The Deaths of Jack's Bookstore (Sims 4)

Fictional text from a fictional Sims 4 Book "The Deaths of Jack's Bookstore" by Jack Beers (the Sim)

Chapter 1 - Context: How Not to Open A Store

​My name is Jack Beers and I'm a Sim on The Sims 4. I live in the creepy old mansion in Forgotten Hollow that used to be owned by Vladislaus Straud, now called "Beers Manor" after my last name. How am I able to afford such a large residence? I'm a prominent writer who has written screenplays for every Dracula and Batman film that was greenlit in the 20th century. I'm also the author of the Official Vampire Encyclopedia and have composed hit music dedicated to my late cat, Munchie. It all makes good money in royalties and my place makes a great vampire layer, but royalties can only last so far.

​Recently, I decided to sell my writings directly to consumers by opening a shop in Magnolia Promenade called "Jack's Bookstore" to avoid the middlemen of publishers. My plan was to mainly sell all of my screenplays in book form, but also an occasional painting, as I had recently taken up the hobby and learned that the best paintings become expensive. 

The Front of Jack's Bookstore in Magnolia Promenade

​The store is small: a two-story building with a showroom on the bottom floor and the top floor set up as a small apartment. It used to sell random odds and ends but I made it a bookstore and gave it a creepy theme as appropriate for consumers of vampirism and Batman. 

I had decided that I would only run the store on weekends, Thursdays to Sundays, to avoid burnout and opened the store with a small celebration that was attended by a tiny gathering of people, mostly fans, when tragedy struck: One of the older attendees, a woman named June Vatore, just keeled over and died in the middle of the store. To our shock, we then watched as the Grim Reaper arrived to take her away, leaving nothing but an urn in her wake. 

The Ghost of June Vatore

I remember trying to do something... it was my store after all. I was in charge and I wanted to kick Death out of the shop or at least plead for the life of the woman I had just met, but I was frozen in terror. I just stood there and cried as the Grim Reaper carried out the death and then attempted to dance to the spooky music playing on the jukebox I had set up in the store, before he vanished into nothing. 

​I felt so bad. I felt hot - physically hot. I needed water and remembered going to the sink several times to drink an oddly large amount of water that day. The urn Death had left in my store was just sitting there and had to be removed to prevent further mourning from my customers, so I temporarily hid it in the upstairs apartment. That Monday, I took the urn and brought it home, since it otherwise would have been left unclaimed at Magnolia Promenade. I then tried to offer the urn some Sugar Skulls and put all of that behind me, but it became impossible when the following weekend, another customer died. 

Cameron was the first of two Landgraabs to die at the store. It was the same scenario as it was with Vatore: They keeled over, the Grim Reaper took them, the customers were traumatized, and I was left drinking more water and trying to figure out how to properly handle these deaths while managing a business. I dutifully took the urn home and gave it the same treatment I gave June's. At first, I summed it all up as a grim coincidence that would eventually stop, until the tragedy of the next weekend occurred. 

Cameron and Lindsay Landgraab meet after death

On my third weekend working the bookstore, two more customers died, Arjun Lothario and the second of the Landgraabs, Lindsay. Arjune died on a Friday and Lindsay died on a Saturday. It was shortly after bringing their urns back to my home when I began to believe that my little shop of horror-books was somehow cursed.

​When the fifth person, Roman Alley, died the weekend after that, I considered closing the store because it was then that I learned that it was the scorching heat of Magnolia Promenade that was causing elders to die of heat exhaustion in my store, as well as causing me to constantly reach for water to drink: That weekend was so hot that I realized that I needed a thermostat, but at the time, I concluded that I couldn't afford it, so I carried on without one, which I will forever regret. Then, for the next three weekends, nobody died at my store. I hoped that it meant the curse that I believed inhabited my store had somehow been lifted, but I was then presented with a whole new problem.

During those three weeks, it became clear that the spirits of the people that the urns had belonged to, had come back with me to Beers Manor and had since taken residency. At first, I was shocked and scared, but that seemed to pass quickly. I then made quick friends with some of those spirits and began documenting their existence. The first picture I snapped was a depressing selfie between myself and Arjun Lothario. The first painting was of Roman Alley when he didn't realize it. I was then able to take selfies of Cameron Landgraab and Roman Alley interacting with each other. I began to get along with the ghosts as well, and in return I was able to document them and sell the work at my shop to great success. 

The Ghost of Roman Alley

When the sixth and seventh customers died, I once again considered closing the store. However, it had since made so much money off of the deaths and ghost hype that I changed my mind. Instead, I had learned to capture the ghosts on camera and in paintings and made the decision to sell them in the same store the ghosts had died in. While the spirits weren't happy... even embarrassed to be snapped on camera, the subsequent sales went through the roof, which is why I'm now writing a book on it. 

Various artwork of the ghosts who have died in my store, which was then put on sale in my store.

​This book is about the lives of the men and woman who died of heat exhaustion in a small gothic bookstore, only to live again as spirits in a very welcoming creepy vampire mansion. The lives of June Vatore, Cameron and Lindsay Landgraab, Arjun Lothario, Roman Alley, Cory Handy and Darrius Kim-Lewis not only live on in Beers Manor, but in this very book. 

Chapter 2 - The Lives of the Slain Seven

​I never knew her. She just died in my store the first weekend it was opened. June Vatore was a retired schoolteacher, and she was very sweet, but shy. Before she died, she told me she was a fan of my work and was planning to make my store a "daily destination". I managed to find out from her family member, Lilith Vatore, that she also enjoyed family, television and the study of vampirism, which is what brought her to my work. 

The Vatores aren't well known but I hear they used to get along with the Strauds, a family whose patriarch built the home I now reside in - A home where June's spirit will now reside in forever. 

Cameron Landgraab was the second elder to die of heat exhaustion as she was reading a book in Jack's Bookstore (and Sauna). She died the second week of the store's existence, and her cousin, Lindsay, would join her the following weekend. Before she passed, Cameron approached me in my store and gushed about my later Batman screenplays and was interested in picking up some of my earlier Batman screenplays. 

The Ghost of Cameron Landgraab

Cameron has been described as a "cheerful", but "lazy" individual who "likes to practice" and "loves the color gray". Lindsay was a goofball who enjoyed, cold weather, borrowing things from friends and not liking the color green, making her an overall genius. Lindsay arrived at my store the week following her cousin's death originally to tell me off, but then we started to get along as we shared interests and mourned together... that is until she dropped dead at my feet. Once again, the Reaper came and left an urn. Once again, I was helpless to stop it. 

Unfortunately, that's all we can really give on Cameron and Lindsay, as we are currently in a feud with Cameron that I will write about in another book. Needless to say, that with all those deaths, I thought my store was somehow cursed.

​When we did get along though, I know Cameron was rooting for me, even if she once jokingly masqueraded as a "great, great, great, great" grandfather of mine. She was the one who made Lindsay understand that her death the week before was not my fault and I appreciated that.

The Ghost of Lindsay Landgraab

As time passed, I was exposed to more of Cameron and Linsday as I took in more pictures and paintings and really began to wish that I gotten to know them better when they were still alive.

They have a large family out in Oasis Springs that has a deep history starting with Gregory Landgraab, who became a wealthy landowner. Yet their history dates back even further to the time of the great Admiral Landgraab. Their family holds a lot of respect in my eyes, and I just wanted to take this time to apologize to them and to let them know that I'm taking care of their urns in my home and their ghosts have been seen wandering my halls. 

​Poor Arjun Lothario dropped dead on the third week of my store along with Lindsay Landgraab. It was actually the first time I began to question if there was something wrong with the store. The only thing I learned about him before and after his death was that he had been interested in interviewing me. Though he doesn't seem to communicate much, he has been seen in ghost form at Beers Manor. Roman Alley, who died the following weekend, liked the color gray and disliked the color yellow. He was family oriented, a vegetarian and loved being around children. He came to the store out of curiosity, but unfortunately left in an urn.

The Ghost of Arjun Lothario

After three weeks, Cory Handy "the Mohawk Guy", died right after arriving at the Thursday opening. He had described himself as a "romantic" and "erratic perfectionist" who hated the colors black and yellow. When asked about being dead, he said he was very sad about it and has conflicting feelings. 

The Ghost of Cory Handy "the Mohawk Guy"

The final death, Darrius Kim-Lewis was the son of Sun Young Kim and Bradley Lewis, with the Kim Family having emigrated from China. He's described himself as an "clumsy art lover" who also loved the outdoors and the color, while hating purple. He died just hours after Cory and was actually good friends with him. He had come to mourn and had died the same way as the others. The following week, I installed a thermostat. 

Darrius Kim-Lewis chatting with Cory Handy with Cameron Landgraab at the computer

​To the memory of these seven souls and the families that raised them. While their ghosts roam the halls of my home for the time being, once they pass on, may they find peace in their deaths. Their urns will be forever enshrined in the basement of Beers Manor as a monument to them and their lives.

The urns of the seven dead enshrined at the basement of Beers Manor. A selfie with each ghost is displayed with the urns.

-Jack Beers, Author