Choose Your Own Adventure installment #3

You retrieve your pants and pull out a pack of cigarettes.. of the Popeye Candy Stick variety. You pop one into your mouth. You accidentally inhale one as the door bursts open. Lightning flashes and illuminates the intruder.

"Get off my wife!"

You shrink back. Fumbling beside you, your hand grabs your flashlight. You train it on the advancing figure. *gasp* You drop the flashlight. It couldn't be! You pick up the flashlight again and shine the light on its face, only inches away. An ape?! A talking ape?!?

The ape's lethal jaws (and breath, whew!) are dangerously close to your face. It bares its fangs and lunges. You scream! ...and suddenly realize you were asleep.

"DAMNIT! It was just getting good!" you cry out. Heidi's face hovers over you. You have a sudden feeling of deja vu.

"What was just getting good?" she inquires.

You realize she's at least real. "Woohoo!" you think to yourself. "I dreamt I had se..uhh, I mean, I won the Stanley Cup" you reply.

She eyes you suspiciously for a few seconds, but drops it. "Hi!" she says.

"Hi, Heidi" you say as you get up.

"How'd you know my name was Heidi" she asks.

"Umm, I saw it in a dream" you say and immediately feel silly. "I'm Hugo. Weren't there dead bodies around here?" you ask.

"What? No!" she replies, shocked. "Hmm, you could have sworn she was one of those 'dead' bodies" you think to yourself. "There's a mystery I'm solving here. Do you want to join me?" you ask, hoping.

"Sounds neat!" she answers.

You lead Heidi out of the room and enter a pitch black room. The door shuts behind and you fumble for your flashlight. Before you find it, Heidi finds a light switch and the two of you are bathed in a grimy light.

"It appears as if this is a closet" you proclaim with as much suaveness as you can..after leading her directly into a closet. And not even a walk-in. Sheesh. "There's a secret passage in here" you announce as you run your hand over the wall. Suddenly, a portion recedes and the wall slides away. You stare dumbfounded at the opening. Heidi pulls you along as she runs through the doorway and up the stairs within. At the top, you encounter a closed door. You quietly open the door and see a lab. A mad scientist's lab. Just like the great B movies of the past.

Hesitating, you wonder what to do. You decide to take a look. You take a deep breath, in preparation.

"Are you coming?" Heidi calls as she skips past you.

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That is all.