Alice’s Sorrow

A short story

Hi, my name is SimScope. I am writing this to show anyone who Doesn’t know how to use the game prompts to write a story. Please enjoy Alice’s Sorrow, a quest in game.

Now on to our story!

When you talk to the non-living, as much as I do, sometimes they ask for help. Today was one of those days.

Here I was, just minding my own business, having a really great time talking to a ghost when a voice interrupted me.

“Help me, please!” The voice was faint.

“Where can I find you?” I asked. I have always been close to the other side, but this was different.

“Pease come to the Giving Tree.” The voice continued. There was urgency in her voice, so I headed out quickly.

I approached with caution; the ghost was just standing there. “Excuse me,” I said, not wanting to scare her. “I think you asked for my help.”

I knew she wasn’t okay. Her blue aura was giving off the saddest vibes known to man. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

As she moved towards me, I could feel the pain in her heart. It was the worst kind. The loss she must be feeling, I could feel it too.

Her voice began to crack as she spoke, “As sand rained down in my final resting bed and I clenched the red flowers in my hands…all I could think of were my children. What happened to them? I don’t know where they are, but I can feel their location…their Essence. Please I must know what became of them.”

Well, I couldn’t say no. The woman was distraught. I had never had children, so I didn’t understand her grief, but I did know a little about death.

She began to cry again as she explained where she felt her first child’s Essence. “Deimos was my first born. Oh, how I loved him. He gave me reason to live.” I waited as she poured her heart out. She cleared her throat and simply stated, “He rests where many others rest…in the darkness…underground.”

“Don’t worry Alice.” I promised. “I will find them and report back.” I had to think, where do many others rest? Then it hit me. No, not a cemetery, I thought shaking my head, but the crypts. Turning towards the nearest crypt, I began my search for him.

In the darkness I could hear the dripping of water somewhere in the distance. However, I was not thinking about that.

“Just get in and get out.” I told myself as I shuffled my feet forward.

Stumbling around in the darkness I felt something, a sarcophagus! I turned on the flash lite on my phone. A name can be read in the stone tablet next to it…Deimos.

“This must be it!” my voice echoing off the dark, damp walls of the tunnels. “This is one of Alice’s children!”

To avoid disturbing the resting souls, I quietly read the tablet.

“Deimos” was all the tablet said.

“Ok, ok, I found you.” I whispered.

Son of Alice. Skeptical, Genius, and Macabre.

“Oh, you are a genius, who likes dark things and is leery about it?” I thought.

I continued to read.

Lived a full life and passed away as an elder from…. a Cowplant?

“Huh, future me may need this information.” I made a mental note. Cowplant. Got it.

His very last word as he accepted his fate of getting swallowed whole was “Sentenced…”

Leaving the crypt, I could tell it was getting late, but I knew I had to find these children.

“Freddy, well now where can I find him.” I thought about the things Alice told me about her children.

“Freddy has forgotten his Sim nature…but as they say, it takes a village to raise a child.” I heard Alice’s voice in my head.

Freddy could be anywhere. Then it dawned on me, “Family Day is held in Crow’s Crossing.”

I headed off to the playground by the cemetery. I just knew he had to be there.

Reaching the playground I could see three glowing lite blue orbs. “Specters!” the excitement washed over me. Freddy had to be one of them.

As I approached the specters, I noticed he had a mustache and a bowtie. He is a cute little guy. That must be Freddy.

“Hi, are you Freddy?” I asked as the specter turned in my direction. The specter bounced up and down. I assumed that meant yes.

“I’m SimScope.”I told him. Your mother Alice asked me to find you and make sure you were okay.”

The specter hummed for a moment, suspended air. “Alice? Hmm…Alice…Alice!” Freddy thought.

“She was…my…Mother!” He continued as though the thought just came to him. “I remember her face as much as I remember my Sim nature, which is to say, not much at all.” His voice trailed off as he finished speaking.

Then as though his mood had shifted, he finished, “There is one thing I do remember though—her unconditional love.”

I sat with that for a moment. He can’t remember his own mother. How can you forget the face you saw every morning of your life?

Now it was time to find Ann. I wonder how she made out. But where could she be? Freddy was still floating around so I asked.

“Freddy, your mom needs me to find Ann.” I paused, not sure if he would even remember his sister.

Freddy floated for a moment and then his reply was simple. “Always by my side, but now remote and at peace…”

Freddy paused, then began to speak again. “Surrounded by fields and water…an island.”

My stomach began to grumble. I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I headed for The Final Drought, the bar in the Whispering Glen neighborhood. As soon as I arrived, I felt the pull of a long-gone Essence. “Ann.”

Following the pull, I began down the path towards the water. Lucky it was a warm summer day, I was going to get wet.

As I approached the water I began removing my clothing. Stepping into the water I saw a few minnows playing in the mud.

The water was cool and refreshing, the heat was going to end me.

“What a perfect place to spend eternity.” As I bent down to read the inscription on the stone, a fish jumped in the distance. The splash startled me a bit. I was after all hunting ghosts, for a ghost. Anyone could guess what was lurking round.

“Ann dedicated her life to the education of children,” pausing to think for a moment, “and inspired so many. She was the one Sim everyone agreed on.”

“Someday I want that written on my tombstone.” I spoke to the grave like Ann was standing in front of me. “Okay Ann, where to now?” I waited for the answer to come.

Then anger washed over me. I didn’t feel like myself. Then the fear came with it. I felt like I was mad at the people who came to drop their coins in hope of becoming something they are not. Just then it hit me. The old wishing well. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling. I had been to that well a thousand times or more. I had never felt anything like this before.

As I approached the well, I felt anger again. Only this time it was much stronger. That’s when I noticed her. Edith. Angry and really red!

I quickly pulled a coin from my pocket and flipped it in the well. Speaking aloud, “Allow me to have the courage to talk to Edith.”

With the flick of my thumb the coin left my hand.

A moment later the Well responded. Spewing red flames high into the air. I pulled back covering my face to avoid the flames.

I knew my wish had not been granted. I could hear the ghost child taunting me from beyond her grave, “Ha, ha, your wish did not come true.”

I didn’t get any courage from the Well today. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Alice needed to know what happened to her children.

I walked right up to that girl’s tombstone, “Edith, your mother sent me!” The firmness in my voice shocked me. “She thinks you ran away because of her.”

“AHHH!” Edith screamed. I wasn’t scared. She was just a child.

Then the sweetest smile crossed her face. Her aura began to change. A liter red. Maybe I had reached the Sim part of her existence.

“I just need to let her know.” I said softly. “She worries about how you parted when you were living.” I looked at her form and could see the girl was trying to form words. Before he could speak, I continued, “She thinks she is the reason you are no longer living.”

“Mother…She is not the reason I died…no…but I drowned here and am now bound to this accursed well forever!” Edith explained. My heart broke. This poor mother thought she was the reason Edith was gone.

“Your mother will be so happy to hear that she was not the cause.” I told her.

“Go back to Mother, tell her I am bound to the well. She will feel better.

Heading back, I knew Alice was going to love me for helping her. As I approached the Giving Tree, the sadness washed over me again. That feeling of uncontrollable grief.

“Alice? Are you still here?” I called out. I knew she was still here; I could feel her pain.

“Yes, I am here.”

I told her how I found her four children and where they were so she could visit them. Suddenly overcome with happiness and joy, I knew I had helped this ghost out.

As I finished reading my notes she just nodded.

When I was done, she looked at me as gently said, “A weight has been lifted… I no longer wallow in this ocean of sorrow; unshackled from these chains that kept me down.” Then she pointed to the tree, “Thank you…Thank you for finding my children. My Guardian Tree now opens to you.”

So grateful for my help I now had access to fill any and all my needs at any time I was near the tree and the ability to scavenge things from its roots.

“All in a day’s work.” I told her proudly.

She gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “You’re my new best friend.”

The End

Thank you for reading my short story. As you can see, I have used the in-game clues, prompts and rewards to show how I use the in-game mechanics to write my story. This is just a way to get you started if you don’t know how. It took me way too long to figure this out. I hope this helps.

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