Trapped in the Sims (complete)

Part 10

It's very disconcerting to wake up and find yourself standing up in an unfamiliar house. I open my eyes to find that I am standing in Melissa's front hallway, with Melissa just beside me and the rest of the family members around us. How are we here? We were on the bus...

Then I see the blank expressions on my friends' faces. Before at least their faces and body language were relaxed; now they were all standing stock still and upright with stares directly forward. I realise I am sharing this position, and move sideways to escape it.

Is this some kind of glitch?

"Melissa?" I try saying. My voice has no effect on the girl beside me, she is staring still into space with dead eyes. "Melissa? What's going on?"

Then I notice the green diamond hovering above her head.

I've seen it millions of times before, of course, but to actually see it in real life, in actual animation, over a Sim's head, is still a mixture of shock and fangirl excitement. The green plumbob, trademark of the Sims™. I love it.

Then the real meaning of its appearance hits me.

We're being played.

Hannah must have logged onto Sims 3 to play. And she will have seen me here in Melissa's household and assume I added a Sim version of me into the game. Oh God.

At least my own movement seems relatively free. I mean, I can feel the evident restraints of my motions from the programming that surrounds me, but I can still move as I want to. I do this now, as the various members of Melissa's family disperse into other areas of the house, leaving Melissa in the hall with me.

Melissa moves towards me and I feel a stab of inexplicable fear, despite my rational side telling me that she's my friend, she wouldn't do anything to hurt me. As she stops in front of me, I recognise our positions, a metre or so away from each other. This is how Sims stand to talk to each other.

And then we engage in conversation.

It's scary, really, because the hand motions I make and the Simlish words coming out of my mouth aren't my words, my gestures. I have no control over what I am doing; these conversations are preprogrammed. I think we're just chatting, the basic interaction for the Sims. But I am still glad when Melissa ceases speaking and moves slightly away from me, revealing our 'conversation' is at an end. It's terrifying, having absolutely no control over my actions. Like an invisible force is controlling my limbs.

But it turns out I don't know the half of it.

Because then everything gets much, much worse.

The green diamond disappears from over Melissa's head.

And I know instinctively, if I could look up at that moment, I would see it hovering over my head like a giant green malignant beetle.

Now it's my turn to be properly controlled.