Trapped inside a box

It was dark, and Emra felt like she had been hit in the head by a bat. She woke up and saw 3 other people passed out across from her. Panic comes across her as she tries to think of where she is. She calmed down so she didn’t give herself a complete heart attack. She took a second to look around the mysterious room and samw brown walls almost the color of cardboard, weird portraits on the walls, random objects, and a cow-shaped lamp set on the table, That Emra thought was very odd. She got up and her black jeans were covered in dirt as if she’d been dragged across the ground. As Emra thinks a bit more she can’t even seem to remember how she got to this strange place. All she remembers is that she was walking down an alleyway and it all went dark. 

Emra began inspecting the room, she noticed how odd the structure of the room was. The walls were closed in but also wide in a way. 

‘Maybe it’s some sort of allusion?’ Emra thought to herself. 

She grazed the walls with her finger and they almost felt like cardboard. Emra scratched up her face at the weird texture. She looked at the pitch black tv that was displayed in the middle of the room. She looked to the side to see if there were any buttons to turn it on but she couldn’t seem to find any. Emra sighed, she didn’t seem like she was getting anywhere with this. She took a look at the portraits once more, she had an unsettling feeling as she stared at the lady in the painting's eyes, they almost seemed life-like. Emra shuddered and turned away. 

After a while of inspecting the room, the other people started to wake up. She saw a young woman, an old man, and a boy that looked to be about her age.  

“Where the fuck are we?!” said the blond girl in fear. 

“Young lady, there is no need to curse,” The old man said to her with a frown on his face. 

“Oh shut it old man”, the pale-skinned boy said. 

“Excuse me?” Emra said.

 “The fuck do you want?”, the pale boy said with an annoyed expression.” 

“Pipe the fuck down little Einstein,” The blond girl said rolling her eyes at the boy's rude behavior. 

The boy made an offended expression and scoffed.

“I’m Emra and I know this may be weird, but it seems to me like we are trapped in some kind of room and the only doorway out is severely blocked”, Emra speaks a little anxiously. 

“Well that eases some of my worries, but I still want to know how we got here.” The blond girl with pink tips says, sighing. 

She had brown skin and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a pink top with a white tennis skirt and some fluffy shoes. She had a small pink bag that seemed to be very popular nowadays.  Emra noticed that she held a soft southern accent. 

“How about we go around and say our name, age, and the last thing that happened before we got here, just so we can ease up some tension and see if any of our stories were similar,” Emra suggested.

 Everyone agrees and Emra is the first one to start. 

“My name's Emra, I'm 17 and the last thing I remember was walking through an alleyway to go home after stopping by at a grocery store, though my memory is a bit foggy,” Emra says. 

The next person up was the blond woman. Her soft pink lips pursed together as she opened her mouth to speak.

 “My name's Leilana, I'm 19 and the last thing I remember was that I was shopping at my favorite store and someone bumped into me, I helped them up and then everything went black.” 

Her pink lips formed a frown.

 The next person was the old man. 

“Hello my name is Juno, I am 48 and I was walking back from buying my wife flowers for her birthday when I felt someone following me but when I turned around no one was there then I looked forward and everything went black.”, He said sadness lingering in his voice. 

The man was wearing a striped yellow and gray sweater with gray cargo pants and black church shoes. He has tan skin, gray hair, and green eyes that are hidden by his square-shaped glasses. 

“Strange”, Emra muttered to herself. 

“I’m sorry that you couldn't get to your wife.”, Leilana said with emotion, gracing her soft voice. 

“Blah blah, it’s my turn now so we can get this done quickly.”, The pale boy said. 

Leilana shot a glare at him and scoffed. The pale boy was wearing a pale blue shirt that had some foreign language on it that Emra couldn’t understand. He was also wearing blue jeans and white sneakers. Emra noticed that he was fairly short and pale. 

 He opened his big mouth and said, “My name's Eric, I’m 14 and I was walking home from the game store when someone bumped into me and I was getting ready to curse them out before everything went dark.”

  “Of course, you would curse them out”, Leilana said as she rolled her eyes. “Oh fuck off Barbie”, Eric replied. Leilanna simply threw him a middle finger. 

“Hello,” A mysterious voice came from what seemed to be a giant tv. Everyone gasped and looked forward.

 “Who the hell are you?” asked Eric.

“I thought you might ask that,” The mysterious person replied with a chuckle. 

Eric scowled as he tried to reach for the tv to shut it off, but Emra stopped him. 

“Why are we here?” Emra questioned the person.  

“Now we’re asking the right questions! I brought you here today to play a game!”, The person said enthusiastically. 

“A game?”, Leilana questioned. Eric scoffed at how idiotic this person seemed. 

“Yes there will be three stages and if you all survive then I let you out”

“And if we lose?” Emra asked. 

“Then you die” The person chuckled. 

The four people gasped in fear.

“Who the fuck do you think you are telling us that! Let out now you asshole!” Eric shouted. 

“Now let’s calm down, you wouldn’t want to be the first one to lose already, would you?” The man questioned. 

Emra could feel the smirk in his voice even if she couldn’t see him. Eric shut his mouth and just grunted as he crossed his arms.  

“Now the first game you are all going to play is leapfrog”

“That doesn't sound so hard”, Leilana says. 

“But some of the floors are unstable, so whoever falls through the hole loses and everyone else wins” The person adds. 

“Oh I stand corrected,” Leilana said, sweat glazing her fair skin. 

“Once this 30-second timer runs out you may begin but there will be a time limit and if no one has fallen during the limit then someone random will fall through the floor.” 

“What the fuck that’s not fair!” Leilana shouts. 

“Life isn't fair sweetie, now everyone makes sure to have a good game,” The person says before the screen goes black. 

“What the fuck.” Jouno huffed. His eyes were wide in fear 

The timer ran out and then it was time to play. 

“I'll bend down first and then we can go in order from heaviest to lightest,” Jouno stated, already bending down. 

“Then shouldn’t it be Eric, he's pretty fat,” Leilana said with a laugh. 

“Oh fuck off!” Eric said while giving her the middle finger. 

Jouno bent down as Eric hopped over him. Then Eric bent down as he let Leliana hop over him and she made sure to hit his head in the process.

“Ow what the hell!” Eric said while he rubbed his head in pain. 

Leilana bent down as Emra hopped over her. Emra was sure to be very careful not to mess up. They continued this process until the timer went off. The TV turned on and the mysterious man was heard.

“Well looks like you all made it. Now that means that someone randomly will die.” The mystery man states while chuckling. 

Everyone looks at each other in fear while they back away. That’s when Jouno suddenly fell through the floor and into a mess of sharp knives. Blood splattered to the top of the hole. Everyone screamed in horror as the mystery man was laughing. 

“Guess he won't be able to say goodbye to his wife.” 

“You’re sick!” Leilana screams while her eyes start tearing up. 

“Anyways you get a 30-minute break before the next game so enjoy!” The mystery man said before logging off. 

Everyone collapsed to the ground being careful to not fall into the new hole on the ground. Leilana was sobbing on the floor and Emra was stunned in silence. Even Eric, who usually had a big mouth, didn't have anything to say. 

‘What the hell just happened..?’ Emra thought to herself. 

Emra sighed as she laid her head in her hands trying to figure out how to get out of this place. Emra looked over to Leliana and she had tears streaming down her dark porcelain face. Emra bit her lip softly trying to figure out what she should do to comfort her. 

“Hey, mind if I sit here? ” Leilana said softly. 

Leilana shook her head while sniffling. 

“Can I… Can I hug you?”Emra asked boldly. 

Leilanas eyes widened in surprise as she nodded. Emra opened her arms as Leilana ran into them. Leilana hugged her very tight and Emra just smiled softly as she caressed her hair. 

After a while, Leilana finally spoke.

“I’m sorry..” Leilana said while looking down.

“No need to apologize,” Emra said as she grabbed Leilanas chin to look at her.

“Never apologize for crying” 

Leilana smiled and she hugged Emra once again. 

“I know I didn’t know him for very long, or very well, hell we all just met, but he was a very sweet man and he didn’t even get to say goodbye to his wife,” Leilana says as she starts tearing up again. 

“I know but we have to move on, at least to make sure we don’t make his death useless” 

“You know, I didn’t want to say this at first. But when you were telling us how you got here, I feel like we’ve met.”

“Same” 

They both go back to earlier events remembering the encounter 

Leilana was on her way to her favorite clothing shop when she decided to stop at the store for a snack. When she finished paying she saw a black-haired girl's bags drop and food fly out. Leilana rushes to help her. 

“Here let me help you”

Leilana helped her put the food in the bags and got her to her feet. 

“Thank you” Emra whispers, a little embarrassed.

Back to the present:

“That’s right, you were that nice girl who helped me out!” Emra exclaims.

“Thank you again”

“It was no problem really”

The two girls smile at each other, brown eyes meeting green  But are interrupted by the timer ringing. 

“I was hoping this was a bad dream,” Eric says whining as he rubs his eyes from taking a nap.

“Okay everyone, now we are going to play a game of memory” The mystery man's voice rings through the speakers. 

“The rules are simple, the cards will all be flipped forward for one second. You have to memorize the cards. You then flip one and try to remember which one is the matching one. If you get it right you win, if you get it wrong you lose and well you know what happens when you lose.” The mystery man says the last part with a short giggle. 

“You start now.” The man said before the screen went black and cards started to show up. There was a 30-minute time limit on the screen. 

They all studied the cards for one second before the name “EMRA” appeared on the screen. Emra gulped as she walked up to the screen. She chose a card and it was a picture of a blue bird. 

‘Shit, I didn’t have enough time to look at cards’ Emra thought to her. Emra slowly grabbed it and sighed in relief as she saw it was the matching one. 

The name “LEILANA '' showed on the screen as the blonde walked she was murmuring curses. She chose a card and reached out to grab one before she felt nervous and changed her answer. She took in a breath as she flipped the card and practically dropped to the ground when she saw it was the matching one. 

‘Thank god I changed my choice Jesus fucking Christ’ Leilana thought to herself. 

As Leilana walked back the name “ERIC” was shown on the screen. 

“Oh my fucking god, fuck, holy shit I’m going to fucking shit myself” Eric mumbled to himself. 

He walked up and chose a card. He spent some time debating on which one to choose, he looked up to the screen and saw there were only 20 minutes left. He chose a card and flipped another. He almost wanted to cry at how relieved he was that it was the right one. 

The trio went on in the same order until it was again Eric’s turn. Eric flipped one card and looked over the remaining cards on the screen trying to figure out which one was the matching one. He looked at the time limit and saw there were only 3 minutes left. He started sweating when he flipped a random one. His eyes widened as he saw it was incorrect. The game stopped. 

“NO NO NO PLEASE I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Eric shouted. 

There was a laugh heard from the speakers and everyone's faces when blue in fear. That’s when an arrow came from one of the weird paintings and shot Eric right in the chest. 

Leilana screamed as Emra held her. ‘I knew there was something wrong with those paintings’ Emra thought to herself. 

“And then there were two,” The mystery man said in a singing tone. 

“Asshole” Leilana spit at them.

“Oh calm down the game is almost over did you notice that you guys are the only two left” 

The two girls stared at each other, their faces paled. The screen goes black and then the 30-minute time starts. The girls sit in silence as the timer starts going down. 

“Hey, If anything goes wrong, I want you to know that I think you’re cool and would’ve liked to be friends,” Emra says softly.

“Hey, we can do this okay, we just have to figure it out. But I would've liked to be your friend too” Leilana replies. 

The 30-minute timer rings. 

“Okay, times up!” The mystery man's voice echoes out. 

“Now for the last game, we will play a game of rock paper scissors, the goal is to beat the other person but if you both have the same one then no one loses. You will have 3 chances.”

“Have funnn”,  the disguised man spoke dragging out the last letter. 

The 30-minute timer was shown as the two girls started sweating as they moved to be in front of each other. 

They stared at each other. 5 minutes went by and Emra spoke up.

“We should start” 

Leilana nodded. They started playing, time went by. Emra beat the blond twice while the other beat her only once. Their chances left Emra at 2 and Leilana at 1. After a while of getting the same thing, the time reached its 5-minute mark. They breathed heavily in fear. They shook their hands and it was Emra as rock and Leilana as scissors. They were both shaking now. Leilana was at zero. She was going to die. 

“Leilana…” 

“Don’t.”

“I’m glad I met you,” Leilana said while smiling. 

Those were the last words before she exploded. Blood splattered everywhere even on Emra’s clothes. Emra had tears streaming down her face as she cried on the ground. The words “WINNER” were shown on the screen.

“Congratulations, Emra!” The mystery man spoke. 

“Fuck you,” Emra whispered. 

“What was that?” The man laughed.

“FUCK YOU!” Emra screamed as she started crying even more. 

“Now, now let’s relax, you can finally leave, see?” 

A door opened and Emra gasped, eyes widened through the stream of tears. She opened the door to see another room with a huge TV. She looked behind and saw the door closed. She ran to it trying to open it but it was locked. 

“NO, YOU SAID YOU WOULD LET US OUT IF WE ESCAPED” 

“Ah, ah that's right I said I would let you out of the room not out into the world.” 

“NO” Emra screamed as she dropped to the ground in a loss of hope that she would never escape.