Hi again. I haven't posted in a while because I was really busy. Anyway, I decided to continue Aspen's story. I hope the writing is okay. Please give feedback in the comments thread. Enjoy:


It was sad to walk into the house again without my parents to welcome me home. They passed away at the same time just two weeks ago, and I was told they left me the house. As I walked up the path, I was reminded of the first time I came up, all those years ago. Sooniana had welcomed me with open arms, and raised me like her own daughter. I started to cry. No. I couldn’t cry. Once I started, I wouldn’t stop.

I walked into my old room. The beds were cool to the touch and slightly dusty. It had been years since anyone had slept in them. I straightened the toys that were scattered around the floor. My own children would play with them. I turned around and closed the door as I exited the room.

Next, I walked down the hall and peered into my parents’ room. Well, it was my room now. I took one step in and saw an old family portrait. It was taken right after Harry was born. I forgot that I had that dress when I was fourteen. When I saw my family smiling down at me, tears formed in my eyes. Luckily, the guiding hand chose that moment to have me put away groceries.

The old fridge was filled up with food. My parents had obviously prepared for me. When I was done, I went to clean, but there was nothing to clean. The house had been kept immaculate since I was a small child. My guiding hand sent me to the office. I had become an Engineer, and was ready to start work. After completing several successful work cycles, I took a break.

My guiding hand must have gotten inattentive. As I was cleaning the dusty desk, I found a stack of boxes. They held the disks of my Virtual Villagers games. I smiled. They brought back such good memories. When I opened the cases, the games were there, but they were so old, they couldn’t work anymore. I logged on to the computer and went onto the LDW website. It had been so long since I had played the games. Impulsively, I bought the first game and started to play. It was addicting, and I played late into the night and had to be forced into the bed by my guiding hand. Though I had resented it then, I really loved my guiding hand and had missed it for the past several years.