I ALWAYS LOVED CAUSING DRAMA IN THE SIMS. SPLITTING UP HOUSEHOLDS, MAKING WOMEN HAVE CHILDREN TO MULTIPLE MEN WHO ALWAYS CHEATED ON HER. IT ALWAYS MADE THE GAMES MORE INTERESTING TO ME, BUT NOW I WISHED I’D STUCK WITH MAKING HOUSES AND THEN GETTING BORED LIKE MY FRIENDS DID.
I STARTED A NEW GAME ONE NIGHT WHEN MY PARENTS WERE OUT OF TOWN ON BUSINESS AND MADE A SINGLE FEMALE SIM, WHO I NAMED ALICE. I GAVE HER A HOUSE, GOT HER A JOB AND HER LIFETIME WISH WAS TO WOOHOO WITH A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT SIMS IN DIFFERENT PLACES. SO I MADE HER HAVE A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT FLINGS AND EVENTUALLY SHE COMPLETED HER WISH AND I DECIDED SHE MIGHT AS WELL SETTLE DOWN.
BUT, LIKE ALWAYS, THERE HAD TO BE DRAMA. SO I PICKED A DECENT-LOOKING SIM NAMED JACK WHO LIVED WITH A WIFE AND A BUNCH OF KIDS. LIKE ALL PRE-MADE TOWNIE SIMS IN THE GAME, THEY HAD A LITTLE BACK STORY. IT MENTIONED HOW JACK WAS ALWAYS WORKING AND THE CHILDREN WERE ALWAYS GETTING INTO TROUBLE. I FIGURED TO ADD A LITTLE DRAMA TO THIS AND MADE JACK FALL IN LOVE WITH ALICE AND MOVE IN TOGETHER. THEY HAD TRIPLETS TOGETHER, AND LIKE ALWAYS, JACK’S EX BECAME ALICE’S ENEMY. HER NAME WAS ELLE AND SHE SEEMED TO ALWAYS BE WHERE ALICE WENT.
WHEN ALICE TOOK THE KIDS, JESSIE, ALEC AND HILLARY, FOR A WALK WITH JACK, ELLE WAS THERE IN THE PARK. I FOUND IT AMUSING WHEN SHE MADE BOOING GESTURES AND SLAPPED JACK IN THE FACE. I REALLY DID LOVE SIMS DRAMA.
I LEFT THE GAME THERE THAT NIGHT, AND PICKED IT UP THE NEXT DAY. MY PARENTS WERE STILL OUT OF TOWN SO I MANAGED TO STAY ON MY LAPTOP ALL DAY EATING CEREAL AND MAKING MY SIMS MAX OUT THEIR SKILLS.
BY NOW I’D REALLY NOTICED HOW ELLE WAS TRULY EVERYWHERE ALICE WENT. THE TRIPLETS BY NOW HAD AGED UP TO CHILDREN AND ALICE WAS PREGNANT AGAIN. IT SEEMED TO BE EVERY TIME ALICE WENT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE ELLE WOULD POP UP AND FIGHT HER, EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS PREGNANT.
BY NOW, ALICE’S MOOD BAR WAS ALWAYS LOW, AND I’D NOTICED A STRANGE MOODLET AMONGST THE USUAL ONES. THE SYMBOL SHOWED A LITTLE FACE, SIMILAR TO THE ONE FOR STIR CRAZY, BUT IT WAS BLUE AND BITING ITS NAILS AND CRYING. IT SAID ‘STALKED. IT’S HARD TO RELAX WHEN YOU NEVER KNOW WHO’S WATCHING YOU.’
AFTER SHE GOT THAT MOODLET, ALICE NEVER SLEPT. SHE’D GET HALFWAY THROUGH A NAP AND WAKE UP. SHE’D STOP EATING HALFWAY THROUGH A MEAL AND START CRYING FOR NO REASON. EVERY NIGHT ELLE WOULD BE OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSE, RIGHT AT THE DOOR OR A WINDOW.
OUT OF CURIOSITY, I USED THE CHEAT TO ADD HER TO MY ACTIVE FAMILY. HER MOOD WAS ALL THE WAY IN THE RED, THOUGH ALL HER NEEDS WERE FULL AND SHE ONLY HAD ONE MOODLET. IT SHOWED A REALISTIC LOOKING SKULL SURROUNDED BY FIRE.
BY NOW I WAS A LITTLE CONFUSED, BUT I FIGURED IT WAS WORTH CHECKING OUT.
IT READ ‘BURNING WITH RAGE. WITH ANGER LIKE THIS, WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN?’
I SHOOK MY HEAD, LAUGHING TO MYSELF. THE SIMS HAD SOME PRETTY WEIRD THINGS, I FIGURED, AND I GUESS I’D FOUND SOMETHING TO TRUMP ALL OF THEM. FOR FUN AND THE DRAMA I LOVED SO MUCH, I KEPT ELLE IN MY FAMILY AND THEN WENT TO ORDER PIZZA FOR DINNER. ONCE I’D EATEN AND WATCHED SOME TELEVISION, I FIRED MY GAME BACK UP, READY FOR SOME FIGHTS TO GO DOWN.
I PLAYED FOR A WHILE, AND ELLE WAS STRANGELY QUIET. SHE JUST STAYED IN THE ONE ROOM, NOT MOVING. THAT SAME DAY ALICE WENT INTO LABOUR AND GAVE BIRTH TO TWIN GIRLS, EBONY AND YASMIN, THANKS TO HER REWARD OF FERTILITY TREATMENT. HER ‘STALKED’ MOODLET WAS STILL THERE, AND THERE WAS A NEW ONE, WITH WHAT LOOKED LIKE A SIM SHIVERING. IT CALLED ITSELF ‘THE CREEPS.’ AND SAID ‘WITH SHIVERS DOWN THE SPINE LIKE THESE, IT’S HARD TO DENY SOMETHING BAD MIGHT HAPPEN.’
I FROWNED, BUT IGNORED IT. I EVEN TRIED TO USE THE CHEAT TO GET RID OF THEM, BUT IT DIDN’T WORK. I SIGHED AND WENT ON WITH MY GAME, TAKING EBONY AND YASMIN HOME TO THEIR NEW NURSERY. ELLE WENT THROUGH AND STARED DOWN AT THE CRIBS, WHICH I FIGURED WAS WEIRD, BUT IGNORED IT AND SENT ALICE, JACK AND THE TRIPLETS TO BED. I DIDN’T BOTHER PAUSING THE GAME WHILE THEY SLEPT AND JUST WENT THROUGH TO THE KITCHEN AND GOT A SNACK AND A DRINK. WHEN I GOT BACK, THE GAME HAD TAKEN A TURN FOR THE WORSE.
THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS UP IN FLAMES. I’D HAD FIRES IN THE SIMS BEFORE BUT IT NEVER GOT THIS BAD. STARTLED, I WENT DOWNSTAIRS IN THE GAME HOUSE TO CHECK THE NURSERY. THE FLAMES WERE WORSE THERE, AND I COULD SEE THE KIDS SCREAMING.
THIS WASN’T LIKE THE REGULAR SIM CRYING WHERE THEY WAIL AND WAVE THEIR ARMS IN THE AIR. NO, THE KIDS WERE SOBBING, CURLED UP IN THE CORNER AND HOLDING EACH OTHER. I’D NEVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN GAME AND WAS REALLY FREAKED OUT. I CLICKED TO CHECK ON THE NEWBORN TWINS, AND FOUND ELLE HOLDING BOTH OF THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM. HER MOOD WAS NOW WAY ALL UP AT THE TOP AND SHE KEPT LAUGHING AND COOING AT THE BABIES AS IF SHE WAS A PROUD NEW PARENT.
ALICE AND JACK HAD MADE IT DOWNSTAIRS AND BOTH HAD A NEW MOODLET OF A CRYING BABY, BUT NOT THE USUAL ONE WHEN A CRYING BABY IS ANNOYING THEM. THIS ONE LOOKED MUCH MORE REALISTIC AND THE MESSAGE WAS ‘MY BABY! WHEN YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR BABY, WHAT CAN YOU DO?’
BY NOW I’D FIGURED THIS WAS WAY TOO SINISTER FOR THE SIMS I KNEW. I TRIED CANCELLING THE ACTIONS, CAUSING A FIRE BRIGADE, QUITTING AND EXITING THE GAME BUT NOTHING WORKED AND I WAS FORCED TO WATCH AS ALICE AND JACK RAN THROUGH THE FLAMES. JACK COLLAPSED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS AND LOOKED LIKE HE WAS WRITING IN PAIN, AGONY ETCHED ON HIS FACE. IT WAS TERRIFYING. ALICE MANAGED TO MAKE IT TO ELLE BUT DROPPED TO HER KNEES WHEN SHE GOT THERE, MAKING PLEADING MOTIONS. ELLE JUST LAUGHED AND ALICE KEELED OVER, HER BODY TWITCHING AND SPASMING. FREAKED OUT, I CHECKED ON THE TRIPLETS. THE THREE WERE HUDDLED UP IN A CLOSET, COUGHING WEAKLY UNTIL ONE BY ONE THEY DIED.
BY NOW I WAS IN TEARS, TERRIFIED BY WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MY GAME. BECAUSE I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH MY GAME AND I WAS ALMOST HYPNOTIZED WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT I CLICKED OVER TO ELLE. SHE WAS LOOKING AROUND AT THE RAGING BLAZE WITH A BIG SMILE ON HER FACE. SHE HAD ANOTHER NEW MOODLET, WITH THE PICTURE OF A SKULL THAT NOW LOOKED SINGED AND BURNED.
‘REVENGE SATED. THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN GETTING YOUR OWN BACK AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT.’
THE SUDDENLY ELLE WAS GONE FROM MY ACTIVE FAMILY LIST ALONG WITH EBONY AND YASMIN AND SHE WALKED OUT THE HOUSE CARRYING THE BABIES. BEFORE SHE LEFT, SHE TURNED AND LOOKING OVER HER SHOULDER, ALMOST AS IF SHE WAS STARING STRAIGHT AT ME. I ALMOST SCREAMED, TOTALLY FREAKED OUT. THEN ELLE KEPT WALKING UNTIL SHE’D LEFT THE MAP AND I COULDN’T FOLLOW HER ANY MORE.
I DON’T KNOW WHERE SHE’S GONE, BUT EVENTUALLY I GUESS SHE’LL CROP UP IN SOMEONE ELSES GAME, OR PASS ON HER THIRST FOR REVENGE ONTO THE CHILDREN SHE STOLE.
