September 1, 2015
Nia Toadstool sat at the desk in her room, the computer on and the blinds shut on all her windows, blocking the summer sun from penetrating her room. The only glimpses of light came through the window, the cracks under the door from the hallway, and the fluorescent blue light radiant from her pink computer.
She started up her game, The Sims 3. A simulation game created by Electronic Arts, where you can create characters and control their lives. It was her favorite game. Waiting for it to load, she looked up above her desk to read her calendar. She sighed as it came to her mind that school starts on September 8th. She wanted the summer to be over. Sure, it was nice to have a vacation from school. But this summer in particular seemed to last forever.
She received The Sims 3 a week ago as her fifteenth birthday present and it has been the majority of her free time. She's spending her last week playing her game before she enters her freshman year of high school. Nia and her parents had done just about every activity this summer.
They went camping, boating and fishing, mountain-hiking, and Nia's favorite: going to the beach. Then on August 24, her birthday celebration at a restaurant. But they were done with their summertime adventures and back at home. Nia had kept a journal of her summer adventures on her desk for her to remember these days. When her game had finally loaded up, she looked across the screen and saw her family. They were the Hall family.
It started out with Arthur Hall. He worked at the Sacred Spleen Hospital as a doctor. Then there was his wife Chastity who works as a scientist at the Landgraab Science Facility. The parents of the family worked VERY hard at their jobs. Arthur worked on his logic skill by playing chess, reading logic-type books, and looking through a telescope. And the mother, Chastity had to work on many things as a scientist. She had to keep her logic, handiness and gardening skill. Which is very tough when she has children to feed.
Their eldest son is named Maverick Hall. He was a 17 year old. Nia made him to be her "perfect guy," or at least, he was her version of the perfect guy. Independent, tall, smart. He got good grades in school and always obeyed his parents. He was a great role model. He has medium length chestnut hair, blue thick nerdy glasses, and usually wore sweaters of different colors.
Next, he had a younger sister, Fiona Hall. She was 14 years old. Nia based Fiona off of other disrespectful teenage girls Nia has met before. She was horrible and rotten on the inside. She was very rebellious, skipped school often, went to bad parties, and did not make healthy choices. She had hair dyed the color of white platinum. She wore revealing outfits like tank tops and shorts, which cause her and her mother to get into fights about her age-inappropriate wardrobe.
Their youngest child is named Blair Hall. He was a toddler, so he doesn't really have too much importance yet. He has buzzcut brown hair with a blue shirt that had a ladybug on it. He idolizes his older brother, who was the first person that he smiled at when he was a baby.
Nia sent Arthur and Chastity to work, Maverick and Fiona rode off in a bus to the Sunset Valley High School and a babysitter named Autumn to take care of Blair.
Her favorite part about The Sims 3 is that it never ends. Nia could play the Hall family generation to generation, as many family members as she wanted.
She also liked that she had full control and could choose whatever she wanted. As a child, her mom basically chose her wardrobe and furniture for her room. Now she had just began choosing things and becoming a more independent version of herself.
She hit the blue fast-forward button, so that the Sim-Day would pass by while the family was at work and school. While it happened, her mother Harmony called her from downstairs.
Nia paused her game and the sim characters went from moving quickly, running across the town, to a world of no movement, no sound, and a red border appeared around the screen, indicating that the game was paused. The Sims were mannequins and the town was an empty, quiet store.
"I'm coming, mom!" She called down to Harmony.
"I wonder what she needs." She thought. "Maybe she just needs help with something."
Her mother was in her favorite pink polo shirt and had her dark brown hair in a ponytail. Nia could tell from her cleanliness that she had one her "surprises" ready for her.
"Nia, I have a surprise for you!" her mom nodded.
"Oh, did that new yoga set arrive?" Nia asked. "I'm going to need that soon."
"Well, no."
"Are we going school shopping yet?"
"Not yet, no."
"Surprise trip to the beach?"
"No! Someone is actually coming to visit us."
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "This must be the surprise…" Nia remarked, as Harmony looked through the peep hole.
"It's your cousin Astrid!" her mom nodded. Nia's eyes widened.
"Oh yeah, you told me yesterday. We haven't seen her since 2013."
Astrid had came in 2013 to celebrate her eighth birthday with Nia, Harmony and Grant and her own family. They lived in Montana, which is about 1200 miles away from Watersman, California, where Nia lived.
She opened the door to see her uncle Jebidah standing next to her cousin Astrid.
"Hello Nia!" The preteen ran in to give her a hug.
"Oh yay. It's Astrid." Nia remarked sarcastically.
The slender 15 year old looked at her cousin, who really hasn't changed since the last time she had saw her. Astrid was now 10 years old. She had mosquito bites, bandages, braces, and her hair was in a tight bun that she remembers Astrid's mother always forces her to wear. She wore a pink dress and had chestnut colored hair.
Nia's aunt-in-law wanted her daughter to be ladylike and sophisticated, like her. But Astrid prefered being playful, obnoxious, getting dirty. She was clean right now, but Nia knew it wouldn't last very long.
She remembered, two years ago, Astrid playing in the dirt, and her mother shrieking, "Astrid Priscilla Toadstool, stop this nonsense right now!"
Nia's father says Astrid acts just like her father Jebidah when he was a kid.
Astrid took her hair of the bun and let her hair fall down her shoulders.
"So Nia, do you wanna go outside and play in the sandbox? Or we could jump in the mud pile on Oak Drive? Or we could and egg someone's house! Or..." The list of messy things that Astrid wanted to do went on and on. She clearly wanted this as a chance to do her antics while her parents were away.
"How about we go upstairs to my bedroom and I'll show you my game?" Nia suggested.
"Okay... we could do that." Astrid replied less enthusiastically.
"Great, let's go," Nia succeeded as they ran upstairs to her room.
Nia and Astrid walked into the bedroom.
"No clothes on the floor? Perfectly organized desk? Her bed is even made completely, no wrinkles in the fabric? Whoa." Astrid marveled.
"How do you keep your room so clean?" Astrid asked.
"Easy, I just put my stuff away whenever I need to," Nia answered.
"It's not that easy for me, you know. Im absent-minded and I do better in clutter than I do in an organized space.
Then she sat in her red rolling chair. "Astrid, this is my favorite game The Sims 3," Nia asked.
"What do you do in it?" Astrid asked.
"Well basically, you create a family, then move them into the town of Sunset Valley, then you play and control that family,"
"Nia, that's boring," Astrid shrieked. "Hey, you should see this thing my dad is working on!"
She pulled out a flash drive, "My daddy says this drive has special powers, like it can bring you into video games or give you superpowers. One of the two, at least. And all you have to do is plug it into a high-powered computer!"
"Eh, I'm pretty sure he's making that up," Nia sneered skeptically.
"Can I plug it in, please?" She pleaded.
"Fine. But it's not going to do anything," Nia inserted the strange flash drive into the desktop.
"Are you happy now?" Nia spat.
"Yes!" Astrid yelled. "Now we just have to wait a minute for the flash drive to work its magic."
"Astrid, honey? Can you come here for a sec?" Harmony yelled up the stairs.
"Okay, Aunt Harmony!" Astrid bolted down the stairs.
Nia focused back to her Sims, she looked at the time it was in the game and it was almost time for Maverick and Fiona to get back from school... She loved the power she had with this game. She felt like an over-seeing god or something. The one who decides the family's fate!
But she know that she just insignificant, fifteen year old Petunia Toadstool. She really only has one friend, Lexi Reed, and her boyfriend Ethan.
However, she never gets to see them outside of school. She has gone through most of her life unnoticed. She plans on changing that when she joins high school.
Back at her game, she continued playing until her game froze up. It was very unexpected considering this desktop is very advanced and can run things even faster than a typical computer.
The game started responding again but when that happened, the weird flash drive Astrid had plugged into the USB slot started to glow a bright turquoise color and buzzed. Nia was confused at what it was doing when suddenly her hand was stuck to the computer mouse.
Nia noticed an unconscious female Sim had appeared on the screen. But before she could hover over her to read the Sims name, things went dark for Nia. She felt nothing but energy burning through an empty space. She didn't know how long she had been in this odd darkness.
She suddenly felt grass and heard a car driving by. She opened her eyes and saw herself, lying on a grass field next to a road that led to an entrance to a town.
Something seems awfully familiar about this area, like Nia had seen it in a movie or something.
"Where am I?" Nia thought, as she trudged up the empty sidewalk.
Nia had walked through the town until she found herself next to a graveyard. As she walked up the uphill she saw a woman wearing a gothic dress and had short purple hair. She looked familiar.
"Hello," she waved "Are you lost?"
"Yeah, I guess I am," Nia sheepishly replied.
"You look like a teenager, shouldn't you be at school?" The woman asked.
"No, it's summer vacation..." Nia replied.
"What do you mean? It's the winter." She told her
"Well, that explains why it's so cold out here." Nia shivered. It was a very hot Californian September day back at her town, where she wore a white flower patterned tank top and some shorts.
"Do you need a ride to the high school?"
"Uh, sure. I guess," Nia was so confused. What happened? Did she miss the first day of school? Is it suddenly December? "What your name?" Nia asked the woman.
"Cornelia." she replied.
"Cornelia... where have I heard that name from?" She wondered.
"Well my family is well known throughout the town," Cornelia replied.
"Mrs. Cornelia, what day is it?" Nia asked, "And like say the specific date."
"December 14th, 2011." Cornelia replied.
"Wait, what?" Nia was confused. "No, no, that's not possible, it September first!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, dear." Cornelia mumbled.
As they rode into the town, Nia instantly recognized the setting. She was in Sunset Valley.
"Astrid was right. I can go into games with that mysterious flash drive."
The date suddenly makes sense. The game was released in June 2009, so when you first start playing it's 2009, and it had been 3 Sim-years since she started.
"Thanks for the ride," Nia departed with Cornelia.
She walked up to the school and sat at the bench. She waited thirty Sim minutes until school for the Sims had ended.
"Am I seriously in The Sims 3?" She thought to herself.
When the school day ended, the first two students walked out and Nia recognized them instantly. One was a boy with shoulder length chestnut hair, blue glasses and a navy blue sweater. This was Maverick.
Standing next to him was a girl with dyed blonde hair, a butterfly tank top and pink shorts. This was Fiona.
"There's Fiona and Maverick!" Nia thought. She never thought she would be able to meet her Sims! The siblings approached the bus and Nia followed them.
"Hey!" she called. "Can I sit with you guys on the bus? My... parents are out of town on vacation."
"Sure!" Maverick called. "I am Maverick and this is Fiona."
"Are you kidding?" Fiona shrieked. "I have to deal with two dorks now?"
"My name is Nia." she reluctantly presented herself, and held her hand out to greet them.
Fiona rejected the handshake. "You're name is Nia, really? Wow, your family must be religious." Fiona snapped.
"Religious? What do you mean?"
"How could your name be Nia but you still don't know about Nianism?"
"Nianism?"
"It's the main religion of SimNation..." Maverick explained. "Nianists believe that a goddess named Nia rules over our world."
"Uh, yeah! I know all about that. My parents are huge religious people," Nia chuckled. That was a lie, actually, they were the opposite. She doesn't remember being brought to a church ever in her life.
"So, why do you want to talk with us?" Fiona sneered. "We don't even know you."
"Oh, Fiona, be nice!" Maverick reprimanded. "Do you want to come to our house when we arrive home?"
"That would be great," Nia nodded.
"Why are you letting a random stranger walk into our home?" Fiona uttered. "This is just the start of a horror movie, and I should know, I watch a lot of horror movies."
"Stop being paranoid!" Maverick rolled his eyes. "I'm so sorry, she tries so hard to be a rebel."
"It's fine." Nia reassured. "So, let's board the bus."
"Whatever, I'm not going to get murdered!" Fiona spat. "This is just like the ending of Grim Reaper's Revenge!"
"She watched horror movies until 3 o'clock last night." Maverick remarked. "Anyway, so what do you like to study?"
"I like to study writing and stuff, and when school starts I'm going to study other languages."
"When school starts?" Maverick titled his head. "What do you mean, it's December."
"Oh, well, where I'm from it's still summer."
Maverick gave her a confused look. "I wish it was still summer. I love going to the beach. The warm weather, the hot girls, the ice cream…"
"I'm, uh, just messing with you, man!" Nia lightly punched his shoulder.
"Wow, am I seriously forming a crush on a simulated character?" Nia thought. "This is really weird. But he's so cute."
Maverick scooted to the aisle.
Nia looked out the window and saw the houses passing by, the clouds gray and the roofs frosted. She was shivering a little, the cold December air was something she was not used to. It was not helping that she was wearing a light t-shirt and shorts.
"Are you going to be okay in those clothes?" he asked.
"I'm freezing. I wish the weather was like this in my town." she wished.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Astrid ran up the stairs with a plate of snacks.
"Hey Nia, I brought some… Nia? Where are you?" Astrid looked around to see that Nia wasn't in her bedroom.
Her blinds had been closed so the room was dark and the only glimpse of light came from Nia's desktop. Astrid looked at the screen to see Nia riding on a bus with two other teenagers, the boy with glasses talking to Nia, and the girl with the bun had an angry look and her arms were crossed.
"She entered the game with my dad's flash drive! Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Astrid freaked out, putting her hands on her forehead.
"What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?" She panicked, feeling another rush of anxiety over her body. Astrid suffers from anxiety, and losing her cousin in a videogame was just the tip of the iceberg.
Astrid had lived the past few years of her life in stress because of her mom.
Astrid flipped a small switch on her flash drive. She woke up on the same spot that Nia had landed, near the entrance of Sunset Valley.
"Alright, I made it!" she looked around the town to see if she could find that bus. The only problem is, she knew absolutely nothing about this game. She walked around to see if Nia was in a house. She didn't have any luck however.
Eventually, Astrid saw a bus and quickly followed it. Sure enough, Nia and the two other teenagers were there. They walked into a house on a street called "Skyborough Boulevard" and she snuck up to the door and secretly walked inside to find Nia.
She walked in and saw family portraits on the wall. Underneath one of the pictures it read "Hall Family" with a picture of the family. She snuck in, but her clumsiness got the better of her and she tripped, knocking over a picture and it made a sound.
She heard some running downstairs.
"Oh no! I'm in trouble..." Astrid worried.
The dark, endless hallway remained still and quiet. A single shadow lurked in the middle. The ominous shadow walked over to an old lever and flipped it up. Instantly, the hallway lit up and pitiful Sims trudged into the walkway. A spray painted word was now visible on the wall which read, "The Corridor of The Deleted."
The Corridor of The Deleted an endless hallway is where Sims that have been deleted from create a Sim, the family bin, from the Sim library, the Sim clipboard, and using the Delete Sim tool with cheats. Sims do not have to eat, drink, nor use the bathroom. In this corridor, Sims have the memory of being created, unlike normal Sims. Some Sims residing here don't even have names, or traits, just empty shells that Sims players decided weren't good enough for the Sim's world.
Then there was Corridor Hall, the first inhabitant and leader of the place. Most of the time he just kept things in order. Made sure no fights happened and all the chores were did. But at night he stays up, thinking about the dreaded goddess Nia who had left him there and kept him away from his family.
Corridor remembers the creation of his family. His brother Arthur, his sister-in-law Chastity, a child named Maverick, and a toddler named Fiona. Corridor was so excited about being with a family. Just as Nia linked Arthur and Corridor together as brothers, she deleted him at the last minute!
Corridor can only infer that she hated him, and decided he shouldn't be placed in the world and banished him to this stinky, dank, cold place. The Hall family doesn't have any memory of him anymore. After him, two other people came tumbling in.
Their names were Beau and Victoria Andrews, a young couple who had been evicted and thereafter deleted by Nia, so the Hall family could reside there. Beau and Victoria are no longer remembered in Sunset Valley now.
Beau was so angry that he decided to join Corridor and get revenge, somehow, on Nia Toadstool. He had lost weight after that and became fit, with the help of Corridor.
"BEAU!" Corridor yelled.
"Yes, Mr. Hall?" Beau obediently ran over to Corridor's cell.
"So, you have news for me?"
"Oh yes! My signals went crazy last night, and I have concluded that Goddess Nia has somehow entered this universe!"
"DO NOT CALL HER A GODDESS!" Corridor raged. "After what she did to me, she has to be a devil. Now we need to figure a way out of this dump..."
"And I have a great idea!" Beau chirped.
Meanwhile, back in the real world Nia's mother, Harmony had been anxiously waiting for her husband Grant to return. Since Astrid came to visit, Astrid's parents were coming over as well.
Grant's brother, Jebidah was an aspiring computer programmer. He was a fun-loving guy that Harmony definitely got along with.
Jebidah's wife Felicia was a different story. Rude, sarcastic, and condescending. She had no sense of humor and freaks out over the slightest of problems.
Felicia and Harmony had absolutely nothing in common. Felicia was a snobby fashion designer, and former model back when she was younger. She was old-fashioned. Harmony was the exact opposite. She was a policewoman, who dressed comfortably and lived for danger. She was always ready to step out of her comfort zone.
Harmony had lived through the death of her younger sister Lilli in 1990. She died when she was playing with TV cords and was electrocuted. Harmony had been devoted to saving people from accidents after that.
Harmony wasn't looking forward to tonight because she knew how it was going to.
The men would watch a sports game, while Felicia would try to talk to Harmony, but then would criticize her lifestyle, being her close-minded self. That's the way it has always been for the "get-togethers" that they had.
"Oh, goodness." Harmony thought. "This is going to be a tragic night."
"Astrid?" Nia was surprised, looking at her body on the floor.
"Hi Nia," Astrid replied awkwardly. She got off the floor.
"What are you doing here?"
"I saw you entered the game, so I had to come rescue you!"
"You know how to operate that thing?" Nia asked. "You're only ten years old."
"Yeah, I play with it all the time. I know the combination of my dad's safe !"
"Uh... well-" before she could say another word, Fiona came down the hall.
"Hey, loser! You can talk with Mav if you want. I'm going to hang out with VJ." Fiona sneered.
"Do you mean VJ Alvi?" Nia recognized that name, he was a rebellious Sim. Perfect for Fiona.
"You've heard of him? He's only the most awesome guy in all of Sunset Valley!"
"Uh... yeah! You know maybe I could come with you! I've always wanted to see the coolest guy here." Nia stammered.
"Ugh," Fiona grunted. "Fine, you can come. Who's this?"
"This is Astrid, my cousin. I'm, uh, babysitting,"
"Well, good thing Mav likes to babysit. Let's go!" Fiona pulled her out the door.
"Wait, Nia! Come back!" Astrid yelled. Suddenly, she heard more footsteps and saw a handsome teenager walk down the stairs.
"Hello handsome!" She stared at him.
"Uh, who are you?"
"I'm Nia's cousin, Astrid. But you can call me Mrs. Mav Hall!" she cooed, staring at him, and creeping Maverick out,"
"Oh, okay..." Maverick was sweating, he felt uncomfortable. "So what do you want to do?"
"Whatever you like, cutie!" Astrid flirted.
Meanwhile, at the park, Fiona and Nia were there, and VJ was sitting at a park bench.
VJ looked like a punk rocker. He had a shaven head and a mohawk sticking up, practically poking the sky. He has dark skin and a red spiked collar around his neck, along with a red shirt with skulls on it.
"Who are you?" VJ asked her.
"I'm Nia, Fiona's friend. How are you?" Nia asked as she sat down on the opposite side of the bench.
"I'm okay," he yawned, looking very bored.
"I'll get something for us to eat," Fiona walked off.
"Wow… Today has been one insane day." Nia reflected. "My uncle's invention actually brought me inside of a video game. This feels like a dream, and I keep expecting to wake up. I wonder how long he has been working on this flash drive project. And how will Astrid get me out of here? It seems that she has done this multiple times. I guess I shouldn't have left her at Fiona's house…"
Soon after Fiona walked off, an older man walked over to VJ. It must have been VJ's father, because he looked like a forty-year-old version of VJ, complete with balding hair, a unibrow, and green polo shirt. He looked like a desperately needed a nice vacation.
"VJ, I thought I told you to come home and babysit your brother!" His father ordered with a middle eastern accent.
"Are you kidding me?" VJ spat. "Who cares about him anyway?"
"He's only twelve," his dad yelled. "And he's too young to be home alone!"
"Can't you just get a babysitter?"
"We don't have the money for one!" His father sighed. "You know what, enjoy your little picnic. Because when you get home, YOU'RE GROUNDED!"
"Whatever!" VJ sneered.
VJ's father stormed off angry. VJ put his hands on his forehead in agony and stared at the picnic bench that he sat on.
"I feel so bad for this family." Nia pondered. "Maybe I can help VJ out. Or not… Should I help him or stay out of this?" After a moment of thinking, Nia finally spoke up.
"You know, you shouldn't be so rude to your father." Nia suggested.
"Why? He's the reason my mother left!" VJ looked up.
"It's not his fault your mom left your family."
"Then why would she leave?"
"Maybe you need to look at yourself." Nia told him. "You have no aspirations and you're a terrible student. All you do is looking for new ways to torment your dad."
"So?"
"So, you should be grateful you still have your father." Nia advised. "He works his ass off to give you and your brother a place to live. And all you do is treat him with disrespect."
"But if it weren't for him… But if…" VJ stammered, trying to find any excuse he could, so he didn't have to blame himself.
"Do you even know the reason she left?" Nia asked.
"Well, n-no… She left after my brother was born… I guess I never really asked, I just blamed dad for it."
"You should reconcile with him. Tell him how you feel."
"Maybe you're right," VJ rested his fist on his cheek. "Maybe I should go talk to him." VJ got up and walked away.
Later, Fiona came back with some hot dogs and drinks. "Where did he go?" Fiona asked...
"Uh, family emergency." Nia answered.
"What?" Do you have something to do with this?" Fiona barked.
"Well he had a fight with his father,"
"His father? Ha, figures." Fiona scoffed.
"What about his father?"
"He is a total paranoid ass." Fiona remarked. "He thinks VJ and I, like, go to the town drug dealer or something. Like no dude. We just hang together."
"Do you like VJ?" Nia asked.
"I guess. He's pretty cool." Fiona remarked. "Better than hanging out with a stuck-up smart kid as a brother.
"Fiona, you should get along with your brother."
"Pfft! Why? He treats me like garbage and thinks he's better than me just because he has perfect grades and shit. And he's really fucking boring. He's probably doing math right now."
"Well, if that's how you really feel…"
"Oh boo hoo, you entitled girls always want to talk about your feelings." Fiona scoffed in anger. "You're just like all the other whiny stuck up popular girls."
"I'm not a popular girl," Nia shook her head. "If anything I'm the opposite."
"Let's just go home," Fiona started running. "I've had enough for today."
Back in the Corridor of the Deleted, Beau and Corridor were getting ready for their visit to Sunset Valley.
"Beau, how are we going to get past the game boundary? We're stuck in the recycling bin!" Corridor asked.
"Well, I have made these jumpsuits for us and they will be able to let us pass through the electric field that confines us to the bin. Don't tell the other deleted Sims, they want out of here like crazy!"
"Uh, okay," Corridor and Beau put on the jumpsuits.
"These are really tight!" Corridor complained.
"Well, you could always stay here and mandate the chores." Beau suggested.
"Oh, fine! I'll wear it so I can get out of here."
In the Toadstool household. Harmony and Grant opened the door, and her husband and in-laws were already here.
"Hi, Jebidah!" She greeted Jebidah. "How was your summer?"
"It was great, man!" he replied, "Astrid and I went camping together last week!"
"I didn't go, I don't need to contract mosquito viruses." Felicia remarked. "Oh, Harmony guess where I went to this summer!"
"Hell?" Harmony thought. "Where did you go?"
"I went to Spain for a fashion show."
"Oh, really? I went to Spain for my Spanish class trip in 10th grade!"
"Well, I can speak fluent Spanish and it was delightful there."
"Try some Spanish on me!" Harmony suggested, happy that she might get some civil conversation from her instead of snobby insults. "I'm not going to brag, but in high school, I had a B minus in Spanish. ¿Cómo estás Felicia?"
"Harmony, estoy muy bien. El viaje en avión fue genial." Felicia recited with speed and accuracy.
"Um… muy bien." Harmony replied/ She did not understand as she only took two years of Spanish and that was decades ago.
"I see those Spanish classes did not teach you at all. Of course, this makes me better than you at another thing."
Harmony was already becoming frustrated; and it wasn't even lunch yet. "Quick, think of a comeback…"
"So, I see your housekeeping hasn't changed." She sniffed the air, then made a look of disgust. "Nope, not at all.
"Let's not get distracted," Grant reminded. "Remember, today is Jeb and Felicia's fourteenth wedding anniversary! I mean, that's why they're here in the first place."
"Exactly, which is why I am ticked off that this was your plans Jebidah. Taking me to your brother's smelly, stuffy house for our anniversary is the best you could come up with? I'm choosing the place next year."
"Guys, stop fighting!" Jebidah yelled.
"She started it!" Harmony retorted.
"Really? 'She started it!' What are we, children? Speaking of which, where's Astrid?"
"She's upstairs with Nia!" Harmony answered.
"Is that your lazy bookworm daughter?"
"She's not lazy!" Harmony exclaimed. When will this nightmare end? Harmony thought to herself.
"At least my daughter can get a 3.7 GPA while yours can barely get a C on her papers."
"Oh, you did not just go there!" Felicia snorted. The guys watched in disbelief.
In the computer, Nia and Fiona had just returned to the Hall residence. "I can't believe you Nia! I don't know what you did, but you really messed up my date with VJ!" Fiona screamed.
"Are you kidding? I changed his life!" Nia smirked.
"For better or for worse?" Fiona sarcastically remarked.
"Hey, cool! You guys are back!" Maverick ran in. "Could you help me out?" They saw Astrid hugging Maverick tight.
"Astrid, get off of him!" Nia yelled.
"Well, it's not my fault you made him so cute." Astrid replied.
"What? What do you mean?" Maverick asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion.
"Oh, it's nothing! The real point is that Astrid and I need to get home immediately!"
"What? Why? Do you need a ride to your house?" Fiona asked. "Because Mav can drive you there."
"Uh, well... not exactly. I'm from the United States. California to be exact." Nia explained.
"What's the United States?" Fiona asked, even more confused.
"And what's California?" Maverick followed.
"It's the country where the Goddess Nia lives. I'm the Goddess Nia," Nia admitted.
"What?" Fiona was so flabbergasted, her jaw dropped.
"No, no, no. This isn't real. It can't be!" Maverick freaked out.
"I hate to break it to ya, but it is true." Nia shrugged her shoulders.
"That means... You control my every move? You were there when the house almost burnt down?" Maverick asked.
"Yep."
"And when my baby brother was born?"
"Uh-huh"
"And when Fiona pranked the high school and got grounded for a month?"
"As you can see, I am the Goddess,"
"This is a huge secret! Nia, if Landgraab Industries finds out, they'll lock you up in a lab and experiment on you." Maverick warned her.
"How could they possibly find out?" Nia asked.
"My mother works there!"
"Let's be careful around her then," Nia advised. "But, who would really be so heartless to lock a teenage girl up and experiment on them?"
"Mom would, she does whatever she can for a promotion." Fiona informed.
When their mom returned home, she walked to the living room to see Mav babysitting his little brother and Fiona watching TV. However, a teenage girl with long blonde hair, glasses, and a pink jacket sat in the couch watching TV as well.
"Sim-TV is so boring," Nia remarked.
"I'm sure you can't find better TV in "California" then!" Fiona laughed.
"Who's this girl?" Chastity asked.
Nia waved at Chastity. "Oh, my name is-"
"Maryrosalinda!" Maverick yelled quickly. Chastity, Nia, Fiona, and Astrid gave him a strange look.
"Uh, nice to meet you Mary Rosalinda, so why are you here?"
"Oh, she's in the foreign exchange student program, Mav is showing her around," Fiona explained.
"Well, Mary... Rose... something... can stay here as long as she'd like," Chastity commented with a smile.
"Thanks Mrs. Hall! I'm happy to be here, your family is definitely something," Nia looked at Maverick.
"Anyway, I'm going to use my computer, have fun." Chastity replied as she left.
Nia hit Maverick's shoulder "Maryrosalinda? Seriously?"
"I'm sorry, I panicked! She can't know your name is Nia! She'll get suspicious."
"Whatever, I'm going to get the mail," Fiona crossed her arms.
As Fiona went out, Astrid walked out of the bathroom, and over to Maverick "So, what grade are you in?"
"Eleventh grade," Maverick answered.
"You're old. Our relationship is over!" Astrid yelled.
"We never had a relationship to begin with! I'm going to use the bathroom now." Maverick left.
"Uh, Astrid we have a bigger problem right now. How are we going to get back to the physical world?" Nia asked.
"I don't remember! My dad told me there was a way to reverse this, but I don't remember how!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Why did you have to plug that flash drive in?" Nia touched her face in agony.
"I was going to enter the game 'Ponies-Go-Crazy' and show you! You should blame aunt Harmony, she called me downstairs!"
"It's not my mom's fault! You shouldn't have done this!" Nia scolded.
Fiona entered the room quickly, "Nia, Astrid! I got a threatening letter!"
Dear Fiona and Maverick, I'm tired of this secrecy. I'm your uncle and you know it. I'm tired of your family ignoring me. Until I get my revenge, no one is safe and your family will be attacked by my powers. The Goddess may have deleted me, but I'm still here. Sunset Valley will feel my wrath!
-NOT sincerely, Corridor Hall.
"Who is Corridor Hall?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know!" Fiona answered.
"Uh, guys... I know who that is." Nia admitted, her face pale. "I created him."
"What?" Fiona exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'll explain… On my fifteenth birthday, I created your family…"
August 24, 2015
"Okay, there's Fiona. She is such a cute little toddler! I bet she'll be so nice when she grows up!" Nia thought, after she made a toddler girl. "Oh, something's missing in this family.. What about an uncle?" She clicked on the create new Sim button.
"Hm... I'll make him crazy! I'll give him fire red hair, ooh and I can give him a fire patterned tank top, and…" Nia's thoughts went on and she finally created this man.
"What should his name be... The last name is Hall... how about Corridor? That would be funny!" She typed Corridor into the "first name" area.
After, that she connected everyone in the family, however, she glanced at the portrait.
"Now this family looks too big." she thought. "I'll just delete Corridor, I mean, it's just a meaningless game." She went back and deleted Corridor.
"What? No! NO! MY FAMILY!" Corridor thought, as he was deleted. Nia didn't hear that however.
September 1, 2015
"And that's what happened."
"So we have a deleted uncle and never knew about it? What's next? A deleted aunt?" Fiona grunted.
"Okay, okay!" Nia held her arms out in calm. "We need to tell Maverick about this! Where is he?"
"The bathroom, let's go up there!" Astrid answered. They walked to the upstairs to the bathroom door.
"Maverick?" Fiona yelled, no one answered.
"MAVERICK?" She kicked open the door, revealing no one was there.
"Maverick is gone!" Nia noted.
"NOOOOOOO!" Astrid yelled, getting on her knees.
"What a drama queen," Fiona commented "I mean, we have to find Maverick!"
In the living room of the real world, the fighting between Harmony and Felicia had settled, and Jebidah and Grant were watching a sports game together. However, Harmony still sat in her chair, like an impatient child in a timeout.
"Score!" Jebidah , then he and Grant high fived.
"Oh, you boys!" Felicia remarked "So into your sports! What happened to the good old days in high school? Remember when Jebidah took me to a romantic restaurant before prom? Unlike Harmony and Grant, who go to rundown restaurants for dates."
Harmony rolled her eyes. "Okay, Jill's Hamburger Palace was all I could afford on short notice!"
"Can't... afford? What does that mean?" Felicia asked confused.
"I didn't have enough money. I had insufficient funds." Harmony explained.
"Huh, I forgot," Felicia spat. "Of course you're a poor person."
The scalding words of Felicia's privilege burned through Harmony's ears. She was so tired of her acting like she was the best woman in the world.
"Hey, honey?" Harmony asked Grant "Can we go talk in kitchen?"
"Sure," He replied and they went into the kitchen. "Grant, I'm not sure if I can take much more of this..."
"What? Harmony, we're having so much fun!"
"Yeah, you and your brother," Harmony blurted, "But Felicia is driving me bonkers!"
"Yeah, I did kind of notice that." Grant replied.
"I just..." she sighed. "Want us to get along better. I don't have many friends besides my sister Aria, and some other women in the office."
"I understand. Okay, let's go in there and see if you two can engage in civil conversation."
Harmony took her hair out of a ponytail and splashed some water on her face. "Okay, I'm ready."
She walked to the living room and sat on the armchair. "Hello, Felicia, so how was your summer?"
"I already told you, I visited Spain."
"Oh right," She nodded. "So, how has Astrid been?"
"Why do you care so much?" Felicia spat.
"I just want to be your friend, Felicia. Who says we have to hate each other?"
"Whoever decides." Felicia retorted. "They've already decided that I'm better than you."
"No Felicia, you've just ended up more successful." Harmony replied. "I've seen your fashion works, they're really great. And really expensive."
"Well, thank you." Felicia uttered. "I try my best."
"And it really shows," Harmony smiled. "I feel if you weren't so snobby and judgemental, you and I would get along well."
"But you're a policewoman, and I'm a fashion designer. We weren't meant to be friends."
"Who says we can't be friends? We're two people, forget our professions, we're just two women, two mothers."
"Well…" She paused. "I suppose you've given me a lot to think about."
In the hallway of the Hall residence, Maverick got a text from his crush
Hey, it's Holly! Meet at the park! 08:03 PM
"Holly's finally interested in me..." He whispered. He put his jacket on, then went out the back door.
At nearby small park, there were plants and pathways that led out to the town. In the park there were just some benches and chess tables laid out. Maverick saw Holly Alto standing in the middle of some mysteriously placed rocks.
"Hey, Holly! So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he confidently inquired.
"Hello," Holly greeted. Her voice was slightly deeper than normal.
"Your voice is deep, are you catching a cold?"
"No, I'm fine," Holly replied. She seemed very relaxed, which wasn't like her.
"Something seems different." Maverick joked.
"Okay..." Holly's voice getting even deeper. She turned to behind a tree and yelled. "Quick! Get inside Maverick now!"
"What?" Maverick was very very confused. Suddenly, a man ran from the tree and Maverick felt an entity enter his body.
"Corridor," Beau, in Maverick's body, was surprised. "I'm in! Your computer hack worked!"
"Yes, my plans always work, Beau!" Corridor, in Holly's body replied, voice now as deep as a man's. "Let's go find Nia."
"The love of my young life is gone!" Astrid gasped in despair.
"Maverick doesn't like you!" Fiona replied.
"Maverick left his cell phone on this table!" Nia observed. "He got a text that says "Hey, it's Holly! Meet me at the park!" and was sent fifteen minutes ago."
"WHO'S HOLLY?" Astrid growled.
"Maverick's crush." Fiona told her.
"Okay, let's go to the park and figure this whole thing out! Remember that letter we got? It says until I get my revenge, no one is safe and your family will be attacked by my powers,"
"Oh, nothing! Let's go now!" Nia rushed out the door.
Nia, Astrid, and Fiona ran through Central Park. They were anxious. Up ahead, they saw Maverick and Holly running by. However, they didn't know that Beau possessed Maverick and Corridor possessed Holly.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Nia gasped. "You guys are okay!"
"Oh yes," Corridor in Holly's body replied. "Who are you again?"
"I'm Nia. I'm Maverick and Fiona's friend," Nia replied. "You must be Holly, nice to meet you!"
"YOU'RE NIA?" Corridor in Holly's body raged. Their eyes started to turn fire red.
"Are you okay?" Nia asked.
"Yeah, what's with the angry face?" Astrid asked, then hid behind Nia.
"It's time for my revenge." Corridor in Holly's body held their fists out. And blasted fire across the park. "Ha ha ha!"
"What? You're not Holly!"
"That's right little girl. I'm Corridor Hall!" Corridor screamed, then suddenly... He appeared, then the real Holly fell down.
"Uh, what happened..." Holly murmured, as she felt dizzy.
"Okay, Nia and random little girl, we are going to fight to the death! Whoever dies first, loses!"
Corridor first blasted them with a burning fire. Nia pushed Astrid quickly out of the way. Nia kicked Corridor in the shins, causing him to lose balance and fall on the floor.
Corridor sent a blast of heat upon himself, causing him to fall upwards. He balanced himself.
"Enough games." He blasted Astrid with a huge fire.
Astrid frantically ran around screaming in pain. Nia felt horrified and like the most irresponsible cousin in the world. But as soon as she was about to give in, she saw something lifesaving!
Buckets of water!
"Perfect!" Nia thought. She, along with Mav, Fiona, and Holly grabbed many buckets of water, and used some to extinguish the fire that was ablaze on Astrid.
"You saved my life!" Astrid smiled.
"You bet we did! Now, let's go defeat Corridor!" Nia proclaimed.
They picked up the remaining buckets, then drenched Corridor with them!
"SWEET MOTHER GORDA! THE WATER IS SO COLD!" He screamed.
"On three! 1, 2, 3!" Astrid and Nia kicked Corridor's stomach and he fell onto the ground. He didn't get back up.
"Astrid, are you okay?" Nia asked. "Do you feel any pain?"
"No, I'm fine! That you so much for saving me!" Astrid breathed with relief.
"I'm really sorry for thinking you were an ignorant kid." Nia smiled.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry for thinking you were boring because you have different interests." Astrid apologized.
"It's fine! Listen... I just want you to know, you've always been like a sister to me." Nia Nia and Astrid hugged. When Nia opened her eyes she saw that they somehow had ended back in the bedroom.
"We're safe! Ah! It's that thing!" She ripped the flash drive out of the computer's USB port and threw it underneath her bed.
"I can't believe it! All we had to do was hug?"
"I know, weird stuff. Listen, if you ever want to talk about anything I'm always here for you," Nia patted her back.
"That would be great. Honestly, I don't have any school friends to talk with... People think I'm weird." Astrid confessed. "My mom doesn't listen, she just criticizes me. My dad is cool, but he's always busy with work and projects."
"I'm always here for you. Promise me you won't tell them about the journey."
"Promise!" Astrid nodded, then they pinkie-sweared.
"Now, let's get our slumber party started! Do you want to watch a movie?"
"Yeah, let's watch Twilight!" Astrid suggested, pointing to Nia's twilight movie series on her shelf.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Jebidah, Felicia, Grant, and Harmony were saying goodbye.
"So, Felicia and I will be staying in the hotel tonight. Astrid can stay with Nia, as we only got a one bed hotel room," Jebidah explained.
"That's fine, bro." Grant answered. "We love Astrid! She's so fun!"
"She is becoming her own person, sadly." Felicia spoke. "I won't be able to choose what she wears and does forever."
"As someone who has a teen daughter, I say, don't worry." Harmony advised. "I'm sure Astrid will becoming an amazing woman."
"No, she'll probably become an amazing guy." Felicia remarked. "She already behaves like a boy. She hates dolls and likes getting dirty in the mud!"
"Hey, thanks for the best time ever Nia!" Astrid thanked. "I'm really enjoying this movie! She soon got a whole bunch of texts from her mother.
MOM: Brush your teeth.
MOM: Be polite
MOM: Wash your hands after the bathroom.
ASTRID: i will mom i can take care of myself k?
MOM: I know, I get worried. Also, "I" is supposed to be capitalized, you should say "okay" instead of "k", and put a comma.
"My mom is texting me again." Astrid groaned. "She even corrected my grammar."
"Good for her," Nia laughed. "I'll send my rough draft essays when school starts."