Find your way out (13)

(James' POV)

An alarming sound made me jump out of bed, I checked the clock: 7:00am.

I had no idea where it was coming from, but a robotic sounding voice started talking to... me?, "James, it is nice to see you... The game has started, find your way out", it felt like the sound was coming from the walls, all of them at once. What was that supposed to mean?

I was tired, confused and creeped out, what was that and how did it know my name? Not knowing exactly what I was doing, I got out of the room and looked for my girlfriend; I went to the kitchen, the living room, dining room, I couldn't find anyone! I tried to look for Aurelia, no signs of her either, but I wasn't actually scared for my safety until I went downstairs and realized the doors were locked. "Is there someone here? Let me out, please!", I started banging at the door.

I was about to have a panic attack when I saw Edward walking towards me, holding something behind his back, "the game has started", he smiled creepily and I screamed, turning around and trying to break down the doors like it was the last thing I'd do.

"Help me! Someone help me, please!", I heard footsteps, someone else was coming and I had to get out of there as soon as possible, I started running, trying to find a window.

"James! What's happening?", Lilla grabbed my arm and looked at me with a confused look.

"We need to get out of here, run!", she didn't move and I was about to start crying.

"Wait, what's wrong?".

"There's no time to explain", I tried to get her to follow me until I saw Edward coming in the room, laughing hysterically. I didn't know what to believe.

"What did you do to him, dad?", she screamed at him.

He didn't stop laughing, "I had to, I'm sorry!".

"James, what did he do?".

I was still shaking, "I... I don't know, there was something in my room, a voice... it said my name".

Lilla covered her face with her hand, trying not to laugh, I couldn't be more confused. "That's Mary, she's not going to hurt you".

"Who is Mary? What was she doing in my room", were they were playing with me or trying to scare me? Either way it wasn't funny.

"That was the alarm, let me explain", Lilly said, "Mary is the voice in the electronics, she helps us wake up and do certain things around the house, it's part of my dad's security system".

"How did she know my name? Why did she scare me like that?", I looked at her dad, he was still laughing.

He tried to get some air before talking again, "let me explain, I changed what she was supposed to say, I made her say something like "find a way out, the game has started", he faked a deep and terrifying voice. "You should've seen his face! Poor guy!".

My girlfriend couldn't help but laugh too, I felt betrayed but happy that he didn't want to end my life. I was really confused, I could have never imagined he would do something like that, he looked so serious and... evil, to be honest. It was easier to think that he wanted to kill me than thinking he would play with me that way.

Aurelia came in the room and gasped, "are you okay? What's wrong? I'll bring you some water", she said, coming back in a minute with a glass of water.

"Thank you", I smiled at her and drank some.

"Did something happen to you?", she asked.

"I'm okay, don't worry, I just had a near-death experience", I finally laughed.

"I thought I heard someone scream but I was in the backyard, everything is ready for you to have breakfast, Mrs. Hudson is there too", she left the room and I followed Lilla to the guest room so I could change my clothes.

"Your dad is insane, I thought he was going to kill me!".

I heard her sigh, "he does that kind of things sometimes... he's not okay". She failed at trying not to start laughing again.

"I feared for my life! Don't laugh at me", I looked for clothes to go eat breakfast with them. "It's not funny... Well, I guess it was pretty funny but it's not funny for you when a terrifying voice wakes you up and makes you feel like you're in a horror movie, then you think you're all alone with a murderer in the house and the doors are locked!".

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just so funny to me", she hugged me. "Mary is not the only special project he has been working on".

I looked at her, "what do you mean?".

"He's developing new devices all the time, only we get to try them before his company starts selling them, it's pretty cool. I can show you some of them this week if you promise not to tell anyone else".

"I'd love to see them and I promise I won't tell anyone", I was excited to see what other crazy things they had, slightly terrified too, but it amazed me how much different the world was just a few hours away from where I lived my entire life.