the house and ran over to Cayden's. He answered the door when I knocked.

"You have to come with me," I said. I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him across the street to an open area where I could think.

"I'm sorry, Aliyah," he said. "I didn't know the butterfly was going to upset you so much. I promise I'm never going to do it again. Just won't you let me play with you?"

"That's not it, silly." I unconsciously took up my father's pacing. "I've already forgotten about that." It wasn't entirely true. I couldn't as much as look at butterflies now.

"Then why haven't you come to play with me?"

"Did you steal money from my father?"

He stared blankly at me.

"He says someone stole from him. I don't really understand what happened, but there's a lot of money missing and someone stole the passwords from his computer. The one at his home. What were you doing on it, Cayden?"

He looked down.



"Cayden?"

"I told you."

"I thought you were joking! Why did you say you wouldn't steal anything from me right after you did?"

"I'm sorry." He wiped his nose on his sleeve. I tried to take a look at his face but he wouldn't let me. "My mom needed money for more pills. She hasn't been able to work for a long time. I didn't take that much."

"I don't know how much you took, but it made my father angry, and he's going to blame his employees!"

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't have done it if my mom didn't need pills. Don't you understand that?"

I grabbed his arms and looked at him sternly. "Stealing is wrong."



"I know."

"What if I told my father and he sent you to jail?"

His eyes widened and he didn't answer. He seemed to shrink a little, as though he expected me to slap him across the face.

"What if I did that?"

"I'd go to jail."

I let go of him and rubbed my eyes. "You make me crazy. You're a very hard friend to have, you know?"

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Of course not, silly. I wouldn't have anyone to play with if I did that. But you're making me have to lie to my father."

"I'm sorry," he said again. He seemed like he meant it. He probably didn't care about my father and his employees in the least, but I didn't know that then. I thought everyone cared about everyone else. "You don't really have to lie. Just don't tell him."

"What if he asks me if I saw someone on the computer?"

"Just say no. That's an easy lie to say."

"Do you ever lie to me?" I asked, alarmed, since he seemed to be so knowledgeable on the subject.

"Not to you, no. I've never lied to you and I never will."

"Okay. I'll never lie to you either, then."

My father never required any witness reports of me, however, so my lying abilities were not put to the test. I guess he thought I couldn't possibly know anything. And soon the event blew over, or at least it did for me and Cayden. I never heard about it at home, although I assume the investigation continued at work. I never found out if he found anyone to blame. Sometimes it eats me up inside that someone may have lost their job because of Cayden's stealing and my lying.

But we soon forgot, or acted as if we had. We went back to our games and exploration, although we never hunted for butterflies again. Cayden didn't torture any more bugs in front of me, although I do imagine every now and then that he had his house full of jars with dismembered insects.

For years, Cayden and I did nothing but grow closer together, until I was sure I knew what he was thinking at all times, and he seemed to know what I would say before I said it. I drifted apart from most of my other friends, mostly because I had no patience for the activities they seemed to prefer, and it was such slow work trying to communicate with them, whereas with Cayden just a look was enough most of the time.

I did have a few friends in school, though. Most of them I couldn't stand, but I had them because Cayden was still a year ahead of me despite his frequent failure to turn in assignments and his habit of talking back to teachers, and I needed someone to keep me company when he wasn't there. Between detention, taking care of his mother, and the job he took at the grocery store when he turned fifteen, that was a considerable chunk of the day.

We always found time for each other, though. And puberty didn't stop us from running wild in the hills like we'd done in our childhood, although the games changed. We liked to roll down the grassy hills until we came to a dizzy stop at the base, and invariably Cayden would recover first and pin me down so he could tickle me until I squirmed out of his grasp. We climbed trees in search of spiders (although we always left them where they were, per my request), we watched birds, we searched for rare plants and small animals that lived in the woods.

One day we had a race to the top of a hill that overlooked a nearby farm, belonging to Mr. Orson. We peered down and laughed when we saw Mr. Orson chasing a cow out of the corn field.

"If we rolled down we would land right in the middle of those cows," I said.

"Probably right in the middle of their pies."

I shoved him. "You want to go first?"

"You always go first."

I stood up and took a deep breath of the beautiful air. "Do you smell that?"



"Cow pies?" he asked from behind me.

"It's freedom, Cayden. That's what it is. We're breathing in freedom."

"What does freedom smell like?"

"Like grass and trees and open blue skies."

"Uh-huh." He seemed amused. "And what do blue skies smell like?"

"Like freedom. Duh."

"Oh, that makes sense." He was right behind me, but I didn't look at him.

"Look, there's a pig in the corn field now!" I said, pointing.

"Aliyah, turn around."

I did so, slowly, enjoying the gorgeous day, and he grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. "What?" I asked.

He kissed me.



At first it shocked me into immobility. I hung limply in his arms and let him. Then I realized I liked it more than I felt comfortable with, so I elbowed him in the stomach and twisted out of his grasp, running down the hill, screaming gleefully because I knew he was coming after me to get back at me for the elbow work.

The sun was starting to set, and I could barely see the road below that led into Mr. Orson's farm and also back toward our house. I ran into a fence and climbed over it, not thinking about what I was doing, just trying to get away from Cayden's retribution. The grass was wet from a rainfall earlier that day and when I landed on the other side I slipped and tumbled over onto the road, skinning my palms and knees on the asphalt.

"Aliyah!" yelled Cayden, his voice desperate as if he'd just seen me fall off a cliff.

"I'm fine!" I called back. My palms pulsed and throbbed, but I'd been hurt much worse.

Cayden reached me. "Are you okay?"

"I told you I'm fine," I said, picking myself up.

He glared. "That was stupid. Why did you try to go down there? You know that slope's steep."



A few months ago I'd fallen out of a tree. He'd acted much the same way, except in that case I'd sprained my ankle and he had a real cause for concern. I laughed. "Cayden, I'm fine."

"You could've broken your neck. I didn't see you fall. I just saw you disappear when you slipped." He shifted around like a nervous wild animal, as if he was still looking for danger.

"I skinned my knees and you're like this? What are you going to do the day something really happens to me?"

"I'm going to shoot myself in the head."

"Cayden!" I said, shocked. "Calm down!"

In that moment we heard sirens.



"Oh, no," said Cayden, and slapped himself in the forehead as the police car approached.

"We're not doing anything wrong."

"We're on Orson's land."

I looked around and realized he was right. I must have gone off-course in the darkness. "What do we do?"

"It's too late to run. They've already recognized me by now anyway."

"Good evening, kids," said the police officer, stepping out of the cruiser. "You thinking of stealing some chickens or something fun like that?"



"No, officer," I said. "We didn't mean to. I fell down the hill and he came after me. Look." I showed him my bleeding palms.

"He looks pretty familiar. I bet I look familiar to you, too, don't I, Morey?" He leaned on the hood of his car.

"Yes, sir," said Cayden.

"Are you going to arrest us?" I asked.

"I'm not going to leave you here, that's for sure. But I won't take you down to the station, even though I should. Your friend's got a bit of a record."

I glanced at Cayden. He didn't meet my eyes. I'd heard something about a bit of shoplifting, although we'd never talked about it. I hoped that was the worst thing on his record.

"You're Aliyah Peng, aren't you? I know your father. I'll let him decide what to do with you. And you, Morey; remember this is going on your record. Your lady friend saved you this time, but next time I catch you trespassing you're going straight to the station, you got it?"

Cayden nodded and followed me to the car. The officer held the door open for us. I scooted across and stared out the window, trying to keep my lip from trembling. I didn't even have to give the policeman directions. In a town our size, he'd probably gone to school with my father and known him all his life.

Cayden put a hand on my knee. "Don't worry," he whispered. "Your father won't be angry. Just tell him what happened."

I didn't want to talk because I was afraid my voice would break. I'd never seen the inside of a police car. I'd never even gotten a warning before this. I was used to being the good girl.



We arrived at my house. My father came out in his evening clothes, and when he saw I was in the car his brow furrowed. The police officer got out to talk to him and I fled inside, not even stopping to say goodbye to Cayden. I entered the living room cautiously, trying not to wake my mother if she wasn't already awake. I'd rather face my mom than my dad, but if I could help it I would prefer one to both of them.



I'd skipped supper, as I often did when I was out with Cayden, so I sneaked into the kitchen to get some food from the fridge. After gobbling down some cold pizza I headed upstairs, hoping my father was still outside talking to the police officer. I froze in the door to my room. My father was waiting for me, staring out the window into the darkened grounds.



"Dad, it was an accident. I just fell down the slope. I didn't realize I was on Mr. Orson's land."

"I understand," he said, not looking at me. "What I don't understand, Aliyah, is how you can still be associating with that boy."

"Dad," I said angrily.

"I've tolerated your friendship for many years. I'm getting tired of it. I heard about his little misadventures but decided to ignore them. As long as he kept his criminal activities separate from his friendship with you I was prepared to endure the fact that my daughter was running around with a petty thief. But the second he involved you in it, I told myself I would put an end to it."

"Dad, you can't be serious. We weren't stealing. We just went to look at Mr. Orson chasing the cows out of the cornfield. And then I fell. It was dark and I didn't see I'd passed the gate. I didn't know I was on his land. I told you! Don't you believe me?"

"You didn't notice you went over the fence?"

I thought back and remembered climbing the fence. I blushed as I realized how stupid I'd been. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to trespass. And we weren't going to steal. Cayden doesn't take me stealing with him."

My father sighed. "I've told you time and time again that he's a bad influence. You're fourteen and you have to start thinking about your future and taking responsibility for your actions."

"My future?" I said, laughing. "Dad, that's...!"

"It isn't as far away as you think it is, and soon you're going to be heading off to college. Do you think they don't look at your record?"

"I don't have a record. The officer didn't write me down."

"Aliyah, do you think Cayden will go to college? Do you think he cares about school and his future?"

"You think he's going to rub off on me and that I'm going to turn into a slacker? Dad, I'm not going to give up on college just because Cayden isn't going to go! I want to go. I want to have a good job and an education and everything, and I'm going to get it. Cayden isn't going to hold me back!"

"I'd like it if you at least tried spending time with other people. It isn't healthy to just have one friend."

"You're just trying all the different tactics, aren't you? First my criminal record, then my future, and now my mental health?"

He did look at me then, and his expression took all the sass out of me. "I'd like it if you at least tried spending time with other people, Aliyah. Why don't you invite some girlfriends from school over tomorrow?"

I realized it was no use arguing. My father didn't usually order me to do anything, but when he did he meant it. "Okay, daddy."

"Good. Now go to bed. It's late."

As soon as he was gone I curled up on the bed without the energy to even remove my shoes. I couldn't believe it. They were going to try to separate me from Cayden. There was absolutely no worse thing they could do. They could starve me, beat me, kick me out of the house--I would tolerate anything so long as I could still see him.



I promised myself I would never let anything come between us; not my parents, not anyone or anything else.

I'm still not sure if my biggest mistake was upholding that promise for so long or breaking it when it mattered most.
Thank you for reading! I'm sorry about the low quality of the screenshots, but my computer is prehistorically slow and if I run the game with any higher resolution I would still be trying to get Aliyah and Cayden through childhood. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!