Chapter Text
The first thing I notice is a digging, scalding pain pressing down against the tendons in my neck, wrists, and ankles. I can't tell what it is-- a strange object weighing on my neck? Tight straps? Why?
With a strain, I push my eye to the edge, attempting to grasp the smallest sliver of my peripheral. The rest of my body lays ahead in front of me, in what I guess is a horizontal position. Maybe I am laid about vertically. I can't tell. It is digging into my tendons and veins, barely letting me stay conscious, yet not letting me fade. The light above blinds me, making me feel even more uncomfortable.
Last thing I remember is being grabbed and pulled into the dark. My mother was on the floor and my dad was missing. I think… Someone else was there too. As I got pulled into the darkness, I could feel my head spin as I lost consciousness. Now, I’m here.
My name is Sara Chidouin, if I remember correctly. It would be pretty awful if I couldn’t remember correctly. I tried my best not to panic but the atmosphere wasn’t very calming. I take a couple of deep breaths and focus on the bright side-
I call out for someone- anyone, “Somebody! Is anyone there!”
Then I think of the stalker. Was it him? Did I get kidnapped? Was I… going to die? I feel a knot form in my stomach as my fear starts to well up.
“...Sara, is that you?” I heard a boy’s voice say to the right of me. It sounded familiar…
“It’s me, Joe,” Joe says. As soon as I hear those words I can practically hear the relief flowing through me.
“Joe?” I ask, sounding a little too hopeful than to my liking.
“Are you okay?” He immediately asks.
“Yeah,” I answer. “Just a bit uncomfortable.” I might've mumbled that last bit.
“Okay, that’s good. I can see you, from where I’m sitting but I guess you can’t.”
“Well, yeah,” I say, getting a bit impatient from this back-and-forth. “Can you-”
A beeping sound interrupts me. It's obnoxious and loud. It seems to be coming from-
“My phone?” Joe reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. At least I think he did. I can’t exactly see him. There is a tap sound and the beeping sound stops. Another ‘sound’ starts.
“Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu- welcome to your First Trial,” a voice more obnoxious than the beeping sound says through Joe’s phone. “You have 5 minutes to get out of your chairs or you will be executed.”
The voice message suddenly stops there.
“What? Hey! What the hell?” Joe exclaims.
“Executed? What is that supposed to mean?”
I felt a knot forming in my stomach again. Are we seriously going to die? Are the kidnappers playing some killing games with us?
The voice continues on, unfazed, “I’ll give you a hint. Find the key in the room. Good luck~”
“Oh no- what’re we gonna do?” Joe whimpers, clearly panicking.
“Check your pockets and I’ll check mine."
I try my best to reach my pockets even as my wrists are restrained. Even so, I can tell there is nothing in them. Wait no… my skirt actually doesn't have pockets. I felt myself internally scream.
“Joe, did you find-”
“It was on the floor but I got something- a key!” Joe practically screams.
“... Use it.” I hesitate. If the message was telling the truth… I might be ‘executed’. Yet, I’m sure Joe will figure it out. He’s my most trustworthy friend… sorry Ryoko. “Use the key for yourself!”
“But-” Joe stuttered, most likely thinking the same thing as me. “But- It might-”
“It’s okay! You’ll figure something out.”
I could almost feel him hesitate. Then I hear a click. My stomach tightens as a reflex but nothing happened. I sigh in relief.
Time passed painfully slowly. I could see Joe in the corner of my eye as he fidgets, trying to get me out of the contraption that I am in. Not knowing what he's doing, I feel myself become more anxious as time passed. I try not to count down the minutes to my very real death but it's hard when there is no sound except for the beeping as a timer slowly counted the time for our deaths and our shallow breaths.
Then there it is- the beautiful quiet sound as the timer stopped beeping and Joe told me that he did it- he saved me.
I don't know what to do. I'm not dead. Thank God. Thank Joe. “Thanks."
“Of course. Can you stand?”
“Yeah…” I said, my mind slightly numb after the terrifying events. I finally got up to see Joe’s reassuring face and the device that I was on just a few seconds ago.
I inspected the room that we are stuck in. There is a door next to the device that I was strapped to. There is a chair with loose straps which I assume Joe was on before.
Before I try the door to finally leave, something catches my attention. It's a window on one of the walls. Inside it is the exact copy of our room. I can see another person strapped into the same device that is in this room and another scrambling around the room trying to figure a way to help him. The two are almost identical… except for the fact that they are opposite genders. The boy was sanding down a red key. He looked desperate.
“... Sara, what are you looking at?” Joe asked. He turns to follow my gaze. “Is that… I didn't even notice the window when I was trying to get you out.”
We both watch helplessly as the boy finally sands the key down and relief fills the little boy’s face.
“No, wait his…” Joe interjects. “It’s not the right color. His key- His key is blue. It’s supposed to be green.”
My eyes glide over to the device that I was on seconds ago. The keyhole is green. In the room, on the other side of the window, it was also green. The little boy tries jamming the blue key onto the green keyhole of the device-
Nothing happened. Tears fill up his face as he inaudibly screams to the girl on the device. The boy tried sanding the blue color down but he only manages to turn it back to its original metal state.
The next thing that happens, I could barely process it. It happened too quickly. A metallic click can be heard pulsating through the wall.
The device flinches, clamping down on the little girl.
It killed her.
Red trickles from in between the two slabs of metal from the device. A small hand hung, lifeless. The little boy had stops moving altogether.
I couldn't take my eyes away. The sight never stops, a virtual screen doesn't come apart and no one runs in the room to tell me it was all a joke, a social experiment.
It is all real.
...The kidnapper would do that to a little girl? She looked no more than twelve.
… Is that what would’ve happened to me?
There was nothing that we could’ve done. The boy is in another room. It was… rigged.
At the thought, I can't bear to look through the window.
I take a look at Joe. He looks just as frightened as I did. I raise a shaky hand, towards the distasteful door, breaking my eyes from the window.
We stepped past and into the darkness ahead.