Warning: This post contains spoilers that summarize the storyline and ending so if you want to play it and be surprised then go back to the home page via this link. Alternatively, you can read my quick review of the game here instead. The Company of Myself features sentences that appear at the top of the screen during play and which, when read together, create the story of what happened. Jack's Story is what this is; what Jack says as the game progresses whereas the summary simply summarizes the game's storyline.
Jack’s Story.
My attention is stolen by a green square on the other end of the room. I want to be its friend more than anything I've ever wanted. The square does not react to my approach. Does it not notice me? Or is it only pretending not to notice me? Which would be worse? Up close I can see that the green square is actually a door. I think that we can be friends anyway.
I feel confused. And a bit tingly. But mostly just confused I briefly think of something worthwhile to think. Nothing emerges. I haven't talked to anyone lately, but at least I can solve my own problems.
Staring at this worthlessly large staircase, I reflect on my own past struggles. I search for reasons why I don't desire companionship. I settle on avoidance of the issue. I can clearly get by without others, anyway. I find myself unable to leave the question alone. Why can I not be with people?
I think back to the first day that Kathryn and I met. Our paths converged, and suddenly we were a team. This was before I was as reclusive as I have become today, so I had not learned to truly multitask yet. That talent grew out of simple necessity. Her approach was quiet, as was my response. The connection was instant and unmistakeable. A team. Mutual. Perfect. I wasn't ready to let it go. When we faced a problem, we would solve it together. Today, I find myself solving the same problems alone. I was under appreciative. Plain and simple. Didn't understand just how much I needed her. How much she needed me. It was perfect. Everything. It was all perfect. I helped her, and she helped me. Mutual. I never suspected the end to come so quickly. I found myself crushed by guilt. I didn't leave the house for days. But she was gone. And now I find myself alone. I can't handle talking to people anymore. I grudgingly consider how the ability to start over from a different perspective would have been helpful earlier in life. Maybe I could have let Kathryn not meet me in the first place…
And like this, I continue. What? Don't leave yet. I have more to say. I really do. Are you really leaving?
I've been tasked with psychoanalyzing Jack after his mental breakdown. In general, he recalls his life very accurately -- The things he says line up with all of the records. The first problem is that he doesn't seem to remember any of my visits. I've talked with him once a week for the past eight years, and he always tells me the same things as if we've never met before. He describes himself as a loner, and this makes a whole lot of sense, as he has been kept in solitary confinement for the duration of his stay at the hospital. He always briefly talks about his life, and eventually gets into the story of how he lost his loved one, Kathryn. He understands that she has dies, and he certainly feels at least somewhat responsible, but he doesn't recall that he murdered her. She was found buried in their backyard in a green package. Evidently, it was the only box large enough for use as a coffin that Jack could find. Also of note were there two flowers that he planted next to the makeshift grave. He considers her death to be the reason that he can't talk to people anymore. I suppose that in a way, he is correct. This will be my final report on Jack. I don't find any reason to believe that he will recover from his current state of severe mental illness, and he is far too dangerous to himself and others to allow his release.
The shrink leaves, and suddenly I don't even have a person to tell my story to anymore.
Summary:
The man you play in the game is called Jack. Jack is locked away in solitary confinement in a hospital ward for the mentally ill. The psychoanalyst , who Jack is telling his story to, has been visiting Jack for eight years but Jack is too paralyzed by what has happened that he does not respond to the psychoanalyst’s presence. This causes the psychoanalyst thinks that Jack doesn’t remember his visits. Jack feels as though he has betrayed Kathryn because he murdered her and hid her body in a green box, represented by the door in the levels. Now that the psychoanalyst has left the room Jack is forced to retell his story again and again as he has nobody else to talk to now.
