Left Alone- by Choice

I woke up again, this time with slight pain in my neck. I was tied up again, but wasn't alone. This time I saw Jessica on a chair beside me, she was sleeping, not unconscious but asleep. I looked around for Ryan; he wasn't tied up like us. He lay in a surgical room next to ours, there was a glass panel separating two rooms.

"Morning John," said a voice of a lady. She was blonde, skinny, and was wearing glasses, she seemed a little older than Ryan himself. "I need to save his life, and you can do that by listening to me" she continued without needing my answer, "his heart might fail if he gets cold, his body doesn't have enough water. Cold shock, you can say, if his heart beats more than 80 per minute, it will cause a cardiac arrest. So when you wake up you can help him out." The last line confused me more than those terms did.

"What do you mean wake up?"

"Now it is 7 pm, so if you sleep in fifteen minutes, you can continue your life after you help him."

"First of all, what is going on? I get to his party, blackout, had to play a goddamn game for my life, blackout again, and then wake up to all this bullshit. Explain if I only have 14 minutes left!" I shouted to her face as I got to her.

"You see, it's all in your head, like how you now got up despite being tied," she said calmly.

Then I realized, I was standing in a room, wearing my own jacket which I had left at home. There was no sign of any harm on my body.

"So all this is a dream?" I concluded my assessment.

"More like an illusion. You see, he is playing with your head. Richard is." She answered, "He knew that Ryan wasn't going to survive, so he made this game that you just played to find his successor. He wasted a million just to find burnt corpses. Dad was a real jerk." She said with a sigh.

Now I was more confused, she saw my expression and began to explain. "You see, I am Richard Bretch's second daughter, Ryan's older sister. I was an immature baby. Was kept in an incubator till was old enough. Then Ryan was born, a little younger than me, only nine months apart. This little gap had a huge impact on Ryan and my mother's health. She ran away, father kept me a secret, he was afraid to lose his last piece of hope. But when Ryan returned, I got placed in his shadow. Dad sent me to the city, where I studied to become a medical professional." She stopped to take a sip of water. "Then the police chief found out about the escape room. So did that teacher, so I had to finish him off. It took a considerable amount of time to do but I made that stupid Dave crash his car into the teacher, just after he had the final evidence to prove dad guilty. I made sure that no CCTV got the number plates, but yours did. What a waste of time."

I looked at a clock behind her; only five minutes left.

"So I tried to end you as well, but damn, you drive well. So I went back to where I was, the escape room. Ryan was going to release his book; I took that moment to trap you & Jessica. The police chief had taken this case; he thinks that you are part of this operation. Everything was smooth until you woke up. It took me effort to make up that voice." She was frustrated.

"Is this all real at all? Or you made it all up to gain sympathy?" I asked her.

"You speak too much for someone with two minutes left. Listen then. My father died when both he and the police chief played the escape room. Chief got out, located the control room to free dad, but instead killed him and ran away like a coward." She ended the story.

Then I felt a sharp pain coming from my back, like I got stabbed.

"Good night," she said in a whisper.

I woke up with water pouring down my face, it was raining. I was back in the lawn; everyone from the party was lying on the ground too, slowly waking up. I stood up to look for Ryan, who was lying unconscious on the stage. We all were soaked in rain, some covered with mud as well. When every guest was up and confused, Ryan was still unconscious. His breathing rate was getting low, his body was cold.

We took him to the hospital; his family came with towels and food shortly after. Doctors were worried about his heart rate getting low. The staff was very worried. I called grandma to bring me a change of clothes, so she did.

Suddenly one of the doctors came out, asking about Ryan's health history. When all the details were exchanged, I simply suggested doctors to ensure that heartbeats don't exceed 80 beats. They gave strange looks but agreed nonetheless.

It was only an hour since the party began; I was confused about what I saw. I wasn't able to justify anything that happened. It was all confusing me. After about two hours the doctors came out, "it was difficult, but we succeeded. It will take him about three hours to stabilize." Then one of them turned to me and raised an eyebrow, "sir, your advice was great. But how you did that assumption? Are you a medical teacher?" to this, almost everyone laughed and had to be told to stay quiet. Doctor understood the situation and left the hall, he seemed accomplished and tired.

After three hours, it was 7 pm; Ryan had woken up and was able to talk. So he completed his speech which he probably had left out at the party. When we were alone, I asked him if he had another sibling, which was nine months older than him. He asked how I got to know and all. I told him about the weird dream I had. He was more shocked.

He had an older sister, named after her mother. She was studying to be a psychologist and was arriving back here tonight. And she did, she was the same girl I saw back then. When we all went back to our houses, I heard that something in Ryan's house had caught fire, from which smoke emerged, nearly killing us all. The rain prevented any major damage to the structure.

The next day, I went to the hospital to visit Ryan. He was asleep, but his sister was beside him. We got into talking, she is really nice and blunt-mouthed. When we finished up with all the formal talk, I asked her about my dream, she was a little confused too. But she ensured that it was just a dream, which was too detailed for my brain to realize that it was a dream.

It is April now schools are on a break after the year is over. Ryan celebrated his 18th birthday and published his book, it was just as good as the previous one. his health is getting better as his sister is now taking care of him after she graduated. I have visited him a few times, along with my other students after their graduation. all seem to be doing well for now. I also adopted a little puppy from the animal shelter nearby.

I still need to see a therapist and a psychologist because of that weird dream I had. but I still have no clear explanation for it, other than 'it was just a dream.'

"see you later then." I walked out of the therapist's office. as I got out of the building, I saw a very familiar face enter with a file. looks like she finally got her job here. I smiled at her and she waved back, then hurried inside. I hopped in my car and left for home, my dog must be lonely there.

Although I can tell more, it is best to stop for now. This story is not meant to take this long.

See you soon.

-John