2.7 I will always be around

Way too soon, the unexpected happened. Anna had been playing with Christina, when a strange feeling went through her entire body. She put her granddaughter down, who looked at her, confused. Christina was too small to understand what happened here, but Anna did. She had seen it happen twice before, when both of her beloved husbands had been called to join the souls in the sky. 

As she lost control over her legs and arms, she didn’t regret a single thing that had happened in her life. It all had brought her here, to a lovely family who took care of each other no matter what. Anna’s childhood and years as a teen surely had been tough, and there was no way she would want anybody else to go through her pain, but she had learned so much from these years. She had learned how to be strong, and eventually she had learned how to live. When she had met Jo, all those things she had read about love had finally made sense to her. He had been the most wonderful man, and even though he had been a lot older than her, they had spent an amazing time together. When he left her, everything had gone dark and she hadn’t felt like this was ever going to change. 

Falling in love with Benjamin, an old acquaintance from her first weeks in Appaloosa Plains, brought back her zest for life. To him she opened up, and told him everything that had happened in her past, making her the woman she was now. The years they had together had been fulfilling and almost made her forget about the past. But not quite. Her brutal father and her indifferent mother who met with other men in their house had never left her mind, as well as the pictures that haunted her in her dreams. Pictures of a fire, pictures of despair and pictures of a black truck in the front of her house. 

She had never told anybody about this mysterious truck, slowly rolling past the house, with an open window and a deep voice telling her to leave Jo alone. Nobody knew that Jo’s former roommate, Chuck, had been so possessive of him that he couldn’t let his best friend go to be with a woman, even though he loved her. And instead of opening up to her husband, she kept quiet about Chuck announcing that he knew everything about where she came from. Sometimes, she had wondered about why Chuck hadn’t put his threats to action, since this would have destroyed her life for good. If he had found a member of her family, and told them about her current location, they would have found her. And she wouldn’t have stood a chance against them. Running away had required a lot of mental strength, which she had. Physical strength, however, was what she lacked, which was why she knew it would be over as soon as they found her. Chuck would never have forgiven her for loving Jo. Maybe he had been waiting for the right moment to destroy her and her family for good.

Maybe this moment was yet to come. Her last thought before her soul and her body parted was a prayer to God, asking him to watch over her beloved family, over everything she had. 

Then it was over.

Britney and Karim took the recent events very hard. Karim had gotten to know Anna quite well over the last years, and she had been like a mother to him. Her leaving them hurt him more than he could ever put into words.

Britney’s heart was broken into a million pieces, too, but she somehow managed to pick them up and put them together for her kids. Taking care of Christina and Cyra was all she had right now, since her newspaper immediately asked both her and Karim to take a few days off, in order to deal with everything. Britney didn’t want this break. She wanted to go back to work, to write new articles and books, to do research. She didn’t want to slow down, and even less to stop doing anything altogether. As soon as her body was quiet, her mind exploded. 

The girls were very needy these days, and Britney found herself exhausted every single evening. Karim was too wrapped up in his grief to help her, and more than one time she called him irresponsible and selfish. A minute later, she already regretted being so angry, but couldn’t help herself. She was the glue holding this family together, and sometimes it just seemed to break apart a little. Something was not working out right, something was missing.

With time passing, she managed to slow down a little. When she looked at herself from the outside, she saw a woman desperately trying to be busy every single moment, in order to fill a hole in this family that couldn’t possibly be filled. One life had ended, and she couldn’t make up for it. What she was capable of, though, was to make sure herself, her husband and her amazing children got the most out of their lives before they ended. And that wasn’t enough.  Having another newborn in her arms, seeing a third child grow up in their house and raising him or her to being able to do anything was what felt right to her. 

With the prospect of a third baby on its way, Karim finally found his way back into the family. He had neglected his fatherly responsibilities for way too long, and it was time to support his wife again, who had been so strong throughout the past months.

Britney was more than relieved to see her husband smile again, even though she soon realized that he only focused on Cyra when it came to cuddling or play time. Christina was always left out, which is why Britney took care of her more than of her twin sister. It seemed like Karim, seeing himself in the young Cyra, preferred her over Christina.

When Britney found out she was, indeed, pregnant again, everything changed.

Author's notes: Letting Anna go was, in fact, one of the hardest things I had to on The Sims... she has become one of my favourite sims, and I have written so much about her that it was really tough to see her die. She was 10 days older than she was supposed to, which probably means she was happy enough to lead a long and healthy life. R.I.P., I'll miss you :(