"UH," you groan as you stare heavily at your computer. "Why is this so difficult? Writing is usually my strength. Stupid creative writing essay. I'd rather write a research paper on hippos."
You've been pushing the paper for days, and now it's due tomorrow morning via email to the teacher. You have a positive record on pulling all-nighters to finish your essays, so you're not freaking out as much as you would imagine.
You look around the room for inspiration. "There's gotta be something in here that can help me." You swivel your chair slowly, taking in all of your surroundings in your room.
"Oh, that looks interesting."
''What caught your eye?''
[[Your fluffy stuffed rabbit|Rabbit]]
[[Your stinky sock on the floor|Stinky Sock]]
[[Absolutely nothing|Nothing]]
You get up from your chair and pick up the pink stuffed rabbit lying on your bed. You feel the softness glaze against your palms as you lift the little guy up. Gazing into its eyes you...
[[stare at it in disgust|Disgust]]
[[cuddle it|Cuddle]]
You see one of your socks hanging by your window sill and start to wonder how in the world it got there. No matter. You get up and toss it in your laundry basket. You notice that your laundry is getting full because you did not do the laundry last week.
''"Should I do it now?"''
[[Might as well since you're aware of it now.|Laundry]]
[[Probably not. It's too late. Plus, you have a paper to start|No laundry]]
"Well, this sucks. No inspiration means no essay."
You take another swing at inspecting your surroundings but to no avail. You go for another round until you get bored.
//Ding!//
"An email?"
Curious, you bring the cursor to the mail icon to see who emailed you.
[[continue|Check email]] ]]
You stare at it in disgust as the corners of your mouth turn downwards.
"Why do I still have this thing?" you mumble to yourself.
[[because your best friend gave it to you as a birthday present but did not know you despised stuffed animals|Next]]
[[because you won it at a claw machine and was too proud to throw it away|Next]]
[[because you had a phase in loving stuffed animals but forgot to toss it away|Next]]
[[because your significant other gave it to you as a gift and you know what would happen if it was mysteriously gone|Next]]
You cuddle the bunny for a bit until something harder that stuffing managed to stroke your cheek a little too roughly.
"Huh?"
You feel confused and scrub the stuffed toy's stomach against your face with more force.
[[continue|Continue]]
You inspect the rabbit even further and find some wear and tear and discoloring.
"I've had this thing for years" you nostalgically whisper to yourself.
You squeeze the body with a little more strength and feel something sharp within the stuffing.''You...''
[[leave it alone|Leave]]
[[continue to feel it|Continue]]
Leaving the stuffed toy back to where you found it, you go back on your computer. You see the flashing notification from your email account. You grab your mouse and move the cursor to the mail button until you suddenly remember that you had to take out the trash before your mother comes back from work.
//What time is it?//
Looking at the bottom of the computer screen, you see that it is already 5:45 P.M.
"Oh, no! Mother comes back in fifteen minutes!"
You slightly panic because you know if you don't complete your chores before 6 you are grounded for a week.
''You...''
[[continue to check your email|Check email]]
[[take out the trash|Take trash]]
You continue to feel it with more pressure. Confused, you start to squish the stomach area even harder. You start to feel even more invested in the small mystery. All of a sudden, your screen beeps, notifying you that you have an email. ''You...''
[[leave the rabbit alone and check your email|Leave]]
[[ignore the notification|Ignore]]
You decide that you can always check the message later. It's not like it's going anywhere, right? Anyway, the odd sharpness in your stuffed animal has your attention right now.
"But what about my paper?" your conscious asks you.
[[That can wait|Can Wait]]
[[I should really start it|Start Paper]]
"My paper can wait" you convincingly tell yourself. "This is too weird to ignore."
You place the toy on the bed and go downstairs to the kitchen to find a pair of scissors and tongs.
When you come back to your room you look at the stuffed animal as it stares right into your soul. You feel like it knows your true intentions.
''It's not like you care, right?''
[[Wrong.|Hesitate]]
[[Right.|Dissect]]
Having false determination, you trot to your computer when you accidentaly look at the email icon.
"I guess checking my mail won't hurt, right?"
[[continue|Check email]]
You open your inbox and find out that there is a huge sale going on at your favorite store. "I-I can't" you stutter. You have the urge to look at the deals and maybe purchase one or two items, but you know that online shopping takes you forever.
"I can't risk it. Not tonight. How long is the sale gonna last anyway?" You scroll down the ad and find out that the sale is going to end in two days.
"That should give me enough time to decide what to buy later." Knowing that the sale won't be going anywhere for a while, you begin to exit out of your email when you realize that you can be planning what to buy.
"No! Shopping later. Essay now." You try to snap yourself out of it. You open the document where you are going to write your essay and begin typing your name. Staring at the white screen, you decide you need a break.
"I can do chores." You briskly walk away from your computer.
[[continue|Take trash]]
You get up and go to the kitchen to grab the trash. As you hull out the trash to the garbage bins, your phone beeps.
"A text?" ''You...''
[[check the text message. It might be important|Text]]
[[continue to take out the trash. You still need to take out the trash in the bathrooms before your mother comes home.|Take out bathroom trash]]
You grab your cell phone out of your back pocket and see that it is your mother.
//Coming late tonight. Don't bother on waiting for dinner.//
You are about to tuck your phone away and continue to take out the kitchen trash until you get another message.
//Wanna hang out?//
One of your friends who lives on the same street as you texted you. You're close but not as close as your significant other or your best friend.
''What do you text back?''
[[//Sure, let me just finish up.//|Sure]]
[[//Sorry, I'm kinda busy.//|Sorry, but no]]
Heading back to the house, you get the bathroom trash bags but one of the bags broke and now the tile floor has dirty trash sprawled all over.
"Shoot!" You rush over to get another bag and hastily grab the garbage and look at the wall clock to see that you have ten minutes to clean up the newly-made mess. Apparently, there was liquid, probably the leftover mouthwash that expired a few days ago.
You run to the cleaning closet upstairs and grab the mop and a few towels. You lost track of time, so your mother can come back any minute from now.
''What do you do?''
[[Look at the clock|Look]]
[[Don't look at the clock|Don't look]]
You were about to accept the offer, but the thought of your paper not even being started ruined your mood to hang out.
[[continue|Sorry, but no]]
Declining the offer, you head back to the house and collect the trash from the bathrooms. Your phone rings again as you get the last bag of trash. You ignore the text because your hands are tied by holding both trash bags. After double-checking that you picked up all the trash bags in the house, you go back out to the front yard and toss them in the bins.
"Now that my chores are done, no more worrying about being grounded!"
//bzzzz//
Your phone rings again. ''You...''
[[continue to ignore it|Still ignore]]
[[quickly check your phone|Check phone again]]
After another three minutes you decide to turn off your phone. Normally, you get excited when you receive a notification, but you have a paper to finish (and start). You head back to the house to take out the rest of the garbage successfully.
"Now that that's taken care of I can focus on my essay!" You fistpump in the air but then realize that the paper might be worse than chores.
Sitting back on your seat you rearrange the settings on your computer to block off getting notifications.
"I'll change that later."
You open your a new window to begin your paper.
//Grooooooowl//
"I think I'm hungry..."
''What should you do?''
[[Go to the kitchen and make a sandwich. It's important to have food in your belly.|Food break]]
[[Ignore your stomach. It's already late, and you haven't even started.|Continue the essay]]
"Who is it this time?" you begrudgingly ask yourself. You weren't in the mood right now.
//What time is the movie again? 8 or 8:30?//
"Oh, shoot!" You totally forgot that you were going on a date to the movies today. You don't want to be a douche and cancel your date last minute, but you also have the priority of finishing your paper.
''What do you decide to do?''
[[Pretend that you didn't see the text|Douchebag]]
[[Respond|Response]]
For every step your speed increases, and all of a sudden you look at the clock again. When you realize that the probability that you will succeed in covering up your mess is pretty low, you gulp in terror.
"I'm so scr-OH!" You yelp in panic. While you were too occupied in freaking out, you accidentally trip over your oversized P.E. sweatpants. The mop and towels fling up in the air making even more of a mess. In a split second, ''you...''
[[try to grab on the railing of the stairs|Falling]]
[[do nothing|Falling]]
There's no time to look! You don't want to be distracted so you quickly mop up the spilled mess and continue your chores.
After putting the cleaning supplies and trash away, you look at the clock.
"6:05? Mom usually comes on the dot. She's probably running a bit late because of traffic. Oh, well! My chores are done, so nothing to worry about."
You go back to your room and start to feel tired and sweaty after panicking too much.
''What do you do?''
[[Take a nap. You deserve it.|Nappytime]]
[[Go back to the computer|Continue the essay]]
"Uhhh. I'm SO tired!" You whine as you fall on your padded bed. "I deserve a break. Besides, I bet I'll write an even better story if I'm well-rested and stuff."
You bundle yourself with your heavy blankets and bury our head with your pillow.
"I'll just take a quick nap and go back to work."
Your eyes get droopy and your vision becomes black.
[[continue|Ending 2]]
Your body is in complete shock to do anything. As you tumble down the flight of stairs in horror, your vision gets darker and darker until finally it becomes black.
//Thud//
[[continue|Ending 1]]
You have blacked out after falling down the stairs. No one was able to help you. Your mother messaged you earlier saying that she was going to be late, but you missed it because you were too preoccupied. You were lying all alone surrounded by your mess for three hours. Your blood that was slowly gushing out of your head did not help either.
Restart?
[[Yes|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
//Ding!//
Two toasted slices of bread pop out of the toaster.
"Smells so good!" You ready your butter knife and the peanut butter and start spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread. The strong smell of peanut butter waters your mouth, making you even hungrier.
''How much peanut butter do you put on the bread?''
[[Cover all of one side with peanut butter|Nappytime]]
[[Draw a picture of a giraffe with the peanut butter on the bread|Nappytime]]
[[Cover half of the bread with peanut butter|Nappytime]]
[[It doesn't matter. You just estimate how much you would like|Nappytime]]
Back at your computer, you feel determined. You sit up straight at your computer and begin to do some research.
"How about a random story generator? I'm sure people suffering from writer's block actually use that."
You start to look for a decent one.
"The first result has never failed me before!" You excitedly click on the link until all of a sudden, your computer dies.
" What the...?" You are confused as to why you did not receive a notification that you have 5% left of battery or something.
"Probably missed it when I was out."
You reach to get your charger, but all of a sudden, the power goes out. Your dimly-lit room becomes pitch black, and you're all alone. The power is dead, and you can't even see clearly.
''You...''
[[panic|Ending 3]]
[[stay calm|Ending 3]]
[[call your mother|Ending 3]]
Your eyes slowly open, and you can feel the crusts at the corners of your eyes. You remove the pillow from your head and become slapped with a burst of light coming from your window. You pause for a bit until you finally register what is going on. Your eyes widen in surprise and you check your alarm clock.
"IT'S 11 IN THE MORNING?!" you exclaim. "Did I oversleep?" you crazily ask yourself.
Your naptime ended up being bedtime, and in the end, you missed the deadline for your assignment. Although you may have had a wonderful and interesting dream, it's such a shame you didn't have time to turn it into a story for your creative paper.
Restart?
[[Yes.|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
Three hours have passed and still no luck. It's not almost midnight, but you find yourself getting sleepy. Your eyes can't help but start to shut slowly. The dark isn't helping your decent attempt to stay awake. You want to wait until the power comes back on, but all you can do is desperately try to stay awake. Sitting alone at your desk, your neck starts to hurt so you move on to the bed. Reaching your arms out to blindly find your destination, you finally feel the cotton sheet at the edge of the bed.
"This is probably a bad idea, but I guess it's a sign that I'm screwed either way."
You lie down and before you know it, you have fallen into a deep slumber.
''Restart?''
[[Yes.|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
Although you felt guilty not responding, you turn off your phone immediately before you change your mind.
"Now I really need to start."
You sprint back to your room and sit back to your usual spot. Taking a deep breath, you decide to tackle your biggest obstacle right now.
"If I finish before 8, I can go to the movies." You start to look up ideas on the internet and eventually find a random idea generator for writers with writer's block.
"So I just click this and...oh!" You are surprised at the little tool you found.
"'Romance,' huh? I guess I'm going for a love story." You need even more inspiration so you keep clicking the button to reveal another topic.
''It is...''
[[Apples|Distracted]]
[[Chairs|Distracted]]
''What do you say?''
[[//Sorry, but I can't make it tonight//|Cancel]]
[[//Sorry, but I can't make it tonight because I need to finish a paper due tomorrow morning.//|Cancel]]
"I feel like I need even more ideas." You keep clicking the button. Random words pop up.
"Salsa, insects, glasses..." you mumble the different results you get. Eventually, you lose track of time and start becoming distracted. This goes on for hours until you realize you are starting to get the same results over and over again.
"Okay, this is getting pretty boring."
//Yawn//
"What time is it...?" You look around the room until you see the glowing green light near your bed. When you finally see the time, you screech in horror.
"It's already 9?!" You just stood up your date and you haven't even typed a single word, including your name. Instead of killing two birds with one stone, the birds dodged the stone and attacked you.
''Now what?''
[[Start the paper|Oh, well]]
[[Apologize to your date|Ending 5]]
With nothing holding you back, you finally begin your paper. It took a while to start, but you managed to come up with an average topic.
"This will most likely be a 'B' paper" you confidently exclaim to yourself.
You keep typing but find yourself glancing at your phone on your desk. It's still off, but there is a lingering guilt slowly eating you up.
''You...''
[[Shake it off. The essay is more important right now. Plus, you're almost done.|PowerOut]]
[[Turn it on.|Ending 5]]
"I can't. My grade is more important."
After two hours, you finally finish the paper.
"All I need to do is submit it, and I'm done with this nightmare."
Before that, you realized that you have not saved your document at all. As you roll the cursor towards the "Save" icon the power goes out.
[[continue|Ending 3]]
You turn on your phone only to find over 100 unread messages all from the same person. It took a bunch of patience to read all of them, but the one that struck your pride the worst was the last one.
//We're through//
Heartbroken, you give up on your essay and cry to sleep. What's the point anymore? You lost your special someone (through text) and got a zero on your paper. There's no reason to stay awake for the day as it is already late. You cry yourself to sleep and wake up with a headache and puffy red eyes the next morning.
''Restart?''
[[Yes.|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
You wait five minutes before you receive a phone call. You want to pick it up but you have a feeling that it was not a good sign. Not wanting to deal with it right now, you send the call to voicemail.
[[continue|Oh, well]]
You know the stuffed animal is not real. It's not like you're going to cut open a live bunny, but you feel like there is a reason you haven't thrown it away yet.
With shaking hands you slowly hold the bunny and grab your scissors. You're about to start cutting open the stomach when...
[[Your phone rings|Phone]]
[[You realize you're acting foolish and should really start your essay|Start Paper]]
"It's not like I'm murdering a real animal" you knowingly convince yourself. You try to feel the sharpness around the stomach area to reduce cutting more than you should.
"There it is," you say to yourself as you squeeze the area a couple of more times to make sure. The sharp feeling does not hurt you, but it feels too odd.
Picking up the scissors, you cinch the tip of the bunny's stomach to cut easier.
"I feel like I'm giving a C-section."
You can hear the fabric split and see some stuffing piling out.
"Hmm... I don't see anything."
''You...''
[[dig your hand in deeper|Searching]]
[[quit your investigation and clean up|Quit investigation]]
"Waahh!" Your phone's blasting ringtone scares you half to death. The bunny and scissors drop to the bed. Your heart races for a bit until you come back to your senses.
"Who could it be?" You answer the call after breathing in and out a few times.
"Hello?" you barely whisper out of breath.
"Is this the Dawson residence?" you faintly hear a middle-ages woman's voice.
"No, I think you have the wrong number."
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she panics and continues to apologize profusely.
"It's fi-" you unexpectedly got cut off.
"Well, that was weird.
Looking back at the mess you made, you decide to just clean up everything and stop fooling around once and for all.
[[continue|Take trash]]
"What in the...?"
Confused, you pull out a tiny box the size of half your hand. You carefully inspect it, scanning the four corners. The box seems intact still. You slowly pull up the flaps to open the box, which puzzes you even more.
You see nothing inside. You are about to feel disappointed until some writing in black ink catches your eye.
"Woah. A hidden message?"
You pull the box closer to your face until you feel it touching your cheeks. After failing to see anything else, you grab the scissors again and cut the corners to unfold the box.
"TO WHOEVER RECEIVES THIS," you begin to read. "KNOW THAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT. THERE'S A REASON YOU FOUND THIS MESSAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE."
Shocked, you put the unfolded box on your shelf and pause.
[[continue|Pause]]
"Well, that was a waste of time." You were disappointed that you did not find anything interesting.
"I guess that's a sign that I should do my work."
You get up and return the loose stuffing back to its place.
"I'll ask Mom to sew this back up later, I guess." You gently place the bunny on top of your drawer so you don't forget about it and go back to your desk.
Scooting your chair in closer, you open a new tab and brainstorm some new ideas.
"//Killer Bunny on the Loose// sounds like a great title. Oh, or //The Dissection of the Mysterious Rabbit// sounds even better!" You excitedly type up some random titles that happen to pertain with your unusual experience.
"I can't believe I'm having fun with this!"
After hours of typing up your ideas and condensing them to have two ideas, you start to get tired.
[[continue|Can't stop now]]
"I can't stop now!" You mentally scold your body for being to sensitive.
You tell yourself to stop whining and slap your cheeks to stay awake.
"I can do this!" You suck in your gut and continue to type away. You are almost done with your essay until your computer crashes. The blue screen of death illuminates your darkened room.
"Did I save?"
[[continue|Ending 6]]
"That's a load of cliche crap" you grumpily tell yourself. Although that little investigation was fun and endearing, you look at the time and freak out.
"Shoot! It's getting super late!"
You race to your computer, forgetting to clean up the rest of your messy dissection. Taking your computer off of sleep mode, you blink a couple of times because you have no idea what to write about still. Recalling the events that just happened, you get a spark in your eye.
"I know!"
You hastily jot down what just happened and your surprising but disappointing findings. After hours of typing, you manage to finish your essay.
"Woo-hoo!" you cheer in relief and excitement.
[[continue|Don't turn in]]
It's one o'clock in the morning, but you're too tired to turn it in.
"The essay isn't due until 11 A.M. I can just sleep for now and wake up at 10." You set your alarm clock to go off at the specified time and lazily pounce on your bed.
"I knew I could pull it off." you sleepily talk to yourself until you start counting sheep.
[[continue|Ending 4]]
"Honey, time for lunch!" you faintly hear your mother's voice downstairs. Getting up zombie-style, you scratch your head like a caveman.
//Yawn//"What are you talking about?" you yell. "It's only 10!" you yell back.
"How late did you sleep last night? It's one in the afternoon." your mother replies.Frightened, you quickly but sloppily twist your body around to reach for the alarm clock.
"What!? How did I sleep through the alarm?"
You must have been overly exhausted last night that you overslept.
"What about the submission?" You jump out of bed and go to the websit where you are supposed to submit your work. You click the upload button and you are about to submit the essay, you saw that dreaded word in red.
"CLOSED"
You keep trying to click the submission button repeatedly but to no avail.
''Restart?''
[[Yes.|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
Worried, you are trying to remember if you saved or not. You were too caught up in your work that you do not remember anything else.
As your computer restarts, you bite your nails in anticipation. You can't even log in to your computer's account properly because you are too terrified. When you finally do, you try to open up the document for where you were typing up the paper when you find nothing.
Too shocked to even say something, you feel like a zombie with no soul. Your energy was wasted because you did not save, and now you are too tired to write another one.
''Restart?''
[[Yes|Start]]
Otherwise, quit the game.
"Who cares if it's late? There's nothing better to do."
You lift your loaded laundry basket with all your might and trudge to the laundry room downstairs.
Once you reach the stairs, you're too sweaty and out of breath.
"I should probably hit the gym this week."
You dispense your clothes in the washer and are about to go back upstairs until your stomach growls.
"A little snack won't hurt."
''Walking to the kitchen, you make yourself...''
[[Mini pizzas|Yum]]
[[Scrambled eggs|Yum]]
[[Small salad|Yum]]
[[Banana split|Yum]]
"I'll do it next time."
You swivel your chair facing the screen. All of a sudden, you hear a ding. Looks like you got an email.
[[continue|Check email]]
Full and satisfied, you continue to head back to your room.
"That snack filled me up more than it should have."
You felt sleepy but snap yourself out of it.
"I have to finish the laundry anyway"
You go back to your spot to look for inspiration.
"Oh! I need to vacuum my floor." You notice leftover dirt from your shoes living in your carpet.
You go to the cleaning supply closet and fetch the vacuum.
[[continue|Vacuum]]
It's a good thing that the cleaning supply closet is across from your room. It would be a shame if you had to drag the heavy vacuum from all the way downstairs.
You plug in the vacuum and try to suck in every spot of dirt that is contaminating your beige carpet.
Unfortunately, vacuuming took longer than usual and you had to dry your clothes. You open the dryer only to find your mother's clothes still in there from this morning.
''"A little folding won't hurt right?"''
[[Of course it will. Those aren't your clothes to begin with.|Fold]]
[[Nah. They're just clothes.|Fold]]
"Actually, I just want to get my laundry over with, so I'll just fold these."
After neatly folding your mother's clothes, you put yours in the dryer and bring the folded clothes to your mother's room.
"Glad that's taken care of!"
Stretching, you go back to your computer and sit still. You scan your room once more and see the stuffed toy.
[[continue|Rabbit]]
Project made by Janelynn Camingue
Note: This was my first time using Twine 2.0
Date finished: 1/26/17
[[Start the game.|Start]]