._ , , . *|, * _ _ -+--+- _. _|* _ || | (_](_) | | (_] (_]|(/, * ._| , , ._ . . . . . _ . . _ _ -+--+- _. |,. . _.;_/*._ _ |*. , _ _| _ _ _| \_|(_)(_| (_](_) | | (_] | (_|(_.| \|[ )(_] || \/ (/, (_](_)(_)(_] ._| ._| ._| A N O V E L B Y M A R T I E " M U R D S " M O O D ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Chapter 3 Summers ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: (4/27/25 6:16 a.m.) "You're right hand comes off?" -Leon S. Kennedy, Resident Evil 4 (2005) FADE IN: (12/5/22 5:42 a.m.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. FREEMAN'S PASS -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The sun has dipped behind the mountains now. Alice and Manco follow the glowing torches as they slip past the razor wire. OUTLAWS drunkenly frolic about as SHOP OWNERS close up. A MESSY COUPLE fucks in an alleyway, letting the town hear. DIRTY KIDS chase each other up and down the muddy alleyways. One POOR SUCKER cries as he fends off an eager yet LIMBLESS UNDEAD. He's encircled by JEERING DRUNKS enjoying the show. MANCO: See any familiar faces yet? ALICE: Shut your goddamn trap. MANCO: Hm. Maybe I'll see a former client. Much of the activity derives from a two-story inn from Hell called The Sly Grog. They walk past PROSTITUTES to enter. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. THE SLY GROG -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The party's no different in the building: LOOSE WOMEN, DRUNK MEN, drinks aplenty in the open foyer. Some GAMBLERS play poker at a central table. All the doors to other rooms are shut, no doubt filled with prostitutes and their clients. A prominent chandelier hangs from the ceiling far above. There's a second-story balcony with a grandfather clock. Small details of note amid the cacophony of pleasure. Alice and Manco walk into quite the event: an UNLUCKY MAN cold-cocked across the chin, dropping unconscious or perhaps dead on the floor. Drunk onlookers cheer while the VIOLENT MAN who threw the punch spits on the stiffened body. MARTY, the older owner of the joint, watches from the bar. MARTY: If he's dead, put a bullet in his head. If he's not, toss him out. A few men pick the body up and carry it out past Alice and Manco. The two walk to the bar. Marty moves over to them. MANCO: Shot of something. She's paying. An air of tension. No matter, Marty fills up a glass. ALICE: Looking for a room. MARTY: All occupied with whores now. I don't rent out for proper sleep until nine. Marty slides the glass of liquor to Manco. ALICE: Also looking for a general store. MARTY: Its proprietor's closed up shop for the day. Saw him enjoying my wares. As Marty walks away, Manco taps Alice's shoulder. MANCO: Cigarette. ALICE: What? MANCO: I know you carry them. Give me. ALICE: This again? The hell are you doing? MANCO: A question to ponder over a smoke. Alice has had enough. She reels in close to Manco. ALICE: I suppose you think you've got me pinned under your thumb. But you're not that stupid, Manco. You say a word, and you die too, darling. MANCO: And what if I want that? Alice is lost. MANCO (cont'd): You can't bury the past, Alice. ALICE: Cute dramatics but-- Manco reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a faded picture. It's impossible to tell the subject of the photo. MANCO: Evelyn. You remember that name? Huh? Alice stares at the picture. She doesn't say a word. MANCO (cont'd): My mother. You arrested and killed her. When I was only seven, Alice. Alice looks over Manco, the girl's jaw clenched. MANCO (cont'd): My memory of the past is gone. Just blank. But I remember her and what she did for me. And when I heard a crowd cheer on her death? When her corpse was used to kill someone else? Manco downs her glass of liquor and winces at its kick. MANCO (cont'd): My ancestors called it blood revenge. Funny what you can learn from our little college library. Outsider murders one from our tribe, the kin must seek retribution. If not, the dead cannot enter the afterlife. She has a duty to uphold on the other side, Alice. In death, she'd be a rainmaker, I know it. She'd heal the plains. And you're the one thing stopping that. So, give me a smoke. Alice looks into the girl's eyes, hot as coals. She respects it. Alice pulls out a cig and hands it to Manco, then takes her matchbook and snaps out the last match to light it. Manco takes a drag and turns toward the citizenry. Alice follows her eyes as she spots a busy game of Texas Hold'em. MANCO (cont'd): You a gambler, Alice? I've got a bet you won't be able to refuse. How much did Sally's bounty net you, huh? Few hundred dollars? I want you to walk over to that table and buy into the game. I want you to wait until you're the first bet, right before the big blind. It's called being under-the-gun. Just about the worst position in poker. I want you to wait until you're under-the-gun to play a hand. You lose that hand, you lose the bet, and every son of a bitch in here finds out about the bounty hunter. Manco points to the clock on the second story: 6:59 p.m. MANCO (cont'd): I'm fair, though. You last until nine, well then you win the bet. We get a room, we call it a night, we revisit the matter at a later date. ALICE: Why now, Manco? You've clearly taken an interest in me for some time. Why pull this stunt here of all places? MANCO: Didn't think you'd knock on my door. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. STAMPEDE GROUND -- DAY (FLASHBACK) -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Angry, Manco watches Sally being killed from the bleachers. MANCO (O.S.): Not like I haven't thought about it. She looks over to the luxury suite. The honorable Nimrod. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. AMOS' CLUB -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco runs into the aloof Milton Freed and cleanly steals his slip joint knife. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. AMOS' CLUB -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Alice gives a final look at Manco before heading upstairs. MANCO (O.S.): But I figure my hand's been forced at this point, me being your prisoner. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. ALICE'S HOME -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco stands in Alice's darkened home, her leg bouncing. The girl stares at the knife. Dull. Harsh. Deadly. She exits. MANCO (O.S.): And if I get this lot to kill you? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. ALICE'S HOME -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco can't hold her anxiety. She throws up on the streets. And then she sees the candle glowing in the burnt chapel. MANCO (O.S.): Well, that just makes the act that much simpler, wouldn't you say? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. THE SLY GROG -- NIGHT (PRESENT) -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The grandfather clock strikes 7:00 p.m., ringing out seven bell tolls as Alice rises from the bar, walks on over to the table, takes out her cash, and sits down ready to play. The under-the-gun position is one hand away. When she receives her cards from the DEALER, she folds them right away without even looking at them. Why tempt fate after all? Alice's eyes shift around. The bar is filled to the brim with people, and the only entrance leads out to more drunks. No back exit, just bedrooms housing women and their patrons. She's trapped. DEALER: You're up, missy. $20, $40, no limit. Alice glances down at the table to see that she's already been dealt her hand. She pulls them close and takes a peek. Ten and two, off-suit. Dog shit. But she has to win. The rest of the table watches as Alice tosses in some money. DEALER (cont'd): Raise. $80. Everyone folds sans for SOL, the enigmatic gambler sitting to the right of Alice. He matches her bet. Tough break. The Dealer puts down the first three community cards -- no ten, no two, no matching suits. No bueno for Alice. Alice throws more money into the pot as a bluff. DEALER (cont'd): $120. Sol glances over to Alice trying to get a read on her, but she gives him nothing. He looks at his cards, then his cash. SOL: Re-raise. $240. The man tosses in the money. Alice doesn't hesitate. ALICE: All-in. $500 more on top. Manco grins looking over from the bar, another shot in hand. Sol takes a gander at his cards again, as if they've changed between bets. A quick glance at his money before folding. Alice slides her cards face-down to the dealer and collects the pot before her. A statement win for others to consider. The Dealer throws out the next hand. Alice again immediately folds, staring up at the clock which now reads 7:08 p.m. MONTAGE -Alice wins a hand by pushing in a huge bet before the community cards are even shown. -Sol eyes her up after a winning hand. He drinks heavily. -The grandfather clock ticks away, now showing 7:47 p.m. -With all community cards and bets out, Alice wins a hefty pot by simply revealing the best hand. -More time passes, the clock now reading 8:01 p.m. -A sauced Sol continues eyeing Alice as he downs a shot. -Manco, eyes sunken and bloodshot, finishes another drink. BACK TO SCENE It's now 8:50 p.m., the home stretch. Alice stares at the clock and back towards Manco at the bar. MANCO (mouthed): Good luck. DEALER: Ma'am, your bet. Alice peers down at her two cards: a black ace and a black eight. Potential for lots of ways to win. She adds her bet. DEALER (cont'd): $120. Everyone around the table folds sans Sol. He matches. The dealer lays out the first three cards: a black eight (yes!), along with a red jack and a red nine (could be good, could be bad!). Alice all the while feels Sol's eyes on her. SOL: Think your luck might've run out. Alice picks up a chunk of cash and adds it to the pot. DEALER: $400. Sol matches her bet, his eyes locked in on Alice. The Dealer flips over the next card: a red queen. SOL: What a board. So, what do you think? Do I have the flush to beat your pair? Or do I have the straight to beat your other pair? Feeling lucky? Cute. Alice is actually in great shape -- a pair that can't beat much but also a potential game-clinching straight if the next card is a ten. She throws in more cash. DEALER: $400 more. SOL: Gonna have to try harder than that. The man swiftly matches the bet. The Dealer pools the money together before flipping over the final card: a black ace. It gives Alice a risky but playable two pair for the win. ALICE: All-in. SOL: Call. Noting the high-stakes at hand, the anxious Dealer turns to the bar. DEALER: Marty, you may want to observe this. Manco reacts to the name being uttered towards the bar. She eyes the nearby Marty, who hovers over what appears to be a tanned-leather notebook close behind the bar. Letting out a sigh, Marty drops his pencil and heads for the table. Manco stares intently at the book. MARTY: Alright, alright, hold your horses. Everyone around the table awaits anxiously. Sol motions for Alice to reveal her cards first. She flips. DEALER: Dead Man's Hand: two pair. The man smiles and reaches down to his cards. Alice looks over at Manco. She appears to be distracted with a notebook. (3/9/23 6:44 p.m.) imagines playing the guitar so hard that it's just gory flesh and shit, lol again, normal mutilated corpses going about their lives also, people are fine with it -- like imagine a neighbor waving warmly and there's just a pile of corpses or something young emma is like, noticing and sorta being freaked out by the gory images, but adult emma is hungover, doesn't care, wears sunglasses -- opposite of they live ... 35. teacher they all love (alcoholic) talks about not having free will in class and how your environment makes decisions for you a lot of time. and maybe someone had a snarky comment like, "so carpe diem? that seems anticlimactic," and the teacher says that the world can be as simple or complicated as you want (remember ######? he really put his faith in you, he saw something in you, and then...) 36. maybe their teacher gets real upset and says that life is a big nothing. (12/5/22 5:42 a.m.) Manco flips to one of the earliest pages. Her face is frozen silent in terror. (5/3/16 2:00 a.m.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- DAWN (PRESENT) -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco continues to point Gwen's revolver at Alice, who remains sitting in the grass. The deep orange sun pierces the horizon. MANCO: People like you killed my brother. ALICE: People like you saved my brother's killer. We're all guilty, darling. MANCO: Honorable thing, right? Alice nods. She grimaces as she stands up on her injured legs. She quivers like a leaf in a storm. Manco sticks Gwen's revolver through the right side of her belt, just below her amputated arm. Alice and Manco stare each other down as the morning sun rises behind them. At dawn, they're but trembling silhouettes. They both struggle to steel their movements, to remain stoic. Suffering from such major injuries, the simple act of breathing sends painful shocks throughout their bodies. The sun's brilliant radiance causes them to squint their eyes, as if they're trying to read a poster from across a room. They watch each subtle and none-too subtle movement, ready to draw at any moment. After what feels like a seeming eternity, Alice pulls her gun and shoots Manco right through the heart. It doesn't appear the young girl even attempted to pull. As blood spreads across her shirt, Manco lets out a chuckle. Alice is perplexed. MANCO: You missed. Alice aims her gun straight and true at Manco's head. Manco even obliges, standing as still as possible while Alice looks down her sights. Alice takes a deep breath and pulls the trigger. Click. Click. Alice is empty. She has no additional bullets. A fission of horror crosses her face as she looks around: nothingness in every direction. Just endless Colorado plains. Manco finally succumbs to the bullet in her heart, collapsing on to the dirt and dying. Alice eyes Gwen's revolver sticking up from Manco's belt. Alice takes one step and falls flat to her face. She yelps, the little broken bones in her legs carving the inner muscle raw. Alice does the only thing she can do: slowly crawl towards Manco's body. She reels herself forward using only the strength in her arms. Alice glances up to the body; the early signs of turning are occurring. Rotting skin. Involuntary spasms. Hazy pupils. She inches closer and closer, but Manco rebuffs her by inching closer and closer to awakening. Alice finally reaches the body, but just as she grabs the revolver, the reanimated Manco tosses Alice to her back. Manco lies on top of Alice, pinning her arm between their bodies. With her one free arm, Alice resists Manco's attempts at biting her flesh. With her last bits of strength, Alice lifts up Manco just enough to free her arm. She presses the revolver barrel against the side of Manco's temple. Click. Click. Click. The chamber in Gwen's revolver is empty. Alice begins screaming as Manco bites into her neck. END. (12/5/22 5:42 a.m.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. THE SLY GROG -- NIGHT (PRESENT) -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A horrified Manco swings her head over to look at Marty, who impatiently awaits the result of the hand. Alice's fingers float near her gun. Manco is drawn to the table, never removing her eyes from Marty. Sol reveals his hole cards: the red ace and red eight. DEALER (cont'd): Split pot! A tie? A bewildered Alice looks over to an equally perplexed Manco as the grandfather clock rings out the 9 p.m. hour. The two lock eyes. Neither Alice nor Manco claims victory. SOL: Hot damn, missy. I thought I had you. Sol notices Manco's injured right hand, the bandana removed. SOL (cont'd): Shit, the savage is bit! Her hand! MANCO: No, it's just-- Alice grabs Manco's arm, draws her gun, and shoots down the chandelier from above before pulling Manco to a bedroom. Smash! The chandelier shatters on the barroom floor -- a call to attention for all patrons to start firing wildly. Leading with her shoulder, Alice blasts through the bedroom door and throws it shut behind her. A sudden scream. It's the ear-splitting cry of a PANICKED PROSTITUTE. Alice and Manco look to find an ARMED OUTLAW in bed with her. OUTLAW: The hell is you two doing in here?! Gun shots explode through the walls and ricochet inside. Alice and Manco duck for cover while one such bullet obliterates the Outlaw's head and drops him dead on the bed. It gives the Prostitute reason to scream even louder. Another bullet makes its way through and shatters a window. ALICE: There, off with you! The two jump to their feet and dive through the window. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- EXT. COLORADO PLAINS -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Gunshots ring out into the black night as Alice and Manco run into the valley toward the mineshaft. The opaque clouds above block out any moonlight -- leaving the two blind. ALICE: What in the goddamn hell, Manco!? MANCO: The stupid bandana was itchy! ALICE: Just lead us to the mineshaft, go! MANCO: I can't very well do that sans light! A rare flash of lightning brightens the valley for a brief moment. The UNDEAD surround them, all drawn to the gunfire. ALICE: Jesus Christ, is that good enough?! The two hurry on forward in the dark for a moment before another lightning strike above. A LUNGING UNDEAD appears from out of nowhere, caught between the two and the mines. ALICE (cont'd): Look out! They react suddenly, pushing the creature out of the way and continuing on into the entrance -- a swallowing blackness. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- INT. MINESHAFT -- NIGHT -=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Manco cackles nervously as they make their way into the pitch black. MANCO: Got a light? Alice cocks her weapon. Manco leads the way, though it's impossible to tell in what direction given the darkness. ALICE: Shut up and walk. Footsteps in the hard dirt are the only indication the two are making any progress in the cavernous, unending tunnel. MANCO: Why's it everywhere you go, people seem to drop dead, Alice? Why? ALICE: Shut up! Just stop! You might have a death wish but I sure as Hell don't. MANCO: Death wish?! Then why did you come out to this place, huh Alice? That's right, to kill this Gwen Griffith bitch! You're a goddamned killer, Alice! ALICE: I told you, I'm not a killer! MANCO: That's all you do, lean on this bullshit code on how it's alright to execute people, so long as they can't pay you off. You never reach out to help! You just pick up your bounty and cash in, no questions asked! ALICE: I'm not a murderer! For God's sake, I don't even remember your mother! MANCO: Stop lying -- agh!! Manco yelps in pain. The sound of teeth digging into meat. ALICE: No! Bam! Alice lets off a gunshot, illuminating a ROTTER tearing flesh off Manco's right forearm. It now lays dead on the ground from Alice's bullet. Manco clutches her dying arm. MANCO (crying): Oh, no, no, no, no. ALICE: Shit! Shit! Goddammit! MANCO: Alice, Alice, Alice. Help. Help me! ALICE: OK, OK, sit, sit down for a second. Sobbing uncontrollably, Manco obliges. Alice pulls out the leather dog leash and begins wrapping it around Manco's arm. MANCO: No, please, Alice, please don't. ALICE: Manco listen, you've been bitten, which means you're going to turn if we don't do anything. It has to come off. There's no other choice, okay? Alice pulls the leash tight, creating a tourniquet. She pushes the excess into Manco's slobbering sad mouth. ALICE (cont'd): Bite down on that. And no matter what Manco, don't spit this out, alright? MANCO: Wait, wait, no, something wrong is happening! ALICE: I don't care what you think of me, we still got an agreement here, whether you want to honor it or not. Alright? As Manco holds back tears, Alice pulls out the slip joint knife and folds the blade out. She rises to her feet. ALICE (cont'd): Easy part first. Deep breath. Alice stomps her foot down on Manco's arm, breaking it at the elbow. A shock wave of pain, Manco cries out for help. MANCO: No, no!! Why!? Why is this happening!? What's happening!? ALICE: You're doing well! Almost there! MANCO: Answer! Where am I!? Answer!! ALICE: You're not leaving so easy, bitch. MANCO: Ans-- (5/3/16 2:00 a.m.) Alice shoves the dull knife into the afflicted arm. Manco screams herself horse. The blade tears and slices and rips. (5/2/17 2:49 a.m.) Alice shoves the dull knife into the afflicted arm. Manco screams herself horse. The blade tears and slices and rips. (5/4/20 3:32 a.m.) Alice shoves the dull knife into the afflicted arm. Manco screams herself horse. The blade tears and slices and rips. (6/2/20 3:37 a.m.) Alice shoves the dull knife into the afflicted arm. Manco screams herself hoarse. The blade tears and slices and rips. (12/5/22 5:42 a.m.) ALICE (cont'd): You're alright, you're alright, Manco. Just stay with me, darling. Manco's eyes start to twitch. ALICE (cont'd): Come on, no dammit, stay awake! No! (5/3/16 2:00 a.m.) Manco's voice tries to sound out a name, but falling into shock, she loses consciousness instead. (3/7/23 4:07 a.m.) CUT TO BLACK. ******************************************************************************* (4/26/25 1:29 a.m.) EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a transcript of a video edited by Martie "Murds" Mood. Title: Her Story -- Story Analysis -- strummerdood Description: Free Palestine -- Israelism (2023), a film directed by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen Visibility: Public Restrictions: - Date: Aug 15, 2015 Views: 4,977 Comments: 20 Like (vs. dislike): 165 (98.8%) BOARD: Full spoilers for Her Story and Sunset Blvd. Hey, I'm strummerdood or Matt or whatever, I don't know. So, early on in developing his search-engine thriller, Her Story, developer Sam Barlow tested his simple mechanic by using video files from an actual criminal case. While it proved the gameplay could be engaging, it also hinted at the phenomenon at the heart of the story. Her Story's main character, Hannah, is obsessed with fairy tales, but it's important to note how she reads the stories. "At the front of the book was an index of illustrations. We read that more than the actual stories. We'd read aloud the captions and flick between the pictures." Conjuring up the details of a story solely from a few pictures likely refers to the media frenzy surrounding Amanda Knox, an American woman initially convicted of killing her flat-mate by an Italian court, despite the lack of physical evidence. Barlow took inspiration from the way the Italian police determined guilt from behavior alone while Europeans scrutinized every picture of her, often defaulting to film noir tropes like the femme fatale. BOARD: "Amanda Knox's face proved to be her misfortune. It was pretty enough to incite the fantasies of Italian cops and tabloid editors, and just expressive enough to provide a richly textured canvas for a public all too willing to pronounce on the soul it concealed." -Ian Leslie, The Guardian What's interesting then is that Her Story openly invites such tropes. The story begins in a fairly conventional place: by searching the [given] word "murder," we learn a woman's husband has been killed, and a few days later, she's being arrested. Immediately, we have the skeleton of a caricature -- the femme fatale. From there, we slowly piece together the story from hundreds of short clips, eventually learning Hannah has a secret twin named Eve who has been switching places with her during the interrogation. We're adding meat to the bones as it were. The gameplay loop is even metaphorically referenced during the game. "It must have been taken up into the attic in parts and then reassembled up there." In the same clip describing the dollhouse and how she used to conjure up stories for its plastic inhabitants, she mentions a significant outside work. "We ended up crushing it under a copy of The Arabian Nights." Originally known as One Thousand and One Nights and dating as far back as the 9th century, The Arabian Nights is an 18th century collection of Middle Eastern folk tales translated to English. The overarching narrative revolves around a king who executes his brides the morning after their nuptials. The book's narrated by the king's newest wife, who delays her execution by telling short, unfinished stories, often spinning new tales from ones previously told. We can make parallels with Her Story's own narrative framing and gameplay loop -- searching keywords to find new story threads. "And all these stories we've been telling each other...just that...stories." The murder mystery -- and by extension, Her Story -- owes much to the Arabian Nights story, The Three Apples. The whodunit popularized three significant elements of the genre: 1. Unreliable narrators, like Hannah, whose lying forces us to constantly separate truth from fiction. 2. An early version of the foreshadowing technique, Chekhov's Gun, in which every element of a story holds significance later; a crucial component of Her Story in that keywords lead to new video clips of further extrapolation. 3. And the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies, like Hannah's aspirations of living a fairy tale when in reality, life sucks and then you slit your husband's throat. Her Story also heavily uses a technique from Arabian Nights called thematic patterning -- uniting disparate short threads under repeated motifs and themes. In this case, Her Story constantly plays with the idea of dualities and fairy tale conventions. Barlow uses the former extensively to hint at Hannah and Eve's fractured identities and troubled sisterhood. More inborn than external hints like their black-and-white cat named Domino and the Mirror Game, Eve and Hannah's names are both palindromes -- "It reads the same backwards as forwards" -- but as noted by Hannah -- "It doesn't work if you mirror it though, it's not quite symmetrical, but, well, you get the idea" -- acknowledging the slight differences between a set of identical twins who tried desperately to perfectly mimic each other. We see this schism in fairly minute details -- Eve prefers her coffee black, Hannah keeps hair up -- but Eve's more outgoing personality, which comes through during interrogations, splinter's them. "She was always more popular with the boys and I used to hate her for it. I mean, really hate her sometimes." As with any relationship, sex complicates things. Eve being more flirtatious, she seduced boys for the both of them -- "until Simon." She then felt betrayed when Hannah broke their established rules and slept with him. Of course, Hannah becomes pregnant, and the two hastily marry and move into Simon's parents' place, leaving Eve behind. Though trying to become her own person with a tattoo -- "I got it to express my individuality" -- Eve soon pines to again reflect Hannah, screwing anything that moves in hopes of becoming pregnant. Shortly following that failed plan, Hannah's parents die under mysterious circumstances; accidentally poisoning themselves, and consequently allowing Hannah to move back into her parents' place with Simon. In the same year, Hannah suffers a miscarriage, and Eve almost revels in the news. "It felt like the universe had corrected its course. We were aligned again." Such a heavy emphasis on duality coalesces into the other major motif: likening life to fairy tales, which further invite film noir tropes. As Eve says, "So, you see, even before I knew the truth, I'd found it in those stories." The two conjure up their own once upon a times, looking towards Rapunzel, Snow White, and even Princess Diana as inspirations for their fantasies. Of course, tragedy befell the latter, shattering a bit of the fairy tale mystique. "Life isn't a fairy tale." Still, it didn't stop Hannah from seeing Simon as her prince, one who gifts her a unique, hazy mirror for her birthday -- something to show who was the fairest of them all. "It's the perfect mirror for someone who doesn't like to look at their own reflection." Hannah and Eve feel like spinoffs of the character Norman Desmond in the classic noir film, Sunset Blvd: females intoxicated by fantasy only to lose themselves in their own imaginations. When the film's lead breaks Desmond's fantasy -- that the aging actress will never work in Hollywood again -- Desmond plugs him full of bullets and embraces the subsequent media circus. While performing at a bar, Eve accidentally attracts the gaze of Simon. Unbeknownst to Hannah, Eve sleeps with Simon and, surprise, gets impregnated by his um, "His fucking magic sperm." Right, his, right. Believing a disguised Hannah is Eve, Simon makes the fatal mistake of gifting her another hazy mirror. "That unique present." With her happily ever after soured, Hannah loses it and accidentally slashes his throat open with the mirror. Note that Simon wasn't wearing his glasses. "He's not got his glasses on here though. He takes them off for the camera. But he needs them to see properly. You know, when he has to read. A newspaper or a menu in a restaurant. Not books so much. Or watching TV. He likes TV." In a sense, he couldn't see Hannah as her own individual person, indulging his own fantasy, and seeing her perfect half instead. Ironically, Simon wanted to get caught cheating to prove Hannah and Eve were different people -- sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In getting arrested, Eve finally becomes her own person -- technically not existing in society up to this point. "I haven't put down any roots. I don't exist." She can finally tell her story in her own words. However, we still assume the role of an armchair detective. We're acting as if Googling the case details of Amanda Knox or doing research about the Serial podcast: We're trying to piece the puzzle together. Even outside the game, many sites still debate the ending and many videos theorize whether Eve was an actual twin or if Hannah suffered from dissociative identity disorder or if she was just lying. Every detail, no matter how small, is scrutinized. As we learn more about this woman, we catch a reflection of ourselves in the hazy monitor. Like Simon's tarnished silver mirror, the dirty monitor could signal our flimsy understanding of Eve's story. Eve similarly relied on weak research to learn about her roots. "It's hard to know if this is all true. These are stories I remember. That I read when I was a child. Maybe I misread, maybe I misunderstood, or..." This of course can be seen as a bit of foreshadowing given the player's true identity. After learning the major revelations of the story, Sam Barlow messages us and refers to Eve as our mother. We're playing as Sarah, Eve's illegitimate daughter. "We were going to call her Sarah. Simon wanted to call her Ava after his nana, but I didn't want her to have a symmetrical name." The name signifies our individuality, and the nonlinear format of the game helps realize the distinct perspective we possess. Unlike an open-world game where you "pause" the story until you're ready to move forward, Her Story lets you start from any point in the narrative and worm your way through from there. The big plot points twisting your understanding of the story will therein be personal to your playthrough. It also serves as a bit of satire. We're presumably trying to convict Hannah -- relying on tropes when possible -- but we soon find ourselves wrapped into the story's fabric. Ultimately, we're just trying to understand our roots. BOARD: "It stopped being a game about getting a conviction and became a game about understanding this person and their story." -Sam Barlow Her Story uses its format to comment on how media can dehumanize and encourage stereotyping. In another lens, think of the rash of police shootings in America. Victims killed without a fair trial are often reduced to just being a criminal. The film Fruitvale Station lets us glimpse into the last living hours of the imperfect Oscar Grant, who an officer murdered while defenseless on the ground. Same with The Roots' concept album undun. By beginning the story of a gangbanger when he flatlines and working backwards towards his birth, the narrative humanizes the caricature shown in the media. BOARD: "In the simplest terms, art humanizes. It opens the circuit of empathy. And once that process happens, it's that much harder to think of people as part of a policy or a statistic. Art reverses the alienation that can creep into society." -Questlove, The Roots If we plop ourselves inside Eve's head, we can see no matter what, she walks away with a happy ending. As she says -- "The baby was what mattered." In Hebrew, the name Sarah means "princess," and in her way, she frees you and gets her happy ending. "You know, climb the tower, save the princess." Seems a little demented, right? Well, she was a fan of the traditional fairy tales. "They were dark and real. Bizarre and violent." I mean, Snow White ends with the Queen wearing searing-hot metal slippers and dancing until she dies, so it's not too far from the realm of possibilities that this is a happy ending for her. But of course, this is my interpretation of it. When Sam Barlow messages us and asks us if we understand why our mom did what she did, we need to literally type out yes, press enter, and cross the street like Eve after she read her mother's diary. As individuals, the game asks us to come to our own personal understanding of her story. It's our history and part of our story, too...It's a pun...get it? BOARD: "Linear media answer questions; games ask them and allow players to answer them." -Warren Spector