It started out as a sunny Tuesday in March 2020. Your math teacher came down with a viral infection and your principal couldn't find a substitute on short notice, so you're home from school about an hour early. You probably should have hung out with your friends, but you don't want to. You're about to open the front door of the apartment when you sense that something is out of joint.
[[Throw caution to the wind and enter the apartment anyway.->Apartment]]
[[Trust your instincts and head back down to the street.->Hesitation in front of apartment]]
[[Stay where you are and call 911.->Call 911]]
(if: (history:) contains "Hesitation in front of apartment" and not ((history:) contains "Stairs"))[Wise choice.
](if: (history:) contains "Stairs")[You make it back up the fifteen flights of stairs, barely, and are even sweatier than you were the first time.
](if: (history:) contains "Call 911")[(if: (history:) contains "Enlightenment")[You pocket your phone](else:)[You hang up] and unbolt the triple locks on the door.
]The door creaks open. You thought you would have the apartment to yourself for at least a couple hours, maybe watch some videos or play some games and think about your upcoming physics test, but your parents are already home from work and your sister is snoring, curled up with the cat on the sofa.
Your parents seem happy to see you, even though neither looks up from their newspaper or coffee. It's surprisingly dark outside already, and no one has turned on the lights.
"How was school?" your mother asks, engrossed in the sports section.
[["The usual. Kim got angry at Ashley again because of some guy."->Kim]]
[["We discussed the origins of paranoia," you say, much to your own surprise.->Paranoia]]
[["Mr. Wheeler caught a virus and almost died."->Wheeler]]You would take the elevator down to the ground floor, but the elevator's broken, so you have to walk down fifteen flights of stairs, which seems a shame, since you just walked up all of them and are out of breath, and it would have been nice to take a shower. Maybe you should have risked entering the apartment anyway.
[[Are you sure you don't want to enter the apartment?->Apartment]]
[[Or maybe you should brave the stairs anyway.->Stairs]]
You fumble for your phone. It's about three years old and you wish it would finally break.
"What's your emergency?" The voice is calm, soothing, exactly the voice you would want to hear if you were experiencing a real emergency.
[["I sense that the universe is out of joint."->911 operator]]
[["Nevermind." You realize how silly this all is and open the door to your apartment after all.->Apartment]]=><=
(css: "font-size: 24px")+(text-style: "rumble")[[**UNIVERSE OUT OF JOINT**->March 2020]]
(css: "font-size: 16px")[by Jonathan Huston]
(css: "font-size:12px")[*created with Twine*]
{
(set: $cat to false)
(set: $Amex to false)
(set: $ring to false)
(set: $enlightenment to false)
(set: $hate_Kim to false)
}"That's exactly how I felt yesterday, but now everything's fine again," the soothing operator says. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" The question sounds like a subtle plea.
[["No, sorry to bother you." You hang up and enter the apartment.->Apartment]]
[["Do you ever feel like you've somehow... slipped out of reality?"->911 conversation]](if: (history:) contains "Felicia escapes")[(if: not ((history:) contains "Stairs"))[Because the elevator is broken, you](else:)[You] hurtle down the fifteen flights of stairs as fast as you can, in pursuit of your family and cat.
](else-if: (history:) contains "Apartment")[Wisely, you leave the family madhouse behind and head down to the steet. The elevator is broken, so you take the stairs.
](else:)[The stairway needs cleaning. Nobody takes the stairs, except when the elevator is broken, which it is.
](if: not ((history:) contains "Stairs" or "Hang up"))[You wave (if: (history:) contains "Felicia escapes")[pantingly](else:)[shyly] to the doorman, who hasn't waved back in years, probably because you always were a bit of a jerk to him when you were a kid, and you exit onto Broadway.
]There's not a car in sight. Or a pedestrian. (if: (history:) contains "Felicia escapes")[Let alone your family and Felicia. ]You listen carefully, but all you can hear are the bats screeching around the treetops in the park down the street.
You've never heard bats before, but you think that's what they are.
At least you hope that's what they are.
[[Investigate the bats.->Bats]]
[[Summon an exploitative ridesharing service and go nowhere in particular.->Uber]]
(if: not ((history:) contains "Apartment"))[[Give up and climb the stairs back to the apartment.->Apartment]]Double-click this passage to edit it.Double-click this passage to edit it."All the time. But the real question is, who's really part of reality anymore anyway?" the 911 operator philosophizes. "I mean, for all you know, I might just be a bot, trying to trick you into carrying on an extended conversation with me instead of doing what you really ought to be doing."
[["What ought I to be doing?" you say, stumbling over the unfamiliar diction.->Ought]]
[["If you really were a bot, you wouldn't tell me."->Bot]]
[["But I really do feel like the very fabric of the universe is unravelling and there's nothing I can do about it."->Enlightenment]]"Ah, but there is something you can do about it," the soothing operator says. It's as if the veil of ignorance has lifted, if only for a moment, and you see the universe for what it truly is, before that moment of enlightenment evaporates and you try in vain to remember what you saw, like trying to remember a dream destroyed by early-morning construction work right outside your bedroom window.
"Remember this," the calm and confident voice whispers in your ear, "when the time comes, the answer is in the palm of your hand."
The voice fades away, but before it's gone completely, you hear the words: "Sorry, I have another call from someone who ingested bleach. Gotta go."
The operator hangs up on you.
What to do now? [[Enter the apartment after all->Apartment]] or [[see what's going on outside on the dark and abadoned streets?->Hang up]]
(set: $enlightenment to true)
Your parents stop reading their newspapers and stare straight at you.
Your sister, Claire, wakes up and stares straight at you.
The cat, Felicia, wakes up and stares straight at you.
If you owned a goldfish, it would be staring straight at you now too.
(display: "Other options")
"Kim?" your mother asks, without looking up from the baseball stats.
Your father grunts. You sister and the cat snore. Someone should really turn on the lights. You can hardly see a thing.
(display: "Kim options")"That's funny," your father says, (if: not ((history:) contains "Paranoia"))[without looking up from his crossword](else:)[without taking his eyes off of you]. "The same thing almost happened to us today, but it turned out to be a hoax."
Your sister coughs into the sofa. The cat squirms in her arms.
(display: "Other options")"Kim isn't your best friend," your mother says, finally looking up from her newspaper. "You hate Kim."
(display: "BFF options")The cat, Felicia, screeches (if: not ((history:) contains "Paranoia"))[upon being woken up ]and scratches your arm, but the little bit of blood and shredded skin seems a fair price to pay for having a friend in this insane world.
Felicia continues to struggle in your uncertain grip.
[[Pet Felicia.->Pet Felicia]]
[[Tell Felicia there's a treat waiting for her outside.->Treat]]
[[Drop Felicia on the floor.->Felicia escapes]]
Felicia eyes you apologetically and licks the wounds she gashed into your flesh.
Is there anything else you would like to tell your parents, or have you had enough of this charade?
[[You definitely want to leave before it's too late.->Leave apartment]]
[[Tell your parents you love them.->Love parents]]
[[You can't think of another thing to say to your parents. But you do want to take a look around the apartment before leaving with the cat.->Explore]]
(set: $cat to true)
Felicia barely touches the ground before darting out the door that you forgot to close behind you. Your sister wakes up. The whole family screams in horror and chases after Felicia.
You are now alone in the apartment, free to explore.
[[Explore.->Explore]]
[[Chase after your family and Felicia.->Leave apartment]]
That's certainly possible, but then again, everyone's lost their mind these days.
(display: "BFF options")
Just kidding. There's only one universe, as far as you know.
(display: "BFF options")Kim and you go way back. You hated Kim in kindergarten already. Kim broke your ankle in sixth grade playing volleyball. Then last year, Kim stole your best friend, Ashley. And now they hate each other too, so it was all for naught.
If you had a nemesis, Kim would be it. Whatever happens, you hope you don't bump into Kim today.
Thinking about Kim has put you in a bad mood.
Fortunately, the cat purrs in her sleep and reminds you that Kim isn't the only thing wrong about this world.
(display: "Other options")
(set: $hate_Kim to true)You leave (if: not ((history:) contains "Felicia escapes"))[your family in ]the living room behind.
You know what's in your room (a pile of gym clothes on the floor, a collection of stuffed animals with names only you can remember, technology, an unfinished love letter) and the kitchen (food), but it's been ages since you've been to [[your parents' room->Parents' room]] or [[your sister Claire's room.->Claire's room]]
Your sister growls, swats at you like a pesky mosquito, and smooshes tighter into the sofa. The cat does the same in parallel.
"Kim?" your mother asks (if: (history:) contains "Turn on lights")[yet ]again, without looking up from her newspaper.
(display: "Kim options")
You flip the light switch up and down several times but nothing happens.
"Kim?" your mother asks (if: (history:) contains "Wake sister")[yet ]again, without looking up from her newspaper.
(display: "Kim options")
{(if: not ((history:) contains "Lost mind") and not ((passage:)'s name is "Lost mind"))[[Your mother has lost her mind.
->Lost mind]]
}{(if: not ((history:) contains "Parallel universe") and not ((passage:)'s name is "Parallel universe"))[[You now understand that you're trapped in a parallel universe and will never return home to your real parents.
->Parallel universe]]
}[[Your mother's right. You hate Kim and were just testing your mother to find out whether she was listening.->Testing mother]]
(if: (history:) contains "Kim")[[[You roll your eyes and tell your mother that Kim is your best friend.->BFF]]](else:)[["Kim, my best friend."->BFF]]
{(if: not ((history:) contains "Wake sister") and not ((passage:)'s name is "Wake sister"))[[You ignore your mother and try to wake up your sister.
->Wake sister]]
}[[Wake up the cat and leave.->Take cat]]
(if: not ((history:) contains "Turn on lights") and not ((passage:)'s name is "Turn on lights"))[[You turn on the lights.->Turn on lights]]
Felicia squirms out of your grasp, shredding your other arm.
(display: "Felicia escapes")
[[Grab the cat and run.->Take cat]]
[[Leave without the cat.->Leave apartment]]
{(if: not ((history:) contains "Wheeler") and not ((passage:)'s name is "Wheeler"))[[Tell your family that Mr. Wheeler caught a virus and almost died.
->Wheeler]]}[[Ignore your family and explore the apartment.->Explore]](display: "Stairs")That's sweet.
[[Okay, time to go.->Leave apartment]]
[[Look for your mother's credit card.->Explore]]
Your parents' room is as uninteresting as you'd expect a parents' room to be. You shudder to think what might be in the drawers of their night tables or under the bed. There's a photograph of a random sand dune above the bed. You see a baby picture on the dresser and aren't sure whether it's you or Claire. You open a drawer or two of the dresser and find socks and various items with straps and buckles.
[[And an American Express Black Card.->Amex]]
[[And a wedding ring.->Ring]]
Claire's room is a total dud. You can't believe you're related to someone who has absolutely no personality or taste.
(if: not ((history:) contains "Parents' room"))[Check out your [[parents' room->Parents' room]] instead.
]Home isn't as sweet as it used to be. Time to make like a tree and [[get out of here.->Leave apartment]]
The American Express Black Card is in your mother's name, expires in April 2024, has fifteen digits, and looks like it can buy lots of things.
[[Take it->Take Amex]] or [[leave it.->Leave it]]The ring is engraved with your mother's name, a date in April 2024, and the name of someone you've never heard of before.
[[Take the ring]] or [[leave it.->Leave it]]You pocket the card and hope no one will ever find out.
To make sure of that, you sneak through the living room (if: not ((history:) contains "Felicia escapes"))[past your family ]and [[leave the apartment, perhaps never to return.->Leave apartment]]
(set: $Amex to true)
You pocket the ring and hope no one will ever find out.
To make sure of that, you sneak through the living room (if: not ((history:) contains "Felicia escapes"))[past your family ]and [[leave the apartment, perhaps never to return.->Leave apartment]]
(set: $ring to true)You can almost feel the guilt evaporating from your body.
(if: not ((history:) contains "Claire's room"))[You decide to check out [[Claire's room]] instead.](else:)[[As much fun as it would be to spend even more time exploring an apartment you've lived in all your life and not bothering to steal anything from your family that might be useful later on, you decide it's time to see what further adventures await out on the dark and abandoned streets.->Leave apartment]]"I only insinuated that I'm a bot, and a truly intelligent bot would do exactly that. For all I know, you might be a bot, too."
[[For all I know, I might be a bot, too.->Am I a bot?]]
[[This conversation is getting weird. Time to see what's going on in the apartment.->Apartment]]
[[This conversation is getting weird. Time to see what's going on outside.->Hang up]]"You ought to be finding out why the universe is out of joint."
To do so, you better [[finally hang up and see what's going on in the apartment,->Apartment]] or at least [[finally hang up and see what's going on outside on the dark and abandoned streets.->Hang up]]
Or you sense that there is more to this 911 operator than meets the ear. So you say, [["But what if I do find out? What's the point? I still feel like there's nothing I can do about it."->Enlightenment]]Yes, you are a bot: Programmed in an ancient functional programming language by an intelligence far superior to our own, eons ago on a tiny dessicated planet circling a minor star in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, long since destroyed, for the sole purpose of discovering why the universe is out of joint.
Knowing that, do you [[hang up and enter the apartment->Apartment]] or [[hang up and leave the building?->Hang up]]
Or, sensing that there's more to this 911 operator than meets the ear, do you say, [["But even though I now know my true nature and my true calling, I still feel like there's nothing I can do about it?"->Enlightenment]](if: (history:) contains "Enlightenment")[You pocket your phone](else:)[You hang up] and leave the building.
(display: "Stairs")