Phenomena
1.
Your name is Kenzie Baranay, a surname that mostly causes trouble for you whenever it is mentioned, and so you have simply begun saying 'Lamb'. It has nothing to do with your caprine appearance. You are 20 years old, and have recently moved to live closer to university. Your family is from Hungary, though you didn't live there long enough to remember much about it.
Cool night time autumn air mingles with the space heater by your bed. Your body is sore after a long day - first exams, and then a double shift as security for the Emergency Room down on 17th and Manchester. You don't mind the night shifts.
It's 11:15 by the time you're able to finally get comfortable in bed. Moisture mats at the fringes of your pelt, but it's barely noticeable. Your horns have all but worn perforated holes in the top side of your pillow despite being barely longer than your hand, and no sharper than a butterknife.
You open your eyes. Your alarm clock says it's 1:25. You don't remember falling asleep, and are out like a light before you have time to ponder that reality.
2:43. Again, you do not remember, but this time you have slightly more difficulty falling back asleep. You even roll over to your left side. A horn gets caught on the fabric of your satin pillowcase, but you don't have the energy to care. Two deep breaths later, and a minute of wondering if you have to get up to pee, you are asleep once more.
3:37. You are on your back again. Your chest is heavy. You're not sure if the room is darker than normal, or if your eyes haven't actually opened yet. A tingling follows its way up your entire body, like ants marching their regimes down your fur. Your left arm in particular almost stings from the sensation. There is a loud breathing above you that is just out of sight; it is a monsterous, hulking figure that seems to be hunched over your bed, clutching to the headframe like a bird to branch.
*
Choices 1
1=>: Get up (A)
1=>: Pretend to be asleep
1=>: Panic
*
1=>: Get up (A). You try to get up. Your body does not respond to what you wanted it to do. Instead, your mental efforts to will your body into movement seems to spur the hulking figure into it's movements instead.
"Yes... Struggle for me." says the figure in an impossibly deep and gravelly voice. His words feel like water through your fingers; you're incapable of clearly remembering that he had spoken even as the words tumbled out his mouth. This feeling is so much so, you question whether or not he had truly spoken.
The figure descends from his perch at your headboard, seemingly gliding in a singular flowing motion - something that again felt hard to remember happening, which made you question its occurrence. The weight on your chest dug in harder. You're unable to tell if you have been holding your breath, or are simply unable to breath.
In the darkness, this massive figure takes weight a top of you, either hiding in the shadows or manifesting them as cloak itself. A hand much larger than your own, or any mans, wrapped itself about your throat, giving substance to your apparent suffocation. Your heart races. The ants marching along your body begin biting, the shadows grow darker and your body tenses in an aching pain of anxiety.
"Struggle for me, little lamb. Let me see that last light flicker out of your eyes." he growled. Claws comb past your fur in a sensation that feels far too erotic for your comfort, and then dig into your skin. Your struggle to breath grows. You try to close your eyes, and you try to will your body back to your control to fight back. Your body does not listen, save the twitch of a leg. Proceed to 2.
1=>: Pretend to be asleep. Maybe you shouldn't get up, instead. You lay quiet and still, though you soon realize you would be doing so even if it wasn't your intention. You are able to close your eyes, and pray quietly it was nothing, and try to go back to sleep. You can't.
There is a strange sound - a sound that you aren't sure was real, or a figment of your imagination. The weight on your chest grows heavier, and you feel as though a person is sitting on your hips. A hand much larger than that of a normal man's finds itself on your thigh as though ignoring the blankets on top of you. Another finds your throat, and you hear a deep breath hot against your neck. Your leg twitches.
"Oh my little lamb. So darling, so generous to bring me to this world. So foolish to lay vulnerable." the voice says in a deep tone that rumbles through your body. Your throat tightens despite the grip around it remaining slack. You struggle to breath, and your heart pounds in your chest as though banging against the weight like a fist to door. Proceed to 1=>: Get Up (B).
1=>Get up (B). Your eyes jolt open, panic obvious on your face. Your inability to fully discern the scene before you only adds to the flurry of fear. A figure sits a top of you, grabbing at your throat and leg, he looks larger than a man yet concealed by shadows despite being no more than a few feet from you.
"Oh?" the voice coo's like a playful lover. "My, my, my little lamb you finally arise. I was hoping I'd get to see those beautiful eyes one last time before I said my goodbyes." the voice purrs in an obnoxiously sultry tone. It made you want to vomit tar, as the taste would have been more enjoyable than whatever was left in your mouth after hearing that.
You struggle. You try to flex your fingertips, wiggle your toes, anything and everything to try and gain some autonomy once more. The shadows loom in from around you, those marching ants biting and stinging at your skin, fighting against your resistance to succumbing to their paralysis. The figure laughs a low, rumbling chuckle.
"Don't bother trying to fight it. I'll be done with you soon enough."
You frown and grit your teeth. Your wiggle your fingers once more, unable to feel your left hand clench into a fist, but know it is there. Proceed to 2.
1=>: Panic You're sweaty. Your body hurts. You ache, and your chest feel like it's going to burst from anxiety. You're scared, so scared. Oh god who is this you think. Did he break in? What's happening? I need to run - I can't run, why can't I run, what the fuck- you cry to yourself in a silent scream. Your body lays perfectly still as though still asleep, hiding your internal fear. There is a ringing in your ears that is both deafening and silent. You think every swear under the sun. Return to Choices 1.
1==>: Panic (If chosen second time) Come on Kenzie, get up! Get some water! Stretch! Do something! This isn't real, this can't be real, do something normal - be normal, be normal! Get up! Do it! Do it now! On three. You listening Kenzie? Get up on three - one. Two. Three! Return to Choices 1.
1===>: Panic (If chosen third time) Ok. So we didn't get up. Honestly, that's the scariest part. Really Kenzie? A guy might have broken into my house and I can't even muster the self-preservation to stand up? Jeez. Ok let's try this again. One. Two. Three! Return to Choices 1.
2.
Claws dig at your throat sharp enough that you wouldn't be surprised if they drew blood. This time you can say for certain that the suffocation comes from his grip. Massive wing-like appendages spread, silhouetted against the shadows of your room. You clench a fist that you cannot entirely feel.
"Do not scream. Do me the beauty of not leaving your final visage a broken one." the 'man' chuckled. The blacks of your room grow darker. Those tingling sparks turn from static to full bolts of lightning coursing through your limbs in a paralytic stasis. And in an instant, that stasis turns to lucidity.
*
Choices 2
2=>: Fight back
2=>: Run
*
2=>: Fight back.
You flex your fingers. You ball a fist that you know is there but can't quite feel. The claws dig deeper into your throat, and you're certain by now the trickle on your neck is blood and not sweat. There is a moment of elation at steeling yourself. You feel calm. In the back of your mind, you've resigned yourself to a fateful death should your last ditch effort not work. Another voice in the back of your mind tells you this most definitely has no reason to work.
"That's right. Lay back and just die for me." the voice purrs in disgusting seduction. Your fist balls tighter. You inhale as much as you can, needing that extra second of strength to fight back.
With what feels like herculean strength you force your body under your command through sheer willpower alone. Your left arm shoots up from under the blankets and you swing a wanton haymaker at the voice. What connects does not feel like your fist, and instead something almost knife like. The voice screams and in an instant is off of you. Whipping in a cloak of misty shadows, the figure shoots to the far side of the room, clutching at it's chest.
"Gah! Ha! Haha! Don't you worry little lamb! You'll learn your place soon enough!" the voice howls in raucous laughter before slipping out of your room in that whipping mist. Something tells you he isn't gone. Proceed to 3.
2=>: Run. You flex your fingers. You ball a fist that you know is there but can't quite feel. The claws dig deeper into your throat, and you're certain by now the trickle on your neck is blood and not sweat. You've never been more scared in your life. You don't know what to do. Cry? Fight back? Run? Run. How? Maybe cry afterall. No, run. Run Kenzie. Run! You scream at yourself. Your leg twitches again, and this time you can bend it ever so slightly afterwards, stretching out the stiffness of your stasis.
"That's right. Lay back and just die for me." the voice purrs in disgusting seduction. Your fist balls tighter. You inhale as much as you can, needing that extra second of strength to fight back.
In what feels like a herculean effort to gain command of your body once more. You thrash, you bite, you flail your arms in an attempt to batter the man on top of you. He tries to hold you down, but is unable as you squirm out from underneath. You fall out of bed and scramble to your feet as you all but fall against the wall in an effort to get away. With your back to the wall, you point at the man and want to scream 'stay back', but you're unable to. As when you point, you don't see your arm. You left arm, still tingling with numbness, is nothing more than a grotesque claw-like bone jutting from your forearm down. You didn't think you could be more scared, and yet here you are, surprising yourself again.
"Well, well, well. You may not have fangs, but this lamb has claws it seems." the man chuckles. You think he was trying to sound cool. He sounded almost scared for a moment, but like everything he has said, it feels as though it never happened. In a blink of an eye, the 'man' whips into a cloud of smoke and shadow, disappearing through your door with a slam behind him. He is gone from the room but something tells you still remains somewhere in your house. Proceed to 3.
3.
You stand in your room quietly. It takes several seconds for you to get a grasp on what happened. Finally feeling like you're able to breathe, you lean against the wall of your room and slide down with knees to your chest. Your heart is racing but after a few moments you are able to stand up and control yourself. You look to your arm. It looks like it is made of bone, and seems to be some kind of foreign anatomy unknown to you. Kind of resembles a crab claw without the bottom snipper. You still cannot feel it. Looking to your nightstand, you see a handful of objects. A lamp. An alarm. A phone. A pill bottle.
There is a single pill sitting on top of the bottle labeled 'Clozapine'. Fuck.
"Well. This is starting to explain a lot." you mutter out loud. You reach for the pill, and awkwardly knock it to the floor with the strange bone-like claw that has replaced your left forearm. You sigh. You bend over with a groan, body still waking up from your sleepy ordeal, grabbing your pill and putting it in your pajama pockets.
"Do I still take this? I should probably still take this."
You look to your door that was just recently slammed shut by a hallucinatory demon hellbent on choking the life out of you in a manner far too eroticly charged for your personal tastes. Fantastic.
*
Choices 3
3=>: Look around your room
3=>: Leave your room
*
3=:> Look around your room. Beginning to come down from the cold sweat that waking up to a death threat can induce, you take a moment to gather your bearings. A quick test to see how bad the hallucinations are this time.
Your name is Kenzie Lamb you repeat to yourself under your breath, as you walk slowly around your room. You are twenty years old, and live on Yellow-Oak Way, apartment number 3454. You repeat things to yourself because Doctor Sosnovska said it would help. To the right of my bed is my night stand, and next to that my desk. My computer is on my desk and it is off. I have a bookshelf next to it, and a bunch of reading assignments on the floor I need to- urgh. You groan, wiping a hand down your face. You remember all the reading you forgot to do. Trying not to ruin your night further by thinking about it, you continue looking around your room. A rug covers most of the already carpeted floor. You have a beanbag chair surrounded by reading assignments, shoved into the far right corner of your room. Next to it is a pile of laundry. Your dresser is opposite your bookshelf, and beside it a mirror, as well as your closet. At this point you forgot Dr Sosnovska's advice to point these things out to yourself. When you realize this tomorrow morning, you will hope she understands. She will. Proceed to Choices 4
*
Choices 4
4=>: Look at books
4=>: Turn on computer
4=>: Look at laundry
4=>: Look in mirror
=>: Return to Choices 3
*
4=>: Look at books. You walk over and look at the books you have stacked and scattered around a large bean bag chair. Between two open anatomy textbooks is a notebook that is more highlighter and ink than it is notebook. You briefly wonder if you'll even be able to be a doctor one day like this. Your worry is sidestepped immediately by a more pressing matter.
"Putting all of my required reading next to the comfiest chair this side of the States, probably wasn't my brightest idea." you chide to yourself, remembering how you most definitely do not sleep in your beanbag chair more than your bed. Return to Choices 4
4=>: Turn on computer. You tap your keyboard to wake up your computer. Immediately you are flashbanged by a bright teal welcome screen, and can no longer see. You squint and lean in close to type in your password. It takes two whole minutes until you are able to see.
"Maybe I should email Sosnovska?... No, who would be awake this late. Except for anyone else who might have gotten choked out by a grotesquely Freudian hellspawn, that is." Return to Choices 4
4=>: Look at laundry. "Is this clean or dirty?...Ugh, I'll just wash it...again?" you ask yourself. There is a moment of hesitation. You side eye the basket. Knowing nobody will know, you lean over and give it a sniff, and to your delight smell the oh so soothing scent of dryer sheets. You can even feel a bit of warmth radiating.off of items buried near the bottom.
==>: Grab a cozy blanket.
==>: Leave the blanket and Return to Choices 4
4=>: Grab a cozy blanket. You riffle through your laundry and messily pull out a small fleece blanket and drape it around your shoulders. It reminds you of when you would pretend it was a cape as a kid and go on adventures. It is very warm and helps comfort you after the night you've had. Return to Choices 4
4=>: Look in mirror. You look in your body-length mirror. A bra is hung on the corner and you push it to the floor so you can get a good look at yourself. You look the same as you always have: a 5' even goat girl with tiny horns, floppy ears long enough you have to sometimes tie them back, and wool so thick they make your calves look like chicken legs. Your hooves are pristine and have a bit of a glisten to them.
"Y'know, this skeleton arm would be pretty badass if it didn't mean my mind wasn't being plunged into a chaotic breakdown." you say giving yourself a good flex in the mirror. The movement makes a thick glob of 'tar' drop down from between the sparse sinew that holds the bones together like rope. You really hope it isn't real, otherwise that will be a bitch to get out of the carpet. Return to Choices 4
3=>: Leave your room. Gathering up your mental fortitude, and double checking you have the pill in your pocket, you head towards the door with a singular goal in mind for what is likely to be a journey of epic proportions: Go to the bathroom for some water. Not everyone can swallow pills dry, and you aren't ashamed of that. Dr. Sosnovska assured you that it is perfectly fine and normal to maybe gag a little bit and then go into a coughing fit when trying to swallow pills dry. Perfectly normal.
You take a deep breath and open your door into the hallway. It's simple and moonlight floods in from a small balcony directly across from your bedroom. You can see possibly twenty feet. Blue and purple seeps together from the carpet of your house and the light of the stars. Darkness engulfs the end of the hall that leads downstairs. You slowly begin to creep down the hallway, turning to various pictures on the wall for no reason other than to imagine yourself as the protagonist of a horror novel in an unfamiliar abandoned mansion. You really wish you had invested in more scary clown portraits to really sell the shot.
Carefully extending a single hoof to the first step of the looming, darkened tunnel of an unlit staircase you prepare to flinch at the creaking sound of the first step. Nothing happens and you immediately remember you have carpeted floors for a reason. You awkwardly shuffle down the stairs like a child on Christmas morning trying to catch Santa coming down the chimney. Only instead of Santa, you find you left your T.V. on overnight, and in the middle of your living room is a large floating mass that vaguely looks simultaneously like every animal at the zoo. Proceed to Choices 5
*
Choices 5
5=>: Watch the figure
5=>: Walk around the figure
5=>: Confront the figure
*
5=>: Watch the figure. You step down to the base of the stairs. It does not seem to notice you, and instead seems absolutely captivated by the infomercial programs of the early morning. The blobby figure is about as tall as it is wide - and it could easily take up your whole couch. Your living room is sparse, save a dresser covered in family photos, your tv, and a bookshelf filled with old VHS tapes from when you were a kid. You squint - tv light illuminating the room but somehow not the figure - and try to pin down something concrete about it, but it's physical attributes evade you. Briefly you see what might be a giraffe, or what might be a cougar, elephant, hippo, hyena, or komodo dragon. It does nothing. Return to Choices 5
5=>: Walk around the figure. Carefully stepping down the last few stairs, you keep a wide berth around the strange figure. It does not seem to react visibly, but suddenly you can feel it watching you. Your eyes dart to the opposite end of the room where you see a hallway, and subsequently your bathroom. Maybe it's best to avoid this all together you think to yourself. You walk through the living room in a hurried manner, like you had to walk in front of a projector during a presentation. The floating figure does not seem to react, save the continued feeling of being watched. You can still feel it's eyes when the hallway blocks it's line of sight to you. Great. The figure stays put. Proceed to 4.
5=>: Confront the figure. Proceed to 5'=>: Confront the figure (2) if you have picked up blanket. Carefully stepping down the last few stairs, you keep a wide berth around the strange figure. It does not seem to react visibly, but suddenly you can feel it watching you. Your eyes dart to the opposite end of the room where you see a hallway, and subsequently your bathroom. Briefly you think it might be best to ignore it and keep going, but you aren't too keen on having random demons in your own home.
"Hey!" you shout to the figure. It does not visibly react, but you can feel it's confusion. You point angrily with your claw. "Do you pay rent? No! Get out!" you shout. It does not get out. You really thought that might work. As if in response, you can feel your skin begin to tingle with the feeling of bugs crawling all over you; it is more clear than before. It almost hurts. Shivering at the disgusting feeling you cross your arms, running them along your smooth and bugless fur, a feeling that is contrasted by the continued tingling.
"Cut that out! Come on!" you shout, confidence wavering. Then you remember your claw. The other guy seemed freaked out by it, maybe this thing will too.
"See this?! I'll uh... Club you with it! I'll come over there!" you shout, waving your 'arm'. The being does not react, but the bugs seem to move faster. You groan in annoyance and take a few angry steps towards the thing, waving your arm as though you are going to swing at it. Immediately, your vision flashes, whiting out in sparkling shots like a movie star being swarmed by the paparazzi. This almost bowls you over in surprise alone, and causes you to run into your couch, tripping as you do so and gouging a massive gash along the center of the writhing animal-like mass. It reacts for the first time, reeling back and screeching so loudly, it feels like it's directly into your ears. Another flash of lights goes off, even though your eyes are closed and it takes several seconds for you to adjust. When you open your eyes, the figure is gone, but your house seems eerily darker in a way you cannot explain. Your perception has worsened. The figure is gone. Proceed to 4.
=>: Confront the figure (2)
Carefully stepping down the last few stairs, you keep a wide berth around the strange figure. It does not seem to react visibly, but suddenly you can feel it watching you. Your eyes dart to the opposite end of the room where you see a hallway, and subsequently your bathroom. Briefly you think it might be best to ignore it and keep going, but you aren't too keen on having random demons in your own home.
"Hey!" you shout to the figure. It does not visibly react, but you can feel it's confusion. You point angrily with your claw. "Do you pay rent? No! Get out!" you shout. It does not get out. You really thought that might work. As if in response, you can feel your skin begin to tingle with the feeling of bugs crawling all over you; it is more clear than before. It almost hurts. Shivering at the disgusting feeling you cross your arms, running them along your smooth and bugless fur, a feeling that is contrasted by the continued tingling.
"Cut that out! Come on!" you shout, confidence wavering. Then you remember your claw. The other guy seemed freaked out by it, maybe this thing will too.
"See this?! I'll uh... Club you with it! I'll come over there!" you shout, waving your 'arm'. The being does not react, but the bugs seem to move faster. You groan in annoyance and take a few angry steps towards the thing, waving your arm as though you are going to swing at it. There is a split second where you can tell the figure is not happy. You cannot see it. There is no telegraph, no wind up, no reaction. But you know. He's fucking pissed. In a split second reaction, you drop to your knees ready to beg for mercy, hiding yourself underneath your blanket, somehow thinking it would project you. You see bright flashes come from the beast. Several seconds pass and nothing happens. Curious and confused you cautiously come out from behind your blanket. It is clear the figure tried to hurt you, but in some backwards reasoning it makes sense that it didn't. Monsters cannot hurt you under your blankets. Learning this you are immediately overtaken by an air of superiority, rising to your feet and pulling the blanket from your shoulders.Clutching a corner of the blanket with the rest loosely wrapped around your forearm, you hoist it like a makeshift shield and immediately think about how badass you would have looked if, again, this did not mean you were having a psychotic break.
"Yeah, alright! Bet you didn't think that would happen, huh!" you shout at the figure. It does not react. You calmly walk up to it and pop it like a balloon with your 'claw'. The figure deflates and dissipates into a fine mist and then eventual nothingness with as much boister as he had lived with.
After an anti-climactic battle with your inner demons become manifest, you sigh and quietly shuffle to your bathroom at the end of the hall with your blanket once more around your shoulders. The figure is gone. Proceed to 4
*
4
There is a small hallway between your living room and the kitchen - a very conveniently located bathroom laying between, though sometimes not ideal when you have guests over. But that hasn't been an issue because you're both too busy to have guests, as well as not really knowing anyone well enough to bother inviting them. You shuffle into your bathroom and lock the door behind you, hoping that hallucinatory demons are at least polite enough to knock.
Your bathroom is small. The tile floor is cold, so you huddle onto the rug in front of the sink. You have several candles on the counter, as well as a handful of vitamins and other prescriptions you have stopped taking - it seems everything you thought you had was nothing more than blossoming psychosis. Depression suddenly doesn't seem as bad anymore.
Briefly you look at your starfish clad shower curtains and think about hopping in for only a bit. Maybe it would help? You soon banish the thought as you really don't want to spend an hour blow drying your fur. You've lost enough sleep already. Proceed to Choices 6.
*
Choicess 6
=>: Take the Clozapine
=>: Take a shower anyway
=>: Piss
*
6=>: Take the Clozapine. If your Perception Has Worsened, Proceed to =>: Take The Clozapine (2). You turn on the faucet and lean in, slurping up a mouthful of water before tossing your head back and taking your medicine. Normally you take it before bed, but a double shift at the ER tends to make you forget things. Dr. Sosnovska said after a bad incident, you'd probably remember to take your anti-psychotics. She was not wrong.
You look at your bone arm and expect it to magically vanish, but nothing happens. It will probably take a while before the medicine kicks in. Until then, you might want to take it a little easy. Return to Choices 6 or Proceed to 7=>: Leave the bathroom.
6=>: Take the Clozapine (2). Your eyes still burn a little bit from the flashes, and while you feel like everything should be brighter, instead, the world seems that much darker around you. Blindly feeling for the faucet handle, you turn it on. Instead of being greeted with the sound of flowing water, there is silence and then a thick, gloopy plop. The sound, mixed with the foul smell that emerges, makes your face twist with disgust. Leaning in, you take a closer look and see a viscous tar-like sludge dripping from your water faucet. It is similar to that which dripped off of your boney arm.
"Great." you mutter, shaking your head. "Fine. You know what? I'll go get a water bottle from the fridge. Because it's a water bottle, not a sludge bottle, so it will have water. Not sludge. Because that's how that works." You say with increasing annoyance. You run your hand down your face and shake your head before putting the pill back in your pocket. Return to Choices 6 or Proceed to 7=>: Leave the bathroom.
6=> Take a shower anyway. You look longingly at your sea-theme shower curtains. You think of the textured sea-shell stickies you put on your tub so you don't slip. You think of setting your water to the hottest setting and boiling yourself until you struggle to breath from how much steam is in the air. A moment of silence passes.
You throw your blanket from off your shoulders and into the air, and you are naked and in the shower before it even hits the ground.
Fifteen minutes pass.
You stand in front of the mirror blow drying your fur, long floppy ears flowing back comically when you do your face. It takes five minutes until you decide you're at least dry enough to justify putting clothes back on. Feeling refreshed, you think maybe tonight isn't so bad! Your fur has been fluffed up. Return to Choices 6 or Proceed to 7=>: Leave the bathroom.6=>: Piss. Honestly you might as well. You don't know why you always have to pee in the middle of the night, but you're already here. You grab a magazine and spend a few minutes reading about ancient french fencing techniques. A fascinating and informative read. You have learned how to parry and riposte. Return to Choices 6 or Proceed to 7=>: Leave the bathroom.
7=>: Leave the bathroom. You step outside of the bathroom and back into the hallway. The light of your T.V. is still on, and partially illuminates the hallway down into the kitchen. You look between the two. Proceed to Choices 7
*
Choices 7
=>: Go to kitchen
=>: Go back to bed
*
=>: Go to kitchen. If medicine was not taken in bathroom, Proceed to =>: Go to kitchen (2). You take a deep breath, unsure of what the rest of the night is going to hold for you and go to the kitchen. To your great surprise it's empty! Literally. Your entire kitchen is empty, except for the fridge. Carefully you make your way through the kitchen, with your hand out, knowing that there is definitely a stool in here somewhere that you just can't see. Making it to the fridge without any serious issues, you open the fridge and grab a bottle of Transylvanian Water. It's water transported from Transylvania. Fiji is a little too exploity for your taste, and so you opt for melting snow in the mountains that nobody lives in. You have a bottle of Transylvanian water. Proceed to =>: Go back to bed.
=>: Go to kitchen (2). You take a deep breath, unsure of what the rest of the night is going to hold for you and go to the kitchen. To your great surprise it's empty! Literally. Your entire kitchen is empty, except for the fridge. Carefully you make your way through the kitchen, with your hand out, knowing that there is definitely a stool in here somewhere that you just can't see. Making it to the fridge without any serious issues, you open the fridge and grab a bottle of water. Except it is not water. You instead have a bottle of sludge and ask yourself why you thought this would be any different. But you know it's water. Bottled water. Not bottled sludge. Bottled. Water. You open the bottle. It's cold like water. It smells like water. You squint suspiciously and decide to test fate.
Your shadow extends across the kitchen, from the fridge light. You take a heavy swig of 'water' and are greeted with the taste of week old meat and the smell of rotten eggs. Coughing and sputtering you forced yourself to take the pill, knowing that it's really water. From behind you, your shadow begins to rise up, two massive wings arching above a towering and familiar figure. You do not notice until you turn around.
"Oh Little Lamb! You managed to actually muster up some will to do more than cower after all! Ha! How precious!" the voice bellows. Before you stands a large, naked man with red skin, whipping tail and wings, claws and fangs, horns - the appearance of a stereotypical demon. You hold the bottle of sludge up to hide the demon dong before you.
"Gross. Listen, I just took my medicine, and I have work tomorrow. Can you leave? I really hate everything about you, and now I just learned you were naked while trying to choke me earlier so I'm having a really bad night." you say to the demon. He laughs a raucous laughter, hands on his hips and wings spreading as he does so.
"Adorable! To speak to me in such a tone! Do you even know what I am?" the demon mocks.
"A gigolo?"
"An Incubus! The Incubus!"
"So an otherworldly gigolo. God please, do you have to be naked, it's really unsettling."
"My power comes from my cock, and to hide it is to shackle my very life essence!"
You shake your head and sigh. God you really can't wait for your medicine to kick in.
"Well, cool and all. But, uh...I'm going back to bed. You're fake. I'm pretty sure, anyway. You can hang around, just please don't try to kill me again." you say, dismissively wagging your sludge bottle at him as your turn away. The incubus's grin turns devious as he steps forward with a massive clawed foot.
"I'm afraid I can't promise that little lamb. You see, you manifested me. You made me. And now, you are trying to unmake me. I can't allow that." he says. Yikes. This isn't looking so good now. You take a few steps back from his advances.
"Yeah, w- well. Sucks? You're not real. I didn't choose to make you, but I sure as hell am choosing to unmake you, because you. Aren't. Real." you say in a shaky tone, trying to feign confidence. While the ploy does not seem to be very convincing, your words alone seem to have their own power. Reminding Incubus that he isn't real seems to do something. It makes him lurch forward to his knees, throwing him into a coughing fit. His body fritzes in and out briefly like the static of a television. He looks at you with anger in his eyes.
You run.
Proceed to 6
=>: Go back to bed. If medicine was not taken, Proceed to =>: Go back to bed (2). You enter your living room and move to turn your television off. As you lean over to click it, nothing happens. The screen continues to play a middle aged woman trying to sell you a set of earrings that double as paring knives for $19.99 each. You frown and click the off button on the television set again. Nothing happens. Behind you, you feel a presence looming.
"Having trouble, little lamb?" the voice asks. You scream and jump, turning around to see a familiar face grinning a demonic grin.
Before you stands a large, naked man with red skin, whipping tail and wings, claws and fangs, horns - the appearance of a stereotypical demon. You hold your hand up to hide the demon dong before you.
"Gross. Listen, I just took my medicine, and I have work tomorrow. Can you leave? I really hate everything about you, and now I just learned you were naked while trying to choke me earlier so I'm having a really bad night." you say to the demon. He laughs a raucous laughter, hands on his hips and wings spreading as he does so.
"Adorable! To speak to me in such a tone! Do you even know what I am?" the demon mocks.
"A gigolo?"
"An Incubus! The Incubus!"
"So an otherworldly gigolo. God please, do you have to be naked, it's really unsettling."
"My power comes from my cock, and to hide it is to shackle my very life essence!"
You shake your head and sigh. God you really can't wait for your medicine to kick in.
"Well, cool and all. But, uh...I'm going back to bed. You're fake. I'm pretty sure, anyway. You can hang around, just please don't try to kill me again." you say, dismissively wagging your sludge bottle at him as your turn away. The incubus's grin turns devious as he steps forward with a massive clawed foot.
"I'm afraid I can't promise that little lamb. You see, you manifested me. You made me. And now, you are trying to unmake me. I can't allow that." he says. Yikes. This isn't looking so good now. You take a few steps back from his advances.
"Yeah, w- well. Sucks? You're not real. I didn't choose to make you, but I sure as hell am choosing to unmake you, because you. Aren't. Real." you say in a shaky tone, trying to feign confidence. While the ploy does not seem to be very convincing, your words alone seem to have their own power. Reminding Incubus that he isn't real seems to do something. It makes him lurch forward to his knees, throwing him into a coughing fit. His body fritzes in and out briefly like the static of a television. He looks at you with anger in his eyes.
You run.
Proceed to 6
=>: Go back to bed (2). Fuck this. Fuck all of this. You turn away from the kitchen and decide at this point your water bottle will probably just be weird sludge too. It will probably be best to just go back to sleep and take all this in the morning when it's day time and you can know whether or not something is real. Shaking your head, you bustle back into the living room, shuffling to your television to turn it off. As you lean over to click it, nothing happens. The screen continues to play a middle aged woman trying to sell you a set of earrings that double as paring knives for $19.99 each. You frown and click the off button on the television set again. Nothing happens.
Behind you, your shadow extends across the living room from the light of the television. your shadow begins to rise up, two massive wings arching above a towering and familiar figure. You do not notice until you turn around.
"Oh Little Lamb! You managed to actually muster up some will to do more than cower after all! Ha! How precious!" the voice bellows. Before you stands a large, naked man with red skin, whipping tail and wings, claws and fangs, horns - the appearance of a stereotypical demon. You hold your hand up to hide the demon dong before you.
"Gross. Listen, I just took my medicine, and I have work tomorrow. Can you leave? I really hate everything about you, and now I just learned you were naked while trying to choke me earlier so I'm having a really bad night." you say to the demon. He laughs a raucous laughter, hands on his hips and wings spreading as he does so.
"Adorable! To speak to me in such a tone! Do you even know what I am?" the demon mocks.
"A gigolo?"
"An Incubus! The Incubus!"
"So an otherworldly gigolo. God please, do you have to be naked, it's really unsettling."
"My power comes from my cock, and to hide it is to shackle my very life essence!"
You shake your head and sigh. God you really can't wait for your medicine to kick in.
"Well, cool and all. But, uh...I'm going back to bed. You're fake. I'm pretty sure, anyway. You can hang around, just please don't try to kill me again." you say, dismissively wagging your sludge bottle at him as your turn away. The incubus's grin turns devious as he steps forward with a massive clawed foot.
"I'm afraid I can't promise that little lamb. You see, you manifested me. You made me. And now, you are trying to unmake me. I can't allow that." he says. Yikes. This isn't looking so good now. You take a few steps back from his advances.
"Yeah, w- well. Sucks? You're not real. I didn't choose to make you, but I sure as hell am choosing to unmake you, because you. Aren't. Real." you say in a shaky tone, trying to feign confidence. While the ploy does not seem to be very convincing, your words alone seem to have their own power. Reminding Incubus that he isn't real seems to do something. It makes him lurch forward to his knees, throwing him into a coughing fit. His body fritzes in and out briefly like the static of a television. He looks at you with anger in his eyes.
You run.
Proceed to 6.
6
You run through your house, clamber up your stairs and barrel into your bedroom. You can hear him coming. You hear him behind you. Oh god, oh fuck. You almost forget to close your door behind you in your panic. Looking around you desperately try to think what to do. Barricade the door. Keep it him you think. You realize you only have one hand and likely cannot do anything. Groaning you turn around. There he stands, laughing at the foot of your bed with arms crossed. Once more you jump and scream before stomping a cloven foot down in anger.
"You said it yourself! I am not real!" he jokes. His visage turns grim and devious as his voice lowers. "I do not play by the rules of your reality." he says, beginning to walk towards you. It looks like this is a fight whether you like it or not, Kenzie! Proceed to Choices 8
*
Choices 8
=>: Throw water at (If have bottle of Transylvanian water)
=>: Protect yourself (If have blanket)
=>: Catch him off guard (if learned how to parry and riposte)
=>: Get him before he gets you
*
=>: Throw water at. You panic. You don't know what to do. The demon begins to come at you faster, and you are only able to dive to the side last second when you realize that you are, in fact, currently in trouble. You grunt as you hit the floor and struggle to scramble to you feet, unable to do so in your fear.
"Haha! I love my meals with a little fight!" the demon roars, lurching towards your direction once more. In a panic you throw your water bottle at the demon. It bounces off of his head with a loud thwap before spilling all over him. Immediately the demon screams. Smoke rises from his body, and he twists in agony and rage, crumpling to the floor. You look on in shock, unable to decipher what the hell is happening before realizing that you don't need to know why, only that it's happening. Scrambling to your feet, you run at the incubus and drive your bone claw through his chest. His screams grow choked. No blood runs out of him, no tar, instead he simply begins to become less.
As though obscured by the smoke, you see him flicker. The demon grabs your arm and prevents you from pulling away
"This isn't our last fight, Kenzie! I'll be back! I'll be back every time you forget! Every time you have a bad day, a wrong thought, I'm never gone." he roars in a choked, pained scream. You fight against his gradually weakening grip, and by the time you are able to pull free, he is all but transparent and falls to the ground. The smoke stops rising and you fall to your ass from the force of your tug, watching the demon fade. Next to you, you see the empty bottle of water, the label facing upwards for you to read.
Transylvanian Imported - harvested from mountain tops, our water is blessed by Father Dravongda himself for the perfect mixture of minerals and purity!
Proceed to 7.
=>: Protect yourself.
You try not to panic. But that doesn't stop you from doing so. You're just thankful that this time, you kinda know the rules of the game. You throw your blanket up as the demon jabs at you. Instead of feeling the blanket crumple like you thought it would, instead, it holds just like the metal shield you prayed it would be. The demon's blow glances off of your blanket and is thrown off balance. You use this moment to circle around him, and he whips around to face you again with growing anger. The demon comes at you again and again, each time you hide behind the blanket like a knight protecting themselves from a dragon's flame.
Soon the demon is panting, his blows softening and slowing down. You bide your time. You wait. He howls curses at you between breaths before you see your opportunity and you take it. As he swings, you duck under his arm, driving your bone claw into his arm. He screams in pain and doubles over. You pull from him and circle around again, the demon dropping to a knee swinging his claws wildly at you. You drive your own into him once more from the other side, and the demon drops to his hands and knees, wheezing in pained breaths.
As though obscured by the smoke, you see him flicker. The demon grabs your arm and prevents you from pulling away
"This isn't our last fight, Kenzie! I'll be back! I'll be back every time you forget! Every time you have a bad day, a wrong thought, I'm never gone." he roars in a choked, pained scream. You fight against his gradually weakening grip, and by the time you are able to pull free, he is all but transparent and falls to the ground. The smoke stops rising and you fall to your ass from the force of your tug, watching the demon fade.
Proceed to 7.
=>: Catch him off guard. You inhale, trying to control yourself, trying to stop yourself from panicking. It doesn't help. But you know you have to try anyway. Swallowing roughly, you ready yourself for what the demon has.
"Yes, stay put and let me kill you! Good girl!" he laughs as he approaches. You set your jaw and try to drop into something that loosely resembles a fighting stance - something that is equally as laughable to the incubus. As he approaches with gaining speed, the demon swings out a massive clawed hand to your throat. Time slows. You feel your heartbeats. You're so scared.
But you remember your training. You remember the three paragraphs while you pissed. A deep breath. Just how Sword And Shield Magazine's French War Historian Benedict Finch taught you you whisper to yourself. The demon swings. You lunge out with your clawed arm, bumping his wrist and pushing it to the side like you were washing your car window. It creates an opening just big enough to snake your way in. The demons eyes go wide at the realization of what happened, his body beginning to lurch as he is thrown off balance directly into your lunging claw.
You skewer through the incubus, and he hasn't the reactions to scream. Instead, he loom over you with his full weight, impaled to your elbow as he chokes out a few breaths of surprise. His knees buckle and smoke rises off as he takes pained, wheezing breaths. As though obscured by the smoke, you see him flicker. The demon grabs your arm and prevents you from pulling away
"This isn't our last fight, Kenzie! I'll be back! I'll be back every time you forget! Every time you have a bad day, a wrong thought, I'm never gone." he chokes in a pained whisper. You fight against his gradually weakening grip, and by the time you are able to pull free, he is all but transparent and falls to the ground. The smoke stops rising and you fall to your ass from the force of your tug, watching the demon fade.
Proceed to 7.
=>: Get him before he gets you. The best defense is a good offense, and you don't have time to panic. Ok maybe you do, but it really only sets in when you're into a good run, screaming towards the demon. You don't remember when your legs started moving, but you remember one second you realized the incubus was in your room, and the next second you were flailing at him like a toddler who just saw their first kung fu movie.
The demon is on a surprised defensive, backing up and trying to swat away your various lunges, jabs, and smacks, too focused on surviving for witty banter.
"You're not real!" you shout at him. He flickers, almost missing a blow as he phases briefly in and out of tangibility. You scream it again. And again. The third time lets you through, a long slash arcing across his chest. You stay on the offensive, no matter how tired you start to get. He begins to lose composure and panic and obvious in his eyes as more and more blows get through making your onslaught easier and easier. Eventually you try to go for the killing blow and gouge your bone-like claw deep into his gut.
You skewer through the incubus, and he hasn't the reactions to scream. Instead, he loom over you with his full weight, impaled to your elbow as he chokes out a few breaths of surprise. His knees buckle and smoke rises off as he takes pained, wheezing breaths. As though obscured by the smoke, you see him flicker. The demon grabs your arm and prevents you from pulling away
"This isn't our last fight, Kenzie! I'll be back! I'll be back every time you forget! Every time you have a bad day, a wrong thought, I'm never gone." he chokes in a pained whisper. You fight against his gradually weakening grip, and by the time you are able to pull free, he is all but transparent and falls to the ground. The smoke stops rising and you fall to your ass from the force of your tug, watching the demon fade.
Proceed to 7.
7.
Your name is Kenzie Lamb. You are sitting on your bedroom floor. You are tired, stressed, and your chest hurts from the adrenaline of the ordeals you've been through on this night. But the world is quiet. The incubus faded away several minutes ago and only now are you able to rally yourself enough to stand up. The tingling across your body is gone, and when you look at your arm, the bone claw is gone. Replacing it, is your usual anatomy of a regular arm.
Quietly, you sit down at your desk and turn on your computer, flinching away from the bright light. You type a brief email to Doctor Sosnovska asking if you can see her on Saturday. You set your computer to sleep again and lay down in bed, turning to look at your alarm that says an even 4:00 AM. You sigh and cozy up into bed to try and get a good night's sleep.