Chapter 6: Ready Or Not

Walking with Evelyn, Drew, Madi, and the other 21 contestants who were with him towards the path the lights showed them. Everything around them was dark: The walls and the floor, with only the colored lights illuminating the hallway. No one slipped a word, not even cough or a sigh; just silently following the lights as they turn on when they pass. Nervous, Ryder tries to look ahead, but all he saw was a large clock at the end of the hallway. Maybe to tell the time, or a timer, he thought; but he didn't know for sure. He turns to Drew and Evelyn's ear to whisper.

"There's a clock at the end of the hall," whispered Ryder while they continued to stroll.

"Must be just a normal clock," said Drew confidently.

"… Don't trust it," said Evelyn quietly, "Anything around here, even if it doesn't move; is unusual."

"Says the woman who barely moves when talking," commented Drew as he snickered at Evelyn.

Evelyn raises an eyebrow at Drew, then followed with a glare. They were almost at the end, the clock seemed to be becoming bigger with every step they took forward; with Madi at the front seeing the giant hands of the clock. The room's texture started to turn after minutes of walking: purple wallpaper with black figures that resembled candles started to emerge; lights turning bright red when they passed another light on the wall; the floor was now covered with a maroon carpet that somehow illuminated the darkness far ahead of them. The lights however, had an end: a large room filled with cabinets, doors, and handles that seemed to lead to nowhere; and at the very top, stood the rest of the clock. Its giant hands were situated still on the twelve, seeming to be stuck for it did not look like it worked. They stood still admiring the room, until one of the contestants stepped up.

"Are we going to finish the game or what?" said the man with a half-shaved beard, "I did not come here to sightsee!" The man strayed away from the gathered group and began to pull the handles in the room, trying to see if there was anything hidden.

Madi quickly walked away from the group to speak to the man, "What are you doing?" she asks in a serious tone.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" said the man, continuing to pull handles without even moving his head to look at Madi. But she grabbed his hand before pulling another one.

"Stop it!" Her hand losing its grip on his after he pulled it out, "If this or any other room is rigged then you are risking all of our lives by pulling a lever!"

"So what?!" the man protested, "The big guy on the screen told us to relax our breath; it means that this next game doesn't involve running! So leave me alone because I am here to win, not to host meaningless talk!" The man continued to pull handles, ignoring Madi as she just stood there in angered silence.

"… Hmm, yeah it is probably just an escape the room type of game!" said a man wearing spectacles as he emerged from the group and started to examine and pull the handles.

Then one after another, the other 21 contestants were exploring the rooms, examining every bookshelf, every handle, and everything in the rooms. Ryder, Evelyn, and Drew were the only ones that remained of the group, with Madi joining them afterwards, "Are you okay Madi?" asked Ryder softly.

Madi looked at him with weak eyes, her right hand touching her left elbow as she looks down, "…yeah, just wanted to make sure we're safe that's all."

"It's perfectly understandable Madi," Drew commented confidently, "I mean, with the last games that we witnessed; the last thing we need is to be off guard and careless."

"The man was right about one thing though," said Evelyn examining the current room they were in, "… This game doesn't involve running, there is too little space to do that here."

"If this is really an escape room, then where should we start?" asked Drew looking at each member of the group.

"Wait…" Ryder realized, "If this is an escape room, what about the way we—" He turned around, and in his dismay; the way that they entered from was strangely gone, replaced by the same purple wallpaper and candles like the walls of the room, "H-how!"

Evelyn turned around, followed by Drew and Madi. And after they saw what surprised Ryder, Drew and Madi questioned their minds if they were seeing the right thing, "H-how is that possible?!" Drew shouted.

"…So… this is really an escape room," said Evelyn, looking at Ryder as she sees his dismayed face.

After calming down, Ryder turns around and glances at the people touching everything in the room they were in; but the second floor still laid untouched, and it was not long until someone else would search it.

"If this is really what everyone thinks it is," said Ryder, "Then we should start immediately."

"… Let's start at the second floor, Drew and I will search the hallway to the right."

"Are we really just going to ignore the fact that way we came from just magically disappeared?!" shouted Drew.

"Do you have a better idea than just complaining?" said Evelyn, making Drew glare at her and shut up.

"And I'll go with Evelyn," said Madi, grabbing Evelyn's hand towards the left hallway on the second floor; Evelyn tried to jerk back but she couldn't, and was carried away by Madi. And made Drew chuckle.

Ryder and Drew walked up to the second floor, then continued along the path to the right hallway where there were two doors on each side, and another two pathways at the end. Ryder walks up to the first door on the right and examined it if there were any traps that waited them, with Drew shakenly turning the doorknob. But there wasn't any, instead they were met with a warm lighted room filled with bookshelves on the far end, and a few end tables on both sides; and a mahogany desk that sat on the very middle of the room "Well… this isn't half bad," Drew said, trying to hide his relief.

The two began to search the room, with Ryder checking the books on the shelves and Drew checking the desk at the middle and the end tables on the sides, "I wonder who this office belongs to," said Drew, opening the drawer embedded on the desk, "It probably belongs to that Leopold guy," answered Drew to himself.

Ryder however, was occupied with the books; taking it out just a bit from their place to see if anything happens, gently putting it back after it produced no result. One thing he noticed though; the titles of the books were not comprehensible; all of them were jumbled letters — if the letters on it can even be considered as a letter — and some even displayed numbers. He opened one of the books and there were nothings but blank white pages — maybe all of them were blank, Ryder thought.

"The books are blank," informed Ryder, placing back the book he just opened. Ryder's eyes continued to scan the books again, and there was one book that was different from the rest. The title was still gibberish, but it was only because he doesn't have a clue about what it means, yet he saw it before; back at the second rest, "…WIC" was the title of the book. Ryder tried to open , but it was glued shut; he turned to Ryder while his eyes stayed at the book, "Hey Drew, Do you know what WIC means?"

Drew stopped his hand before he opened a drawer, "Oh, you don't know?" said Drew, "It's the Deville's company name; you know, you should really know the hosts of the game before you enter their games of death, ha-ha," said Drew jokingly.

"Yeah…" Ryder placed the book back at its place, "You're not the first one to tell me that… The books are empty by the way; their just filled with blank pages."

Drew was closing the drawers before starting to touch the below the desk, "And the drawers are empty," said Drew disappointed, "There is nothing here but—"

A creaking noise was heard, like something opened. Ryder quickly searched around to see where it might have been, "Do you see anything?" said Drew, looking at Ryder pacing around the room.

"…No — it was probably just someone opening a door from the hallway," said Ryder, unsure of himself.

"Then we should just leave the r—" Drew stumbled back, his heart suddenly jumped but luckily, it quickly calmed down; his eyes were surprised by a sudden piece of paper on the desk, which was never there before he even took a glance, "W-w, h-how did that even?" said Drew, trying to make sense of how the paper got there.

Ryder walked towards the desk, looking at the paper before slowly reaching out his hand to grab it grab it gently; silently reading the contents, "What does it say?" said Drew curiously.

"… It's a riddle or something; maybe even a poem." Ryder cleared his throat to read the paper aloud for Drew to hear.

Too many rooms, too many doors,

So many handles you shan't ask for more,

Many hidden which won't work,

But there is one next to a seemed cork,

Beside a sea of stories, but no fish,

Behinds words that make one skittish,

"So… we need to find a handle." His eyes rolling over, "That should be easy… Its not like there are any handles around here!" said Drew sarcastically.

"At least it's hidden," said Ryder with a reassuring tone to Drew, "We should regroup with Evelyn and Madi, we need to find where that hidden handle."

Ryder and Drew left that room in haste, with Ryder folding the paper to place it in his pocket, and Drew being the one to leave the room last, "So we have to go down then go back up again?" asked Drew.

"Seems like it, we have to go back to the main room, then go back up the stairs to the le—"

"Hi guys!" said a voice from behind them.

Drew jumped back, with the wall hitting his foot; but Ryder only made a quick turn of his head to see the one who spoke, "Looking for us?" said Madi, with Evelyn walking up with her from behind.

"Where did you come from?!" asked Drew grunting as he massages his foot.

"The pathways behind us goes in circle," explained Evelyn, "The doors lead to more rooms, not a way out."

"There was one locked room also, it seemed important but we couldn't go through without a key, and a room where there was a tank of snakes" said Madi, sighing in disappointment.

"Never mind that," said Drew, taking out the piece the paper from his pocket, "We found something."

After a minute to reading the paper again aloud for Evelyn and Madi to hear, with Madi placing her hand on her chin and Evelyn listening quietly with her eyes closed. Drew was still massaging his foot, where a bruise began to take hold, "The cork must be a drink or something," commented Ryder after he read the last verse.

"Champagne maybe, we saw a ton when we searched the rooms; one or two in each," said Madi.

"But we need to find only one," said Evelyn, trying to think.

"What about the sea of stories?" Drew pointed out, then turned to Madi, "Did you see any aquariums in the other rooms?"

"Hmmm, maybe; if there is, it might not be quite big," answered Madi.

"Okay, Let's split up again." Said Ryder, folding the paper again put in his pocket, "Evelyn, Madi; you go and check all the rooms here in the second floor again; Drew and I will go back to the main room and see if we can find the things in the paper."

And just like that, Evelyn and Madi went into first into the rooms in the hallway; while Ryder and Drew went back to the main room, where many of the contestants were starting to go to the second floor, "It seems they didn't find anything," said Drew quietly enough so the others won't hear him.

"That gives us more space," said Ryder as they took their step on the main floor, "You go check the left side, and I'll check the right."

Drew replied with a nod then proceeded to go to the left side of the main room, while Ryder to the right. They opened the cabinets and drawers to find a drink or even a just one cork. They found a few wine bottles but none of them were close to an aquarium — in fact, there were none in the room as far as their eye could see, not even a tiny one in sight. The cabinets were empty, the drawers were empty — even wardrobes, which Ryder raised an eyebrow to why they were there. Drew grew tried, wiping off his sweat before falling on a wingback chair, relaxing his back after peeking in and out of containers. Still standing and searching, Ryder also followed suit, growing tired by the minute; but he continued. Their search felt hopeless — especially after an hour of not hearing anything from Madi and Evelyn.

After opening another empty wardrobe, he rubs his eyes; making them turn slightly red. Seeing that Drew stopped for a rest, he followed suit. Walking towards a red wingback chair near him, then let his body fall down on it. He lifted his head, his neck relaxing on the body of the chair; he looked up at the ceiling, not noticing that there was a shiny chandelier hanging over their heads. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind, then he lowered his head as he took out the folded paper on his pocket; reading each of the lines slowly while examining them.

Too many rooms, too many doors,

So many handles you shan't ask for more,

Many hidden which won't work,

But there is one next to a seemed cork,

Beside a sea of stories, but no fish,

Behinds words that make one skittish,

"One next to a seemed cork." That versed rang on his mind, trying to see what it truly means, "Is it really a cork?" he asked himself under his breath.

He turns his head to the wall where the things he searched were there: the cabinets, bookshelves, wardrobes, and end tables. He moves his eyes to look from the far right of the wall then slowly to the left. His eye caught something — something he hadn't notice. Beside the bookshelf, there was bulletin board; with steal violet rims that almost made it invisible along the purple wallpaper of the room. He stands up from the wingback chair, holding the paper in his right hand. Walking up in front of the board, he touched its body where pins are mostly punctured in. The texture looked rough, but as Ryder caressed it with his finger; it was soft — very soft.

Although he only saw a few wine bottles in his life, he recalled the one Leopold opened up back at his mansion. And the cork was similar to that of the body of the board. But what about the aquarium? There was no aquarium or even a container that could house water. He lifts his right hand to read the next verse.

"Beside a sea of stories, but no fish," the verse rang in his mind.

"…Sea…of stories," he muttered to himself.

Without speaking another word, Ryder turns head to the bookshelf, stepping one step backwards and then one step to the side; standing in front of it. He carefully removes the books on the shelf adjacent to his head; and what he hoped to see was right there in front of his eyes. A handle unlike the others, there was a gap around it which made it look like a drawer from an end table, "…Drew," he called him from the opposite side.

Drew — still in his chair— glanced at Ryder as he motioned his hand, telling him to come. Drew quickly got up from the wingback chair then walked towards Ryder, stopping in front of the bookshelf as well while Ryder pointed at the handle and explained how he found it.

"And we could've saved a lot of time if we hadn't been looking for god damn aquariums!" He slapped his own forehead.

Ryder and Drew ready's themselves as Ryder sneaked his hand into the bookshelf to grab the handle, sliding his palm around its wooden texture. After a careful pull, Ryder takes out a drawer out of the shelf, then holds it with both his hands. He and Drew lowered their heads to see what was in it: another note and a rusted key, "Maybe another riddle," said Drew.

Ryder looked closely around the drawer, trying to see if there are any traps attached to it, but he found only pieces of loose wood. Without wasting anymore time, Ryder grabs the key and the note. But when he took it out of the drawer.

"TING!!"

Ryder and Drew jerked their eyes to the sound, which rang close to them. Frantically looking around to see where it came; but all they could hear now was a subtle tick. Drew lifted his eyes, touching Ryder's shoulder to signal him to the sound above. It was the giant clock; it started to tick, "W-what does that mean?" asked Drew, not wanting an answer.

Their eyes wide, and their minds trying to make sense of what would happen, but Ryder suddenly squeaked, "… We need to find the others, now!" hurryingly running to the stairs leading to the second floor, with Drew stumbling back in shock but quickly followed Ryder without a thought.

When they arrived at the second floor, Ryder's eyes darted back and forth in both hallways, trying to decide which way to go; but he chose the nearest one: the one on the left. Ryder ran through the corners and a few people swiftly, but Drew ran out of breath just at the end of the stairs; lifting his head to breath and his rested on the giant clock; it was now close to a minute.

Running through the contestants which expressions were of a mix of shock and surprise as they ran towards the main room to look at the once stopped clock. With Ryder going about to enter the only door left opened, and he bumped something, "What did you do?!" said the man who protested against Madi about being careful; then pushing Ryder aside to follow the other contestants. As Ryder stepped inside the dim room, Madi and Evelyn's backs were facing at him; their heads in front of bookshelves, and faced low that seemed to be looking down at something; then Ryder called, "Evelyn, Madi!" He walks towards them breathing at a fast pace.

"Ryder! We found another note!" said Madi, extending the said note to him, "Where's Drew?" she asked.

"On the way." He grabs the paper hastily, turning it towards him to read.

"We may have a problem…" said Evelyn in a worried tone.

Ryder replied by reading the note:

Applause to you, for uncovering the first clue,

Now here comes the second, which won't come out as blue,

A place like a desert, but not quite wide and hot,

Easy for there is not a lot, but it is what your sanity tells you to rot

Welcomed to keep a limb if you do not,

"Another riddle…" said Ryder, his exhaustion catching up with him.

"… There's more…" said Evelyn, pointing at bottom of the note.

Ryder looked at Evelyn, seeing her expression more worried than before; he turns his eye to the very bottom of the note, where another verse laid in red ink.

It won't come out as blue, for you only have a minute and two,

One for you to wait, and two to get the clue; it will become a loop,

Be prepared to conceal in one, with only a sight like a dot.

Ryder's eyes began to turned wide, as with Evelyn and Madi's; reading the last words as his heart began to sink.

Because this is what you have wrought…

Whether you're ready…

Just then Drew came in the room, panting at the doorstep as he rests his hand on the exposed hingers; but he shouted, "The clock…" his lungs frantically breathing, "It's starting to ring!"

…Or not

The lights suddenly began to flicker around them, startling their hearts; they heard the sound of the clock ringing, and the noise of the other contestants being startled also, "What the hell is happening!" shouted Drew.

"…Something bad," said Ryder worryingly.

Then the lights turned dimmed, they can still see but only a little. Silence replaced the sound of clock ringing and the bickering of people, "Is it over?" said Madi, trying to reassure herself.

"…Let's see," said Evelyn, slowly walking towards the door, opening it as she goes through.

She peeked her head outside the room, looking left and right of the hallway; there was no one else in sight. Evelyn stepped outside the room, followed by Madi, Drew, and then Ryder.

"Where is everyone?" asked Madi as she looks around.

"… Something's wron—" A loud thud was heard, making all of them turn around to the other end of the hallway; it sounded like it came from the empty cabinet. All four of them looked at each other, and without another thought, they carefully walked towards it; with Ryder being in the lead. As they arrived at the end of the hallway, Madi looked at both sides towards the other connected hallways, while Ryder extended his hands to open the cabinet. He looked at Evelyn and Drew, which were preparing themselves to fight or maybe run. Evelyn and Drew gave him a nod, making Ryder slowly reach for the cabinet handle. He gulped as he grabbed the cabinets handle, slowly opening. But suddenly.

"Where…" a voice was heard from the right hallway, "Are…You?"

All of them looked as they were forced to listen at the deep coarse voice; along with the sound of metal footsteps becoming louder with each passing second. Drew stumbled back, as well as Madi. Evelyn stepped back, as well as Ryder, who let go of the cabinet handle. A brown light landed at its end, seeing the shadow of the one who was shining it. But it was anything but human. Ryder's mouth gaped at the shadow of a large knife and chains.

Drew grabbed his shoulder to make him snap out, "Ryder, what do we do?!"

Ryder's eyes stayed at the shadow, but he heard Drew's plea. He turns his head towards the three of them, ushering a shout low enough for the shadowy figure to not hear.

"Hide!"