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Realistic or Modern A Game Of Life And Death

The Omen of Death

The Omen of Death

My presence has marked your eventual demise.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke


"School really sucked today," you mutter, grabbing the various items from your locker to stuff them into your backpack. You can still hear the obnoxious ringing of the school bell echoing in your ears, but it sounded like sweet music to you today. You pause to contemplate each disappointment on the very long list packed into the few hours you (unfortunately) managed to stay awake. 



Your two best friends? Out sick. The substitute who was supposed to come in to fill in for your task-master teacher and give you a break? Piled on the homework 'til you thought your head was going to explode. And the monotone of his voice could've made your ears bleed, wounded by sheer boredom. Lunch? You dropped it outside of the school into a slimy puddle and were reduced to using your allowance to buy something from the cafeteria.



Which... actually, your school cafeteria occasionally has pretty edible stuff, but not today. You don't know, nor do you want to know, what was in that 'vegetarian meatloaf surprise.' You just know that you missed breakfast and the "meat-free meat-loaf" honest-to-God looked better than the dish they were passing off as lasagna and smelled better than the large pot labeled "Chili." You still feel nauseated from the fumes. And the fun didn't stop there! Ohhh, no. Today could've been a bit more tolerable if not for Jake.



Yeah. Big Jake. Tall guy, dark hair, looks like he's old enough that he ought to be working at the school instead of going there. Picks-on-anything-with-a-pulse-Jake? That guy. He decided on you as his victim of the week. It was the usual immature, stupid, mean-spirited stuff. Live snake in the locker to make you scream like a little kid in front of the exchange student you've been crushing on. Tripping you in the hall when you were trying to smoothly explain the previous incident to save face, nearly breaking your face. A water balloon filled with some kind of unidentified fluid dropped on your head from the roof which ruined your favorite hoodie yesterday and nearly your favorite shoes today... so on.



Not, of course, that you could prove he was actually the culprit; the nasty grin on his face whenever you fell into one of his pranks branded him as guilty. Of course, you would be happy to smack some manners into his ugly head, but the reason you haven't is that big Jake is... well... big. Now, that wouldn't be so bad, but big Jake has some equally large friends. (Some of them high-school drop-outs and you've heard that they belong to a local gang.) Taking on all of them, especially alone, does not appeal to you. Coward, you're not, but suicidal...? Not so far.



Unfortunately, today, Jake also decided it would be funny to spray paint your principal's car. You also saw this as pretty funny, considering the principal has always been a jerk, too. You continued to find it funny, up until you realized that Jake signed your name to his handiwork.



Your family has been notified. You're grounded until next century. The lecture you're getting when you arrive home will last until then, if not longer.



Basically, you're dead. You have a couple choices before you get home, though. Maybe you can prolong your life and avoid sentencing for a little while. If you're really lucky, you might be able to avoid it completely. Decisions, decisions. You can.


1. Go straight home, hoping you can convince your parents of your innocence.


2. Walk slowly, hoping to think of an elaborate explanation.


3. Drop in on one of your sick friends to hide out for a while


4. Take the path through the cemetery.


5. Stop off at an ice-cream parlor to sooth the sorrow


6. Wait... what's that, hanging out of the locker?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 0)]Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed the small, white corner of something sticking out of your locker. You open the locker back up and looked inside. Underneath the rest of the stuff you'd been keeping in it, there's an old photograph. The picture itself is covered with some kind of gunk and you can't make out the image beneath it, but you still feel as if it must have some kind of sentimental attachment to it if you've kept it this long.[/COLOR]


1. Take the dirty old photograph? Maybe it would be nice to find out what it was. [COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 0)]You need something to wipe it off with, but you don't really want to use your sleeve. Maybe you can find a cloth or even a less valuable piece of clothing to clean it with later?[/COLOR] 


2. Nah, who cares about some dirty old photograph in my locker. I'm done here.
 
So you decided to take the photograph, may want to take a look at it later.


Dirty Photograph added to inventory. Inventory consists currently of: Backpack, And Dirty Photograph.


Now memories are good and all, but what's now important is that you are probably going to be in a bunch of trouble when you return home. So what now?


1. Go straight home, hoping you can convince your parents of your innocence.


2. Walk slowly, hoping to think of an elaborate explanation.


3. Drop in on one of your sick friends to hide out for a while
 
[3] Preferably the smart friend who can suggest a good game plan for explaining this to the parentals. Then, if the 'rents get angry I'm late, I'll tell them why and hopefully they'll think I'm a sensitive and caring pal. 
 
You contemplate hiding out at a friend's house until things blow over a little. Maybe they can help you think up an explanation for what happened at school or for your delayed return home so your parents will be sympathetic. On the other hand, you may just be delaying the inevitable and ticking them off more.



Either way, you want to visit them. It'll give you a chance to vent about your day or just blow off everything for a while and hang out. The question is 'who to visit?' After all, you're lucky enough to have two best friends, but their houses are on different sides of the neighborhood. Seeing them both would be time and effort consuming. You could still visit them both, but even if you did, you'd have to pick who to see first. And since you are looking for the one who can probably help you the most in this situation you know who to go to.



Layne L. Gray is your best guy friend. (You and Mel (Your other best friend will be touched upon later) sometimes jokingly call him "L," from Death Note. With his black hair, there is a vague resemblance.) He's a smart guy, the kind that usually doesn't have to study to get decent grades, even though his teachers and parents chide him for not 'applying himself' like he could. He insists there are better things to do than worry himself to an early grave over exams or be buried in textbooks.



Layne's got decent physical talent as well, from what you've seen of him in martial arts classes and in soccer, but doesn't flaunt it unless you or your other best friend is in trouble. His house is only two blocks away from yours and you've known him for as long as you can remember. Actually, you two have been pretty much inseparable since you two were in diapers. Apparently, your moms were best friends in high school or something. (You kind of tuned out a lot of their reminiscing as a kid.) 



However it happened, though, you and Layne have been buddies so long, you've got the teamwork thing down, as evidenced by the handful of clubs and sport teams the two of you have tried out together. Your tendency of getting into and out of trouble together means you and Layne have had lots of 'mini adventures,' but you get the distinct feeling that Layne isn't satisfied spending his whole life thus far in this little town.



He talks about traveling the world someday and has offered for you to tag along for the ride. You've considered it. It sounds like a lot of fun.



So you decide to visit Layne. You know the route to his place pretty well and take a short-cut he showed you a couple years back. It involves sneaking through a couple peoples' backyards, but fortunately, the Feldmans' threat to get a guard dog kind of fell flat when they adopted "Goober"-- the friendliest, slobberiest dog you've ever met. But hey, at least it makes them feel better. The fur ball greets you eagerly and you pet him for a minute before moving on. You stride up the sidewalk to Layne's green-colored abode and knock confidently on the front door.



Layne's mom, Lydia Gray, greets you at the door. You have to admit, this lady's practically a second mom to you. She's scolded you about as much as her own child, but you get the idea that you've grown on her a lot over the years. She's always had an open door policy for your family on account of Layne's attachment to you and her friendship with your mom, so you've been allowed to stay over countless times.



Her smile is as friendly and pleasant as ever, but the look in her eyes is sympathetic. "Sorry, kiddo, but Layne's not really up for playing today. The other day, he came home throwing up and he had chills, so I sent him to bed with strict instructions to get rest, and he's going to be under lock-down until he can keep down a decent meal."



"I understand," you nod, wondering in the back of your mind if Layne is capable of faking those symptoms. Chills, sure, a cough, fine, sore throat, stomach ache, but actually throwing up? Maybe he is sick. "Still, do you think I could visit him for a few minutes? I just wanted to see how he's doing, talk to him about school."



His mother contemplates your request for a minute and shakes her head. "Not this time, hun. Layne was sound asleep last I checked and he's feeling really lousy. Maybe tomorrow." The two of you then say your respective goodbyes and she closes the door. 



You consider your options. You can move around to the back of the house and sneak into Layne's room. He intentionally leaves his window unlocked in the event that you'd need to, you two have gotten into some crazy stuff before. On the other hand, maybe Layne is as sick as his mom says. You might just want to stop stalling and go home. You remember, of course, your third option. You can go visit Melissa (Your other best friend).


1. Sneak into Layne's room


2. Go visit Melissa


3. Go home
 
[2] Mel might live on the other side of the 'hood, but at this point if I don't visit her she might get offended I visited L and not her. Besides, don't wanna sneak in and risk getting L's nasteh puke bug OR risk making Sympathetic Second Mom mad. 


Hopefully Mel's not contagious.
 
Since visiting Layne was a flop, and since you don't want to risk more trouble, you decide to visit Melissa.
 


Melissa N. Mors is your closest female friend. She's also one of the prettiest girls you've ever known personally. (In retaliation to the Death Note nickname, Layne calls her "M 'n M," due to her initials. She dislikes this.) She's only been here for about two years, but that's the longest she's ever stayed anywhere. Her family might as well be nomadic for how many times she's moved. She's been to almost every foreign country you can name and if she hasn't been there, she's related to someone who has. Her room is filled with memories from far away lands and it fascinates you to visit her house.



Yes, you awe at the tribal weapons and shields from Africa, the decorative rugs from Persia, the jade Buddha statue and small chunk of the great wall from China, the Samurai sword her father brought back from Japan, the shrunken heads they obtained from an island region, the remains of a mummified baby crocodile from Egypt, (you question her family's sanity over some of their choices on keepsakes...) even a shard from a moon rock given to Mel by her great uncle, who--evidently--was an astronaut.



Layne was insanely jealous of her when they met because the most traveling he's done is a couple out of town trips, but he was surprised to find that Mel is pretty down to earth and she was grateful to have her family settle down for once. After all their globe trotting, she finds this sleepy little town peaceful. The adventurers that she's joined the two of you in might not be as crazy as the jungles that she's already faced, but she's helped you out of more than one sticky situation and seems to enjoy tagging along. She's a good story-teller, a great listener, and a good counter-balance to Layne's wilder nature, often acting as diplomat of your group and 'voice of reason.'


After a nice little stroll across the neighborhood you're now striding up the stone path to her house. It's a pleasant bluish-gray color and it gives off an aura of serenity. It reminds you of the color of Melissa's eyes, actually. You pause at the doorway, your hand raised toward the hand-carved door-knocker on the door, and freeze when you hear a soft sob from inside the house. You quirk an eyebrow at the sound, concerned. You couldn't tell if that was Melissa's voice or someone else's, but you're sure somebody is crying.



After a second, you reach for the knocker again, and again, you hesitate. Maybe it's a bad time?



If that was her mom, maybe her parents are having some kind of "adult drama" and asking to come in would be interrupting. You could sneak around and check to make sure things are okay. 



If you made enough of an effort, you could actually get over to Melissa's window, and even into her room from here if she left the window open again. Melissa wouldn't really mind it if you do. She's reprimanded you for sneaking in once or twice, but later forgave the intrusion easily since you two are pretty close. Then again, maybe you're just being ridiculous, and it would be better to go through the door.


What now?


1. Knock on the door


2. Sneak toward the living room window


3. Sneak around to the study


4. Sneak around to Melissa's window and peer inside


5. Sneak into Melissa's room


6.Break down the door


7. Go home
 
[4] Might be Melissa crying, but if she's not in her room I can check back at the door. I wanna see if she's okay. 
 
(Choice 4 was chosen with 3 votes!)



The room is dark and the curtains are partially drawn, but not enough so that you can't see around the room. It's still filled with all the strange, almost mystical items that you remember. You see a lump in the bed on the opposite wall, buried under dark blue covers. You can tell she's probably out cold on the bed. You pause to consider your options: You don't want to disturb her rest if she really needs it, but you still feel the urge to check on her condition further and talk to her about today.



You hesitate, feeling guilty, as you quietly slide up the window and slip inside. "Hey, Mel?" You whisper, softly. 'If she doesn't wake up, then maybe I should just go.'



"Is that..." A weak voice rasps your name from the direction of the bed. "Is that... really you?" You're surprised by just how bad Melissa sounds. You walk closer and reach out to the blanket covered mass. 



"No...!" She rasps as loudly as she can and you jerk back at the last second, confused, but obedient at the weak, but firm tone of voice. "Don't... d..on't come...cl..oser. If you... if you do," a soft whimper-like sound escapes her, "you'll die."



"What?" You stare, stunned, before a weak chuckle escapes you. "Mel... c'mon, quit messing around. I mean, the flu or whatever it is may make you feel pretty crappy and all, but it's not gonna kill either of--oh my god."



Melissa pushed back the covers as you spoke and you can see blood. Her eyes, nose, and the corners of her mouth are dripping blood. "What the fuck..." You state in horror. "This..." she rasps, causing more blood to drip out of her mouth. She appears to be expending a lot of energy just by speaking. "... not flu." She gives you a look as if to say, "Though I hope to God you already figured THAT out."  she speaks again, and your blood runs cold. "We... d... on't... know wh...at it.. is..." The fear of the unknown, it's something you both were experiencing, although whatever it was, this one was no joke in the slightest.



But how the hell did Melissa get it? You ask, and listen in utter horror as she explains that she has no idea.



Her family had her holed up in her room and a witch-doctor (her family always had been strange this way) was currently with her parents, performing ceremonies in the hopes of curing her. You notice, when she says this, the sound of soft chanting close by.     



"Mel... I wish--" You choke slightly, realizing that it is highly unlikely your friend will last 'til the end of this month. "I'm sorry, I wish there was something, anything I could do."



Melissa stares at you and uneasily considers your offer, before quietly speaking again. "May..be. Do you know... the old... house, down cedar street?" 



You nod, slowly. You've passed it a few times on your way back from school. It's huge and in sore need of some repairs, as far as you recall. It must've been beautiful in its prime, but you're pretty positive no one wants to live there now. In fact, it might be slated for demolition at this point. "Yeah, I know it. Rumor is that it's haunted or something stupid like that. Why?" 



"They say..." Melissa flinches in pain as she shifts slightly. "A witch... lived there. Cured disease, pr...olong'd life. Even...gave immortality. Maybe..."



You see where she's going with this and you stare at her in disbelief. "Mel, you can't be serious. A witch? You really believe there's something in there that'll fix this? I mean, I can't--" You hesitate at the hopeless expression on her face and the blood dripping off of her. You know that she usually is not this superstitious, but anyone dying would do something desperate.



She's such a very beautiful girl, in and out, and yet she's lying there, dying to some horrible, disgusting disease. It doesn't matter if her request doesn't make sense. You have to do something for her. "I ... I'll do it. I'll go. For you, Melissa, I'll tear the whole place apart from top to bottom if I have to, and I'll bring you back a cure." 



Melissa smiles at you weakly. "B...e careful." You start to leave, but her soft voice stops you once more. "Layne... please, s... ee him f... irst." You then tell her you already have, and that he was lying in bed sick too,  but she tells you that then that means that he is there too then and to meet him there. You nod and wish her parting words before heading out.


As you walked out on your way there, your mind dwelled on the fact that you could very simply be running a fools errand, and that this was a stupid idea. But you reminded yourself you were doing this for her, even if it accomplishes nothing she should at least feel at ease. Then nearing the home a thought occurs to you. You've never paid much attention to this part of town. You always cut through it when you're hurrying home, but even when you take your time, you're usually walking home with a friend and talking about school, or your mind wanders to other things. Sightseeing never crossed your mind.



Your gaze eventually zeroes in on the old, well-weathered house. In your opinion, this neighborhood isn't the nicest you've walked through, but it's nice enough that you're pretty surprised by the poor condition of this particular residence.



For a house, it's definitely seen better days, what with its graying exterior, battered walls, couple of broken windows, crumbling picket fence, and broken up walk way to the door. The door which also happens to be, strangely enough, open slightly as you can just barely see from your point of view. 'Must be abandoned.' You assume, possibly slated for demolition or some such fate.



What does impress you is the sheer size of the place. It might be as charming visually as a rat hole now, but it's a huge rat hole. In its heyday, you're pretty sure it was a pretty sweet place to live, probably the envy of the neighbors, the talk of the community and the pride and joy of the owner. 'Strange.' You think. Why did this place fall into such horrible disrepair? 'If someone paid the money to own this place, why let it turn into a dump?'



You walk up to the fence gate casually. Nailed to the front of the old gate is a wooden sign: 'KEEP OUT HAUNTED'


It almost amuses when you realize the reason for this house's horrible condition. Local superstition. There's probably a ghost story so Melissa may be right? You start to shuffle towards it but you jerk back in surprise when you see someone creeping around the bushes near the door.



Inside is a familiar figure. One you could probably spot in any crowd. His black hair and white skull-covered hoodie tipped you off. You open the gate and trot up the broken walk way until you're a couple feet from the door. It's none other than Layne. You call out to him.



He turns to you, his face is pale and his forehead is glistening with sweat, so he certainly looks sick to you, but a nervous laugh from him at your question suggests that it's not from illness. He's clearly uneasy about something and startled by your presence. He jumped a minute ago when you called his name, but that's probably less about the fact that it was you and more about someone being behind him at all.



"Hey, keep it down, okay?" Layne replies softly, running a hand through his coal black hair. "I ditched." He's still got the presence of mind to look embarrassed for not telling you that being sick was just an excuse he gave to the school. "Sorry to bail on you today, but I wanted to check this place out for myself. I just felt like I should go solo. I knew if I told you, you'd be willing to back me up, but..." "It's ok L I know what is going on with Melissa. I am here to help you." He actually looked surprised at this but nodded "Guess we are both going in then."


So you square your shoulders and march up to the door to follow Layne inside. Maybe it's not the most brilliant thing in the world to do, but you feel like you honestly don't have much of a choice at this point.



You peer inside the dark doorway and feel a chill. Surely that can't be the air conditioning, not when this house has been abandoned and run-down for so long... right? Maybe Layne was right, this place is starting to give you the creeps. Or maybe you're just getting paranoid because seeing Layne so nervous made you jumpy, too.


This is the foyer of the house, (the hallway leading to and from the front door,) and you're stunned to see that, in spite of the horrible state of the outside of the house, this hallway looks ... almost nice. It's wide and open, with doorways leading to parts of the downstairs, and a large, white staircase at the end, leading upstairs. It's furnished with a long, luxurious looking rug, which seems to have been recently cleaned, even though it looks very old.

A few expensive, but disturbing looking paintings hang on the walls. One is of a particularly nasty looking woman in a black cloak and ugly, green dress. It looks almost life-like, which bothers you, considering the cruel smirk on her face is making you incredibly uncomfortable. The rest of the paintings seem to be of ... creatures. Most of which you cannot identify. A few, however, you categorize as demons, gargoyles, cats, and serpents.

To your right is the doorway leading to the kitchen. To your left, the dining room. A little further on you see a doorway to the living room and another door to a bathroom. Beside the stairs going up, you believe you can see a hatch which probably takes you downstairs, perhaps to a basement?   


1. Go downstairs


2. Go upstairs


3. Kitchen


4. Bathroom


5. Dining room


6. Living Room
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Choice 6 was chosen with 2 votes!


You're now standing in the living room of the allegedly haunted house. There are several animal trophies on the walls, most of which seem common: a deer, moose, brown bear, wild ram, wild boar, a large fish, a small alligator, cougar, but you're startled to see a domestic dog, house cat, parakeet and hamster among them. There is also an empty trophy plaque near the furthest corner of the room.



An old, dark leather couch sits against one of the walls with a table in front of it. Beside the couch and attached to the wall is a grouping of shelves with nothing but specimen jars on them, all of which seem to contain a large collection of dead bugs.



Across from the shelves and couch is a stone fireplace at the opposite end of the room. It seems well-worn and has imprints of large pots that were once used to cook inside it. The pots are gone, but the ashes from the old fires remain. You also note a set of footprints in the ashes. Strange.



On the other side of the couch is a door leading to the library of the house. Behind you is the door leading back into the foyer.


1. To the Library


2. To the Foyer


3. Examine the leather couch


4. Examine trophy collection


5. Examine the stone fire place


6. Check your inventory
 
Last edited by a moderator:
(Option 6 was chosen due to being the most recent response. But to keep things moving along we will also do option 3)


Your inventory consists of your backpack and the dirty old photograph from the locker. You then look into the backpack (Because stuff decides to hide there too)


You scrounge through your black backpack for something useful. Old textbooks greet you, (particularly your heavy math book) much to your displeasure, but you also see a hopefully functional flashlight, some candy wrappers, a bit of cash (the allowance that remains from you getting lunch at the cafeteria,) a note from one of your friends, (you recognize the hand-writing, but it currently escapes you as to which friend it's from, and you decide not to pay much attention for the time being) a bottle of water, and a book from your English class A Midsummer Night's Dream.



Now that you've pulled out all these items, you also see a small, silver object glimmering at the bottom of the bag. Strange. It looks like a piece of ... something. You pull on the piece, but it remains stuck to the bottom of your backpack. Ew. Is that pre-chewed, dried gum keeping it stuck there? Nasty. Maybe you should clean out your bag more often?



... Nah. Anyway, you decide to log away the information about that silver piece for later. Maybe you'll find a way to get it out.


Afterwards, you then decide to examine the couch [COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 0)]... and Your search does not reveal any spare change or TV remotes. It's just an old couch.[/COLOR]


Anyway time to look elsewhere.


1.To the Library


2. Back to the Foyer


3. Examine trophy collection


4. Examine the stone fireplace
 
(Option 1 was selected with 3 votes!)


Ahhh, the smell of books. The library is filled with shelves, naturally, with also seem to be mostly filled with books. A lot of them are very old and are bound with leather and other such materials. There are also shelves with a few very brittle-looking scrolls on them beside the books, you choose to leave the scrolls alone for fear of tearing or ruining one of them.



 


There is a very large, white bear-skin rug lying on the floor underneath a small, dark-wood table in the center of the room. To your right is an elegant wooden desk with a high-backed chair sitting in front of it, partially blocking your current view of the desk.


1. Look through the book shelves


2. Check the table


3. Check the desk and chair


4. Go back to the living room


5. Check your inventory
 
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