It was an unfortunate illness. Inexplicable, unseen. A silent thief that interjected itself into your happy little life. And took it.
|sample1)[(transition: "dissolve")[You wasted quickly. Your husband did his best to support you but there was no doubt in your mind that, throughout it all, he was a hair's breadth away from snapping like a twig. He would soon be a single parent, after all.]]
|sample2)[(transition: "dissolve")[
And then there was Alan. Your child. A boy of fourteen. Things came to their conclusion at a truly vulnerable time in his life.]]
|sample3)[(transition: "dissolve")[
When you died your husband, miraculously, held it together. But you fear something broke in the boy, who did not cry at the funeral, who did not speak, who has not said anything since.]]
|sample4)[(transition: "dissolve")[
Six months have passed. Your fears have kept you rooted just outside the old house on Maple Avenue, watching from afar. They have kept you from entering.]]
|sample5)[(transition: "dissolve")[
Until tonight. It's your birthday.]]
|sample6)[(transition: "dissolve")[
[[Enter]]]]
{
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You glide through the front door and into the living room.
(set: $transCounter to 0)
It's vacant, though a few decorations sit around. Tom somehow managed the will to retrieve that old plastic Christmas tree from the attic. It sits quietly in the corner, bare of all ornament.
[[Visit the kitchen.]]
[[Visit your bedroom.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]](if: $Tom is not 1 and $Alan is not 1)[Except for a half-eaten, filmy bowl of cereal, the kitchen is empty. Perhaps the boys will visit later.
[[Visit your bedroom.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]]](if: $Tom is 1 and $Alan is not 1)[Tom sits in the kitchen. He blankly stares into a cup of coffee.
[[Visit your bedroom.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]]](if: $Tom is not 1 and $Alan is 1)[Your son sits on a kitchen stool. There is nothing in front of him. He is doing nothing.
[[Visit your bedroom.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]]](if: $Tom is 1 and $Alan is 1)[(set: $transCounter to 0)(set: $c2 to 0)(go-to: "Finale")](if: $Tom is 1)[Your bedroom is empty.
[[Visit the kitchen.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]]](if: $Tom is not 1)[You pass up the stairs. You have no legs yet you feel almost as if you are climbing.
The old bedroom door is half-open. You always made Tom close it; the old house is drafty and cold. Though you can't feel the temperature you suspect it is still so. Perhaps he prefers it.
|t1)[(transition: "dissolve")[He lies on the bed, alone, on his back. The position of his body is off to the side, close to his bedside table, as if he expects you to return to slip into the sheets beside him.
You note that your table is unchanged. A cup of water that you remember setting there the night before you went to the hospital remains, surrounded by dust. All that has changed on Tom's table is an additional picture of you.]]
|t2)[(transition: "dissolve")[He is focusing on it. He lies back, and sighs, and presses his hands to his face. For a moment. Then he rises and leaves the room.
(set: $Tom to 1)
[[Visit the kitchen.]]
[[Visit Alan's bedroom.]]]]]{
(live: 1s)[
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(show: ?t1)
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(stop:)
]]}(if: $Alan is 1)[Alan's room is empty.
[[Visit the kitchen.]]
[[Visit your bedroom.]]](if: $Alan is not 1)[Alan's room is much cleaner than the last time you saw it. The bed is made, the floor free of discarded clothes or books. In fact, there's nothing on his dresser or any of the shelves in his room. It looks almost like it did before you moved in.
|a1)[(transition: "dissolve")[Alan himself is in the corner, at his computer. For a moment the violation of privacy your presence constitutes strikes you, but it seems that he's not doing anything illicit. You approach.]]
|a2)[(transition: "dissolve")[He's staring at a blank Word document. It seems he's been here for quite some time.]]
|a3)[(transition: "dissolve")[His eyes stray toward the date counter on the screen's bottom right. With a soft sigh, he slams the computer shut and leaves his room.
(set: $Alan to 1)]
[[Visit the kitchen.]]
[[Visit your bedroom.]]]]{
(live: 1s)[
(set: $c2 to it + 1)
(if: $c2 is 7)[
(show: ?a1)
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(show: ?a2)
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(else-if: $c2 is 17)[
(show: ?a3)
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(else-if: $c2 > 17)[
(stop:)
]]}Your husband and son sit in the kitchen. Tom lifts his head.
|t1)[(transition: "dissolve")["How're you feeling, son?"]]
|t2)[(transition: "dissolve")[Alan stares blankly at his father, saying nothing.]]
|t3)[(transition: "dissolve")[The silence returns. For a moment. Then Tom sets his head on the table, as if he were a child, and begins to weep.
[[Oh.]]]]
{(live: 1s)[
(set: $c2 to it + 1)
(if: $c2 is 3)[
(show: ?t1)
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(show: ?t2)
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(else-if: $c2 is 9)[
(show: ?t3)
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(else-if: $c2 > 9)[
(stop:)
]]}(set: $c2 to 0)You wonder if he has wept at all, since that day. If he has allowed himself the time to cry.
|t1)[(transition: "dissolve")[Alan, still seated in the kitchen, looks at his father wide-eyed. Uncomfortable. Uncertain.]]
|t2)[(transition: "dissolve")[And then he rises, crossing the floor, and sits beside his father. And he sets his head on his shoulder.]]
|t3)[(transition: "dissolve")[Tom sits up, snuffling, a hand on his face.]]
|t4)[(transition: "dissolve")["Damn it, Alan. I'm sorry. I've been trying to keep it together, but it's just not... it's just not easy, all the time." He wipes his face on his arm, uselessly.]]
|t5)[(transition: "dissolve")[You drift between them, almost feeling their warmth, almost like you're really there.]]
|t6)[(transition: "dissolve")[There's a pause. [[And then Alan speaks.]]]]
{(live: 1s)[
(set: $transCounter to it + 1)
(if: $transCounter is 5)[
(show: ?t1)
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(else-if: $transCounter is 10)[
(show: ?t2)
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(else-if: $transCounter is 15)[
(show: ?t3)
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(else-if: $transCounter is 18)[
(show: ?t4)
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(else-if: $transCounter is 23)[
(show: ?t5)
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(else-if: $transCounter is 28)[
(show: ?t6)
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(else-if: $transCounter > 28)[
(stop:)
]]}"It's lonely, just the two of us," he says, and you expect his voice to crack. It doesn't. It's even, but... hollow. "Like nobody lives here. Not you or me. It's empty."
(set: $transCounter to 0)
Tom nods.
As you listen to his slow, even words, an idea springs suddenly to mind.
[[Dissipate.]]It is a strange feeling, taking your own body apart. Not like dying - it doesn't hurt.
|t1)[(transition: "dissolve")[You drift toward the two of them, toward the forms behind their bodies. Tom's is full of tiny holes, as if he has been shorn through with birdshot. Alan's has a single, melon-sized hollow in the center of his chest.]]
|t2)[(transition: "dissolve")[You drift into the absences, feeling the pain that yawns within them. It hurts Tom to think back. Hurts him to cross the kitchen and remember the two of you making breakfast. Hurts him to remember the nights you spent beside each other.]]
|t3)[(transition: "dissolve")[And it hurts Alan to think of you at all.]]
|t4)[(transition: "dissolve")[//[[But you can make it better. At least a little. By giving them what remains.]]//]]{
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(set: $c2 to it + 1)
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(show: ?t1)
]
(else-if: $c2 is 12)[
(show: ?t2)
]
(else-if: $c2 is 21)[
(show: ?t3)
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(else-if: $c2 is 24)[
(show: ?t4)
]
(else-if: $c2 > 24)[
(stop:)
]]}<nohead><span style="font-size: 300%">(align: "=><=")[Vacancy]</span>
(set: $header to 0)(align: "=><=")[(link: "start")[(go-to: "Opening")]](if: $header is not 1)[<div id="first-passage">//Vacancy//</div>
](set: $header to 1)They sit together. Without you. Alan cries. Tom cries. But they are fresh tears, not as bitter. Not as hot.
|t1)[(transition: "dissolve")["My dad always used to say," Tom says, sniffling, "that when somebody dies, you keep a part of 'em alive. In your heart. I always thought he was full of crap."]]
|t2)[(transition: "dissolve")[Through the tears, Alan almost smiles.]]
|t3)[(transition: "dissolve")["But now that I think of it, maybe my old man was onto something. When he died I never felt like he really left me."]]
|t4)[(transition: "dissolve")[Slowly, Alan nods. "I think... I think I know what you mean."]]
|t5)[(transition: "dissolve")[Tom gives a quizzical smile and looks toward the living room. "Say - this is an odd thought, but would you wanna finally decorate that tree? Hate looking at the barren thing all the time."]]
|t6)[(transition: "dissolve")["Like we used to?"]]
|t7)[(transition: "dissolve")["Like we used to. All three of us."]]
|t8)[(transition: "dissolve")["I think that'd be great," Alan says.
And for the first time in months, he smiles.]]
|t9)[(transition: "dissolve")[(align: "=><=")[END]]]
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(stop:)
]]}