text: [Themes: Surreal, female protagonist]
  
  > Look around
  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
  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 west
  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 to the west
  The walls and floor seem to glow, as if lit by something inside the very fabric of the building. The only exit is back out to the hallway to the east.
  
  In the centre of the room, an old fashioned movie projector sits atop a plinth.
  
  > turn on projector
  The projector crackles to life, the reels beginning to whirr and spin. On the wall opposite the door, silently, a white square of projected light appears.
  
  The picture coarsens and then slips into focus. Aunty May is sitting in a featureless bedroom staring out of the window. As you watch, a nurse comes into the room and puts a tray down on the table next to her. Aunt May doesn't turn her head.
  
  The film ends, to be replaced with crackles and dashes of visual noise. There is a clatter from the projector, and then a high speed whirring as it rewinds itself to the beginning. With a click, the white square disappears as the projector switches off.
  
  > Go east
  (first opening the back door)
  
  High fences surround the garden, giving it an air of privacy, sheltered from the street and any watchful eyes peeping from behind curtains in the neighbour's windows. A small patio area, attached to the side of the house, on which is a table and a set of peeling wooden chairs gives way to scrubby grass that you haven't quite got around to cutting for far too long.
  
  When Aunt May arrived, she had taken one look at the garden and given a gasp of horror. "You used to like gardening," she had said, shaking her head. "We've got to get this sorted out."
  
  "There's no point, Aunt May," you had replied. "We're moving soon."
  
  Aunt May had looked at you shrewdly. "Hmmm...." she had said, "We'll see. This new house of yours, does it actually have a garden?"
  
  "Not really," you had said.
  
  > examine table
  You bought the garden furniture set after the patio had been built. It's only a cheap wooden affair, now patched and faded from the weather.
  
  > go to the east
  Sometimes you think this room is made entirely from memories: the picture of your daughter, staring defiantly at the camera, flanked by the peaks of mountains; the wood paneling, a forgotten texture below the bookshelves; the books themselves, all green and blue leather - alphabetised soldier-sentries; a balding sofa and chair where Derek spends most of his evenings staring at the TV mounted to the wall.
  The too-small window overlooks the front driveway and lets in only just enough light, especially now the room is so much larger.
  
  > 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.
  
  When Aunt May moved in, somehow you managed to squeeze all her things into the room. Fortunately, the room has expanded to accept them.
  
  Aunt May sits in her chair, hands folded quietly in her lap, staring out of the window.
  
  > ask may about the garden
  "Hi, Aunt May," you say.
  
  "Yes, dear?" she asks.
  
  You remember when you used to visit Aunt May years ago. You always took away a bag of home gown vegetables. The kids complained in the car on the way home, knowing that for the next few days, there would always be something green on their plate. "I used to like growing my vegetables," says Aunt May. "Frozen veg just aren't the same."
  
  > ask May about Derek
  "He never seems to have much time these days," you say. "It's like he's avoiding being at home."
  
  "Don't you worry, love, he's always loved you deep down." Aunt May shakes her head. "It's a funny thing, isn't it. The more you love them, the further away they seem to get."
  
  > ask May about Samantha
  "Sam..." you begin, but it's still too raw.
  
  Aunt May looks at you and smiles sadly, "Children are hard, aren't they? I never had any, but I watched over your aunties and your mother growing up and they never stopped breaking my heart."
  
  > ask may about the baby
  Aunt May doesn't respond. She just shakes her head slightly and purses her lips.
  
  Aunt May shifts in her seat, and clasps her hands in her lap.
  
  > ask may about the projector
  You tell Aunt May about the white room, and about the plinth and the projector. She looks out of the window for a while, as if deep in thought. "I don't know what they are," she says, "but it sounds like there's something that can be changed. It sounds like the past is not always as fixed as you might think."
  
  > ask may about the rubber plant
  "It's still not doing well," you say, "the rubber plant I bought. Do you remember?"
  
  "I did tell you to put somewhere more sunny," responds Aunt May, a little acidly. "They like sun on their leaves, a ficus."
  
  > ask may about may
  "I said I'm fine."
  
  Aunt May sighs heavily.
  
  > ask may about yourself
  "You look nice, love."
  
  > ask may about the removals
  Aunt May doesn't respond. She just shakes her head slightly and purses her lips.
  
  > ask may about the barometer
  "I've still got the barometer you gave me for my sixteenth," you say.
  
  "That's nice," says Aunt May, "I hope you got it fixed."