CYOA: Powerful (Part 5)

[Bretimus_v2]

The Kindness of Strangers

"Mr. Park? Is that you," I whispered.

"Yes, yes. Now get in before they see you," came the voice from the darkness.

I hesitated. This was the old man who never left his porch. For the three years I had lived in this neighborhood, he never left his home. He even had his groceries delivered. But the guy always, always, left them on the porch. So why did I get to enter? Looking down the alley at the flashing lights, I knew this was the only option and walked through the dark door.

ZzzzzPISH!

As I walked through his door, a weird static crawled over my body that ended with a sharp snap.

"What was that," I demanded.

"Procedure," he replied nonchalantly, "now sit down."

The words weren't just heard, they were felt...and obeyed. Before I knew what I was doing, I was sitting.

"Something bad happened tonight," he said looking deep into my eyes, " and instead of solving it simply...you want to solve it messily."

I tried to stop him from continuing. How did he know this...was the accident on the news? But before I even opened my mouth, he shushed me.

"Shhhh, too much, too loud. I'm not trying to stop you. I'm trying to help you. But gunpowder and steel are such nasty implements. I want to offer you something special."

And with that he pulled out 3 items, holding them out before me.

"Take one," he smiled as the words left his mouth.

The shiny watch, pg 10
The pill-shaped rubber thing, pg 20
The band-aid, pg 30

 

[used44]

Pg 20

 

[Green_Lantern]

Pg 10

 

[Paradox]

The pill.

 

[MattAY]

Shiny watch!

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Shiny watch!

 

[WickedLiquid]

I need more info on this pill.

Will the story end here? And I'll wake up in my bed and believe whatever I want to believe?

Or will I see just how deep the rabbit hole goes?


Damn, I have a headache thinking this over, I'll take the pill

 

[LinksOcarina]

Pills please!

 

[Lien]

The band-aid.

What? maybe he cut his pinkie finger on the way!

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Hard to Swallow

What can I say...a weird man in a weird house offers you a pill...it seemed so Matrix-y. I couldn't resist. I reached out, excited and scared, and plucked the red, rubber pill from his hand. But just as I opened my mouth.

"Heh, you don't take that orally," Mr. Park chuckled.

"Uhhh, I...you don't...can I just get the watch," I stammered.

"Ha," he snickered louder, "it's not for your butt either. It's an ear piece. It functions as a receiving/transmitting thought antenna, some would describe it with the lay term, "telepathy", but I call it the Omniscient."

As he talked, I placed it in my ear.

"Look at me and concentrate," he said, locking eyes with me, "you have to focus on the person and you can hear their thoughts. It varies by user, some people can 'hear' from 15 feet, others from 50. The 'hearing' isn't strictly sound, it's something else that your brain will interpret as words or images or garbled 'noise'."

With each description he switched over. It was odd having him send me a memory of his first attempt at 'listening'.

"But there's more," he continued, "as I said, this is both a receiver and a transmitter. You can send transmissions of words, images, thoughts...even intentions. But be warned, the more you try to do, the harder it is on you physically. Some people are unable to defend themselves while others will innately reject the compulsion. The more complex you make it, the harder it is...and the more recognizable. I have seen people tune in on the pulse."

My eyebrows raised, I could feel a tingling on the back of my neck.

"I just sent an compulsion to have you kill yourself," he said off-handedly, " but being aware of the technique, wearing an Omniscient and the severity of the compulsion against normal behavior and life preservation caused you to reject without thinking about it. But you felt the tingle, right?"

My mouth was dry. He tried to get me to kill myself? And he said it so matter-of-factly.

"Don't worry," he said out loud, "I knew you'd reject it, and remember I can hear you. Now, we've talked long enough. I've given you a new toy and I believe you have someplace to go."

See what the cops know, pg 411
Go back to the accident, pg 1024
Time to hunt, pg 187

 

[used44]

Pg 1024

 

[cyberjim2000]

187

 

[Lien]

Pg 1024. It's time to return to the scene that started it all.

 

[MattAY]

Accident...I want to know what happened!

 

[used44]

Returning to the scene of the crime is always the best call.

 

[MattAY]

It's the exciting call. If it's exciting, it's worth it.

 

[Paradox]

1024

 

[Bretimus_v2]

and back again...

As I rounded the corner, my senses were overwhelmed. The smell of gas, the lights everywhere. Police and firetruck lights flashed and reflected off of the wet ground and the surrounding windows. There were spot lights illuminating the scene.

A small SVU was half-buried in the side of a building. The exterior and the wall blackened from the flames. The firefighters were shoveling grit over the gas that had leaked from the other cars that had also been in the accident. While another truck continued to spray down the other portion of the building with water. Cops were patrolling the perimeter and keep people back and the general public were milling about gawking as people do.

So who would I test my new toy out on?

The cops, pg 50
The firemen, pg 9
The public, pg 32

 

[used44]

Pg 50

 

[Paradox]

The public. Let the firefighters and the police do what they need to do.