Watching Raskolnikov

This story will be in direct conversation with the themes and philosophies discussed in the novel Crime and Punishment. It is in part a science fiction, a psychological thriller, a philosophical novel, and a meta-fiction. The premise involves a recently fired middle school teacher named Isaac. He lives in an apartment with no running water and he is having trouble sleeping at night. Gradually, he becomes paranoid about his loud neighbor, Josh, and begins to fantasize about murdering him. Throughout all of this, he makes frequent trips into a futuristic 'simulation' of the novel Crime and Punishment in order to live out the events of the novel in real time, as well as have conversations with the characters, and as an overall enhancement to his fantasies. His mental status gradually diminishes as he spirals out into madness. He then begins investigations into Josh, finding the events of Josh's life and the events of Raskolnikov's life to parallel more and more as his investigations continue.