A Town called Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a quiet Manitoban town full of wonderful, imaginative and supportive residences. A town with a rich culture, a beautiful man made lake and community that promotes healthy, farm grown produce.

So says the brochure at least and that's just the first sentence. I'm pretty sure that everything written here is exaggerated for effect and I'm pretty sure that I saw one of the images printed on this thing somewhere at google images when I was surfing for clip art. Though dad said it was a good town. He passed by the place while visiting an old friend from Japan moving into British Columbia. He said it was an odd town, but a lovely place all the same.

We're moving over there from Ontario. The politics there was getting too hot for us.

My dad driving us in one of those old family cars. You know, the stage wagon car with that large back, looked like it was partially made of wood, that one, yeah.

I was with my younger sister, my mother, and my honorary aunt. My little sister was this cute little munchkin, goes around in a blue sweater too big for her and long black hair styled in a long girlish ponytail with big brown eyes that forced you to give up your lunch to her, twice.

My mother was far more mature looking, like a super model right out of the magazines. In fact, she was a supermodel. She left that job a long time ago though, when she found it full of perverts and assholes, same for her friend, our honorary aunt. She wore all black, looked like she was going to a funeral, kind of her shtick back in the model business. She looked otherworldly as well, pale skin, red eyes and long white hair that gave her an eerie look. Made her stood out of the competition.

Our honorary aunt? Like I said, she's our mother's long time friend. A Chinese adopted by Americans from a time when China still had the One-child policy. She doesn't talk much, not that she can talk at all with her tracheostomy and all. Other than that she's fairly normal on the surface. With a black bob cut and a light yellow blouse and long blue skirt. She always has her nose in that sketch book of hers, designing clothes long after she left the mainstream fashion scene.

Our father (with the exception of our aunt) looked the most normal, if you took him for a women. Not that he would mind really; sir, mister and he apply to him as much as miss, lady, and she. He greatly prefers any type of clothing that's long. pants, sweaters, turtlenecks as long as it covers his arms and legs. He has long black hair that he either leaves down or tied up in a ponytail.

Oh shit what else can I explain. I need to starve the boredom of this long ass car drive. Uh... Well we passed by a tree I guess. Oh, there's another tree! And another one! Okay no more trees.

To be honest it's hard to find a tree for kilometers on end in central Canada. Good chunk of the land here are plains and oh boy are they boring as fuck. It's literally just kilometers after kilometers of flat land with grass and the occasional small patches of trees and rivers.

Hell I'd blow up in excitement if I pass by a farm. I'm so deprived of any interesting scenery for so long that anything to break up the monotony would feel like the first deep breath of air after swimming up form the deepest corners of the ocean.

Hey, voices? You've been quiet for a while now. Hello? You there? Guys? You there?

Yeah well screw you too guys, I'm gonna talk with my little sister. "Hey, Noel, you excited for our new home?"

She replied with the soft sound of adorable snoring. "Okay never mind."

Mom's in her antisocial mood now, can't talk with her. Aunt's still busy drafting out designs and dad? Dad's driving, can't disturb him.

Hey voices? You there? Yeah I'm sorry about what I said to you earlier it's just that... I'm just really bored right now. Hello? Come on guys, speak to me. I need someone to chat with!

Welcome to my new quest. I thought about making this into a short story or a web novel but I've never been able to do that. I've also been in a quest slump lately. Never been able to get any of my ideas to motivate me enough to write. So why not write a quest with an idea that has been sitting in my mind for several months on end.

The system I have here is a combination of "SV is in _____'s head" and Asuka quest. In this game, only the top three votes are selected but unlike other quests you can't directly choose the actions of the MC, you can only influence her via speaking to her. She might follow your advice, she might not. She might do the opposite or she'll get a new idea that's based off whatever thing you told her. She is always aware of your existence at all times.

You also only have three lives. Lose all three and it's game over.

Good luck guys!

Suggestion:

[] Why don't you talk about things you like.

[] Just count the yellow lines on the road. That's what I do!

[] Write in

[X] Why don't you talk about things you like?

What I like? You guys already know but sure, whatever.

I like to make dresses. Caught the fashion bug from my aunt, most if not all of my clothes are crafted by my own hands. I'm really into Gothic Lolita fashion, I just love how it welds together a cute and modest design philosophy with Gothic sensibilities. That and well... I like to feel closer to my mother.

It wasn't easy at first, it also doesn't help that auntie is a very strict teacher as well as smug about the quality of her own work (which is pretty fucking high mind you). There's also that tiny little fact that Gothic Lolita clothing has to abide by an unspoken guideline that's both strict and vague and... Yeah... Never ask me about my first attempts. Ever.

I also like to eat. I know that sounds a bit banal but hey, a girl's gonna eat you know. I eat a lot, a lot more than a girl my size would suggest. A girl this short and lithe couldn't have the space and metabolism to eat ten Roadhouse King Burgers but holy shit I do.

I also have a large book collection with an entire section dedicated to mystery novels. I'll confess, I'm a massive mystery nerd. I just love a good mental conundrum as I endlessly toil over the solutions before checking if my deduction was correct by turning the page to the solution. I will say that the Sherlock Holmes stories are my favorite though my honest opinion is that I think that they're harder for the reader to solve the mystery on their own. Mostly because it's less figure out the mystery alongside the detective and more the detective solves the mystery as you stand on the sidelines acting amazed at his genius but hey, it's from an older time. I have books from other well known authors as well, can't eat the same kind of Mars bar all the time right? Some of the books I are from people like Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Hugh MacLennan and uh... well sorry Edgar Allan Poe I would've added you on the list but even your mystery stories have more purple prose than uh... Wait I almost got it... The joke's somewhere on the tip of my tongue I just need some... Never mind, I lost it. It was going to be a real gut buster dammit!

[X]"Uhh remind me again boss, what do we say when talking to shrinks? I think I forgot...again."

Same thing we've always done. Tell'em that I got schizophrenia. It's pretty much slapped right on my medical reports so the doctors and psychologists would all know, no need to hide it. Turns out having voices in your head doesn't automatically mean they're going to be tormenting you from the darkest corners of you mind. From what they say it seems it's mostly people from North America that have pretty fucked up schizophrenia, everyone else outside seems to have harmless or even positive voices in their head depending on their cultueral environment, who knew. Though I guess that makes me an outlier.

[X] Sing country music very softly to strive off the boredom.

Ha.

Ha, Ha, Ha.

Fuck subtlety.

I took a deep breath.

"Sweetie."

"Yes dad?" I said innocently.

"I have known you for your entire 16 years of life on this very earth and I know that when you take a deep gulp of air like that then it could only mean one thing."

"Imma gonna do it dad."

"Don't you dare sweetie."

"Imma gonna do it and you can't stop me."

"Oh for shit's sake. Samantha! Tell her to stop."

The fashionista made a silent sigh as she took out an iPad and started typing into it. Soon a synthesized female voice came out and said, "You know the rules Yu, twenty bucks in the swear jar."

"I can't put money in the damn swear jar Samantha. It's in the god damn trunk right now and if we don't stop Octavia from singing she'll be doing it for the rest of the entire trip."

"Forty more dollars. Looking forward to extra supplies."

"~Almost heaven, West Virginia~"

"Oh shit!"

"Another twenty dollars. Yay."

"~Blue Ridge Mountains~

~Shenandoah River~

~Life is old there~"

"Damn you John Denver!"

"I'm rolling in cash baby."

At one point my little sister woke up and decided to join in on my song. "~Older than the trees~

~Younger than the mountains~

~Blowin' like the breeze~

~Country roads! Take me home!~

~To the places- I BELONG!~"

"Sweeties, would you kindly give your mother a rest?"

"Sawwy mama."

"Okay..."

"Thanks honey."

"No worries."

For a while we drove in awkward silence.

I went back to looking out the window, looking for anything that broke up the endless plains. About half an hour later the car started to slow down. "Dad? Did we run out of gas again?"

"No sweetie, I'm slowing down because there's a police barricade up ahead."

"Wait what." I pressed my face against the window as best as I could so that I would get at the very least a glance at what was up ahead. There were two to four RCMP officers at the scene, their black uniforms made them hard not to see. It was at a fork in the road with one way continuing the highway and another one going through an evergreen forest. The blockade was right on the normal highway. There was a car flipped over on the road. It was a complete wreck, several pieces of it were strewn across the road. It must've lost control along the road or something.

A police officer walked over to us as dad rolled down the window. "Sorry about the inconvenience ma'am but you'll have to make a detour through the forest."

"I can see that sir but uh... Isn't that forest infamous for best easy to get lost in?"

"The Fahrenheit Forest? Eh, not that bad if you just follow the road. You'll only get lost if you get off the road. Long as you stick to it, nothing bad should happen. We even have a post there just in case that happens. By the way, how did you know about that?"

"This isn't my first time to Fahrenheit."

"Ah, I see. So you on vacation with your family?"

"Nah, I'm moving in."

"Oh! I see, if you're moving in then I suggest you meet..."

I tuned out of the conversation between the two as I tried to focus on the crime scene. Hey, voices. What's your take on this?

Suggestions:

[] Maybe one of the tires burst open?

[] Maybe it crashed into another car?

[] It's... A MYSTERY!

[] Eh, not our problem.

[] Write in