Chapter 2: The First Room
I'm so excited that I'm might win $10,000 by an escape room.
This is the change that I need for my life.
I have a shitty job and I could finally help people for the money.
I want the money so I could help people for kids and all the people who need help.
My mom was a doctor and my dad was a brain surgeon.
I wanted to be like them so I could help people like them.
I made a promise to myself after they died at the car accident.
I get dressed excitedly and grab my phone to go to the Escape Room.
I get in my car and drive to the secret place or whatever. The address is really sketchy.
I kinda of don't trust it but I want to help people for my deceased parents.
I don't really know if I'm going to be great at escape rooms but I really want to try.
I make it to the address. I look at the building and it's really tall, it looks really sketchy.
I park my car and I see only a few cars which surprised me because I thought a lot of people would come.
It's a little strange but ok. I get out of my car and I see a guy that looks like a homeless person smoking.
I can't judge though, never judge a books by its cover.
I go up to him. "Is this the escape room.", I ask him confused and he looks at me.
"Apparently it is.", he says and I look at his cigarette. Smoking kills.
I go up to the building.
"Yeah, I know. It's going to kill me.", I hear him say behind me and I chuckle under my breathe.
I enter the building and it's looks empty like abandoned.
I go up to the front desk and see a guy on the computer smiling.
"Is this the escape room", I ask the guy to the front desk.
I look at him and he smiles weirdly.
"Your ID", he asks my and I grab my ID from my bag.
I hand it to him and he smiles and pushes it to me. Then, he puts a name tag on me.
"Give me your phone for no taking pictures please", he says smiling and I smile awkwardly giving him my phone to him.
"Floor three", he says to me and I nod going to the elevator..
The door opens and I get in. Before it closes a girl with blonde hair comes in.
"Hi", I say to her and she nod at me.
"Hey", She says to me awkwardly.
The elevator door closes and we wait in the elevator awkwardly.
The door finally opens and we both get out. The building still seems abandoned which is really sketchy.
I walk into the room and open the door to see other people.
I see a guy with a beard sitting down on the couch. I see another guy sitting on the couch chair.
Then, I look around and I see a girl sitting on the couch awkwardly. I sit on the couch by the girl.
I see the blond girl knocking on the window clearing her voice.
"Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.", the girl says behind the window door that we can't see in.
"Okay. Thanks.", the blond girl says and goes to sit down.
"Quite the welcome wagon, isn't she?", the guy with the beard says. The blond girl and I chuckle under our breathe.
"Super friendly.", the guy with the beard says to the blond girl.
"Hey. Michael. Mike.", Mike says standing up shaking the blond girl's hand.
"Amanda", the girl says sitting down on the couch.
"Your name is Amanda", Mike asks her sitting on the couch.
"Yeah", Amanda says pointing to her name tag on her chest.
"Isn't that funny?", Mike says smiling and I see Amanda confused.
I look around and I see a guy with glasses sitting next to me with a box or a magazine in his hand.
"What?", Amanda asks Mike.
"I had a family dog growing up named Amanda. She was a cute little husky-collie. Two different colored eyes. It was very unique. Yeah.", Mike says to Amanda.
This isn't awkward at all. "Cool", Amanda says to Mike smiling awkwardly.
"Yeah. She was cool. Yeah, then she died. You know, dogs die.", Mike mutters to Amanda.
I look around and we're all just staring at each other awkwardly.
"Hitchhiking accident.", the guy whispers looking at the other guy with glasses.
"Can you still play video games?", the guy with glasses asks him.
"No. No. Unfortunately, I can't. So I just have such adult women to fill the time.", the guy says smiling at him.
Why is this taking forever? When is this going to start?
"Ok", the guy with glasses chuckle under his breath.
I smile laughing at his joke. "Sorry hi.", Amanda says to the girl next to me waving.
"Hi", the girl muttered quietly.
"Do I know you?", Amanda asks the girl confused.
"No, I don't think so.", the girl says smiling.
"Really? You look really familiar to me. You're not on like tv or anything are you", Amanda says chuckling.
I look at the girl beside me and she does look a little familiar. I don't know where she's from though.
I hear the door open and I look to see the same guy from outside smoking.
"Well, this is going to suck. Hi." I hear the guy mutter under him breathe waving to us.
"Hey!", Mike says to him smiling.
The guy looks around walking. "Sign-in sheet?", the guy asks us.
"Yeah, don't bother. She's uh...she's preoccupied. Mike", Mike says to him shaking his hand.
"Ben", he says shaking his hand. I look around and I grab a book because I'm bored.
I grab the book and I open it. "Car accident. Only one survives.", the book says inside.
I quickly close the book and put it on the table. That was weird. What the hell was that?
"So, the website for this place made the games look pretty fun, huh?", Mike asks us.
"Uh yeah. They're basically like real-life video games.", the guy with the glasses says smiling.
"So, you've done one of these before.", the guy asks him.
"I've done 93 rooms. Yeah, all the big ones. Panic Room. Basement. Break out. Break-in. Lock-in. Lockdown, of course. I've done all the bunkers. World War One. World War Two. Cold War. Cold War Two.", He says ranting and I smile.
"Uh, what about you guys?", he asks us smiling.
"So you must be really good at these, huh?", the guy sitting down says to him smiling sarcastically.
"Yeah, I'm pretty good.", the guy with the glasses says smiling.
"Not cool," the guy in the chair says smiling sarcastically.
"Uh, you know my nephew is like you. He's completely obsessed. He burns through all his allowance money on escape rooms. He's the reason that I'm here. He signed me up. Apparently, this room was rated as one of the tops in the country on some chat room.", Mike says pointing to the room.
"Yeah", the guy with the glasses says smiling excitedly.
"My weirdo rich client gave this to me as a gift.", the guy in the chair says and I smile.
"Yeah, paying people to lock me in my room never seemed to appeal to me.", Amanda says smiling.
"Yeah? What changed your mind?", the guy asks looking at her.
"10,000", Amanda says chucking nodding her head.
"Yeah, me too. I mean, that is some big chunk of change in my book, you know? I have been driving an 18 wheeler since I had this injury a while back. I have been reading about these self-driving cars, you know. I heard that the trucking industry is going to be the first one to get automated. So, I'm just trying to get a few nuts before the robots come and get me.", Mike says and I chucked under me breathe.
"That was a real buzzkill, man.", The guy says sitting in the chair.
"It's just my life." Mike shrugs his comment off.
"This one has to be really insane for there to be a cash prize. The website said no one's been able to escape it yet. If we're able to do that. We're going to have so much re-credit. You have no idea.", the guy with glasses says excitedly.
"Are there rules or regulations? Or what?", Mike asks the guy with glasses confused.
"You just have to escape before the clock runs out.", The guy says to us and I nod.
"What happens if you don't?", I ask confused.
The guy with glasses looks at me.
"Some guy comes in through the door and explains all the clues you missed. Makes you feel like a total idiot.", the guy with glasses says to me.
"When does the game start?", Zoey asks Danny.
I know their names because of their name tags. I'm a little stupid.
"We're waiting for the game's master to come in to give us the story and take us to the escape room. Like, it's a zombie apocalypse and we have to find the cure before we get eaten alive.", Danny says to us and I laugh.
"That one sounds good.", Mike says pointing at Danny.
"So while this game master is looking for a parking spot. I'm going to smoke a cigarette.", Ben says going to the door.
I get up and look around. I follow Ben because I need to just chill or something.
I'm behind Ben and he grabs the doorknob and it breaks. What the hell. I look at the doorknob.
"What the hell", I mutter under my breathe confused.
"Shit...um...Hey, the doorknob came off.", Ben says holding up the doorknob showing it to everyone.
"You broke it?", Amanda says getting up from the couch.
"Of course he did.", Jason says getting up too.
"I didn't break it. It broke.", Ben says and Mike gets up to help.
I walk away to look around the room while they try to fix the doorknob.
"Excuse me, miss.", Mike says to the window and looks around.
I see Danny getting up with a smile.
"Guys, I think this is the escape room.", Danny says to us smiling and checking out the doorknob.
Ok great. I'm going to look around for clues. "Wait what?", I hear them say confused.
"Ok, it looks like an oven dial which means there is probably a combination lock. Everyone searches the room.", Danny says to us smiling excitedly.
"It's starting right now.", I hear Mike asks Danny.
"Yes!", Danny says excitedly.
"What are we looking for?", Jason asks Danny.
"Anything that looks like a puzzle or a code. Numbers. It can be anything anywhere.", Danny says smiling and I laugh.
I look around and I check for anything I could find. I look in books and I look around.
I look and I see a cup with a car accident logo on it. That's weird.
I can't find anything. I suck at these games.
"Hey, guys. These are all addressed to the same guy. Dr. Wootan Yu. I mean that's got to be a clue, right?", Amanda asks us and I look at her.
"Maybe, that's the story. Maybe, he's like an evil scientist and we have to escape his lab before he sews us all together into some sort of medical abomination.", Danny says to us.
Maybe. "So his evil lab has a waiting room?", Jason asks Danny.
"Yeah", Danny says confused shrugging.
"No.", Jason says to Danny and I roll my eyes.
Jason is starting to get on my nerves. I look around anywhere. I still can't find anything.
"Guys, look! I found a star head screwdriver. That has to be something, right?", Mike says showing up the screwdriver that was in the book.
"Great, so we're looking for screws?", Amanda asks us and I look around.
"Well, this isn't a hammer", Mike says and I laugh.
I see Zoey looking at the book and grabbing it out of their hands. "It's a Farenight 451", Zoey says and goes to the code.
I head towards the group watching her, wow she's better than us. "All right, she's got something.", Jason says to us.
Zoey puts the lock and I hear a noise click. "What was that?", I ask looking around.
"Did that do anything?," Mike asks and I look around.
I look up and I see red like a heater, like an oven. Is that real? What the hell is going on?
"Whoa! What the hell?", I say looking at the ceiling.
"Whoa. Okay. All right, now that is pretty cool.", Mike says and I look at it.
It looks so real though. "Anybody got suntan lotion?", Jason jokes looking up.
"What did you just do?" Amanda asks nervously.
"I just thought the book was a code for the oven dial.," Zoey says to us and I look at her.
"Turn it off please.", Amanda says and I look at her confused.
"Wow. It's really throwing off some heat.", Jason says putting his hand up to feel the heat.
What the hell? I don't like this idea anymore. I turn to see Zoey trying to open the door but it's not working.
"Turn it off.", Amanda says nervously.
"I'm sorry. It's stuck, I can't move it.", Zoey says and Amanda comes to check it out by us.
"This is crazy hot.", I hear Jason say. I don't like this anymore.
"Can you shut it off", I hear Ben ask and Amanda tries to turn it.
"Don't touch anything else, okay?", Amanda says to Zoey and I.
"Hey, you. Gamer boy, what do we do? How do we get out of here?", Amanda asks Danny and he faces us.
"When you stuck, you can ask for a hint.", Danny says to us.
"A hint? Okay, that's an option. Great, here we go.", Amanda says going to the small window door.
"It's more fun when we do it ourselves.", Danny says to Amanda.
"Good one, Gamer boy.", Jason says following Amanda.
"Hi, excuse me. We would like our hint now please.", Amanda says knocking on the window.
"Yeah, hello?", Jason says knocking on the window.
"Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.", I hear the women say behind the door.
That's weird. She said the exact same thing last time. Same tone. Same voice.
"Yeah, excuse me. We would really like our hint please.", Amanda says knocking on the door more.
I take off my jacket because it's so hot in here. "Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.", I hear her say again.
I see Amanda trying to get in by the door.
"She said that last time.", Zoey says and I nod agreeing with her.
"So?", Danny asks us.
I shake my head confused. "She said it the exact same way. Same cadence.", I say to him.
"Same tone", Zoey says and I nod agreeing with her.
"Well, the actors they hire aren't exactly Dame Judi Dench.", Danny says to us smiling.
Jason starts ringing the bell. "Hello? Hello?", Jason says ringing the bell.
"That's so weird", I muttered looking at the window.
"Yeah, I don't think a snow globe is going to help, man.", I hear Ben say to Jason holding a snow globe with a boat in it.
"Hey, uh. Hey, guys, there is a lock over here.", Jason says and I look over to see a lock.
"Locks are a super important part of escape rooms. ", Danny says coming over to Jason.
I look around for a key or something for the lock. "It looks like we need a small key. It's probably where the next clue is.", I hear Danny say.
"I'm not gonna any help there because I could never find my keys.", Mike says and I laugh.
"Hilarious. Or we could just break it off. There's an extinguisher right here.", Ben says going to the extinguisher.
"Great idea.", Jason says.
"No. We shouldn't have to use force, that's actually one of the rules.", Danny tries to say.
Ben gets the extinguisher and it breaks off but it's plastic. "Really good at breaking things.", I hear Jason say to Ben.
"Plastic.", Ben says throwing it. Ben throws the fake extinguisher and I hear a sound.
"What was that?", Jason asks.
"That was the same sound from earlier.", Mike says.
I look around and I see the wall is red hot like the ceiling. "What the hell did you just do?", Jason asks.
Omg. It's so hot in here. "What the hell?", I mutter under my breathe looking at the walls that come off with heat.
"Oh my god!", I say to them looking at the walls.
"Shit. That looks real.", Amanda says looking at it.
"They're just trying to give us a scare, you know? It's part of the experience.", Danny says.
"What? Are they paying you?", Amanda asks.
I ignore what they say and I look around for some clue.
I look down at the extinguisher and I see a pull on it. I touch the extinguisher and look around it and I pull it.
I look at it and it's a key. I found a key or something that could help us.
"Hey, guys. I think I found the key", I say to them holding the key in my hand about to unlock it.
Jason stops me. "Whoa! Let's talk about this before you bring tiki torches out of the wall, okay?", Jason says to me and I roll my eyes.
"Hold on now. She has a key, stick it in the keyhole.", Mike says and I smile at him.
"Okay, yeah...yeah. My bad. Let's try it.", Jason says to me backing up with his hands up.
Everyone makes space for me to watch me. I put the key in the window and turn it and I hear it click.
I slowly push the window and I look inside. I see a creepy-looking women doll inside.
The doll has a phone on her ear smiling creepily. "Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.", the doll says smiling.
"That's not creepy.", I mutter under breathing sarcastically.
"Well, that's creepy as hell.", I hear Ben say beside me and I chuckle.
Then, the phone starts ringing loudly and everybody turns to look at it.
We all look at each other deciding who's going to pick up the phone.
I'm not picking up that phone from that fucking creepy doll.
"Fine, yeah. I'll get it. Move.", Jason says going to the window.
Jason sits on the side and snatches the phone out of the doll's hand.
Then, Jason held the phone to his ear. "Hello.", Jason says holding up the phone.
I can't hear what the person is saying to him but I hear someone taking. "Hey! Hello!", Jason says at the person.
"Who was it? What did they say?" Mike asks Jason.
"It was a recording. It said to follow all the rules that are posted.", Jason says and I back away from the window.
"What posted rules?", Mike asks and Jason puts the phone back.
Then, I hear a noise and I look around and I see the windows being covered.
"Holy shit", I say looking at the windows being covered up.
"Did I do that?", Jason asks us.
"No. No. What the actual hell?", Amanda says crouching by the couch freaking out.
"We can't please", Amanda says breathing heavily freaking out.
The only light in this room is the heat coming from everywhere. I can't take this.
"Just, go get some water or take off your jacket.", Ben tries to calm down Amanda.
Zoey crouches in front of Amanda. Then, I hear something moving and I look around to see a painting lifting up.
I see a fan blowing hot air into the room.
I sit down on the floor breathe slowly to try and calm myself down.
"Are those fans? Are they blowing hot air?", I hear Ben ask.
"Hey, you alright?", I hear someone say and I look to see Ben and I nod.
Ben hands me his hand and I grab it to stand up.
"Just get some water, okay? Can we get some water with me? Please?", Zoey tries to say to Amanda.
"Okay.", Amanda says going up to get some water.
"Nothing is going to happen to us.", Danny says to us.
"Ovens have fans.", Ben says trying to convince Danny.
"True so what? We got to find the posted rules or whatever.", Danny says and I look around the room.
"I don't care about the posted rules.", Ben says and I agree with him.
I want to get out of here. I take off my jacket because I'm sweating my ass off here.
"How do we get out of here?", I hear Jason say and I go by Zoey looking around.
"Look for something. Ladies, come on!", I hear Jason say to us.
Zoey takes off her jacket and I fan myself with my hands. Jason starts banging on the doors. "Come on!"
"When is this over! How do we get out of here!", Jason yells.
I was about to get water when I saw a sign on the water tank. I think Zoey saw it too.
"Dr. Wootan Yu says please use the coasters at all times", the sign says on the water tank.
Zoey and I look at each other at the same time.
Zoey and I run to the coaster on the table.
Zoey and I go to the table and I look at the coaster on the table.
We both push on the coasters on the table and I hear something.
"Hey. Zoey. Bailey. The painting.", Jason says pointing at the exit.
I look at the painting and I see an exit in the vents. We can get out of here.
"Oh my god. There's an exit.", I hear Ben say.
I let go of the coaster and the painting goes back down. "Uh. Zoey. Bailey. Do that again. Do whatever you did.", Jason tells us.
I push on the coaster and the table is really hot. Zoey pushes on the coaster too and it goes back up again.
"Hey, guys. It could be a way out, it's a duck.", Jason says and I smile happily.
Ben and everyone starts removing the papers off the table. "Guys, there's more coasters.", Danny says to us.
"Everyone tries pressing it at the same time.", Danny says to us and I nod pressing on the coaster-like everyone else.
"God, even the table is hot.", Ben complains and I agree with him.
We all push on the coasters and the painting goes up even more. I look at it and I see the vent.
Jason and Mike start laughing relieved at this. "I'll go first", Jason says and I look at him confused.
Jason takes his jacket off. "You're not just going to leave us with our dicks in our hands.", Ben asks Jason and I nod.
"Anybody prefers this guy go instead of me? That's what I thought", Jason says pushing the couch to the vent with Amanda.
I roll my eyes. "Really", I mutter under my breath.
Jason gets on the couch and goes in the vents. "Where does it go", Ben asks and we all try and look where it's going.
"How deep does it go?", Mike yells so Jason can hear him.
"It goes pretty far.", I hear Jason yell in the vents.
I look up and around the room. It's so hot in this room, I could literally die in here.
"Jesus Christ", Mike mutters tiredly sweating.
"It's boiling.", Ben says and I nod my head agreeing.
"I'm so excited for the next room.", Danny says and I look at him tired.
"The next room?", I ask confused and he nods.
"Jason!", I hear Amanda yell.
"Hey, I think I found a way out. Blocked by a gate.", I hear Jason yell and I sigh in relief.
"Mike, bring that screwdriver", I hear Jason yell.
"Yeah, it's in my pocket. Someone get it out of my pocket.", Mike says and I see Amanda pushing down the coasters.
"Go.", I see Amanda say.
"Are you sure?", Mike asks and Amanda nods.
"Yes. Go.", Amanda says to Mike and he gets up.
"You got this Mike.", Danny says to him.
"Go, man! We're not getting any colder.", Ben says and I'm so sweaty.
Mike starts getting in the van. "I'm coming!", I hear Mike yell.
"Holy shit!", I say because the table is so fucking hot.
"Hey, just think of it as interactive dinner theater.", Danny says not helping the situation.
"Jesus Christ. You're not helping me, man.", Amanda says breathing heavily.
"Okay, yeah. Just making it worse. My bad!", Danny says apologizing to Amanda.
"Hey, I got it! You guys come on!", I hear Jason yell through the vents.
"Do you wanna go? Amanda, you should go.", Danny says to Amanda and I nod.
"Ok, here take these. You can take that", Danny says as they put their feet on the coasters.
"Amanda you got this.", I say as Amanda starts going in the vents.
"I feel like we're avoiding the problem here. We're running out of hands.", Ben says to us and I nod agreeing with him.
"I've got an idea. Put your foot on here.", Zoey says and I put my foot on the coaster.
Zoey goes to the water.
I look up and I see Ben's face close to Danny's butt.
"This is the worst game of Twister ever", Ben says to us and I nod.
"Can we move a little faster please", Ben says to Zoey and Amanda?
I remove my foot and Zoey puts the water on the coaster but it goes down still.
"It didn't work.", Ben says to us and I put my foot back on the coaster.
"Shit!", I say tired.
Zoey has her water and I remove my foot and she puts the water back on the coaster.
The painting goes up. "Yes", I say relieved.
Then, I hear Amanda making noises like whimpering noises. Shit. I think Amanda is claustrophobic.
"Amanda?", Zoey asks.
"Why don't you just go help her. We will help the glasses.", Danny says to Zoey.
"Stop being so chivalrous, dude. No one here wants to have sex with you.", Ben says and I smile.
"Go!", I yell to Zoey and she goes in the vents to help Amanda.
Zoey goes in the vents and we all run to the water tank.
I get a cup and fill the glass and it slowly does it. "Omg hurry.", I say to myself.
It finished and I quickly put the water on the coaster.
"Come on", I say to them and Danny gets the water.
"We need one more", Danny says as he puts the water down.
"Shit! We're out of water.", Ben says and I look around for something to find.
"What are we supposed to do now!", Danny asks us.
"How would I know? You're the expert here!", Ben says and I look around for something.
"This is all you fault, you know!", Danny says to Ben.
"What?!", Ben and I say confused.
"You're the reason why Amanda drank all of our clues.", Danny says to us.
"How was I supposed to know that the water cooler was a—", Ben says to Danny but gets interrupted by a noise.
I look up and I see the ceiling has a few torches blaring where Danny and I are at.
"Holy shit!", I yell.
"That's not good!", Ben yells.
"What the fuck!", Danny yells.
My flask. My flask", Ben says putting alcohol in the cup.
"You've had that the whole time", Danny says sitting down looking at the ceiling.
Ben starts tapping the bottom of the flask to get all of it out. "Come on!", I yell looking at the ceiling.
The painting opens to the vents and I quickly get inside and crawl faster than I ever down.
"You want to burn to death! Let's go!", I hear Ben yell behind me and I finally made it to the top.
I quickly get out of the vents, I see Ben and Danny make it out just in time.
Fire gets out of the fireplace. Holy shit!
I want to go home.