Welcome to Vivid Recollections, a story influenced by series such as Life is Strange, Stranger Things, It, The Letter, and Dead by Daylight. Though, it takes elements from Life is Strange above all else.

Vivid Recollections will be a small town-type story set in Farmer Hill, Montana, a town built by the mountainside. To the average person, there's nothing notable about it other than its picturesque appearance. It's just a small farmer community that exports crops, people go to work, kids go to school, and so on. But, the town holds several dark secrets that nobody would expect. Farmer Hill, mysteriously enough, has a high number of people that just suddenly go missing, or get found dead. The people of Farmer Hill, strangely enough, ignore it, never speak of it and just go about their dead. But, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Farmer Hill is connected to another world entirely beyond the understanding of this one. A world where what can be roughly described as "magic" exists. An abstract force flows through the small town, and causes various strange effects. Strange weather patterns, and unexplainable disappearances and deaths are just the beginning. Spirits, monsters, and what can be described as magic exist.

The story will follow a group of students that attend Grand Ridge Academy that are just living their lives when a strange event occurs at the bottom of a mountain. They're just the people who just so happen to be out on a hot summer night. At first, nothing happens. But, as month past, they have mysterious dreams following the life of a man they barely knew known as John Reid. They knew him as a farmer, and kind man, that died. Pushing into October, they start to realize something strange is going on.

They start to see ethereal animals, they gain the ability to sense auras, monsters attack them, and strange men have arrived in town. Most importantly, they've developed strange powers known as Abstractions that reflect a part of them in the midst of this insanity. Then they'll realize that they're The Awakened, and have to come together solve the mystery of Farmer Hill.

This story will be a magic realism type story that casts a certain view on the idea of "magic." I want to make it ambiguous whether or not the supernatural events in the story are in rooted in magic, scifi, or something beyond even that. I want to weave a story with similar aesthetic to Life is Strange, while building up something else entirely. The theme of Vivid Recollections will be Memory, Emotion, Connection, and Repression. A big part of the story will be the characters having a repressed memory, or emotion, that sabotages them in some way. How they'll get over that repression, and help them connect with other people. I also want the story to be dark, and very symbolic in nature. I won't be providing clear answers for everything.

The Awakened is the name given to those that received strange abilities upon surviving "The Event."

It is unknown what they are, or what is the source of them, but their abilities are nothing short of fantastical. These abilities are known as "Abstractions," and allow the user a variety of different abilities that put them above regular human. Every Awakened Abstraction reflects them, or their subconscious, in some way. Someone filled with rage may have fire abilities, while someone who regrets the past may gain time traveling. The powers vary from person to person, but Abstractions extremely extra-normal in nature, almost symbolic. Like they are connected to a greater force than something science can explain. They may be closer to magic in application than anything. The Awakened are identified by a series of symbols that appeared on their body. These sigils reflect the user. These sole symbols are known as Sigils, and are only visible to the Awakened. These sigil appear no different from tattoos, tribal tattoos in fact. A lover of nature may have a leaf, or an animal. Or someone who loves sports may have a sigil symbolizing strength. These sigils glow a color whenever a user activates their Abstraction.

The Abstractions can be powerful abilities, but other Awakened seem to have a resistance to the Abstractions of other Awakened. For example, an Awakened specializing in telekinesis wouldn't be able to stop the heart of an Awakened, while they'd be able to easily do it to a regular person. Regardless of the ability. A temporal based Abstraction may find that Awakened are harder to alter in the timeflow. Which means that the Awakened can take quite a beating from each other.

Aside from Abstractions, the Awakened have several abilities inherent to each of them. Each of the Awakened have unlocked potential for reading auras. They are all connected to the world on a completely different level than anyone else, and can thus, perceive through their mind. However, what exactly they can sense is dependant on their personality, as, like their abstraction, reflects the user. Such as a kind person may be able to see the Auras of people in pain, or are injured, or a greedy person may be able to sense money in the vicinity. Through this aura reading ability, the Awakened can sense that object or person through walls, and over long distances. Some Aura reading is capable of gathering specific information. Though, some aura sensing requires activation. No one aura reading ability is the same (There are even some aberrations within aura reading).

Another ability inherent to the Awakened is the ability to see into the past as if they were there. Triggered by being in a certain place, encountering a relevant person or object, or being in a moment of stress, an Awakened may receive a flashback into the past. Better known as Retrocognition, the Awakened will be a third party in this flashback, and will be able to move around in a limited capacity as they watch the scene unfold. After the memory has faded, the Awakened will be thrusted back into the real world with a minimal amount of time passed. In addition, an Awakened may experience these moments while sleeping.

In addition, the Awakened have a higher sensitivity to the paranatural. Meaning that they can sense when something that doesn't belong in their world is nearby. However, it appears as a feeling in their skull that draws them to a particular direction. Feeling stronger the closer the being is. In addition, the Awakened can see the unseen, and abstract concepts. This sensitivity to the extra-normal means two things; they are drawn to it, and it is drawn to them. At the very least, this means that the Awakened are drawn to each other, but this also means they are attracted to the extra-natural elements of their small town.

A peculiar aspect of the Awakened is their reaction to the mountain known as Mount Ever Reaching. When in proximity of the mountain, an Awakened's Abstraction are much stronger. Their limits are broken, and they have access to abilities they normally don't have access to. Such as a telepathic Awakened may be able to dominate the minds of people around them, and telekinetic Awakened can lift up far more. The presence of the mountain also enhances aura reading, and retrocognitive abilities. But, it has an opposite effect. The further away someone is from the mountain, the weaker their powers get. However, long as an Awakened stays within the town limits, their powers should function as normal. Once they begin to leave the city, their Abstraction (and other abilities sans retrocognition) gradually weaken until they return to Farmer Hill. Then they'll regain their Abstraction, Aura reading, and Sensitivity to the extra-normal.

The Awakened are strange, and there's no real explanation for what they are, or where they came from. However, there is still plenty to find out about them...

The original name for Farmer Hill was Williamboro, a community that was set in the base of a very prosperous mountain. The mountain was strange for having an abnormal amount of different metal resources. It wasn't even considered a town for decades, as it was merely a collection of houses for the miners. They just called it Williamboro for the sake of convenience. As years went by, the families of the miners moved in, and then a community got started. One strong enough to last through the eventual depletion of the mine, as the town switched priorities from mining, to farming. The fields of Williamboro were ripe farmland, and that became a majority of the properties in the township. As the decades went by, Williamboro prospered with the small community it had. Before pushing into the 1950's, the township was renamed Farmer Hill because of its large amount of hills, and the large amounts of farmlands. The people of the town are not clever. However, the county remained Williamboro.

It's quite a distance away from anything notable. The one thing that is keeping Farmer Hills afloat:
it's farm exports, and it's resorts. Farmer Hills exports tons of meat and milk that are bought by companies, and other folks to fuel their businesses. As a good 40% of the Williamboro township is farmlands of all kinds. Large empty fields full of grazing cows, and whatnot are a common sight for the citizens of this city. However, the farming industry is slowly dying as the children of the township do not want to pick up where their parents left off, and instead want to find new opportunities in new cities. One thing that is keeping children in Farmer Fields, however, is the Grand Ridge Academy. A nationwide renown college that draws people in from all over.

Due to being a fairly old town, Farmer Field has a fairly old, rustic aesthetic. That is because many of the buildings have not been updated appearance wise. Some have, but they are in the minority. The town itself is fairly small, being a quarter of most large cities. Hell, even the downtown area is basically one long street, instead of spanning several blocks. The rest of the city is either residential areas, or businesses. Farmer Hill has plenty of family run businesses such as hotels, cafes, and auto garages, many of which have been around for decades. Some businesses have moved into the town such as the fast food industry, but they don't have an overwhelming presence in the place. They aren't going to run any mom and pop places out of business. Funnily enough, many of these businesses are operated by college students from Grand Ridge.

Farmer Hill is divided into three sections (known as "Squares"): Market Square, Mason Square, and Blacksmith Square. Market Square is considered to be the gears that keep the city running, as that is where every official building is (along with many of the businesses). Blacksmith square is where most of the residence is situated. Mason Square is the largest of the three areas, and contains the heaviest concentration of farmlands. The township itself is in the shape of a triangle, in fact.

The population of Farmer Hill is fairly high for a small town. It has nearly five thousand people, but a good chunk of the families have been there for a long time. Many are descendants of the very people who started the town. The town is predominantly caucasian, with a whopping 87% of the population being just that. However, there are other racial groups, such as African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, and Latinos. That is changing as more people move into Farmer Hill. Racism runs deep in the township, but many keep major conflicts free. Other than that, a lot of the people in Farmer Hill are close to eachother.

Farmer Hill is a town of secrets. This is a little known fact, but Farmer Hill has an incredible number of disappearances, and murders. People just going missing in thin air, and sudden unexplained murders. The police either find no leads, say it was an animal, or discover the "perpetrator." Seemingly putting the thoughts at ease. Over time, the township became more and more hushed about this, where they'd just ignore it and continue with their lives. Asking about the murders or disappearances would earn you a suspicious look.