,,,,,,,,,,<<if ndef $PassageNo>><<set $PassageNo = 1>><</if>><<switch $PassageNo>><<case 1>>There’s a door, in the woods behind my childhood home.
It’s old, rusted, completely overgrown with ivy, moss, and various other plants – barely visible.
The people who would walk past it wouldn’t notice it at first, second, or even third glance.
It was only by complete coincidence that I found it, years ago, playing amongst the trees with my friends.
<boss>[[⤁|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]</boss><<case 2>>As all children are, I was overtaken by curiosity.
What was behind the door? Perhaps a portal to another dimension! Perhaps an ancient cave full of crystals – or a hidden tunnel to a secret society’s base!
My imagination ran rampant.
But I was never given an answer.
No matter who I asked, regardless of the research I did, I couldn’t find any trace that the door actually existed.
<boss>[[⤁|>>][$PassageNo = 1]]</boss><</switch>>
<<set $entry1 to false>><<set $entry2 to false>><<set $entry3 to false>><<set $entry4 to false>><<set $entry5 to false>><<set $entry6 to false>><<set $entry7 to false>><<set $entry8 to false>><<set $entry9 to false>><<set $entry10 to false>><<set $entry11 to false>><<set $tape1 to false>><<set $tape2 to false>><<set $tape3 to false>><<set $tape4 to false>><<set $tape5 to false>><<set $tape6 to false>><<set $tape7 to "0">><<set $rightdooropen to false>><<set $hascode1 to false>><<set $leftdooropen to false>><<set $key1 to "">><<set $labcoat to false>><<set $crawl to false>><<set $panel to false>><<set $rightdoorvisited to false>><<set $rightdooropen to false>><<set $leftdooropen to false>><<set $leftdoorvisited to false>><<set $wearmask to false>><<set $picturewiped to false>><<set $tableyes to false>><<set $key3 to "">><<set $key2 to "">><<set $recordscheck to false>><<set $matcheck to false>><<set $siftcheck to false>><<set $rightroomgoneonce to false>><<set $boxcheck to false>><<set $farwall to false>><<set $leaverightroom to false>><<set $siftspider to false>><<set $inspectsurroundings to false>><<set $beepboop to false>><<set $exploremachine to false>><<set $livingyes to false>><<set $kitchenyes to false>><<set $bathroomyes to false>><<set $corridoryes to false>><<set $diningyes to false>><<set $spareyes to false>><<set $lookedaround to false>><<set $libyes to false>><<set $cabinet to false>><<set $drawer to false>><<set $door4unlocked to false>><<set $bedroomtry to false>><<set $key4 to "">><<set $tape7now to false>><<set $leftroomopenyes to false>>The adults, and even other children who had agreed to follow me into the forest, abandoned the door the second they saw the ‘Private Property, stay out’ sign.
“We shouldn’t trespass,” the adults would chide.
“I don’t want to get in trouble,” my friends would mutter.
Well, it’s been years. The door hasn’t been opened, no one has claimed the land, there’s no record of it being owned in the first place.
So, on a holiday at my parent’s house, guided by my childhood curiosity and a question that has plagued me since I was a child… I decided that today would be the day that I opened that door.
[[Pick up your tools and leave the house.]]The forest is different, and yet the same as it was in my memories.
A few markers have vanished, replaced by stumps or broken pieces of wood, the path overgrown and abandoned.
The sounds and calm are the same, however. A stream in the distance gurgles, birds sing from where they've perched on low and high branches. A single woodpecker drills into a tree nearby.
The canopy of leaves rustle overhead as I pick my way through the underbrush, tugging my trousers out from the hold of a few thorns and branches that try to catch and tear.
It isn’t long before I’m faced with the mass of plants that covers the rusted metal door.
[[Cut away the vines and scrape away the moss.]]For the first time, I’m faced with the door in its entirety. Completely metal, its surface stained with red and brown rust. Still somehow hanging on is a sign, far too worn down to be legible, and a single keyhole.
I frown.
[[Look for the key.]]
[[Kick in the door.]]Kicking aside the foliage, I search through the grass around the base of the door, searching for an extra key, perhaps under a buried mat or beneath a pot.
Nothing.
<boss>[[⤁->Nothing.]]</boss>The metal is completely covered over in rust. It may be weak enough to...
I lift up my leg and kick at the door.
The metal crumbles beneath my boot.
It’s thick…
But brittle enough.
I kick at the sides of the hole, metal falling to the ground in pieces and breaking upon impact with the floor.
I look inside the hole. It’s dark, the smell of stale air wafting out from the rusted opening. But despite the dust, it’s clean.
No plants have made their way through the door.
<boss>[[⤁->No plants made their way through the door.]]</boss>The same couldn’t be said for spiders. I wince as I bend down and see rather thick clusters of cobwebs above the door. Of course, it had to be spiders.
I groan, straightening and kicking at the door again and again.
Until finally –
<em>Eureka!</em>
The hole is big enough for me to duck through… whilst also limiting the chances of cutting myself and getting tetanus.
Well…
[[Turn on your flashlight, pick up your bag, and enter.]]<<set $chapter to "The Tunnel">>I cough as I walk in and disturb a large layer of dust. It spins around me as I walk into what I can only describe as a tunnel. Stairs start only a few paces from what remains of the door, leading down into the dark.
I duck under spiderwebs – why couldn’t it have been mice or rats? – glancing at the wires that run along the side of the wall, leading to various fixtures along the ceiling. Lamps.
I cough again, a damp smell of rot increasing with each step down.
<em>I don’t know what’s down here.
Should I put on a mask?</em>
[[Yes]]
[[No]]
Damn.
I stand, knees and hands covered in dirt, and face the door again.
Well, there's only one thing left that I can do, I guess.
[[Kick in the door.]]
Eventually, the stairs come to an halt, and I’m faced with a bit more hallway before I reach –
Another door.
It has a keypad next to it.
<span id="message"><<click "Press a button.">><<replace "#message">><<print "The keypad makes a small noise, a tiny red light illuminating the numbers. Fuck, I don’t know the pass…">><</replace>><</click>></span>
[[Inspect your surroundings|spiderjacket]]
[[Inspect the keypad|keypad1]]
A tale of limited space by<<link "Entries" "Entries">><</link>>
<<link "Recordings" "Recordings">><</link>>
<<link "Credits" "Credits">><</link>>
<<link "Back">><<if tags().includes("game-info")>><<goto $return>><<else>><<run Engine.backward()>><</if>><</link>>
<<set $chapter to "Prologue">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_1" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_3d3f358e6d5748ce8b52befe088bf7ef.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_2" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_297fb416edce4e24b2fd449fe408caf0.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_3" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_b409878d0c6945e19d88ad6ad67e50ef.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_4" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_caac7ab8f3be4594a52cf97bac202451.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_5" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_052de74450214c729d98549104e7e0ea.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_6" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_02513bb2e54f478fadbbe7a807b58f2e.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tape_7" "https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_0c878c320ef6438cbb04467184a4f5e9.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "tapestop"
"https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/f2baae_a25bf76b354749aaac65674ccdd0c641.mp3">>Dear EliseMade in SugarCube 2.34.1.CD (@cdraconik)<b>CD Links:</b>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/cdraconik/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/cdraconik" target="_blank">Twitter</a>
<b>Voice Credits:</b>
Casting Director & Voice Director: <a href="https://twitter.com/SandraMJdev" target="_blank">Maxi Molina (SandraMJ)</a>
Elise: <a href="https://www.arianem.com" target="_blank">Ariane Marchese</a>
Bailey: <a href="https://www.castingcall.club/cubixfails" target="_blank">Robyn McConnell</a>
Sound effects (CC BY 3.0) by:
<a href="https://freesound.org/people/magedu/sounds/273438/" target="_blank">magedu</a>
<a href="https://freesound.org/people/CGEffex/sounds/99960/" target="_blank" >CGEffex</a>
<b>UI:</b>
Fonts from <a href="https://fonts.google.com/" target="_blank" >Google fonts</a>
Twine Template by <a href="https://nyehilism.itch.io/" target="_blank" >Nyehilism</a>
<<if $entry1 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry One">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry One");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>VII</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>This is it. This is the day that we make history – or… well… record it, I suppose!</p>\
<p>The machine has been fine-tuned, calculations double, triple, quadruple checked! … actually, the checking is closer to being in the hundreds. Now, we can finally test it out.</p>\
<p>We can finally see history as it was. No winner’s bias, no erasing history, or important people simply because they didn’t abide by the tenets of a religion. We can finally see things, record fact rather than speculate… we can finally see what happened to the grand civilisations that vanished. </p>\
<p>Ah… this has taken… so much work. Much of our savings went into this, so much of our time, ironically… I hope that this will give us an opportunity to take a nice long break. Maybe enough to get a seaside house, with our own stretch of beach to relax on… Elise has always wanted to live by the sea…</p>\
<p>What I did to deserve that woman’s love is beyond me, or my understanding, but I’ll do my best to be worthy of it every single day of my life—</p>\
<p>Ah, Elise is calling,</p>\
<p>I’ve got to go!</p>\
<p>I’ll write in here once we successfully get an account on what really happened to the Mayans.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry2 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Two">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Two");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>I.8</hint></b></p>\
<p>I don’t know what happened. I looked over the calculations repeatedly but… but </p>\
<p>Elise is dead.</p>\
<p>The machine killed her.</p>\
<p>I don’t know what happened… I – </p>\
<p>All I have are theories.</p>\
<p>The most likely one is that the machine malfunctioned, and instead of opening a mental door to the past, it fast-forwarded Elise in her entirety -- thousands to millions of years passed through her in one go. It must have been – because bones don’t just…</p>\
<p>She… she turned to dust. That’s all I have left of her now… dust in a jar.</p>\
<p>It’s almost insulting to her but… I don’t know where to get an urn… I don’t want to look because… because that’s… that’s giving what happened finality. </p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I don’t know what I’m going to do.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry3 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Three">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Three");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>D</hint>.0</b></p>\
<p>Dear Elise,</p>\
<p>I’ve tried all that I can. I’ve looked over the calculations hundreds of times, ran thousands of simulations over and over, and nothing is telling me what killed you. I… don’t know what to do.</p>\
<p>Nothing seems to mean anything anymore.</p>\
<p>Even when Lucas and Hugo come over with food, or to try and talk to me and console me… I tried to have a meal with them but… I just can’t look them in the eyes – can’t summon the energy or strength to be polite.</p>\
<p>I know I should be grateful to them… we’ve been friends for so long… and they were kind enough to lend us part of their land to build this wonderful lab but…</p>\
<p>Seeing their faces just reminds me that there used to be four of us.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I don’t think…</p>\
<p>If I don’t make any more progress…</p>\
<p>I don’t think I’ll last much longer.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry4 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Four">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Four");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>3</hint>.7</b></p>\
<p>█████████,</p>\
<p>█████████████████</p>\
<p>█████████ the calculation.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>A parenthesis. A single ( symbol, that I put in front of a single integer instead of after it.</p>\
<p>How could I have missed that?</p>\
<p>All those hours, those months that I spent checking and double checking and running tests to make sure the calculations were correct?</p>\
<p>How could I have missed something when ██████████████████. When the whole world could have been ███████?</p>\
<p>HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?</p>\
<p>It was my job…<p>\
<p>But now maybe I can fix the machine. I can use the proper equation, with a few minor tweaks… and I can send myself back.</p>\
<p>I can stop this from ever happening – █████████████.</p>\
<p>This wasn’t supposed to happen. ████ didn’t deserve this.</p>\
<p>█████████ Elise.</p>\
<p>███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.</p>\
<p>Maybe not with me… after how reckless I was.</p>\
<p>██████████████████… I don’t care what I have to put myself through.</p>\
<p>I promise.</p>\
<p>Bailey.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry5 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Five">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Five");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>V</hint>.6</b></p>\
<p>My dearest Elise,</p>\
<p>It worked.</p>\
<p>I can go back. I can make sure this horrid future never passes.</p>\
<p>I can finally hold you in my arms again.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I think I’m going to stay away from metaphorical physics forever after this.</p>\
<p>Maybe take up a teaching job.</p>\
<p>No recognition is worth this.</p>\
<p>I’ll see you soon.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry6 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Six">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Six");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>C</hint>.7</b></p>\
<p>Dear Elise,</p>\
<p>It worked!</p>\
<p>I saw you again, I held you, you were real. </p>\
<p>We were together – I convinced you not to run the machine – so why were you <em>taken from me again!?</em></p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p><em>I was holding you this time.</em></p>\
<p><em>I was holding you as you turned to dust in my arms.</em></p>\
<p><em>You didn’t even notice.</em></p>\
<p><em>I couldn’t do anything.</em></p>\
<p><em>WHY THE FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING!?</em></p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>It was the exact same second. The same moment as last time. </p>\
<p>The 19th of September… at 23:58…</p>\
<p>This wasn’t supposed to happen. </p>\
<p>Not again.</p>\
<p>I deleted all the code, I made sure the machine was unplugged – so why did it happen again?</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Maybe… Maybe I need to go back further.</p>\
<p>Maybe I need to make sure that we don’t put the equation in.</p>\
<p>Maybe…</p>\
<p>…I have to keep trying.</p>\
<p>For you, my love.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry7 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Seven">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Seven");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>E</hint>.5</b></p>\
<p>My darling Elise,</p>\
<p>You died again.</p>\
<p>In my arms… again.</p>\
<p>I can’t get the dust out… as morbid as that may be I … I can’t get it – I can’t get you off.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Maybe that wasn’t enough.</p>\
<p>I’ll go back to before. Before we even had the idea. Convince you from pursuing it, go work on medical nanobots – anything but that… curse.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I’ll memorise the schematics just in case.</p>\
<p>I… I love you.</p>\
<p>I realise now I haven’t written it down yet. But I do.</p>\
<p>I’ll keep trying.</p>\
<p>There has to be a solution… there always is.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry8 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Eight">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Eight");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>III</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>Elise.</p>\
<p>You keep on dying.</p>\
<p>Over. And over. And over, and over, and over and over and over and over and – </p>\
<p>I don’t know how many times I’ve been back.</p>\
<p>How many times I’ve tried to save you?</p>\
<p>The last number I remember counting to was amongst the thousands of attempts… and that seems like years ago now.</p>\
<p>You died in front of me again. Just a pile of ash in the corner of the room… I’ll leave you there for now, picking you up to put you in a jar for the nth time seems like… more effort than it’s worth. </p>\
<p>I won’t be here much longer anyway.</p>\
<p>I have to keep going back.</p>\
<p>I have to ensure your survival.</p>\
<p>That’s all that matters now, really.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I think I’ll have to consult you next time. I didn’t want to have to. Unnecessary cruelty isn’t needed… but I’ve hit a wall.</p>\
<p>Maybe you’ll be able to help figure it out.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry9 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Nine">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Nine");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>A</hint>.8</b></p>\
<p>Elise’s theory:</p>\
<p>- The initial machine created a fixed point in time.</p>\
<p>- No matter how far back I go, her death is now permanent. </p>\
<p>- It is now a fact of the universe that she ages extremely quickly at 23:58, 19/09/XX19, and perishes.</p>\
<p>I have a theory of my own. </p>\
<p>If we rebuild the machine, the initial one with the wrong calculation, and make it go forward instead of making it go back, perhaps it can balance out the fixed point.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry10 is false>>???<<else>><<button"Entry Ten">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Ten");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>1</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>Elise.</p>\
<p>You’re starting to get on my nerves.</p>\
<p>Your concerns about our location change are trivial. The fact that we ended up in a desert is inconsequential to our results. What matters is that we figure out a way to remove the fixed point.</p>\
<p>Perhaps using the machine with incorrect calculations had some unintended side effects, but we're too far along for it to matter. People far worse than us have done much more harm to the world in pursuit of science, and their discoveries changed the world as we knew it.</p>\
<p>I’m doing my best and all you’re doing is questioning me at every turn.</p>\
<p>Well, September 19th is tomorrow.</p>\
<p>We didn’t get very far this time around, I doubt you’ll survive.</p>\
<p>But I’ll get you to understand next time.</p>\
<p>I need to figure this out.</p>\
<p>You’ll understand.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>>
<<if $entry11 is false>>???<<else>><<button "Entry Eleven">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Eleven");
Dialog.wiki("<p>You betrayed me…</p>\
<p>You… </p>\
<p>You.</p>\
<p>You crippled me.</p>\
<p>How could you – after the years I’ve spent on this –</p>\
<p>I –</p>\
<p>I can’t get out –</p>\
<p>I can’t move.</p>\
<p>There’s no more food – the machine is broken beyond repair – how am I supposed to fix it if I can’t stand?</p>\
<p>I tried to get out – to crawl up all those stairs.</p>\
<p>Do you know how painful it was to do that?</p>\
<p>To drag mangled legs up those metal grates?</p>\
<p>But you’ve locked the door – I’m trapped.</p>\
<p>You did this on purpose – locked me out from the outside –</p>\
<p>I…</p>\
<p>I don’t want to die.</p>\
<p>I tried to call Hugo and Lucas but no one answered. </p>\
<p>I tried to call anyone else for help, but they had no idea where I was. Couldn’t trace me… I… this place doesn’t exist to the outside world anymore.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>What have I done?</p>\
<p>I… I never meant for any of this to happen.</p>\
<p>I just wanted to help you – I just…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>But that was the issue wasn’t it?</p>\
<p>That I held on too tight to trying to fix this… that I neglected you.</p>\
<p>I should have… cherished the time we had left.</p>\
<p>Made the most of you while I had you.</p>\
<p>I…</p>\
<p>I’m sorry.</p>\
<p>… I can feel my head spinning… I think…</p>\
<p>I think this is going to be my last entry.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Goodbye Elise.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>><</if>><<if $tape1 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/ZwkmUYT.png]]>><<audio tape_1 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_1' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 1 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>IV</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>[Excited] Ahh this is great, we finally have the calculations, we looked over them a million times to make sure they were correct and they look good!</p>\
<p>[Happy and relieved] After all this work I’m looking forward to a nice long break and holiday overseas… [thoughtful] maybe bring Lucas and Hugo along as thanks for lending us their land to build this facility – it’s been integral to making sure we weren’t distracted [she laughs]</p>\
<p>[Pleased] I’m so happy we’ve finally reached the end. Working with Bailey is always the biggest pleasure, [mildly exasperated] but I’d like to spend a few months with her as her wife and less so as her work partner. </p>\
<p>[Thoughtful and lovingly, in the same way a partner would be talking to their friend about how much they love their partner] No matter what anyone says, working with my wife is so fluid and natural, we never get tired of each other… [amused] maybe it’s unusual haha – perhaps our bond borders a bit on obsession, but hey! We’ve solved so many problems together, it doesn't really matter at this point.</p>\
<p>[cheerfully] Hopefully, next time I take a moment to take notes, it’ll be about a delicious cocktail that I’m drinking at the seaside.</p>\
<p>Elise, over and out!</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape2 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/bL6AQP6.png]]>><<audio tape_2 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_2' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 2 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>F</hint>.1</b></p>\
<p>A familiar voice - probably Elise - speaks</p>\
<p>[Concerned, bordering on slight angry] Bailey completely cancelled our experimentation.</p>\
<p>I don’t understand why – what we’re doing here, to find out about the history of the world without bias – [slightly louder, angrier] it’s so important!</p>\
<p>[she takes a deep breath, calming herself down]</p>\
<p>[Concerned, explanatory] It means a lot to the both of us, both of our cultures have been largely erased from history… this was both to help the world and to help us figure out our heritages… [she sighs] I don’t know why she’d suddenly stop us when we’re so close…</p>\
<p>[a pause. About 2 seconds]</p>\
<p>[thoughtful] Bailey seems almost frantic.</p>\
<p>[concerned] Terrified.</p>\
<p>No matter how much I ask, she won’t tell me what it is.</p>\
<p>It’s really off-putting – we don’t hide things from each other. Minor secrets like who ate the last piece of cake – but nothing that would impact us like… well this.</p>\
<p>[quieter, almost sad] Nothing that would make her as pale and as shaky as she’s been.</p>\
<p>[defeated, voice volume back to normal] … I’ll keep on asking. Until she either tells me or I figure it out.</p>\
<p>This has been Dr Elise Medina</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape3 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/vWGEiMy.png]]>><<audio tape_3 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_3' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 3 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>B</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p><em>A familiar voice speaks</em></p>\
<p>[hesitant, sombre] I…</p>\
<p>[2 second pause]</p>\
<p>[slowly, processing] Bailey just finished explaining something to me… something. Horrid? Horrifying?</p>\
<p>[trying for some humour] Definitely depressing… [she trails off]</p>\
<p>[slowly, but matter of fact] She says that I’m going to die. </p>\
<p>September 19th. At 11:58 pm… and it apparently isn’t the first time.</p>\
<p>[humourlessly] Well – for me it will be, but for her…</p>\
<p>[after another pause. Matter of fact again, trying to ignore the looming sense of doom] I thought she was joking.</p>\
<p>But she showed me the math. Gave me step by step recounts of what happened the first few times it happened.</p>\
<p>And from how - and from how Bailey’s been acting recently… how much she changed from one day to another… considering the look in her eyes…</p>\
<p>[quietly] … I’m inclined to believe her… it seems to check out.</p>\
<p>[pause]</p>\
<p>[going for humour again, falling flat] I suggested a therapist, she laughed. I didn’t bring it up again.</p>\
<p>I’d never really… well I’ve considered death before, but I never thought I’d have to face it so soon…</p>\
<p>[listing off as if reciting something she’d memorised but didn’t want to] Healthy, no family history of genetic diseases that would end my life prematurely, no smoking, no drugs, I exercise daily…</p>\
<p>[defeated] Well. All humans die eventually – I was always going to die… am going to…</p>\
<p>Now that I know how much time I have left… I may as well spend it with the people I love.</p>\
<p>[solemnly thoughtful] I think that maybe I’ll take that holiday I’ve been thinking of.</p>\
<p>Maybe I’ll ask Bailey to take me away from here.</p>\
<p>Elise, over and out.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape4 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/snhPFQI.png]]>><<audio tape_4 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_4' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 4 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>II</hint>.1</b></p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[exhausted, sad] I think I’m afraid. At least a bit.</p>\
<p>Bailey’s been acting differently… well obviously – she’s had to tell me over a hundred times that I’m going to die apparently… and had to witness it for countless more.</p>\
<p>But she’s been off, ever since she arrived from the future.</p>\
<p>Snappish, impatient, angry.</p>\
<p>[frustrated] She won’t listen to me anymore… it’s as if the mind that inhabits my wife’s body is no longer her’s…</p>\
<p>[her frustration mounts, and she starts to rant] No matter how much I try to tell her that she should lay this to rest – that she’s tried for so long, that I’ve tried many times… but that regardless of our efforts, we aren’t getting any closer – [she cuts herself off]</p>\
<p>[voice soft, final and sad] That we should let go.</p>\
<p>[the tired sadness comes back] But Bailey seems… obsessed – with “saving me” – even if I want her to stop – even if I just want my wife to be here for me as a person during my last days…</p>\
<p>The way she looks at me though… it doesn’t seem like love anymore.</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[Impatiently, heard from a distance] Elise! I think I’ve made a breakthrough! Come look at it! </p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[after a pause and a sigh, quickly stated, as if she wants this to be over] Dr Elise Medina, marking the end of the recording.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape5 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/D3DOYul.png]]>><<audio tape_5 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_5' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 5 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>2</hint>.2</b></p>\
<p>A woman speaks:</p>\
<p>[annoyed and slightly scared] What the fuck is going on.</p>\
<p>Last I remember – our lab had been built beneath an unused field. One that had stood in a large stretch of flat land, with only small rolling hills in the distance. Where, the fuck did MOUNTAINS come from?</p>\
<p>Grass and dirt and the occasional boulder is now rock, and cliffs, and snow, and how are we supposed to get food? There’s no civilisation in sight!</p>\
<p>[frustrated] I’ve tried to convince Bailey to stop whatever she’s doing. This isn’t natural – I know that we didn’t build our lab in mountains – that would have been way too costly – but she doesn’t care.</p>\
<p>[mocking] “Only solving this problem matters” – [frustrated, ranting] this could be catastrophic! If this is because of the machine – that would mean that not only does it affect time, but space too. Matter. This is getting too dangerous – it could get the both of us killed before my time even comes --</p>\
<p>[there’s a loud crash and she shrieks]</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape6 is false>>???
<<else>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/iSsa5Qa.png]]>><<audio tape_6 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_6' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 6 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>VI</hint>.6</b></p>\
<p></p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[a long pause]</p>\
<p>WATER! – The lab is now submerged in water – an ocean is sitting on top of us.</p>\
<p>I don’t know how long the foundations are going to last – or the oxygen – this place wasn’t built with being under hundreds of litres of water in mind.</p>\
<p>Bailey is trying to reverse the calculations in order to send herself forward instead, so that she can try to switch our location again.</p>\
<p>She won’t stop.</p>\
<p>[another long pause]</p>\
<p>… I’ve found an old recording. From before.</p>\
<p>I’ll play a bit to you.</p>\
<p>[There’s a click, and a recorded sound plays through]</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[curious] What are you doing?</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[distracted] Testing… out my new… recorder.</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[teasing] You know you have a phone for that right?</p>\
<p><b>Elise: </b></p>\
<p>[slightly indignant] I mean – sure, but this is so much cooler. [excited] Like that one horror podcast –</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[amused] … The one with the eye thing?</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>That’s the one!</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[laughs] … I love you so much, come here</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[surprised but laughing] Ah! Bailey – hold on – the recorder-- </p>\
<p>[a click signifies the end, some more silence. The current Elise speaks next]</p>\
<p>[morose] The woman I love is gone.</p>\
<p>The thing that’s in her place is not my wife. It’s… angry, obsessed… it isn’t human anymore.</p>\
<p>I… I think I know what I have to do.</p>\
<p>[sounding tearful] But I don’t want to do it…</p>\
<p>[Pause]</p>\
<p>[with finality] I’ll give her a few more chances.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>><</if>>
<<if $tape7 is "0">>???
<<elseif $tape7 is "1">><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/z2ao6bH.png]]>><<audio tape_7 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_7' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 7 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[defeated] I’m… outside the main lab. Out of the bunker door. We’re below a forest now…</p>\
<p>I can’t really get out in time… I only have a few minutes…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I locked the thing in the lab. Destroyed the research – destroyed the machine – it won’t be fixed any time soon. They’re all gone…</p>\
<p>And… I made sure that the thing couldn’t get out.</p>\
<p>[voice hardening] By any means necessary.</p>\
<p>[back to defeated, sad] And now… we’re both going to die.</p>\
<p>[trying to sound hopeful] But at least maybe like this the madness will end – maybe we can finally both rest.</p>\
<p>The thing that inhabits my wife’s body is no longer Bailey… but even it deserves to be let out of this cruel cycle… I just hope that wherever my wife is, she can forgive me.</p>\
<p>I’m sorry to whoever finds this… hopefully we didn’t fuck up time too badly. And maybe… maybe someday someone will be able figure it out again without making the same mistakes we did.</p>\
<p>[jokingly] … If it’s you, don’t forget parentheses! Or commas or… order of operations…</p>\
<p>[voice goes back to defeated, shaking] Ah… It’s starting…</p>\
<p>It’s really a shame… I was fine with dying, as long as Bailey was with me… </p>\
<p>But at the end of it all…</p>\
<p>We’re both dying alone.</p>\
<p><b>A distant voice screams:</b></p>\
<p>[voice muffled and distant behind a heavy metal door as she screams]</p>\
<p>[panicked] Elise let me out! Let me out, Elise don’t do this! Don’t leave me! I can’t be alone again! Please don’t leave me alone again! Elise please!-- </p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<span id="output"></span><<else>>Tape 7 unplayable at the moment<</if>>
<!-- since the scrollbar is built into the passages container, this code resets it to the top each time a new passage is loaded -->
<<script>>
var passages = document.getElementById("passages");
passages.scrollTop = 0;
<</script>>
<!-- code to reset the page title in the top right; can be changed or removed altogether as necessary -->
<<if tags().includes("title")>>
<<elseif tags().includes("credits")>><h1>Credits</h1>
<<elseif tags().includes("entries")>><h1>Entries</h1>
<<elseif tags().includes("recordings")>><h1>Recordings</h1>
<<else>><h1>$chapter</h1>
<</if>>
<!-- styling for the splash screen - hides all the menus only on this passage -->
<style>
#ui-bar {display:none;}
#passages {width:100vw;margin:0;background-image:var(--banner-top);background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:50%;background-position:top center, bottom center;overflow:hidden;scrollbar-width:none;font-family:var(--header-font);transition:0s;padding:0;}
::-webkit-scrollbar {width:0px;}
.passage {text-align:center;transition:0s;}
#passages a:before {content: none;}
#story {margin-left:0;}
h1 {text-align:center;margin-top:25vh;}
@media screen and (max-width: 800px) {#story {margin:0;}}
</style>
<h1>Dear Elise</h1>
<<if Save.autosave.ok() and Save.autosave.has()>><<link "Resume Game">><<script>>Save.autosave.load()<</script>><</link>> | <</if>><<link "New Game" "1">><</link>> | <<link "Load Game">><<run UI.saves()>><</link>> | <<link "Settings">><<run UI.settings()>><</link>><<if ndef $PassageNo>><<set $PassageNo = 1>><</if>><<switch $PassageNo>><<case 1>>
Text here.
[[Continue.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 2>>
Text here.
[[Continue.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 3>>
Text here.
[[Continue.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 4>>
Text here.
[[Continue.|NEXT SECTION][$PassageNo = 1]]<</switch>><<button "a photo">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("The Photo");
Dialog.wiki("<b>[Entry 867]</b><p>Dear Elise.</p><p>I don’t know what to do.</p><p>I’ve done all I can, but nothing I’m doing seems to work.</p><p>I think… maybe adjustments to the machine are necessary. </p><p>Full body transportation instead of simply transferring the mind.</p><p>Maybe then I won’t have to kill you.</p><p>Maybe then.</p><p><em>Bailey.</em></p>");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>Double-click this passage to edit it.<<set $wearmask to true>> Damn, for all I know, there could be a gas leak down here.
I reach into my bag and pull out a filtration mask I grabbed from my parent’s workshop.
There… hopefully that’ll help somewhat.
[[⤁|>>>]]I should be able to smell a difference if there’s anything dangerous down here.
I’ll put it on later… no need to make a mountain out of a molehill just yet.
[[⤁|>>>]]<<set $tape7 to true>>
dwadwadwadwa<<if $inspectsurroundings is false>><<set $inspectsurroundings to true>>I shine the flashlight around, inspecting the surrounding area.
It takes a few moments, but I find beyond some cobwebs, what looks to be something grey…
A large spider crawls over the cobweb, walking up until it reaches the wall.<<else>>I look back at the lump.
The spider is still there. I can feel it staring at me.<</if>>
<em>Fuck… I really hate spiders.</em>
[[Give up|badideee]]
[[Go for it|spidre]]
<<if $beepboop is false>><<set $beepboop to true>>I shine my flashlight at the keypad, squinting at it.
Four numbers seem a lot more worn than the others.
Hopefully it isn’t just age.
1, 2, 4, and 0.
Only sixteen possible variations then!
… That is if it’s a four-digit code.
I hope there’s no alarm for if I get it wrong more than three times.<<else>>I come back to the keypad and squint at it.
Yep. Four worn numbers...<</if>>
<<if $inspectsurroundings is true>>[[...I'll go for the lump... fuck I hate spiders|spiderjacket]]<<else>>[[Inspect your surroundings|spiderjacket]]<</if>>
[[Guess code|code one]]The lump may have the answer, but is it worth getting close to that spider?
[[Try for the lump again|trytrytry]]
[[Inspect the keypad|keypad1]]<<if ndef $PassageNo>><<set $PassageNo = 1>><</if>><<switch $PassageNo>><<case 1>>Taking in several deep breaths, I move closer to the lump… and the webs.
<em>The spider moves.</em>
I freeze.
It stays on the wall, a single leg touching the web.
I feel like I’m being watched.
I take another deep breath, tearing my eyes from the spider.
Ignoring the shaking of my hands.
I just need to …
[[Do it.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 2>>I see more than feel my hand lurching forward, grabbing the grey lump and tearing back.
The spider skitters down towards me and I let out a yelp.
I fall and crawl backwards away from it, standing just as quickly and daring it to come close.
It stays on its web.
Beady eyes reflect the torch’s light.
[[Focus on the lump.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 3>>I look down at the grey lump.
It’s fabric. Old but…
I hold it up by the collar and it rolls out, dust pouring from it like a waterfall.
It’s a lab coat.
Well, let's hope that traumatic event was worth it.
[[Search the coat.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 4>>Despite its dust-covered state, the coat is relatively intact.
It makes sense, considering, but with how rusted the door was, how dusty the place was, I expected it to be… more tattered.
I check the pockets and find a cassette player with an even smaller note next to it.
<em>“I’m sorry.”</em>
I’m sorry?
I frown, the paper is browned, old and delicate. It becomes translucent where my fingers touch it, the edges breaking off.
I place it back in the pocket, inspecting the cassette player further. It’s dusty, but considering the conditions, this isn’t the worst condition I could have found it in.
I gingerly press the on button and the lights flicker to life.
I blink.
How the heck does this thing still have battery?
They must have made batteries differently in the seventies… eighties… whenever this came from.
I pop it open to find a small cassette inside. It’s relatively undamaged… but it seems to have something jammed in it…
I close it and try to play it, but it makes a slight crunching sound. I turn it off immediately, nearly jumping out of my skin from the sound.
<em>Bad idea bad idea</em> – I’ll just… find something to unwedge the blockage later.
I put it back into the pocket as well.
<<set $tape7 to "2">>
[[Continue searching.|passage()][$PassageNo = $PassageNo + 1]]<<case 5>>With a bit more inspection, I finally feel an inconsistency in the sleeve. Turning it inside out, I can faintly make out numbers embroidered into it.
<em><b>1204</b></em>
[[Keep searching the coat.]]
[[Put the tape into the coat.|Put the number into the keypad.]]<</switch>>You walk back towards the cobweb.
The big spider is still there… it… why do I feel it’s watching me? Shit this is terrifying… must I?
[[Nope, fuck that, I'm inspecting the keypad|keypad1]]
[[Go for it.|spidre]]
<<set $hascode1 to true>><<set $labcoat to true>>Upon closer inspection of the coat, one more thing catches my attention.
A name, written in a pen so faded that it’s practically unintelligible. I can only make out a few letters…
B_il_y
Huh.
I tuck the coat into my bag.
[[Enter code into keypad.|code one]]
<<set $hascode1 to true>>I tuck the coat into my bag.
[[Put the number into the keypad.|code one]]<<if $key1 is "1204">><em>Beep beep beep!</em>
The red light flashes green, and there’s a small click.
Open sesame!
[[Open the door.|dooroneenter]]
<<else>><b>BEEP!</b>
Damn, wrong.
[[Back|code one]]<</if>><<if $hascode1 is true>>I think the code is 1204...
<</if>><<textbox "$key1" "">>
[[Try keycode|1204]]
[[Back|keypad1]]<<set $chapter to "Main Room">>The door makes an ear-piercing screech as it opens, the bottom of the door scraping upon uneven ground, hinges straining.
Air that feels and smells even older than the one from the tunnel hits my face.
With a final, strained pull, I manage to get enough space to shimmy into this next portion of the tunnel –
Or not.
What I come to shine a literal light on isn’t yet another endless staircase or corridor, but a multi-layered room.
It’s large, and railed walkways go along the walls, leading to stairs, up to the roof where – is that glass? – sits high above.
I walk to a railing. It’s shiny. No rust. Only coated in a very fine layer of dust.
I point my flashlight down at the centre of the room, where a large metallic object sits far below me.
What happened here?
[[Go down.|downbadboy]]
I make my way over to the stairs that lead down, making sure to test them before putting my full weight on them. Who knows how weak time has made this place.
Thankfully, the ground does not crumble beneath my feet, and I arrive at the bottom of the stairs intact.
[[Inspect the metallic object.]]
<<set $entry10 to true>>Shining the torch at the paper I glance at the little '1.9' at the top before I begin to read.
<<button "Entry Ten">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Ten");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>1</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>Elise.</p>\
<p>You’re starting to get on my nerves.</p>\
<p>Your concerns about our location change are trivial. The fact that we ended up in a desert is inconsequential to our results. What matters is that we figure out a way to remove the fixed point.</p>\
<p>Perhaps using the machine with incorrect calculations had some unintended side effects, but we're too far along for it to matter. People far worse than us have done much more harm to the world in pursuit of science, and their discoveries changed the world as we knew it.</p>\
<p>I’m doing my best and all you’re doing is questioning me at every turn.</p>\
<p>Well, September 19th is tomorrow.</p>\
<p>We didn’t get very far this time around, I doubt you’ll survive.</p>\
<p>But I’ll get you to understand next time.</p>\
<p>I need to figure this out.</p>\
<p>You’ll understand.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry10next][$PassageNo = 1]]</boss><<set $entry10 to true>>I fold up the piece of paper gently and place it in my bag.
[[Inspect cylinder]]
[[Explore around the machine.]]
I frown.
<<if $labcoat is true>>I take out the lab coat, looking at the collar. B¬¬_il_y…
Bailey.
<</if>>“I doubt you’ll survive” – what the <em>fuck</em>?
[[Put it away|entry10put]]
I make my way over to the mouth of the cylinder.
It looks a lot like an MRI machine, upon closer inspection.
The one difference would be that this machine is much larger than any MRI I’ve seen. It’s ridiculously thick and long, all shiny but bent metal panels.
<<if $crawl is true>>[[Crawl into the cylinder again.|Crawl2]]<<else>>[[Crawl into cylinder.]]<</if>>
<<if $panel is true>>[[Inspect the panelling again.|panel2]]<<else>>[[Inspect the panelling.|Look inside panelling.]]<</if>>
<<if $exploremachine is false>>[[Explore around the machine.]]<<else>>[[Explore around the machine again.|office]]<</if>><<set $exploremachine to true>>I walk around the machine, shining a light at my other surroundings.
Most of the walls are clear, save for the occasional stain or area where paint has been rubbed raw, chipped, or faded over time. However, a solid ten meters away, behind the machine, the room extrudes deeper into the wall, into a space with a much lower ceiling than the grand hall, filled with tables with tools, scrap pieces of metal, wire, and electronics, and – is that a Pear computer?
I walk closer, picking up the computer and frowning. This computer… isn’t old.
Maybe the model is a year or two older than the current but… No one has been in and out of here ever since I discovered the door.
Has someone beat me to it??
But that means that they’d need the key – or another entrance – but the plants and the door weren’t damaged so…
I open the laptop, wincing at the dust that lifts from the metal, and try to turn on the computer.
Nothing.
I sigh. Clearly this wasn’t made with eighties batteries.
I leave the computer be, scanning the room with my flashlight.
There are two doors, way apart from each other, on the far wall.
There’s a table, covered in pieces of paper.
And by the computer, there’s a dust covered picture frame.
[[Go to table.|table]]
[[Look at picture frame.|frame]]
[[Go to left door.|left door]]
[[Go to right door.|right door]]
[[Go back to inspect cylinder.|Inspect cylinder]] <<set $panel to true>>The damage is just as bad on this side. A wreckage of cables, torn up plastic and metal, and what seems to be more refined electronics.
I squint. Is that a motherboard – ?
<<if $crawl is false>>
A glint catches my eye.
Beyond the board is a rather large tear into the metal. And behind it, there’s the shiny gleam of plastic.
I back up from the rift in the side of the machine.
Huh.
<boss>[[⤁|next]]</boss><<else>>Yeah, that’s a motherboard alright.
Beyond the board is a rather large tear into the metal plating. But there’s nothing I can see beyond it. The dust around it looks disturbed though… Maybe that’s where the tape used to be.
I back up from the rift in the side of the machine.
Huh.
<boss>[[⤁|next]]</boss>
<</if>><<set $crawl to true>>Regardless of the size of the machine, the hollow inside it is a lot more cramped.
Cautious, I keep an eye out for spiders, but see none.
With a wary sigh, I slide in using the rail-table, shining my flashlight around.
The panels in here are made of a textured plastic, occasionally stopping for a smooth reflective material. Glass?
[[Tap it.|tap]]
What should I look at now?
<<if $crawl is true>>[[Crawl into the cylinder again.|Crawl2]]<<else>>[[Crawl into cylinder.]]<</if>>
<<if $panel is true>>[[Inspect the panelling again.|panel2]]<<else>>[[Inspect the panelling.|Look inside panelling.]]<</if>>
<<if $exploremachine is false>>[[Explore around the machine.]]<<else>>[[Explore around the machine again.|office]]<</if>><<set $tape5 to true>><<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/D3DOYul.png]]>><<audio tape_5 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_5' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> — <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 5 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>2</hint>.2</b></p>\
<p>A woman speaks:</p>\
<p>[annoyed and slightly scared] What the fuck is going on.</p>\
<p>Last I remember – our lab had been built beneath an unused field. One that had stood in a large stretch of flat land, with only small rolling hills in the distance. Where, the fuck did MOUNTAINS come from?</p>\
<p>Grass and dirt and the occasional boulder is now rock, and cliffs, and snow, and how are we supposed to get food? There’s no civilisation in sight!</p>\
<p>[frustrated] I’ve tried to convince Bailey to stop whatever she’s doing. This isn’t natural – I know that we didn’t build our lab in mountains – that would have been way too costly – but she doesn’t care.</p>\
<p>[mocking] “Only solving this problem matters” – [frustrated, ranting] this could be catastrophic! If this is because of the machine – that would mean that not only does it affect time, but space too. Matter. This is getting too dangerous – it could get the both of us killed before my time even comes --</p>\
<p>[there’s a loud crash and she shrieks]</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|putbag5b]]</boss><<set $tape5 to true>> I'll listen to it later.
<boss>[[⤁|next]]</boss><<cacheaudio "name" "soundlink">> - in StoryInit
<<link[img[image url]]>><<audio 'name' play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_7' stop>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Title");
Dialog.wiki("
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>I flinch back when she screams.
What the heck was that?
Was this woman… She said ‘our lab’… Was she the owner?
I’ve searched for years to find any owner of this place, but I found no one. Especially not a woman called ‘Elise’… Or maybe this was the other ‘Bailey’ person…
I frown, sliding the tape from the player and placing it in my bag.
This place is so weird.
<boss>[[⤁|next]]</boss>I crawl back into the machine.
It's the same as before - cramped, dusty, and worryingly full of holes.
A spider could be anywhere.
[[Back.|next]]The panels are the same as the last time.
Completely wrecked, a mess of various materials.
I wonder if this was intentional...
[[Back.|next]]<<set $tableyes to true>>I walk over to the table, picking up the first piece of paper I see.
I frown.
All the words are completely blacked out. I flip it over, but the other side is blacked out too. Shining a light through it does nothing.
I look down at the other pieces of paper and find they’ve all been given the same treatment.
All the dozens of stacks of paper had all their words frantically covered. Running my fingers along the pieces of paper does nothing to help either – the words aren't embossed into the paper, they had probably been printed.
Near the edge of the table is a candle, with a few charred remains of paper littered around it.
I can’t help but grimace. Whoever did this did not want any of this to be read or kept.
I sigh, drop the last sheet of paper, and walk away.
<boss>[[⤁|catch]]</boss>
The picture frame behind the computer is rather modern – IKEA by the looks of it. There’s a thick layer of dust on it, keeping the glass and the picture behind it covered in grey.
[[Wipe off the dust.]]
[[Leave it.|prying]]<<if $leftdoorvisited is false>>I stop in front of the left door. Pushing down on the handle is futile.
It's locked and has no give whatsoever.
That’s when I spot another keypad to the side, red light blinking at me.
… This building is testing me.<<else>>I come back to the left door, cracking my knuckles.
As if I'll let this defeat me.<</if>>
It looks like this one will need a 6-digit code... there's a little <hint>a</hint>, <hint>b</hint>, <hint>c</hint> engraved on the side.
<<textbox "$key3" "">>
[[Try keycode|631]]
[[Back|office]]
<<set $leftdoorvisited to true>><<if $rightdoorvisited is false>>I stop in front of the right door, grabbing the handle and pushing it down.
Click – the handle refuses to budge.
That’s when I spot another keypad to the side, red light blinking slowly.
… It’s taunting me.<<else>>I come back to the right door, glaring at the keypad.
I know your secrets keypad. You can’t keep me out.<</if>>
It looks like it will need a 3-digit code... there's a small <hint>1</hint>, <hint>2</hint>, <hint>3</hint> engraved on the side.
<<textbox "$key2" "">>
[[Try keycode|927]]
[[Back|office]]
<<set $rightdoorvisited to true>>
<<if $key2 is "927">><<set $chapter to "Storage Room">>There’s a high pitched beep as the red light blinks into green, door clicking open.
Fuck yeah, I’m a genius
<boss>[[Enter|rightroom]]</boss><<set $rightdooropen to true>><<else>><b>BEEP!</b>
Damn, wrong.
<boss>[[⤁|right door]]</boss><</if>><<set $chapter to "Main Room">>What should I look at next?
<<if $tableyes is false>> [[Go to table.|table]]<<else>>[[Go to table again.|tableagain]]<</if>>
<<if $picturewiped is true>>[[Go to picture frame again.|Already visited frame]]<<else>>[[Go to picture frame.|frame]]<</if>>
<<if $leftdooropen is false>>[[Go to left door.|left door]]<<else>>[[Enter left room|leftroom]]<</if>>
<<if $rightdooropen is false>>[[Go to right door.|right door]]<<else>>[[Enter right room|rightroom]]<</if>>
[[Go back to inspect cylinder.|Inspect cylinder]]
<<set $chapter to "Storage Room">><<if $rightroomgoneonce is false>>The air is musty and laced with hints of rot when I step into this new room, dust swirling on the floor as the door swings open. The space is large, though not as large as the main room where the wrecked machine had made its home… Well, at least it seems large. Rows upon rows of shelves span the room, with two meters of space left between each one.
Somewhere in the room, I can hear the occasional dripping of water onto the floor. A steady ‘plink plink plink’ that I find myself walking in tandem with.
I make my way down the room, glancing down each aisle as I go. Thick layers of dust sit upon each available surface. Lumps of what I can only assume are machinery parts sit stacked in a disarray in one row, while another holds stacks of files – though many of them lay on the ground, tattered and – burnt… like the papers from the table.
The farther I get, the more hectic the storage. Some cabinets have been knocked over, a domino effect that reaches the end of the room. Whatever has been stored has fallen to the floor, a mess of metal, plastic, pipe, and paper, some damaged by the dripping water that I heard earlier.
I shine my flashlight around, finding a small box beyond the carnage, behind the toppled shelves, as well as a reflective surface on the far wall. That’ll be a bit of a pain to reach. I sigh, looking from the piles of material to the shelving units that haven’t been affected by the wreckage.<<else>>I step back into the right room. It's the same as I left it.<</if>>
What happened here?
<<if $recordscheck is false>> [[Check the records.]]<<else>>[[Check the records again.|recordsagain]]<</if>>
<<if $matcheck is false>> [[Check the un-toppled materials.]]<<else>>[[Check the un-toppled materials again.|matsagain]]<</if>>
<<if $siftcheck is false>> [[Sift through the fallen objects.]]<<else>>[[Sift through the fallen objects again.|fallagain]]<</if>>
<<if $boxcheck is false>> [[Go to the box.]]<<else>>[[Look at the box again.|boxagain]]<</if>>
<<if $farwall is false>> [[Inspect the far wall.]]<<else>>[[Inspect the photo again.|wallagain]]<</if>>
<<if $leaverightroom is false>> [[Leave the room.]]<<else>>[[Leave the room.|leaverightroom]]<</if>>
<<if $leftroomopenyes is false>><<set $leftroomopenyes to true>>Opening the door, what I’m expecting is more mustiness, or at least, the smell of dust that has permeated across the whole complex. And while the smell of a place forsaken is still present, it’s a lot milder than I would have thought.
What I’m not expecting is a short entrance that leads to what looks like a living room.
Holy shit – did those women live here?
There are dusty coats hung up on the wall, photos suspended from hooks, and some that have fallen to the ground, glass cracked and scattered across the floor in what could have been a mosaic. As with before, every photo I look at has the faces blacked out.
I take a few cautious steps inside, wincing as the glass underfoot crunches and grates, taking care not to slip and fall to what will certainly lead to some nasty cuts at best.
I walk into what is indeed a living room.
A couch sits in the middle of the room, facing a rather large TV – too large goddamn—in between which a low table decked with candles and a few books sits.
Everything, as with the rest of the compound, is covered in a fine layer of dust, the path that I’ve taken marked by footprints. They reveal a much darker wooden floor.
…
How long have I been down here?
I check my phone… three hours… it’s felt like…
[[Much more.]]
[[Much less.]]
<<else>><<set $chapter to "Living Space">>I step back into the living space, its unique ability to be dustier than the rest of the complex burns my eyes slightly.
[[Continue exploring the rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<</if>><<if $key3 is "897051">><<set $chapter to "Living Space">>The beep is slightly distorted and robotic as the light switches from red into green, the door opening with a click.
That sound was slightly terrifying - but who cares. I got the password right!
<boss>[[Enter|leftroom]]</boss><<set $leftdooropen to true>><<else>><b>BEEP!</b>
Aish. Incorrect.
<boss>[[⤁|left door]]</boss><</if>>Only for my jacket to catch at the corner of a piece of paper, sending it gently falling to the ground.
Kneeling to pick it up, my heart pounds harder as my flashlight reveals words. Full, visible words. A few of them are blacked out, but whoever was doing this never finished. They’d been rushed.
[[Read it.->Entry 4]]
<<set $entry4 to true>>I frown at the various black blocks, but do my best to ignore them. A small <hint>3</hint>.7 sits in the top corner.
<<button "Entry Four">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Four");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>3</hint>.7</b></p>\
<p>█████████,</p>\
<p>█████████████████</p>\
<p>█████████ the calculation.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>A parenthesis. A single ( symbol, that I put in front of a single integer instead of after it.</p>\
<p>How could I have missed that?</p>\
<p>All those hours, those months that I spent checking and double checking and running tests to make sure the calculations were correct?</p>\
<p>How could I have missed something when ██████████████████. When the whole world could have been ███████?</p>\
<p>HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?</p>\
<p>It was my job…<p>\
<p>But now maybe I can fix the machine. I can use the proper equation, with a few minor tweaks… and I can send myself back.</p>\
<p>I can stop this from ever happening – █████████████.</p>\
<p>This wasn’t supposed to happen. ████ didn’t deserve this.</p>\
<p>█████████ Elise.</p>\
<p>███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.</p>\
<p>Maybe not with me… after how reckless I was.</p>\
<p>██████████████████… I don’t care what I have to put myself through.</p>\
<p>I promise.</p>\
<p>Bailey.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry4next]]</boss>I look back towards the cylinder. Was this the machine?
I look over all the cracks in its shell, the cut wires and twisted pieces of metal and plastic. Was that what happened? They got some form of equation wrong and the machine blew up?
It really doesn’t look that dangerous – at least, not world affecting. It’s no particle collider, and certainly not any nuclear device… I don’t think.
Shit, what if it has something radioactive in it – No, no, no thoughts like that. It’s been here for years. Something would have tipped off the people above ground if there was something radioactive in this place…
Damn, a Geiger–Müller counter would be really useful right about now.
<<if $wearmask is true>>At least I'm wearing my gasmask. Most dangerous particles would have been filtered out by now.
<boss>[[⤁|entry4mi]]</boss><<else>>Fuck, maybe I should put my gasmask on. It may not be radioactive but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance of some strange particle bullshit around.
[[No.|fuck safyu]]
[[Yes.|satfy]]<</if>>
Well, all these letters — journal entries? — are getting rather strange. What the hell happened here?
[[Put the letter away.|office]]
I draw my hand back into my sleeve and start clearing the dust. It wipes right off of the glass with ease, save for a few particles beneath the wooden frame, and the few that have managed to wiggle themselves into the webbed cracks that span the glass.
The cracks start at the bottom left corner of the glass, weaving up to split itself into two main pieces, a few of the fractures trailing off to the left and right.
The picture beyond the cracks depicts what appear to be two women, each in lab coats. They're standing close to each other in front of the ocean, hands held and pressed between them, just barely peeking past their coat sleeves.
The picture lays relatively unscathed by time… save for the big black blotches covering the two women’s faces…
Well, that isn’t serial killer-y at all.
Maybe they fell apart?
But then why bother keeping the image if the faces were going to be blacked out anyway?
This place is so weird.
[[Set the picture back down|cracks]]
<<set $picturewiped to true>>I’ll leave it for later if I remember it. Don’t want to get my fingers or sleeves dirty right now.
<boss>[[⤁|office]]</boss>
I place the picture back where I found it, the two women now freed from the confines of the dust.
Walking away, I do my best to stop thinking about how the cracks perfectly split the two women apart, and how the two diverging cracks passed over both of their throats.
[[Find something else to look at.|office]]I walk back over to the now-dusted frame.
The cracks and blacked-out faces are still freaky.
... Maybe these women used to own this place?
[[Find something else to look at.|office]]It’s larger now that I’m closer.
Turns out it’s a giant, overglorified cylinder. Almost MRI-looking.
There is a bed-like table on rails, one that seems like it was built to roll into the machine. I see wires peeking out from the sides, connecting it to an outside panel.
But unlike everything I’ve seen so far in here… it appears that this machine was put through something.
Large indents cover the majority of the cylinder, the screen smashed, wires cut and torn from their places. An entire panel on the backside has been removed, with whatever complicated machinery it had protected being completely destroyed--
Wait.
[[Take a closer look.]]There's a piece of paper stuck in there.
I pull it out, wincing as the paper catches, part of it ripping and staying hooked on a twisted piece of metal.
[[Read the paper.|Entry 10]]
[[Save it for later.|entry10put]]Well, if something in here was going to kill me, it would have done so by now. And if it takes a while to take effect… it’s not like putting on my mask now is going to do much.
<boss>[[⤁|entry4mi]]</boss><<set $wearmask to true>>Better late than never.
<boss>[[⤁|entry4mi]]</boss>
The table remains a mess of blocked out pages.
I try to shine the flashlight through them again, but the ink is so dark that none of the former ink is visible.
Not much else to look at.
[[Look at something else.|office]]<<set $recordscheck to true>>The shelf is as dusty as it looks. The coat of dust covering the cardboard and plastic files that remain on the shelf is so thick that not even a huff of air will get any of it to move. Still, lucky for me, the labels are stuck to the sides of the files that aren’t exposed to open air.
Though sliding the files from their places sends dust particles up into the air, they seem to be relatively unscathed and unaffected by the moisture in the air. I pick up the first file that catches my eye, labelled “Property Records”.
I open it, and - after a mild sneeze attack caused by the cloud of dust that flew into my face – squint down through watering eyes at the first piece of paper there.
It’s a grant of land contract for the construction of ‘the lab’ – this lab - signed by…
I pause.
… My parents. No,that can’t be right… They had no idea the door was out here – much less an entire underground lab!
I squint at the signatures – maybe it was just a coincidence! Same names… and last names…
No. The signatures are identical.
I flip the paper to the next page.
Authorisation to dig and build electrical lines from the main line out to the lab… Signed by my parents.
I keep going through the file frantically. Practically all of them have my parents’ names and signatures, alongside an Elise Medina. The name on the tapes…
They’ve never mentioned an Elise to me – especially not one that has owned a part of their land –
I put the file away.
This is so fucking strange.
<boss>[[⤁|files]]</boss><<set $matcheck to true>>The un-toppled shelves to the left of the door are the highest of them all. Ladders at the end of each of the rows sit on rails, like those you’d see in great libraries in movies.
I don’t touch the majority of materials here. A quick, strong blow on the thick sheets of dust covering the materials is usually enough to get a good glimpse of the metal parts, tools, and – very occasionally – batteries that I’d find.
I’ve seen a few of these parts in the machine out in the main room, alas most of them have been twisted and broken out of shape, or at the very least, dented.
It’s only once I’ve had to drag the ladders along the rails -- the rusted wheels screeching in protest – that I can see what’s on the top shelves…
Not much.
Clearly the people who owned this place didn’t feel like having to climb up the ladder to put away or take most of the parts. All that sits on the topmost shelves are small, unassuming objects, like screws and bolts, as well as–
A box – tape.
Another one, huh.
I reach for it, grimacing as the dust coats my fingers.
A quick wipe of my sleeve uncovers that name again.
“Elise” alongside the number #2, and a small F.1 in the corner.
[[Listen to it now.|tape2]]
[[Listen to it later.|tape2away]]<<if $siftspider is false>>The knocked-over shelves and the subsequent mess of items on the floor looks worse than my room did when I was a teenager, and that’s saying something.
Paper files that have fallen are now more akin to mulch than actual paper, the water having soaked through most of it. Those that aren’t ready to be recycled into new pieces of paper are green and spotted with rot, with the smell of decay being the strongest around the pile.
I don’t think any of the writing would be legible, even if I was willing to touch or put my bare hands near it.
So, I turn my attention instead to the tools and pieces of metal piled higher than the puddle of water. At least I’m at less risk of getting tetanus with these than I am with whatever rusted monstrosities have been sitting in the water for god knows how long.
Still, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ I think as I use my boot to move the pieces around, cringing when I accidentally knock a wrench all the way down the pile. The clang as it collides with the floor echoing around the room and ringing, before dissolving back into silence.
Fuck, that was loud.
I’m a lot more careful as I push more pieces of metal and tube to the side, taking care not to–
Something big and black and eight-legged crawls out of a pipe and I jump back with a shriek.
Mother fucking shit son of a – fuck!
Why are there so many giant ass spiders down here!?
It crawls down the pile and away from me, skittering out of sight.
I take two deep breaths, trying to calm my thundering heart. This is the worst, why can’t all spiders just spontaneously combust?
.
.
.
Right, important part of the ecosystem and all that. Damn you nature and your delicate system of balance.
Once my breathing is back to normal, I take one final look at the pile, ready to abandon it and whatever spawn is hiding between the cracks, when I spot another tape.
… Damn.
It’s under the pipe that had the giant spider in it…
Can I just… use my foot to wiggle it out?
Can tapes get wet?
… Ugh.<<else>>The spider is nowhere to be seen... should I go for it now?<</if>>
[[Come back later…|spiderevil]]
[[Square your shoulders and do it|spidermeh]]<<set $boxcheck to true>>I look over at the box, gauging the distance and best path through the mess that won’t end up with me either twisting my ankle or slipping and falling face-first into rusty metal.
I test the stableness and strength of the toppled shelves – not too bad – though the one I’ll be crawling under has a bit of concerning wiggling, but it’ll be fine… probably.
Okay…
After placing my bag on one of the dry intact shelves, I duck beneath the shelf, keeping my flashlight trained on the ground in front of me.
I lift my leg up as high as I can as I pick my way through the pile, careful not to move too quickly or to press into any of the rusted metal – slow and steady.
<boss>[[⤁|boxneyehehe]]</boss><<set $farwall to true>>I go over to the far end of the room, to the reflective surface I saw.
It’s another picture frame, hanging off of a string that was nailed to the wall.
Much like the photo from earlier, this one shows two people standing next to each other, this time each holding onto a frame – some sort of award – like their faces, the name of the award has been blacked out.
… Creepy lab continues to be creepy.
I sigh, about to turn away, when something catches my eye.
Sticking out from behind the frame is the corner of … oh, is there another entry in the picture frame?
I lift the frame from the nail, cautious of any… unwanted crawlies… and turn it around.
Lo and behold, stuck inside the corner of the frame is a folded piece of paper.
[[Take it out and read it now.|entry6]]
[[Take it out and save it for later.|entry6later]]<<set $rightroomgoneonce to true>><<set $leaverightroom to true>>Having spent enough time here, I turn to leave the room, only to find another piece of paper stuck to the door…
… This feels almost deliberate now. Who the hell sticks a journal entry to the back of a door?
Nevertheless, I pull the paper free from the tape’s hold.
I’m surprised it's lasted this long to be honest. I’ve had to stick posters onto my wall with duct tape, and even then, they still fell after a few months.
[[Read it now.|entry 3]]
[[Read it later.|entry3later]]I keep going through the files quickly.
More forms, government and otherwise, sit in them, untouched and dated back several years. None older than fifteen. The latest one has a date from barely two years ago… what the –
I find a majorly empty file marked ‘notes’ with a single piece of paper inside.
I glimpse a familiar small number at the top of the page and pull it out.
Another entry.
[[Read it now|entry 9]]
[[Read it later|entry9later]]
<<set $entry9 to true>>I take note of the A.8 at the top before I begin to read. This one is much shorter than the others.
<<button "Entry Nine">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Nine");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>A</hint>.8</b></p>\
<p>Elise’s theory:</p>\
<p>- The initial machine created a fixed point in time.</p>\
<p>- No matter how far back I go, her death is now permanent. </p>\
<p>- It is now a fact of the universe that she ages extremely quickly at 23:58, 19/09/XX19, and perishes.</p>\
<p>I have a theory of my own. </p>\
<p>If we rebuild the machine, the initial one with the wrong calculation, and make it go forward instead of making it go back, perhaps it can balance out the fixed point.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry9next]]</boss><<set $entry9 to true>>I tuck the letter away.
I’ll read it later when I’m not in a musty ass room.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
A fixed point in time?
The woman on the tape mentioned that something had affected time but – were they actually tampering with time?
Honest to god TIME?
…
Well, clearly that didn’t turn out well.
[[Put it away.|entry9away]]
I tuck the letter into my bag next to the others.
Whatever’s going on here, I’ll figure it out.
… Or do it another time if I get hungry and have to go back up.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
<<set $chapter to "Storage Room">>What should I look at next?
<<if $recordscheck is false>> [[Check the records.]]<<else>>[[Check the records again.|recordsagain]]<</if>>
<<if $matcheck is false>> [[Check the un-toppled materials.]]<<else>>[[Check the un-toppled materials again.|matsagain]]<</if>>
<<if $siftcheck is false>> [[Sift through the fallen objects.]]<<else>>[[Sift through the fallen objects again.|fallagain]]<</if>>
<<if $boxcheck is false>> [[Go to the box.]]<<else>>[[Look at the box again.|boxagain]]<</if>>
<<if $farwall is false>> [[Inspect the far wall.]]<<else>>[[Inspect the photo again.|wallagain]]<</if>>
<<if $leaverightroom is false>> [[Leave the room.]]<<else>>[[Leave the room.|leaverightroom]]<</if>>I pass through the records again.
Nothing else of interest pops up...
Why my parents' signatures are here is a question that remains unanswered.
[[Go back to exploring the storage room|storageroom]]There's nothing else to find, even as I blow more dust away and use the creaky ladder.
Just more random bits and bobs.
[[Go back to exploring the storage room|storageroom]]I'm not risking getting near that spider again.
That pile of potential eight-legged nests can burn.
[[Go back to exploring the storage room|storageroom]]With the fallen shelves, I can't quite reach the box again, at least not without risking crushing something.
That's a shame, those coats were pretty nice... barring the smell.
[[Go back to exploring the storage room|storageroom]]The picture is the same... unsettling.
I wonder what award they won...
[[Go back to exploring the storage room|storageroom]]<<set $tape2 to true>>I open the tape recorder and put the cassette tape inside.
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/bL6AQP6.png]]>><<audio tape_2 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_2' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 2 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>F</hint>.1</b></p>\
<p>A familiar voice - probably Elise - speaks</p>\
<p>[Concerned, bordering on slight angry] Bailey completely cancelled our experimentation.</p>\
<p>I don’t understand why – what we’re doing here, to find out about the history of the world without bias – [slightly louder, angrier] it’s so important!</p>\
<p>[she takes a deep breath, calming herself down]</p>\
<p>[Concerned, explanatory] It means a lot to the both of us, both of our cultures have been largely erased from history… this was both to help the world and to help us figure out our heritages… [she sighs] I don’t know why she’d suddenly stop us when we’re so close…</p>\
<p>[a pause. About 2 seconds]</p>\
<p>[thoughtful] Bailey seems almost frantic.</p>\
<p>[concerned] Terrified.</p>\
<p>No matter how much I ask, she won’t tell me what it is.</p>\
<p>It’s really off-putting – we don’t hide things from each other. Minor secrets like who ate the last piece of cake – but nothing that would impact us like… well this.</p>\
<p>[quieter, almost sad] Nothing that would make her as pale and as shaky as she’s been.</p>\
<p>[defeated, voice volume back to normal] … I’ll keep on asking. Until she either tells me or I figure it out.</p>\
<p>This has been Dr Elise Medina</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape2next]]</boss><<set $tape2 to true>I take the tape with me as I climb down the ladder and place it next to the last one I found.
I’d rather not stay in this damp room to listen to it.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
They seemed to have a good relationship… At least, in the beginning…
Maybe this is where it all went wrong?
'To find out about history without bias'…
Seems like a noble cause. So what the hell went so awry that this is how the lab looks now?
Well, I best continue exploring if I want to find that out.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
<<set $entry3 to true>>May as well read it now, since it was clearly put here for a reason.
<<button "Entry Three">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Three");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>D</hint>.0</b></p>\
<p>Dear Elise,</p>\
<p>I’ve tried all that I can. I’ve looked over the calculations hundreds of times, ran thousands of simulations over and over, and nothing is telling me what killed you. I… don’t know what to do.</p>\
<p>Nothing seems to mean anything anymore.</p>\
<p>Even when Lucas and Hugo come over with food, or to try and talk to me and console me… I tried to have a meal with them but… I just can’t look them in the eyes – can’t summon the energy or strength to be polite.</p>\
<p>I know I should be grateful to them… we’ve been friends for so long… and they were kind enough to lend us part of their land to build this wonderful lab but…</p>\
<p>Seeing their faces just reminds me that there used to be four of us.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I don’t think…</p>\
<p>If I don’t make any more progress…</p>\
<p>I don’t think I’ll last much longer.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry3next]]</boss>Nope. I wanted to leave the room. Whatever or whoever stuck this here can deal with me not reading their little entry for five minutes.
[[Leave the room|leaverightroom]]
…
Fuck.
Those –
<em>Hugo and Lucas…</em>
Those are my parents’ names –
No.
No. No. No.
This must be a coincidence!
I fold up the piece of paper, ready to put it away, before hesitating, and reading it again.
“I don’t think I’ll last much longer.”
…
What did these poor women have to go through?
…
I put the entry away.
[[Leave the room|leaverightroom]]
<<set $chapter to "Main Room">>I open the door and shut it behind me. I don’t hear it lock… huh.
[[Step back into the main room|office]]
<<set $entry6 to true>>I wiggle the paper out from the frame, placing the string back onto the nail.
Unfolding the paper, I’m greeted by a now familiar handwriting.
<<button "Entry Six">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Six");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>C</hint>.7</b></p>\
<p>Dear Elise,</p>\
<p>It worked!</p>\
<p>I saw you again, I held you, you were real. </p>\
<p>We were together – I convinced you not to run the machine – so why were you <em>taken from me again!?</em></p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p><em>I was holding you this time.</em></p>\
<p><em>I was holding you as you turned to dust in my arms.</em></p>\
<p><em>You didn’t even notice.</em></p>\
<p><em>I couldn’t do anything.</em></p>\
<p><em>WHY THE FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING!?</em></p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>It was the exact same second. The same moment as last time. </p>\
<p>The 19th of September… at 23:58…</p>\
<p>This wasn’t supposed to happen. </p>\
<p>Not again.</p>\
<p>I deleted all the code, I made sure the machine was unplugged – so why did it happen again?</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Maybe… Maybe I need to go back further.</p>\
<p>Maybe I need to make sure that we don’t put the equation in.</p>\
<p>Maybe…</p>\
<p>…I have to keep trying.</p>\
<p>For you, my love.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry6next]]</boss><<set $entry6 to true>>I wiggle the paper out from where it was tucked into the frame, slipping it into my bag.
I may want to sit down to read this, I’ve been standing for so long… my legs are getting tired.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]This is getting…
…
This…
I hope this is a prank.
It has to be a prank… right?
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
It’s after a solid minute of careful navigation that I reach the box, letting out a sigh of relief. Shining the light back at the shelf, it’s not swaying or shaking.
Stable.
…
For the time being.
Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I turn back towards the box.
It’s made of a shiny plastic, the lid covered, as everything else, in a thick layer of dust. Rot climbs up the sides from where it’s been in contact with the water, dark splotches of green and black.
I cover my hands with my sleeves, trying to touch the box as little as possible, lifting the lid and resting it on the wall.
I shine the torch into the box to find –
Clothes.
Huh.
I reach into the box, lifting up the first piece of clothing – a big poofy winter jacket.
It seems relatively intact – save for the musty smell that's seeped into every crack of this room – and rather expensive actually.
I put the jacket down, looking through the rest of the box. More jackets, gloves, woolly hats, scarves – the whole winter collection. It’s only once I reach the bottom that the texture changes.
A rough but weak ball –
I grab it.
A crumpled piece of paper.
I tuck my flashlight between my chin and shoulder as I flatten it out.
Another entry.
[[Read it now|Entry7]]
[[Read it later|entry7notnow]]
<<set $entry7 to true>>I take my torch back, and look down at the entry. Same format as the others… a little crumpled and torn in a few places, but nothing that would make it unintelligible.
<<button "Entry Seven">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Seven");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>E</hint>.5</b></p>\
<p>My darling Elise,</p>\
<p>You died again.</p>\
<p>In my arms… again.</p>\
<p>I can’t get the dust out… as morbid as that may be I … I can’t get it – I can’t get you off.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Maybe that wasn’t enough.</p>\
<p>I’ll go back to before. Before we even had the idea. Convince you from pursuing it, go work on medical nanobots – anything but that… curse.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I’ll memorise the schematics just in case.</p>\
<p>I… I love you.</p>\
<p>I realise now I haven’t written it down yet. But I do.</p>\
<p>I’ll keep trying.</p>\
<p>There has to be a solution… there always is.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry7next]]</boss><<set $entry7 to true>>Maybe I shouldn’t read this while cramped between an unstable cabinet and a wall.
I tuck the paper into my pocket, and ready myself for the gymnastics to get back to the other side.
[[Go.|gymnastics]]…
So… she’d wanted to..
…
The tone from this letter is so different from the first one I found…
…
I don’t know why… but for just a moment…
A deep sadness takes root in my chest.
...
… I should probably get back to the other side.
[[Go.|gymnastics]]I take the same amount of care, keeping my eyes peeled for pieces of metal jutting from hidden depths, careful of the mulch that would make it far too easy to lose balance and slip.
Alas, I haven't accounted for something scuttling and big and – fuck is that a spider—!?
I take a step, distracted, and trip – crashing into the shelf next to me.
There’s a groan…
A creak…
A snap–
Fuck!
<boss>[[⤁|poggers]]</boss>I book it towards the end of the row, slipping once or twice but I catch myself, ignore the dust and moisture that covers my hands –
There’s a loud crack and –
I jump from the row, slamming into the wall just as the shelf collapses…
Fuck, that was close.
...
Well – let’s not do that again.
I wipe my hands on my trousers, taking a few shaky steps back over to my bag and slipping the letter into it.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
<<set $siftspider to true>>Nope, nuh uh. I’m not doing this now – I already nearly had a heart attack. I’m going to give my heart a break before I put my life on the line again.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
<<set $siftcheck to true>>If I wait, the spider may come back… I probably shouldn’t take that chance.
Part of the tape is jutting out of the pile. All I need to do is grab and pull as fast as I can and it should be fine…
It should be fine…
I pull back my shoulders, sucking in a deep breath through my teeth.
[[And go for it.]]
The plastic of the tape casing is cold against my fingers as I grab onto it and pull –
Sending the pipe tumbling to the ground.
I jump back, clenching the tape so hard that for a moment I’m afraid that I’ll break it but –
Nothing happens.
There aren’t millions of spiders spilling from the pipe, and the big spider from earlier doesn’t return.
I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding and take another step away from the pile, just in case, before turning my attention to the tape.
It’s the same as the others.
[[Listen to it now.|tape3]]
[[Listen to it later.|tape3later]]
<<set $tape3 to true>>I look over the tape, making sure that it isn’t full of water that could damage the recorder.
Nothing but a few scratches and… ew, a bit of cobweb.
I wipe it away, place it into the machine, and close it with a click.
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/vWGEiMy.png]]>><<audio tape_3 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_3' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 3 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>B</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p><em>A familiar voice speaks</em></p>\
<p>[hesitant, sombre] I…</p>\
<p>[2 second pause]</p>\
<p>[slowly, processing] Bailey just finished explaining something to me… something. Horrid? Horrifying?</p>\
<p>[trying for some humour] Definitely depressing… [she trails off]</p>\
<p>[slowly, but matter of fact] She says that I’m going to die. </p>\
<p>September 19th. At 11:58 pm… and it apparently isn’t the first time.</p>\
<p>[humourlessly] Well – for me it will be, but for her…</p>\
<p>[after another pause. Matter of fact again, trying to ignore the looming sense of doom] I thought she was joking.</p>\
<p>But she showed me the math. Gave me step by step recounts of what happened the first few times it happened.</p>\
<p>And from how - and from how Bailey’s been acting recently… how much she changed from one day to another… considering the look in her eyes…</p>\
<p>[quietly] … I’m inclined to believe her… it seems to check out.</p>\
<p>[pause]</p>\
<p>[going for humour again, falling flat] I suggested a therapist, she laughed. I didn’t bring it up again.</p>\
<p>I’d never really… well I’ve considered death before, but I never thought I’d have to face it so soon…</p>\
<p>[listing off as if reciting something she’d memorised but didn’t want to] Healthy, no family history of genetic diseases that would end my life prematurely, no smoking, no drugs, I exercise daily…</p>\
<p>[defeated] Well. All humans die eventually – I was always going to die… am going to…</p>\
<p>Now that I know how much time I have left… I may as well spend it with the people I love.</p>\
<p>[solemnly thoughtful] I think that maybe I’ll take that holiday I’ve been thinking of.</p>\
<p>Maybe I’ll ask Bailey to take me away from here.</p>\
<p>Elise, over and out.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape3next]]</boss><<set $tape3 to true>>The phantom feeling of spiders crawling over my skin hasn’t left… I probably want to wait for that to go away before I try to make sense of whatever madness is hidden in this plastic box.
I place it in my back, and turn my attention elsewhere, rubbing my arms to try to dispel the goosebump-inducing feeling of creeping arachnid legs.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
…
Wow.
That was-
Shit.
…
I can’t imagine –
But… Bailey could have been lying?
In that first letter I found it said– what if Bailey…
…
No, I don’t have enough information yet.
But damn.
I can feel my heart clench as I remember the woman – Elise’s voice in the tape.
She must have been terrified.
[[Continue exploring the storage room|storageroom]]
I really want to get out of here soon. Take a shower – or maybe a bath, then take a nice long nap.
Best get this over with then.
<boss>[[⤁|leftcontinue]]</boss>
I feel like I’ve breezed through this, and as creepy and strange as this whole lab is, I thought there’d be more.
Oh well, I have time to figure out what happened here.
<boss>[[⤁|leftcontinue]]</boss>
What should I do?
[[Explore the living room.|living room]]
[[Check the other rooms.|check rooms]]
<<set $livingroom to true>><<set $livingyes to true>>The living room, despite having been abandoned upwards of what should have been thirty years but seems to be closer to two years, looks well-lived-in. The couch has clear indents, the coffee table in front of it has various books and half-used candles decorating its surface.
Hell, there are well-used PlayStation X remotes sitting by the TV.
This place at its prime would have probably been rather cozy. Inviting…
Well, save for the obsessive writing on the wall.
Not even the figurative writing on the wall.
Shining my flashlight around, I can see hundreds, if not thousands of words scribbled on the wall, most of which sit on the lower half.
“It’s not your fault.”
“You did everything you could.”
“It hurts.”
“Betrayed.”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“So alone.”
“Lonely.”
“It’s not your fault” –
...
I take out one of the entries, glancing between it and the handwriting on the wall… it’s similar.
Too similar. The same, rather.
This is Bailey’s handwriting…
She went mad, didn’t she?
Fuck.
I get closer to a few of the words.
“It hurts.”
“Please.”
“Come back.”
“Too late”—
The next one gives me pause.
“It’s in the light. It’s in the light but I can’t reach it. It taunts me. I can’t reach the light.”
‘It’s in the light’? I shine my flashlight around. It’s pitch black in here – there’s no light—
Unless.
[[Examine lamps.|lamps]]
<<set $lookedaround to true>>
I should acquaint myself with my surroundings first… maybe start with the smaller rooms first.
Glancing around the living room, there are three exits, not including the bunker-house’s entryway. Popping my head into the first, I’m met with – despite the completely wrecked nature of it – a relatively modern kitchen.
The next door leads to a room with a large table in the middle, flanked by cabinets that have been completely emptied, broken ceramics littering the floor, sprinkled with the occasional silverware trap.
I duck out of that horror movie nightmare scene and slip into the last exit, which connects the living room to a long corridor. There are four doors in the derelict hallway. Three in a line along the opposite wall, and a fourth door looming at the other end.
The first door opens with a loud creak – the handle scraping against its joint as I push it down. What greets me beyond it is a mess almost as bad as the one in the dining room. Books cover the entire expanse of the floor. That’s going to be a pain to go through. I sigh, closing the door and moving onto the second.
A bedroom – empty beyond a bedframe and a sheetless mattress. A spare bedroom maybe? There are a few drawers off to the side, I’ll have to check them later.
The third door, after a bit of a struggle to get its creaky hinges to open, opens to a bathroom. I close the door almost immediately with a groan – I don’t even want to know what horrors lie in there. Fuck, I’m not looking forward to searching it.
Finally, I’m faced with the last, mildly ominous door.
I reach for the handle.
<em>Click.</em>
It won’t open.
There’s another keypad… fuck me.
I sigh. Of course, it won’t be easy. This is so fucking inconvenient.
Well.
[[Where should I look first?|livingspacemenu]]
<<set $chapter to "Living Space">>Where should I go next?
<<if $livingyes is false>> [[Go explore the living room.|living room]]<<else>>[[Go to the living room again.|livingroomagain]]<</if>>
<<if $diningyes is false>>[[Go explore the dining room.|dining]]<<else>>[[Go to the dining room again.|dining2]]<</if>>
<<if $kitchenyes is false>>[[Go explore the kitchen.|kitchen]]<<else>>[[Go to the kitchen again.|kitchenagain]]<</if>>
<<if $corridoryes is false>>[[Inspect the corridor.|corridornyet]]<<else>>[[Go to the corridor again.|corridor2electric]]<</if>>
<<if $bathroomyes is false>>[[Go explore the bathroom.|bathroom]]<<else>>[[Go to the bathroom again.|bathroom2]]<</if>>
<<if $spareyes is false>>[[Go explore the spare room.|sparenyet]]<<else>>[[Go to the spare room again.|spare2]]<</if>>
<<if $libyes is false>>[[Go explore the library.|libnyet]]<<else>>[[Go to the library again.|lib2]]<</if>>
[[Inspect the locked door.|bedroom]]
[[Go back to the main room.|leave left room]] Unless she meant literal lamps.
I find one on the TV stand, but there’s nothing in it or under it.
I rub the dust from my hands and look around the room.
There are a few more lamps… all empty.
What was she looking for?
I look back at the text with a squint. ‘I can’t reach it’…
Oh.
I shine my torch up at the ceiling. Lo and behold, a ceiling lamp.
Well, now I feel like an idiot.
[[Climb the couch to reach the lamp.|couch]]
I take a moment to apologise to my clothes, and step onto the couch. Dust jumps up from the fabric, flying up in a cloud that engulfs my lower half, coating my trousers in grey.
They’re going to need a serious clean when I get home. But that’ll be for later. Until then…
I turn my attention back to the lamp above me.
Now within, I carefully unscrew the lamp shade holder, keeping a hand beneath the actual lamp shade. It’s cool… made of frosted glass… and it has something shifting inside it each time that I tilt it every which way.
After a few seconds, the holder releases the shade, and I bring it down, letting out a silent sigh of relief as my feet hit solid ground. The lampshade is intact – filthily dusty, but in one piece.
And cupped within it is a folded piece of paper.
An entry.
… The person who wrote on the wall – probably Bailey – she was looking for it… was she the one who blacked out and destroyed all the documents and photos?
Why?
[[Read Entry 8|entry8]]
[[Read it later.|entry8later]]<<set $entry8 to true>>The paper is in much better condition than most of the others, though the ink is blurred and the paper is crinkled in certain spots.
<<button "Entry Eight">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Eight");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>III</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>Elise.</p>\
<p>You keep on dying.</p>\
<p>Over. And over. And over, and over, and over and over and over and over and – </p>\
<p>I don’t know how many times I’ve been back.</p>\
<p>How many times I’ve tried to save you?</p>\
<p>The last number I remember counting to was amongst the thousands of attempts… and that seems like years ago now.</p>\
<p>You died in front of me again. Just a pile of ash in the corner of the room… I’ll leave you there for now, picking you up to put you in a jar for the nth time seems like… more effort than it’s worth. </p>\
<p>I won’t be here much longer anyway.</p>\
<p>I have to keep going back.</p>\
<p>I have to ensure your survival.</p>\
<p>That’s all that matters now, really.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I think I’ll have to consult you next time. I didn’t want to have to. Unnecessary cruelty isn’t needed… but I’ve hit a wall.</p>\
<p>Maybe you’ll be able to help figure it out.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry8next]]</boss>…
[[Put the letter away.|entry8away]]
<<if $lookedaround is false>>Now that I’m done with the living room, I should probably [[check the other rooms.|check rooms]]<<else >>That’s the living room done.
[[Onto the rest.|livingspacemenu]]<</if>><<set $entry8 to true>>The writing on the wall was enough for now. I’ll read it later.
[[Put the letter away.|entry8away]]The living room is dusty.
I can track my exact movements by following my shoeprints on the ground...
[[Go back to explore the rest of the rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $kitchenyes to true>>I enter the kitchen with mild trepidation. The kitchen is never a good place to be in a horror movie – too many sharp objects that could be used to stab or slice. Granted, I’ve been down here for hours now, and nothing has happened – BUT THAT’S WHAT THE SERIAL KILLER WANTS ME TO THINK!
In any case, as I’ve gathered with my first glance at the kitchen – it’s absolutely wrecked. <<if $mask is false>>And it smells bad – really bad. Fuck if only I’d put my mask on earlier, maybe it wouldn’t have been as nausea inducing as it is. Ahhhh! I can TASTE it!<</if>>
All the bottom cabinets have been emptied out, pots and pans are scattered around the room. More of those blacked out pieces of paper and photographs sit on and around the kitchen isle, certain ones torn up.
With what seems to be a theme with this living space, shattered glass glimmers as I pass my flashlight over the floor, various bottles of assorted sizes, some spilling powders while other sit in greasy liquids.
I’m careful as I step over the glass and liquids, nearing the main bulk of the kitchen islands. Glancing over them, I make a list in my head. A dusty open dishwasher that still has its clean dishes from the last time it’s been used. An induction stove – oh these rich bastards – where a pot of very mouldy pasta sits. I try not to gag at the gangrenous mass of green and white that’s been sitting there for god knows how long.
I’m too afraid to look in the fridge – especially considering the lack of electricity.
No, instead, I’d rather…
[[Check the cabinets.]]
[[Check the drawers.]]Maybe I should grab a knife...
Just in case...
...
There's oil on the ground though.
What if I drop it and cause a spark.
I'd rather not burn nor suffocate to death, thank you.
[[Check the other rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $bathroomyes to true>><<if $mask is false>>The bathroom smells like death when I enter.
Well maybe not death, but something close to it. Grey water must have risen back up from the pipes, or at least gotten stuck somewhere, because the smell of sewage is so strong I feel like puking. I really should have put on that mask.<</if>>The bathroom is just as eerie as the kitchen. <<if $kitchenyes is true>>Yet another place that a serial killer would <<else>>If there’s a serial killer down here, this place would definitely be the one where they’d <</if>>take great pleasure at hiding in to scare the living hell out of me before chasing me down the corridor to kill me.
In any case, I focus my flashlight at the shelving unit near the toilet.
Grey towels that must have once been white sit there, stacked neatly in several rows on one of the mid-shelves. A few bottles of shampoo sit on the shelf above them, alongside boxes of what I assume to be soap, if the labels are anything to go by.
But below the tier with the towels is a stack of magazines. I pick one up and blow on the cover. “Live Science” – I’ve never heard of this company before.
Colourful post-its stick out from the edges, indicating pages with highlights. Usually the authors or mentioned doctors from articles. I… can’t understand a lot of what’s written. And all the names are foreign to me.
I move to put the magazine back, and am instead faced with something that I am familiar with.
Another tape.
I replace the tape for the magazine, drawing a finger over the dust-covered plastic.
[[Listen to it now.|tape4]]
[[Listen to it later.|tape4later]]
Nope.
It's gross in there, and I don't need old toothpaste or soap.
[[Continue exploring the other rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $corridoryes to true>>The corridor is plain, as corridors go. No paintings on the walls. Only the doors.
…
Oh yes.
And the hundreds if not thousands of words and phrases written around the bottom half of the wall.
“Betrayed.”
“Broken.”
“Hurts.”
“Can’t leave.”
“What have you done?”
“What have I done?”
And the names.
“Bailey” and “Elise” written over and over and over again.
…
Since there isn’t much to look at, it also isn’t too hard to notice the book on the floor.
As everything else in this underground complex, it’s covered in grey.
Particles fall off and fly into the air as I pick up book. I squint through the cloud and back up, brushing the coat off from the front of the– well, calling it a book would be generous.
While its spine is rather thick, there are only the smallest millimetres of what were once the pages left, if not only the glue that once held them there.
No, it isn’t a book anymore…
But there is a single remaining page.
Another entry.
[[Read it now.|entry2]]
[[Read it later.|entry2later]]The corridor is as empty as it was when I first explored it.
The writing on the wall is still there too...
Now the question is why only the bottom half of the wall?
[[Go back to exploring.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $diningyes to true>>The dining room is still as much of a mess as it was when I last looked at it.
Luckily, while the mess is still bad and relatively dangerous, it isn’t as bad as other certain creepy rooms. The mess is a lot flatter, the room is a lot more open, and there are fewer spaces for things to be hidden.
I start with the floor but find nothing besides broken ceramic and silverware… it isn’t fancy unfortunately. Likely some more IKEA-esque purchases.
So I turn my attention to the shelves that presumably once held the utensils that now lay shattered and scattered on the ground. Only a few teapots rather high up remain unscathed, and –
[[Another picture frame.|pictur232]]
The dining room remains a mess.
Even if I look over the table and cabinets again, I've already found everything of interest.
...
This place would have been cosy... I think... once upon a time.
[[Go back to explore the rest of the rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $spareyes to true>>The spare bedroom is bare when I enter it.
Nothing has changed – unsurprisingly. Empty bedframe, the mattress tilted up against the wall collecting dust.
It’s the cleanest out of all the rooms I’ve been to so far.
With only a wardrobe and a bedside table to go through, it doesn’t take me too much time to look at empty shelves.
No books, no photos that have been altered, no pieces of paper that had been blacked out.
Just.
An empty room.
Oh well, that’s disappointing.
[[Leave the room.|mattress]]
I go back to the spare room to see if I can decipher any of the equation. Or uncover a bit more of it at least...
...
...
No. The paint is too thick and these numbers mean nothing to me.
Damn.
[[Check the other rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<if $bedroomtry is false>>I stop in front of the door, grabbing the handle and pushing it down. Best try before we give up -
As with the others, there's no give. It's well locked.
<</if>>The keypad next to the door blinks up innocently at me.
I squint.
I'll figure you out.
It looks like it needs a 7-digit code... there are tiny <hint>I</hint>, <hint>II</hint>, <hint>III</hint> engraved right next to it...
<<textbox "$key4" "">>
[[Try keycode|8199669]]
[[Back|livingspacemenu]]
<<set $bedroomtry to true>>I want to check out the main room again.
<<set $chapter to "Main Room">>I open the door and shut it behind me. I don’t hear it lock… good, that password was longer than the one earlier.
[[Step back into the main room|office]]It makes a hollow sound, not the distinct tink of glass.
Plastic then.
I push myself deeper into the cylinder, twisting to inspect the end, when I’m faced with something black.
I shriek, jerking back, only to bang my head on the top of the cylinder, the whole machine vibrating with the impact. In my panic, I don’t register the pain, frantically shining the light on the thing to find –
A tape.
<boss>[[⤁|tappers]]</boss>My heart is thundering, and I let out an annoyed groan, the pain and shock from slamming my head kicking in upon the realisation.
Not a spider.
Stop being such a wuss.
[[Take the tape.|tappog]]
I grab the tape, shimmying out from the cylinder to look it over.
This one doesn’t look jammed – and on a weathered, half peeled off sticker is a name… Dr Elise. The only other thing written on it is a small ‘2.2’.
[[Listen to it|tape5]]
[[Keep for later|putbag5]]<<set $entry2 to true>>The paper is tear-stained, weathered and torn, as if it’s been reread hundreds of thousands of times.
<<button "Entry Two">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Two");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>I</hint>.8</b></p>\
<p>I don’t know what happened. I looked over the calculations repeatedly but… but </p>\
<p>Elise is dead.</p>\
<p>The machine killed her.</p>\
<p>I don’t know what happened… I – </p>\
<p>All I have are theories.</p>\
<p>The most likely one is that the machine malfunctioned, and instead of opening a mental door to the past, it fast-forwarded Elise in her entirety -- thousands to millions of years passed through her in one go. It must have been – because bones don’t just…</p>\
<p>She… she turned to dust. That’s all I have left of her now… dust in a jar.</p>\
<p>It’s almost insulting to her but… I don’t know where to get an urn… I don’t want to look because… because that’s… that’s giving what happened finality. </p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I don’t know what I’m going to do.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry2next]]</boss><<set $entry2 to true>>My eyes are getting kind of tired of reading in the dark.
Didn’t I read somewhere once that reading in the dark was bad for your eyes?
Yeah probably.
I’ll read it later.
[[Time to explore the rest of the rooms.|livingspacemenu]]
…
…
…
…
…
I close the book and slip it into my bag.
Dust…
There’s so much of it down here.
How could you tell the difference between regular and …
[[I should look at the other rooms.|livingspacemenu]]
This one was taken by a pond near a grove of trees, likely in autumn based on the vibrant yellow and oranges that decorate the surface of the water and distant branches.
As with the previous photos, at the centre of the image stands two women, each in bright, colourful dresses. They seem ceremonial-looking – bouquets of white flowers held in their off hands… showing off rings on their other.
A wedding photo?
…
Clearly not sentimental enough.
Their faces were cut out.
…
That is, somehow, significantly creepier than earlier.
…
I sigh, placing the picture frame back, only for it to knock into something else, sending it falling right for the floor –
I drop the frame, catching the falling object before it can land.
The frame isn’t as lucky.
It shatters upon impact with the ground.
I wince as the sound of breaking glass echoes around the room, echoing even further into the corridor and deeper into the complex.
It takes a few seconds for everything to go silent again, and nothing else moves.
No ghosts appear to scream at me, no killer jumps out from the kitchen.
It’s still.
<boss>[[⤁|continue93393]]</boss>I take a moment to collect myself and look down at the object I caught.
Black, a colourful tag – another tape.
[[Listen to it now.|tape6]]
[[Listen to it later.|tape6later]]
<<set $tape6 to true>>Other than the first tape I found, this seems to be the most recent…
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/iSsa5Qa.png]]>><<audio tape_6 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_6' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 6 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>VI</hint>.6</b></p>\
<p></p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[a long pause]</p>\
<p>WATER! – The lab is now submerged in water – an ocean is sitting on top of us.</p>\
<p>I don’t know how long the foundations are going to last – or the oxygen – this place wasn’t built with being under hundreds of litres of water in mind.</p>\
<p>Bailey is trying to reverse the calculations in order to send herself forward instead, so that she can try to switch our location again.</p>\
<p>She won’t stop.</p>\
<p>[another long pause]</p>\
<p>… I’ve found an old recording. From before.</p>\
<p>I’ll play a bit to you.</p>\
<p>[There’s a click, and a recorded sound plays through]</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[curious] What are you doing?</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[distracted] Testing… out my new… recorder.</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[teasing] You know you have a phone for that right?</p>\
<p><b>Elise: </b></p>\
<p>[slightly indignant] I mean – sure, but this is so much cooler. [excited] Like that one horror podcast –</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[amused] … The one with the eye thing?</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>That’s the one!</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[laughs] … I love you so much, come here</p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[surprised but laughing] Ah! Bailey – hold on – the recorder-- </p>\
<p>[a click signifies the end, some more silence. The current Elise speaks next]</p>\
<p>[morose] The woman I love is gone.</p>\
<p>The thing that’s in her place is not my wife. It’s… angry, obsessed… it isn’t human anymore.</p>\
<p>I… I think I know what I have to do.</p>\
<p>[sounding tearful] But I don’t want to do it…</p>\
<p>[Pause]</p>\
<p>[with finality] I’ll give her a few more chances.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape6next]]</boss><<set $tape6 to true>>I just shattered something that didn’t belong to me, and even if I didn’t own it, it sends shame shivering up my spine.
I think I need to get over that for a few seconds first… then I can listen to it.
[[Put the tape away.|livingspacemenu]]
…
Did – did she do it?
She must have…
What did she do?
…
…
…
I take the tape out from the player and place them into my bag.
[[I should explore the rest of the rooms.|livingspacemenu]]
I turn to leave when I catch something from the corner of my eye.
Turning back to squint at it, I see something faint, written on the wall behind the mattress.
Oh.
Maybe not so empty after all.
[[Move the mattress away from the wall.|mattress2]]
It takes a bit of effort, the mattress is king-sized and that’s big enough to give any single person some trouble.
But eventually, I’m able to push it back far enough that it topples backwards and onto the frame with a thump.
What’s revealed is a series of numbers and symbols, some of them completely covered by white paint if the thickness is anything to go by, and some still peeking through.
Calculations…
…
…
I have no idea what they mean.
But – context clues – was this—are these –
I try to scratch at the paint that covers the rest of the symbols and numbers, but it peels off the paint that was under the number too…
Nope. This would take way too long.
I back up, ready to leave after taking a photo with my phone, only to hear a crinkle as I step back.
I look down.
A piece of paper.
…
An entry.
Again.
This – I keep on finding one in each room, this has to be deliberate.
[[Read it now.|entry1]]
[[Read it later.|entry1later]]
<<set $entry1 to true>>This paper is yellowed, nearly translucent around the edges.
<<button "Entry One">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry One");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>VII</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>This is it. This is the day that we make history – or… well… record it, I suppose!</p>\
<p>The machine has been fine-tuned, calculations double, triple, quadruple checked! … actually, the checking is closer to being in the hundreds. Now, we can finally test it out.</p>\
<p>We can finally see history as it was. No winner’s bias, no erasing history, or important people simply because they didn’t abide by the tenets of a religion. We can finally see things, record fact rather than speculate… we can finally see what happened to the grand civilisations that vanished. </p>\
<p>Ah… this has taken… so much work. Much of our savings went into this, so much of our time, ironically… I hope that this will give us an opportunity to take a nice long break. Maybe enough to get a seaside house, with our own stretch of beach to relax on… Elise has always wanted to live by the sea…</p>\
<p>What I did to deserve that woman’s love is beyond me, or my understanding, but I’ll do my best to be worthy of it every single day of my life—</p>\
<p>Ah, Elise is calling,</p>\
<p>I’ve got to go!</p>\
<p>I’ll write in here once we successfully get an account on what really happened to the Mayans.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry1next]]</boss><<set $entry1 to true>>I’m getting tired.
And this is probably going to be sad…
I’ll read it later.
[[Explore the other rooms|livingspacemenu]]
…
It’s…
Hard.
Seeing how they were at the start… and comparing these letters to how they were towards the end.
[[Put the letter away and explore somewhere else.|livingspacemenu]]
<<set $tape4 to true>>With the collection of tapes I’ve gathered so far, I can kind of see a rainbow forming…
That’s… a silver lining to all of these.
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/snhPFQI.png]]>><<audio tape_4 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_4' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 4 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>II</hint>.1</b></p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[exhausted, sad] I think I’m afraid. At least a bit.</p>\
<p>Bailey’s been acting differently… well obviously – she’s had to tell me over a hundred times that I’m going to die apparently… and had to witness it for countless more.</p>\
<p>But she’s been off, ever since she arrived from the future.</p>\
<p>Snappish, impatient, angry.</p>\
<p>[frustrated] She won’t listen to me anymore… it’s as if the mind that inhabits my wife’s body is no longer her’s…</p>\
<p>[her frustration mounts, and she starts to rant] No matter how much I try to tell her that she should lay this to rest – that she’s tried for so long, that I’ve tried many times… but that regardless of our efforts, we aren’t getting any closer – [she cuts herself off]</p>\
<p>[voice soft, final and sad] That we should let go.</p>\
<p>[the tired sadness comes back] But Bailey seems… obsessed – with “saving me” – even if I want her to stop – even if I just want my wife to be here for me as a person during my last days…</p>\
<p>The way she looks at me though… it doesn’t seem like love anymore.</p>\
<p><b>Bailey:</b></p>\
<p>[Impatiently, heard from a distance] Elise! I think I’ve made a breakthrough! Come look at it! </p>\
<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[after a pause and a sigh, quickly stated, as if she wants this to be over] Dr Elise Medina, marking the end of the recording.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape4next]]</boss><<set $tape4 to true>>As much as listening to this in a creepy bathroom sounds great…
No.
It just doesn’t.
I put the tape into my bag and leave the room.
[[Best go on exploring the rest of the place.|livingspacemenu]]
…
…
…
…
I put the tape away.
[[Go explore somewhere else.|livingspacemenu]]
<<set $libyes to true>>The mess of books that is the library is… somehow, not the worst room in the complex.
Sure, it makes me feel terribly bad every time I step on one and I hear a rip, or crack, but then again, they’re extremely slippery and out for my life, so I say we’re even.
I won’t bother looking through all the books on the ground, that would take hours, and even I’m not curious enough to see if a copy of ‘The Hobbit’ has a secret encoded message amongst its many pages.
Instead, I focus my attention on a small desk in the corner of the room. That’ll be a lot more manageable.
The table is dusty, what else is new, and covered in books, and pieces of blacked out paper, and –
More photos.
More blacked out faces.
More inexplicable sorrow as I look upon what had once been a happy and loving couple, reduced to... I don’t even know what. I don’t know where they are… if they still live, or even if they were real. For all I know, this is a very, very, elaborate prank or set from a tv show that was… abandoned or…
Or…
…
There’s another entry.
[[Read it now.|entry5]]
[[Read it later.|entry5later]]
This place is such a mess...
They seemed to be into fiction as well as non-fiction though...
I wonder if they have any Terry Pratchett books...
[[Check the other rooms.|livingspacemenu]]<<set $cabinet to true>>Considering how many of the cabinets sit open and empty, it isn’t too hard to simply crouch and shine my flashlight at the dust-filled shelves.
There’s nothing along any of the bottom ones. Whoever went through them didn’t leave a single pan un-tossed, nor a single pot un-toppled.
I straighten and turn my attention to the wall-mounted cabinets instead. They’ve been untouched by whoever overturned the ones near the floor. Bags of uncooked pasta sit amongst cans of peas, corn, ravioli and other varieties of food. I cautiously pick one up. No dents or rust- fuck, this is probably still good to eat–
I glance down. (What remains of the pasta amongst the mold could be a living creature for all I know now. Probably don’t want to risk eating anything in here, not even food that should and probably could last centuries.)
I put the canned food back, looking through the rest of the cabinets.
A rice cooker, actual rice, more pasta, packets of cookies – way past their expiration dates… two years… not if it should be considered, but I think it’s best to stop questioning these things until I’m back at my house and can have a proper breakdown about the implications.
<<if $drawer is false>>[[Check out the drawers next.|Check the drawers.]]<<else>><boss>[[⤁|kitchennext]]</boss><</if>>
<<set $drawer to true>>Many of the drawers have their front-most areas emptied of all content. The bottoms of the conspicuously empty areas scratched with deep – occasionally reddish-brown – gouges.
Some of them still hold wine corks, sharp kitchen knifes varying from a paring knife to a cleaver, scissors, a few baking tools – five spatulas included, who needs five spatulas? – and a single, rather large ladle.
Just… regular kitchen utensils. No alien probes or anything.
I sigh, opening the last drawer to be met with a tape.
…
Never mind that, not only regular kitchen utensils.
I pick the tape up – it has been saved from the majority of the dust from the safety of the tray.
[[Listen to it now.|tape1]]
[[Listen to it later.|tape1later]]The kitchen is eerily silent.
I mean – this whole place has been rather silent but…
I never associated kitchens with coldness.
With emptiness.
They’ve always been places to make food, a comfort, a warmth.
Sometimes something to share with others.
…
This kitchen feels too lonely. Too sombre.
[[I best go explore something else.|livingspacemenu]]
<<set $tape1 to true>>I look at it before I place it into the tape recorder.
… 1.
This was the first?
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/ZwkmUYT.png]]>><<audio tape_1 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_1' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 1 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>IV</hint>.9</b></p>\
<p>[Excited] Ahh this is great, we finally have the calculations, we looked over them a million times to make sure they were correct and they look good!</p>\
<p>[Happy and relieved] After all this work I’m looking forward to a nice long break and holiday overseas… [thoughtful] maybe bring Lucas and Hugo along as thanks for lending us their land to build this facility – it’s been integral to making sure we weren’t distracted [she laughs]</p>\
<p>[Pleased] I’m so happy we’ve finally reached the end. Working with Bailey is always the biggest pleasure, [mildly exasperated] but I’d like to spend a few months with her as her wife and less so as her work partner. </p>\
<p>[Thoughtful and lovingly, in the same way a partner would be talking to their friend about how much they love their partner] No matter what anyone says, working with my wife is so fluid and natural, we never get tired of each other… [amused] maybe it’s unusual haha – perhaps our bond borders a bit on obsession, but hey! We’ve solved so many problems together, it doesn't really matter at this point.</p>\
<p>[cheerfully] Hopefully, next time I take a moment to take notes, it’ll be about a delicious cocktail that I’m drinking at the seaside.</p>\
<p>Elise, over and out!</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape1next]]</boss><<set $tape1 to true>>Right, well listening to this in a creepy and stinky abandoned kitchen isn’t really on my agenda. And if I drop the tape recorder here, it’s much more likely to get damaged.
I slip the tape into my bag.
<<if $cabinet is false>>[[Check out the cabinet next.|Check the cabinets.]]<<else>><boss>[[⤁|kitchennext]]</boss><</if>>
…
She’d…
Sounded so… happy.
…
I don’t know if I want to know how this ended.
<<if $cabinet is false>>[[Check out the cabinet next.|Check the cabinets.]]<<else>><boss>[[⤁|kitchennext]]</boss><</if>>
<<set $entry5 to true>>The paper is wrinkled, blotches of ink had run where water <strike>or tears</strike> had fallen onto it.
<<button "Entry Five">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Five");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b><hint>V</hint>.6</b></p>\
<p>My dearest Elise,</p>\
<p>It worked.</p>\
<p>I can go back. I can make sure this horrid future never passes.</p>\
<p>I can finally hold you in my arms again.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I think I’m going to stay away from metaphorical physics forever after this.</p>\
<p>Maybe take up a teaching job.</p>\
<p>No recognition is worth this.</p>\
<p>I’ll see you soon.</p>\
<p>Bailey</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry5next]]</boss><<set $entry5 to true>>I’m really not too keen on reading this while a bunch of blacked out photos stare at me.
I don’t know where their eyes are, much less what they actually look like which is… somehow worse.
[[Put the letter away and leave the library.|livingspacemenu]]
…
[[Put the letter away and leave the library.|livingspacemenu]]
<<if $key4 is "8199669">><<set $chapter to "Bedroom">>There's no beep this time... but I hear a small click.
It's open.
<boss>[[Enter|bedroom1]]</boss><<set $rightdooropen to true>><<else>><b>BEEP!</b>
Damn, wrong.
<boss>[[⤁|bedroom]]</boss><</if>>The door opens.
I’m suddenly hyperaware of every sound, every movement, every breath I take as I push it in. Of how silent it is, how my every step is like a thunderclap in the stillness, how my feet cause a minor storm of dust every time I move them.
This room is a bedroom.
A vanity sits flush against the wall, a wardrobe looms parallel to it on the opposite side. Clothes litter the floor, though it looks more intentional than the chaos that I found in the earlier rooms, sitting in piles.
Then, I shine my flashlight at the centre of the room to look at a king-sized bed, and my heart jumps into my throat. I have to take a step back and swallow a scream as the light reveals a skeleton, sitting propped up against the bed.
<boss>[[⤁|oops]]</boss>
...
<boss>[[⤁|oops1]]</boss>...
<boss>[[⤁|oops2]]</boss>O h.
<boss>[[⤁|oops3]]</boss>I have to remember to breathe as I approach the body, my legs feeling… distant… from my body as I do. I almost don’t feel the ground beneath my feet, my focus is solely on the remains of…
Elise?
Bailey?
Someone else?
<boss>[[⤁|oops4]]</boss>I find myself kneeling in front of the body. <<if $mask is false>>It smells like death which… isn’t surprising. <</if>>The muscles have completely dehydrated, dried to the point where the only definition is that of bones, some of which have disarticulated and lie on the floor beside the bulk of the body.
The mouth of the skeleton is open, permanently stuck in a visage of what I can only register as pain.
How… how did this happen?
I shine the flashlight down, but their ribs are fine. There are no puncture wounds, no cracks, no –
I look farther down and my breath catches in my throat.
The legs have several clear breaks, twisted in odd angles… fuck.
<boss>[[⤁|oops5]]</boss>…
The skeleton is sitting next to something.
A piece of paper…
Oh fuck.
Oh –
Don’t tell me that they wrote an entry while they were dying.
…
<boss>[[⤁|oops7]]</boss>I stand.
I’ll… have to call the police.
Explain how I came to be down here… maybe show them the recordings I found so far, and the entries but… will they even believe me?
Even I can barely believe them myself, and I’ve got a hell of an open mind when it comes to this place…
…
<boss>[[⤁|oops6]]</boss>I don’t know if I want to read it…
I don’t…
But I pick it up anyway.
And down to the floor clatters a small metal object…
One that would be perfect to get rid of a certain blockage in a certain tape…
…
Fuck.
[[Read the entry.|entry11]]
[[Listen to the tape.|tape7]]
<<set $entry11 to true>>The entry is splattered with rusty brown splotches, the writing messy, barely legible.
<<button "Entry Eleven">>
<<script>>
Dialog.setup("Entry Eleven");
Dialog.wiki("<p>You betrayed me…</p>\
<p>You… </p>\
<p>You.</p>\
<p>You crippled me.</p>\
<p>How could you – after the years I’ve spent on this –</p>\
<p>I –</p>\
<p>I can’t get out –</p>\
<p>I can’t move.</p>\
<p>There’s no more food – the machine is broken beyond repair – how am I supposed to fix it if I can’t stand?</p>\
<p>I tried to get out – to crawl up all those stairs.</p>\
<p>Do you know how painful it was to do that?</p>\
<p>To drag mangled legs up those metal grates?</p>\
<p>But you’ve locked the door – I’m trapped.</p>\
<p>You did this on purpose – locked me out from the outside –</p>\
<p>I…</p>\
<p>I don’t want to die.</p>\
<p>I tried to call Hugo and Lucas but no one answered. </p>\
<p>I tried to call anyone else for help, but they had no idea where I was. Couldn’t trace me… I… this place doesn’t exist to the outside world anymore.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>What have I done?</p>\
<p>I… I never meant for any of this to happen.</p>\
<p>I just wanted to help you – I just…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>But that was the issue wasn’t it?</p>\
<p>That I held on too tight to trying to fix this… that I neglected you.</p>\
<p>I should have… cherished the time we had left.</p>\
<p>Made the most of you while I had you.</p>\
<p>I…</p>\
<p>I’m sorry.</p>\
<p>… I can feel my head spinning… I think…</p>\
<p>I think this is going to be my last entry.</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>Goodbye Elise.</p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>>
<</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|entry11next]]</boss><<set $tape7 to "1">><<set $tape7now to true>>Now that I look at the tape again… it also has rusty splotches staining the label… and the dust… I found it in the jacket outside… how did it get there?
I shake my head, picking up the small metal tool and gently inserting it into the space between the wheel and the main bulk of the tape. After a bit of work, I manage to take out a small piece of metal that had gotten stuck inside… hopefully it wasn’t magnetic.
I put it into the tape recorder…
<<link[img[https://i.imgur.com/z2ao6bH.png]]>><<audio tape_7 play>><</link>>
<<click "Stop">>
<<audio 'tape_7' stop>>
<<audio 'tapestop' play>>
<</click>> | <<button "Transcript">><<script>>
Dialog.setup("Tape 7 Transcript");
Dialog.wiki("<p><b>Elise:</b></p>\
<p>[defeated] I’m… outside the main lab. Out of the bunker door. We’re below a forest now…</p>\
<p>I can’t really get out in time… I only have a few minutes…</p>\
<p>…</p>\
<p>I locked the thing in the lab. Destroyed the research – destroyed the machine – it won’t be fixed any time soon. They’re all gone…</p>\
<p>And… I made sure that the thing couldn’t get out.</p>\
<p>[voice hardening] By any means necessary.</p>\
<p>[back to defeated, sad] And now… we’re both going to die.</p>\
<p>[trying to sound hopeful] But at least maybe like this the madness will end – maybe we can finally both rest.</p>\
<p>The thing that inhabits my wife’s body is no longer Bailey… but even it deserves to be let out of this cruel cycle… I just hope that wherever my wife is, she can forgive me.</p>\
<p>I’m sorry to whoever finds this… hopefully we didn’t fuck up time too badly. And maybe… maybe someday someone will be able figure it out again without making the same mistakes we did.</p>\
<p>[jokingly] … If it’s you, don’t forget parentheses! Or commas or… order of operations…</p>\
<p>[voice goes back to defeated, shaking] Ah… It’s starting…</p>\
<p>It’s really a shame… I was fine with dying, as long as Bailey was with me… </p>\
<p>But at the end of it all…</p>\
<p>We’re both dying alone.</p>\
<p><b>A distant voice screams:</b></p>\
<p>[voice muffled and distant behind a heavy metal door as she screams]</p>\
<p>[panicked] Elise let me out! Let me out, Elise don’t do this! Don’t leave me! I can’t be alone again! Please don’t leave me alone again! Elise please!-- </p>\
");
Dialog.open();
<</script>><</button>>
<boss>[[⤁|tape7next]]</boss>…
…
…
…
…
<<if $tape7now is false>>[[Free the tape and listen to it.|tape7]]<<else>><boss>[[⤁|leave1]]</boss><</if>>
I think…
I think I’m going to go home now…
…
<boss>[[⤁|leave2]]</boss>…
…
…
…
…
<<if $entry11 is false>>[[Read the entry.|entry11]]<<else>><boss>[[⤁|leave1]]</boss><</if>>I place the entry and tape into my bag and straighten.
With a sense of morbid curiosity, I can’t help but stare at the corpse of Bailey for a few more seconds… to find that… between what remains of her fingers… is a photograph.
<boss>[[⤁|leave3]]</boss>Two women stand in front of what I recognise as my house… but not. Instead of the forest that I grew up in, there are vast plains of green and yellow behind it. An expanse of grass and hills.
The two young women smile at the camera, their faces unmarred by any pen, the crinkle in the corners of their eyes indicative of genuine happiness…
They’re holding hands.
Leaning into each other’s space, shoulders pressed against each other.
And in front of them is a kid.
With a smile as bright as theirs and… recognisable.
…
It…
The kid looks like I did.
Th…
…
…
That kid… looks exactly like I had.
…
…
…
I leave the complex.
<boss>[[⤁|leave4]]</boss><<set $chapter to "The End!">>
Through the main area.
Back up the stairs, and out the door.
I try not too think too hard about the pile of dust that the coat is lying in.
I walk through the tunnel, up the next set of stairs.
And back out, into the light.
[[The end.|end]]
Thank you so much for playing Dear Elise!
I hope you enjoyed, and if you did, make sure to check out the credits for more of my media and links to the wonderful people who helped make this game possible.
I hope you have a great morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!
Stay awesome!
-C.D
<boss>[[Main Menu|Startup]]</boss>