Whispers

Do you hear them? The voices. Soft. Almost unheard. But constant. At the back of your mind. Telling you how to act. Do they control you? So many voices. Each with a different idea. Are you ever indecisive? That's them. They can't agree. Do you hear them? Most can't. Do you hear them?

I will write a story. When a decision needs to be made, I will pause. That's where you all come in. You are the voices, telling the character what he should do. It's like an interactive story, but without the pre-set choices. Each person may post their voice ONCE after each story post, all the posts to be taken into account when I write the next part of the story. I will try to write a new part of the story on a regular basis, I'm hoping weekly.

The only rule about what sort of things you can suggest is to follow the Gamespot ToS, though, inappropriate suggestions may also be ignored, even if they are not covered by the ToS. The character does have some dignity of his own.

It's a nice day. The warm sun sits alone in the sky. An old stone building stands proudly, the word 'Library' emblazoned on a plaque beside it's door. There is not much to hear, except the sound of approaching footsteps. The culprit is a young man, tall and lean. The sun shines against his black hair, as if to prove there's nothing that the sun can't make shine. If his name were a visible object, then we would be able see that it was 'Lance'.

Lance climbed the steps to the library and pushed hard against it's imposing door. The door swung open slowly. Bit by bit, details could be seen beyond the door. Tall wooden shelves packed with books. Thick red carpet on the floor. Tables and chairs for those who did not feel the need to remove a book from it's home. A desk behind which the librarian sat, ready as ever to send a book upon it's journey, or welcome it back.

Lance stepped through the door, and looked around the library. It would be considered, 'massive', by contempory standards, and it was far bigger than any library he'd ever seen before. He tore his eyes away from the view, and set himself back upon his mission. To find something to read. He approached the counter. The librarian was far older than Lance. He even had a few grey hairs coming through. The librarian's thick glasses shifted their focus to favour Lance's direction.

Words rumbled softly from deep within the librarian's throat, "Can I help you?"
Lance replied, "Yeah, I'm looking for a book."
You wouldn't be able to see it behind the glasses, but the librarian had a sudden look of disappointment in this new arrival.
"Uh..." Lance thought about where he was, then continued, "...Some light reading." To which he further added, "Something good."
The librarian stared at him for a short time, that seemed far longer than it would have if you'd taken the same amount of time without being stared at.
The librarian finally spoke, "Are you looking for anything specific? A particular genre perhaps?"
Lance replied, "Hmm. Not sure. Just let me think...."
The librarian waited, nothing else demanding his attention.

Then, for the first time, the voices whispered to Lance. And of all that they will say, what they say now will have the greatest impact.

"Lance..... Oh Laaaaaance...... Are you listening? We know what you want. And you know what you want. But you cannot tell this man. This man can know nothing. Remain silent! Do not tell this insolent being of your desires! Stand there and confound him!"

"Pssst...try Maximum Ride..."dgwutka

Lance shifts his eyes to look the librarian straight in the eyes.
The librarian, noting Lance no longer concentrating, asked, "Well? Any ideas?"
Lance just stared.
The librarian stared back.
Lance continued to stare.
The librarian spoke, "Listen, there a heck of a lot of books in this library, and a whole lot of them would be thick enough to give you a severe headache without damaging the book."
Lance decided to stop staring at the librarian, instead asking, "How did you get into librarism......err...librarianism?...."
The librarian looked at Lance for a few seconds longer than necessary, before speaking, "By caring more about books than fools."
Lance let out a weak laugh, then spoke, "Oh, uh, well, back to genre, I'm thinking maybe supernatural horrer, some action-adventure, fantasy and science fiction."
"All in one book?" The librarian asked.
"Yep."
"Well, that cuts the choices by a fair bit, but there's still a fair few titles to choose from. Any distinguishing features you want in the story? A type of creature, a type of person or a setting perhaps."
Lance thought again.

And the voices whispered to Lance.

...their blood must be shed to atone for your sin of being a complete fool...

...their blood must be shed to atone for your sin of being a complete fool...

dgwutka

Okay, lost some time, so let's push this along a bit.

The librarian started walking along the shelves. Lance followed. The librarian turned down one row of shelves, grabbing and pushing a wheeled ladder along the shelf. About half-way along the shelf, the librarian started climbing the ladder. Lance watched the librarian as he seemed to climb, climb and climb some more. They were pretty tall shelves alright. The librarian climbed right to the top of the shelf, reached to a small, black book, pulled it out and slowly brought it back down to earth with him.

After reaching the ground, the librarian strode off immediately, not stopping to waste words on Lance. Lance followed the librarian to, and through a non-descript door. Beyond the door was a small, almost featureless room. There was a table, a few chairs, and a large light.

The librarian spoke, preempting Lance's question, "This is a special reading room. You might as well take a look at the book before you check it out, and you'll probably need a decent light-source to read this without straining your eyes too much." The librarian put the book on the table and switched on the light. It certainly was a lot brighter than the ones in the main room, but not unbearably so. Lance just stood by as the librarian passed back through the door, "Come tell me when you're done." The door shut, leaving Lance and the book alone.

And the voices returned once again to whisper to Lance.

What are you waiting for? Read it, stupid.

"Yeah just read the first chapter and see if it's interesting......... Oh and maybe before you leave write a bad word on the wall just to mess with him.... Yeah hehehe....... Oh wait..... You got a pen?"

Vaguely wondering why he didn't bring a pen, Lance picks up the book. His face forms a look of puzzlement. He flips the book over a few times in his hand. but he still can't see any words on the cover of the book. No title on the front, no description on the back, just the library sticker on the side, which doesn't say much.

Deciding that it isn't important, he flips open the book. Blank page. Well, they do put those blank pages in sometimes. He turns to the next page. Blank. Okay, next. Blank. He flips through a whole bunch of pages. Blank, blank, blank.....still blank. He closes the book and looks at the cover again. It still gave no indication that the book is supposed to contain anything.

And the voices whispered to Lance.

"Steal his pen, and then stab him in the neck with it."

Suddenly feeling violently angry, Lance yanks open the door and steps out, mouth ready to shout out a string of complaints. He has trouble when he realises that he can't see anyone to complain to. Everything in front of him is dark. Looking to the sides, he notices a faint light outlining the edge of a bookshelf. Walking past the bookshelf, he sees the light is coming through the front door, currently ajar.

Looking around, the door still seems the only source of light in the building. Lance noticed a small pile of books on the ground, looking like they'd fallen off a shelf. He couldn't make out if there was a gap in the shelf. He couldn't see any signs of the librarian either.

Lance stood there, confused.

And the voices whispered to Lance.

"Stab somebody in the neck, I don't care who."

Worried about the urge he felt to find someone to be violent towards with a non-existant stabbing weapon, and with a desire to get out of the dark, Lance walks towards the library doors. Part way there, Lance realises he's still holding the little black book. Not having a use for it, he puts it down on the closest table, before strolling out the doors.

It took a few seconds for Lance to adjust to the outside light. The first thing he notices though, is that it's not very bright. "Must be that skyscraper blocking the sun." Lance paused for a few seconds, "I could swear there wasn't a skyscraper there before.....or there, or over there." He hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the scenery when he had come towards the library, but he was sure there had been some. All he could see now was one steel and glass building after the other. He looked back, the library was still there. "Huh, I'd heard new developments were happening quickly, but that'd just be ridiculous," He shook his head, "Must have really spaced on the way here. Well, I didn't get a book, now what?"

And the voices whispered to Lance.

"Yeah go get that book I suppose......... And chuck it at a bird......"

Lance thoought that since he had all these violent urges, he needed something to use them up. He suddenly wondered how good a projectile that empty book would make. Lance went back into the darkened library, quickly snatched up the book from where he had left it, and went back outside.

It occured to Lance that a flaming projectile would be even more scary, but he didn't have a lighter. He felt a twinge of disappointment. Lance looked around, hoping to spot some sort of moving target, but there were none to be found.

And the voices whispered to Lance.

"Find the nearest pedestrian and ask if the tall buildings have always been there."

"Find a match. Or a target. Or both."

Lance felt there were a few possibilities about what to do next, and they all involved taking a walk, deeper into the city. So, he started his legs moving, down the stairs, and along the street. He passed one building after another, soon reaching an intersection.

Lance turned to look down the cross-street. He paused, blinked, looked the other direction, then back.

"This CAN'T be good."

Before him, was not a scene bustling with busy people hurridly making their way to a destination, as would be expected. It was a desolate scene, heavy on destruction.

Lance counted a dozen cars. Most looked to have crashed, either into a building or one another, leaving glass strewn about. A few just looked like they had just been trapped by the rest. No bodies, no people. In fact, he couldn't see anyone on the street, living or otherwise. The broken office furniture lying around seemed odd, accompanied by plenty more glass.

The sound of paper blown in the wind caught his attention. There were a number of sheets, and a broken, empty briefcase, again surrounded by fragments of glass. The paper wasn't important, but the single, small sound made Lance realise how silent this place was. "Man, this would be a perfect opportunity for that quote, but..."

He lifted his eyes slightly, and noticed that past the cars, there was a more squat-looking building, that stood out from the glass and steel behemoths surrounding him. "Probably a shopping centre. Gotta have one for every thousand skyscrapers."

And the voices whispered to Lance.

"No s*** Sherlock! Of course this can't be good! What the hell could have happened here? Open the book once more and see if you can find something.... if not, so and find the latest newspaper."

alx: Please refrain from obviously moddable offenses, thank you.

"Lance! Oh my God! DUDE! The book was supposed to take you to other worlds and it literally did! Oh jeez how the hell are we supposed to get back!? I guess we could examine the store first."

Suddenly feeling suspicious of the book he's holding, Lance flips it open. Several of the pages were full of printed text. He started reading a random paragraph:

"Worried about the urge he felt to find someone to be violent towards with a non-existant stabbing weapon, and with a desire to get out of the dark, Lance walks towards the library doors."

Lance quickly closed the book. He paused, unsure how he should feel about the book's sudden desire to chronicle his actions. He eventually rested on 'worried'.

Leaving the nagging worries to the back of his mind, Lance felt that it might be an idea to stock up on some sort of supplies, so he began walking in the direction of the shopping centre. Wondering if a newspaper might give him some insight into his situation, his eyes searched for one while he weaved around the wrecked cars, careful to step on as little glass as possible. He smirked, "There's always a newspaper floating along the street after a disaster." No such luck for him though, "Guess I'll just have to get it like everyone else. At the store."

Past the cars, and no longer needing to concentrate so much on glass, Lance realised he could hear a low hum, which grew louder as he approached the shopping centre. Close to the building now, his belief that it was a shopping centre was reaffirmed by a large sign that included the words 'Shopping Centre'. On this side of the building, there were the usual automatic doors, and a car ramp leading down to, he guessed, underground parking.

And the voices whispered to Lance. (I'm beginning to wonder if I need to tell them to)

"Go fine sombody. When you do, stab him in the neck."

"Just go in the store and look for a newspaper."

Feeling great resolve in his need for a newspaper, and seemingly random violent urges, Lance stepped forward to see if the automatic doors still worked. Lance barely had time to register their operation when he was hit full in the face by a wave of air. His eyes stinging, Lance put his arms in front of his face and pushed forwards against the wind until the doors shut behind him, lessening the force of air.

Lance had to blink a few times to get his eyes back in working order, and once they were, his attention was immediately drawn to the couple of partially visible figures pointing completely visible guns at him. Now that they had his attention, one spoke calmly, though loudly over the droning of fans, "Alright buddy, who are you, and what do you want?"