Memories of the Past - An Interactive Novel

1.6

Your mouth is so dry that you have to lick your lips several times before you can actually eat the flowers. You try not to squirm under the piercing gaze of the black and white cat, but it's extremely difficult not to do so.

The smell of the flowers imprints itself on your memory as you bend down to lap them up. It's not really that fragrant, but it's still oddly memorable. You muse briefly over this as you begin to chew.

The moment your teeth crunch down on the flowers, pain bursts inside your mouth. You scream in surprise and agony, immediately trying to spit the flowers out, but the black and white cat is at your side in an instant, clamping your jaws shut. Your mouth is burning, the pain fills your senses, everything all around you is just pain, pain, pain -

"Chew!" the cat growls in your ear. Too blinded by the searing hot agony, you comply mindlessly, only to regret it as more pain explodes in your mouth. You writhe and claw at his paws around your muzzle, but you can tell he's not letting go.

While you're distracted, he forces your head back and watches as you swallow. The blistering concoction of pain and heat sears all the way down, and you try to gasp for air, which only makes him clamp your jaws together even tighter. Your chest is burning, not just from the flowers you swallowed, and your vision is going dark.

You feel your stomach flip, and you retch despite your closed jaws. The bile comes up your throat, almost as searing as the flowers, and your body convulses as it tries to expel the poison from your system.

But still he clamps your jaws shut. "If you throw up," he growls, "I will show you what it's really like to suffer."

With great difficulty and willpower you barely possess, you swallow back the bile in your throat. Satisfied, he releases your jaws, and you let out a ragged scream that cracks and leaves you in a coughing fit. Your throat is burning from the flowers and the bile, and you think you can taste a hint of blood. With every breath you take, claws rake across your throat, causing you to cry out in pain. Your vision is tunnelling, and everything sounds a little muted.

He takes advantage of your open jaws and stuffs more of the flowers into your mouth. Choking now, you try to spit the flowers out, but again he clamps your jaws shut until you consume them all.

You are utterly exhausted from your struggle with him, and you barely take two steps away before your legs crumple underneath you. You pant as the last of your vision gives way, and the world fades. But just before you slip into unconsciousness, you hear him whisper one single word in your ear.

"Monster."

You wake under the chair in a panic, with your stomach doing flips again. Shakily you crawl out from under the chair, just in time to heave on the ground next to you.

-5 Health, -10 Hunger

You are, however, significantly less tired than the night before. You're not sure that you can say you had a good night's sleep, though.

+35 Energy, +10 Health

Legs shaking from fear, you catch your breath. What in the world was that?! you think, licking your lips and grimacing at the foul taste of your vomit. Your mouth is very dry, both from vomiting and nerves.

-10 Thirst

Your legs are trembling too much to support you, and you lean against the chair. You remember most of the dream you just had, and you recognise the vague memories from the first time it happened. What did I...?

You suddenly remember the flowers. Your stomach threatens to empty itself again at the thought of them, but still you close your eyes and try to remember what they looked like. Unfortunately, as hard as you try to recall their appearance, the fact just alludes you.

What you do remember, however, is their smell. The memory of the smell makes you shudder and your stomach turn, but you know it's vital information. The dream offered you some insight into what brought you here in the first place, and you're willing to bet that the flower will give you more clues.

One thing you don't understand yet, though... why was he trying - why did he poison you?

Your mouth is dry as you warily clamber onto the window, looking around for dogs. You can't hear, see, or smell any, but it's always good to make sure.

You decide not to leave the way you came from, instead opting for the other windows, all of which are open and allow you to access the outside world. It appears to be a little past dawn, and you hear birds chirping.

Directly opposite the window you came in from is an area with lots of humongous cars, some of which have weird looking limbs attached to them. You curl your lip at the humans you see inside them, but where there's humans, there's usually food. There may also be some other cats around that you could ask for help.

To the right, you see an odd looking silver structure that looks sort of like a deformed ball. It glints in the sunlight, bouncing stray rays into the room. You're not sure what it is, but it seems important, and you might be able to look for clues - especially the flowers - there.

To your left, there's an irregularly shaped building that's largely painted red. You glare at the smaller humans running around in the area adjacent to the building, but you think you can see some flowers dotting the grass. Maybe one of those is the flower you were poisoned with?

To get to all three of these places requires you to cross a road. You're not sure that you can run in such a condition, and you know there's rats here that you could catch (that is, if you are able to find one after the outcome of the one you caught and ate last night). Staying here does sound lovely, at least for a while. You could also do a bit of exploring around this place. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something useful.

______STATS______
Aspen
Hunger: 65/100
Energy: 57/100
Thirst: 48/100
Health: 60/100
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