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Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign?

Posted: 15 Mar 2014, 13:42
by EileenK98
It started when Brandon and Carol died. He went first; poor old guy, froze to death in front of the snow park cabin, watching for his beloved birds. Megan found him Saturday morning when she showed up for skating practice. Very sad, really.
Then Carol had a heart attack and died in her own living room. Hazel found her, and she told me later that her first thought was, “Damn! Now she’ll never finish that quilt. She’s been working on it forever.”
Everyone was all broken up about it. I remember when Brandon and Carol first moved into the neighborhood, and their place was the place to be. Dance parties and pool parties and just hanging around, talking. It was a lot of fun.
But then the two of them were offered early retirement, he from the science lab and she from the real estate agency, and once they had nothing to do all day, they just . . . got old quickly. I didn’t think they were that old; forties, maybe. Turns out he was fifty-eight, and she was sixty-one. Wow. Time flies, I guess. I mean, it seems like just the other day our Brad was playing in the kiddie pool with the Powell children and Kristy Baker, and now look at them all. All grown up. Just like that.
Once the kids were grown up, we didn’t get together as often as we used to. I mean, there were still the neighborhood plant-a-thons at Emily’s house, which is now Emily and Todd’s house, and Paul and I still saw the guys at the fire house, but it felt like we were all growing apart. It was only a matter of time, really.
Then the science lab announced they were moving out of state. So the Powells and the Tonkins and the Nelsons all had to move. Warren sold the B and B to some out-of-towner who tore the whole thing down. That was the Vogels’ house before Warren bought it and renovated it, and it broke all of our hearts to see it go.
Speaking of the Vogels, there was a minor scandal a few months later when Lucy Vogel and Matthew Lay ran off together to be on some singing competition show in California. They got as far as the bus station before Trevor and Gil tracked them down and dragged them both back home. Next thing you know, the Lays moved to Indiana, and the Vogels moved to Seattle. Tom told me he was glad to be out of that huge house. Too many rooms to get lost in--and the pool never got cleaned properly.
Well, they loved Seattle, so much that Renee found a house for her brother’s family to live in, and just like that, the Browns were gone, too. Kristy was really sad to see them go; she and little Jessica had gotten to be friends, and now that Jess was in Kristy’s class, they were closer than ever. Now that was gone.
The mass exodus didn’t end there. Todd Powell decided he wanted to be near his parents and his sister, and he and Emily packed up and left. We kept the community garden going for a while, but it just wasn’t the same.
The Taylors and the Sanderses left shortly after that. I have to confess: I never really liked Linda. Sean was an okay guy, but I never really warmed to her. Their little girl was a cutie, though.
Nick Taylor was one of us. We had a big goodbye party for him at the firehouse. There was a lot of crying and hugging. It was all very sad, but happy at the same time, because Rosie was going to open her own preschool in another town, Calvin, which was two states away. Too far to commute. We wished them all well, and they were gone.
So now the only ones left were us, the Bakers, and Brad and Kristy. And then Megan was promoted to director of the art gallery in Portland, Oregon. At least it wasn’t too far from Seattle.
“Everyone’s moving away,” I said to Brad not long afterwards. “It’s just us now. This neighborhood was so full of life, and now . . .” I looked out at the brown lawns, the slimy green pools, the dilapidated houses all around us. “At least you’re still here.”
“Um, that’s the thing, Pop.” He looked down at the ground, an old habit from his preteen years whenever he had to confess to something he had done. “Kristy’s been offered a position in Portland. I know it’s a long way away, but with the baby coming, she wants to be close to her mom, and--“
“I understand. But your father and I want you close, too.”
“Maybe we can find a house for you in Portland. Then we can all be together again.”
“That would be nice.”
Todd and Warren and Ben Baker came back to help them move, though Paul and I insisted we could handle it just fine. It sure was great to see them again, though.
We traded phone numbers and promised to stay in touch, and then they drove away, my baby and his little girl. For a moment, I saw two toddlers standing there, cuddling each other in that way that was always so cute, and then I realized that they were adults now.
And oh, how it hurt to lose them.
And for almost a month, Paul and I sat in that big empty house, surrounded by other big empty houses, and did nothing but look through old photo albums. There was no point in going to work; the workplaces were all closed down, even the fire station. No one left to call the fire department.
“So this is it,” I said.
“Yep.” Paul sat down at the chess board, picked up a piece, and then put it down again.
“We’re the last ones left.”
“We were the first ones, remember?”
I remembered, all right. It was love at first sight, when we met on the sidewalk outside our houses. Paul’s dog had dropped his Frisbee on my lawn, and I was just coming to return it. Our eyes met, and . . . that was it.
The funny thing was that I hadn’t known I was gay until I moved here. Until I met Paul. Once I did, I couldn’t imagine ever having looked at a woman, much less wanted her.
The call we had been waiting for finally came the next day. Kristy’s friend at the Portland real estate office had found us a house, and it wasn’t too far from the kids.
We reluctantly packed up all our possessions, all our memories.
“When I moved in here,” Paul said, “I sold everything I had. Even that enormous TV I had, remember?”
“I tried to tell you that you didn’t need to do that. We could have found room for both your stuff and mine.”
“The new house will have room for all the stuff we want.”
“Yep. Three bedrooms--plenty of room for visiting friends.”
“Or grandchildren.”
He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Things were going to be okay now.
“Come here, boy!” Paul waved Perry’s favorite squeaky bone. He came running from around the corner of the house and jumped right into the car.
We paused to take one last look back.
“So that’s it, then,” I said. “The end of everything.”
“It’s not the end,” he told me. “It’s a new beginning.”
And even though there was no point now, when we left the house for the last time, I turned off all the lights, and locked the door behind us.
But that damn sign on the hill kept flashing and blinking away. There was nothing we could do about it.
Maybe the next people will.

Goodbye and good luck to everyone leaving the game! We'll miss you. :cry:

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 15 Mar 2014, 17:53
by Hufflepuff Karen
Wonderful story Eileen - the best part of SFP has been Perturbee's forum that lets us all share our STORIES! It's more than a game, isn't it?

And people wonder why we are so upset... this story tells how we all feel, I think. If I quit playing, it's going to be on my terms - as you did. I will take pictures of each family and single Sim with their neighbors so I remember what they look like. They'll all move out of town, go somewhere else. My town will be deserted, but I won't delete the game - it'll stay there, hogging up space on their servers and when they see no activity and no people, maybe they'll think twice. The odd thing is, I think I can move everybody away, so nobody dies and I can open it every day and collect the tax revenue and XP from the buildings. It may take awhile, but eventually I will level up again - maybe by then, I will be able to have my people start coming back - the ghost town will be energized and renewed and those that loved it, will think - let's go home! Let's go build it again! We can do it!

Maybe crazy ol' Bert will stick around, all by himself, talking to his parrot and his reindeer, gardening in his Santa suit. I have enough LP left from Christmas to keep him alive for a long, long time (if the update is forced on me) - I never aged him to Senior, thank goodness. And I won't blow my LP stash on building anything new, no new lots, no LP houses.

I could be building an SP houseboat or two now, but I'm not. Not doing a darn thing after they all go back to hibernating tonight.

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 15 Mar 2014, 21:03
by Minima
Thank you, Eileen. Your stories have been a truly enjoyable part of my Sim world. I hope that this won't be the last one and that, eventually, some renewal of satisfying gameplay will be restored to write about.
Good luck with everything. Your writing has been much appreciated.

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 15 Mar 2014, 21:50
by penlopej
Minima wrote:Thank you, Eileen. Your stories have been a truly enjoyable part of my Sim world. I hope that this won't be the last one and that, eventually, some renewal of satisfying gameplay will be restored to write about.
Good luck with everything. Your writing has been much appreciated.
I second that. I really love your stories so please keep on writing for the forum. Perhaps one about evil programmers and greedy companies?

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 15 Mar 2014, 22:16
by EileenK98
Thanks, everyone! I've decided that what I'm going to do is move everyone but a few core Sims, and rebuild from there. It's a whole different game now.
Maybe I'll write some stories about the new people soon. We'll have to see how it goes.

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 26 Mar 2014, 08:58
by Calypsogypsy
Its so sad these tales are everywhere as people say goodbye to their sims! :(

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 26 Mar 2014, 15:17
by SeekerDraconis
Thanks Eileen! I too love your stories and this one, to me, sums up the feelings of most players about the current update. It is the perfect way to say goodbye. It is making me seriously think about what you and Karen have mentioned in your posts, deleting all Sims without deleting my game or leaving at least one and if and when EA/Firemonkeys finally make a decent update giving us back our normal Sims game play, then I will bring back my Sims. Currently my Sims are idle.

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 27 Apr 2014, 18:00
by Nava45
*Tips hat.*
Goodbye, sims.

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 02 May 2014, 19:31
by SimsFPLove
It's sad how I just started and people just ended, I may only be level 11
But I really love my sims, I have 2 soon to be toddlers and about 8 adults :(

Re: Will the Last Sim to Leave Town Please Shut Off The Sign

Posted: 11 Jun 2014, 03:58
by KisaraDoll
Great story - anyone who wonders why playing is compelling should read this and see how playing inspires creativity. I think it's wonderful you made a piece of short fiction about your town!