A choose your path Halloween story set in 2001 New York
The Midnight Invitation is an interactive web fiction experience from The Pascal Pulse. Every choice draws you closer to the truth or buries it deeper.
You guide Shane “Dio” Morrissey, a moody sharp edged secretly soft twenty something, through one long Halloween night in the city that shaped him and taught him how to hide. Raised by a single mother fighting her own ghosts, Dio dreams of art and escape. Tonight, someone is ready to make him an offer.
The Routes
🕯️ The Party “The Artist’s Path”
A haunted Brooklyn warehouse, and a beautiful woman who promises him everything he has ever wanted for a price he will not see coming.
🪞 The Stranger “The Doppelgänger Path”
A reflection that moves before he does, a shadow that wears his face, and a city that rearranges itself each time he blinks.
🚇 The Subway “The Truth Path”
Flashing lights, camera shutters, unsolved faces, and a tunnel where memory finally stops lying.
How to Play
- Start at the Prologue.
- Choose a route. Each chapter ends with two options.
- Reach an ending, then return to the Prologue to explore another path.
- Some endings unlock bonus documents
Content Notes
This story explores grief, depression, identity, loneliness, implied substance use, and psychological horror. There is surreal tension and atmospheric dread, with no graphic violence.
Credits
Written by: The Pascal Pulse Team
Inspiration: Pedro Pascal as Shane “Dio” Morrissey (NYPD Blue, 2001)
Special Thanks: The Pascal Pulse community of readers