Strangewarp-Books

Book 1 - The Empty House

Description

The book’s title is on the front cover, overlaid on a photograph of a dark empty hallway, light faintly spilling out through a half-open door at the end. Below the title is what you assume is the author’s name, which is simply “The Librarian” in a smaller font. On the book’s spine is of course the title, and the bottom corner holds what you assume is the library’s filing system mark--a single strange symbol, like two curved right-angled arrows, one from the top to the right, and the other from the bottom to the left. The back cover of the book features a photograph of the author, but every time you look at the image you immediately forget its contents. Stamped across the top of the pages is ‘Return to: Strange Library’.

Text

You are in your home, at night, alone. You know that you are alone, as everyone else you live with has gone elsewhere. You are in a room, alone, with the lights on. The rest of your house is dark, and quiet. 

There is a noise. A solid thump, coming from somewhere that is not your room, but definitely in your house. But your house is empty, and you are alone. 

You leave your room, and look down the hallway. No one is there. 

You look in other rooms, listening for more noises. No one is there. 

You go downstairs, looking in the kitchen, the living room, the garage. No one is there. 

There is a thump upstairs, directly above you. Your pulse is racing. 

You climb back up the stairs. There is another thump, sharper this time in sound. Like a knock. 

There is a door at the end of the hallway, next to the door to your room. You know there is no house on the other side of that door, there is only the outside wall. The door is impossible, it should not exist.

A knock raps on the other side of the door. 

Book 2 - Back Up

Description

The book’s title is on the front cover, overlaid on a photo of Downwarp’s sprawl from very high up. Below the title is what you assume is the author’s name, which is simply “The Librarian” in a smaller font. On the book’s spine is of course the title, and the bottom corner holds what you assume is the library’s filing system mark--a single strange symbol, a solid line with two large triangles like arrowheads at either end. The back cover of the book features a photograph of the author, but every time you look at the image you immediately forget its contents. Stamped across the top of the pages is ‘Return to: Strange Library’. 

Text

You decide to jump from the highest place you can find, for the fun of it. You know of a secret elevator that leads up through a structural beam to the ceiling of Downwarp. 

You take the elevator up, and up, and up. You joke with your friends, you’ve all done this before.

You reach the small platform at the top and look miles down to the city below. You check the backup system, everything looks fine.

You step out and off, and start falling. Wind rushed past as you surrender to gravity, laughing and screaming all the way down. 

You hit the ground. Everything goes black, and then microseconds later...

You open your eyes as a restored backup. You’re still falling. You have moments to realize something has gone wrong, then you hit the ground. 

You’re still falling. 

You hit the ground.

You’re still falling...

Book 3 - You are (not) you

Description

The book’s title is on the front cover, overlaid on a warped and dirty mirror. Below the title is what you assume is the author’s name, which is simply “The Librarian” in a smaller font. On the book’s spine is of course the title, and the bottom corner holds what you assume is the library’s filing system mark--a single strange symbol, an isometric cube with lines linking its corners to a larger hexagon, like a Necker tesseract. The back cover of the book features a photograph of the author, but every time you look at the image you immediately forget its contents. Stamped across the top of the pages is ‘Return to: Strange Library’.

Text

There is a you that is not you. 

You feel it, somehow, at the edges of thought. The you that comes out when you are away. The imposter in your own body. 

It is not a different person, stuck in the same mind or body; it is also you. It has the same thoughts and desires, and it performs actions that you could have also done, but you know did not. 

You were asleep, or you were unconscious, or you were journeying away from your body. The other you did things, moved your body, changed around your living space. You can’t control it. 

The other you does not want out, does not want freedom. It wants your life. It is you, and it thinks you are the imposter. Last night, it left you a letter in your own handwriting, which read...

[last page torn out]