Epilogue
2004
"Please mum, can you buy me the Sims 2?" Perry gently tugs on the edge of her mothers' dress. She is staring at the game's case pretending to be hypnotized. "I'll even pay for it! I’ve been saving my pocket money for months now, and I have just enough to buy it."
"Perry-," her mother sighs, "Video games rot your brains."
"No they don't!" Perry's exasperated voice is loud enough for everyone in the game store to hear.
Her mother sighs again, more tired than annoyed. Billy squirms a little bit in her arms and yawns.
"If you let me buy it, I will change Billy's nappies for a week." Perry thinks her mother is considering this idea for a minute, but then her expression hardens.
"No Perry." She simply says, then grabs her arm and starts to pull her out of the store.
Perry is almost halfway through the door when she says, "If you don't buy me the game, I will tell daddy about your secret smoking sessions in the backyard." Perry's mum comes to an abrupt halt that almost sends Billy flying out of her arms. Billy lets a small whine out, but then immediately goes quiet again. Perry can see that her mother is a bit worried now, and a flash of hope warms her heart like a bonfire, while her mother's heart grows cold like a chunk of ice.
"Are you blackmailing me?" Her mother questions her with that familiar look of disapproval. Perry shrugs and grins. Her mother shivers on the spot. A long antagonizing minute passes while they are both silent and Perry's mother stares at her while going through all possible scenarios of what could happen if Perry told her father about her moments of weakness. Perry’s father thought that she had quit smoking for good but there was those moments that she gave into temptation, so she hides her emergency pack in her makeup bag where she’s sure that he won’t find them. "Ok." Her she murmurs. "Go get the game." She says grudgingly.
Perry grins at her mother. This was the first battle she had won, but she knew that there would be many more to come. As she runs to the back of the store where all the computer games are kept, Perry's mother follows her with a tired Billy in her arms. He yawns when Perry reaches up to grab the game off the rack with excitement. Perry holds the game as if it was a delicate flower. Her mother squints to look at the front cover, then gasps when she sees the rating.
"This game is rated M, darling." She lifts a brow up quizzically at her daughter.
"So?" Perry shrugs. Her mother sighs.
"It has sexual references." Her mother presses, but Perry rolls her eyes.
"Do you want dad to know about-"
"Ok ok." Perry's mother sighs for the thousandth time today.
Perry grins mischievously at her mother again and rushes up to the salesman. She feels annoyed when he takes his sweet time getting the game disk from a draw behind the counter.
Perry's mother watches her as she receives the game and hugs it. She already regrets that she is letting her daughter buy a game that is M rated and has sexual references in it, but she also feels glad to make her daughter happy.
Perry was 7 when she received her copy of the Sims 2 in 2004. After 5 years of being addicted to playing the Sims 2, she was going crazy when she received her copy of the Sims 3 in 2009. Now 4 years later she has bought every expansion and stuff pack for both Sims 2 and 3 games. You could say she has a bit of an addiction...
2013
Perry ties her blonde hair into a messy bun before turning on her computer and starting up the Sims 3. She waits for her game to load patiently while she listens out for any noises downstairs. She can hear her little brother roaring like a dinosaur and stomping loudly next door in his bedroom. He’s probably pretending to be Godzilla again. After her mum rented out the movie and watched it with Billy last week, he started to copy the annoying dinosaur.
Perry lets out a sigh of relief when the game finally loads up. She clicks on the plus button to create a new family and, then again, waits for the game to load.
She listens to Billy roaring next door and smiles to herself. She loves her little brother to bits, no matter how annoying he can get. She wishes he can stay 10 years old forever, but she knows that can’t happen.
One day he’ll turn into a 16 year old boy and start dating all the pretty girls, Perry thinks to herself.
She thinks about how all the boys at her school are really hormonal and mean. None of them would date her, but they would definitely try to grope the tall slutty girls that seem pretty on the outside, but are ugly on the inside. Perry shivered at the thought of herself strutting around in mini skirts, boob tubes and dangerously high heels. She felt that she was way too fat to pull those things off, but then again, she still has some guys that are kind of interested in her. She barely stays fit though, since she’s always on her computer. Her eyes have large bags under them that are really dark, but she doesn’t care. Perry would prefer to spend the rest of eternity playing the Sims than being in the real world. The only thing keeping her from doing so, is her family.
The loading bar is finally filled. The loading screen is then replaced by the create-a-sim layout, and Perry is greeted by a skinny female sim with red hair. Perry goes through her list of female names to choose.
Aubrey? Nope, Perry has used that name way too many times.
Sally? Nope, too plain for Perry’s taste. She wanted this sim to be special.
Maybe... Valentine? Perry liked that name. It sounded sexy and attractive to her. Maybe she would make this sim flirty or a good kisser.
But for some reason, it didn’t seem right to Perry to make this sim like that. She felt that this sim had to be special. Really special.
