My friend and I created a choose your own adventure game to play with a real missing person, and it worked.

In August of 2018, I had been working for my friend’s dad at his Gas Station for just shy of half a year. It was an all right job; switching to nights after school, because when you’re 15 you imagine jobs will be way cooler than they are, and after a few months I realized that I wanted one where I can still be among people. I got to know most of my coworkers and regular customers pretty well, and felt pretty comfortable with most of them.<br><br>My friend’s dad also had a habit of being kind of a hardass, but he’s a good guy. He gave me a break when he found out I’d been playing this dumb game on the register computer, and instead let me keep playing it while working as long as I tracked and reported any lose or shortages. I’m not sure how he figured I’d been playing it, I’ve always suspected there was a camera aimed at the register, but I’ve never confirmed it. Either way, he was an alright boss who treated me well (he even later let me keep my job despite showing up late when I took a detour to inform family friends their trailer had gone up in flames and was trying to warn the residents.) <br><br>The game was an interactive web based simulation game called “Marked For Death.” I’m not exactly sure what the story or theme was; it was kind of like one of those text based games where you entered commands and it’d say what happened, but instead it was an interactive story where you’d choose the outcome. I was playing the story in progress, so I’d lose my place every time my boss asked me to close the tab. But I was having fun with it, and there was a lot you could do to affect the story and characters because, strangely enough, the game was updated in real time.<br><br>I’d sit there at night with minimal customers and play it, making my best choices. I kind of got sucked in when one of the characters I’d managed to befriend was killed off because I’d made one wrong move, but about a month in I was settled in and having fun with it. I was so invested I’d even started a blog where I’d write out the story as it was presented to me, and I know I wasn’t the only one because I tried to read other blogs but they were always a few chapters behind.<br><br>So I get to work one night and check out the story, and it’s been paused. I get a notification asking if I wanted to play beta test a game that wouldn’t be available for another few months, and it sounded like the exact same game. I figured it was just one of those beta test invitations that wasn’t actually real, but I’d already paid for the premium version of the game to get some additional perks and they always offered you one or two free beta tests. I’d already used one for a game that was pretty fun, and figured I’d give it another go.<br><br>It loaded a new game of Marked for Death with a different setting. Instead of the story, you could choose one of three real missing persons cases to play as. I’d recently read an article about Maura Murray and how they’d just found the remains of another missing person who’s car had gone off the road in a similar location and accident, and it had stuck with me. She’d been a nursing student, and had wrecked her car in a small town in New Hampshire back in 2004.<br><br>I chose her case, and was immediately given an options menu with a short list of what I could do. I started out with the intention of just playing it safely. I’d been in the same situation before with Marked for Death and knew how choosing the wrong options could pan out. With Maura, I was much more careful, and I was playing a different story anyway. So I opted to stay in my car and try to call for help. I figured that was the safest bet, and I was right; the next update came in a few hours and I’d managed to flag someone down. But I imagine you want to know the rest of the story, and why it ended up being my last night at work.<br><br>I ask the guy who stopped for help to get me a coffee, but instead he insists that I come into his house and talk to his wife and her before he drives me to a nearby hotel. I’m a bit wary, but the guy just seems…nice. He’s very kind and considerate, and he manages to talk me into it. I figure that it’s probably the safest bet anyway, and I don’t want to be alone at night in an unfamiliar town.<br><br>I call my sister from the guy’s house (who was very sweet) and managed to call my old voicemail, which was still active, to let my parents know where I’d been (my parents never found out I’d had an accident, and I’d lost my phone in the crash.) I’d lost my keys, so the guy was going to drive me to a hotel and I’d have them shipped to me in the morning.<br><br>He dropped me off at a local hotel (my parents were going to be absolutely furious about the bill) and left me the number for a cab driver in case I didn’t want to walk anywhere. He told me to call his wife’s salon when it opened and she’d do my hair for free. Then he left and I took a bath, and eventually went to bed. Although I made sure to set the alarm system I’d set up (a doorstop with a pill bottle balanced on it.) <br><br>The game ended in the morning, when I went downstairs for the free breakfast that was included with my stay. I was browsing the selection when I noticed a familiar face- it was one of the characters from the other Marked For Death story, serving the food. I was immediately suspicious, because I’d killed off the character I was playing as months ago and was just playing without a main character now. I realized that I was being played, and that the entire sequence of events had been set up to get me to this moment.<br><br>So I bolted. I grabbed my bag and ran out of the hotel and didn’t stop running until I was out of breath and lost in the woods. I sat down at a nearby tree and cried, and then I waited for hours. I’d realize later exactly how long it’d been, and that the time stamp on the last update didn’t match what I’d been told. I was so terrified I didn’t realize it until later though.<br><br>I finally calmed down and decided to head back. I got turned around trying to find my way back, and I heard someone calling my name. I froze, and then I saw him.<br><br>It was one of my coworkers from the gas station, and he was walking up to me. I was so relieved I managed to calm myself down and talk to him, and he told me I was scaring him and my boss. I asked what he was talking about, and he told me my boss was worried I’d been drinking (he’d never been big on drinking, so it was a pretty severe punishment) and when I’d shown up late he’d decided not to dock my pay. However, he was becoming very worried that I’d either decided to sit out for a few or was drinking on the job. I was confused, and started to try and explain what was going on until I looked at the clock and realized the time.<br><br>I was in a panic. I started to explain to my coworker what was going on until he cut me off and told me he’d call 911 because something was obviously wrong. I was still waiting for the ambulance when my boss showed up and chewed me out. I’d been in a daze, so I later pieced together that he’d called my parents to see where I was when he couldn’t get a hold of me and they’d told him they didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d assumed I’d been drinking with my friends, and was furious when he found out I was having a panic attack at the hospital.<br><br>But the report came back normal. They figured I’d just had a panic attack, and that I was fine. Although they did end up calling my parents, who came and picked me up. I was grounded, and my boss fired me. It was about a month later when I realized that I’d never gotten the text telling me to come in for my last shift. I was confused, and my mom told me she’d figured I’d be too upset so she’d texted him back saying I’d be in late and could I have the night off. I was confused, and my parents realized they’d never received the call from my boss and had instead just texted him back. But I’d never received the text or call either.<br><br>I was confused, but I’d never call my boss to ask why. I didn’t have a job anymore, and I didn’t want to talk to him anyway. I figured he’d just forgotten to call me, or that I’d forgotten to set my alarm. But then, in December of that year, the game’s creator released a statement confirming they’d been working with a private investigator who was working to crack cold missing persons cases. Through the use of their game, they’d been able to get real plans and tactics for finding missing persons in real time.<br><br>I was among the first they’d tested it with, and I was the first to bring back any actual information. I looked them up and they’d issued a list of the missing persons I’d chosen, and Maura Murray was one of them. But I wasn’t the only one. I was the only one who’d been able to get the investigation to move forward; the killer had been identified, and a team was working on getting his remains exhumed for forensic analysis. They’d