Queen’s Park (on a bench), 9:10pm
You’re sitting on a sturdy, lichen-covered wooden bench that looks like it’s been here for a good few years. The wood is faded and scratched, both naturally and through human intervention. The initials of teenage sweethearts are carved into the surface of the wood, last remnants of a long-forgotten memory, a past romance.
You’re at the east edge of the park. Further east is a tall hedge, behind which stands a tall, orange-and-glass-fronted apartment building.
To the west, a large stone column rises up to the sky amidst brightly-coloured flower beds. Atop the column is an intricate-looking sculpture, featuring roses, arches and what appears to be a Christian cross.
To the south, behind the swish-swish-swish of passing cars, you can just hear the sonorous tone of a ship’s horn signalling its departure from the docks.
To the north, the cars swish past in the opposite direction, this patch of road encircling the haven of green calmness in which you find yourself, the sounds of the passing vehicles your only reminder that you’re in the middle of a busy city.
On the bench is a bottle of milkshake.
There is a discarded coffee cup here. Ants are crawling around the coffee cup.
?>GET MILKSHAKE
Taken.
?>DRINK MILKSHAKE
It’s not open.
?>OPEN MILKSHAKE
You unscrew the cap of the bottle. The scent of chocolate mint, trapped inside the plastic for so long, wafts out and caresses your nose with its sweet yet pungent aroma.
?>DRINK MILKSHAKE
The thick, gloopy milkshake slides down your throat smoothly. The scent of mint wafts through your sinuses.
?>LOOK AT COFFEE CUP
There are ants all over it, crawling in and out. It’s empty, though. What could they see in it?
You feel a little itchy.
?>GET UP
You stand up, and realise the ants have taken a liking to you.
You feel pretty itchy.
?>BRUSH OFF ANTS
You do your best to brush off the ants you can see. Your skin still feels like it’s crawling, but you think it’s just your imagination now.
?>LOOK AT COLUMN
It looks like some sort of memorial, though to what you couldn’t say.
?>CLIMB COLUMN
There’s nothing to grip onto. You’d just slide back down. Unless you were Batman and had a Batarang or a grappling hook or something.
?>INVENTORY
You don’t have a Batarang or a grappling hook. Nice try.
?>SIT
You sit on the bench.
?>THINK
You stare into space and let your mind wander. Thoughts of all the things you want to happen flow through your brain. The people, the places, the events. Things said, things unsaid. Hopes, dreams, regrets. It all rushes through your head like a miasma. It is both pleasurable and terrifying at the same time.
A single tear falls from the corner of your left eye and plops onto the ground silently, its impact drowned by the sounds of the city.
The feelings pass. You’re not sure if you feel any better.
?>GET UP
You stand up.
?>NORTH
You find a gap in the hedge which surrounds the little park, and step back out into the noise of the city at night. It’s like a different world. The bright lights, the blur of the passing cars, everyone going about their business, somewhere important to be, someone important to see.
Except you. What do you have? Where should you go? The answer remains out of your reach… for now, at least.
*** THE END?***
You can RESTART, RESTORE or QUIT.
?>_
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