Vernon Wright - October 23rd, 2008

Now I’m realizing I could be part of the problem, but is it too late?

 === Credits ===
Produced by Halfwit Podcasts ( https://www.HalfwitPodcasts.com ).
Written by Matt Spaziani ( https://vocal.media/authors/matt-spaziani ).
Vernon Wright is voiced by Jonathan Swenson ( https://www.jgswenson.com ).
Based on the journal role-playing game "The Machine" by Adira & Fen Slattery ( https://adira.itch.io/the-machine ).  
 
Music and sound effects used with Zapsplat Gold, and Ghosthack Music licenses.  

Transcript

Vernon Wright - October 23rd, 2008

So it’s a bit of a good news, bad news week.

Good news first, I guess. My parents are sort of talking to me again. They sent me a care package, I thing you’d call it. At least, I’m going to call it that, since the only other thing I could call it is a get-your-shit-out-of-my-house package. But it had some snacks I liked as a kid, so I’m gonna go with care package.

The box was mostly stuff I hadn’t thought about in years - books, clothes, random shit like that. But the thing that really caught my eye was the high school yearbooks they saved.

Not gonna lie - I got really mad for a few minutes there. Books full of my old friends arrive a day after Dennis tells me he’s leaving? When I opened it and saw those, part of me thought they had found out about Dennis and were sending me some weird guilt trip. It’s really dumb, though - they don’t even know I reconnected with Dennis. Right?

Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely dumb.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but open them up, and I thought revisiting old memories would take my mind off of everything else, or at least make me nostalgic, but all I got was sad. I read through the signatures in the front and back of my senior yearbook and so many said something like “Good luck in college! Can’t wait to see you soon!” Or even, “Let’s hang out this summer!” You know how many of those I’ve seen since we graduated? Five. I counted. And two of them were a couple who I bumped into at a gas station while I was home on winter break.

What the hell happened? I was never the most popular guy, but I had friends. There wasn’t much to do in our hometown, so we used to drive over to Salem and hang out at the mall there. Or even just steal some beers from our folks and go drink them around a campfire in the woods. And now they’re all gone, off to different jobs in different states. And I’m here, alone.

Or I will be soon, anyway. Is Dennis even my friend? I guess so. He’s leaving like all the others.

Okay, I just paused for like two minutes after writing that last sentence because it sounds insane. It’s like something out of a manifesto. And I’m not really being fair. Dennis is a really good guy who got me a job and has been very supportive. He has his own life, and he has to do what he’s gotta do.

I think I just need some rest. That’s the bad news, by the way. I’ve been sleeping really shitty since Dennis told us he was leaving. I just get stuck in my head when I lay down, and my mind starts reeling. It’s definitely hitting me during the day - as I was sitting down to eat today, I thought I saw two Nigels running through the apartment. But I was just tired.

All right, that’s enough for today. Hopefully I’ll feel better in the morning.

"This Machine Belongs to" is a production of Halfwit Podcasts. This episode was written by Matt Spaziani. Vernon Wright is voiced by Jonathan Swenson. Based on the journaling game "The Machine" by Adira and Fen Slattery.

If you'd like to support our endless toil with the machine or listen to our other podcasts, visit HalfwitPodcasts.com, or find specific links in the show notes of each episode. 

Lastly, the most efficient way to build The Machine is by telling friends of its importance in our once meaningless lives. Some day, This Machine could belong to you.