A Little Game

Soon, I felt dizzy, and my vision was getting blurry. I fell but didn't feel my body hit the floor.

Splash! A sudden slap of water woke me up. As my senses returned, I felt my hands tied to the back of the chair I was sitting on, both my legs were tied too. I tried to observe my surrounding; I was in a dimly lit room, sitting on a wooden chair. There was a constant sound of water dripping from my left and a little electric buzzing from the front. There was a door, red light on top of it, the door was probably locked.

"All this is so cliché", I shouted, trying to find a way to move. It appeared that I wasn't alone, a lot of chains started to rattle, along with growling from behind. I kept quiet so I don't startle the animals that were right behind me. Suddenly, all the possible lights in the room lit up. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust. After that, I saw the room completely, there was a sink on my left, and the electric buzzing was possibly from an electric lock put on the door in the front. Then I turned around, saw three dog-like animals. I think they were some type of wolves chained to another door that was on my back. They were all feeble looking like they'd been starving for days.

The gate on the front opened, and a tall skinny guy entered. He was wearing formals, a white shirt with a black half jacket along with black gloves. He also wore a mask that covered his face completely. "You look like a waiter", I remarked. He laughed, his laugh was familiar (not the sound, the style).

"Morning John", he said. At first, I was a bit shocked when he said my name. Then it came to me that he must have known me (he was the one to kidnap me and had set me up as a high-level hostage). "You were sleeping for a long time, so I had to throw water on you to wake you up." He continued, his voice wasn't familiar to me. "What the hell are you?" I shouted, startling the wolves, which were the least of my concern.

"I am a game-master, and I like to be called Parallax, if you want my name" he sounded more confident with each word, "I will like you to participate in my little game." He laughed menacingly as he completed his introduction.

"Like I have a choice," I said looking at my tied hands and legs. "Oh no...no, you do have one", he said in a comforting tone, "if you don't want to play, then I can set both you and these wolves free. It's your own choice."

"Fine! I will play, but first, there are few conditions before you start." I challenged him.

"And what those will be?"

"I need you to tell me all the rules as well as all the information I will need. No secret rules are allowed, and I need a new jacket. If you can give me all that, I'll play" I said in a confident tone. He thought about it for a full minute and then said, "Fine. Deal"

He went out of the room, came in with a jacket and a knife. He put the jacket on the table and cut the ropes of my legs and put that knife in my hand. On the table, he put the jacket, a page, and a key chain with a few keys on it. Then he went back at the door and said "all the rules are written in that parchment," (who says parchment nowadays?) "You can use everything in this room to escape and finish the game. Start after two knocks." Then he closed the door, after a few clicks and all, he knocked two times.

I tried my best to cut the rope, after many failed attempts, the rope loosened. All this time those feeble wolves were trying to attack me. I waited for my blood to flow before starting the game. Then I wore the jacket and picked up the rule sheet (or parchment as he would like) and read it a few times-

1. You can use anything in this room as you desire.

2. To escape, you need to get out through the green door, only after that, the game will begin.

3. We also expect you to damage the room, so don't worry about the damage.

4. The game will end when you get out in the lawn, you can stay if you want, or go on with your life. Your choice.

p.s. –

· The wolves haven't been fed for two weeks, so they won't mind consuming you.

· There is only one camera, on the door frame of the red door, so I am watching you.

LET THE GAME BEGIN

I kept the knife and the key chain in the pocket of the jacket. Then I started to examine the room thoroughly. There were two more tables on the right-hand side, most had buckets and rods and stuff. Others had a file, an old school style file with papers stuffed randomly inside. It had my photo, taken from the side. It wasn't long before I recognized the background; it was my very own classroom. The rest of the papers had info on me, as I remember telling the police when I went to submit the CCTV footage.

A chill went down my spine when I thought that he knew about my grandparents. I started to analyze the person behind the mask. At that time it was me, the police officer who asked the questions, one officer who recorded my statement, and Ryan.

I had told them that I did a few little jobs to earn a little more. But not which ones, as they didn't ask. I used to walk dogs of my neighbors when I was 17, and they introduced me to a man who offered me a job at a local animal shelter. There was a permanent worker who had been working there for a long time. he also tended to some wild animals, like foxes and similar animals that were found injured near the town.

He had me clean a wolf enclosure once, while he fed the pups and took care of their mother. The reason for which she didn't attack him was that he made her accept him as a superior. There were many ways to do it, either let them lead you or assert dominance. If the wolves are young or weak they back down if the oppressor is strong enough.

So I lifted the chair and a rod and started to make noise using them as I drew nearer to those three wolves. They all were growling and pouncing on me, but were limited by those heavy chains. After many minutes of making noise, they finally backed down. I was tired of all the commotion but still went near one of them, and tried to remove his chains. He hesitated but was too weak to protest, others followed. I found a bucket in a corner that had a few chunks of meat. I fed them equally and now was their unofficial owner. Their chains had locks that opened with one of the keys from the key chain. The green door had a lock; none of the keys opened it. So I took one of the rods and broke the lock to open the door. All this took about an hour, I assumed. I also took the wolves for any help that they can give. One escaped as the door opened, one was on a leash and the last one followed me. The door opened to another dimly lit hallway, it was straight (because I was able to see the light leading the way till a long distance) and I continued to walk for what seemed like an eternity.

I reached a staircase and as well followed it to the top. There was a trapdoor on the end of the stairs. I opened it and saw a blinding light. I was in a completely white room. A sudden sound from a speaker right above me scared the hell out of me. "You really are something, John. Now you get a chance to save my life, or everyone else's. Only if you're smart enough"

Then a door opened right in front. I had let go of the leash already, but those two still followed me as I walked out of the door. I was in a lawn, RYAN'S LAWN. No doubt about it.

I saw the sun rising, it was dawn. I was in Ryan's house in February, during the morning, after the day his whole family was together. This isn't good; I also started to believe the story to be a prophecy. I ran for the gate, which had been locked. However, there was no sign that a party took place last evening. I should have at least seen the patch on the grass where the stage had been set.

Suddenly I felt my leg twitching, a wolf was pulling my pants (as to take me somewhere else), and another one growled at the mansion's door. As I got near the glass door, I saw several human bodies, all piled up in a terrifying way, in a room with no doors. This room had a thick wall and was behind the staircase. Then I heard footsteps walking down the staircase. It was the same man who locked me up.

"Welcome", he said in a plain voice, "the bodies here are Ryan's guests, not dead yet. Other people are still trying to survive. See!" he pointed at a TV on the wall. It showed four CCTV videos. "I never expected that you can tame them, follow me" he ordered, I followed. He went up to a bookshelf on the first floor, he pulled out a book and another book shifted to take its place. Then he put the book in another spot. I somehow was trying to remember all the spots he used. "This was built secretly by Mrs. Bretch. When her daughter died, she blamed it all on her husband" he said as he entered the room opened when he put the book. Then he went inside the bright room, lights in his room covered the whole ceiling. There were four more screens along with multiple buttons divided into four sections on the wall in front of a door along with a door in its corner. Screens showed the same footage from TV. "You see, the top right one shows the room you were in. top left has Ryan." He said and pressed a button which made a bucket of water fall on Ryan. Ryan woke up. "They know what to do, I told him before putting him to sleep. Here, the bottom right has Jessica. Bottom left... well that is a secret" he continued his talk.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him. He responded almost immediately, "look who's being cliché now?" Ryan was already one the door, he was opening the lock. Parallax pressed another button and Jessica woke up from water splashing. As Ryan got out, I went to look for him in the lawn. He was wandering around aimlessly. "Sir!" He said shouted when he saw me. He ran towards me but froze the moment he saw those wolves. When I assured him, he and I went back inside. The room was closed and the bodies were gone and the room behind the stairs was also missing. I went up and returned the 'key' book to the spot to open the room. No one was inside. Ryan was confused during this whole time. His queries took a few minutes to answer. I asked him how many secret rooms his house had. He said this was written only in an old book that he received from his mother. He went into his room and brought it. Then I noticed that the room Jessica was in now stood empty. We went back in the lawn and found her sitting in the lawn, crying. The moment she saw Ryan, hugged him while sobbing. The sudden reaction of wolves towards the roof was suspicious. I saw parallax there. He then saw us and moved inside. "Ryan take us to the roof" I ordered Ryan. He got up and we followed him. Parallax was on the top of a table with a rope with a loop tied to the railing. When we proceeded to catch him, he put that loop around his neck and tried to jump but was stopped when three wolves surrounded him. The third one had appeared from the back. Parallax sat down, took his hand behind his head, and removed his mask.

We all were shocked when we saw him; he was the police chief, he was very prominent in the investigations. "Surprised?" he questioned. No words came out from our side, so he continued, "do you want to know who was in the fourth room?" to this only I nodded. "He was Matt, Matt Smith. Yes, your old teacher." he nodded to the kids. "And you broke his record of the escape room. Congrats" he said triumphantly. We all took few moments to absorb what he was saying.