the view between villages // a stranger things choose-your-own-adventure

PAGE 17: Chain yourself up

You use the bike chain to secure your arm to the arm of your sofa. You then settle in for a day of vegging in front of the TV, resisting the urge to give in to whatever evil shit the monster in your mind wants you to do.

You wish your dad was still around. You wish he had never become a firefighter and you wish he'd never died in that stupid fire. He wouldn't know how to help you, but he'd be there for you and support you.

"Chin up, kiddo," he would say, any time you were going through a tough time. "Face it head-on."

Perhaps you aren't really facing it head-on by staying at home and not making any progress toward solving your problem. But this way, you can't hurt anyone, and that's good enough for you. 

Your day is uneventful. You don't feel any other twinges of phantom pain, thankfully. But that evening, you begin to feel something different.

An itch under your skin burns through you. You suddenly feel compelled to unchain yourself and leave your house. You have to get to Brimborn Steelworks now. If you don't, you feel you'll die.

You yank at your bike lock restraints. The key to the lock is safely stowed on your coffee table just out of reach. But if you stretch yourself a bit further, you can grab it—

"No!" you mutter aloud. "Stop it!"

You settle back on your couch pillows, but then you feel it again. That urge to go to the warehouse. It consumes you. It's all you can think about.

The voice in your head murmurs that you need to go. That it's your destiny. That you're useless as-is, but if you join your new brothers and sisters, you'll be part of something much bigger than yourself. Something more powerful.

You reach for the key once more, pulling all your body weight toward it and wondering if you can wriggle yourself out of the lock without the key instead. Maybe you can be like an escape artist and dislocate a shoulder to get yourself free...

Suddenly, the desire to leave is replaced by a new wave of pain. It feels like your whole body is aflame, like you're melting, like you've been dipped in acid.

You stop scrambling for the key and sit back on your couch, scared out of your wits. Whatever's happening at Brimborn Steelworks, it's causing this kind of pain to the other possessed people. As tempting as it is to join them, as much as He yells in your head that you have to go right now, you resist. You won't let it end like that for you.

You stay on your couch, uncomfortable and hot and sticky with sweat. Everything is fine and you're content to sit there all night if it means you don't hurt anyone—until you hear a knock at the door.

You turn down the volume on your TV, hoping the neighbor asking for sugar or vacuum cleaner salesmen or whoever it is thinks you're out and leaves. However, a few moments later, you hear the knock again, along with: "OPEN UP! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE."

It's Billy Hargrove. Your panic increases tenfold. You dive for the lock key again, afraid that if Billy gets inside, he'll kill you for ignoring the demon's call to the warehouse.

You can't reach it and change tactics. Feeling a bit like a monkey, you use your foot to drag the key closer to you. It falls to the floor by your feet and you snatch it up, frantically unlocking yourself as Billy's knocks and taunts get louder.

As soon as you get free, you plan to escape through your bedroom window. But you don't get there in time.

Billy bursts inside, having used his shoulder to force your door open. He towers over you, sweaty and covered in black veins. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror by your coat rack and are horrified to see the same veins on your own skin.