Interactive story

I've decided to start my own interactive story. I will post a short section of the story and then give you several options to choose from. Anyway, here is the first bit.

The Road Trip - Intro

Susan Marshall finished cramming the folded tent into it’s nylon carrying bag and then wiped her brow. It wasn’t even that hot out and she was sweating already. Too much time sitting at a desk pushing paper and not enough time in the great outdoors. She glanced around the campsite. They’d managed to grab a great spot. Right next to the river with lots of shade and a great view of the snow capped mountains in the distance.

She was a little stiff this morning. The foam sleeping pad she’d bought at REI last week had nothing on her king sized, pillow top mattress back home. Still, she was willing to trade a few aches for the fresh air and time with her daughters. It was a shame that their father hadn’t been able to make the trip.

Susan’s eldest, Andrea, was attending Yale in the fall. Rather than fly her out and then ship out her things, they’d decided to drive instead. They were taking it slow, driving less than 300 miles a day, focusing on seeing the sites. They alternated between sleeping at camp sites and staying in hotels. Two nights prior they’d spent the night at the Radison in Denver, having their meals delivered by room service and then soaking in a hot tub. Last night they made their own dinner over an open fire and then fell asleep to the sound of the river crashing over rocks and serenading crickets.

“Do you know where Andrea is?”

Susan turned. It was her youngest child, Tracey. She’d just turned sixteen and had a natural, lithesome grace that most women would kill for. She wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that read, “Video games don’t cause violence, Lag does”. Her ash blonde hair was pulled through the back of her Homestuck baseball cap. She was an A student and video game addict. She was tapping madly on her phone as usual.

“Why don’t you call her on your phone?” Susan said.

“What?”

Susan rolled her eyes. She pantomimed removing headphones. When her daughter removed one of the wireless earbuds from her ears she repeated her suggestion,

Tracey stopped typing on her phone. “Like I can get a signal out here. Why didn’t we stay at a hotel again. The place we stayed at the other night was perfect. It had killer Wi-Fi everywhere.”

“Look around you, smell the air. Isn’t this worth a few inconveniences?”

Tracey shrugged and went back to tapping on her phone. She wandered toward the shade of a weeping willow.

Susan picked up the tent. “Why did you want Andrea?”

Without looking up Tracey said, “She was going to get the sunscreen out of the car and I haven’t seen her since.” 

“But that was nearly a half hour ago.” Panic exploded within Susan, visions of her daughter being abducted played in her mind. “Wait here. I’m going to check the car.” Susan paused. A new nightmare arose, one with Tracey being snatched while she was out looking for Andrea. “On second thought come with me.”

Tracey groaned, but got up and walked toward her mother. Before she made it halfway she spotted her sister hurry along the trail that lead to the parking lot. The expression on her face matched their mother’s.

“Mom, I need you and Tracey to come with me,” Andrea said, her voice quivering slightly. “We need to hurry.”

“Where have you been? Is everything alright?” Susan asked. The fear on her daughter’s face cranked up her own panic.

Andrea grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled. “Come now.”

“Tell us what is going on first,” Susan said as she pulled back, breaking her daughter’s grip.

“Oh god,” Andrea said. She held up her hands and watched as her fingernails lengthened until they extended past her fingertips by an inch. When they stopped growing she let out a low moan.

“W T F!” Tracey said.

“What is going on, Andrea? How did your fingernails grow like that?” Susan said. Her daughter’s face was flushed. Susan had a horrible feeling that her daughter may have just had an orgasm.

“You’ve got to come with me now,” Andrea said between breathes.

“Not until you tell me what’s happening!”

“Oh no.” Andrea held up her hands again.

Option Results:
5 votes (10%) - Andrea’s fingernails turn bright pink as gold bracelets appear on her wrists.
24 votes (48%) - Her fingernails paint themselves black.
16 votes (32%) - Her fingernails turn blood red as tattoos materialize on her fingers, just below the knuckles, spelling out, “Fuck Off!”
1 vote (2%) - Her fingernails thicken, looking more like claws.
3 votes (6%) - Hello Kitty is painted on each nail.

You are welcome to suggest your own option in the comment section below, otherwise you can vote in the poll on the right. (I wanted to imbed the poll in the post, but blogger wasn’t playing nice)