Interactive Gothic Fiction

Ah! You chose the darkness. Your brave soul has steered you to the South. Usually a direction taken to find warmth, your southern journey starts off cold. The [[rain]] has picked up. Sheets of water continue to fall from the sky with an obscuring density that practically disables your sense of [[sight]]. You once thought this southern path could be no darker, but now you're aware of your mistake. With one foot in front of the other you continue to move [[forward]]. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

This story begins on a rain soaked, backcountry road in rural Western Pennsylvania. You don't know how you got here. It's dark. You're clothes are heavy with the weight of the rain. You don't recognize your surroundings. To the North you discern a light through the trees. To the West, a thin line of smoke faintly floating towards the sky. To the South, complete darkness. To the East, a waning moon hangs low in the sky, illuminating a path through the forest. You know not what each path may hold. Your unwanted adventure begins here [[To the North->The Light]] [[To the West->The Smoke]] [[To the South->The Darkness]] [[To the East->The Moon]] <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

You begin to regret your decision to turn South. The moon in the [[East->The Moon]] is looking like a better choice with each passing minute. You turn, face the [[East->The Moon]], and with one quick motion change the trajectory of your journey. While you did waste some time milling about in the darkness, the moonlight brings you hope. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

Sight. A sense often taken for granted. Without the valient work done by our [[eyes->The Light]] each and every day, this already vague and misunderstood existence would become something almost untranslatable. But there are those who have never known the wonders experienced through the sense of [[sight->The Light]]. Do they misunderstand existence, or does their existence merely difer from what is readily accessible? It is this question you ponder as your path shifts without your notice. Blind and with no understanding of the location in which you find yourself, your path spins [[180 degrees->The Light]], and you're now travelling [[North->The Light]] towards the light in the distance that is now slightly veiled by the rain. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

You're moving forward on your journey. The rain is making it difficult to [[see->sight]]. Still with no [[answers]] as to where you are or how you got here, you finally come to the realization that your [[cell phone->answers]] is in your pocket where it has been the entire time! <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

The North and the light! As you begin to walk towards that distant glow, you step in a [[mud puddle]]. You take little notice because your shoes were already soaked, but after three more steps you notice a sharp pain on the sole of your foot. You stop, but the pain continues. Sitting down on a fallen tree you remove your shoe to find a [[tooth]]! <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

To the West! Manifest Destiny is your battle cry as you venture towards the line of smoke. It surely is coming from a cabin or a campfire, some kind of civilization must be creating this smoke. As you walk westward you are startled when you step on a [[twig->Death End]]. Still phased you stumble forward bumping into a [[tree->Death End]] and falling [[backward->Book the First]]. This seemed the most promising path, but your [[clumsiness]] has gotten the best of you. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

Ah the moon! Always representative of the cyclical nature of the human experience. With each [[end->forward]] comes a new [[beginning->Death End]]. Your journey has only just begun but as the clouds cover the moon and any chance of light is extinguished you wish it were [[over->forward]] soon. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

Ugh, your shoes are filled with mud and water. As you begin to shiver all hope seems to be lost. How will you ever find your way out of these woods?It's dark. It's raining. You're cold. Depression is setting in. With your head hung low in despair you walk [[forward->forward2]] with your mud-filled shoes. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

A TOOTH! It looks human! Inspecting the molar you notice fresh blood on the root. It looks as if this tooth found a home in someone's mouth not too long ago. There are so many questions with no answers to be found. Whose tooth is this? Where is the person to which it belongs? How did it get in your shoe? Still sitting on the fallen tree you ponder, not aware of your surroundings. Realizing your cell phone is still in your pocket you take it out noticing you received a video message from one of your friends. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a7hzX7HEQU8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It's time you found some [[answers]] <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

You have perished... <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

<center>Modern Pennsylvania Gothic</center> <center>by: Matthew Stumpf</center> <justified>This is an interactive fiction project written and designed by Matthew Stumpf entitled: "Modern Pennsylvania Gothic." This is a short story where you are the protagonist trying to find your way home on a stormy night in Western Pennsylvania while overcoming obstacles and challenges along the way. Some passages may be riddles where you have to click the correct link in order to move on, clicking the wrong link may result in your untimely demise, or, less severely, backtracking on your journey home. Other passages will have an obvious trajectory, leaving little ambiguity in where a click will take you. The purpose of this project is for entertainment. It is my hope that playing along with this narrative will be enjoyable for the readers. Whether your journey ends in digital death or you reach the goal of returning home, have fun finding your way out of the woods!</justified> <center>[[Begin->Book the First]] </center> <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

You [[thought->Death End]] you couldn't get any more wet, but you were mistaken. Sitting on the ground after your fall it becomes apparent this journey may become a [[difficult->Book the First]] one. With this in mind you decide to stand up and continue [[forward->forward2]] despite your minor [[setback->Book the First]]. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

Your cell phone! YES! In your fearful stumblings through the forest you forgot that which occupies most of your time anyways. Your rectangle of hope only has 6% battery remaining, a horror story in and of itself. But with the unexplainable nature of the past events you're willing to use every last percentage point to figure out what is going on. Using [[Google Maps]] you finally figure out where you are. <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

<head> <style> body { background-image: url("http://runitlikeamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Sunshine-and-Rainbows.jpg"); } </style> </head> You return to safety. Thank god for cell phones, am I right!? <center><img src="http://sr.photos2.fotosearch.com/bthumb/CSP/CSP939/k9397274.jpg"/></center> <iframe width="0%" height="o" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/186356442&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>

Progression! Your journey seems to be moving in the right direction. While there has been some setbacks you seem to be moving forward regardless. As you continue to walk through the woods your surroundings become more dense. Trees branches intermingle with other tree branches, fallen wood and brush litters the ground obscuring any chance of finding a path. You push forward through the dense woodland brush until there is a Y in your path. Shall you continue [[left->forward]] or [[right->Death End]] <iframe width="1%" height="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49509833&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>