text: [Themes: Slice of life, slice of life, time travel]
  
  > look around
  On the right side of the room is your bed - or rather, bedframe, since the mattress is gone. Next to the end where the pillow would have been, there's a little bedside table. A wooden wardrobe sits in the far left corner. Beside it, there's a low chest of drawers. There's a window on the wall opposite the door, looking out onto the street. The light switch is on the wall next to the door, whilst the wall above the bed is covered in old blu-tac stains.
  
  > open the wardrobe
  You open the wardrobe - the left door is still as stiff as you remember it being. Inside, it's entirely empty other than for a lonely-looking coat hanger. And on that coat hanger, there's a very lonely-looking hoodie.
  
  You rescue it from its solitude.
  
  > Examine hoodie
  It's your school leavers hoodie, a dark blue with the names of the whole class arranged on the back, and your own surname in bold letters on the right side of the front. You used to love wearing it around at home on lazy weekends - the unisex sizing meant it had been much too large for you - and your tendency to fiddle with the sleeves meant both cuffs had an assortment of holes. Your parents must have taken the rest of your clothes to charity shops whilst you'd been away, but left this for you, just in case.
  
  You're glad they did. Though you can't really see yourself wearing this anymore, you do have fond memories from the days when you did.
  
  There's one memory in particular that you associate strongly with it - if you were to REMINISCE ON the hoodie, you could probably remember just how it played out...
  
  > Reminisce on comic
  You close your eyes, and you dive deep into the memory evoked by the comic drawing.
  
  A primary school classroom, with tables and blue plastic chairs arranged in rows. It's raining hard outside, for the third day in the row, so you and all your classmates are spending yet another lunchbreak indoors. Your class teacher, Miss Andrews, is at the front of the room.
  
  Maya is still standing next to your desk, attempting to peer at your drawing.
  
  > talk to Maya
  You finally manage a smile. "Okay, I guess you can take a look! It's only rough, though."
  
  Maya grins and doesn't hesitate to pick up the piece of paper. You watch her as she reads it. The smile doesn't fade from her face, even when she's finished.
  
  "You're really good at drawing!" she says. "I wish the headteacher actually had a cat."
  
  Her words fill you with warmth, and any nervousness you had is forgotten. Instead, you hear yourself laugh. "Me too," you reply.
  
  "You should put, like, aliens or something in. Why make a
  superhero comic and just set it at school?"
  
  "I wanted to have everything realistic, so the notebook seems more special."
  
  Maya tilts her head. "But that's boooring." She says it jokingly, and you find yourself laughing again.
  
  "Okay, okay, how about you come up with the next story, and I'll draw it?"
  
  It's the start of a long friendship.
  
  You and Maya drew countless comics together, aliens and all. Inevitably, some of Maya's careless confidence rubbed off on you, and through spending your school years by her side, you realised that speaking up for yourself didn't feel as overwhelming as it had before. Maybe your comic self had a magic notebook, but the real you was good too.
  
  (You have learned the lesson of CONFIDENCE. To remind yourself of
  this lesson, REMEMBER CONFIDENCE - this will allow you to apply this lesson to your next action. To check which lessons you have learned, REMEMBER LESSONS.)
  
  On the right side of the room is your bed - or rather, bedframe, since the mattress is gone. Next to the end where the pillow would have been, there's a little bedside table. A wooden wardrobe sits in the far left corner. Beside it, there's a low chest of drawers. There's a window on the wall opposite the door, looking out onto the street. The light switch is on the wall next to the door, whilst the wall above the bed is covered in old blu-tac stains.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a leavers hoodie
  a birthday card
  a teddy bear
  a Physics report
  a green paper folder
  a comic drawing
  a bin bag
  
  > reminisce on the card
  You close your eyes, and you dive deep into the memory evoked by the birthday card.
  
  It's Maya's birthday, and you are stuck on the side of a motorway, three hundred miles away. You were on your way to the airport, and your dad was nice enough to let you borrow his car for the weekend. As it turns out, that blessing was a curse: you're still half an hour's drive from London Heathrow, but this old Fiat has given up.
  
  Your flight to Newcastle is in just under two hours. You'd promised you be there, tonight, at the big party she's throwing in her university dorms. For weeks you've been looking forward to this, but instead you're here, with an engine that won't start. It's lucky you managed to veer into the hard shoulder before you lost all your speed.
  
  You curse, you put on the handbrake, and you get out.
  
  It's a dreary day for March - gloomy clouds cover the sky. The road is busy, but not packed - three lanes on both sides, everyone else's cars working just fine as they whizz past. The steep banks on each side of the motorway are covered in nothing but weeds and small trees, and you're far away from the last service station you passed.
  
  It's just you and your dad's car.
  
  (You're somewhere different now - a difference place, a different time. You can sense that there's a lesson for you, at the end of this memory, but you can always PINCH yourself to go back to the present, and continue this memory later when you've learned more lessons.)
  
  > look at the car
  It's red and it's old. Your dad never wanted to sell it out of some slightly misplaced sense of loyalty, but it looks like its time might finally be up.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a phone
  
  > examine phone
  Your trusty smartphone, now very old and mildly temperamental. The screensaver is a selfie of you and your friends, the last time you were all together before going your separate ways for uni. You really miss them.
  
  You could TEXT someone - you know Maya, Alex and Isaac always have their phones on them. Your mum and dad have been getting better at checking their texts too.
  
  > Text maya
  "hey! soo my dad's car broke down on the way to the airport..." you type out. Then you stare at the message and wonder if it's worth sending. It makes it sound like you've already given up, and you're not giving up. And you don't want to make Maya worry.
  
  You delete the message again.
  
  > text mum
  You think about it, but your mum would just panic.
  
  > text the dad
  "hey dad, the engine won't start..." you send.
  
  "where are you?"
  
  "side of the M4..."
  
  "oh no, be careful. call the roadside rescue?"
  
  He sends you the number you need, so you now you can try to CALL RESCUE.
  
  > call the RESCUE
  You've always had a strong dislike of making phone calls - something about speaking on the phone always makes you stumble on every word you say. You know you have to, but, you can't bring yourself to hit the dial icon.
  
  > remember the confidence
  You remind yourself that you're a cool, competent person capable of cool, competent things.
  
  > call the RESCUE
  You rehearse what you're going to say in you're head, take a deep breath, and then you hit the dial icon.
  
  The good news is that they pick up quickly, and the conversation goes surprisingly smoothly.
  
  The bad news is, they won't be able to get anyone to you for another forty minutes. That doesn't leave much time for you to get to the airport on time... but you say yes anyway, thank them, and hang up. Damn it.
  
  > Text alex
  "hey do you know how to fix a broken car??" you send.
  
  "you're the one who took physics alevel not me!" is Alex's reply.
  
  "ughhhh"
  
  "try googling?"
  
  You suppose trying to GOOGLE isn't the worst idea in the world...
  
  Calmness wasn't useful for that; you stop concentrating on it.
  
  > Google
  You pull out your phone and type in: "car that won't start".
  
  A lot of possible causes come up - is your battery dead? Maybe it's the ignition switch? Or the fuel filter is clogged? The only option you feel qualified enough to rule out is that you're out of fuel altogether - you made sure to fill up before you left.
  
  You sigh. Finding an answer isn't going to be as easy as you thought, not that you even thought it was going to be easy. You're going to need to Google harder.
  
  > Google
  Thinking about scrolling through all those words you don't fully understand makes you feel exhausted...
  
  > Google
  Thinking about scrolling through all those words you don't fully understand makes you feel exhausted...
  
  Confidence wasn't useful for that; you stop concentrating on it.
  
  > Pinch
  Maybe you can't reach the end of this memory just yet. You pinch yourself hard, and open your eyes.
  
  On the right side of the room is your bed - or rather, bedframe, since the mattress is gone. Next to the end where the pillow would have been, there's a little bedside table. A wooden wardrobe sits in the far left corner. Beside it, there's a low chest of drawers. There's a window on the wall opposite the door, looking out onto the street. The light switch is on the wall next to the door, whilst the wall above the bed is covered in old blu-tac stains.
  
  > Reminisce on hoodie
  You close your eyes, and you dive deep into the memory evoked by the leavers hoodie.
  
  The sun is sitting low in the sky, and you and three friends are sitting in a circle, legs stretched out on the grass. This small square of greenery is a spot your group likes to come after school, when the weather allows. It's surrounded on all sides by ugly brick buildings, but it's still a breath of fresh air, and a good place to just relax before heading home.
  
  You're sitting next to your best friend, Maya. It's her birthday today - the sweet sixteen - and she hasn't let any of you forget it.
  
  "I told you!" she's exclaiming in her typical melodramatic manner. "I want to celebrate with alcohol! This is a milestone!"
  
  Your friend Alex laughs and shakes his head. "Maya, I think you're confusing sixteen with eighteen..."
  
  Maya waves her hand dismissively. "Shush. I want alcohol. We are getting our hands on some beer tonight, or I'm finding a new group of friends."
  
  You all know she's only joking... but she's a stubborn one.
  
  (You're somewhere different now - a difference place, a different time. You can sense that there's a lesson for you, at the end of this memory, but you can always PINCH yourself to go back to the present, and continue this memory later when you've learned more lessons.)
  
  > look at Maya
  Red hair, brown eyes, always talking. You've been close friends since you were eleven, and you can't really imagine not having her around, even if your life would be significantly more peaceful that way. You know she'll always have your back when it really matters.
  
  Alex holds up his hands. "All right, all right - birthday girl wants some beer, we got it."
  
  "None of us can buy alcohol..." your state-the-obvious friend Isaac points out.
  
  > examine Alex
  Absolute goofball. You're not sure you've ever heard him take anything seriously, but his constant cheerfulness is always welcome company.
  
  Then Maya breaks into a grin - it's the grin that always warns you when she's got something up her sleeve. "So maybe we can't buy alcohol," she says, "but my nineteen year-old stepsister can." And she might not have had anything literally in her sleeve, but she did have something in her pocket - her stepsister's driving license, which she's now holding out proudly in her hand.
  
  > examine the license
  The driving license of a Miss Stephanie Thorpe. You've only met Maya's stepsister once, but the mugshot captures her grumpy demeanour pretty well.
  
  Alex leans forwards to grab the driving license from Maya's hand, and inspects it more closely. "I thought you two hated each other! How'd you get this?"
  
  Maya continues to grin. "Who says she knows I have it?"
  
  Alex nods, impressed; meanwhile Isaac looks slightly horrified.
  
  > examine Isaac
  Lives next-door to Alex, but that's about where the similarities end. Isaac is the one you all tend to copy homework from.
  
  "You're going to impersonate her?" Isaac asks Maya, and it's in a tone that suggests he doesn't really want to know the answer.
  
  "I'd totally do it, except Stephanie's blonde, and I'm clearly not. So, no, I'm not impersonating anyone." Then Maya retrieves the license from Alex's grip and places it in your lap instead. "This lady is."
  
  Oh, hell.
  
  "So," Maya challenges, "you up for this?"
  
  > talk to Maya
  "Uhhh, I don't think so, Maya." You smile apologetically and hand the license back to her. You just don't believe you could pull it off.
  
  Maya simply gives the card back to you. "You'll be fine!" she insists. "Cashiers never look that closely."
  
  Maya is looking at you, hoping you'll agree to her bold plan.
  
  > talk to Maya
  "You can say whatever you like, but my anxiety still says no," you reply. "Why don't we buy you some blonde hair-dye instead?"
  
  Alex chuckles at that. "As much as I would love to see Maya with blonde hair - you should do it! It'll be fun!"
  
  This is going to be hard to get out of.
  
  Saying yes to Maya's idea does sound like it could be fun... but you don't trust yourself to be able to do it well.
  
  > talk to Maya
  Maybe you can do this. So long as you look like you know what
  you're doing - or rather, that you're not doing anything suspicious at all - nobody will know a thing, right?
  
  "All right," you say, standing up dramatically. "I'll do it."
  
  Alex whoops, and Maya claps happily. "I knew I could count on you!" she says. "Here." She places a ten pound note in your hand. "Get a six pack."
  
  You put the money and the driving license in the back pocket of your jeans, and look to the west where the closest convenience shop is.
  
  Time to go to the shop and hope for the best!
  
  > go to the west
  You start heading towards the shop, but Alex tugs at your leg.
  
  "I think you might be forgetting something, if you don't want the cashier to spot anything odd," he chuckles.
  
  Time to go to the shop and hope for the best!
  
  > examine the license
  The driving license of a Miss Stephanie Thorpe. You've only met Maya's stepsister once, but the mugshot captures her grumpy demeanour pretty well. Unfortunately for you, she does have very similar hair to you - dark blonde and down past the shoulders.
  
  Time to go to the shop and hope for the best!
  
  > About yourself
  You're sixteen, and your dark blonde hair is up in a half-hearted bun. You're wearing your leavers hoodie, still new and fresh having only been delivered last week.
  
  Time to go to the shop and hope for the best!
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a money
  a driving license
  a school leavers hoodie (being worn)
  
  Time to go to the shop and hope for the best!
  
  > Badideas
  SAVEOk.
  
  > remove the hoodie
  Good point - wearing a hoodie with a name that is definitely not Thorpe printed in bright, white letters across the front would perhaps not have been wise. You wriggle out of it and throw it to Maya. You decide to take your hair out of its bun as well - anything to make you look more like the photo on the license.
  
  All right, now you're really ready to go!
  
  > go west
  "You got this, girl!" Maya yells after you as you go. She might be a terrible influence, but you wouldn't be you without it.
  
  The operation is carried out without a hitch - the cashier looked barely older than eighteen himself, and almost forgets to even ask for proof of age from you in the first place. You return, triumphant, and the four of you spend the rest of the spring evening joking and laughing. Even Isaac manages to finish a can, despite spitting out his first mouthful.
  
  Once the cans are empty and the sun is down, you split off to go home. Alex and Isaac take a left, you and Maya take a right, and a short walk later, when the two of you are in front of her house, she turns to you.
  
  "Your company's the best birthday present, you know that, right?" She's definitely tipsy, but you can tell there's truth in there.
  
  "Goodnight, Maya," you chuckle. "And happy birthday."
  
  Those were easier days. Maybe they didn't feel them at the time, but you miss not really having any responsibilities. That, combined with spending too much time around Maya and Alex and their nonsense, let you learn that sometimes, doing something bold (and maybe even stupid) was the best way to get things done.
  
  (You have learned the lesson of AUDACITY. To remind yourself of
  this lesson, REMEMBER AUDACITY - this will allow you to apply this lesson to your next action. To check which lessons you have learned, REMEMBER LESSONS.)
  
  On the right side of the room is your bed - or rather, bedframe, since the mattress is gone. Next to the end where the pillow would have been, there's a little bedside table. A wooden wardrobe sits in the far left corner. Beside it, there's a low chest of drawers. There's a window on the wall opposite the door, looking out onto the street. The light switch is on the wall next to the door, whilst the wall above the bed is covered in old blu-tac stains.
  
  > look at the folder
  Made of green card, it has your name scrawled on the front in black biro.
  
  Nothing else in there is that interesting, really. You decide to just place it in the bin bag.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a leavers hoodie
  a birthday card
  a teddy bear
  a Physics report
  a comic drawing
  a bin bag
  a green paper folder
  
  > Reminisce on report
  You close your eyes, and you dive deep into the memory evoked by the Physics report.
  
  You're sat in front of one of the computers in your sixth form college's library, and you've just realised - you've messed up. Your Physics coursework is due at the end of today, printed and ready to hand in, and since you don't have a functioning printer at home, you emailed the document to yourself when you finished the report, in the early hours of the morning.
  
  Or, at least, you thought you had - but you didn't send the final version. Long story short, you're missing the whole last section of your report, and your laptop is all the way back home.
  
  You feel yourself begin to panic.
  
  (You're somewhere different now - a difference place, a different time. You can sense that there's a lesson for you, at the end of this memory, but you can always PINCH yourself to go back to the present, and continue this memory later when you've learned more lessons.)
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a phone
  
  > look at the phone
  Your trusty smartphone, a couple of years old. The screensaver is a nice photo of the Scottish Highlands, where you went on holiday with your parents last year.
  
  > call the mom
  At the moment, the only thing you can think about is how hard your heart is beating. You stayed up all night working on that report - what are you going to do? What are you going to do?
  
  > remember the calmness
  You take a deep breath and remember not to let your mind convince you something is scary when it doesn't need to be.
  
  You feel a little better now as the panic clears from your head. Your goal is clear - you need to get back home, come back, print it out, and hand it to the office before the deadline at 4pm. Only thing is, it's already 1pm, the end of your lunch break, and you're supposed to be in a Maths lesson in ten minutes.
  
  > call the mom
  Making phone calls in the library is a good way to make the librarian hate you.
  
  > call the home
  Making phone calls in the library is a good way to make the librarian hate you.
  
  Audacity wasn't useful for that; you stop concentrating on it.