Scarper House

1•2 - Start

"Sabi sa inyo kakaiba 'tong escape house na 'to eh," Kuya Kyle-the ever supportive partner-in-crime of Kuya Seth-proudly said.

"Wag kang masyadong masaya, Kyle. Ngayon lang tayo nag-escape room na kailangan ng stock knowledge bukod sa clues na matatagpuan dito mismo. Baka wala tayong maisagot." I can imagine Kuya Blade squinting his eyes while slowly shaking his head.

Well, he has a point. Most escape rooms would only ask questions with answers you can also find inside the room. Scarper House is really different, huh?

"Wait, hindi nagsasalita si Lio, ah?" Kuya Xion noticed. Doon ko lang din napansin na hindi na siya nagsalita pagkatapos nilang isigaw ng sabay-sabay ang pangalan ko. "Buhay pa ba 'yon? Lio, kung nandyan ka, galawin mo yung baso."

"Nasaan ang baso?"

Napailing na lang ako. And I bet, the other eight did too.

"Tangina, buhay pa siya," natatawang sabi ni Kuya Blade.

"What's your question, Sol?" kuya suddenly asked.

"Wait. I didn't bring my glasses."

Oh, shoot. So, we're not really lucky, huh? Sa lahat lahat ng magbabasa, 'yong pinakamalabo pa ang mata.

"On the 1980's variety show, Joy Junction..." We all went silent when Kuya Sullivan started reading his own question. "...a man named Ronald Brown would use his puppet to deliver wholesome and educational messages to children. One of their most known messages is to only hang around with people who will give you good thoughts and good ideas."

"Tangina? Ano 'yan? Sinong nakakaalam ng tungkol dyan?" I can imagine Kuya Seth's frown. Looks like the fan of escape rooms wasn't expecting some kind of trivial questions.

I wasn't expecting anything either, but this is actually my thing. I looked up on the speaker as I remembered reading about what Kuya Sullivan just read.

"What's the name of the puppet?" Kuya Sullivan slowly said. He sounded like he's trying his best to read.

"Marty."

I looked up again on the speaker because it wasn't just me who spoke the answer. Kuya Dean knows it too.

"It worked. The door opened," Kuya Sullivan announced.

"Nice, nice!" I can even hear Kuya Kyle clapping. "May dalawa tayong bookworms. We'll win this."

"That's not something you read on educational books and novels, you idiot," I said as I remembered the whole story behind that show.

"Ronald Brown didn't follow his own advice," Kuya Dean explained. "In 2013, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison after being found guilty, along with 42 other men, of planning to capture, kill, cook, and eat children. It was all in their chatroom logs."

Everybody fell silent. Well, that story is really disturbing...and interesting.

"And how did you know about that, Chase?" Kuya's voice sounded full of malice.

"I read dark facts on reddit when I'm bored."

Then we heard a chuckle. That was very rare but I am so sure that it's Kuya Dean's. Everybody went silent again. Hindi rin sila sanay na tumatawa siya. Even Kuya wasn't able to scold me.