Sugarcane

You woke up, or you think you did, at least. You can't quite open your eyes. The light stings. You hear a few voices, unfamiliar and ecstatic ones. \n\n//"We've done it. This is..."//\n\nThere was a figure that was not thin.\n\n//"The experiment is... Last phase."//\n\nThis is terribly creepy, you thought. \n\n//"Contact..."//\n\nYou don't remember any more. You give a small frustrated hiss.\n\nThen your phone [[rings]]. You start and wrench it out of your pocket. You don't quite recall going to bed with it, but you're glad it's there.

Ah, you wonder if your mother will miss you, even though you're pretty sure she would sell you into slavery to get away from your father if she ever got a chance.\n\nIt's a wonder how your father never did the same.\n\nOr did he?\n\nCarlo's muffled voice interrupts your soliloquy.\n\n//Hey. [[I'm back]]... Hold on...//

You open your eyes with a jolt. The lights in the room are far too bright, and you close them again before you tear up.\n\n"Congratulations." You hear a voice. It is that of a man that is not thin. "Your performance was excellent. Far beyond our expectations. We apologise again for the inconveniences. We would like to test your abilities again, however."\n\nYou open your eyes again. You feel the cool steel around your forehead and scan the room full of contraptions that ended up on your body somehow - wires, nodes, everything.\n\n"[[Well]]..."

<<silently>>\n<<set $card = "no">>\n<<set $number = "no">>\n<<set $called = "no">>\n<<set $hint = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>\nIt's warm, a little too warm for your liking. You bat at where your blanket probably was, and jolt awake when you feel a splinter of wood jab into your finger.\n\nYou give a start, and hit your head on the panel of wood above you. Your arms push at the sides of your confinement, but you feel no give.\n\nThis has got to be a sick joke of some sort, right? You think to yourself. [[What the hell happened?]]

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"No you didn't!" You cry out. You feel the sandy soil gathering on you, but you are more scared of whoever... Whatever is standing above you.\n\n//I heard your voice. You were calling out and I was nearby! Where are you?//\n\nYou hear him clearly now.\n\n"[[Who are you?]]" You yell, although that really did you no good. \n\nThe smell of soil is stronger now.

//I heard your voice... calling... and I... nearby! Where... you?//\n\n[[You're pretty sure you didn't call out]]. Pretty sure. That's like 52% sure. However, you really don't care about how he got here in the first place. The coffin feels like a sauna and you are beginning to stink. \n\nYou hear a woody crack in your confinement, followed by a soft crescendo of falling sand and the feeling of soil on your foot.\n\n"[[I'm here]]!" You yell. "I'M HERE."

You can't help but laugh. Have you gone insane from breathing in the dust? You probably have.\n\n"It's just all too convenient, you know?" You cough as you breath in the sand. It's falling in streams now. "It's like a bad movie."\n\n//Good.//\n\nYou can hear him clearly now.\n\n"Huh? Carlos?"\n\n[[Return]]

As per usual, you can't sleep.\n\nWait, your memory gets a little hazy here. Did you [[take a walk]] or did you just [[count sheep]] until you passed out?\n\n

Someone picks up. Your lips shake to formulate your message, but the other voice speaks first.\n\n"[[Hi]]."

You had Chemistry (hell), French (HELL) and some classes that you don't remember (probably hell but probably not as bad as French). You went home, dodged an ashtray that your father threw at your mother, picked up the pieces and scuttled upstairs before you had to dodge the remote (you think you still have a bump from that one). \n\nYou burnt the microwaveable meal but somehow the peas were still frozen, but you ate it anyway. \n\nYou were [[lying in bed]].\n\n

<<set $card = "yes">>\nYou were talking to... Some guy? You don't remember his face, or what he said to you at all, but you remember that he was not tall. He wore a white coat of some sort and seemed to have been telling you something urgent? The guy handed you a card of some sort, too? You don't remember any more. In fact, you're not even entirely sure that it was real in the first place.\n\nWait. Your [[phone]].

"Hello?" You answer the phone without even looking at the number, relieved by the small sliver of hope.\n\n"[[Hi]]." \n\n

"Hard to believe it's only been a year, huh?" You pet your cat absentmindedly in your room. The fall scarred your arm, but that's only because the dumpster had a few bottles in it.\n\nThe money you found in your room was convenient, to say the least. You moved out soon after and found a job for yourself. And you got a cat, which was probably the best part of the whole thing.\n\nSometimes, though, you wish you had gotten to know Carlos better. Then again, you're pretty sure you know why he left too.\n\n-Cat Ending-\n(True Ending)\n[[Restart?]]

//Hey!//\n\nThe voice sounds muffled and barely distingushable.\n\n[[Hey! It's me! Carlos!]]\n

//I heard your voice. You were calling out and I was nearby! Where are you?//\n\nThe soil is piling up around your foot now. You blink. Is that sand you feel on your face?\n\nIt is. \n\n"Please!" You shout. \n\n//I heard your voice. You were calling out and I was nearby! Where are you?//\n\nDid you think [[anything]] was going to change?

"We are conducting a study on the SDDU Auxiliary microchip and its convergence with SCDU and SMDU redundant neurons. You have been chosen as one of our subjects due to your SV capacities, and we apologize for any inconveniences that this may have caused. Your reimbursement will be sent to your address if you provide us with applicable data." A monotone voice replies.\n\nOut of that, you understood about three words. Study. Subject. Reimbursement.\n\n"[[Hold on]]," you squeak. "get me out of here!"\n\n

<<set $hint = "yes">>\nSomeone picks up.\n\n"Hello?" You whisper. You feel a prickle of sand on your cheek.\n\n"Don't listen to Carlos." \n\n"Wait what? What are you..."\n\nYour phone [[dies]].

//I'm going... a shovel or something. I'll be right...//\n\n"Wait." You said. Something stops you from calling out again.\n\nIs this how I'm going to die? You thought. Your parents [[never loved you]], so you're not really worried about them being sad. Then again. Maybe there is a way to [[escape all of this]] after all?\n\nThe card. You turn on your phone again. 2% now. You use the dim light to illuminate the thin piece of card stock. There is no name, just a number. \n\nYou [[call]] the number.

"I called you. You couldn't have possibly gotten here so fast!" You yell. "You're a fake!"\n\n//Excellent.//\n\n"Huh?" You feel cold. The voice is unfamiliar. "[[Who]] are you?"

Don't Listen to the Voices

Carlos seems like a cool guy, you think to yourself. You're normally an anti-social person, but Carlos just felt easy to talk to. It's as if he knew what you were thinking sometimes, and you think that's pretty cool.\n\nThe thought of your new friend preoccupies you for a few precious minutes.\n\nYou hear a familiar voice.\n\n[[Hello]]?

"Help. I'm going to die if I don't come up soon. It's really hot and I..."\n\n//Save your breath. Knock against the coffin.... I need... out where you are.//\n\nYou knock with shaky hands. You are relieved for the help, regardless of its suspicious origin.\n\n"Where am I?"\n\n//...Keep knocking, I'm getting getting closer!//\n\nHis voice takes a dim crescendo, and you feel a tingle of hope.\n\n"[[I'm here]]!" You call out and give a few more bangs. <<if $card eq "yes">>You feel a [[card]] slip out from the same pocket that held your phone.<<endif>>

"We can't keep the kid up like this."\n\n"What do you expect me to do? It's your kid too."\n\n"Well I don't know that for sure."\n\n"Just sign the paper so they'll pull the tube."\n\n"I'm not signing that away."\n\n"I'LL DO IT THEN."\n\nYou don't hear any of this, of course. You have not heard anything for several months now. \n\nIt's your last day in the local hospital, so it seems. \n\n-Coma Ending-\n(Worst Ending)\n[[Restart?]]

Oh. It hung up on you. You glance at the phone again just in time to see it give another death rattle, indicating "3% battery".\n\n[[Hey! It's me! Carlos!]]

What's wrong with Carlos?\n\nIs it <<if $called eq "yes">>the [[time]], <<endif>>the [[voice]] or [[something else]]?

So do you, a little bit inside.\n\nThe last dim ray of hope that was your phone gave a small death rattle, and shut off.\n\nThere is more sand falling on your face now. The crack of wood above you is sickening. Your eyes water as you rub stray particles out of your eyes.\n\nThen. Carlos comes back. \n\n//Hey. [[I'm back]]... Hold on...//

You're not quite sure how to describe it. One minute you're stuck in a musty box somewhere underground, and the next you find yourself falling. A lot. It's like that falling sensation when you fall asleep too quickly, only for a lot longer. Years. Decades. You're not quite sure. You can't see anything, and you don't feel anything either.\n\nYou [[land]].

You feel feverish, and colours are dancing behind your eyes. You swear you heard the beep of a machine. The dusty air in the coffin should have long killed me by now, you think to yourself.\n\n//Odd. This... Before...//\n\n//Complications... Uncommon. Don't...//\n\n"Carlos?" You call out, but the sand in your mouth strangles the sound.\n\n//There might... Another... Ejection...//\n\nNo. The voice is not that of Carlos. For a moment, you thought you saw a figure that was not thin.\n\nThen, your saviour-to-be returns.\n\n//Hey. [[I'm back]]... Hold on...//

"That's a pretty sweet job though."\n\n"I'm not sure what I'm doing. It's like I'm getting paid to sleep."\n\n"Oh shut up. Your weekly salary could pay half my tuition."\n\n"It's not that sweet okay!" You roll your eyes.\n\nYou really don't know how to put up with Carlo's sarcasm sometimes.\n\n-Job Ending-\n(Great Ending)\n[[Restart?]]

One sheep.\nYou heard the distant buzz of your TV and the sluggish cheers of your father.\nTwo sheep.\nYou pulled your blanket over your head.\nThree sheep.\nYou dozed off a little.\nFour sheep.\nFive sheep.\nThe world feels soft, [[heavy]]...\n\n

"Hey! Haven't see you at French for a few days. Did you go on a vacation or something?"\n\n"Uh, I don't know what happened, really."\n\n"Right. That's funny."\n\n"Carlos, I'm not joking!" You yell at the dark-haired boy. "It's really creepy!"\n\n"Eh." Carlos shrugs. "You'll be alright."\n\n-Carlos Ending-\n(Good Ending)\n[[Restart?]]

You lose a few brain cells as your head clunks against the wood, but you don't care. You wrench your phone from your pants and jab at the home button impatiently.\n\nThe screen lights up like the holy wings of the messiah and your eyes water a little.\n\nOne bar of battery. Knowing your phone, you probably have about one call before it dies on you.\n\nYou decide to call your [[mother]]. But maybe the [[police]] first? \n\nA weird hunch asks you to call [[Carlos]].

//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\n"[[Please do]]." You murmur.\n\nYou hear the scraping above you. The sand is falling in streams now, and you can't quite breath. You [[realise]] something.

<<set $card = "yes">>\nYou tiptoed downstairs, past your father's snores and the distant murmuring of your mother, and quietly shuffled into the damp night.\n\nSome guy stopped you. You don't remember his face, or what he said to you at all, but you remember that he was not tall. He wore a white coat of some sort and seemed to have been telling you something urgent? The guy handed you a card of some sort, too? You don't remember any more. In fact, you're not even entirely sure that it was real in the first place. You sigh in frustration.\n\nYour phone [[rings]]. You don't quite remember taking it with you, but you sure are glad it's there.

You open your eyes with a jolt. The lights in the room are far too bright, and you close them again before you tear up.\n\n"Congratulations." You hear a voice. You open your eyes by a slit. It is a man that is not thin. "Your performance was... Satisfactory. We apologise again for the inconveniences. You will be sent back in a few hours."\n\n"Wa..." You mutter, but the morphine muffles your words. It's [[dark]] again.

<<silently>>\n<<set $card = "no">>\n<<set $number = "no">>\n<<set $called = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>\nIt's warm, a little too warm for your liking. You bat at where your blanket probably was, and jolt awake when you feel a splinter of wood jab into your finger.\n\nYou give a start, and hit your head on the panel of wood above you. Your arms push at the sides of your confinement, but you feel no give.\n\nThis has got to be a sick joke of some sort, right? You think to yourself. [[What the hell happened?]]

Actually, you can guess what happened from the smell of peat and decomposing matter around you, but you deny the thought and concentrate on not hyperventilating.\n\nWell. That doesn't work.\n\n[[Hyperventilate]]

<<set $called = "yes">>\n"Hey! What's up?" Carlos picks up with a cheery greeting. Staticky, but still cheery.\n\n"I'MNOTSUREWHATHAPPENEDBUTITHINKSOMEONEBURIEDMEALIVEPLEASEHELPITHINKI'MGOINGTODIE" You shout into the phone.\n\n"Whoa. Okay. I'm going to see what I can do, okay? I don't know where you are but I'll try."\n\n"Thanks." You sigh as Carlos [[hangs up]]. What a guy. You wonder briefly why he didn't call the [[police]], but you're more curious as to why you trusted him.

"How did you find me so quickly?" You shouted into the wood. \n\n//Save your... I'll get... Where are...//\n\nNo, there's only one way, you thought to yourself. Carlos has to have...\n\nYou hear a woody crack in your confinement, followed by a soft crescendo of falling sand and the feeling of soil on your foot.\n\n"[[I'm here]]!" You shout. "I'M HERE!"

You hyperventilate, choke on a bit of spit and calm down. Sort of. Except it's the sort of calm that always feels like it's teetering on a fine line between a nervous meltdown and a nervous meltdown, but you're going to take what you've got here.\n\nOkay. Okay. Following the logic of every amnesia drama you've ever had the displeasure of watching, you try to remember what last happened.\n\nWas it [[Monday]]? No, you're pretty sure it was [[Friday]] or [[Saturday]], right...?

"Come on dammit!"\n\nYou open your eyes and gasp, only to choke on the smoke around you. A steady hand grabs you and pulls you forward, while you can only follow. You trip over a wire, only to feel it detach from your body. \n\nYou follow the figure up a flight of soot-stained stairs, barely able to understand the shouting that streamed from his mouth.\n\n"You... No, I caused you to cause the machine to malfunction. We broke the simulator" He yells. "You did well! Don't worry. Don't tell anyone. The money is in your room. It's over now."\n\n"W-" \n\nHe shoves you out a [[window]].

You are the ward nine kid, and you are not adjusting so well.\n\n"Please." The soil is in your nose, your eyes, your mouth. You feel something scuttling in your throat. You cough. Nothing happens. \n\n"Please." You feel arms grabbing at you, but you don't see anything. You blink. Nothing happens.\n\nDid you really think anything changed?\n\n-Ward Nine Ending-\n(Bad Ending)\n\n[[Restart?]]

"Oh, a new one?" \n\n"Yeah. Ward nine, I think."\n\n"Huh. There's been quite a few more of those lately."\n\n"It's the stress of modern society y'know."\n\nA pager tone.\n\n"Right, you're funny. Well, seems like ward nine kid [[isn't adjusting so well]]."

<<if $number eq "yes">>You're pretty sure you just heard Carlos call to you. <<else>>Carlos? Oh yeah, the guy in French. He's probably the first friend you made at this school and you're 67.9% sure he has a thing for you. Why the hell is he here? The voice is muffled, but barely distingushable.<<endif>> \n\n"Carlos? is that you?" You call out, wondering if the insanity will kill you before the oxygen deprivation.\n\n//Yeah! Thank god I found... time. I... worried!//\n\n"How did you..." You [[panic]] a little. However, [[something seems a bit off]]. <<if $called eq "yes">>Didn't you just talk to him a few minutes ago? He [[couldn't have possibly known]]...<<endif>>

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//...Malfunctioning.//\n\n"Carlos?" You shout. The entire box is shaking now, and you feel as if you were being crushed.\n\n//Evacuate... Red...//\n\nThen, all of it [[falls away]].

<<if $hint eq "yes">>Ah. It all makes sense now. The card, Carlos, this box.\n\n"You've been lying to me all along, Carlos." You mutter. "[[You're not real]]."<<else>>"Stop." You call out. The scraping stops.\n\n//What's wrong?//\n\n"[[I]]..."<<endif>>

One tone. Two tones. Three tones.\n\nThat one hopeful pause.\n\nFour tones.\n\n"The customer you are calling..."\n\nYou hang up. What were you thinking? What could your mother possibly do? Cry? Dodge ashtrays thrown by an bad decision that was made too fast and too early? You sigh and prepare to resign yourself as your phone gives another death rattle of a battery warning.\n\nThen.\n\nIt [[rings]].

Uma

"Your voice... It's..."\n\n//What are you talking about? My voice is fine.//\n\n"No, it shouldn't be..."\n\n//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\n"Wait!"\n\n//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\nThe sand from above is descending in streams now. \n\n//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\nYou feel the box itself shake. \n\n"No, no, you're [[too]]..."\n

//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\n"Huh?" Your eyes widen. Not a good idea. The sand from above is descending in streams now. \n\n//I'll get you out in a minute, okay?//\n\nYou feel the box itself shake. \n\n"No, no, you're [[too]]..."\n

<<set $number = "yes">>\nAh, you were chatting with Carlos about some stuff. It's the guy in French that just might hate French as much as you do. You remember trading numbers and him giving you a wink. Is that what Europeans do? You don't want to admit that he's the first friend you've made in centuries but he is, and you don't want to blow it. So you winked back.\n\nWait. His number.\n\nYour [[phone]].