Escape Room

There’s a candle flame at the end of the hall. It sits on top of an orange circular table. Reminding her of the one she had bought a few months ago. Placed in front of her couch so she could rest her feet upon it. The flame burns brightly. Endlessly, as if never to shrink itself. Sometimes she’d sit in front of the flame and think that she too could burn endlessly if she could leave this narrow hallway with five rooms. The doors never close and the lights never work. Two days ago, she decided to go to an escape room out of town. She had solved every room and opened every door (out of order). Once the last door opened, all the lights cut off. Exposing the flame that had been lit the entire time. Alone, she tried to find her way out, thinking that perhaps there would be a timer counting down how long she had until she lost the game. But there was nothing… just her trapped. Her cellphone and belongings were taken before entering, so she couldn't call anyone to help her escape.

She glanced up at a broken clock on the wall. Then wandered back to the first room she solved. The door wasn’t closed. The floors were covered in blankets. There were two bunk beds in the corner. Decorated to be a child’s bedroom. The dust and peeling wallpaper told her that this building was supposed to seem abandoned. The only new things were the cameras in the corners that flashed red. Found in every room that had a bed. She found a peephole with a hidden camera inside the toilet. It’s in the bathroom across the hall from room number one. She had to find a key hidden in a hat located in the second bedroom to unlock the room door.

Wandering into the second room, she stared at her black graphic T-shirt. She was wearing it when she came in, but took it off a few hours ago. She has a faint memory of being told that the AC didn’t work. She tried but couldn’t remember the look of the person who told her that since her headache had slowly started coming back. She was beginning to overheat, so she left her shirt in this room next to the orange pillow on the nightstand. She had broken the top drawer in the room yesterday. In there, she found a sheet of paper with four colors she needed to find. The location corresponds with the numbers above the room doors. Creating the four-digit code 1342 that unlocked the door to room number 5.

She tried to wave at the cameras again and look distressed so that the people behind them would understand that she was trapped. But no one came. So she got defeated. Thinking that perhaps they went home and forgot about her.

So she wandered back to the candle flame. Staring at it and telling the fire her wishes for someone to come and find her. Trying her best not to get defeated, she kept replaying the details of every room in her mind.

Room number one has a bunk bed with pink blankets. Room number 2 has a twin bed with an orange pillow. Room number 3 is a bathroom with blue wallpaper. Number 4 is a bedroom. King-sized mattress on the floor untouched. As if bought right before the game. It has no sheets, and the room is completely white. Aside from the red cup that sits in the middle of the floor, filled halfway with water. Room number 5 is empty. Too dark for her to feel comfortable entering.

She tried to close door number 5 twice, but every time she pulled it closed, it snapped back open.

She sighs, standing back up, staring into the dark hallway. Listening to the sound of a machine shaking in room number 5. She only entered once before. She had closed her eyes and waved her arms around to keep her from colliding with the unknown. Her heart was beating out of her chest from anticipation. She had only taken ten steps before she felt something slash at her. It felt like a butcher knife. Like the ones kept in kitchens. She ran out, terrified that she wasn't alone. Yet nothing came out of the room. Blood dripped down the side of her forearm, so she had taken a sock off to wrap her wound. She chose to wrap her arm in front of one of the cameras… and still… no one came.

So she went back to talking to the flame.

*ring* *ring*

My phone?

She quickly turned her head to face the rooms behind her. The echoing rings were coming from room number 5. She listened to it, waiting for it to cut off. She chose not to approach the door. She just stared at it in silence, listening out for possible footsteps or sounds. Nothing. A few more minutes had passed before the ringing started again. This time it sounded like an alarm. She jumped in fear as her eyes stayed locked onto the door. Her hands went over her mouth as she left it ringing until it went silent once more. This time, when she stood in silence, she heard the sound of heels hitting the floor. They started getting louder. Closer to the door.

She ran into room number one and laid on the floor. Peaking around the corner, enough not to be seen. She saw two hands emerge before the woman’s face came into view. Once she came through the door, she shut it behind her. Every room closed in unison due to that door being closed. For a split second, it seemed as if the girl was holding a grocery bag. Like this was her home. Now locked in the room, she got up from the floor and started banging on the door, hoping the woman would hear her and try to let her out.

When the woman opened the door, she smiled as the girl stood frozen for a moment. Confused. The woman looked familiar. Perhaps the person who told her the rules, but the woman can’t remember what the worker who brought her back to this room looked like.

“Have we met before?”

The woman signed, handing the girl a pill and a cup of water.

“One day you will see this as home.”

The girl took the pill, and the woman guided her to lie in the bed. She said it would help with her headache and alleviate her short-term memory symptoms. She should know that, for she is her nurse. The nurse then closes the door and heads to room number 5. Once she closes the door, all the lights in the building come on, exposing the kitchen countertops and dining table. There is an exit door near the fridge that would have taken her out of this room and into the main hall of the hospital's exposure therapy building. The nurse exits and walks into the camera room to place the pill bottle on the packed top shelf on the wall behind her. Then, takes an elevator down to the main floor. To get the updated patient report on the girl trapped inside.

*ring* *ring*

Two days ago, she signed up for exposure therapy disguised as an escape room and forgot what it was she was learning to escape. Stuck until she can acknowledge that leaving will give her another fate.