Collateral

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December 1st, 2017. <<set $love to 0>> The sun was out for less time than you've sat in this beat-up cruiser. The driver, Joel – your roommate of a few years, now – turns off Juno lane and into the woods. Snow covers the dirt road; he mutes an anarchic jazz track to better focus. <<set $hostile to 0>> "Almost there, Jamie.” He scratches his wooly cheek. "The city is six hours behind. The cabin's two, maybe three minutes ahead." <<set $called to false>> [[It's about time we got out of the city.|WhyCome]] [[Jesus, I can't wait to stand.|WhyCome]]

Joel leans over the steering wheel. He nods. "It's better out here. Quieter. No more paper walls. Piss filled elevators. Cramped digs." [[Beats hearing the neighbors screaming at their kids.|QuietHere]] [[I miss it all already.|Contrarian]] [[It'll be just us. Should be fun.|RomanceMaybe]]

Joel smiles. "It'll be a good month." <<SceneSet>> <<Cabin>>

Joel smiles widely. "We'll make it memorable." <<set $love to $love +1>> <<SceneSet>> <<Cabin>>

Joel parks by the cabin. You get out and stretch in the sharp night air. Joel scans the wood for a moment before he raises the trunk. "Let's get our luggage inside. Get the door, Jamie?" Inside, it’s all Americana: a Buffalo head mounted above a stone fireplace; a colorful woven rug, sprawled across the wood floor; wooden furniture, focused toward a television. The kitchen adjoins the living room. A stairway leads up to the bedrooms and down to the cellar. [[So much room!|25Cases]] [[The novelty is already wearing off.|25Cases]] [[Let's drop these off and get dinner cooking.|25Cases]]

"The bedrooms are upstairs," Joel says, carrying up the first suitcase. It takes several trips get everything up there. As you bring the last suitcase up, Joel asks: "Where should I put your bags?" [[In with yours.|WithJoel]] [[Across the hall, thanks.|NotWithJoel]]

Joel bends down to examine the case marked '1'. Its code is set to 000-000. He looks up at the array. "An advent calendar?" he asks. "One for each day 'til Christmas?" <<AdventQ>>

"I guess so." Joel bends down to examine the first one. Its code is set to 000-000. <<AdventQ>>

Before Joel can answer, a violent light pours into the room. You rush to the window: outside, the cruiser burns like a bonfire. Fleeing into the darkness is a figure in red robes, wearing costume angel wings. He looks back for only a moment. His face is pale as paper; his eyes red as wounds. [[Oh my god...|WhatMan]] [[Someone set the car on fire!|WhatMan]] [[We need to put it out!|SaveCar]]

Joel rushes to the window, just as the red angel vanishes into the darkness. He almost collapses; you steady him. [[We gotta put it out!|SaveCar]] <<Batten>>

You rush outside and into the snow, falling over in your hurry to get to the car. There's no hose to douse it, no extinguisher to kill the flames. You fling snow at it until your hands are raw, all to no effect. Joel watches from the porch, despondent. <<Batten>>

Joel nods jerkily and tries to stand. He falls back down when a megaphone whines and a voice booms from the mountain: //"Testing. Testing. Hello."// [[Hello?|VoiceContinue]] [[Joel? What the hell's happening?|VoiceContinue]] [[Is that the guy?|VoiceContinue]]

The voice continues over the megaphone: //"Don't try running. Step too far from the cabin and I'll shoot you. I don't miss, and I don't sleep. By now, you should have found the briefcases one of the bedrooms upstairs. Listen closely: each day, I'll tell you a code to open a briefcase. Today's date is December first. Today's code is 239-947. Merry Christmas."// And then, silence. Joel sits in a daze, pale and trembling. [[I'm making a run for it.|OutsideRunPause]] [[I'll get the briefcase.|OpenChest1]] [[Joel? Joel, don't leave me alone right now. Speak to me.|DiscussSitu]]

Joel isn't listening, however. He's searching his pockets. "One sec --" He takes out his cell. "We'll call..." He flashes the screen: no signal. You check yours: full charge and no service. [[We've got to get out of here.|Day2Start]] [[Hold me?|Day2Start]]

Joel sits up. "What? No -- Jamie, stop!" He tumbles after you, but he can't catch you. Outside, beneath the stars, you take a breath of fresh air: it's brisk and cruel. [[We can make it, you and me. Come on!|WarningShot1]] [[Let's see how good a shot he is.|WarningShot1]] [[I... no, you're right. Let's just open the briefcase.|OpenChest1]]

You roll through the numbers as Joel watches on. It clicks open. Inside are two Christmas stockings, names written in gold stitching: //Joel// and //Jamie//. [[What kind of bad horror movie is this?|NoPhone]] [[Be honest -- do you know anyone who'd do this?|NoPhone]] [[Guess we're in this together.|NoPhone]]

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..." Joel's face contorts. He punches the wall until he calms down. [[I'm making a run for it.|OutsideRunPause]] [[Calm down! Let's just play along and see what happens.|OpenChest1]]

Snow crunches beneath your feet, wind blows through your hair. Ahead, one of the snowmen smiles at you -- until a rifle fires from the mountain and shoots through his carrot nose. The voice sounds again from the megaphone: //"I don't miss. Return to the cabin."// Joel is at the door when you return. He has nothing to say. [[Let's just play along for now.|OpenChest1]] [[Bad idea. Let's just open the briefcase.|OpenChest1]] [[Is this real?|OpenChest1]]

The next morning, the angel booms again from the mountain. //"It's December second. 502-544. Merry Christmas."// Joel sits at the kitchen table, head in his hands. You heard him searching the cabin throughout the night. "I searched everywhere. There's no out." [[Show me.|Foolproof]] [[We're trapped?|Foolproof]] [[There must be something you overlooked.|Foolproof]]

Joel gives you the grand tour. The basement walls and floors are concrete. There are no white sheets, so you can't hide against the snow. None of the furniture is thick enough to stop a bullet. [[I need to lie down.|Day2Chest]] [[Maybe something in today's briefcase will help.|Day2Chest]]

Joel nods. "I'll get the case." A minute later, you're holding the spoils of day two: a pair of binoculars. [[What are these for?|MaybeScan]] [[Think we can spot the guy with these?|Scan]]

Joel thinks for a moment, before heading onto the back porch. He scans the mountain. "I see him!" he cries. "Look!" [[Let me see.|Scan]] [[Do you recognize him?|Day3Start]]

On the mountain, you spy the red angel, still costumed, face still painted its horrid colors. He sits beside a burning fire pit; a rifle is placed across lap. He looks young. [[What kind of freak dresses up like that?|Day3Start]] [[He has to sleep at some point.|Day3Start]] [[Take a look. Recognize him?|Day3Start]]

Joel stares into the far away. He says nothing. The next day, the angel booms again from the mountain: //"December third. 350-983. Merry Christmas."// Joel sits over his oatmeal, desolate. [[Want me to open it?|OpenChest3]] [[I'll keep looking for a way out.|YouLook]]

Joel nods. You bring the case down stairs. Inside is a deck of playing cards, well-worn. [[Rummy?|Resigned3]] [[Stockings, bionoculars, cards. What does it mean?|Day3Fight]] [[Seriously, is there anything you're not telling me?|Day3Fight]]

A hopeless search. At least it kills the time. When you return, you find Joel sat before a game of Solitaire, forcing his attention on the cards. "From today's case. Any luck?" [[No.|PlayCardsQ]] [[Stockings, bionoculars, cards. What does it mean?|AngryCards]] [[Seriously, is there anything you're not telling me?|Day3Fight]]

Joel shuffles the deck. "Let's play a couple of games. Maybe we'll think of something." [[I'll take first deal.|Day4Start]] [[You're right. Let's just clear our heads.|Day4Start]]

"I'll play Solitaire then." <<set $hostile to $hostile +1>> [[You do that.|Day4Start]] [[No, let's play something. Clear our heads.|Day4Start]]

Joel shrugs. [[Rummy?|Resigned3]] [[I hate this.|AngryCards]]

December fourth; 441-288; an amateurish nutcracker, carved by hand. December fifth; 401-654; a box of chocolates, dated fifteen years ago. December sixth; 554-049; a polaroid of a family, also dated fifteen years ago: a young boy, his mother and father. The back is marked //'Wainwright Christmas.'// December seventh; 822-166; a DVD of the Wainwright family, singing Christmas carols outside a suburban home. Joel has watched the DVD ten times now. [[Who are the Wainwrights?|WhoAreThey]] [[Do you think he killed them too?|Speculation]]

"I'll drink to that." <<CoffeeLow>> //"December twentieth. 109-909. Merry Christmas."// Joel is already dressed and making coffee. "We're running low on decaff," he says. <<Resist>>

Joel takes a long sip. "What if we don't open it at all?" [[It's chilly. Want to get under the covers?|Love]] [[Let's look again for an escape.|NoEscapeReally]] [[Another game of rummy?|13thCards]]

Joel shrugs. You head upstairs to collect the case. Inside is another DVD. Downstairs, Joel stares at a newly dealt game of Solitaire. [[It's another DVD. Want to come watch?|PLAYDVD]] [[Think it's another home video?|PLAYDVD]]

Snow falls outside, as always. The sun sets early, as is its wont. It's warm beneath the covers. <<Threat>> //"Open the briefcase. Or I'll tell them myself, Joel."// <<set $love to $love +5>> You can feel the cold sweat Joel breaks into. He fumbles out of bed. <<DVDorDie>>

Your search turns up nothing new. It hurts less, now that hopelessness is routine. <<Threat>> //"Open the briefcase. Or I'll tell them myself, Joel."// Joel pales. He rises from the table, excusing himself. <<DVDorDie>>

The horror has already become routine. You focus on the games like an old hand. <<Threat>> //"Open the briefcase. Or I'll tell them myself, Joel."// Joel pales. He rises from the table, excusing himself. <<DVDorDie>>

Joel is already upstairs and entering the code. Within moments, he descends with another DVD. The voice crackles again from the mountain: //"Play it or die."// [[Do what he says.|PLAYDVD]] [[What did you do?|PLAYDVD]]

The disc whirrs. A title card for //Real Crime: At Large// appears on the TV. Only one episode of the hundreds produced is printed on the disc: the murder of the Wainwright family at Christmas. The same family you've watched singing Christmas songs a week before. You even recognize their decorations: they've been pouring out of the briefcases for weeks now. You hear the floorboard creak behind you. Joel watches the screen from the stairway. [[Do you know these people, Joel?|AngelTV]] [[...|AngelTV]]

<<Bannister>> It is a few moments before he can speak. "They're all dead. All." [[You didn't answer.|ATruth]] [[You can trust me.|ATruth]]

Joel staggers toward the television. He stares at the screen. "Everyone died. I don't know who the angel could be." [[You better start being honest with me.|ISwear]] [[Please, Joel: just tell me what you know.|ISwear]]

Joel closes his eyes. He breathes deep. "I'm in here with you. You're in here with me. I know nothing." [[Alright. I trust you.|Day14StartTogether]] [[I can't believe you, Joel.|Day14StartAlone]]

<<First14>> If Joel isn't in a silent shell, he's the embodiment of the Christmas spirit. Anything to stave off the boredom and the dread. <<Second14>> [[What's wrong with you?|GiveLetters]] [[Don't try that again.|GiveLetters]]

<<First14>> Joel haunts the house; silent, disturbed, removed. The boredom and dread become ridiculous. <<Second14>> For the first time in a week, he speaks: "Give them to me." [[What's wrong with you?|GiveLetters]] [[Don't try that again.|GiveLetters]]

Joel lunges, but a good knock on the jaw sends him reeling back. "Please!" <<set $hostile to $hostile +3>> [[Don't you dare try that again.|LetterRead]] [[Fine! If you want them so badly? Here.|LetterSurrender]]

"Please, Jamie." Joel's breathing is ragged. He stares at the papers. "Give them here. For the Christmas spirit. Be an angel. Please." [[No. I'm reading them.|FightLetters]] [[Fine. You want them? Here.|LetterSurrender]]

Joel stops. The letter is dated fifteen years ago. Joel has written enough grocery lists for you to recognize his writing. Though the fire has scorched most of it, you can still read enough: //'Angels are helpers. Angels do right. Thompson Wainwright killed Jamie Wainwright and our unborn child. They are angels in heaven. I will be an angel on earth and avenge them'// [[Jamie...?|Accomplice]] [[It was you? You killed the Wainwrights?|Accomplice]]

He crumples the papers in his hand; they disintegrate into ash. <<set $love to $love +1>> [[It doesn't matter anyway. We're dead soon.|Confession]] [[We'll do this together. Okay?|Confession]]

"He took my family." Joel's voice is distant. "Jamie was his daughter. We were in love. We were going to have a baby. Her father didn't like that, and..." <<JamieTruth>>

The day ends. The night ends. The day begin again. Joel is unresponsive. He only stares at the log beams in the ceiling. Word comes from the mountain, same time as always: //December twenty-fourth. 051-792. Merry Christmas eve."// The twenty fourth opens just like the rest. Inside is a pistol, fully loaded. It's heavy in your hand. <<set $gun to true>> [[Well. I don't need to tell Joel...|HiddenGun]] [[I think I should have a chat with Joel about this.|ALANGun]]

You hide the gun behind a Jack London anthology on the living room bookshelf. In time, Joel comes down stairs. "What was it today?" [[More of the same.|GunLie]] [[A gun. I've hidden it.|WhyHide]]

Joel hardly looks up as you enter the room. But he sits to attention on seeing the gun. "Where did you get that?" [[From today's case.|GunUse]] [[The angel wants you dead. I'm sorry for this.|SHOTALAN]]

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore." Joel sighs. "It's the last day. Christmas eve. Want to make something of it?" <<ChristmasSpend>>

"Do you really think he'd leave us a loaded gun?" [[Good point.|ResignedALAN]] [[Do you have anything better?|ResignedALAN]]

"What're you gonna do?" Joel asks, eyes fixed on the weapon. [[I'm going to see if I can shoot the angel from here.|ShootAngel]] [[Shoot him if he comes tomorrow.|WhyHide]] [[Save myself. I'm sorry: but he wants you dead. Not me.|SHOTALAN]]

A loud bang. But no blood. <<set $hostile to $hostile +10>> Joel peeks from behind the covers. "Blanks." He sighs, watching the smoke trail from the pistol. "Was it worth it?" <<set $gun to false>> [[No. I'm sorry. I just want out.|NoHardFeelings]] [[I'm not finished yet.|FightingAlan]] [[That's it, then. I guess we'll greet the dawn together, then.|Day25]]

You pull the trigger: smoke and powder, fire without effect. Every shot misses. You only have a few bullets left. [[Close range. Tomorrow.|ResignedALAN]] [[Damn! Why can't I hit him!|ResignedALAN]] [[No good. But if he wants you dead, not me, then -- I'm sorry..."|SHOTALAN]]

A minute passes before Joel's breathing returns to normal. "No hard feelings," are the first words he croaks. [[I don't want to die. I don't want anyone to die.|Day25]] [[It's better than you deserve. But let's work together to get out.|Day25]]

Fists fly. But after Joel's nose is bloodied, he doesn't offer resistance. Even as you begin to choke him, he doesn't fight back. [[Goodbye, Joel. And merry Christmas.|AlanDead]] [[I'm sorry... Goodbye.|AlanDead]] [[No. No, I'm better than you. Better than him.|NoHardFeelings]]

Christmas eve passes. Christmas day dawns. The voice from the mountain makes a final pronouncement: //"December twenty-fifth. 231-396. I'm on my way down. Make use of your final gift while there's time. Merry Christmas."// Together, you and Joel open the final case. Inside is a phone jammer. It breaks easily. Immediately, signal is restored. Joel looks expectant. [[I'm calling the cops.|CopsCalled]] [[I'm telling my mom I love her.|FamilyCall]] [[Why bother? It's too late.|AngelDescends]]

Three rings, then: <<set $call to true>> "This is 911, what's your emergency?" [[We're being held hostage in the cabin off Juno Lane!|SendingSomeone]] [[Someone's after us -- the cabin off Juno Lane -- hurry!|SendingSomeone]]

Three rings, then: <<set $call to true>> "Merry Christmas!" Your mother's voice is so sweet, now you hear it for perhaps the last time. The sounds of home bustle in the background: family singing, children laughing, arguments over who will wash up. "I was getting worried, not hearing from you." [[Merry Christmas, mom. I love you.|SomethingWrong]] [[Mom, there's something I need to tell you.|SomethingWrong]] [[Mom, please listen - I need you to call the cops.|SomethingWrong]]

Joel dies by your hand. You drag his lifeless body outside and scream for the angel's attention. The angel's voice booms from the mountain, demanding Joel rise, rise or be shot. When he doesn't move, the angel fires. When Joel's body doesn't move, the angel screams. And when silence settles, another shot fires from the mountain -- it goes straight through your heart.

Joel shakes his head. "We're going to die tomorrow. But hell, it's Christmas eve. Want to make something of it?" <<ChristmasSpend>>

The angel kicks the door. You hang up. Joel is already headed downstairs. <<if $love gt $hostile>> [[One kiss before the end?|SETROMANCE]] [[I hope we come out okay.|SETROMANCE]] [[I'll never forgive you for this.|SETHOSTILE]] <<elseif $hostile gt $love>> [[I'll never forgive you for this.|SETHOSTILE]] [[I want you to know, even if we survive, I'm telling the cops.|SETHOSTILE]] [[I guess this is it.|SETHOSTILE]] <<elseif $hostile eq $love>> IF NEUTRAL [[I'll never forgive you for this.|SETHOSTILE]] [[One kiss before the end?|SETROMANCE]] <</if>>

The angel crosses the lawn. "Hold tight. I've sent out a dispatch. Can you get anywhere safe?" [[We'll try!|AngelDescends]] [[No -- for god's sake, please hurry!|AngelDescends]]

"Honey?" She sounds nervous. She covers the phone and shoos your drunken father away. "Are you okay? What's going on?" The angel crosses the lawn. [[Call the cops! We're in the cabin off Juno Lane -- hurry!|AngelDescends]] [[Never mind, mom. I have to go now. I love you.|AngelDescends]]

The angel goes down. You kick him, but the Wainwright boy is now a man: he grabs your foot and upends you. He staggers up, throws Joel into the kitchen and readies his rifle. "Hide!" Joel cries. The angel fires, killing him instantly. But it gives you enough time to flee upstairs. [[...|HiddenAlone]]

Joel sighs. "I can already tell you'll make this month fun." <<set $hostile to $hostile +1>> <<SceneSet>> <<Cabin>>

Joel looks like a man about to be ill. He does not answer, but shuffles the cards. [[Whatever. Rummy?|Resigned3]] [[What aren't you telling me?|AngryCards]]

Joel uncorks it in the kitchen and fills two glasses. "What should we drink to, Jamie?" [[To the life we lived.|Day13Start]] [[To Christmas.|Day13Start]] [[To life outside the cabin.|Day13Start]] [[To your beautiful, scruffy chin.|Day13Start]]

<<Reveal>> You stand side-by-side with Joel. The angel raises his rifle. [[Goodbye, Joel. I love you.|MUTUALDEATH]] [[...|MUTUALDEATH]] [[Please, don't!|MUTUALDEATH]] [[You don't need to do this. It won't make it right.|MUTUALDEATH]]

<<Shooting>> [[Die!|ShotAngel]]

<<Reveal>> Joel stands alone before the angel. You watch from the stairway. The angel raises his rifle. [[I hope this makes you happy, kid.|COLLATERAL]] [[End it already. Please.|COLLATERAL]] [[You don't have to kill me too. Do you, kid?|COLLATERAL]]

You hide behind a door. Joel tries to hide among the rafters. But the angel cannot be stopped. He explores the house, one room at a time, until he finds Joel. With a single shot, Joel falls to the ground, bleeding and burbling. <<if $call is true>> [[...|FoundInTime]] [[Joel!|GaveAway]] <<else>> [[...|Found]] [[Joel!|GaveAway]] <</if>>

Joel looks over his shoulder. "What'd you say?" [[It's you he wants. Why should I have to die?|SacrificeHos]] [[Maybe we can talk to him.|SacrificeHos]] [[Let's take him down together.|FightAngel]] [[Should we hide?|Hiding]] <<if $gun is true>> [[I'm going to shoot him.|ShootingAngel]] <</if>>

Joel stops midway down the steps. "Let's end it." [[I don't think we should run. He deserves his revenge, Joel.|SacrificeRom]] [[Maybe we can talk to him.|SacrificeRom]] [[Let's take him down together.|FightAngel]] [[Should we hide?|Hiding]] <<if $gun is true>> [[I'm going to shoot him.|ShootingAngel]] <</if>>

The first shot tears through your heart. The second, through Joel's. [[...|Makeup]]

Joel doesn't run. When the angel shoots, he dies quietly. Then the angel turns his rifle on you. [[...|Makeup]]

Bang! Smoke and powder; fire without effect. Joel stands stock still; the angel bursts into a fit of hysterical laughter. "They're blanks you idiot!" [[Hide!|Hiding]] [[Joel, go for his legs!|FightAngel]]

No one looks behind the door. The angel searches, comes so near. <<if $call is true>> [[...|FoundInTime]] <<else>> [[...|Found]] <</if>>

Silence, broken only by the angel's footfall. But then, sirens: civilization breaking into the frontier, bringing its justice. The angel roars and bounds away into the snow. The officer who discovers you shouts for her colleagues. They bring shock blankets. "What happened?" [[Just take me home.|NoJustice]] [[Help him. Help Joel.|NoJustice]] [[The angel. You have to find him. Please.|NoJustice]]

The angel comes to you directly. His trigger is swift: the bullet breaks your heart. [[...|Makeup]]

But help isn't on its way. And in time, the angel finds you. His trigger is swift: the bullet breaks your heart. [[...|Makeup]]

When the cabin owner found the grisly scene the next week, and found you still alive, he called it an act of God. Christmases come, and Christmases go. One year, at the dawning of the season, you find yourself at a department store counter. An array of pigments lay before you. The salesman smiles. "Anything you'd like to try?" [[White foundation. Red eyeshadow.|REVENGEEND]] [[Nothing. Not today.|REVENGEAWAITS]]

When you put it on, you recognize the angel. If the Wainwright boy thought it was all behind him, he was mistaken.

The opportunity will always be there, long as you both live. You smile at the clerk, best you know how. Maybe one day, you'll forgive the angel.

You leave the old flat in the city. You move in with your mom. The welcome never wears thin, even as years begin to pass. The angel is never found by the authorities. But by your own initiative, you find the address of the Wainwright boy. He had been placed in witness protection after miraculously surviving Joel's assault. Another Christmas rolls around. Hopeful as ever to make the season more bearable, your mom asks: "Anything you'd like for Christmas?" [[Nothing. Thank you, mom.|CYCLEBREAK]] [[Makeup. White foundation. Red eyeshadow.|MakeupMa]]

"If that'd make you happy, then sure. We'll make it about the family instead, what do you say? Singing and ham, and..." Your mom smiles as best she knows how. You smile back. Maybe one day, you'll forgive the angel.

Your mom smiles as best she knows how. Christmas day, you find wrapped what you'd asked for: white foundation and red eyeshadow. You recognize the face in the mirror. Wainwright will recognize it too.

Joel is silent. The show details the family's murder: the mother, brought down with a hammer on answering the door; the father, left a pulp; mercifully, they don't detail the murder of the son. There were no arrests. All suspects were cleared. However, one witness report stands out: a neighbor described seeing that night a strange figure further down the road: a man in a red robe, with white angel wings. [[But why us?|AngelWhat]] [[Did you do this, Joel?|AngelWhat]] [[Was that you, Joel? That boy?|AngelWhat]]

Joel stares at his filthy hands. Tears well in his eyes and spill out. "I'm sorry," he cries. "I'm so sorry." [[What are you talking about?|JoelTruth]] [[Tell me what happened. Now.|JoelTruth]]

The truth comes out in blubbers. "Jamie... he killed Jamie, I had to do it... Wainwright, he killed her, so I..." <<JamieTruth>>

Joel speaks with his face in his hands. "His own daughter! He made her kill our child before it lived! Jamie couldn't live with it, so she... with his rifle..." In a sudden burst of fury, he upends the coffee table. It shatters, lining the floor with glass. [[I'm not going to die because of you.|Day24]] [[You're sick.|Day24]] [[Calm down!|Day24]]

"With pleasure," Joel says, opening one of the doors. "Maybe later we can -- what the hell?" <<set $love to $love +1>> <<Cases25>> <<CaseQ>>

"You got it," Joel says, opening one of the doors. "By the way, I was thinking we could -- what the hell?" <<Cases25>> <<CaseQ>>

"I don't know, Jamie." He crosses his arms and keeps watching. [[Really? No idea?|Push]] [[We're just trapped by a psycho then.|Accept]]

"I don't know," he says, replaying it again. [[But who are they?|WhoAreThey]]

Joel turns from the video to you, annoyed. "I said I don't know." <<set $hostile to $hostile +1>> [[Fair enough.|WorkingTogether]] [[Sorry.|WorkingTogether]] [[But things don't happen for no reason.|NoReason]]

Joel is absorbed in the film. "Maybe," he says dreamily. "But as long as we work together, we should be okay." [[You're right.|WorkingTogether]] [[But things don't happen for no reason.|NoReason]]

Joel leans back in the sofa, trying to relax. He pauses the DVD, right before the family's rendition of //'Angels We Have Heard on High.'// <<set $love to $love +1>> "<<GoodAngel>>" <<PassingTimeTogether>>

Joel pauses the DVD in a huff, right before the family's rendition of //'Angels We Have Heard on High.'// He breathes deep. "<<GoodAngel>>" <<PassingTimeTogether>>

Your card games become a torture. They play themselves out automatically. Terror, in the end, always gives way to boredom. <<DoingHere>> "What are we even doing here?" <<WhatDoingHere>>

You wait for the moon to hide behind a cloud. You bolt through the snow, fast as you can. The megaphone whines: //"You had better start for home while there's still time."// You do. <<DoingHere>> "What are we even doing here?" <<WhatDoingHere>>

You spent the day in bed. And the night. There is little else to do. <<set $love to $love +1>> <<DoingHere>> "What are we even doing here?" <<WhatDoingHere>>

Joel pins it on you tenderly. "It looks good on you. Really good." <<set $love to $love +1>> [[Thank you.|Close13]] [[Want to go back upstairs?|Close13]] [[Don't make a big deal out of it. Okay?|Awkward13]]

Joel forces a smile. He fiddles with the pin in his hand before slipping it into his pocket. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make it awkward." [[No worries.|Awkward13]] [[You know I don't like you like that, right?|Awkward13]] [[Don't feel down. It's all good.|Awkward13]]

Over the coming days, you hardly speak. Whatever card games you play, you play in silence. Meals are cooked and eaten seperately. <<set $hostile to $hostile +1>> <<Wine>> <<YesNoWine>>

Over the next several days, you talk more often. More intimately. And for brief moments together, you forget the red angel. <<Wine>> <<YesNoWine>>

Joel smiles. Soon, he even gets out of bed. <<Pin>> Joel turns it over in his fingers. "It'd look nice on you. May I?" <<YesNoPin>>

Joel forces himself to smile and get out of bed. "You're right. Sorry about that." <<Pin>> Joel turns it over in his fingers. "It'd look nice on you. May I?" <<YesNoPin>>

Joel throws the bottle against the wall. <<set $hostile to $hostile +1>> <<CoffeeLow>> //"And today, December twentieth, the code is 109-909. Merry Christmas."// Joel is already dressed and making coffee. "We're running low," he says. <<Resist>>