Bella settled back into the cushions and smiled, remembering.
“It was such a beautiful day, the day I met Emma.”
“I’d gotten a bicycle for my birthday that year. I’d ridden all over Sunset Valley and explored its every nook and cranny, but there was one place that especially called to me. So it was thither that I bent my steps that morning. Or would that be my wheels?”
“I remember that day so clearly. It was early spring, and the sun’s touch was as soft and cool as a satin sheet. The sky was the sort of endless perfect blue that can make your soul open up and up and up until there is no you anymore, only blue and green and sky and earth and beauty and love.”
Bella chuckled and glanced up at the portrait of Mortimer.
“You must forgive me my little flights of fancy. I imagine that at the time I was actually just thinking about how glad I was to get away from my brother Michael. But you know, when you have so much more past than future you tend to idealize the past and remember it in much softer colors.”
Lilith smiled a tiny smile and let Bella’s voice wash over her. Its clear and shining light chased away the shadows and quieted the voices, and Lilith gloried in the golden silence.
“So I arrived at my destination, somewhat out of breath but pleased with myself for making it all the way up the steep curvy hill. I had traveled the same path that you traveled earlier today, but I think I had the rather more pleasant trip.”
“I left my bike on the side of road. If Mortimer saw it he’d know it was mine and where I was. He wouldn’t come after me, though. We understood each other pretty well even then.”
“He knew that I wanted to be alone when I went to the rocks. It was such a serene place, and I would just sit there and be with the rocks and the ground and the sky and lose myself for a while.”
“The world was so big and wide and open and new back then. The rocks called to me, singing a song of peace and beauty without end, without time.”
“The rocks are so very old. They’ve seen many generations of humans grow and multiply and die. They have no sense of time. I wonder sometimes if when my times comes, I’ll go and join them and be one of the rocks. I think I would like that.”
“But that morning was not to be one of quiet meditation. As I walked forward among the rocks, I saw that someone else had gotten there before me.”
“I can still see her there, framed between two of the rocks. She was staring off into the distance and I thought I could see faint traces of tears on her cheek. Her blonde hair glowed in the sun’s light but she seemed unconscious of the glory of the world all around her.”
“At first my soul raged against her invasion of my secret sanctum but she looked so forlorn that my anger quickly melted into compassion. I decided I’d talk to her and try to comfort her.”
“As I walked up she noticed my presence and turned those vacant distant eyes on me. She didn’t say anything. I almost felt like I was dealing with a feral cat. I went slow and easy, not wanting her to run away.”
‘Hi, I’m Bella. I haven’t seen you at school. Did you just move here?’
“She just stood there silently, still looking at me with those awful eyes. I tried once more.”
‘So how did you find the rocks? It’s a wonderful place, isn’t it?’
“I was gratified when she showed signs of life and began to speak, but then what she said horrified me.”
‘He’s going to kill her.’
*Stares open-mouthed* :O Poor girl I know what and who shes talking about. OMG Im crying now. That last sentence freaked me out and now im crying.
‘He’s going to kill her.’ Dang it is that another cliffhanger? Yay first comment. I got one thing to say about that cliffhanger though. HURRY UP AND MAKE ANOTHER PART THIS IS SO GOOD IM ADDICTED TO READING IT!
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Yes, you got first. 🙂 I’ve actually got quite a few pics already for the next update, so it shouldn’t take very long. I’m really happy that you like it. 🙂
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yay. I hope its done really soon though. This is so great.
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oh sneaky sneaky sneaky I checked once then a hour later somethings there!ok gotta read bye. Hey is that the StoneHedge place?
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Yes, it is. 🙂 I didn’t want to use the word Sim though, but the rocks sounded like a natural name for a little kid to call it.
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you’re so good.:)
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This is the first time I have come across this site (thanks to in his own world) and i have never even commented on any of the stories I am reading ( 12 in total now) but I just had to say, Bravo. I agree that this story is movie quality and I can not wait to read more.
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Wow, thank you. That’s quite the compliment and now I feel all special and warm and fuzzy. 🙂 I had a few pictures left over after this update and the weekend is coming up, so the next one shouldn’t take too long. I tend to average about two updates a week.
I feel honored and grateful that you chose to check it out and read all of it and liked it enough to comment.
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you’re the cliffhanger queen! Lol, I love your story! so far its the only sims 3 story besides kev and alice that has me hooked, i cant wait for the next part!
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Oooh….so much suspense! I really love the description of Emma and how her eyes affected Bella. I’m excited about the next chapter, so I hope it comes out soon!
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O.o OMG..OMG..OMG…MUST have more. I do a sims blog too thats nothing compared to this and I’ve also wanted to become an authur as a young child…but never did anything to strengthen that…now i regret it, you make me jealous. I hate you. Ok sorry I don’t hate you, that was harsh and untrue. i love this story and admire your abilities and the comments in the pics are awesome…its like getting to know you at the same time, very creative and stuff. Don’t worry about the fans that you start to acquire..I’d hate for you to go the route of alice and kev and stop posting due to pressure…ignore us if it helps. it seems like what you do to make posts takes a massive amount of time…I mean here you have bella goth as a child, and an adult….which means you are very clever with your means to achieve your goals because i know you didn’t play her as a child into an adult and get her to marry mortimer and everything just for this story. (my guess would be you played child bella saved her and then grew her up and dropped her into the goth house)
ok i’m rambling…sorry. love the story, linked it on my blog as one of my favs and have fun with your new kitten…I miss mine had to leave him with my parents since my new apartment doesn’t allow pets :_(
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You are doing something to strengthen it – writing your Sims blog. Like a dear friend tells me, it’s important to keep flexing your writing muscles. Honestly the first few chapters are getting almost as painful to read as my first Sims 2 legacy. The more you write, the better you get. I know that sucks, because personally I hate practice and want to think that I’m perfect on the first try. But it is really true.
I don’t think I’ll stop posting – I am totally in love with my little story and it’s really important to me and I’m going to see it through to the end.
Yeah, my updates do take a little bit of time. I’m still managing about two a week, though.
Yep, being able to save sims from the game to the bin is very very useful. I did have to play Claire Ursine for a few game days to get Shannon – Shannon is Claire’s daughter. The rest of them though I just saved to CAS and aged up there. And I did powerlevel Cornelia’s painting until she could get a portrait of adult Mortimer.
Anyway – thank you for the link. 🙂 And I love Luna. Awww, that’s so sad about your kitty. *hugs*
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Oh Wow, I still can’t believe how much emotion these little sims can show! In the fourth pic, you can just see how Bella’s eyes are shining with glorious reverie… Or her confused child eyes when she sees the other girl. xD
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I think that the fresco-ish flashback pictures did end up turning out nicely. I liked the effect.
I feel like I’m missing something. ? Sara said in her comment that she knew who Emma was? Am I supposed to? Is she a premade?
My ignorance of Emma did not impact my enjoyment of the update. In fact, if Emma is a premade, I might be better off than more informed readers, because I have no idea who “her” is.
LOL that sounds like bad grammerz.
I was interested to see someone FINALLY using Sim Henge in a story. I mean, holy crap, people, there’s a big, interesting looking circle of standing stones right there in both hoods and no one is photographing it? So, I am glad you did. I was also relieved at how you used it, ’cause I’ve had a plan for it for a while & when I saw it coming up in your story, I thought: Oh, no, please let us both have different ideas!
Anyway, another great update. And now I will stop babbling.
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Why? I like it when you babble.
Maybe you just didn’t recognize her in her non-transparent form. 😉
I didn’t want to call it SimHenge because I kind of wanted to avoid the word sim. But I thought that a little kid might call it “the rocks”, and I think that worked well.
Ooh, I want to see how you use it in your story! Want Catherine story naow, plz.
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R u talking bout what I said? I meant I think I know who killed her. Ha ha sorry if I confused u.
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OH EMMA!
THAT EMMA!
Holy crap, how did I miss THAT?
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more please!
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You did notice that second comment was three minutes after the first, right?
I was brushing my teeth when I suddenly realized who Emma was and I was having some serious problems not spitting toothpaste slime all over the mirror.
So then I had to come back and make a spaz-oid comment after all.
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AWESOME. I love this blog. It fill the void that Alice and Kev left. This is right up there!!! Keep writing! ❤
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All I can say is WOW. Holy cow this story is GREAT!! None of the other stories I’ve been following are this… well… AMAZING. They are all really great in their own right, but yours is just – there’s something about it. I don’t think I have the words to describe it. (My husband says the blond hair dye is seeping into my brain LOL. I keep telling him it’s natural, but I think he just likes saying it.)
Please please please don’t stop writing this story. You always seem to find just the right picture for the words you’ve written and it’s so perfect! Thanks so much for sharing your talent with all of us.
P.S. For all the people who keep begging you to tell them what photo editing program you use, I’m pretty sure I know which one it is, but I’m not telling! It’s the one I would use too.
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Thank you! 🙂 I had been kind of down today and thinking that the story isn’t that good, so that certainly helps me feel better.
I have no plans to stop writing it.
I take the pictures first and then write. Like I’ll take a huge lot of pictures of a conversation and then page through them until I find one with the expression I want, edit it and upload it, and then write the caption in the caption space on Photobucket.
I use GIMP. 🙂
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YAY I have Gimp! 😛 I use it for making advertisements in my online business for an alternate reality (secondlife) I’m too lazy to bother editing my story pics, lol so never even thought to do that.
Is Emma the little creapy ghost girl? I’m feeling a bit confused
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Yep. If you go back and look at the pics of her in Nightmare you should be able to see that the dress and the hair are the same. 🙂
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You said that you have been feeling down and that your story isn’t that good… Well you are wrong. You are so wrong.
Today I went and I saw Julie&Julia, and although I am not here to give you a movie review, it was an amazing movie.
But the part I remember best is Julie was so excited to get her first couple of viewers and a few comments… So be like her. Don’t give up. That was the truly inspirational message I got from it.
So whenever you feel like giving up, like this is not any good and that people don’t really care, and that “stats” chart is seeming to look like the side of a mountain (and I mean the right side… Going down??) you think of me. And you think, “This little girl has me bookmarked, first on her web browser! She loves me!” Well, then, by all means. Be inspired!
I hope this helps with any doubts you posess; please continue, if you wish. We all appreciate it. THANKS!
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Oh my gosh, now I’m about to cry. Will be emailing you soon. 🙂
Also, you’re a good writer yourself. That was a very well-written comment.
I like the new update quite a bit and feel a lot better now. But really, thank you so much and I really really appreciate that.
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Oh Wow! I’ve got chills now!
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If you’re the cliffhanger queen, does that make me the glitch queen? 😉
I am truly blown away by your command of both story and picture. I’m in the process of updating my favorites right now, and you are most assuredly joining that list. 🙂
All I can say is keep up the awesome work, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
And, if anyone wonders about that “glitch queen” comment, click on my name above and go check out my blog.
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Yes, you are the glitch queen. That giant puddle was hilarious. 🙂
Aww, thank you. 🙂 I really do feel better now. You guys are so great.
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WOW!!! This is really good! i mean wow what a cliffhanger i love this! These updates are so good! I can’t wait for the next update i wonder. Lilith is such an amazing character that is really going to be in hot water now!
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I love this. Its so addicting. I love the cliffhangers, nice way to keep people reading.
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Wow! Just WOW!!! I can’t wait for the next installment! This is amazing work!
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So I see you are all caught up now. 🙂 Thank you so much for reading and commenting, and I’m glad you enjoyed it. I plan to get started on the next update later today.
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Oh, this is so creepy! Am I right when I’m guessing that the mad scientist will kill his wife? O_O Anyway, I loved to see the story from the point of view of Bella as a child! I hope she will keep on telling more and revealing more…
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LOL, in the picture where you write:
“As I walked up she noticed my presence and turned those vacant distant eyes on me”, that girl looks like she’s sort of standing on her hools, holding her toes in the air 😀
But this really is so awesome!
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They are on a hill and the game isn’t perfect about things like that – like I didn’t take some pictures of Bella running up to the rocks because the fence on the side of the hill was sort of floating in midair.
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I think one of my favourite things about your story is how you seamlessly incorporate Sunset Valley and it’s established characters into it. I didn’t even register that the title of this chapter might have meant the old stone circle. This is awesome. 😀
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I KNOW WHO EMMA IS!! woah, sorry about that Little outburst but its true! I have posted here before but I must say, This Is Better than Alice and Kev, and should be made into a Movie 🙂
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You. Are. Amazing.
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Oh my gosh, thank you! That’s quite the compliment. I hope you continue to enjoy my little story as we go along.
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Wonderful! It’s a rare treat to find a sim story that has a real story line that works and that’s well written. No mods and no hacks and it’s still good!
I’m wondering about those rock formations and if there is a connection to the goings-on in the town. Is Emma’s family the only ones to meet such a tragic end? Lillith certainly has her hands full in figuring this puzzle out.
I’ll keep following and I’m sure, enjoying, this story. Kudos m’dear.
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Yay! Thank you! 🙂 I never used hacks much in TS2 either, so I’m used to working without them. I do have the chaos mod painting. but I haven’t used it really so far except for two Seth pics.
Off to eat breakfast so I can get started on the next update. 🙂
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Wow, this is the best Sims 3 story I have read so far. Do you publish them on thesims3.com? If you don’t you really should. They are very well written and can be frightening or even sad sometimes. Most TS3 writers use everyday plots, but this is unique. I encourage you to write more.
Happy Simming
Sophiaf95
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Thank you! I do have a thread on the Sims 3 forum that I update, but I really don’t like the Sims 3 exchange, with the horribly fuzzy compressed pictures.
I am indeed writing more. I’ve been working on the next update since I got up and should have it done and published before I go to bed tonight.
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Wow, Awesome Chapter! This is the BEST SIMS 3 STORY EVER. It’s so interesting. I never get bored reading it. I think Lilith is really pretty. Do you think you could maybe upload her? 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂 I’m actually taking the last pic for the next update at the moment and will be publishing it here in a few minutes.
Lilith is indeed really pretty, and she is up for download on my sims page. I’ll put up a page with links along with the new update, but for now here’s the link.
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=770179
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Oh it is the little girl in Lillith’s dream! This is a great story!
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Another exellent chapter! I feel kind of bad for Emma! I hope Bella will help her…… Great chapter off to read the next!
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Your story is more than amazing. It’s freakin insanely amazing. That little girl is kinda creepy tho
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😮 Awesomely creepy… Moving on…
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Daddy is going to kill mommy! :O
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Pretty much, yeah. 🙂
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Hi, I read up until this chapter a few days ago, but as I didn’t comment straight away I forgot what it was I wanted to say *facepalm*. Well, anyway, I few things I do remember…
I really like this so far, and I think yours are the first Sims stories that I’ve read which make a consistent use of symbols and motifs. I appreciate that, as it makes the whole reading experience more… I don’t know… complete! 😀
And the eerie feeling of it all… Madness and obsessions are palpable everywhere :O. Sometimes it makes me feel I’m watching a David Lynch movie…
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Sorry it took a while to reply to these – I’ve been busy and distracted. Yay I’m glad you like it! And yes, I am all about me some symbolism and metaphor and stuff. 🙂
I have heard this David Lynch thing before. I’ve only see one thing of his on YouTube, and I did quite like it. *hugs*
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Darn! Another cliffhanger. A good one too. Ooo… I’m intrigued you brought Bella in. I haven’t played Bella as a little girl in SV. I created an adult Bella for my story separate from the SV girl. I love Simhenge. It’s a peaceful place.
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The elder Bella is the child Bella aged up.
Get used to the cliffhangers. 😉
Yeah, Simhenge is pretty cool.
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