charles\n\nim sorry\n\ni dont want you to leave\n\nplease\n\ncome home\n\nwhy did you have to take everything with you \n\ni miss you\n\ni even left a present for you in the cellar\n\ncome home come home come home come home\n\n[[The ink bleeds off the page and stains your boots.|KatherineDesk]]
[[The last thing you see is her smiling face bearing down on you before the world goes black.|EndCredits]]\n\n
<h1>BACKYARD SKULLS</h1> \n\nA story by Hazel-Rah \n\n\n<h2>[[Start|Opening]]</h2> \n<h2>[[Content Warnings|Content Warnings]]</h2>\n<h2>[[Credits|Credits]]</h2>\n
<h1>The End</h1>\n\n<h2>Written by Hazel-Rah for the Gothic Novel Jam 2018</h2>\n\n<h2>[[Thanks for playing!|Menu]]</h2>
<h2>[[There are violent and disturbing images in this game|Menu]]</h2>
<<set $holding to "CellarKey">>\nA single, rusted key sits at the bottom of the drawer.\n\n<em>Must be the key for the cellar that she was talking about..</em> you think as you [[take the cellar key|KatherineDesk]]
It's a card for the White Rabbit Home for Orphans. \n\n<em>Elise..? Katherine must've planned this. Dear god... </em>\n\n[[You pick the card up and place it in your pocket.|KatherineDesk]]
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You approach the door, the fine oak surface remaining as smooth and clean as the day the manor was first built. \n\n<em>This makes a change from the rest of this place</em> you think to yourself as you look around at the rest of the manor's exterior. \n\nThe stone of the manor walls seems to stretch for an eternity, only stopped by the roof, a triangular dome that blends in with the thick gray clouds in the night sky. Some of the tiles have dropped off, marking the grass around you like gravestones. \n\nYou pull out the [[letter|Letter]] that came with the manor deed, which you consider reading as you open the door that leads into the manor [[foyer|Foyer]]
<<cyclinglink>>\nRain splatters the window, like angels are mourning with you. \n\nLightning flashes, illuminating the graveyard below that is filled with rotting, crumbling gravestones, the only remaining proof that people lived here before you.\n\nBefore Katherine. \n\nAnd now she's gone, part of the foundations of death that this manor was built on.\n\nYou blink, what was that? \n\n<<cyclinglink "An apparition" "A creature" "Katherine">> standing motionless at the front door, <<cyclinglink "watching" "staring at" "judging" "taunting">> you?\n\n[[You look away, shame burning in the pit of your stomach|KatherineRoom]]
Ten seconds into your arrival at the Gethen Manor and you're already starting to feel like you're in a horror movie. \n\nThe rusted gate, stained dirt-brown from years of man's neglect, swings in the breeze, providing no obstacle for you to walk past. \n\nYour boots trudge through the murky grass as you head up to the manor's door, the path having crumbled into ruins some years prior. \n\n[[The wooden door beckons|Door]]
You approach the bed and look closer, noticing a clean, red hole in the middle of her neck. A single line of blood drips from the hole, staining her midnight black dress.\n\nHer dark blue, moon-shaped pendant lies clutched in her right hand. <em>She must have been praying</em>, you think.\n\nA pocket watch with shattered glass sits besides her, the time having stopped at precisely 11 in the eve. \n\n<em>This must be the time that she had chosen to end it, but why?</em> you think to yourself, struggling to <em>remember</em> your last interaction with her. \n\nIt was a [[fight]].
<<set $KatherineRoomVisited to 1>>\nThe stench hits you as soon as you walk in. The smell of rot and death. \n\nHer [[corpse]] lays sprawled out on the bed, her skin the colour of a stormy night, flakes of blood dripping onto the sheets. \n\nYou resist the urge to gag and look around the rest of the room. \n\nHer [[desk|KatherineDesk]] stands in the corner of the room, worn down from years of usage. \n\nThe [[windowsill]] catches your eye.\n\nYou can also [[go back|Foyer]] if you're done.\n\n<<if $holding is "CellarKey">> \nA loud bang catches your attention from downstairs, you should go check it out. <<endif>>
"You don't love me anymore? What's wrong?!" \n\nHer voice broke your heart. \n\nYou'd gotten drunk. Raised your voice. \n\nYou didn't mean to say that you <em>never loved her</em>.\n\n"Just leave! I can't stand the sight of you!"\n\nYou gulped, the taste of whisky and regret pulling at your throat. \n\nYou nodded. \n\nSaid nothing.\n\nLeft. \n\nThis is all your fault.\n\n[[You blink, and the memory fades from your vision|KatherineRoom]]
Written by [[Hazel-Rah|https://hazel-rah.itch.io]] \n\nfor [[Gothic Novel Jam|https://itch.io/jam/gothic-novel-jam]]\n\n<h1>Thanks</h1>\n\nSpecial thanks go to the following people and communities who have helped me through this writing process\n\n[[_Ash|https://twitter.com/CinereusDarrow]]\n[[bailee|https://pilot.itch.io/]]\n[[Owlor|https://owlor.itch.io/]]\nFor all their encouragement and support whilst I was writing\n\nThe Gothic Novel Jam Discord server \nThe Twine Games Discord server\nFor helping me with any issues I had with Twine \n\n[[AshGary|https://ashgary.itch.io/]]\nFor creating the Gothic Novel Jam and Discord server in the first place\n\nAnd of course, you, for taking time out of your day to play this.\n\n[[Thank you one and all.|Menu]]
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A lot of the papers are so stained with ink that they have become illegible.\n\nHowever, a [[note|KatherineNote]] lays clear above most of the papers, marked with your name on it. \n\nThere is also a [[card|OrphanageCard]] positioned next to the cracked mirror. \n\nIf you are done, you can [[go back|KatherineDesk]]
My dearest Charles \n\nYou haven't written in so long that I started to fear you have become bored of me. \nNot a day goes by that I don't miss our time together, all those days spent watching the world go by with my hand wrapped in yours. \n\nI miss you, and I need to see you again. So I would like to offer something.\n\nAttached to this letter is a deed for the manor, you can own it alongside me. You don't need to worry, my dear, everything is taken care of. \n\nPlease, come visit. \n\nWith love\n\n[[Katherine|Door]]
<<if $holding is "KatherineKey" or $KatherineRoomVisited is 1>>\s \nYou unlock the door and enter the [[room|KatherineRoom]] \n<<else>>\s\nYou grip the doorknob and pull, but nothing happens. Upon closer inspection, the room is locked. You decide to look around for the [[key|Foyer]] \n<<endif>>
Backyard Skulls
And you see her. \n\nKatherine's ghostly figure standing right in front of you. \n\nIt's too late before you realize your hands are slipping into the box\n\npulling out the revolver inside\n\n"Wait!" you cry \n\n[[before your hands slip around the gun, pushing it to your head|End]]
This game contains written descriptions and mentions of suicide, strong violent themes and general horror themes. \n\nIt is not recommended for those under the age of 18 or those with nervous disposition. \n\n[[Back to menu|Menu]]
The desk is rather bare, again suggesting that this room has remained largely uninhabited. \n\nA [[music box]] sits in the middle of the desk. \n\nOne of the [[drawers]] is slightly ajar.\n\nYou can [[go back|Elise's Room]]
<<cyclinglink>>\nThe room is pitch black, save for a dimly flickering torch on the side of the wall. \n\nA whispering sound trickles into your ear, leading you closer into the darkness. \n\nFeeling your way through the cellar, you eventually hit what feels like a unit built into the wall. Feeling around some more, you touch the surface of \n\n..a box? \n<<cyclinglink "A" "Her">> voice whispers into your ear, almost seductively. \n\n"Open it."\n\n[[You turn around|Ghost]]\n
<<set $holding to "KatherineKey">> \nYou pick up the key. It seems to shine in your hands as you hold it. <em>This must be the key to Katherine's room</em> you think to yourself as you [[put it in your pocket.|drawers]]
Hazel-Rah
<<cyclinglink>>\n\nThe foyer is deathly silent, save for the wind howling through broken glass, sounding for all the world like ghosts reclaiming their old homes. \n\nYou begin to wonder why Katherine sent you here. \n\nThe carpet has stains that look like <<cyclinglink "wine" "or is it blood?">>, you walk around it, being careful to not mess your boots. \n\n"Katherine?" you call out, your voice being swallowed by the manor walls. You decide to ascend the <<cyclinglink "stairwell." "spider-infested, rotted wooden stairwell that creaks as you walk, almost like the house is in pain.">> \n\nYou're faced with a hallway that leads to two bedrooms, [[Katherine's room|Katherine's Room Entrance]] to the left and [[Elise's room|Elise's Room]] to the right. \n\n<<if $holding is "CellarKey">> \nA small stairwell sits near the entrance, showing a black, wooden door with a rusted padlock on it. This must be the key to the cellar. You twist the key through the <span id="lock"><<click "lock">><<replace "#lock">>lock, before a shriek echoes through the foyer. You quickly head through the cellar door, not caring that it seems to [[slam shut behind you of it's own volition.|CellarEntrance]] <</replace>><</click>></span> <<endif>>
Dried pink paint illuminates the door-knob to [[Elise|Elise]]'s room, the only speck of colour in the hall that is now, like the rest of the manor, a decaying husk of it's former glory. \n\nThe door seems to whine as you push it open, the house yawning as if your presence has woken it. \n\nEntering the room, you find it to be mostly bare. Not too surprising, considering Elise was almost never home once she hit the age of 10. \n\nSeveral [[toys|Toys]] are scattered around the room, as well as a surprisingly clean oak [[desk|Desk]] that looks as well-presented as the day it was built. \n\nThe bed is untouched, judging from appearances alone, it seems to have never been slept in. \n\nIf you're finished, you should go back to the [[hallway|Foyer]]
You open up the top of the <span id="musicbox"><<click "music box">><<replace "#musicbox">>music box causing a soothing melody to start playing. \n\nThe music box is largely empty, save for a cracked mirror and some rose-red earrings, the colour having dulled from years of not being used. You begin to <em>remember</em> how Elise used to love wearing this particular set. <</replace>><</click>></span>\n\n[[You decide to keep looking through the desk|Desk]]
After a bit of tugging, the drawer opens itself up for you, revealing a [[key]].\n\nYou can also [[go back|Desk]]
<<cyclinglink>>\nUpon closer examination, her desk is filled with various [[papers]] strewn carelessly over the surface. \n\nOne of the [[desk drawers|deskdrawers]] is slightly ajar, a stench of thick mold floating from it that makes you choke, <<cyclinglink "your eyes watering" "or is it tears?">>\n\nIf you are finished, you can [[go back|KatherineRoom]]
Some wooden blocks spelling out "ROSIE" surround a porcelain doll with long hair that stretches down to it's back. \n\nYou pick it up to examine it <span id="doll"><<click "further">><<replace "#doll">> further and immediately wish you hadn't. \n\nThe doll's face cracks open, revealing a small horde of cockroaches that swarm onto your hand. You curse and throw them off, shaking your head in disbelief as they crawl around the floor. <</replace>><</click>></span>\n\n[[Perhaps you should look around more|Elise's Room]]
Elise is Katherine's daughter. As far as you can <em>remember</em>, she's thirteen years of age. \n\nKatherine had her sent off to boarding school a couple of years ago, in one of her letters to you, she wrote \n\n<em> \nMy love\n\nRegretfully, my darling Elise has had to be sent away to the city's boarding school. She's been ever so troubled after her father passed away, I simply do not know what to do with the child. \n\nShe claims she can hear father's voice from the basement, which surely must be impossible? My dear, I don't think this is a healthy part of the grieving process. Sometimes I can hear her in her room, playing with her dolls when suddenly she'll shout "Papa!" or start crying. It usually takes a while for her to calm down, even with my comforting. \n\nI'm so dreadfully worried, please write to me soon. \n\nKatherine </em>\n\nYou open your eyes and focus on where you're [[going|Elise's Room]]