Escape Room

by Maren Stoffels

  “There must be a key to the next room in here somewhere,” I say, peering around the room again.

  Then, without meaning to, my eyes meet Miles’s. His bore deep into mine, and I feel a flash of pain in my stomach. I want to look away, but it’s as if I’m attached to him.

  “Mom? Where are my ballet shoes?”

  Lia’s voice makes Miles jump, and he breaks eye contact.

  “On your mirror, sweetheart!”

  “And my powder?”

  “In the usual place,” says a man. Then the voices fall silent. Cleo only lets us hear scraps of conversations.

  “Is this room just a distraction?” Sky says, looking at us.

  “I think so.” Alissa runs her hand through her hair. She’s nervous, particularly since that Diazepam thing just now. She had no trouble matching it to the right patient. She said she’d read about it somewhere, but I’m sure her dad was on that medication last year.

  I’ve watched the documentary that Alissa’s in one and a half times now. The first time I missed most of what she said, and the second time I felt so nauseous that I had to turn it off before it finished.

  The girl on my screen was a completely different person than the Alissa I know.

  Why had she never shown that fragile side to me?

  What was I supposed to do about it?

  I didn’t dare ask about her dad. I was really torn.

  Alissa seemed strong, but I could feel her pain. I couldn’t stop crying and I had a constant headache. It was her sadness, but she wouldn’t talk about it.

  If she’d shown me just once that she was struggling, then I could have started there, but she didn’t. Alissa just remained her old, tough self.

  “We’ll go look in the hallway.” Alissa pulls Miles with her. She didn’t listen to my warning.

  Yet again, I run my eyes all around the room. The recordings must be a clue. Cleo wouldn’t just play them for no reason. What exactly was it that Lia said? She was talking about powder.

  There’s a black bag hanging from the bed. I open it and see some white powder inside. Isn’t that what ballerinas use for sweaty hands?

  This is our clue, but what does it mean?

  Should I suggest buying another hint? I know it’ll cost us more time, but we’re wasting time now by going around in circles.

  “Ow!” A sharp pain shoots through my hand. Right where my fingers begin, it feels as if someone just drew a knife across my skin.

  In a reflex reaction, I throw the bag of talcum powder and it hits the mirror, sending a big cloud of dust into the air.

  “What are you doing?” shouts Sky, looking up out of a wardrobe he is searching.

  “I…” I can hardly say what I felt, can I? I recognize the pain. It’s pain that belongs to someone else.

  But then the dust cloud slowly settles, and I see the letters in the spots where the talcum powder didn’t stick to the mirror. My heart starts beating faster as I read the two words formed by the eight letters: MUSIC BOX.

  I take Miles’s hand and pull him with me into the hallway, away from my friends.

  “Are you okay?” Miles asks when I let go of his hand.

  I think about Mint, who’s been watching Miles like a hawk since we got in here. What is she up to?

  I can’t tell Miles that Mint warned me about him. I’m scared he’ll think I doubt him too—and I don’t.

  He’s actually really caring. When he kissed me back yesterday, he seemed afraid I might break. I’ve never had a boy kiss me that gently.

  There’s an excited shout from Lia’s room, where a faint haze hangs in the air.

  “What happened here?” asks Miles as we enter the room, but then we see Sky and Mint standing by a pink music box.

  There’s a familiar tune coming from it.

  “Beethoven,” Miles says. “It’s called ‘Für Elise.’ ”

  Sky looks up in surprise. “How do you know that?”

  “My mom and dad always used to listen to it.”

  His dad…I’m sure the tune must bring up a thousand memories for him, just as the Diazepam did for me.

  Imagine if my dad had died that night. Would I ever have gotten over it?

  I take hold of Miles’s hand, but before our eyes can meet, the light goes off.

  * * *

  —

  It’s pitch dark.

  I can’t see my hand in front of my face. My breath is racing.

  “What’s going on?” Sky yells. “Turn on the light!”

  I squeeze Miles’s hand, but he doesn’t squeeze back.

  The room feels even smaller in the dark. I’ve lost all sense of direction. Where was the door again?

  The tune by Beethoven suddenly sounds ominous. I wish someone would close the music box.

  “Stay calm,” Miles says. His voice is so close that it makes me jump.

  What should we do if the light doesn’t go on again? I feel as if everyone can hear my heart thumping.

  “Cleo’s messing with our heads,” Sky says.

  “Do you have a lighter?” Mint asks.

  “It’s in the locker,” Sky says.

  I notice that Miles’s hand is getting clammy. Maybe he’s not as confident as he’s acting. “Fire doesn’t seem like such a smart plan in here anyway.”

  I can’t see It now.

  I can only hear It breathing.

  Some people think everything belongs to them.

  It’s that kind of person.

  Cleo is screwing with us. I know she is. Can’t she handle that we’ve come so far already?

  The tinkling of the music box goes on and on.

  “Can someone turn off that dumb thing?”

  “I can’t find it,” says Mint.

  It’s so dark that I start to feel disoriented. Is this part of it? I can’t imagine that previous visitors to the Escape Room would have given it five stars if Cleo turned off the light for no reason and didn’t turn it back on again.

  “Any minute now, that Lia’s suddenly going to appear in front of us,” I say. “I’ve heard that some Escape Rooms have actors.”

  “Don’t be dumb,” groans Alissa. I’m surprised she’s so scared.

  I feel around, looking for something to hold on to. I feel an arm, and I grasp it firmly.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Me.”

  I’d recognize that voice anywhere. The same thing happens inside my body that happened a while ago at the county fair when Alissa and I went on the scariest ride of all. Mint was at home with a stomachache as usual.

  Alissa and I sat together in a capsule that was attached to two taut bungee cables. The music got louder and louder, until finally they released the cables and we shot into the air.

  At the highest point, I saw the fairground as a small, colorful patch down below. It seemed as if everything was possible up there and, for a second, the world was just as it should be.

  The light goes on again. It takes me a moment to get used to the bright glare, and I quickly let go of the arm.

  I see that Miles and Alissa are holding hands. If only I could shoot out of here at lightning speed, like in that fairground ride.

  Mint closes the music box, and everything is silent. There wasn’t a single clue in that box, not a hidden compartment, nothing.

  Just as I suspected: this room is a distraction. I realize that I’m getting mad at Cleo. Isn’t watching Miles and Alissa bad enough without her having to play games with us as well?

  “Hey, how about leaving the light on?” I yell at the cameras. “Or it’s not fair, is it?”

  Miles puts another coin in the slot. We don’t have any other options. This room is a dead end, and there’s nothing out in the hallway either.

  This time there’s a long wait
for the ball with the hint inside.

  “Any time now would be good!” I shout at the camera. It feels like I’m yelling at Miles and Alissa. It helps me to let off steam. “This Escape Room sucks!”

  “What are you doing?” Miles puts his hand on my shoulder, but that just makes me even madder. He’s the reason I feel this way. He’s destroying everything.

  Then a ball rolls into the room. Mint reads the note that’s inside:

  You guys are being a teensy bit slow, but I’m a nice, kind person, you know. So I’ll give the next key away, at least if you do just what I say.

  “This isn’t supposed to be some kind of power game, is it?” I look into the camera again. “What’s this all about?”

  Cleo is playing with us. That much is clear. I didn’t like her right from the start. There’s something arrogant about her.

  Another ball rolls into the room, even though we haven’t put in a coin.

  Mint reads out the new note. “You have to go and stand by the main door.”

  “Who?” I jab my chest with my finger. “Me?”

  “That’s what it says.”

  I don’t understand what’s going on. An Escape Room is about solving puzzles, isn’t it?

  “Just do it.” Alissa sounds impatient.

  “Okay. I’m going.” I head back into the first room, and the others follow. I slide open the hatch in the door and look right. All I can see is the long corridor we came down. It’s empty.

  “This is the worst Escape Room ever!” I shout. “I’m going to give you one star! Or can you give zero?”

  I rest my hand on the edge of the hatch and look back at the others. Miles and Alissa are standing next to each other again, with hardly any space between them. Will I ever get used to it?

  “There’s no sign of Cleo. I think she’s all talk,” I say.

  At that moment, we hear the sound of metal on metal.

  Crouched under the hatch in the door, I can hear everything.

  “This is the worst Escape Room ever! I’m going to give you one star! Or can you give zero?”

  That cuts right through me.

  Do they have any idea how long I worked on this?

  Everything’s just perfect, right down to the smallest detail.

  I stand up and, with all my strength, I slam the hatch.

  I hear something crack.

  I feel the same pain as before, in the place where my fingers begin. It’s like they’ve been chopped off. But to my amazement, it’s Sky who screams.

  I rush to the door and see that his fingers are stuck halfway through. The hatch is cutting deep into his flesh.

  My breath catches in my throat.

  This isn’t some exciting game.

  This is real.

  I have to open the hatch, even though I don’t want to know what Sky’s hand looks like.

  “Ready?” I ask Sky, who looks deep in shock. Without waiting for his answer, I open the hatch. It makes a slurping sound. Where his fingers were hit by the metal, they’re bleeding and dark purple.

  Gasping, I step backward.

  “Mint…,” Sky pants. “Help me.”

  He sounds as small as Lia. As if Sky’s nine years old and I’m the adult.

  I look around, panicking. We need something to stop the blood, but what?

  Then I remember that we’re in a doctor’s office. Didn’t I see some bandages in the sideboard? I open the doors and take out a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors.

  “Alissa.” She’s standing with her back to the wall. She’s staring wide-eyed at Sky’s hand and doesn’t react to her name.

  I have to do this on my own, so I lead Sky away from the door and make him sit down at the desk. In the light, his hand looks even worse. Can I do this? What if I hurt him even more?

  “Mint…” Sky’s counting on me. I try not to look at the ragged edges of Sky’s flesh as I wrap the bandage around his hand. Three times, starting between his thumb and forefinger, and then around his wrist and hand. When the bandage runs out, I tie a knot in it. I pull it as tight as possible, and Sky makes a strange sound.

  I feel another stabbing pain in my own hand, and I have to look down at it to make sure nothing’s wrong.

  “Help us!” I shout at the camera on the ceiling. “Sky’s hurt. Would you please co—”

  Sky puts his good hand over my mouth. “What are you doing? Do you really want her to come in here?”

  “Y-you need to go to the hospital,” I stutter. “Look…”

  There’s sweat on Sky’s top lip. “She was the one who did this.”

  I give a nervous laugh. “What?”

  “Cleo,” Sky says. “I caught a glimpse of her face before she slammed the hatch shut.”

  I can hear Mint saying something, but I can’t make out what it is. Sky’s hand looks like a piece of meat at the butcher’s.

  If what Sky said is true, we’re in danger. Cleo has shattered his hand. What else is in store for us? We’re at the mercy of a psychopath.

  I go to the door and lean against it with all my weight. “Let us out!”

  Mint tries to pull me away, tells me to calm down, but I lash out. The last thing I want is for her to tell me to be calm. No one should be calm right now.

  “Open this door!”

  “Alissa…”

  “You said you knew her!” I explode at Mint.

  “From the park.” Mint looks at me. “You saw her too, right? She was jogging laps around the grass, and later I saw her in the meadows too.”

  “We’re trapped in here. What else is she going to do to us?” I say.

  I look at the cameras. The red recording lights make me furious. The idea that Cleo is watching us while Sky is bleeding like a pig…Those cameras need to go. Now.

  I take the desk chair Sky was sitting on and roll it under the first camera. I climb onto it.

  “Let us out or lose the cameras,” I say into the lens. “Without these bitches, you can’t see us. So you can’t hurt us!”

  My heart thumps painfully against my ribs, but Cleo doesn’t react.

  She has all the power. Inside here, we have absolutely nothing. Our cell phones are in the lockers. We even left our keys and money behind.

  I put my hand around the camera and pull. The thing comes away from the ceiling with a cracking sound, and the red recording light goes out.

  The screen goes black,

  but this time I can’t get the light to go back on.

  I pull the scarf from around my neck and scream.

  I hit myself and bang on the walls.

  They have to listen.

  Mint saw me in the meadows. She saw me yelling at Cleo. Is that why she’s acting so weird in here? Is she scared of me?

  But who’s more dangerous? Me or Mint? If Mint tells Alissa about me, I’ll lose her. That can’t happen. That mustn’t happen.

  Alissa throws the camera onto the floor, and the lens shatters. She rolls the chair under the next camera. She is completely losing it.

  I grab her by the arm. “Don’t.”

  My voice sounds remarkably calm, even though I’m furious inside. “We shouldn’t do this.”

  I don’t want to think about what Cleo will do to Alissa if she destroys her cameras. Something tells me that Sky’s injury was just the beginning. How could Cleo do something like that? Sky’s hand must be broken at the very least.

  This all feels like some kind of prank, as if it’s not actually real. But then there’s a rumbling sound in the chute again. What else does Cleo have to say to us?

  Maybe she’s sorry and she’ll open the door.

  The ball rolls into the opposite wall and comes to a stop. No one seems to want to read Cleo’s words.

  Slowly, I walk over and pick up t
he ball. With an uneasy feeling, I take out the paper. I glance at Alissa, but she doesn’t look back at me. Just now, in the dark, she was holding my hand so hopefully, but it only made me feel powerless. Maybe it’s four against one, but we can’t beat Cleo.

  “What does it say?” I hear Mint ask.

  I swallow and then read out loud: “ ‘If you don’t leave the cameras where they are, you’ll be stuck in the dark for eternity.’ ”

  The bandage already looks pale pink in parts. Is the blood coming through?

  The pain is making me dizzy.

  I’m sweating like crazy. My T-shirt is sticking to my back. I keep seeing Cleo’s eyes, just before she shut the hatch. She looked like a doll, with no facial expression.

  Who is this Cleo?

  And more important: What does she want from us?

  Everyone is silent.

  The clock on the wall says thirty-five minutes have gone by. It seems ridiculous now that I was worried about something as dumb as breaking the record.

  My hand is tingling under the bandage. I have to resist the urge to look, so instead I try to bend my fingers. Not a good idea. I clench my jaw so I don’t scream.

  “I’m never going to be able to drum again.”

  Mint’s the only one who looks up. “Of course you are.”

  I know she’s only saying it to make me feel better. After all, she saw my hand too.

  I feel tears burning in my eyes. Cleo could have done anything to me, but I need my hands and feet. I need them for the rhythms. I have to be able to drum so that I can stay calm. If I can’t do that, I’ll lose my mind.

  “Does anyone know we’re here?” Mint looks around the group. “Did any of you tell someone at home where you were going tonight?”

  I look at her in surprise. I thought Mint always had to ask permission for everything. “Didn’t you?”

  Mint blushes. “No, I lied. Said I was having a movie night at Alissa’s.”