Applejack Falls Down the Stairs - CYOA

by Good Christian Ethesto

54

Applejack is shocked as she sees the look in your eyes, her breath catching in her throat and her front leg raising defensively. Slowly she lets it out, her leg and her guard dropping, and you can see a slight sag in her shoulders, her head no longer held high, no longer brimming with the false bravado you're used to. "So that's the answer you've come to?"

Her words are measured and her tone mild, but you can't help but feel that she's accusing you. "If that's what you've decided, I won't stop you and I... I won't hold it against you."

She smiles, though the intentions of her mouth don't make it to her eyes. The corners are crinkle ever so slightly, her irises wobble, and it seems she is only able to keep your gaze through great effort. Her eyes shut tight, and when they open back up the wavering is gone, and too the Applejack you knew seems gone, already having accepted the inevitable. It would only insult her to let this conviction go to waste, and you too resolve yourself to do what must be done.

You reach out and touch her for the first time, though her silky fur seems but a façade, only as real as your mind tells you it is. Your hands clasp around her neck and you feel her shuddering, the subtle striations of terror that not even her greatest act of diligence can mask now that the moment is near.

Your palms feel frozen with sweat as they press against her throat, allowing you to detect her frantic heart beat, each pulse bringing a warmth as though holding your hands to a fire and seeming to you louder than a drum. It's louder than even her breath as it blows softly against your wrists, drowning out all other sound. It's with a sudden realization that this is actually your heartbeat, the beating echoing a frantic dirge within your head with an ever-increasing tempo.

You let out your own breath, your arms twitching as you finally apply pressure. Her warm, soft neck gives no argument, and compresses under the slightest force. You feel more than hear as her breathing hitches, and her body instinctually struggles against the sudden lack of air.

Her throat opens with all the force it can manage, and in your delusion of mercy you squeeze harder, knowing it will only be drawn out if you half commit. Your hands tighten, constricting the veins that carry air to her brain.

Her eyes stare into yours, and she twitches, seemingly fighting the ever-growing urge to panic. To fight back against her fate. Ultimately, her resolve wins out and her fighting never becomes more than the slight shifting of her weight, like she was merely trying to get comfortable for her coming demise.

She gasps, her last inhalation finally escaping though her half-compressed windpipe with a moan, unable to hold her breath any longer. Her eyes start to look more distant, like she's trying to recognize you from a blurry photo, and she reaches up her hand and touches your arm.

You feel the urge to just let go, to give up on this and return to how things were, but somehow the idea of betraying Applejack's desires seems worse than simply living with the regret of what you're doing now. After all, you've had every opportunity to stop now. You could have chosen another way out at any point, but you're still here.

Your introspection is cut short when her hand falls away. Her heartbeat has slowed to a crawl and her eyes are half lidded, staring at a point behind your head. Now is your last chance. You don't have to continue. Things could go back to the way they were. You've proved your resolve already, there's nothing more to prove. By now you're just over doing it. You should probably stop.

Stop.

Neutral Ending: Applejack falls still in your hands, her body feeling like a led brick, yet you still grasp her neck with all the strength of a drowning man clinging to a line. This can't be how it ends, can it? Sure, you've ended Applejack's suffering, but now she will forever live on in this form within your mind. Would she be happy with this end? You can't be sure.
All you know is that it's over.