A Normal Morning is a Glulx interactive fiction story written with Inform 7 and is © 2025 by Damon L. Wakes. It was an entry in the La Petite Mort (English) division of Ectocomp 2025, where it took 8th place. It was also an entrant in the Short Games Showcase 2025.
In this short horror story, you play as someone having a normal morning in your barely-furnished apartment. On the sofa is the corpse, a concrete block lashed clumsily to its ankles with baling twine. Three endings.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the story.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction story. Please make an honest effort to play the story before reading this walkthrough.
This story has three possible endings and no puzzles that must be solved, so this walkthrough includes restarts, lots of waiting, and lots of looking around so you see most of the content.
Living Room
Avoid looking at the corpse or the twine. Do not interact with the corpse at all. It's not really there, but reacting to it admits guilt.
> x me. i. x sofa. x table.
> x TV. turn on TV. watch TV. turn it off.
> n.
Kitchen
While away from the living room, you hear sounds suggesting the corpse is trying to get to you. Totally ignore the sounds. They're just in your imagination.
> x fridge. open it.
> x leftovers. take them. (no)
> close fridge. x oven. open it.
> x hob. x counter.
> s. e.
Bedroom
Do not examine or otherwise interact with the twine. That is also an admission of guilt.
> x bed. x wardrobe. open it.
> x clothes. take clothes. (no)
> x nightstand. open drawer.
> w.
Living Room
For the best ending (for you, at least), all you need to do is wait until there's a knock on your front door, then open the door.
> z. (repeat until there's a knock)
> open door.
*** You answer the door calmly. When you are informed you do not have to say anything, you politely choose not to. The evidence is merely circumstantial: nothing is ever found to prove you were involved in the crime. ***
> restart
Living Room
This time, repeatedly try examine the corpse.
> x corpse. g. g. g. g. g. g. g. g. g. g.
Water arrives.
> look. open floorboard.
> take envelope. open it. x cash.
> n.
Kitchen
The handgun appears here simply by trying to interact with the corpse somewhat. The lake water is in your bedroom as well, even if not mentioned there.
> x gun. (You won't look at the gun or the water or the cylinder any more than you will look at the corpse or twine.)
> s.
Living Room
Again, wait for the police to knock at the door.
> z. (Repeat waiting until the knock.)
> open door.
*** You pull the door open, struggling given the weight of the water against it. A torrent spills from your flat and rushes down the stairs. The police do not seem to notice. Their attention is on your face: drenched in sweat and drained of colour.
They know. They know even before you begin to stammer your excuses. ***
> undo
Okay, now just don't ever open the door. Instead, keep trying to examine the corpse until the water rises so high, you drown.
> x corpse. g. (Repeat until the end.)
*** At last, the water rises above your head. ***
Since the water can't really here any more than the corpse is, you just managed to drown yourself by shear force of will and guilt. Creepy.
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