Bossa Novacation

Hey, it’s me, ya girl, popular streamer jest bubbles (no troubles) singer, voice actor, and girl gamer. I found a copy of Sims 1 Vacation at an estate sale (like a garage sale but bigger) but the only reason I knew it was Sims 1 Vacation was because those words were the only thing written in sharpie on the blank CD. As a nautical-enthusiast, I am savvy to bootleg copies when I see them. Due to curiosity or maybe a quiet desperate yearning for my own past, a simpler time in my childhood where my only responsibilities were keeping my Sims happy... I bought the CD for a buck and headed home as rain started to fall. 

Now, you're probably thinking, "How the heck am I gonna run the thing?? Who on this fleeting green Earth even owns a computer with a CD drive anymore??" As a walking living breathing starving artist archetype, hai :D I do. How else can I make my bootleg mixtapes? I wiped the scratched Sims CD with my eyeglass cleaner not even sure it will run and placed it in the CD-ROM tray. Being a well-seasoned streamer, I know the potential for content when I see it. So of course I opened up my open-source broadcasting software and pressed record to document my wholesome nostalgia. But little did I know this wasn’t going to be the trip down memory lane I was expecting.

At first, everything seemed normal. The installer ran, though it was oddly quick, skipping any prompts or agreements. The game launched straight into the main menu, where the familiar, cheery steel-drum theme played. Nostalgia hit me hard. I grinned at chat, my fingers hovering over my old-school wired mouse. “Babe, wake up, it’s 2000. Your Sims need a vacation,” I mused, selecting ‘Vacation Island’ from the options.

That’s when I noticed something… off.

The usual vacation locations: beach, forest, snow resort, weren’t there. Instead, there was just one destination labeled ‘COME BACK.’ No animations, no background scenery, just a black-and-white thumbnail of a dilapidated hotel.

“Alright, chat, let's check in,” I laughed, clicking in.

The loading screen took longer than I remembered. The music began to warp, the cheery steel drums dragging into distorted, sluggish notes. I could hear this low static coming in and out almost like waves. I checked my audio settings… but nothing else was playing.

Then, the game loaded.

My Sim family was already there, though I hadn’t created them. Their names were blank. Only one of the Sims had a green plumbob above her head. A woman with blonde hair. Somehow they looked familiar. Like a strange sense of deja vu. They just stared directly at me. Their eyes… too detailed. Too real.

I tried clicking on one. No response. Tried again. Still nothing.

Then, they all moved at once. They weren’t walking. They just suddenly appeared in different spots, like the game had skipped frames. The UI flickered, then disappeared completely. No time, no Sim needs, no controls. I wasn’t playing anymore. I was watching.

The blonde Sim looked directly at me and spoke, but it wasn’t in Simlish. It was English.

“You shouldn’t have come back.”

My mouse froze. My keyboard was unresponsive. Chat started freaking out, but I couldn’t respond. My camera feed (normally in the corner of my stream) flickered, showing… something else. A dark, distorted reflection of my room. But in the reflection, someone stood behind me.

I spun around. Nothing. Just my empty room.

I look back at my computer and see the big blue screen of death. Upon rebooting, I can’t get the CD to play anymore; it just reads “Corrupted”. I wasn’t able to save my recording as most of the data was corrupted in the crash. Luckily, I was able to save some footage. But late at night, when the world is quieter and everything is asleep, I swear I still hear faint static waves ringing in my ears…

This is what I saw: