Choose Your Own Adventure - Part 11. $5 Reward

You sit at an open air craft brewpub with your friend and colleague Bingo Nights. You sip from a small glass of a hazy IPA. It’s bitter but not too bitter. Bingo gnaws thoughtfully on a child’s sized Sketchers Light Up shoe.

You and Bingo chat. This is a celebration. The game you worked so long and hard to make is coming out tomorrow. And the review embargo lifts tonight, so you’ll see what the critics think of your work.

Then Bingo’s dog phone dings. He’s set a Google Alert for mentions of your game, and it’s just been mentioned. The first review has dropped. The headline reads:

‘Big Boys, Bigger Nights is a calamitous success, and the end of the gaming industry as we know it’

You did it. The critics love your game. You hug Bingo Nights to celebrate. He barks, spilling his torn apart Sketchers Light Up shoe all over the table. Your fellow patrons of the brewpub stare on in confusion, but you don’t care. They’ll write about this moment in the history books.

Then the earth begins to shake. You look around. The earth is shaking and everything is fading from view. No - everything isn’t fading away, YOU’RE FADING AWAY.

Bingo Nights can’t hang onto your body as you dissipate out of existence.

You look around the brewpub one more time. Goodbye? Goodbye.

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Silence

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Darkness

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Chicken Tenders. You’re thinking about chicken tenders. Doesn’t that sound nice? They never sounded nice when you were a carrot. But now they sound amazing. Oh right, still darkness and silence.

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Darkne-

OH SHIT IT’S LIGHT OUT.

Just barely. You’re in a room with one neon light, a pale blue in the corner.

You realize you’re back. On the set of where your favorite youtubers, The Grumps, shoot their hit show, the 10 Minute Power Hour.

How did you come back here? Where were you?

You look at your watch. It’s too dark. You press the little indi-glo button on the side. It’s 10:43pm. It’s been one minute since you left this world and became a carrot. Was it a dream? Did you learn some lesson?

Basically, what the hell?

Your focus shifts to David Cheeseman, there on the counter. He’s sealed in a plastic bag. You unveil him. He reeks. You have to make your final choice.