You Are a Burned-Out Kid Detective
You’re a 10 year-old kid detective and already you’re too old for this shit. After putting a nickel into the swear jar on your desk, you massage your temples. You’ve got a massive headache. All these cases searching for lost bubble gum cards and unmasking phony phantoms at abandoned amusement parks really wears a kid down.
That’s when she walked in the door of your detective office, or what your parents insist on calling the “pool shed.” After pushing a few pool noodles aside, a dame strides into the room. Pigtails. Two of ’em. Peace sign rub-on arm tattoo. Oversized “Dog Camp” t-shirt. She’s the coolest girl you’ve ever seen. You flip an old POG slammer in your hand like a coin to make yourself feel cooler and less inadequate.
“Joey? Joey Hardcasewitz? Kid detective?” asks the mystery blonde in velcro. “I need you to find my boyfriend. He’s missing. Well, you see, he’s from the future. And he’s technically my boy friend, not my ‘boyfriend’…”
As the tomato – the girl kind, not the salad kind – tells her tragic tale, something about this case feels different. It’s not like all the others with a cute, cookie cutter solution based on a logic puzzle or an animal fact. This case feels different.
Click the links above to investigate the room and the girl’s story.
When you’re ready to “solve” the case, click here.
This game was part of The Great Substack Story Challenge.