text: [Themes: modern]
  
  You walk towards the hooded figure.
  
  Anna doesn't notice you're not with her for a minute. Then she yells back, "What are you doing?"
  
  You continue walking towards the hooded figure - the tree.
  
  A moment pops up in your head, a message. Something from Welcome to Nightvale. The voice says, "Do not look directly at the hooded figures." You push the thought out of your head, thinking to yourself, Screw Welcome to Nightvale. That's Anna's podcast.
  
  But you think that maybe Welcome to Nightvale may have a point.
  
  Anna yells at you. "Come back Quinn, why are you walking towards a tree!"
  
  She sounds alarmed. Not like someone who is confused that their friend is walking towards a tree. More like someone who has something to hide.
  
  You can always go back. Go back to Anna. Go back to PE. Or you can continue to the hooded figure.
  
  > continue walking towards the hooded figure. Do not avert your eyes.
  You approach the hooded figure, feeling slightly hypoglycemic. Not that you know what that feels like. You just imagine that a hypoglycemic person might feel this way.
  
  You stare the hooded figure down. Right into the blackness of its hood. You cannot see its face. You walk forward in a trance.
  
  Finally you reach the figure, and you extend your hand out, trying to touch its dark beauty. Your fingers come closer to the black hole that is its face.
  
  You are past the point of no return - you can no longer return to Anna, you can no longer return to your normal life.
  
  As you bring your hand closer to the face, you realize something. Was your life ever normal? Those strange anomalies that happened every so often, so minor that you never noticed them. The time when the answers were already written on the test you were handed. The time your hand flickered when you looked at it. You wrote these all off as good luck, or sleepy delusions. But... Were they a message from something greater? A message that told you that there is something greater?
  
  You were always an atheist. But maybe if there is no God, is there something... different? Something darker?
  
  Your hand is almost touching the hooded figure's face. But... You need a burst of willpower to actually touch the thing. Through your daze, your instincts are screaming at you to BACK OFF! BACK OFF!
  
  But as you realized earlier, it is too late to back off. You must continue.
  
  > touch the dark figure's face.
  Brilliant white light courses through your body, and you are encompassed with pain everywhere. You scream, and writhe around as the face of the hooded figure, or... more accurately described, the black hole of the hooded figure, looms in front of you, laughing.
  
  You spiral through rushing, whirring material. Time, you think. But it is not time, and you cannot describe it with human words. Pain cuts into your brain, and you scream again.
  
  > pass out.
  Let's take a break for a bit. Now would be a good time to get a drink of water, maybe use the restroom? Good, good. Okay, now save. I'll be right here.
  
  Did you save? Good. If you didn't, you can continue, but really. Not the most genius thing to do. Plus, what if while you're asleep, a hooded figure comes and closes out your browser? Then you'd have to start over. Not fun. Okay. Let's keep going. Please save.
  
  > Continue..
  You wake up from the intermission in a clearing. All around you are rich green trees and vines and ferns, and other green things. You feel like you haven't seen anything this whole time, that you have been just reading the story of your life. However, now you are finally seeing something. But you are filled with longing. Because even though you are actually in the glade, you have the distinct feeling that the clearing is just a picture, that you are staring longingly at.
  
  You look around you some more, sensing (but not really hearing) the cries of tropical birds. A bit of sunlight filters through the trees, creating a spotlight of sun on you and the stones near you.
  
  Near you lies a sack. The sack seems to be full, so you move closer to it. Inside the sack is a note. You peer inside more. How does the sack look full, if all that is in it is a handwritten note?
  
  Suspiciously, you read the note. It says,
  
  Voyager -
  
  Yes, that is what you are now. Just a voyager, someone on an adventure. Oh? You wish to return to your old life? You should have thought of that before approaching me.
  
  I am the hooded figure. Well, I am not the hooded figure. I am one of millions of hooded figures - billions - billions of trillions, even. We are spread throughout the universe.. But, I will not get into that now. Your brain would explode from sheer comprehension of the size of the universe.
  
  So I shall refrain. Choose one item from the sack.
  
  - The Hooded Figure
  
  "What?!" You say out loud. "There are no items in the sack... This note is trying to make me feel insane, I'm sure!"
  
  Scribbles appear on the note, and you look down just as the scribbles spell out,
  
  What, you think I'm going to fall for that? Simplest trick in the book. You'd just take it all. No, no. That wouldn't do. Just choose something from the list of options.
  
  You stare at the note. How is it writing? Something is horribly wrong. Also, there seems to be a list of items in the corner of your vision. What is this???
  
  Well, it's time to choose an item. There aren't too many choices, this should be easy.
  
  > Strange glowing pendant
  Ah, writes the note as you pick up the pendant. You are one for magic, I see. Most are. That is not the best choice, though. You humans read too many wizardry novels. By now you should have learned that there are consequences to magic. Well, continue.
  
  > Continue...
  Okay, says the note, whichever item you picked...
  
  "But.. You just commented on my item," you say.
  
  Tut tut, the note says. This whole thing was programmed in advance. What do you expect me to do, know what item you picked? Too hard, too hard. Now stand up.
  
  You stand up.
  
  Okay, have fun! Bye!
  
  The note disappears. "What?!" you exclaim, and the note reappears. Relax, it writes out to you. I'm still here. I'm just invisible, and I'm getting tired so don't expect help from me on this next one.
  
  It disappears again. "This next one?" you yell. "WHAT NEXT ONE?!"
  
  > Continue...
  All of a sudden, you hear a growl.
  
  You whirl around. What was that?
  
  There's another growl. And another. Suddenly it's like a cacophony of growls, and a sinking feeling spreads through your chest. What are these, wolves?
  
  At the thought, a wolf springs into the clearing and growls loudly. You back up, and think, Now would be a good time to use that item I picked.
  
  Another wolf enters the clearing, and another. Suddenly you're surrounded.
  
  (Until you know what your item is really good for, it's going to be difficult to use them. So choose an option below, don't click "use item")
  
  > hold out your glowing pendant and ask it to do something.
  You grab the glowing pendant and hold it out.
  
  "Do something, do something!" you yell as the wolves step closer.
  
  The pendant flashes white.
  
  > Hallucinations
  What just happened? You feel like a momentary blip just popped up in your life. Did something happen to you several minutes ago? What is this? You run to catch up with Anna. She stares at you with an intense glare that seems to see inside your soul. "What were you just doing." It's not a question. It's an accusation. Things are getting strange.
  
  "Walking towards the hooded figure."
  
  Even stranger, Anna seems to be okay with your response. She shrugs and keeps walking. When you don't move, she beckons you forward. I guess you're going back to your normal day.
  
  Except, something is not right. Where were you several minutes ago, and where will you be several minutes from now?