Me & You

Browser lacks capabilities required to play.

Upgrade or switch to another browser.

Loading…

,,,,

// FOR SETTING STATS THAT NEED TO BE IN PLAY AT THE START OF THE STORY <<set $score = 15>> <<set $roll = -1>> <<set $scene6 = "">> <<set $scene8 = "">> <<set $cardH = "">> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "page-flip-02.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "paperFlip" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "In_The_Forest.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "forest" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "theme.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "theme" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Quiet_Yawn.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "quiet" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Sitting_Down.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "sit" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Quiet_Snickering.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "snicker" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Female_Giggle.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "fgiggle" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Sigh_Female.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "fsigh" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Shuffling_Cards.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "shuffle" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Inhale And Exhale.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "inhale" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Thunder_Lightening.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "thunder" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Stacking_cards.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "stack" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Male_giggle.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "mgiggle" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Television.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "tv" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Television_two.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "tvtwo" _bgm>> <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Camera.mp3">> <<cacheaudio "camera" _bgm>>

<div class="box header"> <h1>Current Swords</h1> <h2>$score</h2> <span class="star">✦</span> <div class="box"> <h3>Details</h3> <i>Your current score is represented by Swords, the element in tarot cards that signifies conflict. At the beginning of the game, your Swords level is at 15. Throughout the game, different choices will result in a change in your Swords level. If it increases, you have gained more conflict. Ultimately, a higher Swords level will result in a worse ending, and a lower Swords level can get you the best ending. </i> </div>  <span style="display: block; text-align: center;"> <<link "« Return to game" $return>><</link>> </span>

<li> <<link "Instructions" "stat page 3">><</link>> </li> <li> <<link "About" "stat page 2">><</link>> </li> <li> <<link "Hints" "stat page 1">><</link>> </li> <li> <<link "" "">> <</link>> </li>

<div class="box header"> <h1>About "Me & You"</h1> <h2>Writing: Isa, Anne</h2> <h2>Art: Isa</h2> <h2>Programming: Jenny</h2> <h2>Graphic Design: Daniela</h2> <span class="star">✦</span> </div>  <div class="box blank"> <h3>Content Warnings: mentions of illness, mentions of death</h3> Me & You is a surreal Twine game between a couple in a fraught relationship, navigating their memories by reminiscing through past polaroid pictures. With a gameplay loop inspired by tarot card readings and an amnesiac player character, the pictures reveal new facets of the past, present, and future. Like in tarot readings, photos are randomly drawn in upright or reversed positions, which create different interpretations and meanings. The story benefits from multiple playthroughs and explores ideas of memory, illness, loss, and seeing loved ones in old and new lights. <br> <br> <i> Made for Cal Women in Gaming's second spring Game Jam.</i> </div>  <span style="display: block; text-align: center;"><<link "« Return to game" $return>><</link>></span>

<<masteraudio stop>> <<audio "theme" volume 0.7 play loop>> <div class="main"> <nav> <<link "Resume Game">><<run Save.autosave.load()>><</link>> <<link "Load Game">><<run UI.saves();>><</link>> </nav> <div class="story-banner"> <div class="content">  <h1 class="story-title">Me & You</h1>  <i class="fab fa-pagelines"></i>  <h2 class="story-subtitle">A reading of our past, present, and future.</h2> <span>✦</span>  <h3 class="story-author">By <a href="#"></a>Isa, Anne, Jenny, Daniela</h3> </div> </div> <nav> <<link "New Game" "The Beginning">><</link>> <<link "Settings">><<run UI.settings();>><</link>> </nav> </div> <div class="credit">✦ Template by <a href="https://outoftheblue-if.tumblr.com" target="_blank">Vahnya</a> ✦</div>

!Heading 1 !!Heading 2 !!!Heading 3 Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. //emphasised text//. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. ''strong text''. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. __underlined text__ Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. Normal text. ---- !!!Unordered List: * List item 1 * List item 2 !!!Links [[More Styles]] [[More Styles]] <<button "Button" "More Styles">><</button>>

<h1>Me & You</h1>  <i class="fab fa-pagelines"></i>  <p class="story-subtitle">A reading of our past, present, and future.</p>

<div class="story-banner"> <div class="content">  <h1 class="story-title">Me & You</h1>  <i class="fas fa-cloud"></i>  <h2 class="story-subtitle">A reading of our past, present, and future.</h2> <span>✦</span>  <h3 class="story-author">By <a href="#"></a>Isa, Anne, Jenny, Daniela</h3> </div> </div>

!!! Checkbox: <<checkbox "$checkboxVar1" false true autocheck>> Checkbox option 1 <<checkbox "$checkboxVar2" false true autocheck>> Checkbox option 2 <<checkbox "$checkboxVar3" false true autocheck>> Checkbox option 3 !!! Cycle: <<cycle "$cycleVar" autoselect>> <<option "Option 1">> <<option "Option 2">> <<option "Option 3">> <<option "Option 4">> <<option "Option 5">> <</cycle>> !!! Listbox: <<listbox "$listboxVar" autoselect>> <<option "Option 1">> <<option "Option 2">> <<option "Option 3">> <<option "Option 4">> <<option "Option 5">> <</listbox>> !!! Radiobutton: <<radiobutton "$radiobuttonVar" "option 1" autocheck>> Option 1 <<radiobutton "$radiobuttonVar" "option 2" autocheck>> Option 2 <<radiobutton "$radiobuttonVar" "option 3" autocheck>> Option 3 !!! Textarea: <<textarea "$textareaVar" "Type text here..">> !!! Textbox: <<textbox "$textboxVar" "Type answer here">> <<button "Autosave" "Autosave">><</button>>

<<notify>>Autosave complete!<</notify>> This passage autosaves, and the next time the game opens the player will be able to resume from here.

<div class="box header"> <h1>Instructions</h1> <div class="box"> <h3>How To Play</h3> <center>This is a point and click story game, playable on browser. Press [Spacebar] to skip the typing animation. Click to select choices and pictures. Choose wisely, because all your decisions will impact the final ending!</center> <br><br> </div>  <span style="display: block; text-align: center;"> <<link "« Return to game" $return>><</link>> </span>

<<masteraudio stop>> <<audio "forest" volume 0.7 play loop>> !!"Hey love?" you say to me. <<type 25ms>> The kitchen table's peeling; my fingernail scratches along its splintered underside. It's getting late, I think, the sky's black through the window. But it could be morning, couldn't it, the early hours when the sun's still shy? I've just eaten some meal, what meal... The oily, leaden stench of leftovers lingers like twilight fog—but I've put it away, haven't I? Yes, yes... oh, you're talking to me. But my nerves are bad tonight. Yes, bad. Stay with me. <</type>> ---- <<button "I don't answer..." "Scene 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "quiet" volume 0.7 fadeout>> !!I'm quiet. <<type 25ms>> Thinking. Fatigue settles like a fly lands on a flickering lamp, insignificant, burning its little insect legs in numbing pulses. That's it. I'm tired. <</type>> ---- <<button "Very, very tired." "Scene 3">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!But you're not. <<type 25ms>> You've got a light sheen in your eyes, unblinking, purposeful. I see it lit from the ceiling light, the fried rays coloring your pupils a dusty yellow. You're looking at me funny. You expecting something? What do you see when you look at me? The eyes, the eyes... If I think of mine for long, if I can really focus on the circular shape of them, the viscera and weight, sitting in the middle of my skull—there, the tiny blood vessel-rivers running through white fields... <</type>> ---- <<button "\"—even listening to me? Let's look at our pictures.\"" "Scene 4">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!Looking at our pictures. <<type 25ms>> We've done that before, haven't we? Yes, I'm sure... <</type>> ---- <<button "I say, \"Again?\"" "Scene 5">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "sit" volume 10 fadeout>> !!I say, "Again?". <<type 25ms>> The single word scrapes up the tunnel of my throat, but you look relieved to hear it. "Yeah," you say. "Again." You sit across from me, gently looking into my eyes. You hold three polaroid pictures face-down. "Choose one," you say. <</type>> ---- <<button "Choose a card" "Card Selection 1">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "shuffle" volume 8 play>> <div class="row"> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card A" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955628544459960330/Backside_of_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card A" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955626462248075275/The_Fool_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card B" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955628544459960330/Backside_of_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card B" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955630054346457129/The_Empress_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card C" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955628544459960330/Backside_of_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card C" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955631484432183316/The_Lovers_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955626462248075275/The_Fool_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A young kid. <<timed 1.5s>> Can't be older than 15, 16. Smiling. Braces on the teeth. It's lucky this picture was taken; the kid looks happy, happy beyond what time can take away. Time can alchemize. Time can fool happiness into longing. Not here, innocent thing. <</timed>> ---- <<button "The kid in the picture's smiling like a sweet fool." "Scene 6a">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "The kid in the picture's smiling like a poor fool." "Scene 6a">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955628342919462912/Upside_The_Fool_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt= "Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A young kid. <<type 25ms>> Can't be older than 15, 16. Smiling. Braces on the teeth. It's a shame this picture was taken, a damn shame; the kid's faking happiness, right there, in the crows of the crinkled eyes. No, no. They already knew that there is nothing to grin about, nothing at all. <</type>> ---- <<button "The kid in the picture's smiling like a sweet fool." "Scene 6a">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "The person in the picture's smiling like a poor fool." "Scene 6a">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955630054346457129/The_Empress_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A woman with thin, brittle hair. <<type 25ms>>Mom. I know her by her eyes. We share them. Cavernous. Emptied-out bowls. Ravaged by illness—or was this taken before she went off the deep end? But her face looks too sunken. Maybe it's always been that way. Always angry. Or sad. The two are hard to tell apart. There, in the slight part of the mouth, the yawning eyes. The reverberant sadness of being abandoned. <</type>> ---- <<button "I should've stayed to care for her." "Scene 7">> <<set $score = $score -2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I wanted to live apart from her" "Scene 7">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955630460959080448/Upside_Down_The_Empress_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A woman with thin, brittle hair. <<type 25ms>> A woman with thin, brittle hair. Mom. I know her by her eyes. We share them. Cavernous. Emptied-out bowls. Ravaged by illness—or was this taken before she went off the deep end? But her face looks too sunken. Maybe it's always been that way. Always angry. I can't bear to look at her. Like staring into the surface of a clear lake and seeing yourself, a self you aren't supposed to see. <</type>> ---- <<button "I should've stayed to care for her." "Scene 7">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I wanted to live apart from her" "Scene 7">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955631484432183316/The_Lovers_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A couple... <<type 25ms>> ...blinded by the polaroid flash. They're embracing. They could be dancing, or standing, but it doesn't much matter what they were doing in the moment. They're blind to the world and safe together. One buries their face in the neck of the other. <</type>> ---- <<button "They can't stand to be apart." "Scene 8">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "They're hiding from the camera." "Scene 8">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955631721427116122/Upside_Down_The_Lovers_Past_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A couple... <<type 25ms>> ...blinded by the polaroid flash. They're embracing. The photo is blurry, cloudy with movement. The smoky background obscures anything and anyone that would be beside them. They're too close. It's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. One overshadows the other. <</type>> ---- <<button "They can't stand to be apart." "Scene 8">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "They're hiding from the camera." "Scene 8">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

!!I look up from the photo. <<type 25ms>> I think I have a blank expression on my face. Do I remember who that is? Maybe you sense my confusion, because you ask me, "Who is this?" <</type>> ---- <<button "Me." "Scene 6b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "You." "Scene 6b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I don't know..." "Scene 6b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <</button>>

!!Your answering look is hard to read. <<type 25ms>> The features of your face are like a jigsaw puzzle I've put together wrong, rigid lines forced into the wrong spaces. I'm trying to meet you where you are. You're sitting right in front of me and very, vastly far away. You speak after a while. "Mm. It's you." You take the picture back and shuffle it in your hands. I immediately want to take it back, study it closer; maybe I saw myself in the wrong light. But I don't move, and my finger keeps grazing against the cuts in the kitchen table. "That was a while ago," you continue. "Year 2000. Feels like yesterday. D'you miss it?" <</type>> ---- <<button "Not much." "Scene 6c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<set $scene6 = "true">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Yeah, all the time." "Scene 6c">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<set $scene6 = "false">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<if $scenea == "true">> !!"Really?" you say. <<type 25ms>> "We started dating then. We had to have been fifteen or sixteen back then. Crazy kids. Damn. Goddamn." Outside, a car alarm goes off. I'll bet the block is pissed off in their houses as the sound blares for a few minutes more. Maybe they're trying to sleep, or getting ready for bed. If there were halcyon days, they up and died like the car alarm does, soon later. Abruptly and without warning. > "Sorry, I mean. That was a highlight." { -1 Swords } > "Yeah. Crazy indeed." ( +1 Swords } <</type>> ---- <<button "Sorry, I mean. That was a highlight." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Yeah. Crazy indeed." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> !!You nod... <<type 25ms>> ...tilting your head toward the window. Outside, it's quiet — no birds, no wind, no rain. We may as well be the only things in existence, us in this kitchen with those photos. <</type>> ---- <<button "I play footsies under the table." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I get lost in thought." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

!!After I speak... <<type 25ms>> I feel my eyes drift, and drift. Just a conversation brings me beyond… I dream of a ship, tossing me side to side, and I wake up to your hand, gently pushing my shoulder. When did I doze off? I feel like I’ve seen you do this before. Your hands against my shoulder; your elegant fingers presenting to me three more photos. <</type>> ---- <<button "Again? I don't want to." "Transition 2b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!“They’re just photos,” I say... <<type 25ms>> ...“How is this supposed to help?” “Please,” your voice seems to grow smaller, “For me?” My mind hovers, like it’s unsure of what to say. I don't trust myself - mostly. I trust you entirely. Your steady hands guiding mine to the table to the photos. Loving you comes so easily...I wish remembering why would be the same. <</type>> ---- <<button "I look at the photos." "Card Selection 3">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "shuffle" volume 8 play>> <div class="row"> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Scene 4" class="link-internal link-image"> <img data-passage="Card D" src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955619814796320819/Back_of_Present_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card D" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955599843458424832/The_Hanged_Man_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card E" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955619814796320819/Back_of_Present_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card E" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955615278828503110/Death_Polaroid_Photo_Frame.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card F" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955619814796320819/Back_of_Present_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card F" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955617494868041798/The_Tower_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<<audio "shuffle" volume 8 play>> <div class="row"> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card G" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718946529615922/Outlined_Back_of_Future_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card G" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955714960346984518/Outlined_The_Moon_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card H" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718946529615922/Outlined_Back_of_Future_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card H" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718899901542430/Outlined_The_Sun_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column"> <div class="flip-card"> <div class="flip-card-inner"> <div class="flip-card-front"> <a data-passage="Card I" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718946529615922/Outlined_Back_of_Future_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Back of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> <div class="flip-card-back"> <a data-passage="Card I" class="link-internal link-image"> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718920772419644/Outlined_Judgement_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Front of Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955599843458424832/The_Hanged_Man_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A couple (in cloud-white, you think), <<type 25ms>> They're smiling like all their lives have led up to this. They’ve "tied the knot" — literally and metaphorically. Together, the thought echoes, finally (together). Your hand is less than an inch from mine. I can feel its warmth like the sun, like I’m outside on a bright afternoon, and the sunshine is breathing against my skin. For a moment, I remember how atoms never touch each other (or are they always touching?). But your face looks like you’ll reach beyond atoms to touch my hand fully. I’ve seen your face like this before. I think you've seen the expression I made before too, because your eyebrows lift and a ghost of a smile crosses your face. “Do you…remember when this was?” <</type>> ---- <<button "I...I'm sorry." "Scene 9">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "We attended your friend's wedding, didn't we?" "Scene 9">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "How could I forget our wedding?" "Scene 9">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955599865205891072/Upside_Down_The_Hanged_Man_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A couple (they're in bone-white, I think). <<type 25ms>> They're smiling like their lives depend on it. They’ve "tied the knot" — literally and metaphorically. Trapped, the thought echoes, (trapped) with each other. Your hand is less than an inch from mine. I can feel its warmth like the sun, like I’m outside on a bright afternoon, and the sunshine is breathing against my skin. But your face looks like you’re terrified of the centimeter between us, as if you look away, then I’ll disappear entirely. I’ve seen your face like this before. I think you've seen the expression I made before too, because your brow creases and a ghost of a smile leaves your face. “Do you…remember when this was?” <</type>> ---- <<button "I...I'm sorry." "Scene 9">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "We attended your friend's wedding, didn't we?" "Scene 9">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Am I supposed to?" "Scene 9">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955615278828503110/Death_Polaroid_Photo_Frame.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!Me in black and a woman in yellow. <<type 25ms>> You and me standing next to her photo, framed with somber white lilies and roses. The photo ends at her chest, erasing most of her, because I know the real photo has her entire body. And below her chest, hanging onto her yellow coat, is me. At least, I think it was. The photo has her, but the black brick of a coffin behind me and you have her body. You’re quiet, almost afraid when you look at me. “Do you remember who this was?” <</type>> ---- <<button "Of course I do." "Scene 10">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "It feels wrong to deny this person out loud, so I just shake my head “no”." "Scene 10">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955615683469787196/Backside_of_Death_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!Me in black and a woman in yellow. <<type 25ms>> You and me standing next to her photo, framed with somber white lilies and roses. The photo ends at her chest, erasing most of her, because I know the real photo has her entire body. And below her chest, hanging onto her yellow coat, is me. At least, I think it was. The photo has her, but the black brick of a coffin behind me and you has her body. You’re quiet, almost afraid when you look at me. “Do you remember who this was?” <</type>> ---- <<button "It feels wrong to deny this person, so I just shake my head “no”." "Scene 10">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Maybe I know; maybe I don’t. But I don’t want to remember; I don’t want this, so I shove it back." "Scene 10">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955617494868041798/The_Tower_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!I’m sick, but everyone acts like it’s a secret. <<type 25ms>> They pretend if they don’t tell me, then I’ll never realize it. I know, I tell myself, I know — I know. It frustrates me, but I know everything you all talk about. It’s there, but it’s being blocked by something, and I can’t get it anymore. My mind’s folding in on itself; it’s moving too slow and too fast at once. “Take a look at this one.” Do you think so too? You’d tell me if something’s wrong, right? But you don’t. Your face looks like it’s trying to whisper something to me — between your knitted brow and your pleading eyes — but I don’t know what you want me to do. “How about this one?” <</type>> ---- <<button "\"That's me.\"" "Scene 11">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"I don't know...\"" "Scene 11">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"I took that when visiting my childhood friend at the hospital.\"" "Scene 11">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955617728297828382/Upside_Down_The_Tower_Polaroid_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!I’m sick, but everyone acts like it’s a secret. <<type 25ms>> They pretend if they don’t tell me, then I’ll never realize it. I know, I tell myself, I know — I know. It frustrates me, but I know everything you all talk about. It’s there, but it’s being blocked by something, and I can’t get it anymore. My mind’s folding in on itself; it’s moving too slow and too fast at once. “Take a look at this one.” Do you think so too? You’d tell me if something’s wrong, right? But you don’t. Your face is cardboard and marble: blank and cold. Your voice is colder, going through practiced lines, like we’re doing a play, but I’m the only one who doesn’t know the script. “How about this one?” <</type>> ---- <<button "\"This can't be me.\"" "Scene 11">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"Maybe it's you?\"" "Scene 11">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"I'm not sure\"" "Scene 11">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955714960346984518/Outlined_The_Moon_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!The moon hangs in the sky like a pearl against velvet. <<type 25ms>> Although the photo is slightly blurry, it was taken with such care – to frame the trees slightly to the right — that I think was done with love. “When did you take this?” I know the outline of this memory. I can remember the cold night air, but I don’t know if it was this night or another one. There’s the echo of the camera in my hands and the slim, white flicker of a moon. All this I only know the ghosts of, just as I know about you. I know you’re kind and that I love you. Your smile and laugh, however, that’s something I instinctively know exists, but that I’ve forgotten seeing. I want to tell you all this, but you asked me a question, so instead I say, <</type>> ---- <<button "(Lie) “I was just bored without you.”" "Scene 12">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“The moon was pretty. I think I wanted you to see it too.”" "Scene 12">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718963222954014/Outlined_Upside_Down_The_Moon_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!The moon watches from the sky like an eye emerging from nothing. <<type 25ms>> Although the photo is slightly blurry, it was taken with such care – to frame the trees slightly to the right — that I think was done to document its subject. “When did you take this?” I know the outline of this memory. I can remember the cold night air, but I don’t know if it was this night or another one. There’s the echo of the camera in my hands and the slim, white flicker of a moon. All this I only know the ghosts of, just as I know about you. I know you’re kind and that I love you. Your smile and laugh, however, that’s something I instinctively know exists, but that I’ve forgotten seeing. I want to tell you all this, but you asked me a question, so instead I say, <</type>> ---- <<button "(Lie) “I don’t need you to help me take a damn picture, you know.”" "Scene 12">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I don't remember." "Scene 12">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718899901542430/Outlined_The_Sun_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!It's a photo of the sun... <<type 25ms>> ...backdropped by a blue sky. I don't remember when or where it was taken, but it's the same sun and sky we've always lived under. My head hurts like the sun is bearing down on it. The picture isn't perfect, either, the sun overexposed and out of focus. But it's recognizable, unflinching, as it forever is. <</type>> ---- <<button "(Lie) \"Oh, I remember taking this picture!\"" "Scene 13">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<set $cardH = "true">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“I don't remember this...”" "Scene 13">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<set $cardH = "false">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718983963795466/Outlined_Upside_Down_The_Sun_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!It's a photo of the sun... <<type 25ms>> ...backdropped by a blue sky. I don't remember when or where it was taken, but it's the same sun and sky we've always lived under. Trying to recall some specific memory is impossible, but that's what you're looking for, isn't it? Remember, I tell myself, remember. The sun urges me on, too, promising some bright hot revelation. But all I can think of is the word remember, the way it hews my tongue to my teeth. Re-mem-ber. Re-mem-ber. Re-mem-ber. <</type>> ---- <<button "(Lie) \"Oh, I remember taking this picture!\"" "Scene 13">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<set $cardH = "true">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“I don't remember this...”" "Scene 13">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<set $cardH = "false">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<set $roll = random(1,10)>> <<if $roll > 4>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718920772419644/Outlined_Judgement_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upright Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A picture of this table,... <<type 25ms>> ...of our hands, and of the photos between us. We've been doing this game for years now, testing and exercising my memory. I judge these differently every time. The picture faces me upright, our hands reaching for each other. This practice isn't a remedy... <</type>> ---- <<button "but, I say, \"This helps.\"" "Scene 14">> <<set $score = $score - 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"This isn't helping.\"" "Scene 14">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <img src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/249434030682931201/955718993572933642/Outlined_Upside_Down_Judgement_Photo_Frame_.png" alt="Upside Down Polaroid" style="width:300px;height:350px;" class="center"> !!A picture of this table,... <<type 25ms>> ...of our hands, and of the photos between us. We've been doing this game for years now, testing and exercising my memory. I judge these differently every time. The picture is turned upside-down, away from me. It faces you in its entirety, and I wonder if you're as consumed as I am by the full brunt of my desire, yet my impossibility, to remember. What are these glimpses into the past doing to me? <</type>> ---- <<button "\"This helps.\"" "Scene 14">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"This isn't helping.\"" "Scene 14">> <<set $score = $score + 2>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

<<audio "mgiggle" volume 5 fadeout>> !!You shake your head... <<type 25ms>> ...laughing a bit. "Looking back is... hard, but we have to." It feels impossible. I can't look back at the past, at some perfect preservation of what it was. Instead, it feels like fog returning to the streets it usually inhabits, only to find that the buildings it used to sleep between have been destroyed, leaving it scattered, dispersed, shapeless. You bring me back. "Let's keep going." You present another three pictures, face-down. <</type>> ---- <<button "I look at the pictures." "Card Selection 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!I look up from the photo... <<type 25ms>> ...eyes heavy from the past, like I have another set of pupils looking into my head and doubling my vision. There was something hungry in her, gorging itself on bone marrow and gray matter and memories. There's the same hungry thing in me. Starving. <</type>> ---- <<button "We've just rotted, haven't we." "Scene 7b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "We've lived, that's all we could ask for." "Scene 7b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!I look up. <<type 25ms>> You're still fixed on the photo, eyes lidded, lips pressed together. <<audio "tv" volume 3 fadeout>> In my head it feels like someone's turned on a TV in another room and left it on a channel of static. I could turn it off. I want to go turn it off. As I turn to the empty archway toward the living room, I see it: a static-filled, shadowy figure, made of no flesh and no face but gray waves in a vaguely human shape. It walks over to the kitchen table and sits beside you, resting its grainy head on your shoulder. You don't react. Who is that, the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together— "This is the year we went no-contact with our families," you say. "But sometimes I wonder if we could've got 'em to come around, eventually. To the idea of us." I wish the static would talk, and tell you something comforting. Instead, I say: <</type>> ---- <<button "We didn't have a clue of anything ourselves." "Scene 8b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "We didn't owe them anything." "Scene 8b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!You tilt your head at me. <<type 25ms>> "Your mom was always nice to me. But I know she wasn't always nice to you." No, no. She was the ghost haunting her own body, her own house. "Were you scared? Of her?" you ask. <</type>> ---- <<button "Yes." "Scene 7c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "No." "Scene 7c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Not <i>of</i> her, scared <i>for</i> her." "Scene 7c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "fsigh" volume 5 fadeout>> !!"I see," you say. <<type 25ms>> "But maybe that's unfair to ask. I don't mean to hurt you." I look at the lines of the kitchen tiles, at the place where the floor meets the wall. We never mean to hurt the people we love. <</type>> ---- <<button "I know. You're trying to help." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "It's nothing." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "tvtwo" volume 5 fadeout>> !!You lean back in your chair. <<type 25ms>> The static goes alongside you, pressing closer, louder. "Sure, yeah." I think of how it felt to leave. Had we saved each other, or just been too caught up in the idea of us together? We were free, but free to do—what? Celebrate? Suffer? What had we done? <</type>> ---- <<button "I look back." "Scene 8c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<set $scene8 = "true">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I look at you." "Scene 8c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<set $scene8 = "false">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<if $scene8 == "true">> <<audio "tvtwo" volume 3 fadeout>> !!Behind me is the kitchen stove... <<type 25ms>> ...the gas burners long since turned off. Rust and grime have settled into its shape. The walls behind it show cracks in the paint. A sting of pain in my mouth; I've bitten my tongue. I taste iron and remember the salty aftertaste of the meal I've had. I have an idea of what the static is. <</type>> ---- <<button "The static is me, staying beside you." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "The static is your regret, clinging to you." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> !!You're as serene as you are... <<type 25ms>> ...in the picture. But the picture doesn't catch the rise and fall of your chest, your easy blinking. You in natural light. I have an idea of what the static is. <</type>> ---- <<button "The static is me, staying beside you." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "The static is your regret, clinging to you." "Transition 1">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

!!Softly, you press your hand against mine. <<type 25ms>> It’s warm, sure, but I like how it’s yours. The way your palm creases and how your fingers immediately nuzzle mine. My hands feel safe in yours. “It was hard for you. Losing your mother like that.” I have her face, her laugh (can someone learn a laugh?) — and her disease. It’s like a shadow of her always exists through me, replaying all this. You grow quiet. I wonder if a piece of me will also live through you; if you have mom’s laugh, and if she learned it from someone she loved once too. <</type>> ---- <<button "I'm fine." "Scene 9b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "Yeah, but I had you." "Scene 9b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <</button>>

!!Memory and want, trembling... <<type 25ms>> ...in our voices. Want lies in the inbetween; desire hides in waiting. It happens when you show me a picture and pause for my answer. Then, again, in the moment I see the photo and then your face. It also exists in this picture. The moment between when I walked into the silent hall and when I saw her portrait. The want that it was someone else (not her), so it would fulfill the selfish desire of not me either. <</type>> ---- <<button "I look up because I wanted to look away from you. Your face, like your heart is breaking and you’re watching it happen." "Transition 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“She wasn’t your mother.” I’m bitter. Want contaminated you, to make you remind me about this." "Transition 2">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!“Our wedding,” you whisper. <<type 25ms>> You’re acting like this is an enormous secret; you and these photos. These days you seem weighed down by something (by me?), and looking at this photo only seems to make it heavier. “Right,” I say, “Hey, why were we smiling so hard?” <</type>> ---- <<button "I mean it seriously, because I’ve forgotten why." "Scene 9b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I mean it as a joke. I know why we’re smiling — because we were together." "Scene 9b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <</button>>

<<audio "snicker" volume 10 fadeout>> !!Your face falls for a moment... <<type 25ms>> ...(one that drags out to be longer than it is), before your cheeks force a grin. Your hand slides away and your thumbs playfully (anxiously) drum our peeling table. Right, ours. Our table, our wedding, but this memory…this memory might only be yours. “What do you think?” <</type>> ---- <<button "The answer is safe and being safe is better than being right. “It’s a wedding,” I say." "Transition 2">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“Because I love you,” I don’t need to remember our wedding for that." "Transition 2">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!I don't want this to be me. <<type 25ms>> The person in the picture looks so frail, with brittle, thin hair. They look so much like my mother. You see me recoil, and you set your hand against my shoulder. It feels practiced somehow — the way your arm moves before I even react — as if you’ve done this before. “I know this is…this can be upsetting.” Your voice retreats into your throat, like you’re terrified of my mind retreating back into my body. “But, do you remember what happened?” <</type>> ---- <<button "“It was bad,” I say softly, “I didn’t know what was going on.”" "Scene 11b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“I was sick, so I went to the hospital. What’s the big deal?”" "Scene 11b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!Yeah, yeah, that was the first time I went to the hospital. <<type 25ms>> For whatever I have; inherited from mom or earned from my shitty lifestyle. You nod like you’re agreeing with me. “Do you think you’re getting better?” You glance at me again, waiting for my reaction. I look you in the eyes, terrified. <</type>> ---- <<button "“I don’t know. But you were there, and you’re here now, so I feel okay.”" "Transition 2">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“Does it matter? I’ll just die in the end, like everyone else in the world.”" "Transition 2">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "fsigh" volume 10 fadeout>> !!You’re waiting for me to say something else... <<type 25ms>> ...but that’s all I can say. Instead, I’m frustrated. I know about this — I tell myself — I know how to do it. But it’s always out of my reach, just two steps away when I can only take one. We can argue; we both know it’s an option (I know you’re frustrated sometimes too). But, instead, you nod at me like being frustrated together is better than feeling different moods in the same room. “It’s a beautiful picture,” you finally say, “I’m glad you took it.” <</type>> ---- <<button "I frown. We don’t need to talk about this. “I didn’t do it for you.”" "Scene 12b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I grin, and part of me hopes you smile back too. “Just for you, love.”" "Scene 12b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!We’re both tired. <<type 25ms>> I know the end is coming soon, whatever it is, since you begin to take the photos back. But the photo of the moon lingers in your hand. You contemplate it, like it’s hiding something from you. That if you just see it in the right way, then you’ll finally figure out what the answer is. You look at it so intently that I begin looking at it too. “You know this isn’t the only photo you’ve taken on your own.” “Oh?” I set my cheek just centimeters from your shoulder, waiting for you to take my head fully. “I see them all over the house sometimes. Why do you take these photos?” <</type>> ---- <<button "“I want to remember.” It’s not a lie, but it’s not entirely true. It just feels true enough. “You know, to have an idea of what I saw, even if I can’t remember it.”" "End">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "“Because I felt like it,” I say when I actually can’t remember why. “If you keep interrogating me about these photos, I might stop taking them.”" "End">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "shuffle" volume 10 fadeout>> !!You bring the photos... <<type 25ms>> ...back to yourself and shuffle them in your hands. For a long while, it's just the shared sound of us breathing together. <</type>> ---- <<button "Breath. In and out, in and out..." "Real End">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<if $cardH == "true">> !!You bite your lip, then sigh. <<type 25ms>> "You didn't take this picture, love. I did, one day, when I wasn't with you." "It's okay if you don't remember," you speak slowly. "Just be honest." Sometimes, if I insist hard enough on my memory, I can make it real. I can fool myself into making it real, into writing and revising it into history. I can do the same with the future, I think, insist it into being real. <</type>> ---- <<button "\"Isn't the point of this to remember things better than they were?\"" "Scene 13b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"Sorry, I was trying to convince you I could remember better. Convince myself.\"" "Scene 13b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> !!"It's okay... <<type 25ms>> ...if you don't remember," you speak slowly. "I'm glad you're honest about that." <</type>> ---- <<button "\"My memory's getting worse these days.\"" "Scene 13b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"I don't wanna think about my head. Isn't that funny?\"" "Scene 13b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I say nothing." "Scene 13b">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

!!"Don't tire yourself,"... <<type 25ms>> ...but you trail off as you say it and give a wistful smile. We know that I run on an exhaust system, spewing and billowing black smoke, recycling it through my body. It's a tired system. Very tired. <</type>> ---- <<button "\"I don't want to drag you down with me.\"" "Scene 13c">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"I take each moment as it comes.\"" "Scene 13c">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I say nothing." "Scene 13c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!Your expression grows pained. <<type 25ms>> "Be more forgiving to yourself." <</type>> ---- <<button "\"I don't deserve it.\"" "End">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"There's nothing to forgive.\"" "End">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "camera" volume 8 fadeout>> !!You look at me for several moments. <<type 25ms>> Each time you blink, I imagine you're taking a picture of me as I am. Resting your arm on the kitchen table, you ask, "Do you think we need the past to make the future better?" I say, <</type>> ---- <<button "\"Yes.\"" "Scene 14b">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"No.\"" "Scene 14b">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!Your next question... <<type 25ms>> ...rattles me so thoroughly that it must be new—it must be, right? Have you ever asked me— "Do you think we need each other to make the future better?" I say, <</type>> ---- <<button "\"Yes.\"" "Scene 14c">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "\"No.\"" "Scene 14c">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!You close your eyes. <<type 25ms>> While you stay completely still, I know you're lost in thought, in a place I know better than to interrupt. <</type>> ---- <<button "I say and do nothing." "End">> <<set $score = $score + 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<button "I stand up, get you a glass of water, and return to the table." "End">> <<set $score = $score - 1>> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "inhale" volume 3 fadeout>> <<if $score <= 12>> !!You’re silent. <<type 25ms>> I’m scared but I want to tell you this. I need to tell you this. “There’s a lot of things I don’t tell you.” Things I remember before I met you. It’s like dipping a cupped hand into water; once I think I have a full drink in my palm (that I know everything), it all slowly drains in the gaps of my fingers. “Like what?” <</type>> ---- <<button "\"My mother and the boat.\"" "Good End 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<elseif $score <= 17>> <<audio "inhale" volume 10 fadeout>> !!All those things I couldn’t answer... <<type 25ms>> ...about all those photos you asked about. But I do remember one thing you never asked me about. There was a time when you would take my hand. You would hold all my fingers in your palm, loose enough for me to let go, but tight enough to show you wanted to. Sometimes, I would let my pinky leave just so I could feel your thumb nudge it back. We could stay the entire night that way, I think. It was true when we were 16, and it's true tonight. If I let my pinky slip, then you'll bring it back. <</type>> ---- <<button "And each time I forget to ask: will there be a time you don't?" "Avg End 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <<else>> <<audio "inhale" volume 10 fadeout>> !!You’re not asking me questions. <<type 25ms>> You’re begging me, another me (a me you loved more), to come back. I’m not there anymore; I’m not yours. I often think about my mother. Or, well, I try to. It’s hard when my mind only gives me glimpses of her. You’re looking at me like you’re waiting for something beautiful. <</type>> ---- <<button "\"Maybe we should split up. \"" "Bad End 2">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <</if>>

!!What I said unravels like a string. <<type 25ms>> You have the weary eyes of someone watching water drip, and the last drop finally left the glass. It’s somber resignation, accepting something you played in your mind over and over. “I – yes. It might be better for the both of us.” Then, softly and comfortingly, you tell me, “ “Sometimes love isn’t enough.” I know I’ll forget this someday, but I’ll always know. This phantom; this echo of what I had will always haunt me. <</type>> ---- <<button "What would I do if I could do it again?" "Loading Page">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <center> Final Score: $score. </center> <center>You've reached the bad ending. Play again to explore a new storyline.</center>

<<audio "thunder" volume 5 fadeout>> !!The memory comes like lightning,... <<type 25ms>> ...fast and painful, rolling sharp waves into my mind. The desire to tell you this hurts me more. “I remember hating her. Mom, I mean, for having to take care of her.” You look at me like I finally became lucid, finally saying something you weren’t expecting to hear. “And that’s why you ran away with me? To get away from her.” You act like this is the truth, but I don’t remember the truth. Only misery and desire. I want to stretch this moment into eternity; this moment when my mind is so clear and we’re so close to reaching something. “I chose you.” Then, I say slowly, <</type>> ---- <<button "”Would you choose me too?”" "Avg End 3">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!Every morning... <<type 25ms>> ...(or was it night?), she’d take me out to sea in this tooth-yellow boat. It was ripped and ragged, but still pristine; the way things age even when they’re still loved. Then, she’d row. I forgot where we were going, or if we were ever supposed to go anywhere, but I trusted her. Even now, I trust this memory to be true. She could take me into the calm, into the storm, but I would go as long as she was there. I’m telling you this, I say, but before I can say why — you interrupt. “So, you just trusted the ocean? That the waves wouldn’t hurt you.” <</type>> ---- <<button "“No. I had faith in her, just like I have faith in you.”" "Good End 3">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

<<audio "stack" volume 10 fadeout>> !!The photos are packed,... <<type 25ms>> ...back into the binder, back into the shelf. You’re returning everything back to how it was, mechanically and coldly. “For now,” you say as you leave, “I choose you.” I wonder if you’ll choose me again. <</type>> ---- <<button "Play Again" "Loading Page">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <center> Final Score: $score. </center> <center>You've reached the average ending. Play again to explore a new storyline!</center>

!!Your face changes,... <<type 25ms>> ...and for the first time in a long time, I hear you laugh. Your smile is so wide that your eyes grin to make room for them. I could live in this moment forever — again and again. But no, I realize, I want to make you laugh again. <</type>> ---- <<button "I don't think forgetting isn’t that bad." "Good End 4">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>>

!!“Really?” ---- <<button "Yes, since I can meet you over and over again." "Loading Page">> <<audio "paperFlip" volume 0.5 play>> <</button>> <center> Final Score: $score. </center> <center>You've reached the best ending. Play again to explore a new storyline!</center>

/* PlayTrack: Safely plays audio files in track list. */ /* Usage: <<PlayTrack start_bgm>> */ <<widget "PlayTrack">> <<set _trackList = { /* Add your track IDs and filenames below. */ "forest" : "In-The-Forest.mp3", "middle_bgm" : "DramaticMusic.mp3", "end_bgm" : "EndMusic.mp3" }>> <<set _nextTrack = $args.raw>> <<if def _trackList[_nextTrack]>> <<if !TrackExists(_nextTrack)>> /* If track doesn't exist, load it. */ <<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + _trackList[_nextTrack]>> <<cacheaudio _nextTrack _bgm>> <</if>> <<if !TrackExists(_nextTrack)>> <<run alert('Error: Cannot load file "' + setup.SoundPath + _trackList[_nextTrack] + '".')>> <<else>> <<if !isPlaying(_nextTrack)>> /* If track isn't already playing, play it. */ <<masteraudio stop>><<audio _nextTrack volume 0.2 play loop>> <</if>> <</if>> <<else>> <<run alert('Error: Unknown track "' + _nextTrack + '".')>> <</if>> <</widget>>