Start: June 29, 2022
Words: 1163
(Edited)
“Do you have the game Eternal Escape Route in stock?” A boy desperately begged the cashier at the register of the game store. This was the fifth store he had visited on this singular day.
“No, it’s not even on the listings. You may have to try another store, I don’t think we can order this for you either.” The cashier sighed looking at his computer. He used his hand to adjust his glasses as he stared at the anxious customer. He was used to these types of customers.
“Ah really? This is the fifth store I’ve been to!” The boy wailed. “I really need this game! It’s the next one in the series!”
“Can you not buy a digital copy?” The worker asked. As soon as the customer heard this he wanted to cry again!
“You see the issue is the developers wanted to make them more limited, so it’s only selling in physical copies! I tried looking everywhere online but the series isn’t very popular to begin with! They only gave hints about general areas that they’re selling to.” The customer gasped in some air. “I may not be able to play this one.”
“Well, have fun on your scavenger hunt.” The worker nodded, silently hinting for the boy to leave the store if he wasn’t going to make another purchase. The boy glanced at the worker awkwardly and picked up a few pins from the bucket on the counter. “I’ll just take these. Thank you for helping.”
The worker’s mouth twitched a bit before he started to individually scan each pin. After receiving and purchasing the pins the boy left in a bit of a hurry to the next possible location.
“Argh! It’s so annoying to find this game!” He mumbled while walking down the street. It was already getting dark and he really didn’t want to keep looking for the day. But, he was determined to at least get in one more attempt for the day. He opened his phone to look at the map, hopefully trying to find where to go next. Unfortunately, things didn’t always go as planned and he suddenly saw a bright light heading his way.
“Woah?!” He jumped and tried leaping out of the way but the car seemed as if it was solely dedicated to only him, even following him onto the sidewalk. He wanted to run and scream, but regretfully he was not fit enough to do either at the moment. This was one of those moments where he really wished that he gave into going to the gym regularly with his friend. At least then he wouldn’t be out of breath from running a few centimeters to the left.
As a professional hermit, he has barely gone outside let alone being able to have the experience to dodge a swerving car so one can assume that this situation will simply not end well. And his own pessimism was correct, he did not survive. At least that’s what he thought. The headlights of the car entered his vision as if in slow motion and everything fell to darkness as though he had passed out.
Though, the truth of the matter was that he had not passed out at all. Instead he felt like he was laying down, and not in the way where he was injured but like he was in bed.
“I’m alive??” Though he felt a brief pain, it soon disappeared. He just assumed that was how death felt like, but according to his current situation it might have all been a total lie. Instead of what he imagined, the pearly white gates and welcoming arms of the Lord, he was met with a heavily cluttered dingy room.
The walls were peeling, the bed was a yellow mattress on the floor, and the room was littered in trash. The room was the span of a single bedroom with a twin sized mattress on the floor that took about a third of the room up. He was currently laying on that so-called yellow mattress.
Fortunately, he was still in a bit of a daze from “dying” so the last thing on his mind at the moment was his sanitary conditions. His glazed eyes looked around at the ceiling above him, and he followed the movements of the swaying lightbulb on a string. At first, he thought he had been kidnapped, but his body felt no injuries from the car accident. He glanced down as best as he could towards his body, but he saw not even a scratch. It really felt like he was in an illusion of sorts.
There were a few flickers from the light, and he felt like it might fall on him at any moment, but any pain felt would have been worth it. To prove that whatever and wherever he was located was indeed real. He was a bit reluctant to move from his spot, though it wasn’t because of comfort but rather a sense of surrealism that surrounded him.
It seemed the light also wanted him to move because as he was staring at it swaying, the light suddenly began to crackle. An ominous atmosphere eroded at his heart as he heard an intense buzzing sound coming from the direction of the light. His vision became spotted from the flickering that was gaining more speed and his eyes blurred. Though he was reluctant to move before, he really could not move a muscle now. It felt similar to sleep paralysis, except the fear was amplified by the unfamiliar environment he was in.
As the noise reached its peak, the light burst and shards of glass began to rain down from the sky. He instinctively wanted to clench his eyes shut, but an unknown force kept them open. In the total darkness, all he could feel was the shards of glass digging into his skin all over his body to which he finally came to realize that this situation was indeed real. The pain he felt could not be faked, the fear he felt could not be more exaggerated. He had seemed to die and woke up in a new place. Maybe even a new world.
Yet as he wished to reach out, the world prevented him. As he was about to give up hope, a blue hologram appeared in front of his face. It said a few words, words that if it were heard before by him he would’ve laughed with joy. Now, he could only laugh in sorrow.
[Welcome to the infinite escape room, Li Yan. You have already died but there’s a strong desire in you to live. We have given you the chance to do just that, but you must pass our trials first. Do you wish to live?
Yes/No]
Li Yan gave a pitiful chuckle, and slowly moved his originally unmovable hand to hit ‘Yes’. After that the hologram disappeared and his world once again sunk into a comfortable darkness.
~~~
