NIGHTMARE PROPAGANDA

Tonight, you are . . . in the same place you always seem to end up. Propped up in a worn-out recliner located at the center of your study with an herbal blend of such and such, a mug close by to assist you in your fruitless attempts to sleep. Tonight, yes, like many other nights this month, you are awake. Yet somehow tonight feels particularly strange and especially heavy on your eyelids. The AC of the apartment kicks on amidst the internal pause and the foreground of your consciousness returns. What was it that had occupied you? You can't seem to remember. The room begins to smell slightly of toast and the AC makes a few audible complaints, if not for the noises your paranoia would have you checking your pulse and imagining a phantom pain. You live alone, such scenarios don't amuse you but a giggle or two still manages to escape. Your mug of tea appears to be no longer emitting smoke signals. [[Take a sip]] [[Leave it be]]

''Wow that is very fucking hot..'' Who knew steam wasn't the only indication of temperature? This outcome couldn't have been avoided, that much you're sure of. The feeling of a burnt tongue reminds you that you've yet to hear from your landlord this month. Normally he would have left a sticky note on your door or slipped a letter under the crack to communicate his continued tolerance of your presence in return for $600 and access to any streaming service you have access to at the time, but the voiceless man has left no such messages for quite some time now. You begin to wonder how long it's been. Was it just this month? You paid rent last month, right? Surely you did, you didn't spend that money on anything fun and you haven't had to repay any of your medical bills from last year yet. [[Continue wondering]] [[Check door]] [[Take a sip of your tea]]

You decide against it, absence of steam isn't a reason to live on the edge and sip hot beverages all willy-nilly. Words to live by, truly. The silence of the apartment is deafening this late into the night, the sonic emptiness seems baffling considering you live in the center of the city. You had hoped moving here would make the work commute easier and perhaps you might meet someone in the building like people do in those romantic comedies. But you've never met any of your neighbors, nor have you seen your landlord; how dreadfully unromantic. When was the last time you saw another human being? The thought rests heavy on your brow and then disappears as if it were evicted. Focusing on such things never yields many answers but tonight the fogginess irritates you. [[Take a sip of your tea]]

You lament your taste buds and consider a glass of water to ease the uncomfortable sensation that resides on the tip of your tongue. As you get up to venture to your cramped kitchen a ''loud banging'' grips the air as someone's fist raps the door in a panicked fashion. [[Get a glass of water]] [[Look through the peephole]] [[Open the door]]

Before you can even rise out of your recliner a "loud banging" grips the air as someone's fist raps the door in a panicked fashion. [[Look through the peephole]] [[Open the door]] [[Take a sip of your tea]]

It's a little cold...how disappointing. Your mind drifts once more into a fog that feels suffocating, the present moment feels as if its slipping away. What were you just doing? Your eyes unfocus but before you can be enveloped in it for the umpteenth time this evening you hear the gentle sound of paper sliding across your wood floor. A note slipped from under your front door, well speak of the devil. Your landlord must have heard your thoughts in the eternal plane despite you being awake, what a wonderful surprise! [[Read note]]

You saunter over to the kitchen to grab a glass but as you open the cabinet a shadow darts out and envelopes you. The image of your dimly lit apartment is now but a fading memory. The sensation of the tiles beneath your feet slips away quickly and something takes its place... [[It feels...like grass?]] [[It feels...like sand?]] [[It feels...like concrete?]]

Hmmm how odd, whenever you pull away from the door you seem to forget what you saw but your heart feels like it's ready to escape your chest. What is this sense of dread? These flickering encounters with the unknown are quite cumbersome. [[Open the door]] [[Get a glass of water]] [[Go to your bedroom]]

You see a mirror...no its too real for a reflection. You open the door and see a version of yourself that looks at you with a look of pity on their face. You're caught like a moth before a flame as their gaze begins to swallow all that you are, and you feel yourself untangling. You are the reflection. You are nothing but fiction. You are an unrealized dream. You can't remember who you were yesterday or the day before that or the day before that... But tonight? [[Tonight you are...]]

~~I will be collecting rent in three days, please slip the envelope under my door as per usual.~~ ''GO TO SLEEP IMMEDIATELY, WE REQUIRE ASSITANCE.'' ''RESPECTFULLY,'' ''- THE DENIZENS'' [[Look through the peephole]] [[Open the door]]

You quickly shuffle into your tiny bedroom and after a minute or so of nervous meandering the sense of dread washes away. It's nice to be alone sometimes but there are moments like this where companionship would ease your mind. Thinking about your solitude has made you somewhat melancholy and oddly enough, very parched. [[Get a glass of water]]

"Now how the hell do you think concrete feels like grass? You've got a strange imagination there my friend." [[Search for the voice]]

"You're not the brightest tool in the shed are you? This is concrete my friend." [[Search for the voice]]

"A very astute observation my friend...can I call you that?" [[Search for the voice]]

"How long did it take you to get here? Did you read my note or were you procrastinating again? Its fine if you were, I know how you like to wander at night. It's in your nature I suppose...well in any case I reckon you'd like a chance to sit and get to business, maybe over a drink. Follow me and make sure not to open your eyes until you hear the shouting stop." [["What shouting?"]] [[Follow the voice]] [[Try to open your eyes]]

You follow the voice to your bedroom; you were here earlier and don't remember any guests (invited or otherwise) being present. Entering the room, you feel a breeze tickle your ankles. You can't see fog, but the cold air feels thick somehow and the pit that opened up in your stomach gets deeper ad you inch forward with extreme caution. You stop just short of the bed and take a knee, gently lifting the hanging sheets of your messily made bed so you can see the source of the breeze and the whereabouts of the unknown voice. Before your eyes can make contact with truth you lose every drop of consciousness... [[YOU ARE HAVING A NIGHTMARE]]

You didn't even realize they were closed this whole time...how strange. You open them. [[F O O L I S H]]

Now that they mention it there is a dull and unrelenting noise that seems to emanate from the darkness. It doesn't feel angry, but it holds a particularly animalistic nature in its tone, you almost wish they hadn't said anything about it. The more you try to forget it as you walk blindly the louder it becomes, and it begins to compete with the voice of your mysterious guide. [[Call out for help]] [[Stop walking]] [[Shout back]]

The sight of everything you never were and all that sits outside of your small and fleeting existence floods your vision and its enough to send your heart out your chest. Before you lose consciousness, you hear the voice start to say something but its lost to you in the confusion. [[Tonight you are...]]

[[F O O L I S H]]

Your heart is beating like claps between lightning strikes, your hairs are raised and with your nerves the way they are they may never come back down. You don't know what to do but you must do something or else you'll be stuck there forever. [[Shout back]] [[Search for the voice]] [[Try to open your eyes]] [[Follow the voice]]

"STOP ALL THAT HOLLERING AND FOLLOW ME BEFORE I LEAVE YOU HERE WITH THEM." [[Follow the voice]] [[Try to open your eyes]]

To wake up say your name. Not the one you were born with but the one you earned...''THE WANDERER''