arachne

you are a 34 y/o man living in copenhagen with your young [[daughter]] (if:visits >1)[(text-style: "shudder") [she went [[missing]] 43 hours ago]] (click-replace: "are")[were]

her name is alvilde. it means "battle of the elves" the name was your [[late husband's]] idea she turned six last july [[back|begin]]

you'd rather not think about him right now [[back|daughter]]

her teacher was crying. she didn't understand how she could just... (text-style:"blurrier","fade-in-out")[disappear]. it's as if she sank right through the solid pavement of the basketball court. all the police found at the scene was an unusually strong strand of spider's [[silk]] (click-replace: "crying")[IT WAS ALL HER FAULT] (click-replace: "IT WAS ALL HER FAULT")[inconsoleable]

the familiar coin laundrette whirs around you youre alone here, spare an old lady hunched over her knitting. her needles click together rhytmically you sit in a vinyl chair, watching you and alvilde's laundry slosh around you spot her favorite t-shirt from legoland, stained with chocolate ice cream (click-replace: "her favorite t-shirt from legoland, stained with chocolate ice cream")[your socks. the heels have been completely worn away] (click-replace: "your socks. the heels have been completely worn away")[the bathroom rug. your cat mikeko threw up on it last night when she didn't get her [[nightly]] kitty treats]

it's the dead of night you haven't slept for days the washers (text-style: "rumble")[hum]. knitting needles click your body grows [[heavy]]

(text-rotate-x:53)[(text-style:"expand")[too heavy]] your eyes shoot wide open you feel a pull at your ankles (after:3s)[(text-style: "shudder") [(text-colour:red)[your legs are tangled in [[spider silk]]]]]

(text-style:"smear","shudder")[DID YOU BRING YOUR GUN? [[YES]] [[NO]] (if:visits >= 1)[(replace: "YES")[**(text-style:"strike")[YES]**]]]

(text-style:"smear","shudder")[WHAT GOOD IS A GUN AGAINST SPIDERS?! [[TRY AGAIN LOSER|spider silk]]] (set: $gun to "true")

(text-style:"smear","shudder")[YOU FLIP OPEN YOUR POCKET KNIFE YOU TRY TO CUT AWAY THE THREADS. ITS AS IF THEY ARE METAL THEY'RE PULLING YOU DOWN, DOWN, down... down through the floor...? (text-style:"rumble")[the old lady's knitting needles are clattering at inhuman speed] you're so stressed and exhausted you can't even try to make reason it's too [[late]]]

(text-style:"smear","shudder")[as your ears sink through the floor, you hear the old lady cackling] (text-style:"blur","upside-down")[["aracne"]]

you fall for a long time so long you don't even realise you've [[landed]]

you're gazing up at an endless ceiling a mountain of empty spider eggs cushioned your fall. the weight of your body barely left a dent all is silent [[down]] [[up]]

you shimmy down the fragile, dead mountain and stumble onto the smooth cavern [[floor]]

the walls are dripping with metalic silk, tangling like [[electrical]] wires you put one foot against the wall, grab a thick coil of silk, and start to [[climb]]

the silk may be strong but it is lifeless

(text-style:"sway")[//step//] (text-style:"sway")[//step//] as you climb (text-style:"sway")[//step//] you're struck with the distinct feeling (text-style:"sway")[//step//] that you're forgetting [[something]] (click-append: "step1")[//, pull//]

soren is dead but maybe you can save [[someone else]]

alvilde is curled up on the floor, her back to you she whimpers and shakes quiet sobs absorbed by the mass of silk surrounding her like a cocoon (if:(history: where its name contains "jacket")'s length >= 1)[[reach out]](if:(history: where its name contains "jacket")'s length is not 1)[you can't help her yet. [[climb back up|landed]]]

go back? [[YES|landed]] [[NO|escape]]

you wake up in your apartment, passed out on the couch. empty beer bottles surround you. al's stuffed animal panda is tucked under your arm a nature documentary about arachnids is playing on the tv. a man with a soothing voice is narrating which spider fact do you pay attention to? [["...solitary creatures..."]] [["...the death of the male..."]] [["...fend for themselves..."]] (if:visits >3)[the documentary takes a [[commerical break]]]

"while most spiders are solitary creatures, there are some that form communities, building large communal cobwebs colonies can number in the thousands of individuals and they will work together to incapacitate prey trapped in their webs and share the harvest with each other" [[back|escape]]

"female black widows are known for forcibly cannibalising thier mates however, in the lesser known red widow species, the death of the male spider is voluntary he places himself into his mates mandibles and calmly asks her to bite down" [[back|escape]] (click-replace: "asks her to bite down")[asked you to pull the plug]

"many adult spiders will go off on their own after their eggs hatch, leaving the spiderlings to fend for themselves the spiderlings will molt repeatedly as they grow larger they're very vulnerable until the new exoskeleton forms completely" [[back|escape]]

this game deals with themes of death, loss, gun violence, medical settings, spiders, and missing persons if these are sensitive topics to you, please use caution [[begin]]

"sammen godt smage siden 1970" it's an advertisement for alvilde's favorite chocolate milk [[turn off the tv]] [[keep watching]]

(text-style:"smear","shudder")[THE TV ERRUPTS INTO STATIC (after:2s)[YOU'RE FROZEN] (after:4s)[THE STATIC SOLIDIFIES. INTO SPIDERS SILK] (after:6s)[IT BREAKS OPEN THE SCREEN] (after:8s)[AND ENVELOPES YOU] (after:10s)[PULLING YOU DOWN]] (after:12s)[(text-style:"upside-down")[down, down, [[down|landed]]]]

three days ago alvilde wrinkles her nose at you as try to wipe her face clean from her breakfast of [[muesli]] with chocolate milk. it's about the only thing you can get her to eat [[nowadays]]

cold oatmeal with nuts, seeds and dried fruits soren always used to cut up fresh fruit, sprinking some on the top with a drizzle of sweet honey she'll only eat it plain, [[now|keep watching]]

you take a deep breath "how about i try to make some [[frikadelle]] tonight? for daddy's birthday" (click: "daddy's")[(text-colour:#d0bfff)[(text-style:"expand","shudder")["NO"]]] (click: "NO")[she shoves her chair back, picks up her basketball, and runs out the door, slamming it behind her] (click: "door")[she forgot her [[jacket]]]

and there it still sits, crumpled in a heap on the floor she must be cold. you instinctivly pick it up, and feel the right side is weighed down by something it's a wooden bird. soren was teaching her how to whittle, before his hands grew too shaky to safely hold the knife. you recognize this one she made it by herself. alvilde sat in the bed, snuggled next to her soren as he lay hooked up to a mass of tubes and wires. he was so proud of her you let out a sob, and the the commerical break [[ends|turn off the tv]] (click-replace: "tubes and wires")[spider silk]

danish meatballs, your grandmother's recipie they were his [[favorite|nowadays]]

you cover her with her jacket place the wood carving in her hand pull her into a hug [[and cry with her]]

you eventually find yourselves on the couch together, watching a nature documentary about birds alvilde sips chocolate milk, hiccuping and petting mikeko, who purrs in her lap. its hard for a cat to go three days without treats you don't really stop crying for a few more hours, long after al fell asleep. but you don't try to stop, and you don't try to forget