Choose your own adventure
Here is my big project I did for my Practice of Writing course, which I thought would be cool to post. Here is how this is going to work. I will post the first part of the story, up to a choice. Please vote on what choice you want to read, and the one with the most votes will get posted. At the end of a plotline, I will post the rest of the plotlines in their order so you can just read a whole plotline straight through. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Here is part 1
Night out: A Story of Choice
“We are leaving for dinner, Paul so we need you to take care of your sister until we get back, do you think you can handle..” My Dad said…I think. I was too busy playing Mass Effect 2 to notice, shooting aliens with a sniper rifle took all my concentration. My team was spread out, protecting me as I lined up the shot. I aimed at the alien, my breath slowed to minimize the shaking as I made the minute changes in aim, adjusting for the wind and for the alien’s movement. As I took one last breath and squeezed the trigger, my gun jumped as my Dad yelled and I missed the alien by a mile. The spell of the game broken, I finally heard what my Dad had just said.
“PAY ATTENTION! Damnit, Paul, you are 15 years old now. You are never going to be able to handle anything if you keep your head in those video games! He snatched the video game controller from me, as
I swallowed my rage, knowing I could go back to playing games the moment they were gone as long as I smiled and nodded and said all the right things and “yes, sirred” in the right places.
Dad seemed convinced. I agreed to look after Katy until they got back, and to put her in bed by 8PM, I promise. Katy smiled at this, at 7 she understands this subtlety, this game between parents and their almost-adult-but-not-quite children. Katy knows I won’t make her go to bed on time, and that we will both rush to appear responsible when the headlights hit the driveway. I gave a small smile to Katy. My parents think it is a loving brother smiling at Katy to be good, when really I am smiling, thinking damn kid, you are a smart one. You are going to be terrifying when you are older. Mom, dressed in a blue tight dress and Dad, dressed in a black suit with a purple tie, walked to the door to go on their dinner adventure.
As our parents left, Katy and I smiled. I told Katy to go play by herself as I started playing video games again. Katy’s smile fades. For all her perception of subtlety, she missed the fact that I did not want to play with her, she was boring. She started to dance, hoping that her adorableness would break the hold of video games, fat chance sis. Even though she is wearing her “Care Bears” T-shirt and pink ballerina skirt that she always wears when she is home, her adorableness did not persuade me to stop gaming. She yells for me to watch her do flips on the couch, which makes me pause in thought, and pause the game. This ended badly last time, as I recall. She hit her lips on the table, and the upper one split. A small nugget of concern enters my brain, and you, the reader and also my Conscience, appear. A strange feeling, having you in my head, and I realize with excitement just what you are: my conscience. Of course I know most people have these things, they care what people do, how people act, what they do to others. Hell, I had one of these when I was little, but it went away, first dusty from disuse, then covered by years of deep narcissism and electronic hedonism. Surprised I even know the word, hedonism, Conscience? Video games provide good lessons in vocabulary and shooting.
Having a conscience is an exciting feeling. Can I put myself on autopilot, turn on Conscience program 2.0 and allow you to make all of my decisions, knowing they will work out to satisfaction? You yell in my head that you will always be on, that you can’t be turned off. You also remind me, as gently as a hammer to the shoulder blade, that Katy is about to go all Evil Kinevil on the couch, perilously close to the table with what feels like are diamond tipped edges and the hard as steel tile floor.
Look after your sister and make sure she does not hurt herself! VOTE
Keep shooting aliens in the head, that sounds like a great use of your time. VOTE
Tell Katy something that will distract her from her crazy jumping. VOTE
Here is part 1
Night out: A Story of Choice
“We are leaving for dinner, Paul so we need you to take care of your sister until we get back, do you think you can handle..” My Dad said…I think. I was too busy playing Mass Effect 2 to notice, shooting aliens with a sniper rifle took all my concentration. My team was spread out, protecting me as I lined up the shot. I aimed at the alien, my breath slowed to minimize the shaking as I made the minute changes in aim, adjusting for the wind and for the alien’s movement. As I took one last breath and squeezed the trigger, my gun jumped as my Dad yelled and I missed the alien by a mile. The spell of the game broken, I finally heard what my Dad had just said.
“PAY ATTENTION! Damnit, Paul, you are 15 years old now. You are never going to be able to handle anything if you keep your head in those video games! He snatched the video game controller from me, as
I swallowed my rage, knowing I could go back to playing games the moment they were gone as long as I smiled and nodded and said all the right things and “yes, sirred” in the right places.
Dad seemed convinced. I agreed to look after Katy until they got back, and to put her in bed by 8PM, I promise. Katy smiled at this, at 7 she understands this subtlety, this game between parents and their almost-adult-but-not-quite children. Katy knows I won’t make her go to bed on time, and that we will both rush to appear responsible when the headlights hit the driveway. I gave a small smile to Katy. My parents think it is a loving brother smiling at Katy to be good, when really I am smiling, thinking damn kid, you are a smart one. You are going to be terrifying when you are older. Mom, dressed in a blue tight dress and Dad, dressed in a black suit with a purple tie, walked to the door to go on their dinner adventure.
As our parents left, Katy and I smiled. I told Katy to go play by herself as I started playing video games again. Katy’s smile fades. For all her perception of subtlety, she missed the fact that I did not want to play with her, she was boring. She started to dance, hoping that her adorableness would break the hold of video games, fat chance sis. Even though she is wearing her “Care Bears” T-shirt and pink ballerina skirt that she always wears when she is home, her adorableness did not persuade me to stop gaming. She yells for me to watch her do flips on the couch, which makes me pause in thought, and pause the game. This ended badly last time, as I recall. She hit her lips on the table, and the upper one split. A small nugget of concern enters my brain, and you, the reader and also my Conscience, appear. A strange feeling, having you in my head, and I realize with excitement just what you are: my conscience. Of course I know most people have these things, they care what people do, how people act, what they do to others. Hell, I had one of these when I was little, but it went away, first dusty from disuse, then covered by years of deep narcissism and electronic hedonism. Surprised I even know the word, hedonism, Conscience? Video games provide good lessons in vocabulary and shooting.
Having a conscience is an exciting feeling. Can I put myself on autopilot, turn on Conscience program 2.0 and allow you to make all of my decisions, knowing they will work out to satisfaction? You yell in my head that you will always be on, that you can’t be turned off. You also remind me, as gently as a hammer to the shoulder blade, that Katy is about to go all Evil Kinevil on the couch, perilously close to the table with what feels like are diamond tipped edges and the hard as steel tile floor.
Look after your sister and make sure she does not hurt herself! VOTE
Keep shooting aliens in the head, that sounds like a great use of your time. VOTE
Tell Katy something that will distract her from her crazy jumping. VOTE