Abra, I was so hyped for this and it really lived up to what I was hoping for. You have such an amazing grasp of pacing and story beats. I felt not only pulled along through the story, but like I cared and was listening to an old friend tell me his story late at night like next to a fire. It felt tragic, cozy, inevitable. Like, I knew it wouldn't have a happy ending, because what endings in life are happy?
*Spoilers*
I adored the dream sequence. It felt creepy, effective in bringing everything into focus and was really fun to work through. I liked that I could tell who each symbol was supposed to represent, or each item I mean. The creep graves, the way they spoke. It was sooo cool and so eerie.
And speaking of the dream, your puzzles were really good and effective! I know we spoke about this a little, but I still really really appreciate you giving a way through the door code puzzle for ppl (like me) who couldn't figure it out lol.
Out of everything, I loved the waiting for the bus scene. It's quiet little character moments like that that are not only HARD to do and pull off - but are so important to the beating heart of a story. It felt so authentic, I felt like I could hear them talking in my head. I've been in situations like that where I'm stuck with someone in an awkward situation and it was kinda my fault haha. And you have to just sigh and shrug and !! chat! to pass the time. Such a small moment, big picture wise but left a really big impression on my heart.
All in all, Abra, it was really wonderful to read more of your writing. I could hear your tone and dry sense of humor in a lot of this and I just really enjoyed the whole story unfurling. Really happy I joined these jams in the first place and met other cool devs like you.