The rowboat rocks as you jump into it, your partner sways unsteadily and throws out their arms for balance. In that moment you grab for the hand with the knife—but once your hand has closed about their wrist, they twist around using your own momentum to throw you into the water.
After the shock of hitting the water you open your eyes, and see only darkness. First you try for the surface, but don’t break through. Thinking you must have gotten twisted around you try the other direction. Again you cannot find the surface, and again you change direction. Again,and again, each time it is harder and your air gets shorter. With each change your panic gets greater and you change directions faster. The more you thrash, the less you think, until you hardly notice your legs getting tangled by something, and soon you do not think at all.
Start over
The Forest
As you head into the forest you see a bare footprint in some mud, it seems to be about the size of your partner’s foot, but it’s had to tell.
The trail has only been minimally maintained; as you stumble through the darkness you are constantly slipping and catching yourself on overgrown branches. You stare at the ground, watching you footing as best you can, but a single misstep sends you plummeting down the side of a gully. Partway down the mud changes to jagged protruding slate, and you come to a sudden stop on the rocks at the bottom. If your ankles we still facing the correct direction, you might be able to walk, but instead you’ll have to wait for rescue—if there will be one.
Start over
The Hall
The hall outside your bedroom is empty and just as silent as the bedroom. Ahead of you is the bathroom, door open and empty. To the left is the door to the kid’s room, closed. To the right are the stairs down to the deeper darkness of first floor.
What to do? Downstairs Kid’s Room
The Kid's Room
A dim night light is enough to illuminate an empty crib with disturbed blankets and abandoned stuffed animals.
Leaving the door to the kid’s room open, you start back into the hallway and down the stairs. In the additional dim light light you avoid what appears to be a glass shampoo bottle on the top step.
At the bottom of the stairs you can feel a cool breeze coming in from the open back door. Looking out the window you catch a brief movement at the edge of the trees, but it’s too dark to see any details.
Looking around, the kitchen seems as expected, with nothing changed from when you went to bed…. except your partner’s shoes are no longer by the door.
What to do? Go outside Search the ground floor
Multiple bad endings, the further into the story, the more strongly they should hint that the partner is trying to kill the protagonist, and probably do something bad to their child. A single “good” ending should involve the partner dying, in some way caused by the protagonist rescuing their child. The final part needs to somehow (subtly) reveal that the partner had been under the control of the child the whole time, and then the protagonist dies.
The Outside
A quick walk through the downstairs revels there’s nothing else out of place.
Your partner’s jacket is still on the hook by the door, but their shoes are not by the back or front door. Your shoes are by the front door, putting them on you head outside.
The night is dark, no moon in sight and only the occasional star peeking through the obscuring clouds. Porch lights seem to have long since turned off, and the lone streetlamp is dim and flickering.
Down the road you can see the lake peeking through the trees, and that might be a light showing a little ways down the shore.
After walking around the house you pull closed the back door and notice your partner’s shoes—laces tied together and stretched at just above ankle height across the door.
Across the backyard you see that the movement from earlier was at the entrance to the trail that leads to the lake; there is still no further signs of movement.
Follow the forest trail—surely the movement was your partner… right?
Walk down the road toward the lake, maybe they’re at the light you thought you saw.
The Pier
As you run towards the and of the pier,your foot comes down in a hole where a board should be. Your weight crashes downward, only to be suddenly stopped. You look down and see that your fall was arrested by an oar with the paddle end jammed in the decking and the other end jammed into your chest. You want to scream in pain, but your lungs will not.
Start over
The End
As you drift back to sleep you have a final thought, “What if I never wake up…”
Start over
The Fall
As you start down the stairs something rolls under your foot. As you start to fall you think that it felt like a toy ball. Then, you can only think of the pain of the falling. Then, you can think no more.
Start over
The Beginning
It’s still dark, but you are awake and unsure of why. The house is silent—perhaps too silent. Only the far-off ticking of a clock and the sound of your own breathing. Your partner was next to you when you went to sleep, but now there is just a warm empty spot.
What to do? Go back to sleep Go take a look around
The Street
The wind seems to blow stronger as you walk down the deserted street towards the lake. The wind brings with it the sounds of water lapping against rocks and the creaking of boats at dock. On other nights these may have been pleasant soothing sounds to accompany your evening swim, but tonight they bring a dark foreboding.
As you approach the lake, the trees give way to a rocky lakeshore. At the edge of the lake is a dock with a couple small boats, and a pier stretching onto the water.
You walk onto the gently rocking pier to better observe your surroundings. Nothing has changed about the night’s oppressive darkness—looking back towards the forest you can only see the occasional light from some home or streetlight flicker through the trees. You can see the canoe and paddle boat that usually grace the dock, but there is only an empty spot where the row boat should be.
Quickly you turn around to look out over the black waters of the lake. Some way out you can see what looks like a pair of figures, the larger one is holding onto the smaller with one hand while something in their other reflects the intermittent starlight.
Your heart starts to pound in panic, you run to the end of the pier.
Suppressing panic you head to the boats.
About the Author
Caleb Vincent
- Vincent, Caleb
- Vermont, U.S.A.
https://caleb-vincent.io/img/logo.svgA software engineer in commercial aviation datalink, but has other random projects that sometimes get put on the internet.