The Small Town of Angstrom

(Yeah, so this was supposed to be a Wild Warping Weed chapter, but I couldn’t naturally incorporate the magic weed into this premise I wanted to do. Also, this story is inspired by The Town of Lawk by Lucas on GaySpiralStories [which, in turn, was inspired by SCP-3088]. All of this back-and-forth dialogue is to exposit my version of the concept [‘cause I didn't want to copy it verbatim] and set up the story routes. I’ll describe the scene and their appearances one I start those.)

“For the last time, you can’t just demand that I reverse the election, especially this long after it was called! So just go back to the auditorium and watch the ceremony with everyone else!

"No no WAIT, you HAVE to listen to me! We NEED to stop the inauguration! You’re the treasurer and the top election official, so just say there was a miscount and that we need to recertify the votes! They’ll believe you!"

"Thad, listen: you put up a… good, strong campaign, but the people of Angstrom have spoken. Just be glad that, thanks to that one ordinance, you get automatically installed as a councilmember for being runner-up."

"No no NO! You DON'T UNDERSTAND MELVIN!!!"

"Then explain it to me so I do. You didn't have any issue with losing, like, two weeks ago when the polls were showing you behind, so what gives?"

"That was BEFORE I knew what I would learn from the OLD MAYOR LAST FRIDAY!"

"What, something he shared on his deathbed? I wouldn't put too much weight on anything he said; Ol' Withers was losing it towards the end."

"Yes, but what that washed-up hippie showed me in one of his lucid moments was irrefutably true… and demonstrated that he personally wished for me to take rule of the town after he died..."

"What the fuck do you mean 'take rule?' You'd just be the elected mayo-"

"FOR YOU SEE-before he passed, Mayor Withers showed me the Angstrom Book of Commands: a mystical artifact you are automatically gifted upon becoming mayor of Angstrom. In it, you can write any wish and reality-warp the town on a mass scale-so long as you incorporate it into a proposed law or ordinance that the council votes to pass! It forces the citizenry to obey the law on all levels: physically, mentally, and spiritually."

"...okay, that sounds like the biggest crock of bull-"

“Do you ever think ‘bout how our crime rate is nearly zero percent, with the only acts committed being ones that only incur minor fines like shoplifting and speeding-which also always get paid off on time?”

“Yes, because Mayor Withers fostered an environment around caring for our community and thinking critically about the impact our actions have. So are you saying that could only be done supernaturally?”

"Do you ever think back to the mass exodus of families back in the Aughts? How a new one hasn't moved into Angstrom in over 20 years?"

"Uh, yeah, but we're an old, remote town with no schooling within the limits. And by that time, all of the older resident's kids had grown up and gone off to college-"

"The EXACT same year Withers took office. Never thought 'bout how odd that was? How does the timing line up almost perfectly, huh Melvin?"

"...now that I think harder about it, it was weird how that all happened so soon after Wither’s own son went away… But that could just be-”

"And how ‘bout the ‘free love’-esque behavior everyone embraced soon after? How most everyone here openly talks about sex and swinging and will smoke pot in public despite it still being federally illegal in the state. You’d think it was the 70s with how much weed and sex we’ve been having, huh?”

"W-w-w-well, I just thought-"

"WELL YOU THOUGHT WRONG!!! Because unlike me, you haven’t read the Command Book and BEEN ENLIGHTENED!!! Enlightened to the fact that alongside the good he and previous mayors did with it, Withers used the power of the book to change reality and set up our town to become a free use-paradise so he could fuck any man or woman he desired. Hell, there are some laws and ordinances I saw in there that allow him to hypnotize people and censor their memories, SO HE COULD’VE FUCKED YOU TEN TIMES OVER AND YOU’D NEVER REMEMBER!!!”

“Thad, you’re scaring me!!!”

“Not only that, but you also get THREE FREE WISHES that don’t require a law getting passed or even writing in the book. The new mayor can assert ABSOLUTE DOMINANCE the moment they’re inaugurated, so we need to-”

“OKAY STOP!!! You can’t seriously expect me to believe you! And even if I did, you know I would never trust you to be the one that should have that much power! Your own campaign showed off how you’re a shit politician who doesn’t care about the well-being of our town. You're only interested in attracting outside investors to Angstrom that you’d let line your pockets. Hell, I bet you’d just want to fashion your own sexual paradise if you got power like that!”

“FORGET IT!!! I knew I should’ve just stolen the ballots and rigged the entire election in my favor, but I would’ve needed time to figure out a loophole so the book couldn’t stop me from breaking those laws. And since you’re so useless, I need to get on that stage to stop that inauguration before they make…”