<h2>Chapter 1</h2>
You gaze out of your corner office early one morning and let your eyes drift across the Manhattan skyline.
Through the morning haze, you can see the World Trade Center off to your left, City Hall and the Civic Center right in front of you, and in the distance you can just barely make out the Empire State building.
You lean in toward the window to see [[what lies below]].
There are throngs of people moving quickly up and down the sidewalks and long lines of cars creeping into the financial district.
The tall buildings seem like sleepy giants slowly waking as their human inhabitants fill them.
You think to yourself, this is..
[[success]].
[[pathetic]].
This is the city of opportunity. You feel happy, but just before you sit down to begin the morning’s work, your phone rangs. You pick it up and hear those dreadful words no employee every wants to hear.
Mr. Pearson would like to see you.
Mr. Pearson is your [[boss]].This is, however, the city of opportunity, and you do feel happy, but just before you sit down to begin the morning’s work, your phone rangs. You pick it up and hear those dreadful words no employee every wants to hear.
Mr. Pearson would like to see you.
Mr. Pearson is your [[boss]].You knock on the door and are somewhat ungraciously barked at to come inside. Charles Pearson is your stout ruddy-faced boss, who is always out for golf and rarely interested in meeting with his employees.
He never ventures down to the lower floors.
You sit down in the large brown leather chair in front of Mr. Pearson’s desk and brace yourself for the [[worst]]. <h2>Chapter 2</h2>
You’re somewhat of a big shot now.
Mr. Pearson talks off his glasses and faces the window.
You have that nice fancy corner office and the move from ________ to Manhattan, now that must have been exciting. But listen here, these last two quarters have been abysmal, and we need to freeze the salaries of... a majority of the employees — you know which ones.
Because you’re the accounting guy around here... ________ is it?
[[Actually]] it's ________.You're not fired, and the salary freeze will mostly affect those on lower floors.
[[Out of sight, out of mind]].
But, at least you're not fired, and the salary freeze will mostly affect those on lower floors.
[[Out of sight, out of mind]].
<h2>Chapter 3</h2>
After work you take the elevator from the 87th floor down to the main lobby. When you reach the Wall St. metro station, you see a man begging on the street crying out about how vile corporate America is and how it chewed him up and spit him out, how his wife has divorced him and taken his children.
You suddenly find yourself staring and listening to the man’s story, because you recognize his [[face]]. Right, ________. I also need you to make sure that raises are taken care of this year. You know the drill; you’ve been in this business for a while. You feel...
[[relieved]].
[[nauseated]].It is Mark Henson; he had just been moved from Detroit to Manhattan when you fired him. you remembered that he was a hard worker, but that cuts had needed to be made.
Mark was wearing a dirty suit, reminiscent of a life once well lived, looked as though he had not shaved in weeks, and reeked of [[alcohol]].Mark sees you.
You bastard, you! You ruined my life! One cannot simply be fired in this city and expect to recoup!
THIS MAN ruined my life the day he fired me!
Mark suddenly got up and ran down the stairs into the station. You hear some rustling of clothes, and a yell from a security guard, then the sound of the incoming train, the train you are supposed to get on, and finally a [[scream]].
It is so piercing that you freeze immediately, and your mind floods with thoughts.
After a few seconds, though, you keep walking. You shove the thoughts out of your mind and dismiss Mark as a lunatic, who should just go find a job. You walk up William St. to the next station.
You want to avoid the [[red line]]. <h2>Chapter 4</h4>
While you are waiting for your uptown train, another train arrives.
It is headed to Brooklyn.
You know that it is the wrong train, but you get on it anyway. It is...
[[impulsive, but you do not want to go home]].
[[empowering. You can go anywhere]].You get off after a while and begin wandering through what looks to be a poor area of Brooklyn and a prime example of urban decay.
Empty storefronts with broken glass and graffiti. The streets littered with beer cans and cigarette butts.
The stores that are open are primarily convenient stores, nail and hair salons, and the occasional Western Union.
How can so many live in poverty so close to where so many live in [[luxury]]? You get off after a while and begin wandering through what looks to be a poor area of Brooklyn and a prime example of urban decay.
Empty storefronts with broken glass and graffiti. The streets littered with beer cans and cigarette butts.
The stores that are open are primarily convenient stores, nail and hair salons, and the occasional Western Union.
How can so many live in poverty so close to where so many live in [[luxury]]? You see a small rundown bar up the street and hurry across before the light changes.
Amsterdam?
The bar smells like cigar smoke and cheap liquor, but when you sit down at the bar you feel...
[[calm and relaxed, a feeling you haven’t felt since you left]] ________.
[[a bit uneasy. Who even knows your are here]]?<h2>Chapter 5</h2>
You try to get the bartender’s attention, but it is clear that he does not speak English.
He is a tall simple looking man, who seems out of place even for New York City.
Does he even speak English?
He eyes you with more than the normal [[apprehension]].
<h2>Chapter 5</h2>
You try to get the bartender’s attention, but it is clear that he does not speak English.
He is a tall simple looking man, who seems out of place even for New York City.
Does he even speak English?
He eyes you with more than the normal [[apprehension]].
You look down and see that you are still wearing your suit and think that you too are out of place. The other patrons are dressed in the uniform of the working class...
cotton,
worn denim
and cheap leather.
They are the types of workers whose salaries you have just [[frozen]].Again, you try to get the bartender’s attention, this time by tapping the bar and beckoning with your hands.
The barkeep turns toward you and grunts.
Suddenly the man next to you orders two brandies, hardly saying anything.
The man is old. Grey hair and a [[French]] accent. He looks as though he has spent far too much time in bars.
His face is gaunt and his forehead is creased with deep wrinkles—indicative of a life well examined.
You look around and notice most everyone else was drinking beer or rum, when suddenly you hear the man next to you [[talking]]. <h2>Chapter 6</h2>
May I Interest you in a drink? I saw that you were trying to order one for yourself, but there was no way he could have known that you like brandy. You see, he is from Amsterdam, hence the name. I used to frequent his bar there, but let me keep you no longer. My apologies, I tend to ramble.
Thank you. Please continue, I’ve had a terrible day at work and wouldn’t mind a good [[conversation]].So, you must be a businessman from the financial district?
Yes, I guess my suit and tie give me away.
Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jacques.
Nice to meet you, Jacques. I’m ________. I manage the accounting department at one of the big banks on Wall Street. I’m originally from ________, but when I landed a big job, here in the city, I had to [[move]].
<h1>The Tower</h1>
<h4>A <a target="_blank" href="twinery.org">Twine</a> game.
<h4>Adapted from a short story by the same name for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Columbia-Game-Design-Development/798214773585272">Columbia Game Design and Development</a>'s En-Twined Game Jam.</h4>
<h2>[[Climb->TOC]].</h2>
It’s definitely a different pace of life, but I feel, or at least I felt, so fortunate to get a job here.
I too was a successful banker for a long time...
Jacques gazes at the bare wall above the bar as if he were admiring some masterful piece of fine art at the Metropolitan.
Excuse me for dazing off... So, how do you like the neighborhood? I am sure it is much different than your neighborhood in Manhattan, [[no]]?To tell you the truth, it reminds me of where I grew up, a neighborhood outside of ________.
Run down, decaying, but full of good working people.
[[I like it... It feels familiar]].
[[I'm not sure... It feels so foreign]].
But please tell me more about your career as a banker?
Well, monsieur, I got my start in Lyon doing petty work for a big bank. After I graduated from the local university, I immediately found a job on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder.
Yea, been there.
I always worked hard, and I climbed the ladder quickly. I was such a hard worker that one day I received a call from the headquarters in Paris offering me a job, and I had no other option but to accept. I knew I would miss Lyon, but Paris offered an opportunity that [[I could not pass up]].But please tell me more about your career as a banker?
Well, monsieur, I got my start in Lyon doing petty work for a big bank. After I graduated from the local university, I immediately found a job on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder.
Yea, been there.
I always worked hard, and I climbed the ladder quickly. I was such a hard worker that one day I received a call from the headquarters in Paris offering me a job, and I had no other option but to accept. I knew I would miss Lyon, but Paris offered an opportunity that [[I could not pass up]].Yeah... Even though I worked everyday to escape ________, I feel a certain nostalgia for the simpler way of life I had there.
Yes, we all wish we could live a simpler life, more innocent and uncorrupted...
Again Jacques gazes at the wall behind the bar and seems to contemplate memories of a time long since passed and unknown to you.
So sorry, monsieur. I cannot help but to remember that day. It is so clear in my [[mind]]. <h2>Chapter 7</h2>
While I was walking home from a bar in Lyon after celebrating my new job, I noticed a man standing on the pier, but thought nothing of it.
I kept walking, but when I heard the distinct sound of a body hitting the water and a scream for help, I ran to [[save him]].Luckily a passerby and I were able to fish him out, but when I saw his face I froze instantly. I realized that he was a man that I had fired the previous week.
I remembered that he was a hard worker, but that cuts had needed to be made. I could not believe that I had driven someone to the point of [[suicide]]. You begin breathing heavily, dazed by Jacques’s words.
It had all gone by too fast.
Thoughts again began to rush into your head like a flooding river, and again the dam you have built is able to hold the waters back lest they inundate your mind.
You regain [[composure]].That must have been terrible, but at least you were able to save him. No harm done, I suppose.
Ah, but there was harm done. Not to him but to me. My entire life was shattered. I then realized that I had never thought about whom I ratted out to the boss, or how I got up the next rung of the ladder, because once I was above them, it didn’t matter. You see, I loved to be above others, and the further up the ladder I climbed the more I truly felt [[above]] them. I never allowed myself to see what I had done to those below me.
I never kept in contact with former fellow employees, or read the papers.
You see, I loved heights, but I also loved isolation because I did not wish to share my lofty perch.
Do not misunderstand me though, I yearned for the affection of others, but wished to hide from my eyes the pain I had caused others through my [[selfishness]]. <h2>Chapter 8</h2>
On that day, siting along the Rhone, I broke through my outer wax shell and looked intently at my soul and realized it was empty.
I saw what I had done.
It hurt [[immensely]].Suddenly, your heart feels like it is pounding through your chest.
What have you done?
You have gone too far, but everyone goes too far sometimes.
[[Fin->TOC]].<h2>Chapter 1</h2>
All the people you have fired, all the salaries you have frozen, all of the lower floor workers you have taken advantage of.
It pains you to think about them, so you shut them out of your mind.
What did you do next? How did you [[cope->ladder]]?
Well, at first I told myself that I could not pass up the opportunity to go to Paris.
I hoped that I could change. When I first arrived in Paris, my wife and I experienced a short period of grand delusion.
She became infatuated with the lifestyle that my new salary afforded, and to please her I continued to climb the ladder.
Your [[wife->purse]]...
She too has become accustomed to the way of life your salary provides, one of prodigal luxury.
She is a socialite... never missing the opportunity to attend a party, especially for charity, but never to be generous, and only to be seen. She cares more about her [[purse->child]] than any dying child in a third world country.<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<h3>[[Book I: The Fall->The Fall]]</h3>
<h3>[[Book II: The Jump->The Climb]]</h3>
She is tall, recently blonde, and when you lived in ________, she worked as a waitress and used to value an honest day’s worth of labor. But, now she sees herself as above that.
You see her as above that, and yourself as above all of those you have taken advantage of.
Abruptly you hear a scream, the same one that you heard come from the Wall St. metro stop after leaving [[work]]. You try to forget it, hold it back, but your mind is far from impenetrable, and the scream becomes louder and louder.
You feel the dam begin to give and crack under the pressure. You begin to sweat profusely and tremble slightly.
Are you ok?
You snap back to the bar. You calm yourself down.
[[Yeah, sorry I just need another drink]].
[[No, no I am not]].
You take a large swig finishing your brandy.
Was it something I said?
No, no! Really! Where were you? Please continue.
Of course. After that brief period I began to remember that man in Lyon and the sound of his body hitting the [[water]].You take a large swig finishing your brandy.
Ah! I knew it was your favorite. Yes, brandy is just about the sole glimmer of light in this darkness...
Right... Now, where were you? Please continue.
Of course. After that brief period I began to remember that man in Lyon and the sound of the body hitting the [[water]].<h2>Chapter 2</h2>
Soon, every skyscraper looked to me like a miniture Tower of Babel, with hundreds of people furiously trying to reach the top. You see, each peson tries to climb up the tower to gain something.
For the ancient people, it was godlike power.
Today, it is wealth and power over others. Every step gained comes at the cost of another, but if you do not look down, you do not see [[what you have caused]].If you do not look at yourself, you do not see what you have become. Out of sight, out of mind, I used to think.
Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight, out of mind.
Out
of
sight,
out
of
[[mind->mind2]].There were similar towers, very similar, in Lyon, but the towers in Paris were different. There were so many trying to climb to the top that for every foot one climbed up someone below them fell down at least as much. Usually more.
And there comes a point to which once you have climbed, you cannot simply [[climb back down]]. You must jump, and you know how messy that can be.
So most, when they realize that they’re lodged in the Tower of Babel, simply choose to accept it.
I, fortunately, had not reached that point, so I began to climb back down.
That day [[I quit my job]]. I could not live with the blood of hard working innocent men on my hands and continue the charade of corporate ladder climbing.
Another drink for my friend.
The bartender obediently pours you another glass of brandy.
So, that’s it? You just [[quit]]?
<h2>Chapter 3</h2>
Oh no, cher monsieur. It was much more painful than that. Once I quit, my wife left me, because she cared more about my paycheck than me.
I never talked to her again, but I’m sure she married one of my co-workers.
The next day I got on a train headed for Amsterdam. To live amidst those I had taken advantage of for [[so long]]. I sank down into what I had once thought of as the muddy bottom of human existence and found a fraternity, a solidarity, which I had never thought possible before. What I had once found in this, our drink of choice, I found in men. I absolutely loved Amsterdam...
Jacques again begins to gaze, this time not at the wall behind the bar, but at the other patrons.
You feel your heart [[beating quickly]]. You feel like your heart is about to rupture.
You hear the scream again.
So loud and penetrating that it shakes the foundation of everything you think you know about life. About what it means to live.
All of a sudden, the dam breaks. Thoughts flood your mind. You know what you have done. What you have let happen. You get up from your seat to leave Jacques, still reminiscing on his life in Amsterdam, and walk [[outside]]. <h2>Chapter 4</h2>
You look up at the night sky. Practically starless due to the streetlights. You feel like you are sinking through the cement sidewalk, down into the metro tunnel below. You hear the sound of a train rushing toward you and see two round headlights closing in.
You cower, bracing for impact.
A truck whizzes past you bringing you back to [[reality]].You start walking toward Manhattan.
You do not want to take the subway back.
You never want to step foot in a metro stop
[[ever again]].The sun is just rising when you reach Manhattan.
You stand on the south side of the Brooklyn Bridge and gaze out at the financial district.
From below, the tall buildings look [[menacing and monstrous]]. You continue walking and finally reach your office building. Outside a man has just started selling the morning papers. You walk over instinctively and ask for a copy.
You look at the front page and sink to your knees. The top story is about a suicide.
[[FIRED BANKER JUMPS IN FRONT OF TRAIN]]You want to stop reading, but you can't.
Manhattan resident, Mark Henson, 41, committed suicide by jumping in front of a downtown train as it pulled into the Wall Street metro stop, after being fired two months earlier from...
You feel your heart beating swiftly, and your mind again floods with thoughts of Mark Henson.
Your head feels heavy as you stumble into your [[building]].<h2>Chapter 5</h2>
Oh my gosh. Are you alright sir?
Sir? SIR? You need permission to be in here.
You drop your company ID card on the ground and get on the elevator. As it begins its ascent to the 87th floor, you can see Mark’s face, vividly.
It is dirty and [[unshaven]].You cannot push it out of your head, but for some reason you no longer want to.
When you reach the 87th floor, you do not get out, but instead press the button for the 88th floor.
When the elevator stops again, you get out, go over toward the door to the roof, and slowly walk up the [[stairs]].
You feel the cool morning air as you step out onto the roof.
You look out over the city.
It is vile and corrupt. It is a place of qualified happiness.
You can only be happy if you never look down, and you have [[looked down]].<h2>Chapter 6</h2>
As you look out over Manhattan, you begin to see instead of the financial district a massive Tower of Babel.
Its enormity makes you shudder.
You glance out toward Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, but there are only what look like ancient shantytowns full of [[slaves->bottom lines]]. Cheap houses are crowded closely and stretch for miles.
The busy harbor is full of merchant ships bringing in tons of granite and limestone for the building of the tower.
The ships each have three tall masts, dark against their white sails, and the slaves obediently wait to unload the materials.
It is all so [[vivid]].In the streets are long lines of massive bricks being dragged toward the tower over the Brooklyn Bridge, carried by crowds of slaves on either side.
They move quickly and diligently, fearfully.
You look down at the street below and see people dressed in extravagant robes adorned with gold and ivory filing into the bottom of the tower.
There are many below you. [[Below you]].
You look at the city in its entirety.
O, what a vile world that feeds on the many to exalt a few.
And finally you look up at the clear blue sky and realize that you are at the top, but have nothing to show for it.
There comes a point to which once you have climbed, you cannot simply climb back down.
[[Fin->Start]].