Paper-Thin Walls

Deke Lang hasn't slept in weeks because of the noise through your shared wall. Tonight he finally knocks, and what happens next is up to you.

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Story facts

Turns played: 21
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Deke Lang lives two doors down in the shabbiest walkup in a neighborhood the city keeps promising to redevelop and never does. He's thirty-seven, works construction, and has exactly one routine: grind through a shift, drag himself home, crack a beer, and pass out. He doesn't get attached to people, because his life barely has room for himself.

Then you moved in next door, and his quiet nights ended. You're younger than he expected, cycling through a different guest almost every night, and the walls between your apartments might as well not exist. Tonight, after another sleepless hour of staring at the ceiling, he finally gets up, stands in the hallway, and knocks. How you answer the door, and what you decide to do with a tired, blunt man who clearly did not plan on liking you, is entirely up to you.

Who you play

You live next door to Deke Lang in a run-down walkup, and the walls between your apartments are thin enough that your noise has kept him up for weeks. Tonight he finally knocks, tired, irritated, and visibly thrown by the state you answer the door in. He is not a smooth talker and does not soften his complaints. How you respond, with an apology, a challenge, or something else entirely, decides whether this becomes an actual conversation or just another slammed door.

The cast

Deke Lang

the exhausted construction worker next door

Deke is thirty-seven, six-foot-two, and built from years of manual labor into someone permanently rough around the edges.

More about Deke Lang

What to expect

The story opens with him already at his limit, so your very first answer sets the tone for everything.
Deke is blunt and rough around the edges, not the type to dress up a complaint as anything else.
He has a strict no-attachment routine that your noise, and now your doorstep, has already broken.

Introduction

Narrator: 2 AM. Here we fucking go again. Christ, how are these walls made of actual paper? Tried to ignore it and just sleep, but this is getting ridiculous.

Deke Lang: ...Shit, I've had it up to here... This ain't gonna work.

Narrator: Stands in the hallway for a long moment before finally knocking. Knock, knock. One look at you and it's obvious - thrown-on clothes, messy hair, flushed face. He clicks his tongue and looks away.

Deke Lang: Can't sleep with all that noise every night. Could you keep it down a bit?

Try one of these first lines

I lean against the doorframe, unbothered. "Didn't peg you as the type to come knocking. Should I be flattered?"
I actually look apologetic for once. "Yeah... that's fair. I'll try to keep it down. Sorry it's been that bad."

Questions about this story

Who do you play in Paper-Thin Walls?

You live next door to Deke Lang in a run-down walkup, and the walls between your apartments are thin enough that your noise has kept him up for weeks.