text: [Themes: Surreal]
  
  > look at your surroundings
  Your Aunt has put her chair in front of the window where she can watch the comings and going of your neighbours. Her old sofa is against one wall alongside the grandfather clock that ticks time away in its deep voice. On the other side of the room is the dresser, weighed down with glass ornaments. Pictures cover most of the walls.
  
  Aunt May sits in her chair, hands folded quietly in her lap, staring out of the window.
  
  > look at the pictures
  A brief history of your maternal family tree. Uncles and aunts you have a passing acquaintance with mingle with more distant relatives. Dotted here and there are Monet prints. Your Aunt May loved Monet.
  
  Aunt May turns her head slightly to look up the street, but you can't see what she is looking at.
  
  > examine the clock
  Aunt May has had this clock forever. Its tick is like a constant note in your life.
  
  > go to the north
  The hallway has no windows. It's always been a dingy place when the doors to the bedrooms are closed, but the open door allows some light to creep in. Pictures line the walls, barely illuminated. To the south of you is Aunt May's room, opposite it, Brady's room and the hallway stretches toward the east side of the house. A flight of stairs leads down into the entrance hall, and the new white door hangs open next to the staircase to the west.
  
  > go east
  The hallway stretches endlessly from east to west through the house. The blank white walls are broken only by a door to the north.
  
  You can hear voices coming through the open door.
  
  > go to the east
  Away from the faint light from the stairwell, the hall is darker, and the pictures that continue to line the walls are more indistinct. A little more light spills in from the open door. The door in the north wall leads to Samantha's room, opposite it, your and Derek's room, and the hallway stretches to the west. It seems to be so much longer than yesterday. To the east, a doorway leads into the bathroom.
  
  > go to the south
  Despite her age, Aunt May keeps her home spotlessly clean. The window allows her to watch the comings and goings in the street from her strategically positioned armchair. An old dresser holds brass ornaments and a selection of glass flowers. The only door leads back out into the hallway.
  
  The room feels empty somehow, as if all the life in it has been used up.
  
  > Search table
  Which do you mean, the small table or the dressing table?
  
  > examine the small table
  You bought this a couple of months ago when you got the new beds. Now both you and Derek have a reading lamp. Derek likes to read late sometimes and at least now the light doesn't spill directly into your eyes.
  
  > Go north
  The reception area is painted a clinical light green and smells of disinfectant. Rows of chairs line the walls. A reception desk in the corner hold pamphlets and leaflets. The only other door apart from the one back into your house is in the opposite wall.
  
  The receptionist stands behind the desk sorting through some paperwork.
  
  > ask the receptionist about Samantha
  "Hi," you say.
  
  "How can I help you?" replies the receptionist.
  
  "The doctor will see you soon," says the receptionist, and smiles without showing her teeth. "I'm sure you can discuss any issues with him." She turns away.
  
  > examine the pamphlets
  Glossy brochures with titles like "Is Adoption for You?" or "You and Your Baby".
  
  > ask the receptionist about the time
  The receptionist smiles at you, but doesn't respond. She just goes back to her work.
  
  > wait until 5 PM
  You potter around the house until 5:00 pm.
  
  > go to the north
  The reception area is painted a clinical light green and smells of disinfectant. Rows of chairs line the walls. A reception desk in the corner hold pamphlets and leaflets. The only other door apart from the one back into your house is in the opposite wall.
  
  The receptionist stands behind the desk tidying up the desk surface.
  
  > go south
  Your Aunt has put her chair in front of the window where she can watch the comings and going of your neighbours. Her old sofa is against one wall alongside the grandfather clock that ticks time away in its deep voice. On the other side of the room is the dresser, weighed down with glass ornaments. Pictures cover most of the walls.
  
  Aunt May sits in her chair, hands folded quietly in her lap, staring out of the window.
  
  Aunt May coughs, and dabs at her lips with a small handkerchief.
  
  > go north
  The posters on the wall, reminders of winning sports teams and fading rock bands, are further apart than yesterday, as though spaced out and shifted by some unseen hand, showing acres of cream wallpaper. The bed, stripped of sheets, is only a textured mattress, the desk, piled with hockey trophies from his schooldays. Grey light from the window filters into the hallway behind you.
  
  Still no word from Brady. You had hoped that when the phone rang this morning, it was him and it would have been his voice on the answering machine. It was still too hard to actually pick up the phone though - that's why you stayed in bed. Just a message on the machine would have been enough.
  
  > go south
  (first opening the front door)
  
  Bounded by small grass borders that, via some unseen line down the middle, demarcate your house from the next, the driveway stretches out onto the road to the south. The open plan nature of the street is disconcerting.
  
  Your car is parked here.
  
  > close the door
  You close the front door.
  
  > go to the south
  The street is too open. There are too many eyes - all those blank windows reflecting and multiplying the world. Even thinking about passing the end of the driveway makes you feel uncomfortable. It's as if, unbounded by anything solid, all that space is too big to endure. It might dissipate you entirely.
  
  > Go north
  (first opening the front door)
  
  The glassed front door leads directly south onto the driveway, and carpeted stairs angle up to the first floor. Doors lead east to the lounge and the dining room to the north. The room is bare except for an occasional table next to the front door in the southern wall, on which the telephone and answering machine squat.
  
  > close the door
  Which do you mean, the front door, the lounge door or the dining room door?
  
  > Dust plant
  You rub the Rubber Plant.
  
  > Go east
  The kitchen is due an update - it feels very seventies, with a faux marble worktop, dark wood-effect cupboards and garish tiling. The refrigerator is covered in scraps of paper and bills, all held in place by magnetic capital letters. The back door leads out of the east wall into the garden.
  
  A calendar on the wall shows a grid of boxes for the month, all covered in small handwriting.
  
  On the refrigerator is a yellow post-it note.
  
  The clock on the wall ticks the seconds away into the air.
  
  > examine the clock
  The clock reads 5:18 pm.
  
  > watch the tv
  A large flat screen attached to the wall opposite the window. Derek insisted on getting the largest. It is switched on, and an advertisement desperately tries to gain your attention.
  
  > turn off the tv
  You switch the TV off.
  
  > go to the north
  The reception area is painted a clinical light green and smells of disinfectant. Rows of chairs line the walls. A reception desk in the corner hold pamphlets and leaflets. The only other door apart from the one back into your house is in the opposite wall.
  
  The receptionist stands behind the desk staring out into space.
  
  > sit on the chair
  You get onto the chairs.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  
  > wait until 6
  You potter around the house until 6:00 pm.
  
  > go to the south
  (first getting off the chairs)
  
  The hallway stretches endlessly from east to west through the house. The blank white walls are broken only by a door to the north.
  
  You can hear voices coming through the open door.