This Is Not a 7-Eleven By SquareTangerine
Instruments: Provided Cards, Marker
Game Description
After idling in a local convenience store you first started to see the surroundings for what they truly were. The packaging was different, the people--gone, and you can’t seem to remember how you got here to begin with. This is Not a 7-Eleven is a surrealist game about being trapped in a place that is familiar but not quite right and trying your best to return home.
Game Content Warnings
These are content warnings that are from the game prompts and are present in all playthroughs.Playthrough Content Warnings
These are content warnings specific to this playthrough only.
Word Count: 3,129 Played: Nov 2, 2023
Something is wrong, so I’m taking notes on my phone. I went into this 7-11(???) to get a snack, the caramel apples that I like, but they are… Wrong? It's like the caramel is too syrupy, like it’s maple syrup? But then some other freaky stuff started to happen. The lights are like a blue? But not in the same fluorescent blue, but more like purple blue?
And I can’t seem to find the exit? It’s not where it was, there’s just a wall, like a solid wall. The employee is gone too and the only door is the staff door. I’m just going to go through that…
I’m outside! I’m not out side! I feel like I'm going to fall off the end of the earth and everything is sideways! And I saw something in the reflection for just a second. It was long and lanky, and had too many limbs, like a stick bug, but there was something about the eyes, it looked almost like a person, but I couldn’t see. I got super freaked out and ran into the nearest building before I could see anything else.
I can’t see that thing anywhere and I don’t know where I am but somehow I feel safe here? I can’t just stay but I really don’t want to go out the same way. I’m underneath some stairs that are upside down. Or maybe I’m upside down and I’ll fall into the sky if I leave.
This reminds me of the place where we used to play Sardines, out back past the playground and in the old apartment buildings before the manager kicked us out. This place feels somewhat normal, except for all the upside down shit.
I feel sick. It’s like I’m drunk and have the flu and am up too high all at once. I want to puke but I can’t and I want to think the end is near. I need to find a way out of this place. I’m walking on a ceiling and tripping over exit signs and I just wanna go home. I don’t wanna face that stick bug that was out there again.
It is here it is here it is here! It hasn’t seen me yet but I Can watch it. It was holding something, like an animal and I saw it rip the head off and eat it. It made a chittering noise and ---
I had to run because it saw me but I think I’m safe now. It has these long antennas, almost as long as its body and one of them went around the corner and it …saw? Smelled? I don’t know how these things work but it found me and I screamed and ran. This is so stupid! This is terrible! I wanna go home!
Um. I met a talking cat. It wasn’t very helpful. It just kinda… repeated everything I said like a parrot. I don't know if it can actually talk now that I think about it. But it was sweet and had three legs.
I was in some kind of place like the hallways of a public school, but I was still on the ceiling. It was still echoing everywhere. The cat left after a while. I guess it had things to do. I guess I have things to do too.
I actually met another person! Like a real person! A human person like me! He was stuck too, but he said he was always on the ceiling, though and not all twisted around like me. I was currently on the wall, so we were able to go to a corner to talk. He had an umbrella, a scarf, and a pocketwatch, and kinda looked like he was from, I don’t know old timey england? He didn’t sound like it though. I have no idea what kind of accent he had. He also kept repeating every question I asked to himself which was kind of annoying but w/e.
He didn’t have anything helpful for me, and didn’t know about the giant bug. So we just kinda left each other after a while.
This place is so nice! I was right side up and there was a nice big pool with a donut floatie and it… it reminded me of when we used to go to the waterpark and mom would just buy one of those overpriced strawberry margaritas and just lay in the pool all day while dad played with us. I wanna go back again sometime and get myself one of those.
There were also fake plants surrounding the area, which I'm surprised they do get moldy but it’s nice that they are clean.
The floatie was way too big to carry with me, but I would have taken it otherwise.
I ALMOST DIED. I was out in a grassy backyard, like think of the most average backyard, that kind. And then everything just TURNED. IT TURNED LIKE IT WAS A PICTURE IN PHOTOSHOP. I clung to the grass and then I was able to get inside a house and… well I have no idea where I am now.
I am even more lost now! I don’t know where anything is! I don’t know where I came from and the entire room is horrible! WHere am I ?! There was just a sudden jolt, and I was flung around and around and Im so lost! I’m so lost!
There was a sign on the wall that read:
Life is governed by the symbols we make of it
Leave your mark on this place
Leave your symbol here
I made a symbol that combined E and X like the RX sign but this one means exit. It shows the door that I went through when I was leaving. If I ever find myself in this room again I know where it will lead me… Hopefully.
I keep thinking back to that cat. How it kept saying things over and over. Maybe it was repeating me. Maybe it was trying to call attention to me. Like it was summoning something. It was rather loud. But then why did it leave? …. So it wouldn’t be caught? Maybe I was supposed to be a meal for that bug so that it wouldn’t be eaten???
I saw the man on the ceiling again! I was still sideways in what looks like another 7-Eleven, but everything is still all wrong.
He wanted me to try and pull him down. His hand was clammy and sweaty and it didn’t really work. It was like trying to lift a weight, and since I think he was just bigger than me it ended up lifting me up instead and then I fell back down. Oh well… He was cool about it though. He also said his name was Seth Grubb and he told me where he was from but then I just.. Can't’ remember it??? Like he said it and I understood but now it’s all gone.
I’ve been thinking about Sardines again, the game? You know the one that’s like the reverse of Hide-And-Seek? Where one person hides and everyone goes to look for them and then they stay with them when they find them until one person is left looking?
Now that I think about… I was the one who was hiding no one would ever find me? I just thought I was really good at hiding, but what if they just wanted me gone? It would always take over an hour and usually I would get a text saying I needed to come out of hiding because no one could find me. Maybe they just wanted me gone….
I just met someone and I can’t remember what they look like. It was… like they just were… and… but they had the same accent as Seth Grubb! I asked if they were from the same place and they said …. But they had a large trunk, like an old suitcase from the movies about the 20’s and inside they had all sorts of things.
Inside was: a pair of glasses that were cracked. (they said they could read time with it, whatever that means) and a walking cane that extended and retracted (they said it was hollow and not good for hitting things since it will bend.) And a brooch with a weird symbol that looked like …. (they said they weren’t part of that organization.)
They also had an umbrella handle poking out of their backpack, it looked like Seth Grubb’s but it was stained. They kept saying that they didn’t have it.
I mean… it seems nice that someone else is out here, but they just seemed…. I dunno cagey and weird whenever I kept asking about them. I can’t really remember much else…. But I didn’t buy anything and they made it seem like we might meet again, so.. Who knows??
Um… well They were here too. The merchant that is. They had something new for me, two items and both were… um of a reasonable price. One was my fucking wallet! I didn’t even know that I was missing it. The other was… a can of sardines.
I don’t know what compelled me but I bought the Sardines. They just wanted the date: November 2, 2023.
After they handed it to me I looked down at it and then back up and they were completely gone….
About the can though… the expiration date says 16. I don’t know what that means…?? I know expiration dates are kinda bullshit anyway but like, this is less than meaningless to me. I shook the can and it made some kind of metal clanging like there was some sort of non-fish object inside.
I cracked it a bit, and I couldn’t see anything, so I just opened it all the way and it was… uh.. A jack? Like the game jacks with the ball and um jacks. But just one.
It happened again!!! That feeling of being flung and I’m confused!!! I don’t know where I am! I don’t know what is happening! I’m so lost! I just… I'm so angry!!! I’m so hungry!!!! Why weren’t there actually sardines in the tin!?!?! Should I eat the apples? I’m so scared! FUCK there are all these weird pipes and they are hot and I’m just looking for an exit and leaving.
(A/N: the event says to change a safe thing to a hazardous thing but I have no more safe things)
I’m starting to think that I might never leave… Maybe I’ll just be stuck here forever like Seth Grubb and the Merchant. Maybe I should take up merchanting…. But I don’t know anything about the economy here. Or anything else.. Well I don’t know about the economy back home anyway so… I don’t want to just live here now. I’m lucky my phone is still going. The battery hasn’t changed at all which is good.
It looks like I’m in some kind of library but none of the books can be removed from the shelves so there’s really nothing I can do anyway.
I’m in an empty school now??? But still on the wall. I feel nauseous again. Like that time what… several hours ago? It feels like a lifetime! How long have I been here? How long will I be here? I really wanna go home.
It’s here…. It’s here and Oh my god I had to run, I’m out of breath and I’m hiding and I hope it doesn’t see me. I don’t know what to do….. I saw it go through a wall. A fucking wall. And then come back again. It looks like it’s looking for something… Maybe me!?!?! Maybe??! I’m so scared. I’ll just have to turn off the light and hope it doesn't see me and make a break for the exit when it’s gone.
There’s something about the washing machine. When I get close I start to feel ill. Like they are radioactive or something. I don’t know how that works, but I need to stay away from them. Reminds me of the time I threw up on the clean laundry at home. Right into the washing machine. Mom was mad but she tried to act like she wasn’t. She tried running the clothes through the washer several times but we ended up having to throw away some stuff because it um… yeah.
This new room feels.. Nice actually. I think it’s a park or a cemetery or something. There’s writing but I can’t read it. I think it’s a regular language but I’m not certain. There’s a nice little pebble right next to the um arch thing. I’ll bring it and put it next to the jack in the sardine can. No reason not to. Its polished so like, it’s not like it was here to begin with. Maybe I can trade it for something.
All around me I can hear the music, it's the chill beats station, but something about it is wrong. It’s WRONG IT’S WRONG like a filter or it’s been speed up and down at the same time. I don’t know where it’s coming from but I need to leave. I can’t hear anything. What if that thing comes?!?!
The stone has started to vibrate and hum and shake violently. It’s rattling around and thumping hard against me in the can. Like it wants to hurt me. I took it out and held it tight and it was still shaking and trying to dig itself into me and I threw it as hard as I could. I heard it break a window and so I ran through, into another home through an open window.
I almost died. Again. Well there was this …nice chair. And it looked so comfy. But there was just something about it. I don’t know… i mean it looked like it was kinda oozing something. Near the bottom but like, the seat itself looked so nice! I’m so tired…. I really wanted to take a nap, but I can’t stay here! I need to get home!
I think I was just being stupid about the Sardines thing earlier. I mean… we did play other games where I wasn’t the first person. I just WAS really good at hiding. And we did hangout when we weren’t playing… and stuff. I think I was just overreacting because of this place. This place is so stupid.
THey were back! The merchant! I… think they are trustworthy. I don’t really have any reason not to trust them. They had two items again for me and still with weirder requests… Um.. they wanted a drawing of a tractor for a can of fake peanuts, the ones with the spring snakes inside. The second one was a slingshot for a drawing of a moose. I went with the slingshot.
It’s got a little winky face on the handle and the initials J.S.T.R. on it. I wonder if someone had to trade this for something else the merchant had. I wonder if they are still around somewhere in these weird rooms.
There was a shitty little folding chair in here that somehow clung to the sides of the room like me. It wasn’t much but I was able to sit for a few minutes. I’m really getting tired and I need to find a way home soon. I can feel the exit around here. It’s GOT to be close.
The merchant was here again but wanted me to sing? Haha no. Absolutely not. They said that the adventure should be ending soon, which… I hope that means I get to go home. I hope I’m near the exit.
There was something wrong with the graffiti in this room. It hurts to look at. Like it’s freezing my eyes and my skull. My eyes watered and were stinging and the sides of my head are going to explode! I had to get out of there fast, through the ground window, and into another room soon!
Another school with no one in it. These places are really kind of peaceful. I’m not sure why people think that they are scary… it’s actually really nice not to have to worry about running into anyone. There was a locker open too, and, from what I can tell, there wasn’t anyone using it. There were no books or papers or anything, just one discarded pen. The ink still works and seemed to work on anything. I’m going to take it since it looks like it was abandoned.
I saw it again. That horrible bug thing. It was right in front of me and it snapped at me and chittered. I ran and ran, and hid and still it found me. It looked me right in the eyes and slapped me right in the face with the antenna before running off. I can’t see it but I think that there’s a rash starting to grow where it touched me. It burns and itches and I’m trying my best not to scratch it.
I feel like this was a warning to stay away from it. I’m trying!!! It is the one who followed me when I ran! I hate this!
The pen, it’s leaking everywhere, everything is stained, and I have this huge blue spot all down my leg and on my chest and arms. It won’t come off! This sucks! I threw the pen as far as I could but it’s still leaking everywhere, and it’s gotten all over me and the phone! Fuck!
More chairs, I'm so tired. I feel like I’m almost home though. There was enough time for me to just sit. Sit and just …. I dunno put my feet up. It almost feels normal, except for things being sideways. Just an empty restaurant. Kinda nice. I hope I’m home soon.
Safe: 3
Hazard: 8
OtherMarkings: Yes
Ending: Other Markings
I found the Not-7-Eleven and it’s covered with the exit markings I made before. All of them point to one door and they are all made with different things like spraypaint, regular paint, crayon, etc. Some of them look really old but some are still wet.
I just hope this is the right door to home…..
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