For Halloween!
Now this is a which-way adventure of sorts. In the paper the pieces were in different sections, but I don't have that luxery here. Read very carefully to figure out where you're supposed to go.
Decisions
Sometimes life is about choices. Tonight’s started off with a bad one. You’ve decided to go to a graveyard. At night. On Halloween. Congratulations, you’ve already lost our sympathy. Anything that happens to you from here is your own fault. Still, there are more choices to be made. You wander through the maze of tombstones by the dim light of a half-moon and the distant orange haze of the streetlights you left behind. Everything seems to be still; you don’t even hear drunken college kids giggling as they desecrate graves. For some reason, you were sure you’d hear them…Weren’t there friends you were supposed to meet? What are you even doing here anyway? Everything seems to be in such a fog now. You keep walking, wondering what you’re even supposed to be doing in this graveyard on the worst of all possible nights.
You’re so preoccupied that you miss the first few signs that you should panic. You don’t notice how soft and fresh the earth is beneath your feet. You’re deaf to the sudden howling of the wind. The scent of something rotten blends with the smell of dead leaves all around you. It’s almost too late when you look up and see a figure in the darkest shadows of a weeping willow just in front of you. It whispers to you across the frigid air of the night.
“You must make a choice now, Lost One. Hope that it isn’t your last.” And a hand points out to you, gnarled and gray. Suddenly before you there is a rope and an ax and you somehow know that you can only have one.
If you choose the ax go to page four to see where your adventure leads. If you choose the rope page six is what you seek.
PAGE FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!
You take the ax in your hands and feel its cold hardness. It feels good, even right, in your grip. Immediately you’re filled with a malevolent glee and slash with all your might at the figure in the shadows. Surprisingly your blade goes right through it and the figure dissolves. It is nothing more than a pile of leaves now. You feel a brief chill, but quickly push it to the back of your mind. You are armed now and indestructible. (Go back to main story now.)
PAGE SIX!!!!!!!!!!!
Nervously you take the rope. Who knows, it could be useful. As your hand grips it though the figure in the shadows sucks in its breath. You can’t tell if it’s shocked or trying to hold back a gasp of glee. Suddenly you feel more frightened than you have all night. You look down for a moment to gather your courage and when you look up the figure is gone. You grip the rope more tightly and hope you made the right decision. (Go back to main story now.)
Stop! Do not read ahead unless you have been instructed to come back here.
With your new tool in hand you decide it’s time to keep moving. Something strange is happening here and you don’t want to wait for it to find you. The graveyard has turned into a forest now and there are paths going every which way. Too bad you don’t trust any of them. Instead you press through the nearest clump of wildlife. As you walk you lose sight of the moon and can’t see a thing. You don’t mind though. The ground beneath you has started to make very unsettling crunching noises and you have the worrying suspicion that it might be moving. Finally you burst into a clearing. There’s a dark, rickety house standing on the forest’s edge. It looks abandoned, but you think you hear some muffled sounds from within. It has to be better than this frightening forest. You run for the door.
If you chose the ax your adventure continues on page two. If the rope is your friend go to page eight.
PAGE TWO!!!!!!!!!!!
You laugh as you charge towards the front door. Dark and creepy forest or not, you already know that you’re going to survive this night. You swing the door open with a bold confidence and then see only an empty room. Still, you hear noises coming from somewhere. You open a door and find the basement stairs, surprisingly well-lit by candles. The noises are slightly clearer now; they sound like mischief and glee. Slowly you walk down the steps then leap suddenly into the room below, howling a vicious war cry. You hear several screams and then a surge of laughter. You look around and see familiar faces. It’s your friends. Of course! You promised to meet them in the woods for a party! You want to laugh, but your arm tingles and you hear a different laughter in you head, the laugh of the figure in the shadows. You try to look away as your arm and the ax in it rise on their own. You try not to see as you carve through every life and limb in the room, but your choice was a poor one and you now know that you will never see anything else again.
PAGE EIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
You hesitate as you reach for the doorknob. This all seems much too easy. Why would you have been offered a rope if you weren’t supposed to use it? You find a heavy rock and tie it to the rope, then swing it into the highest window you can reach. The wind rustles the grass around you and somehow sounds angry doing so. You suddenly feel overcome with a feeling of unstoppable terror, but you begin to climb up anyway. About half-way up you hear a horrible screaming below you, possibly from the house’s basement. You can’t think about that though, you have to keep climbing. Finally you reach the window. Inside you see the oldest-looking room you’ve ever seen. It looks even older than the house it’s in. You somehow have the feeling that no one else has looked at it for a very long time, but you also feel that you’ve found what you’ve been looking for. You step inside and suddenly the figure from the shadows is there behind you. You can feel an evil rage radiating from it and you know you’ve done something forbidden, something your rope cannot protect you from. “It was supposed to hang you,” a voice whispers, “and so it will. Your biggest mistake tonight was thinking you ever really had a choice.” There’s no chance for anything else. The rope comes alive in your hand and the world goes black.
Happy Halloween everybody!
Decisions
Sometimes life is about choices. Tonight’s started off with a bad one. You’ve decided to go to a graveyard. At night. On Halloween. Congratulations, you’ve already lost our sympathy. Anything that happens to you from here is your own fault. Still, there are more choices to be made. You wander through the maze of tombstones by the dim light of a half-moon and the distant orange haze of the streetlights you left behind. Everything seems to be still; you don’t even hear drunken college kids giggling as they desecrate graves. For some reason, you were sure you’d hear them…Weren’t there friends you were supposed to meet? What are you even doing here anyway? Everything seems to be in such a fog now. You keep walking, wondering what you’re even supposed to be doing in this graveyard on the worst of all possible nights.
You’re so preoccupied that you miss the first few signs that you should panic. You don’t notice how soft and fresh the earth is beneath your feet. You’re deaf to the sudden howling of the wind. The scent of something rotten blends with the smell of dead leaves all around you. It’s almost too late when you look up and see a figure in the darkest shadows of a weeping willow just in front of you. It whispers to you across the frigid air of the night.
“You must make a choice now, Lost One. Hope that it isn’t your last.” And a hand points out to you, gnarled and gray. Suddenly before you there is a rope and an ax and you somehow know that you can only have one.
If you choose the ax go to page four to see where your adventure leads. If you choose the rope page six is what you seek.
PAGE FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!
You take the ax in your hands and feel its cold hardness. It feels good, even right, in your grip. Immediately you’re filled with a malevolent glee and slash with all your might at the figure in the shadows. Surprisingly your blade goes right through it and the figure dissolves. It is nothing more than a pile of leaves now. You feel a brief chill, but quickly push it to the back of your mind. You are armed now and indestructible. (Go back to main story now.)
PAGE SIX!!!!!!!!!!!
Nervously you take the rope. Who knows, it could be useful. As your hand grips it though the figure in the shadows sucks in its breath. You can’t tell if it’s shocked or trying to hold back a gasp of glee. Suddenly you feel more frightened than you have all night. You look down for a moment to gather your courage and when you look up the figure is gone. You grip the rope more tightly and hope you made the right decision. (Go back to main story now.)
Stop! Do not read ahead unless you have been instructed to come back here.
With your new tool in hand you decide it’s time to keep moving. Something strange is happening here and you don’t want to wait for it to find you. The graveyard has turned into a forest now and there are paths going every which way. Too bad you don’t trust any of them. Instead you press through the nearest clump of wildlife. As you walk you lose sight of the moon and can’t see a thing. You don’t mind though. The ground beneath you has started to make very unsettling crunching noises and you have the worrying suspicion that it might be moving. Finally you burst into a clearing. There’s a dark, rickety house standing on the forest’s edge. It looks abandoned, but you think you hear some muffled sounds from within. It has to be better than this frightening forest. You run for the door.
If you chose the ax your adventure continues on page two. If the rope is your friend go to page eight.
PAGE TWO!!!!!!!!!!!
You laugh as you charge towards the front door. Dark and creepy forest or not, you already know that you’re going to survive this night. You swing the door open with a bold confidence and then see only an empty room. Still, you hear noises coming from somewhere. You open a door and find the basement stairs, surprisingly well-lit by candles. The noises are slightly clearer now; they sound like mischief and glee. Slowly you walk down the steps then leap suddenly into the room below, howling a vicious war cry. You hear several screams and then a surge of laughter. You look around and see familiar faces. It’s your friends. Of course! You promised to meet them in the woods for a party! You want to laugh, but your arm tingles and you hear a different laughter in you head, the laugh of the figure in the shadows. You try to look away as your arm and the ax in it rise on their own. You try not to see as you carve through every life and limb in the room, but your choice was a poor one and you now know that you will never see anything else again.
PAGE EIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
You hesitate as you reach for the doorknob. This all seems much too easy. Why would you have been offered a rope if you weren’t supposed to use it? You find a heavy rock and tie it to the rope, then swing it into the highest window you can reach. The wind rustles the grass around you and somehow sounds angry doing so. You suddenly feel overcome with a feeling of unstoppable terror, but you begin to climb up anyway. About half-way up you hear a horrible screaming below you, possibly from the house’s basement. You can’t think about that though, you have to keep climbing. Finally you reach the window. Inside you see the oldest-looking room you’ve ever seen. It looks even older than the house it’s in. You somehow have the feeling that no one else has looked at it for a very long time, but you also feel that you’ve found what you’ve been looking for. You step inside and suddenly the figure from the shadows is there behind you. You can feel an evil rage radiating from it and you know you’ve done something forbidden, something your rope cannot protect you from. “It was supposed to hang you,” a voice whispers, “and so it will. Your biggest mistake tonight was thinking you ever really had a choice.” There’s no chance for anything else. The rope comes alive in your hand and the world goes black.
Happy Halloween everybody!