Silicon County: An Interactive Story (Ongoing)
Introduction
Welcome to Silicon County, encompassing the towns of Hawley, Dayton, and Marla, home to the Silicon Sparrows high school soccer team, and the site of a quickening conflict between supernatural entities. To residents and outsiders alike, there's nothing amiss, but to several individuals, it's becoming apparent that something is off, and when the entities' conflict escalates, these people, while sleeping, begin to wander a vast dreamscape known as the Divine Dream.
Table of Contents
Postlude to Fire: The Interloper
Chapter 1: Undiscovery (Finished)
Chapter 2: Down the Line (Finished)
Chapter 3: Against the Night (Finished)
Chapter 4: Teeth in the Grass (Ongoing)
Interlude to Fire: The Wolf and the Crane
Chapter 5: Realms Underfoot
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Prelude to Fire: Perhaps Truths, Perhaps Fictions
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Epilogue:
Shorts:
Character List and Statuses
Introduced: Cara Armstrong, Hugh Armstrong, Leland Armstrong, Ron Armstrong, Russell Armstrong, Thomas Callahan, Clive Carson, Melissa Carson, Lana Dawkings, Theodore 'Theo' Deerman, Amanda Gavins, Daniel Gavins, Tyler 'Ty' Gavins, Alan Jones, Benjamin 'Bernie' Jones, Marsha Jones, Samantha Jones, Mitch Jenkins, Amber Page, Edward 'Ed' Page, Henry Parker, Wade Pittman, Kayla Robins, David Schneider, Alex Gardener-Schneider
Deceased or Unknown: Rachel Carson, Alexander Carson, Michael Gavins
Awaiting Introduction: Anna Francisco, Robert Harold Thompson, Holly McClaire, Luke Page, Hazel Hart, Eli Aker, Melissa Kim, Clyde Roberts, Bram Dykstra, Claire Fisher, Lucas Marcone, Hector Sandoval, Lydia Miller, Owen Williams, Tyranno Tar'man, Kyle Finkton, Charity Collingswood, Father O'Malley, Elisabeth ‘Lizzy Dykes’ Dykstra, Vincent ‘Vinny’ Warble, Emily Classon, Macie 'Jay' Jaysura, Kate Davis, Mark Spencer, Morina Milani, Dave Richards
Character submission is closed.
Comments
I donated a fish.
Thank you for your fish.
No! NO!NO! I meant few, Few, not fish. God Damn you auto-correct!
Auto-correct strikes once again. This must be stopped. But hey, enjoy the fish.
I was wondering what you meant by fish. I thought it was some saying that I didn't know about, so I just tried playing along XD
Auto-correct is known for making completely ordinary sentences into unusual sentences that make no sense, all with a single word.
Yes autocorrect, the angel from hell. It will help you when you need it, and screw you over when you don't.
I dunno if this town has a highschool (I assumed it did) Sorry if it doesnt :c
Anyways i submitted two.
Thanks, TeamSarah!
By the way, you frequently called Melissa Jessica. Should I assume her name is Melissa? If not, please correct me.
HAHAHA, no i just woke up and i didnt know if her name should be melissa or jessica so her name is melissa. Sorry lmao XD
Alright, thanks for clearly that up!
One more thing though... I hope you don't mind, but a small bit of her backstory was rather... odd. I'm not sure how they thing with the razor blade would work without... um... collateral damage. Would you mind if I found a more reasonable explanation to that piece of her backstory?
You can but hell yeah there was collateral damage but that was fixed by doctors and nurses afterwards (maybe i should have added that in)
It's alright, I'll take note of that. But I still might change a few things up.
Anyway, nonetheless, thank you for the characters!
Small little update.
I've gotten started on the prologue and am here to inform you that the first part will be coming out pretty soon (I'm polishing it a bit in the mean time). It'll include a choice, hence why it'll be in two parts. I'm hoping to have a few more people join (and hopefully submit characters) before officially starting the prologue. Here's to a good start, let's hope I don't mess it up.
Just submitted the first of my characters. I have two family members planned for her, which I hope to submit tomorrow. I'm looking forward for this story
Thank you, Liquid! I love the character. A very detailed history and personality. I've got a good role in mind for her already
I shall contribute tomorrow :P
Awesome sauce! And, well, have a good night :P
Important: If you're reading this, you should be imformed that this story has been discontinued and is now rebooted under the title "Silicon County." The rebooted story begins around page 11!
Prologue: “Engulfed by Rain and Wind” - Part 1
“When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
May 13th - 8:28 PM
The young man’s shoes splashed in the puddles on the sidewalk as he ran with great speed. His arms waved back and forth as he ran, a metallic object held tightly in the grip of his right. The overcast sky offered little light to shine on the metal he held with little sign of letting go.
Upon reaching a point he turned to face a river overflowing with recent rainfall that ran alongside, and under the sidewalk. He found himself on a small bridge that acted as a way over the creek - now a raging river - for cars and passersby.
He reached into his hoodie’s pocket, and pulled out a vibrating phone. Quickly, he hit ignore and shoved the phone back into his hoodie’s pocket. He looked at the object in his hand and dropped it into the river, his face grimaced underneath its hood as it splashed into the brownish-green runoff.
The young man took a step back and was startled by a car passing behind him. “Shit!” he exclaimed under his muffled breath as the car splashed a wave of water from the curb. He was covered head to toe with the water, but working quickly he pulled down his hood and rubbed the water from his eyes, revealing damp brown hair, and hazel eyes. His eyes spoke for themselves; terrified, in shock, afraid, and red from recently rubbing the water out.
His attention turned to a man poking his head out of the window of the car just a few yards away “Are you alright?” The man called to the boy on the sidewalk.
“I’m-- I’m fine”, he stuttered. “I’m okay.” He tried to reassure the older man despite his noticeably shaky breaths. With that quick answer he continued to run, ignore the man’s puzzled glance. Down the sidewalk he ran, past rows of houses until he reached a yellow one with a large tree out in its frontyard.
He darted inside and let the door fall shut behind him. Two people, an older fellow and woman, stood in the kitchen talking when they were distracted by the boy’s sudden and loud entrance. Both of them walked towards the door and looked at a grayish colored mud that was tracked from the front door and up the stairs. “Son?” The woman called, obviously his mother. “Are you alright?” She sighed and looked at the man - her husband. “Start the car honey.”
He nodded and walked towards the front door, but as he step out the door, he grabbed the keys hanging there, then continued out.
Upstairs the boy panicked, pacing back and forth in his room. A knock on the bedroom door made him jump. The knob twisted but didn’t open - he locked the door while entering his room.
“Luke?” His mother called. “Is everything okay?”
He blinked and let out a few heavy but silent breaths in an attempt to calm his breathing before speaking. “Yeah…” he answered back. “I’m changing… I got soaked when a car passed the sidewalk.” His lie - partly true - worked.
“Alright, I won’t bother you much more.” Luke’s mother replied. “But me and your father are going, you know where everything is. But please, don’t go down to the creek anytime soon, it's already overflowing and it’s going to get worse tonight.” His mother’s soft tone faded to a snarky one. “And also, you tracked mud in. Clear it up once you’ve changed.”
“I…” Luke mumbled, “Ah, of course.”
His mother sighed, “Dad and I love you. We’ll see you on saturday.”
“Love you too…” Luke replied glumly as he waited for her to leave. On the other side the footsteps of his mother and the front door closing entered his ears. He turned his back to the door and leaned on it, sliding down until he sat on the hardwood floor. He grabbed his knees and set there curled up. His expression become less panicked and more horrified. He seemed to just now realize he was crying, as he felt a warm tear fall on arm.
He then noticed his hand felt strange. It didn’t feel numb, it felt as if it was waking up, like prickly needles were poking it, but it was isolated to the palm of his right hand which hadn’t fallen asleep. He shook it from his head, ignored it, and picked himself up from the floor. He walked towards his bedroom window at the other side of the room. By this time, his parents were already off their street and out of sight. Just as well, he couldn’t face them, look them in the eye.
He saw something just outside the window. A flash of black in the corner of his eye. It seemed to run by the side of his house, but now it was gone. He opened the window and just as he was about to look out of it his phone being to vibrate again. He paused and pulled it from his pocket, recognizing a familiar name and face. Samantha. She was a friend. Her picture, having appeared when she called, had nice brown hair, and pretty blue eyes and a freckled face.
“Ouch!” He shouted as his hand suddenly experienced a sharp, burning-like pain, causing him to drop his phone on the floor before he could answered the call.
As he looked down at the phone he noticed something, once again it was the same flash of black racing across the tall, thick tree in his yard. His face seemed worried, but retained a more terrified look with each passing second. It had to have been a squirrel… or something.
[Inspect your hand.]
[Look out the window to get a better look at what darted across the tree.]
[Answer the phone call from your friend.]
[Ignore all and attempt to distract yourself.]
[Inspect your hand.]
[Inspect your hand.]
Great beginning, and off to a great start!!!
[Answer the phone call from your friend.]
**[Answer phone call from friend] **
[Inspect your hand]
This was an amazing start! I liked the suspense you built up here and I'm very excited for the next part!
[Inspect your hand.]
Better to check if he is wounded in any way.
I'm glad to hear it
I also just submitted the rest of her family.
Thanks again. Both got here A-Okay. Clive's novelist talents even gave me some interesting ideas for the future plans
Voting is closed
(!) Luke will inspect his head for the source of the pain
Gonna start working on this very soon. It most won't be too long, so keep that in mind, but a short continuation/conclusion of the prologue is underway.
Prologue: "Engulfed by Rain and Wind" - Part 2
Luke stood still, his eyes, glancing towards the cellphone lying face down. The pain continued to pulse in his right hand’s palm. He slowly turned his hand over, looking at his palm. It seemed fine on the outside, no scratches, cuts, or… No. A bruise was appearing on his skin, slowly changing its pigment to a dark gray. Luke twisted his hand around and clenched his fist as he inspected it with fearful, wide eyes. A steady sensation of pain resided on his inner palm. It wasn’t letting up. It actually seemed to be getting worse with every passing second.
He began to his bathroom, his scared eyes remaining trained on the gray marking with every step of the way. “Ugh!” Luke felt a sudden spike in pain, making him to let out a muffled grunt. Quickly, and without hesitation, he plunged his hand into the sink and turned on the hot water. He scrubbed and washed with soap, but it was no use, the gray part of skin remained. The pain grew, making him want to cry with frustration.
His mind raced to find an answer, a logical reason, but only one thought prevailed. A punishment, what else could it be? He wasn’t the kind of person to think twice about superstition. He was substantially stubborn about such things. Maybe even a little ignorant on the matter. But he couldn’t recall bruising his hand. And in his own eyes, he probably deserved it too.
A sudden sound of an explosion echoed through the air and not even a half of second later a incredibly loud clap of thunder, followed by the lights in his room flickering out until it was completely free of the artificial light. It wasn’t pitchblack, not yet, the natural light still found its way through his bedroom window. But the thick storm clouds mostly blocked it out. Slowly, faced with the sudden power outage, Luke walked out of the bathroom and towards the window - left open - the curtains blew towards him gently pushed by a light gust of wind. A transformer had to have been hit by lightning, or at least that was what he expected.
As he continued to ignore the pain in his palm, he saw it happen again. A bolt of lightning hit the tree in his front yard. Then a sound mixed with the thunder and the cracking of wood - a crackle that sent chills down his spine. Luke could just see out the window, the little light that did find its way to the room was blocked out by a giant shadow of the falling tree. It came crashing down on the yellow house with Luke still inside. As it crashed, the house became a broken mess of torn metal, broken beams, and shattered wood with the tree lying on top of it.
The rain poured down on the streets and the town, Silicon, currently still cold. Summer was approaching, and with it, the local wildlife. Luke was covered in the wreckage, in his cold and soaked clothing. As good as dead? Hardly.
End of Prologue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy7gr1Dfo1A&list=WL&index=96
It'll be great to get some feedback, even more so if anything in the prologue rubs you the wrong way, since there is still plenty of room for correction later in the story. It would be much more production to know what dos and don'ts you want included (or left out) now rather than later. Thanks!
I loved this prologue! What I especially liked was that aside from your compelling and always flawless style of writing you also managed to create a very eery atmosphere here. What we've seen from the story so far makes me very excited for how this is going to continue. I'm intrigued for what Luke threw in the river at the beginning of the prologue, what that thing in the tree was and what that stuff with his hand was about. Speaking of Luke, is he dead or did he survive? If he is dead, then I have to say that he went out far earlier than I have expected. All in all, this was a great start for a great story! I can't wait for more
Great prologue. I like it a lot and it was very well-written! I submitted a character and I am looking forward for the next parts!
Thanks for the kind words! I've got him, and I like him. Thanks for submitting!
Thank you for your interest! I'm currently writing first part of chapter one. I'm changing up the writing just a bit this time around, hopefully it'll be an improvement.
I won't just tell you his status. But I can only do so in rhyme. His whereabouts will be revealed in time.
I don't think Luke is dead yet.
Update time.
I've been working on the first part of the first chapter since yesterday, though I haven't done any work on it today. It's going to follow the brief exports of a local town sheriff and his underling. I'm thinking each chapter will feature a number of points of view, one after the other, and they resume with the next chapter. It will cycle trough them each chapter. This is just a thought, so it's possible it'll change. Just thought I'd share.
And a slight preview:
Chapter One: “Missing Man” - Part 1 - May 14th - 6:25 AM - Henry Parker
“--after the devastating storm that affected most areas within the northern Wisconsin region, many are reporting damage, from roof damage to fallen trees. Luckily, there hasn’t been any known deaths, but several people have been reported missing. Though most searches have expired. Currently, search parties are being formed in several of the cities listed below.” A bar below the broadcast continually cycled through a list of city names. “If your town or city is among the list, and you want to participate in one of the searches, contact your local city office--”
As the television powered down a man exclaimed, “Fuckin’ swamped”, as he set the remote on back on the desk. He was an older man, graying brown hair, and a darker looking goate. “We’re sitting here trying to get a days work done, and then they’re asking for twenty days worth”. He let out a prolonged, annoyed sigh. His eyes fell upon the desk across from his, high with paperwork and messy. “Are you even fucking there, Henry?”, he questioned.
“Shit… Listen, I’m here, alright”, the voice of the deputy, Henry, answered. He poked his head up above the sacks of paper and scoffed at the sheriff. “It would help tremendously if started checking out some of the reports.” As the phone began to ring Henry quickly answered it, “Sheriff’s office. Hello?”, he ask. “Yeah…”, he replied. “Aright. Noted.” He hung up the phone and continued to jalt down the message.
The sheriff gave a sarcastic smirk. “And this time? What was it?” Henry frustratedly finished writing and shot him a cold glare, but it quickly dissolved into a disappointed frown. “Miss Norton’s cat is missing.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me”, the sheriff grunted. “Got woken up at 5:00 in the morning just to take calls about missing cats.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. “Eh, wanna cig?”, he asked while placing one between his lips and lighting it. “I’m good for now”, Henry declined. He wasn’t a stranger to smoking, but he was attempted to avoid smoking on the job.
“Suit yourself”, the sheriff replied. He took a puff and let out a slight cough. He sighed disappointedly. “I’m getting too old to smoke”, he frowned and smothered the cigarette in an ashtray.
As the small rose from the ashtray, the sheriff tilted his head and looked at the mug full of pens and pencils. He impatiently tapped his fingers on the desk. “Well?”, he exclaimed to Henry.
“‘Well’?”, Henry questioned, with a annoyed yet confused tone. “WELL, Is there anything worth checking out yet?”, the sheriff emphasised his own annoyed tone. Henry sighed, “This isn’t some pick-and-choose. Let’s just start with something and work own way--”, the phone started to ring again, making Henry briefly pause. “Sheriff’s office, Deputy speaking”, Henry bit his lip as the person the phone talked. “Yes, sir. We’ll be right there.” The deputy hung up the phone and stood up from his chair, quickly grabbing his jacket.
“Well?”, the sheriff asked as he followed suit and stood. “That was Mister Carson”, Henry answered while now putting on his outer coat. “A tree’s fallen on the Page’s house. It sounds bad. They’re not home, mind you, but...”.
The sheriff shook his head and set back down. “A tree?”, he asked with an annoyed tone of voice. “A frickin’ tree”. He mumbled to himself for a brief second and sighed. “You didn’t let me finish. Their son was probably home. Well c’mon, Mitch”, Henry said. “This is worth checking.”
“Damn... Luke, right?”, Mitch questioned. He sighed shamefully. “You’re right, we gotta check it out”. The sheriff rose from his seat, quickly following Henry out the door as he grabbed his coat.
“You got the keys?”, Mitch asked as they walked out the front door of the city office. “Yep”, Henry replied, pulling them from his jacket pocket and tossing them to Mitch, who caught them and unlocked the cruiser. Mitch climbed in the driver’s seat and started the car. “Turn on the sirens”, he ordered. As Henry climbed in he quickly hit a small button then buckled himself up. The cruiser pulled out of the small parking lot and drove down the road with the sirens blazing.
Upon arrival they climbed out of the cruiser. It was a grim sight, indeed. Henry faced the crushed yellow house as he closed his door. “Jesus…”, he exclaimed under his breath. He shot a quick wide eyed glance towards Mitch. “Find Carson, I’m gonna look for the kid.”
Mitch replied for a nod and jogged off to a house across the street, while a man opened the door of the very same house and stepped out to meet Mitch. “Clive!”, Mitch greeted the man, he younger than Mitch, but that wasn’t saying much considering he was in his late seventies. “What can you tell me…”, Mitch’s voice began to fade from earshot as he approached the front door.
Henry looked up at the tree lying on the house above him. He was somewhat reluctant to be standing under it, but the thought passed as he knocked on the door. As he expected there wasn’t an answer. Turning the doorknob proved useless, it was locked. He looked back up at the tree that laid on the house’s roof, assumingly, right where the upstairs bedroom resided.
He didn’t seem to have many options, so he prepared to kick in the door. He planted one foot firmly on the ground and delivered the first blow to the door. It rattled, but remained securely in place. Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. “Ah dammit…”, he muttered as he backed away from the door and re-evaluated his options. The back door might be a better choice of entry.
Henry spirited around the house and reached the door with relative ease. The back door was wide open, the screen door still remained in his way. He grabbed its handle and gently opened it. As he did so, a pungent smell greet his nose, and his vision was met by the sight of bloody footprints leading from deeper inside the house, to the back door. Henry quickly reached around to his belt and pulled off his radio. “Mitch, backdoor, there’s blood”, he spoke into the radio and waited for a reply.
A muttered, “Shit!”, echoed through the radio. “The kid’s probably hurt. Wait there!”. Mitch was right. But he found his vision drifting towards the woods behind the house, where the creek resided, until suddenly Mitch rounded the corner and approached him with speed. “Oh shit”, he mumbled as he got in view of the footprints.
“C’mon”, Henry beckoned as he held the screen door open. Mitch took a second to respond as he stared at the blood, but after taking a deep breath, he stepped inside. Henry followed with his right hand placed lightly on his pistol, letting the screen door fall shut. “Careful, floor’s wet”, Mitch warned. As they moved deeper into the house, Henry noticed the bloody tracks coming from upstairs. “Mitch,” Henry interjected, “the tracks lead outside. Look around the woods while I check upstairs. I’ll join you just a second if I don’t find anything”.
Mitch frowned as he nodded. “Got it”, he concurred, taking a step back and turning around and leaving the house.
Henry slowly walked towards the stairs. Upon reaching them, he shouted, “hello!”. There wasn’t an answer, but again he expected as much. He walked up the stair with a firm footing to avoid slipping on the water. Finally, he reached the point where the tree was visible, along with where the source of the blood was at one point. It was puddle mixed with water and the cloudy red blood, needless to say, it disgusted Henry.
He pulled out the radio again. “This is Deputy Parker. A larger puddle of blood is up here, but no one I can see. Mitch, please tell me you’ve had luck out there”. He removed pressure from the button and Mitch’s voice emanated from the radio, “no! The footprints aren’t visible on the grass. They were probably been washed away early this morning”.
“Fuck!”, the deputy exclaimed. He took a second to look around the torn up mess of a house before radioing back. “I’m coming back down. I’ll get on the radio in the car and report him missing. Just keep looking around the woods, if he got hurt badly I don’t think he could make very far. We’ll get some people to take care of this damn tree and sort through the wreckage, AFTER, we get together a search party. Over”. Henry waited for a reply.
After a few brief longs seconds, he answered, “Roger”, Mitch confirmed.
Henry somewhat carelessly bolted down the stairs, luckily not slipping on the watery floor. Not slowing his pace until he reached the car, he quickly arrived. He opened the door and found the keys still in the ignition. He usually found himself getting onto the Sheriff for leaving the keys in reach of anyone, but this wasn’t a priority to him at the moment. He simply pocketed the keys and continued with what he was doing.
He grabbed the radio from the cruiser and held down the button at changing the channel. It didn’t seem to work, much to his own surprise. “Fuck!”, he shouted as gave up fiddling with the radio and climbed back out of the car. He pulled a cellphone from his pocket and dialed the sheriff’s office. As it rang, he turned around and faced Carson’s house. Clive was standing on the porch talking with a woman he didn’t recognized. Sudden a voice come through the phone. “Roberts?”, Henry exclaimed. “Listen, you’ve got to report call this-- Listen, I know you’re new but the radio in my call-- Shit, just... is anyone else at the office?”
“Thank god!”, he said, briefly smiling with relief. “Now, get a pencil and paper and pass this on to them. They’ll know what to do.” Henry waited a second while the person grabbed them. “Okay? Good”, Henry sighed with as he thought. “Name: Luke Page. Address: 0903 Gales Drive. Subject is injured and currently missing. Sheriff Mitch Jenkins and Sheriff’s Deputy Henry Parker are on the scene. Subject is to be considered harmless. And try to get in contact with his parents”, Henry took a deep sigh as he finished. “Please, pass it on.” He hung up his cellphone and put it back in his pocket.
The shortwave radio came to life on his belt and he quickly brought it to his mouth as Mitch spoke through it. “Henry, I’ve got something. Get over here soon”, he shouted to him. “Where. Where, Mitch”, Henry questioned. “Ah, straight down from the back door until you reach the creek”, Mitch answered. “I’ll be there in a second”. Henry put the radio up and shut the cruiser's door. He turned and started running towards the woods.
He suddenly stopped and looked at the house. What was he thinking? He couldn’t leave the house like that. Did his days as a police officer taught him nothing. He shamefully ran back to the cruiser and opened the trunk, retrieving a large roll of yellow tape with the words ‘Sheriff’s Line Do Not Cross” plainly visible. Starting at a lamppost, he ran the length of the house with the tape rolling out, using whatever he could for a post to keep the tape up as quickly finished and approached the car once again.
He tossed the yellow tape and shut the trunk in a hurry. As it closed he noticed a car pulled up at the Carson’s house. It was a rental car, and a woman was just getting out while eying the house with the tree on top of it. Henry knew who this was. It was Clive Carson’s daughter. Rachel was her name. She was an officer of the L.A.P.D., currently on vacation to visit her father. She could provide serious assistance. But then, of course, Mitch found something. He could need help, but if it was urgent he would have probably heard back from him.
[Seek help from Rachel Carson]
[Leave her out of this and instead find Mitch]
[Leave her out of this and instead find Mitch]
[Leave her out of this and instead find Mitch]
[Leave her out of this and instead find Mitch]
Awesome part! I already like Henry and Mitch a lot, they are interesting characters. The part was very well-written again and I'm now even more excited for the next parts.
[Seek help from Rachel Carson]
It's not only the bias that is influencing my decision, but I also think that Rachel could indeed be very helpful. On the other hand, leaving her out of this is probably the safer choice for her... Ah, but I guess she will try to get involved either way sooner or later, so it could be better to get her help now.
I will submit a char later
[Seek help from Rachel Carson] Well, why not? Maybe she can be helpful.