Choose (Interactive Mentalist Story)

CHAPTER 1 - Truth or Dare?

"I'll never let you go Jack... I'll..." Time to make a ridiculous joke. Don't you worry about Jack, Rose. There are plenty of fish in the sea.

Zap.

"THIS. IS. SPAR-" He obviously wanted to say THIS. IS. SPAR-boring instead.

Zap.

"There's been a terrorist attack in the south of ..."Already read that in the newspaper.

Zap.

"Let it go... Let it go... Turn away and slam the doo-" OH GOD NO.

Zap.

Staring at the television screen, holding the tv remote in your right hand and your drink in the other , you push on random buttons to find an exciting show or movie.

You're sitting on your couch in the living room. The room is uncomfortably large, the floor is polished concrete, the walls white and the furniture is from a high-end Scandinavian designer, but the name escapes you for the moment. There are no personal photographs, like the place is staged for sale. It isn't though. Now this might seem like you are some kind of rich, cynical selfish woman but you're completely the opposite of that. You don't really make a lot of money as a video editor who is working for the oh so famous, rich and handsome Sean Martins who you unfortunately consider as your boyfriend. Why the unfortunately? Because he's a total prick. He's never home, he always forgets your anniversaries, the only thing he does when he's at home is drinking and sleeping on the couch and making you his servant while you're in fact his girlfriend, and not to forget; he has never appreciated your work. Not even once. Never.

You met him while you were in college. You dropped your bag filled with books and of course, they all fell out. Sean crouched and offered you a helping hand. He asked you for your phone number and you two met up a couple of times after that. After two years, he shyly asked you to be his girlfriend on which you happily answered yes.

At the beginning of your relationship, he seemed nice, acting caring and kind, but you soon realized he only cared about himself and his money. You've made a note to yourself: you'll date him until you've found a better job. You can't risk to lose your current job because Sean is your savior when it's about having money and reputation. Okay. You have to admit you're only dating him because of his money. A girl needs to shop, right?

"Hundreds of thousands of people have marched worldwide to demand action to stop climate ch-" Again, already read that in the newspaper.

Zap.

"Next on National Discovery Channel, scientific discoveries the dark caves of..."

Zap.

"There's absolutely NOTHING to watch on tv!"

You sigh frustrated as you throw the remote against a pillow. It bounces back and lands with a loud clang on the ground.

"BE QUIET! I'M TRYING TO WORK HERE!" You hear Sean's angry voice coming from upstairs. Say hello to your 'lovely' boyfriend.

"As you please your highness..." You mutter, picking up the tv remote from the ground only to see you have completely broken it.

"Cheap ass tv remote from Ebay, I told him we should've bought a more expensive one."

You try to fix it but nothing is helping. This thing is absolutely dead and there's no way you can revive it. Poor remote... You'll always be remembered in my heart.
Luckily, you happen to have an extra tv remote upstairs in Sean's home office. Not quite a pleasant place to be.. but tv is tv and watching tv is one of the few things that make you happy these days.
You stand up, stretch your arms and neck and you make your way over to the wooden stairs. Before climbing up, you shout for Sean to ask him if there's another tv remote there but you hear nothing, not even an insult or a grumpy sigh, purely nothing. Now that is strange.

After calling again and again, you decide to go upstairs. His office is just on the end of the hallway, the hallway you find so creepy. You never liked hallways. They give you this bad feeling something terrible is bound to happen or that someone is going to jump at you. This feeling was developed after your big brother scared you this one time at night.  You never dared to walk alone through that hallway again, especially not when your brother was at home.

 Gathering all your courage to enter Sean's office, you make your way over to the other side of the hallway, only to find out there's a note sticked to the door with a piece of tape. As you see the note, a wave of worry and fear overwhelms you and your breathing accelerates. Sean never leaves any notes. And he never draws little smileys either...

"Dear (Your Name)
I hated to see you in so much pain. That's why I got rid of the biggest source of sadness. Don't thank me, not yet. I hope you like the tiger.
Love,
Red John"

Tiger? You slowly push the door open, revealing the horrible scene in the room.
The smiley. The with blood drawn carelessness smiley which is staring at you as if it wants to crush your soul. Sean's barely identifiable body, hopelessly lying on the ground in a pool of red liquid.
The stuffed tiger, sitting on Sean's desk. Your heart pounds as one question continues to race through your confused mind: Why did he do this? Your eyes start filling themselves with tears, your whole body is shaking. Your legs weaken and as a pile of pudding, you fall down onto your knees. It hurt, but you don't feel any of it. The only thing you can do is stare at Sean's body. Once full of life and energy, was now dead and beaten. Why ... why oh why would he kill him?

There's a short pause and you think again; Why wouldn't he kill him? He was such a prick, a person who didn't care about other persons. He never seemed to have time for you, he was a complete bastard. I should be thankful to Red John, the person who has killed him.

You wipe your own tears away and you slowly start to get up. The shock is partly over, now it's time to call the cops. You dial the 911 number and hold your phone against your ear. You can feel the phone shaking along with your still shaking hands which you try to control but you can't seem to succeed in that.

"911 What's your emergency?"

"Sean Martins... My boyfriend... Has been murdered..."

"What's your address and name ma'am?"

With a shaking voice, you start telling them your address, name and everything they need to know. Then, you hang up and wait for the police to arrive. The lady on the phone told you you had to wait downstairs until the police had arrived.

Before leaving the damned room, you look at the stuffed tiger that's still sitting on Sean's desk. Deep in your heart, you know that the stuffed tiger means something to you. It's some kind of personal message from the person who killed Sean. What if you might know the killer?

What are you going to do?

A: You take the stuffed tiger and hide it in your bedroom, pretending that you've had it for a long time and that it had nothing to do with Sean's death.                                                                                -> Go to Chapter 1A

B: You leave it there on the desk, you' ll tell the cops the stuffed tiger is evidence and you let them take it.                                                                                                                                                                                 -> Go to Chapter 1B