Expansion Pack

S O L U T I O N

T H R E E:

I awoke with a petrifying start. In the glow of the previous night, I'd managed to convince myself that our situation was merely a lucid dream (or even an evil prank that Chris or PJ had pulled on us). However, waking up on the same spot on Dil's sofa seemed to suggest otherwise. We are, quite frankly, screwed.

Dil had already awoken, as I distinguish his low humming to the old fashioned, cheap radio that sits on a single table. It plays alternative music. As distasteful as Indie Simlish music seems, it's surprisingly not bad. The delightful smell of pancakes floods in from the kitchen, engulfing me in pure satisfaction. My stomach grumbles and growls like an angry soul.

Pulling myself to my feet, I paced to the kitchen, a quick fringe check in between. I tap Dil on the shoulder to greet him, however without any warning, I startle him. His dark eyes widen as the pan slips from his grasp. There's a deafening bang; the metal hits the tiled flooring, making both of us wince.

Clutz.

I hold my hands up in defence. The crinkles beside my eyes deepen as a slight chuckle sounds from my lips. After he peels the pan from the flooring tiles, we exchange sheepish glances.

"Sorry, Dil," I speak softly to him. I offer to fry a fresh batch for the group, this time scattering a fountain of chocolate chips onto each. When they're cooked thoroughly, I beckon Dan to the table. We sat and ate the pancakes with minimum conversation. Dil and Dan murmurs, as if the pancakes were constructed with gold. In addition to this, their tongues draw over their top lips.

"Hey Dil, does your crappy computer have an Internet connection, yanoe, YouTube and all that?" Dan enquires, holding out his hands in a discussion.

Dil didn't have to answer; the puzzled look on his face told us everything. I could tell that Dan was getting agitated, so I spoke up, "It's alright Danny, we'll get out of here. Probably should've read the terms and conditions, though." I mutter the last sentence, it becoming merely audible under my breath.

"Yeah, you should've," Dan responds, his voice cold as if ripping off a plaster. I flinch, taken aback. His voice lowers again, like golden honey dripping from his tone. "But it's... it's fine. We'll have to work something out eventually. We can't exactly stick here forever-"

"What about the computers in the library? Dil's computer might be crap," I interrupt. Dil's face drops. "But I'm damn sure the ones in the library at Willow Creek aren't the same."

"It's worth a shot," Dan speaks, "but how the heck do we even get there?"

"I got it," Dil interrupts.

Internally, I squeal. Dan definitely taught him English too thoroughly, as it petrifies it. As we spectate, he pulls a mobile from deep within his hot dog costume, and scrolls as if he'd completed this task a million times.

A white screen replaces my vision. The large, green plumbob spins rapidly in the centre for merely seconds, before we're plunged in front of the library of Willow Creek. We step inside, our footsteps echoing across the tiled floor. It's busy, however only occupied by the Sims with the bookworm trait, so the silence was eerie. A worrying thought washes through my head. What if nobody finds us? What if we never get home? And if we don't, who'll look after the plants?

I feel faint, but push on.

Dil sits at a computer desk, and waits before the screen boots itself up. Large, Simlish lettering fills the desktop, along with foreign apps and irritating pop-ups. Dil slides the mouse to an Earth-looking app, and clicks. A website similar to Google loads up, and the cursor blinks, as if snarling at us, awaiting Dil's next click.

He sighs, spinning in the chair. "Believe it or not, Sim websites are actually monitored very effectively. Finding something might be more challenging than we first anticipated."

My eyes widened. "Dan? I don't know what your definition of 'basic english' is, but that is not it."

"Ah, come on Phil. He's smarter than 80% of the real worlds population already. Give me credit," he replies with a pout.

I tut. "Fine," I grumble. I turn to Dil, folding my arms over my chest. "At least try searching for the name of the expansion pack."

"Okay," he says. He pushes in his chair, fixes his fringe, and begins to type slowly whilst Dan and I watched. A green bar appears over his head, the juice inside infusing to the top. I peer over his shoulder, to find him playing a video game.

"Dil!" Dan howls. "Get off the game."

Dil laughs. "Sorry, I'm not used to having free will. I'll get back on that for you."

I must admit, my heart throbs with empathy for Dil. When you're in the game, you realise that these pixels on the screen - they actually have lives, they have families just like us on the other side of the screen. As crazy as it sounds, game characters are nothing more than mirrored versions of ourselves.

Dil snapped me from my thoughts. He stood up from his chair, a guilty expression on his face. "I'm afraid there's no record of Sims: To Life on our internet. Whether there is on the outside, I can't be too sure, but I'm afraid the information you need to leave isn't here."

"Then where, Dil?" I ask desperately. I was so tempted to grab him, shake him out of it, but it'd be no use.

He shrugs. He senses the anger in my voice, and gives me a small smile. "I'm sorry. Again, I can't be too sure. We could try alerting someone in the outside world if we find a Sim with a large enough hacking skill."

"We live alone," I tell him. "So even if we did find a Sim, there'd be no one to alert on the outside."

Dan walks towards me, wrapping his arms around my torso. He whispers, "I can see it in your face that you think this is your fault. I mean, you're right, but don't think about that. We just have to focus on a way of getting out, because if we don't,  god knows what'll happen."

"Thanks, Dan," I whisper back, embracing him. In the midst of the hug, I feel another body latch onto us. My eyes snap open to a head of messy, brown hair.

Dil peers up at me with large eyes. "We'll find your way out," he says. "No matter what it means for me."

🎮

This isn't a drill! I finally finished the next bit of this, and I hope you think it was worth waiting a year (probably) for! I apologise for the wait, but last night I had a sprout of inspiration and let it take me to this. Don't forget to vote, comment and add this to your reading list... as officially, I am going to carry on with this. I couldn't help it after all your comments!