Monster Revised

It is dark when you arrive. (click: "dark") [ The long, winding road brought you here - to the middle of a forest, far past civilization, so far past in fact that the sky is painted with stars and the city lights are but a faded memory, if they're in your mind at all.] (click: "at all.") [ The waxing moon and milky stars provide little light for you tonight. But at the end of the dirt road, there is a house.] (click: "a house.") [ The house is small, almost like a cottage, and nearly blends into the forest surrounding it. The paint could've been a pleasant green, but now looks a sickly grey, peeling in layers. A crow is perched upon the apex of the roof, staring at you with what appears to be a spark of recognition, like it knows secrets about you never shared.] (click: "secrets") [ If you didn't know any better, you would assume no one has lived here for years. Is this your house?] (click: "Is this your house?")[ [[This is my house.]] [[This is not my house.]]]

You park your car as close to the house as you can, and scurry up the steps as the night chases you. You unlock the door and enter, kicking your shoes off and closing the door behind you. You hang your keys up on the right side of the wall. It has been a long day, and an even longer drive out to your father's house. (click: "father's house.") [ He passed away weeks ago, and as his only living child, it was your job to sort through his belongings. There was so much to do, but something always felt-- //feels// off here. The forest had an disquieting presence, and it's hard to get work done when you're always feeling watched.] (click: "watched.") [ Still, there is some time left before you have to be in bed. It is hard to keep your eyes open, but so much is left to do. [[Go to bed.]] [[Get to work.]] ]

The wind is howling, and you feel as though you haven't eaten in days. You realize you've seen this house before. It has a familiarity to it that you can't place no matter how hard you try, and you're not sure if you find it unsettling or comforting. It is cold and the sun has set and the forest is foreboding and that crow still has its eyes on you. (click: "its eyes on you.")[ Your only option is to [[enter the house.]] ]

You resolve to get ready for bed, that the work can wait until morning. Your aching feet carry your body up the stairs and you turn on the hallway light as you go. The bedroom is at the end of the hallway. (click: "the hallway.") [ It's small, and still crowded with your father's belongings. There is a small desk in the corner under a window, and a twin bed against the wall. Piles of boxes make the room akin to a maze until you get to your suitcase, precariously placed upon a chair by the end of the bed. ] (click:"by the end of the bed.")[ You change into pajamas and search for your toothbrush. You accidentally knock the suitcase from its unbalanced place, and it goes clattering to the hardwood. Your clothes and belongings spread across the floor. You curse yourself for being so clumsy. [[Clean it up.]]]

You walk up the stairs and through the deep blue colored hall and into the study, the second door on the right, closest to the bedroom. It's dusty all through the house, no matter how many times you clean. You've given up that endeavor in the past few weeks, figuring it was just the forest air. The laptop sits on your father's writers desk, with piles of books and manuscripts and a few toolboxes sitting around. This was the last room he was supposed to renovate, so there are no functional lights, and it takes your concentration and slow steps to [[navigate to the desk.]]

You //need// to [[find]] them.

The bedroom is empty, although it smells as though someone was recently around. It is dark and dusty, as though it has not been touched in weeks. Save for a suitcase on a chair in the corner, which is dumped on the floor, the contents scattered across the room. There is a small adjacent bathroom you enter, trying to follow the tricky, ~~delicious~~ smell. A large, ornate [[mirror->Look in the mirror]] hangs on the wall.

You look in the mirror. (click: "mirror.") [ You have never seen yourself this way. Antlers protrude upwards from your skull, jagged and bone white covered in blood. Blood that has been dripping across the floor as you've wandered your way through this house.] (click: "dripping") [ Your eyes are black and lifeless and round, sunken into your pale, ovoid face, their movement imperceptible to anyone but you. You do not have a nose but rather just nostrils halfway down your face above your mouth...] (click: "mouth...") [ Gaped open, full of teeth and blackness, and drooling at the smell.] (click: "smell.") [ That damned [[smell.]] ]

The door has foolishly been left unlocked, so you turn the doorknob carefully, and enter as quietly as you can. (click: "quietly") [ It is dark inside, save for a light in a hallway upstairs. As your eyes adjust, you can see piles and piles of dusty books in a small living area, with a hallway leading further into the house. ] (click: "the house") [ The inside looks unfinished. There are boxes everywhere and walls that are only painted halfway. A staircase is to your right. Where do you go next?] (click: "next") [ [[Up the stairs]] [[To the books]] [[Down the hallway]]]

The writers' desk sits in the far corner of the crowded room, below one of the shuttered windows at the front of the house. Paperwork is piled on top of it, almost six inches high, and you let out a sigh as you fall into the char in front of it. Your laptop is cast to the side but you pull it into your lap and the light from the screen seems to illuminate the whole room. (click: "illuminate the whole room.") [ You answer a few emails before placing the computer back on the desk, half open to preserve the light. The paperwork comes next, but as you reach for a pen from the box on the desk, the box goes clattering to the floor.] (click: "clattering") [ You lean down to [[pick it up.]]]

You emerge from the bedroom, slowly, with bare feet as to not make a sound. The hallway is dark, the dark blue paint making the hall feel even smaller between bookcases and books and boxes. (click:"dark,")[ You don't remember turning off the hallway light. But you're not sure you remember turning it on either. At first you don't see anything, you just hear a steady dripping.] (click: "dripping.") [ Drip.]<d1| (click: "?d1") [ Drip.]<d2| (click: "?d2") [ [[Drip.]] ]

You lean down to gather your clothes when you hear a shuffling down the hall. (click: "shuffling") [ It is undoubtedly something moving.] (click: "moving.") [ Then suddenly, it stops.] (click: "stops.") [ There is someone else here. What do you do? [[Call someone.]] [[Hide.]] ]

The dripping is incessant. (click: "dripping") [ Drip.]<d1| (click: "?d1") [ Drip.]<d2| (click: "?d2") [ Drip.]<d3| (click: "?d3") [ [[Dripping.]]]

[[Dripping...]]

You dart into the hallway and your ~~prey~~ is standing there, blissfully unaware. You're hiding halfway behind the bookcase when it turns, slowly, and sees you there. You know from past hunts that you must move quickly, but your hunger is so extreme it's almost debilitating. [[Attack.]] [[Stay behind the bookcase.]]

You spin around and see something, standing halfway behind the bookcase. You can see... (click: "see...")[ A tall figure, almost taller than the bookcase. Or, maybe not, there's something sticking above it...] (click: "above it...") [ They are antlers, //jagged// and protruding from its skull straight towards the ceiling. They are the source of the ceaseless dripping, you realize, as they are coated with something. It puddles near the creature's bare feet, which do not look like feet, but almost closer to hooves. The puddle is growing, and you follow the trail of drops with your eyes. They lead into the bathroom, the bedroom, the study, then there is a trail coming from the stairs.] (click: "drops")[ A drop is by your toe. [[Examine the liquid.]] [[Do not look away.]]]

You start in that direction, but [[wait...]]

A strong scent wafts by your face. Sniff... (click: "Sniff...") [ Sniff...]<s2| (click: "?s2") [ [[Sniff...]]]

There's [[someone else]] in this house.

The smell is overwhelming, and leads you (click: "you") [ up] (click: "up") [ the] (click: "the") [ [[stairs.]]]

There are three doors in this hallway; one to your left, one to your right, and one at the end of the hall. (click: "left") [ The door to your left is cracked open, but there is no light coming from it. All you can see is a desk.] (click: "right") [ The door to your right is closed. You reach for the door handle and jiggle it, but it is locked.] (click: "locked") [ That ~~decadent~~ smell hits you again like a wave and you realize it is coming from [[the end of the hall.]] ]

You touch your toe to the drop then turn your foot upwards. The liquid is red, and thick... (click: "red") [ It's blood. In the split second that you have that revelation, the //thing// moves impossibly fast towards you. [[Move left!]] [[Move right!]] [[Grab a weapon!]]]

It peers out and you see its eyes, black and soulless, round and unyielding, staring you down. It is entrancing, or even familiar, in a grotesque way. Even out of your peripheral vision you can see the blood continuously dripping on the floor, and its hands wrapped around the edge of the decades-old book case. (click: "hands") [ Could you even call them hands? Its "fingers" are long and thick and end in a point sharp enough to carve into the wood of the bookcase. Your eyes dart down to watch its claws curl in. It leans forward...] (click: "forward...") [ And you see a drop of drool fall from its void of a mouth and onto its hand. //It wants to eat you,// you realize. //It wants to eat you and it is horrific.//] (click: "horrific.") [ It takes a step out from behind the bookshelf. [[Move left!]] [[Move right!]] [[Grab a weapon!]] ]

In your panic, you call the first person in your recent calls list. You do not even see who it is. You just hold the phone up to your ear as it rings. (click: "rings.") [ Ringing...]<r1| (click: "?r1") [ Ringing...]<r2| (click: "?r2") [ Ringing...]<r3| (click: "?r3") [ Click.] (click: "Click.") [ [["Hi, sweetie!"]]]

You opt for the closet in the bedroom. You slide down against the wall in the corner, covered in cobwebs, but still safer than whatever is out //there//. You clutch your phone to your chest and wait to hear another noise. (click: "wait") [ It is silent. [[Call someone.]] [[Wait.]]]

You wait another few seconds, even though they feel like hours. (click: "hours.") [ There is nothing.] (click: "nothing.") [ It is silent.] (click: "silent") [ There is a crash somewhere, maybe downstairs or in the bathroom. Just then, your phone rings. [[Answer it.->"Hi, sweetie!"]]]

It's your mother. (click:"mother.")[ "Did you make it to the house okay?" She asks. [["Yes Mom, I'm fine."]] [["Mom, there's someone else here!"]]]

"Oh, that's so good to hear," she says. "It's so far out of the way, I get nervous. I can't understand for the life of me why your father wanted to live out there after we got separated. That house has always creeped me out." (click: "creeped") [ [["Why did it creep you out?"]] [["I think there's someone else here, Mom."->"Mom, there's someone else here!"]]]

"Oh, I'm sure you're fine," she says in a peppy voice. "It's just a creepy house, sweetie." "No, Mom. I //heard// something," you whisper. (click: "whisper.") [ "There's definitely something else here. What do I do?" Your mom sighs. "You sound like your father, dear." [["Dad saw something in the house?"]]]

She takes a moment before speaking, like she's choosing her words carefully. You hear something shuffle down the hallway. "I don't know, dear." She sounds exasperated. "It just... There were always ravens or crows around, and sometimes it felt like..." (click: "felt like...") [ She trails off uncomfortably. You can't help but speak. [["Felt like what?"]]]

Your mother sighs. "He took too much on when he decided to renovate that house. I know he was lonely, with you kids all... grown up and me gone, but it was just too much." "What did he see, Mom?" "It was nothing." [["Mom, please tell me.]] [["There's something out here, you have to believe me!"]]

"It felt like there was always something else in that house, you know? Besides your father, of course." She pauses again. "He loved that house, dear. It was his passion project, after we lost your brother and split up... But I think it ended up driving him mad. Maybe it was the pressure or maybe it was the loneliness. I guess I'll never know. It's just something about that house." (click: "house.") [ You hear several dogs barking in the background on her end. Your mother laughs. "Listen, dear, I have to go. The dogs are going wild, I think they see someone outside. Talk to you soon!" "Wait, Mom!" Click.] (click: "Click.") [ What do you do next? [[Investigate.]] [[Stay put.]]]

She falls silent for a long time. "I never told you this, but your father... He wasn't... All together, there at the end. I think, with your brother lost in those woods and me gone, he went delirious. I know it came as a shock to you when he died, but I wasn't very surprised." Your heart drops. "What do you mean?" (click: "heart") [ "He told me he would see a monster in that house. He even drew it once, that's how into his head it got. It wasn't even anything, I'm sure it was just... The house settling, or shadows from the trees."] (click: "shadows")[ "It was a really gruesome thing he drew, sweetie. All blood and antlers... I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to know how he-" Your phone has died. [[Investigate.]] [[Stay put.]] ]

"Did you see something?" She asks. "No," you admit. "I just heard something weird, down the hall. Or maybe it was downstairs." You're becoming flustered. "I don't know." "It's an old house, and you've had a long day. I'm sure you're just hearing things. If you keep hearing things-" (click: "things-") [ Your phone is dead.] (click: "dead.") [ What do you do next? [[Investigate.]] ]

Are you sure you want to stay here? (click: "here") [ [[Yes.]] [[Investigate.]] ]

You resolve to hide and wait in the bedroom closet until the morning, when there is light and the world is much less intimidating. (click: "wait") [ And you wait.] (click: "wait.") [ And you wait...] (click: "wait...") [ And you fall [[asleep.]]]

You are roused from your sleep by an incessant, obscene dripping noise next to your ear. (click: "sleep") [ The last thing you see are a large pair of black eyes and two large hands.] (click: "hands.") [ Maybe not hands, but claws... One in front of your eyes and one slowly wrapping around your neck and-] (click: "neck") [ [[Start Over.->Start]]]

You slam into the wall and scramble backwards. //It// is impossibly graceful, but it is no longer tall and still. It is crouched over you, chasing you, hands outstretched towards your face. [[Keep moving backwards!]] [[Grab a weapon!]]

What do you grab? [[A book!]] [[A pen!]]

You keep moving backwards towards the staircase, but you do not know this house well enough. You don't know where the staircase starts and where the hallway ends. (click: "starts") [ Your hand misses the ground and instead falls toward the first step, and you snap your wrist.] (click: "snap") [ You cry out and tumble...] (click: "tumble...") [ It follows you for a moment, then jumps over the railing, its antlers scraping the ceiling and leaving marks.] (click: "marks.") [ Marks that you see now, as you lie on the floor of the living room. That is not the first set of scratches, not by a long shot. And you remember your father was found at the bottom of the stairs.] (click: "father") [ With his eyes missing and his throat slit.] (click: "missing") [ The monster leans down over you, thumbs positioned over your eyes... Only the crows hear you scream. [[Start Over->Start]] [[Try Again->Investigate.]] ]

You grab the first book you see from a pile, and luckily it is a hardbound copy of //War and Peace//. You hurl it at the monster with all of your might. A corner hits it in the mouth, knocking out a few teeth. The teeth fall to the ground and you see them: they are not teeth. Or, they might be teeth, but they look more like something an animal would have. Sharp and curved like hooks to sink into flesh. The monstrosity lets out a screech but stumbles back, one hand clasped over his mouth as blood pours to the floor and the other reaching towards you. What next? [[Run!]]

You fearlessly advance, moving for the antique pen right in front of the beast. It moves faster than you do, but you duck around its arm and your fingers curl around the pen. Where do you stab it? [[The eyes!]] [[The hand!]]

You scramble down the stairs, barefoot, and feel the blood stick to the skin of your feet, embedding itself in the creases of your skin. (click: "blood") [ It screeches behind you.] (click: "screeches") [ You cover your ears as you run. [[Grab your keys.]]]

It is halfway down the stairs but you take a moment to find your keys. Are they on the right wall or the left wall? [[Left!]] [[Right!]]

Your keys aren't there. You spin around but it is there, standing, towering over you. (click: "you") [ A drop of blood hits your cheek. It positions its large hands over your cheeks, and suddenly...] (click: "blood") [ You remember your father was found at the bottom of the stairs...] (click: "father") [ With his throat slit...] (click: "slit") [ And his eyes missing.] (click: "missing") [ [[Start Over->Start]] [[Try Again->Investigate.]] ]

You grab your keys off the ring and make it out just before its claws can wrap around your arm. It screams again as you slam and lock the door. You can hear it throwing itself against the door as you run out to your car as fast as you can, nearly tripping and cutting your feet on the dirt road. (click: "as fast as you can")[ But you make it. The car starts with a satisfying rumble.] (click: "satisfying") [ You've survived. [[Start Over->Start]] ]

You stab it in its gaping left eye as fast as you can and it bleeds. It bleeds and bleeds and //bleeds//. (click: "bleeds.") [ It is angrier with you now, and keeps one hand clasped over its eye but the other is aimlessly grasping for your shirt. You run as fast as you can in the other direction, [[down the stairs.->Run!]]]

It outstretches its hand in front of you, reaching towards your face, when you stab it in the palm. (click: "stab") [ It does not stop. Its black blood is running down its hand and lands on your feet, on your chest as it wraps its hands around your neck.] (click: "blood") [ It examines you. It cocks its head to the right, much like a deer would, but it still looks grotesque and horrifying and //nothing// like a deer would. And suddenly, your father being found with his throat slit and his eyes missing makes sense as it positions its claws above your eyes. You close them, and swallow your screams. [[Start Over->Start]] [[Try Again->Investigate.]] ]

You bolt to the right, into the bathroom. You scramble to lock the door. The creature on the other side throws itself against the old wood, and you can hear it creaking under the weight. (click: "creaking") [ There is a small window you could squeeze out of, but it would be a long fall to the ground. Or...] (click: "Or...") [ You could arm yourself with a pair of scissors and face the beast on the other side of the door. Its antlers begin to scrape against the wood, close to puncturing it entirely. What do you do? [[Climb out the window.]] [[Leave the bathroom.]]]

You pry open the window and slide it open with a deafening //creak//. It is just barely large enough for you to fit through. Crawling up on the toilet, you position yourself to slide your feet out first. The beast is nearly inside now, having scratched almost entirely through the door. (click: "beast") [ It throws itself against the fragile wood one more time and the door collapses inwards. Its eyes seem larger somehow, and a drop of blood has run down its face. ] (click: "blood") [ It is //feral// and it is //close//. It would be safer to find somewhere to grip on the side of the house, but you're running out of time. The creature is reaching for your arms. [[Slow down and find your footing!]] [[Jump!]]]

You hold the scissors like a dagger in your left hand and reach for the doorknob with your right, nearly slipping in the large puddle of blood on the bathroom floor. For only a moment, you wonder how it got there. (click: "puddle") [ Before you can swing open the door and make a hasty escape, its antlers pierce the wood. They narrowly miss your shoulders, each bone fragment framing your neck. Your only option is to [[climb out the window->Climb out the window.]]]

You grab the only thing you can reach, a shampoo bottle, and hurl it at the monster. (click: "monster") [ It stumbles backwards.] (click: "stumbles") [ Your feet find a thick branch of ivy that has climbed up the side of the house. It is thorny and scratches your legs and arms and hands, leaving blood in your wake.] (click: "thorny") [ But you reach the ground. //It// can only scream, and you can hear it, crying out in agony or hunger.] (click: "agony") [ Still, you stumble into the forest.] (click: "hunger") [ Surviving for another night.] (click: "night") [ [[Start Over->Start]] [[Try Again->Investigate.]] ]

Without a second thought, you let go of the window frame. (click: "let go") [ You feel as though you are falling for ages, the faded and peeling paint passing by your eyes.] (click: "falling") [ You hit the ground roughly and at first think you've snapped a few branches...] (click: "snapped") [ But they are your //legs//. You can hear it coming for you after it cries out in hunger.] (click: "coming for you") [ You can hear it lumbering down the stairs and out the front door and around the house. You try to pull yourself through the grass, but it is upon you too fast. A drop of blood hits your cheek. It positions its large hands over your cheeks, and suddenly...] (click: "blood") [ You remember your father was found at the bottom of the stairs...] (click: "father") [ With his throat slit...] (click: "slit") [ And his eyes missing.] (click: "missing") [ [[Start Over->Start]] [[Try Again->Investigate.]] ]

You take two large steps from behind the bookcase and the thing screams, at you or because of you, you can't be sure. (click: "screams") [ It begins to move backwards, eyes darting back and forth from you to its surroundings. It is evaluating its options.] (click: "options") [ It takes a heavy book from a stack on the floor and throws it at you, before darting towards the stairs. You swiftly dodge and [[pursue]] your prey.]

You and your prey meet eyes, and stay there. Fear is radiating from them, but it is fascinated and cannot look away. You marvel at how small it is, turning your head to the right. The moment lasts. (click: "moment") [Your hunger seems to melt away and curiosity quickly replaces the feeling. You extend your claws towards it, tentatively. You've never taken the //time// to look at something like this.] (click: "curiosity") [ Its eyes dart from your claws to your face and it turns, swiftly, without another sound. It runs down the stairs. As you hear the sound of their feet retreating, you remember the last time you were here. ] (click: "the last time") [ [[It was after a long hike.]] ]

The book falls behind you and it is far ahead but you do not stop. The tiny, frightened thing is sprinting down the stairs, blood covering the pads of its feet. You don't have time to feel bad for it, all you can think about is the smell. (click: "smell") [ [[Jump over the railing.]]]

The smell fades, but before you can ponder... You're hungry again. (click: "hungry") [ [[Start Over->Start]] ]

You land at the bottom of the stairs in front of it, nearly face to face. Your antlers scrape the ceiling as you do, causing a searing amount of pain to run from your neck, up your temples to the very blood covered tips of the ragged bone. It screams at the sight of you, the drool, the blood, but you cannot stop. You wrap your claws around its arms and it freezes in absolute terror. (click: "terror") [ You meet eyes with it and something snaps in you. You remember the last time you were here.] (click: "remember") [ [[It was after a long hike.]]]

Looking into its eyes sparks something in you. (click: "sparks") [ And you can't bring yourself to devour this thing, as you have so many others of its kind. There is something //different// about this one. You feel an uncomfortable sort of connection, and your hunger resides.] (click: "resides") [ You slowly unwrap your claws and take a step back, your eyes down towards the floor. A sort of guilt washes over you as it scrambles backwards, falling on all fours, eyes trained on you, before darting out the door and getting into a rumbling, metal beast. After it is long gone, you walk back outside, looking out at [[the world.]]]

You remember stumbling out of the woods, into this house. Your house? //No, someone else's. Someone I knew.// But it was a sort of [[home]] to you.

No matter how hard you wrack your brain, you can't remember why you were out in the woods in the first place, or why you're covered in blood. (click: "blood") [ Your head is absolutely aching, and feels a little unbalanced. Something happened, you know, but you can't remember what. You push the door open and drag yourself inside, feeling your legs heavy and not broken, but swollen. The shoes have disappeared from your feet but they are so coated in blood and mud and god-knows-what-else.] (click: "inside") [ [[You hear someone speaking.]]]

"Yes, he's been missing for four days... I don't know!" Though your thoughts are jumbled and hardly coherent, you do know who you hear in the other room. [[Try to speak.]] [[Say nothing.]]

You open your mouth, finding it is also sore. Only when you make a soft creaking noise that you realize something is terribly, terribly wrong. "Hang on, the door just opened." Your father sets down his phone in the kitchen and comes out to [[see you.]]

There's a tantalizing smell coming from him, one you've never really noticed before. It's overwhelming. (click: "overwhelming") [ It's damn overpowering.] (click: "overpowering.") [ You have to [[approach him.]]]

You don't know if he recognizes you. He's staring at something above your head. "B-Brandon?" [[Try to speak again.]]

You nod desperately but your lips make no sound. He takes a small step forward, staring at your mouth now. [["What happened to your tongue?"]]

He stumbles backwards. "Listen, Brandon, we need to get you to a hospital, or something..." He's clearly terrified of you, and for a moment that hurts you. But you quickly realize... (click: "realize") [ That makes you want him [[more.]]]

"Brandon, stay back." Your hunger drives you forward, even on your wounded feet. Your hands stick straight out and you don't even realize what's horribly wrong with them, that your bones are sticking out of the tips of your fingers like a crude sort of claw. (click: "hunger") [ It is all [[coming back]] to you now...]

You come back to reality and realize where you are. Your prey is paralyzed before you, someone you used to know, making your job all that much easier. How easy it would be to devour this one, just as you did the other. (click: "devour") [ But that connection is there.] (click: "connection") [ It is undeniable and scratches at the back of your brain, stoking your morbid sort of curiosity.] (click: "undeniable") [ What do you do with it? [[Let it live.]] [[Savor your prey.]]]

The memory completes itself as you make your decision. You were here, in this very spot, with a man of this species... (click: "in this very spot") [ You took out his eyes and slit his throat. As you will do to this one.] (click: "As you will do to this one.") [ [[Start Over->Start]] ]

After the box lands and stops, there is another sound. It is somewhere else in the house, maybe downstairs or down the hall, but it is unmistakable. (click: "unmistakable") [ There is someone else in this house. What do you do next? [[Call someone.]] [[Hide.]]]

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It is dark when you arrive.