Choose (A Choose Your Own Story Adventure)

0. Beginning

"Hello, and welcome to your extensive tour of the Digital company!" the tour guide announces with a bright smile. His hair is slicked back and he's wearing a button-up and jeans. That's far more professional looking than you, who decided to wear a sweatshirt and your beat-up sneakers. You look at your tour guide, uninterested. Your friend, however, is beaming and waiting impatiently for the tour to begin. "Today we will be exploring the areas in which our devices are built and all of the work it takes to create everything, from the phones in your pockets to the computers at home!"

You yawn. You had to wake up early today. You and your friend drove four hours to get to the Digital headquarters. You personally wouldn't have chosen to go this morning, but it's a gift for your friend's birthday. You would have gone to a museum on different types of dirt if it means making your friend happy.

The tour guide starts walking. You and your friend follow, lingering in the back of the crowd. "I can't see!" your friend whispers. "Let's try to get a little closer to the front."

You are happier staying behind, but you obey your friend. You both push your way to the front. There the tour guide is showing the inside of one of their newest computers. He is using large words to make himself sound smarter, though it only confuses his audience. After a while, he gives up and leads the group to another area.

If it was up to you, you would be exploring the company on your own. It isn't that you are uninterested in how electronics work, you just can't stand how know-it-all the tour guide is acting. Your friend doesn't care, though. They are clearly eating up everything he is saying.

The group heads up a flight of stairs. Around a corner, you see a water fountain. An idea pops in your head. "Hey," you say to your friend. "I'm going to get a drink of water. I'll be back in a sec."

Your friend nods. You head over to the water fountain, spending more time than necessary drinking water. You count a minute before you stop. The group is long gone. Perfect. Time to tour by myself.

You venture through the long hallways. There are a series of doors, some labeled and others not. Some of them also have small windows. You peek through a few of them. Some are empty and others are full of people discussing new ideas. You are awestruck by all of the incredible things you see. See? This is way more fun when I get to look without a large group or an intolerable tour guide.

You don't know why you don't like the tour guide so much. You just don't.

You approach an elevator. You look at it doubtfully. Your friend will start to get worried if you don't get back soon. On the other hand, they probably wouldn't notice. Just exploring one more floor won't hurt.

When you walk into the elevator, you see a card on the floor. You pick it up. It's an employee's key card. You saw the tour guide use one of them to start the elevator earlier this morning. You slip it into the designated keyhole. Lines of buttons appear. Fancy.

An overwhelming surge of options are presented for you. You scan for something that interests you. On the very bottom, there's a button that says "Testing Room." You press that one.

It takes a long time before the elevator stops. Once it does, the doors slide open to reveal a dark room. It contrasts with the all-white and wide-windowed rooms that you were just exploring. You walk around cautiously. The vibe in this area is far different from the others. It's more serious and daunting. You're scared of getting caught down here on your own.

On cue, a woman turns the corner. She stops when she sees you. "Who are you?"

You look down at the name card sticker that's on your chest. It says "VISITOR" in large letters. However, it doesn't say what you're visiting for.

"I, uh," you try to think of a lie that can get you out of here as quickly as possible, "I'm supposed to fill in for someone who called in sick. This must be the wrong floor, though, I'll just—"

"Oh, no!" the lady suddenly looks relieved to see you. "I know exactly who you are. Excuse me for forgetting. I'll show you where you need to go."

Your heart skips a beat. This isn't what you had in mind. You should have just told her that you got lost looking for the bathroom. But no, you just had to think of something creative.

The lady grabs your arm gently and leads you around a few hallways. You are lead to a large room. There's a screen covering the entire wall and a keyboard in front of it. There is also a coffee machine and a small plant on the desk.

"I'm sure that Trevor gave you all of the instructions that you need," the woman says with a smile. You look around, bewildered. You have no idea what you're supposed to do. "Alright, I'll leave you to it."

Before you can protest, the lady leaves. With a shaky breath, you sit in the chair that's resting in front of the screen. This shouldn't be too bad. Trevor's instructions have to be somewhere around here.

You check all of the drawers and the closet but find nothing. After fifteen minutes of searching, you sit back down. This is bad. This is really, really bad.

"Hello."

You look up, almost hurting your neck from how quickly you do so. The screen has turned on. You grab the mouse and frantically move it around as if that's going to do anything.

"I am Grace, the A.I. of the Pathways computer. Are you the fill-in for Trevor?" the computer asks.

Well, you've made it this far. No going back. "Uh, yeah...Yep."

"Your person, Mia, is just about to wake up," it continues. "Though you already know, I will explain again. You will be helping her make today's choices. Your goal is to make her day as mundane as possible. I'm sure you know how to do everything, but I promise to help you the entire time."

You stare at the screen. An image of a girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes appears. Next to the picture is a list of information about her. "Name: Mia Summers. Age: 23 years. Hobbies: baking, running, gardening, painting, and binge-watching TV shows. Likes: to walk her dog and drink coffee. Dislikes: waking up early and bees."

That doesn't seem like enough information to help a person make choices. It's just a game, though, you think. What can go wrong?

"Mia has woken up," the A.I. says. "Are you ready to start the day?"

You look at the screen, suddenly very excited. This seems like fun. You're just testing to see if a choice game can work. You are sure that you can get through the day and slip out easily.

"I'm ready." You press start.