On The Events Which Followed Some Persistent Tapping Heard December 1907

(set: $looks to 0) (set: $intelligence to 0) (set: $nameconvo to false) (set: $funnynameconvo to false) (set: $horst to false) (set: $whatareyouconvo to false) (set: $germanconvo to false) (set: $morseconvo to false) (set: $howdidyoudieconvo to false) (set: $whatsitlikeconvo to false) (set: $seemeconvo to false) (set: $feelmeconvo to false) (set: $murderedconvo to false) (set: $wall to false) (set: $magdalenaconvo to false) (go-to: "Start")

(align: "=><==")[GHOSTED by Josh Labelle] One chilly day last December, I sprawled in bed from dawn until dusk. Mother was kind enough not to disturb me; she knew I prized my dolorous dispositions. (They are, after all, the stuff poems are written out of.) I didn't know whether it had been a particularly dreary month or if it was only my melancholy. A courtship with a local boy had ended calamitously not long before. His mother decided no son of hers would court some feather-headed poetess. No, he'd be better off with a //marriageable// girl: eager womb, no misguided aspirations to independent thought, you know the sort. I needed a boy possessed of a... [[...keen wit to match my own.]] [[...pliant will, at my beck and call.]]

A skull was lodged there. Cobwebs glistened from a cleft where it had been caved by a blow. Poor dead Horst! I... [[...took the skull to find Magdalena.]] [[...took the skull and placed it in the drawer of my writing desk.]]

In the cemetery, I found a widow's grave engraved with Magdalena's name. I laid down Horst's skull and lit a flickering candle. I never heard his knock again. We had a bit of //fun//, Horst and I, but he and Magdalena -- reunited, a love stoppered not even by death! -- had the better story. But I got a poem out of him. More than one can say for most //living// men, eh? (align: "=><==")[THE END]

Don't look so //appalled//. A poetess needs her muse. How could one do better than darling, deathless Horst? He doesn't knock anymore. I think he is cross at me for keeping him here. But I feel him around the house in other ways. Do you hear the wind rattling the eaves? Those creaks and groans? That flicker glimpsed at the corner of your vision? The veil is thinning with each poem I feed him. Soon Horst will be beside me, pale, perfect, beyond the compare of any living man. (align: "=><==")[THE END]

(set: $intelligence to "keen")(display: "Looks")

(set: $intelligence to "dim")(display: "Looks")

Outside my window, the gloam gathered. It was then I heard the knock -- a rap from an empty corner of the room. I... [[...got up to investigate.]] [[...remained in repose.]]

(And, of course, of a... [[...slender frame and fine features.]] [[...square jaw with broad shoulders.]])

(set: $looks to "slender")(display: "Heardknock")

(set: $looks to "broad")(display: "Heardknock")

Was it some manner of //code//? ".... . .-.. .-.. --- ..--.." //Morse//. I fetched my father's handbook and set about (link-reveal: "translating.")[ "HELLO?" Over the next month, I huddled in the corner, teasing information from the disembodied knock. (display: "Questions")]

The house was always creaking and groaning. I didn't think it strange. But this knock seemed //insistent//. (display: "...got up to investigate.")

(if: $nameconvo is false)[ [["What's your name?"]] ](if: $whatareyouconvo is false)[ [["What precisely are you?"]] ](if: $whatareyouconvo is true)[(if: $howdidyoudieconvo is false)[ [["How did you die?"]] ](if: $whatsitlikeconvo is false)[ [["What's it like being a spectre?"]] ]](if: $morseconvo is false)[ [["How do you know morse?"]] ](if: $whatsitlikeconvo is true)[(if: $seemeconvo is false)[ [["Can you see me or hear me?"]] ]](if: $seemeconvo is true)[(if: $feelmeconvo is false)[ [["Can you... can you feel me?"]] ]](if: $feelmeconvo is true)[(if: $magdalenaconvo is false)[ [["Did you call me Magdalena? Who is Magdalena?"]] ]](if: $howdidyoudieconvo is true)[(if: $murderedconvo is false)[ [["You say you were murdered! By whom?"]] ]](if: $wall is true)[[[I pried up the wood of the wall and peeked behind...->EndingChoice]]]

(display: "Response") (if: $horstclues < 3)["CAN'T REMEMBER".](else:)["REMEMBER NOW! **HORST!**" For days, Horst recollected memories of a life filled with (if: $intelligence is "keen")[expressionistic watercolours. An artist!](else-if: $intelligence is "dim")[barfights and derring-do. //Precisely// my kind of brutish dunce.] And what a //marvellous// listener! My warm feelings grew.(set: $nameconvo to true) But there were still holes in his memory left to uncover...] (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "MURDERED"(set: $howdidyoudieconvo to true)(set: $horstclues to $horstclues + 1) (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "OTHER SIDE OF VEIL..."(set: $whatsitlikeconvo to true) (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "WAS RAILWAY MAN... I THINK."(set: $morseconvo to true)(set: $horstclues to $horstclues + 1) (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "SPECTRE I THINK?"(set: $whatareyouconvo to true)(set: $horstclues to $horstclues + 1) (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "FOGGY... BUT YES..."(set: $seemeconvo to true) A shiver passed up my spine. I... [[...pulled down the strap of my dress. Just a peek for our dear spectre.]] [[...hiked my stockings lest he catch a glimpse.]]

(if: $nameconvo is false)[(display: "Response") "NOT STRONG ENOUGH YET..." (display: "Questions")](else:)[(display: "Response") "I... I THINK I AM STRONG ENOUGH NOW... WOULD YOU... WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO FEEL YOU?" (set: $feelmeconvo to true) [["Yes..."]] [["No..."]]]

(display: "Response") "CAN'T REMEMBER..." (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "YOU... YOU ARE NOT MY MAGDALENA?" Memories came rushing back to him. His affair with the beautiful Magdalena. His death at the hands of her wrathful husband. "PLEASE... I'M BEHIND THE WALL... RETURN ME TO MAGDALENA..." (set: $wall to true)(set: $murderedconvo to true)(set: $magdalenaconvo to true) (display: "Questions")

Came the response:

After a long pause, he replied... "WANT TO SEE ME?" [["Yes."]] [["No."]]

(display: "...pulled down the strap of my dress. Just a peek for our dear spectre.")

(display: "Response") "FLOORBOARD!" I pried up the floorboard. Stashed there were personal effects and a torn photo of a (if: $looks is "broad")[strapping lad with a wonderful jaw](else-if: $looks is "slender")[pale boy with soft, fair features]. I flushed, held his picture to my chest, then asked: (display: "Questions")

I preferred picturing my interlocutor however I pleased. I conjured a vision of him, then asked: (display: "Questions")

Phantom fingers grazed my cheek. Modesty demands I leave imprecise what followed. When it was over, he spelled: "THANK YOU... MAGDALENA." (display: "MagdalenaDiscovery") (display: "Questions")

(display: "Response") "SORRY... I WAS PRESUMPTUOUS... MAGDALENA" (display: "MagdalenaDiscovery") (display: "Questions")

//Magdalena?// I pondered, then asked: