Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Walter Sparrow is animal control officer married to Agatha, Fact2: Agatha gives Walter book as birthday present, Fact3: book has secret insights into own life, Fact4: Walter 's search leads him to discover murder of Laura Tollins, Fact5: Walter in fact is Topsy Kretts having written book as way to rid himself of guilt
Output (English): Walter Sparrow is an animal control officer married to Agatha; they have a son, Robin. At a bookstore, Agatha begins looking at a book titled The Number 23 written by Topsy Kretts. She later gives Walter the book as a birthday present. Walter starts reading the book, noticing odd similarities between himself and the main character, a detective who refers to himself as Fingerling. Mirroring the detective, Walter becomes obsessed with the 23 enigma, the idea that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, or to some number connected to 23. When he tries to warn Agatha about the number, she tells him he is crazy. Walters obsession leads him to believe that the book has secret insights into his own life. When he reads that Fingerling murders his girlfriend, Walter begins having dreams about murdering Agatha. Agatha refers him to her friend, Isaac French, who suggests Walter find the books author if he wants answers. Walters search leads him to discover the murder of Laura Tollins. Now believing the book to be a veiled confession, Walter searches for her killer. Evidence found at a psychiatric hospital reveals Walter in fact is Topsy Kretts, having written the book as a way to rid himself of the guilt he felt over murdering Tollins. He was never suspected of the crime, and a man named Kyle Flinch was convicted and imprisoned instead. Walter had dated Tollins 13 years earlier, but she left him for Flinch. Walter stabbed Tollins to death in a jealous rage and left the scene of the crime, moments before Flinch arrived and touched the knife, implicating himself in the murder. Wracked with guilt, Walter decided to kill himself and began writing a suicide note, but found that he could not stop writing; the note ultimately became the book. He survived his suicide attempt, but the resulting head trauma left him with amnesia. Fearing he will hurt his family, he leaves home and moves to the same hotel in which he had attempted suicide. Agatha finds Walter at the hotel and assures him that he is no longer the person he was when he wrote the book. He insists that he is a killer and tells Agatha to leave before he kills her, too. He leaves the hotel and runs into the street, where he nearly allows himself to be run over by a bus. Walter steps out of the way at the last minute when he realizes his son is watching. Walter turns himself in to the police and awaits sentencing, having been told that the judge will likely go easy on him. A funeral procession takes place in front of Tollins grave, where it is implied her body has finally been laid to rest, as Flinch observes, a free man.