The Last Thing You See

You are in a dilapidated bedroom. Go to [[bed]]. [[Look under]] bed. [[Leave]] room. Exit via the [[window]].

You eventaually fall asleep in the ricket old bed. You are awakened, heart pounding in your chest, by a nightmare you can't quite remember. Was that blood-curdling scream part of your dream? [[Get out of bed.->Start]]

A pair of red eyes is the [[last thing you see]].

You find yourself in a gloomy hallway. There are two doors, one closed and one slightly ajar. There is a stairway going down into the darkness. [[Open]] the closed door. [[Peek]] into the room with the slightly open door. [[Descend]] the stairs. [[Return->Start]] to the bedroom.

The window opens after some effort. There's a drain pipe just within reach running up and down the side of the house. The wind is howling. [[Jump]] to the ground. [[Climb down]] the pipe. [[Climb up]] the pipe.

You hit the ground hard. It is the [[last thing you see]].

The pipe starts to pull away from the side of the house. You hit the ground hard, stunned, but not hurt. From somewhere on the otther side of the house you hear the baying of hounds. [[Wait]] and see what happens. [[Run]] for your life.

The drainpipe shakes like it could break off from the side of the house at any time. [[Climb in]] the attic window. [[Pull yourself]] up to the roof.

You are dead. It turns out there is no heaven or hell. Your consciousness continues to reside in space and time, but lacking all outside stimulus. You dwell in silent darkness forever. [[Start]] over.

The hounds are quickly upon you. They knock you to the ground. Their teeth sinking into your limbs is the [[last thing you see]].

The baying hounds chase you. You run desparately until your lungs feel like they are on fire and your heart pounds mercilessly. You somehow give them the slip, only to find yourself [[lost]] in the woods.

You are lost in the woods. A stream trickles through it. Follow the stream [[downstream]]. Follow the stream [[upstream]]. Take off in [[some other direction->lost]]. Try to make your way [[back to the house]].

You are in the attic. It is full of dusty boxes and crates. Everything is such a crowded mess, you feel like you could easily get lost in here. Search the various [[boxes]]. [[Look]] for a means of descendng to the second floor.

Using all your upper body strength, you pull yourself onto the roof of the house. You stand on the roof for a moment, hands on hips, stairing up at the beautiful full moon and the cold, distant stars. Suddenly, you hear a strange flapping [[noise]].

Beyond the door is some hideous, misshapen //thing//. Its claws at your throat are the [[last thing you see]].

A steep and narrow staircase leads up to the attic. [[Go up->Climb in]] to the attic. [[Return->Leave]] to the hallway.

You are in the hallway of the ground floor of an old, abandoned house. [[Ascend->Leave]] the stairs to the upper floor. [[Exit]] via the front door. Enter the [[kitchen]]. Enter the [[parlor]]. Try the [[narrow door]] near the back of the hallway.

Rummaging among the old junk in the attic, you find a hardwood box approximately six feet in length and maybe two feet wide and deep. [[Open->coffin]] it. [[Look]] for a way down.

You find a set of stairs, narrow and deep, leading down into the darkness below. [[Descend them->Leave]]. Keep [[looking around->boxes]].

Stumbling through the dark woods, you follow the stream until it becomes a waterfall. To continue, you must [[climb down->waterfall]]. Otherwise, you can turn around and head [[upstream]]. Or you can [[take off->lost]] in some other direction.

You reach a small bridge and stumble out of the woods onto a lonely back road. Unfortunately, the truck coming around the curve didn't see you in time. As the driver honks their horn the headlights of the truck are the [[last thing you see]].

After much difficulty you find your way back to the house. Unfortunately, the hounds are [[waiting for you.->Wait]]

As you climb down next to the trickling waterfall, your hands slip on the wet rocks. You land on your back, but it's not a good landing. You're pretty sure you've broken your neck. For a few moments you enjoy the cold water spashing onto your face. The clear view of the distant stars is the [[last thing you see]].

Some birdlike or batlike or apelike(?) thing has grabbed you with its hindlegs. [[Resist]] its grasp. [[Allow it]] to carry you aloft.

You struggle to free yourself from its wicked claws, eventually escaping its grasp! Only now do you realize how high into the sky that it has already carried you. You plummet to the earth. The ground rushing up to meet you is the [[last thing you see]].

The strange bird/bat/ape beast carries you higher and higher. You start to get cold and the air starts to get thin when you suddenly escape earth's atmosphere altogether. Only now to you realize that the stars are no mere balls of nuclear hydrogen. They're something far more terrible and beautiful and mad. As your body succumbs to the vacuum hell of outer space, the stars' plasmic nightmare souls beckoning to you are the [[last thing you see]].

You pry off the lid of the strange pine box. In it is a shrivelled corpse of a man with a hideously deformed face. Clutched in its clawlike hands is a bronze key of antiquated design. [[Take]] the key. [[Return->Climb in]] the lid to its place.

The fingers of the corpse are wrapped surprisingly tightly around the key. Suddenly, its eyelids open to reveal two black voids and its mouth opens to display jagged, yellowed teeth. Its snarling visage is the [[last thing you see]].

The front door appears to be locked. You cannot seem to open it without the key, You're trapped in this house, at least for now. Return to the [[hallway->Descend]].

Oh, man. You thought the rest of this place was filthy. And the smell! You've got to get out of here. Unfortunately, the back door has been boarded up on the outside of the house. [[Return->Descend]] to the hallway. Descend the narrow stairs leading to the [[basement]].

There's nothing in the parlor but some broken down old furniture covered in dust and an old bookcase. [[Examine]] the books. [[Return->Descend]] to the hallway.

You struggle for a few moments. The weirdly narrow door isn't locked but it is stuck. Eventually you yank it open as a black wave crashes down upon. It takes a second for you to realize that you are covered in shiny black beetles. They start to bite into your flesh. Beetles scuttling across your eyeballs are the [[last thing you see]].

The edges of your field of vision twist in strange ways as you take a close look at the bookcase. There seem to be many, many more books than can possibly fit on the shelf. Furthermore, most of the titles on the spines appear to be nonesense. <a href="https://libraryofbabel.info/">Investigate</a> the books more closely. [[Look away.->parlor]]

It is very dark down here, the only light a dim trickle following you down from the kitchen. The [[last thing you see]] is shifting blackness, an inkier spot of black in the general darkness of the basement.