My eyes snapped open then instantly squeezed shut again to escape the stabbing light above. I slid my eyes open again then slowly pushed myself to a sitting position and looked around at my surroundings. The first thing I realized was that the offending light was a very bright lightbulb in a very white room, almost unnaturally white. The second thing I realized was that I was wearing a short *ss white dress. It was strapless and so short that I was pretty sure if I bent over I would show off my *ss. I was also wearing white socks and was laying on a white bed. In fact, the only thing in the room with color was the blood red key on a white string around my neck.
I pushed through my mind, searching furiously for something to tell me where I was or what the h*ll was going on, but I couldn't find anything. I don't mean just anything about the situation. I mean anything at all. I realized that I couldn't remember a single thing about about myself. There was just an endless gray fog where memories should have been. I couldn't even remember my own name. I needed to know what was going on.
I slipped my feet out of the bed and onto the floor then looked around the room for a way out. The only evidence of a door was a white handle one would see on a sliding door, but the outline of the frame was so closely cut into the wall that there was practically no seam. Just one big wall with a handle, but I wasn't fooled that easily. I gripped the handle then leaned back trying to open it, but it wouldn't move. I paused, frowning at the stubborn door then leaned my full weight on the part of the wall I was certain was the door until it clicked and moved out an inch. I leaned back again and this time the now visible door slid obediently to the side.
I found myself standing in a hexagonal room with a door just like the one I walked through on every side. One after the other, I tried each door but none of them would give until I got to the one left of my door. It easily slid to the side, opening into yet another white room, this one with five white square, cushioned chairs positioned in front of a large black screen that covered a great portion of the wall. I walked up to it then looked around for a button to turn it on, then, after concluding that there was none, poked the screen.
The screen lit up and the words "Number Five Identified" appeared in red letters against a white background. Number five? I looked down at the key around my neck and found that a number five had been carved out of the head. I guess that was me. The screen beeped and I looked back up. There was a sequence of numbers, each in a different color, a blue 1, a pink 2, a green 3, a purple 4, and a red 5, all above black letters that read "Identify all players." I frowned. Players? That sounded suspiciously like I'd been kidnapped to play a sick rich man's twisted game. I swear, if a puppet with a target on its face showed up, I was going to lose it.
I looked around the room and saw another door that I immediately ran over to and tried to open. The moment I pulled at the handle the screen beeped angrily at me and the black letters flashed three times before becoming still again. I stomped back over to the screen and stare at it. "Identify all players," I read again. My eyes snapped to the red 5, and I realized it had a pulsing aura. I thought back to the four locked doors in the hexagonal room then rolled my eyes when it clicked that there were meant to be four other people here and that I had to wait around for them to show up. I took a few steps back then parked my butt in one of the chairs to wait.
The seats were actually pretty wide, wide enough in fact that I could lay comfortably on my side, provided that I pulled my knees up to my chest, which is what I did as I continued to wait. I would have started have started counting ceiling tiles if there were any while the endless seconds ticked by, and I waited and waited and waited. I started to think that the others were trapped back there (the door had been a bit tricky) when I finally heard a door slide open, and a masculine voice asked, "Hello? Is anyone here?" I would have answered except someone else responded before I could.
"Is someone out there? Please help me. I don't know how to get out," she begged.
"You have to push on the part of the wall with a handle," he informed. It was silent for a moment, then a click, then a door slid open. "Are you alright?"
"Oh don't worry, Handsome. I'm fine," she answered cheerily in a poor attempt to cover her fear in the same way a white blanket can't smother the light of a lamp.
Another door opened and another male voice could be heard. "Who are you two?" he demanded harshly.
"Who are you?" the girl returned.
"I asked fist, B*tch."
"Alright, let's everyone calm down," the first boy said soothingly.
"Who asked you, Pretty Boy?" the second boy growled.
"You did," the first reminded him. "What's the last thing you two remember?" he inquired before the second one could jump in again.
Silence.
"Do you remember your names?"
"Do you?" the second one snapped irritably.
"No, I don't." So this was happening to all the players. Interesting.
"What's going on here?" the girl asked.
"What's behind that door?" the second boy asked, completely ignoring her.
I heard a knock before the first questioned loudly, "Is someone in there?"
There was another pause. "Yes," a quiet female answered. "Are you going to hurt me?'
"No, we aren't going to hurt you, Miss."
"How do I know you aren't lying?"
"I guess you'll just have to trust me."
The second boy snorted. "That sounds like a fantastical idea."
"Will you shut it?" the first girl snapped.
"Who made you queen?"
"Guys," the first boy scolded. "Miss, you should probably come out so we can help you and you can help us."
Another long pause before the fourth click and fourth opened door. "I don't know what's going on. Why can't I remember anything?" Her quiet, shivering voice was hard to hear, and it made me sigh internally. If we really were playing a rich sicko's game, she needed to toughen up quick or die quicker. A game of survival was no place for the weak.
"We don't know. It's the same for all of us. None of us know what's going on."
"There's only four of us," she stated quietly, "and there's six open doors."
"Who else is here?" the first girl whispered loudly in concern. Really? The timid little mouse who was in a different room all of four seconds ago was the first one to notice and be concerned about the extra doors? I sighed internally again. They were all going to die.
"I don't know," the first boy answered quietly, "but I think they went through this door. Stay behind me."
"Good plan, twatwaffle. That way when they attack us you can be the first to die," the second boy whispered sarcastically. I snorted quietly. Interesting insult.
"Do you have a better one?"
"Find a weapon."
"Where? We have pillows and socks."
"Guys, keep it down," the first girl snapped as her feet shuffled slowly towards me.
"Wait," the fist boy said as three more sets of feet followed her into the room the slowly shuffled around.
"What do those numbers mean, and why is the five different than the others?" the timid girl questioned.
"A better question would be: who are these 'players' we're suppose to be identifying?" the first girl corrected.
"Both are very good questions," the first boy stated before one of the voices finally walked into my field of vision. He had short blonde hair, muscular body, and a circular, symmetrical face.
A small pale girl with short, chocolate colored hair and a straight flat body (no curves whatsoever) scuttled on her tiptoes up to the blonde boy and latched onto his arm as if she might be blown away by a great wind if she didn't hold on. Her large hazel doe eyes were locked onto screen while her thin pink lips trembled in fright. "What if it's a trap?" she whispered in the voice of the timid girl.
"On a TV screen?" the first girl question as she stepped to the other side of the blonde boy. She flipped her long flowing gold colored hair over her shoulder and placed her tan hands on her large hips. Her hourglass figure was bent at an awkward angle as if she was trying to stand like a sexy runway model in order to instill the courage and confidence she clearly didn't feel.
"We don't have a better idea," the blonde boy responded to the timid girl.
"We could walk out the door," the second boy suggested in annoyance before walking to the left side of the group. He had soft midnight hair that hung in his dark eyes and a hard chest with a black wolf tattoo curled around his bicep. His oval shaped face looked like he had permanently plastered a frown on, and it had started to wear wrinkles and his young face.
Both boys were shirtless, showing off toned gorgeous bodies, and only wearing white shorts and socks whereas the girls were wearing short little dresses like the one I was wearing but altered to form their opposing frames and curves (or lack there of). The four of them didn't seem older than me, late teens to early 20s, and the five of us looked very fit despite different body shapes. Figures. It was probably a requirement for the games.
"This could be important," the blonde boy said to the black haired boy. "It might be able to tell us what's going on, but if you want to leave then be my guest. No one stopping you." He waved his free hand in the direction of the locked door.
The black haired boy rolled his eyes then stomped up to the door before grabbing the handle and prepared to open it. "That door is locked," I told him before he pulled on the handle and the screen made that awful noise again.
The timid girl snapped around and screamed a high-pitched screech at the top of her lungs, and I cringed. I take it back the beeping is fine, I thought to myself. "I don't think that was necessary," I stated to her aloud before I crawled out of the chair. "Oh," I groaned when I realize that laying in that chair for who knows how long, had made my joints stiff. "You four sure took your sweet time getting your *sses up and out here," I said as I stretched
"Who are you?" The blonde girl demanded her voice laced with nerves.
"Number five," I answered simply.
The blonde boy looked over his shoulder them back at me. "Those are names?" he questioned, jerking his thumb at the screen.
"Identification numbers," I corrected.
"How do you know what number you are?"
I was about to tell him to check the number on their keys until I looked at them and realize non of them had keys. And the plot thickens. Interesting. I nodded to the screen. "It has a fingerprint reader."
"Hang on," the blonde girl said suspiciously grasping his arm. "This could be a trick. She could be luring us into a trap."
I raised an eyebrow at her then walked over to the screen and stared at her as I place my hand on the screen. Number five identified, flashed across the screen then it returned to the sequence of numbers. "It doesn't take that much effort to kill someone with a sock," I said flatly. "If I was going to hurt you, I wouldn't do it with the TV screen." I turned my attention from her horrified face to the blonde boys concerned one. The other girl crouched down further behind him, her eyes wider than before if that was possible. "The door won't open until all five players are identified. So if you please." I step to the side and gestured screen.
He looked from me to the screen a few times before he confidently stepped forward and placed his whole hand on the screen. It was completely white for a moment before the words "Number one identified" appeared in blue letters then returned to the sequence display, this time with the blue one pulsing in beat with the five. Number one wasted no time as he turned around and held his hand out to the timid girl. "Your turn, miss," he said calmly. She hesitated for a moment then gingerly placed her dainty little hand in his large calloused one and allowed him to direct her to the screen. He lightly placed her hand on it to which it responded as before, this time flashing "Number Four Identified" in purple letters.
He held out his hand for the blonde next who gave over her hand without hesitation, giving him a flirty smile while doing so. "Number Two Identified." She stepped to the side while One held out his hand for who was evidently Number Three. "I'm capable of placing my own hand on a screen," he snapped before stomping over and slamming his hand on the screen so hard I was a little surprised it didn't break. Obviously his was identified as number three and as soon as the green words stopped flashing, the door beeped and unlocked.
Two began to rush over, but One grabbed her hand before she could. "Be careful, Two. We don't know what's out there."
"Well, whatever is out there has to be better than staying in here, don't you think?" she retorted.
"Um, no, I don't think," snapped Three, "and anybody with a brain bigger than a grape would agree with me. How do you know we're not on hostile terrain or that there aren't guys outside with guns ready to shoot us if we step out that door."
"That idea didn't seem to bother you when you tried to leave," Two snapped at him.
"It didn't, because I'm a survivor. You on the other hand are clearly not."
"How do you know you're a survivor, hm? I thought you couldn't remember anything. Were you perhaps lying to us?"
"I never explicitly said that I didn't remember anything. So how can I possibly have lied?" Three huffed. "Whether I can remember myself or not makes no difference. I can just feel that I'm survivor in my bones."
Two barked out a laughter in exasperated annoyance. "You are an *sshole."
I rolled my eyes at the two of them before stomping over and pulling the door open. It was a room with warm clothes on one side and survival bags on the other, and the wall directly in front was made of glass. "Great," I muttered sarcastically as I looked outside realize that the building we were in was in the mountains. Snow covered mountains. The wind howled outside, blowing snow into the glass.
"Still think going outside is a good idea?" Three asked dryly as the four of them stood behind me.
The five of us quickly put on the warm clothes and grabbed a bag. "Alright, we need to stick together out there, understand?" One said staring us all down, especially Three. "It's easy to loose people in the snow."
We all nodded (Three reluctantly) then One opened the door to the outside and stepped through. Four latched onto his arm as we began trekking through the snow not really having an idea of where it was we were going but knowing we needed to get down the mountain. After three hours of this we came across a cabin. One motioned us towards it and we stood at the door. Unlike the rest of the house the door was made from steel but expertly painted to look like a cabin door. Yet another odd thing to add to the list. One tried for awhile to pull open the door but after determining it was locked went in search of a window he could break, telling us all to stay put.
I shook my head, knowing he wasn't going to find a window before approaching the door. I inspected the lock before I realized there was a tiny red five painted over the door handle and something in my brain clicked. I instantly pulled out the key from around my neck and just as I thought it would, it easily slipped into the lock and I heard a satisfying click. "One, we've got the door unlocked!" I screamed through the snow before throwing the door open.
I should have been more cautious when doing that because it was too late before I realized the door was rigged to a gun on the other side. I heard the shot go off, felt the blood through my clothes, felt the snow under my back and on my face, heard the screams and pleading voices of the others asking what happened and begging me not to die.
I closed my heavy eyes, unable to keep them open, and the last thing I saw was One's utterly panicked face looking into mine. Then I knew nothing, nothing other than the bright light above me. I opened my eyes again then squinted at the light, or rather lightbulb. I instantly sat up, finding myself in a unnaturally white room wearing a short ass white dress and a red key around my neck. How did I get back here? Wasn't I out in the snow two seconds ago?
Snow? I thought to myself. I was out—I was. The thoughts that had entered my head disappeared like vapor in my brain. How did I get here? I pushed through my mind, but I couldn't find anything. There was just an endless gray fog where memories should have been. I couldn't even remember my own name. The only thing I could sort of remember was a door. It made out of...steel...or wood? I couldn't quite recall. It was a blurry, colorless picture, like trying to recall the details of a dream, but what I did know was something bad was on the other side of that door. I wasn't sure what though.
I decided that sitting on the bed wasn't going to get me anywhere so I stood up and looked around the room for a way out. The only evidence of a door was a white handle one would see on a sliding door, but I wasn't fooled that easily. After a few tries, I opened the door and stood facing a teenage boy with short blonde hair, a muscular body, and a circular, symmetrical face and wearing only a pair of white shorts and socks.
"Who are you?" he asked calmly.