I do not own the Sims. It belongs to EA.

So this happened... The idea just hit me, and I decide to wing it. It's a little darker than my usual Sims stories, but I figured I could use the challenge. Thanks for reading! NMR

Day One: Like a B-Movie

My name is Sasha Shepherd. Yesterday, I was a perfectly normal young adult living with my sister and her boyfriend. We argued sometimes, but I had a pretty good life. I was working my way up the music career, and my sister Layla had finally become a nurse. We had a decent house, and a lot of friends.

It's not that I wasn't happy, but I always wanted something more. I dreamed of the extraordinary, not the ordinary. Boy was I stupid back then. Now I'd give anything to get back to being ordinary.

It had started off innocently enough. I'd been at the grocery store picking up junk food for our upcoming party. I paid for it and left the store as per usual. My phone rang before I could reach my car. I set down my bags and checked the name to make sure it wasn't some idiotic spammer. The caller ID read Layla. I shrugged and answered it. Looking back, I almost wished I hadn't.

"Sasha?"

Her voice was loud and panicked. Weird. She had always been the calm, reasonable one. Maybe Ethan had dumped her.

I was about to answer yes, but I was cut off.

"Listen. Something's gone terribly wrong! Half the townies are dead, houses are burning and... there are things out there. Get in your car, lock the doors!"

I laughed. She was prank calling me. All those years of me telling her to lighten up and she finally does. Admittedly, it was the worst prank call I'd ever heard, but we all have to start somewhere, right?

"Nice one, sis. Too bad we both know I'm the queen of the prank call. Try Ethan, he's stupid enough to believe anything."

Silence for a moment. Usually she would have told me off for insulting her beloved boyfriend. Ok, so maybe I was a bit harsh. What about it? My sister had always been sweet, but now she was mushy. Plus she hardly ever had time for me anymore. We used to go out all the time, but now it was Ethan, Ethan, Ethan. Typical.

"Sasha, I'm not making it up! You need to get home now. That's an order, little sister."

I was taken aback by the tone of her voice. Layla was not demanding, not at all. I was usually the one bossing her around.

"Uh, ok."

There was a click, and she hung up. That was strange, really strange. I knew it was total nonsense and a joke, but a part of me was suspicious. I'd watched too many bad movies.

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I surveyed the area. The grocery store was still open, the sign's smiling mascot looking down on me. The parking lot had emptied out, but that wasn't uncommon on a Tuesday. The houses across the road looked perfectly normal, but the windows were all closed. A faint odour of smoke hung in the air. Not the fresh, fragrant campfire smoke, but something almost artificial smelling. Plasticy. Ew.

The trees swayed slightly in the breeze, and the sky was still clear. It was cold for summer, but that beat a heatwave any day. The stoplights had turned off, familiar green and red flashes absent. That was weird. We might not live in a big city, but traffic lights were still very much necessary. I looked around for an electrical truck or repairman, but the road was completely empty. Dead, you could say.

I shivered, taking in my surroundings. Everything was familiar, I'd grown up here. I had no reason to be scared. It was the middle if the day for crying out loud! But I was scared, and every part of my mind was telling me to run. I grabbed my shopping bags and dashed to my silver car, yanking open the door. I dumped the bags on the passenger seat and stabbed the key into the ignition.

It started perfectly, as always. The car had been expensive, but I was now grateful for the quality. Brushing my black hair out of my eyes, I sped off.

It took me about twenty minutes to get home. The door was locked, all the curtains shut. I knocked on the door, waiting. No answer. I waited longer. Still nothing. Frustrated, I rummaged through my reading tote looking for my set of keys. It took me a while, but I did find them. They were sticky from melted gummy candy, and I wiped my hand on my jeans. The door opened and I stepped into the kitchen. My eyes widened in horror.

Standing on top of the table was Layla. Her eyes were wild, her usually perfect honey-blonde hair a mess. She held a fire poker in her hand, and it looked as though she planned to kill me with it.

"Layla!" I gasped. I didn't trust myself to say more. You don't provoke a psychopath, after all.

"Sasha, it's you."

Her shoulders slumped, and she started to relax. I turned and locked the door behind me, careful to make sure it clicked. Layla dropped the poker and climbed off the table. Her hands were shaking, and she looked like she'd been crying.

"Layla, what the heck is this?"

I stepped closer to her, carefully avoiding the fallen poker. She reached out and hugged me, her tears leaving wet stains on my shirt. The tips of her hair were singed, her pretty face streaked with dirt and ashes. Whatever had happened to her, it must have hurt.

"Oh Sasha, it was horrible. The hospital took in some of the survivors, they were such a mess. Beyond my care. I tried to keep them comfortable, but they wouldn't listen. They just stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. I've never seen anything like it. We tried to help, but they just kept coming. The things... They were terrible. Children with faces in their torsos and giant clawed hands. Floating heads without bodies. Seven foot tall animal skeletons. They were killing us, you know. They... they got Ethan."

I didn't know what to say. I just hugged her harder, feeling her sobs wracking her body. Eventually she let go, and I went to get her some bandages and a washcloth. The power was gone, so we ate a bag of chips that I'd bought. I'd gotten us candles and blankets, and we played a game on her phone until she calmed down. There was nothing else I could do. The rise of the glitches had begun.