Few Are Chosen.

Peik had been searching the small space he was currently in - from every crack between every floor tile, up to the water tap, every component in the shower - he had also tried speaking random words out loud, hoping a hidden mechanism would trigger at the sound and pop out of the floor, and present him with an old-timey, golden key on a pedestal or a silk cushion. But still, he had not found a key - or a lock, for that matter - of any kind.

The door had shut upon his entry, and it had gone completely blank, no longer displaying a keyhole, door handle, nor any cracks between the door and the surrounding casing and threshold - it was just a part of the wall. Peik had heard of these 'escape rooms' before, but he had decided then that they sounded like a form of entertainment that was not for him in the slightest. They would only stress him out. He began, now, to think he should have tried one of them out. Who knew it would appear to be a useful exercise.

There was also an analogue clock on the wall, and, be sure, Peik had taken it apart, searched every part of it, been disappointed for the 14th time in just over an hour, and then put it back together to put it back on the wall. He could not think of anything in there he had not searched to excruciating detail. His hands had even been all around and inside the toilet, and he shuddered at the thought of having to put his hand back down there.

He had no idea what to do next and decided to lay down on the bathroom mat, and there, flat out on his back with his eyes closed, he tried calming his mind. Still, it produced a worrying thought: "What do I eat?", and he shot back up again, now sitting on the floor, looking to the sink. Toothpaste he could eat - well, a little bit. He looked over to the toilet - maybe he could eat a roll of paper. Anything to fill his belly.

Peik had planned on going to bed before this all happened, and he allowed himself to get some rest, as he flung himself back on the heated bathroom floor. The day had been the longest he could remember - from waking up in a jail cell where all the doors had flown open, to finding his way through a suburban ghost town to the Complex, having a complete change of clothes and fitting in with the rest of people in this town, seeing Matilda again, and then, almost being crushed into human jelly between two walls - 'trash compactor-style', all as a part of a ridiculous game show.

Surely he was being watched by hidden cameras, and through them, by all his fellow guests in the Complex, but he was so tired he could not care less. Peik drifted off to a silent sleep. For what felt like a second to him, but the soreness in his neck suggested otherwise, so he looked at the clock. Adjusting his eyes, he made out it was around 4 a.m., meaning he had been out for quite some hours. His stomach rumbled, and he rubbed his eyes. His first "bathroom meal" was going to be either soaked toilet roll or a quarter of a tube of peppermint toothpaste, but he felt sick just from thinking about it and decided he would settle for water for now.

He emptied the toothbrush holder and filled it with tap water. Even at it's supposedly coldest, as far as he could turn the knob, the water would go lukewarm, approximately a few degrees colder than human body temperature. He waited, and waited, began experiencing a flashing and pounding headache from dehydration, and then got sick of waiting, filled the cup, sat down with his back against the cabinet doors. He smelled the water, which gave off a hint of chlorine and pennies, yet he chugged it down as fast as he could.

Still hungry, he laid down on the bathroom floor again, his stomach making splashing sounds from the only content in it. He thought and thought about what the solution could be to this problem, as he stared at the same point in the ceiling. At least he was warm, and the bath mat made for a thin layer of comfort. He drifted off again, still exhausted.

Then he was awoken by his own snoring, and, out of the blue, remembered something the hosts of the show had said from the stage. "The subject of the show was some desirable qualities", Peik thought. What they were, he struggled with remembering. "Honesty?", he wondered. "Maybe that was one", he spoke out loud to himself and figured maybe they would reward a display of personal honesty for some reason.

"Okay, I... Am... Often a bit rash in my actions... And maybe inconsiderate of other people's feelings... Some times", he said out loud in thin air, speaking up to make sure the microphones would catch his voice. No reaction, though he was not fully believing anything specific would happen. "Okay, maybe... Confession of sins? Alright, I would like to ask for forgiveness of my sins", he said, jokingly. Then Peik felt the tiles he was standing on, begun rumbling and shaking, as in a tiny earthquake.

A whole wooden panel appeared first, as big as a phone booth. The structure emerged slowly, coming up from the floor. He could now see the patterns - there were simple, carved holes all around it, like diamonds from playing cards. It clicked in place and was taller than he himself. A panel clicked open, and it was hinged - a door. He walked around to it and entered. Maybe he was the new doctor? Yet, inside, it was dark, and there was a small stool he could sit on. The door shut.

A voice sounded from inside the box. "You have come to profess your sins, have you not?", a dark, but edited voice asked him. He jumped in his chair, and had some claustrophobic anxiety fall down over him like a light, but constricting veil.

"Y... Yes, I have", he stuttered. "I too... I took a cookie from my mother's snacking shelf once without asking her first", he confessed, hoping it was enough for them.

"Good. What else?", the mystical voice asked, trying to pry him open and make him like a lidless treasure chest.

"Well, I... I fled from... Or, we sort of fled from home when we were kids", he said, revealing things that were true, but excluding context.

"Very good. Anything recent?", the voice asked, possibly trying to hint towards something in particular. Peik realized then they could have been watching him since he entered the Complex - meaning they had been keeping an eye on him for almost a full day.

"I... Snuck into a staff room", he seemed to remind himself of. "Oh, and I took some clothes. But I paid for them as soon as I could", he assured the voice.

"Wonderful", the voice said, content. Peik felt the booth moving, now going back down into the floor. He could not see anything, just darkness, and strong lights, and then, the door popped open. Really strong lights, and he soon pieced together he was standing on a stage, as an arm, sticking out of an impeccable, chocolatey-brown suit wrapped itself around his sweaty neck.

"Everyone, our first contestant! Say an official 'hello' to him!", he said, jeering the crowd on, and they responded, clapping and cheering their hearts out. "What's your name, mister?", he said, pushing a long, handheld microphone up his nose.

"P... Peik", he said, his voice breaking, struggling with saying anything. His mouth was dry, more so than the sand on the floors all around the Complex.

"We have been pulling an all-nighter watching you figure out your 'escape room' task! You did it first -", he stopped, making room for the audience making noise, "Which really surprised us, hearing your snoring on that bathroom", he laughed, the audience laughing with him.

Peik stood there, flabbergasted and barefoot, in his loose shirt and shorts, not knowing how to stand or where to put his hands. The presenter gave him the microphone again. "What do I win?", Peik said, suddenly, surprising himself and the presenter. Everyone but Peik laughed, but Peik laughed along, pretending to have made a joke.

"Good one!", the presenter answered. "You win a place in round two! Just step down there", he said, pointing to the side of the stage. "Our first contender, everyone!", he ended, pointing to Peik has he went off stage. Peik was shuffled off backstage by a nice lady with a huge headset, who was smiling a big, fake smile at him. She told him to sit down in a room with a hard, green couch, some fruit and nuts on a plain table, and ten or twenty screens all across one wall - some were just showing 'snow', nothing. The live screens were monitoring people dismantling clocks, toilets and cabinets, some were eating toothpaste, some sleeping, and a couple of nervous breakdowns.