Find a Way Out

Chapter 1

I can't remember sleeping.

Or at least I should, since I'm waking up in the middle of the night, and I can't even recall where I am or what day it is.

Maybe I drank too much yesterday.

Whatever.

I blink my eyes harshly in hopes of getting a glimpse of light, but I don't, which is quite weird since I usually keep my little lantern --- placed on the little wooden counter beside my bed --- on all night. I get up from my bed that doesn't rather seem like the one that I sleep in every night, actual stiff and very uncomfortable.

Anyways, you can't imagine how life's been so cruel to me this past few weeks. Bad luck's been beating me in the face like I'm some sort of a boxing bag. Work has been so tense and stressful; I hadn't even gotten the chance to see my kids. They must be so upset with me, but I mean I'm always trying to make it up to them, take them to the park, and buy them ice-cream or something, but then again I'm always busy. And my wife, she keeps talking about me not being the ideal father to the children.

Absolute torture.

"Your work's what's keepin' them alive mate, let 'em give ya a break," my coworker, Alex, keeps on telling me this all the time. I mean he might be a little out of his mind, but he's right, without me they wouldn't be living their best lives, enjoying the backyard pool, or far better, the delight in having a popcorn machine, that I bought. I am so..., wait up. Where's the door? I can't find the door.

I'm walking through the whole room looking for the door, but there's nothing. Just four large walls enclosing in on me. I try to remember my room setup, and the door must be across the bed, but it isn't.

Weird.

A rush of sick panic runs through my veins.

I try to look for the window that, as I remember, is on the wall beside my bed. I walk back towards the bed, and I reach out my hands wailing them in the air in anticipation of reaching the bed. After my legs touch the horizontal side of the bed, I hop on it and pass my hands through the wall beside it, but there's nothing.

No window, no door, just the bed.

Strange.

A couple of seconds later, a sudden blare echoed in the whole room and then it lit up. A single yellow light bulb dangling from the roof shining the whole room with sun-like rays. I'm looking over the room, examining it and that's definitely not my room. I try to recall the set-up of my apartment, but my head keeps pounding. I try to recollect all my strength and concentrate.

The room is surrounded by four large greyish painted walls with only a bed on the right corner of the room. And now I can confirm that the room definitely has no windows, far worse, it has no door. A calm alarm yet horrific one travels through my veins to my heart making it pump faster.

What should I do when there's no way out?

I try to persuade myself that this is just a dream, but it feels so real. It's annoying.

All of a sudden, a loud speaker spoke from the outside of the building. Even though the room's sealed from all ways, the voice ringed in my ears loud and clear. "Hello. You have 24 hours to find your way out. You can find your first clue in the room you woke up in. Good luck," the voice speaks.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" I yell.

No response.

"You've got to be kidding me." I throw my hands in the air in frustration. This has got to be a prank. I'm supposed to be in my room asleep, getting some rest, in order to get to work tomorrow, and not in some odd room that doesn't have a single way out.

Impossible.

I kneel down on the floor, by the bed thinking of how life has done me so good this time (definitely a sarcastic thought), when a sudden clock appears from the middle of nowhere on the wall ahead of me. I'm not wearing my glasses, so I have to come closer.

It's counting down the minutes from twenty-four hours. I've got twenty-four hours to get out of that mystery shack. Find a clue, the voice said.

All that is in the room is the bed. What could possibly be hidden in a bed?

I return to the bed and flip it over searching for any 'clue'. I look through the edges, the ends, under it, above it; everywhere.

23: 45

Fifteen minutes already passed by and I can't find anything. Nothing at all.

I give up.

Is this some kind of punishment? But I mean punishment for what, what have I ever done wrong? Being the non-ideal father my wife thinks I am? No. I'm trying my best and that's what counts.

"Lord, please if you're hearing me, I'm so sorry. I promise to become a better person. Please forgive me for my sins, and guide me in my fatherhood phase," I pray.

Forget it. That doesn't work. Now, what on earth am I supposed to do to get out of here? "Hey!" I yell. "Someone get me out of here!" I bang on the walls so hard, blood started rushing out of my left hand.

Great.

I mean what's the worst that could happen? (sarcasm again).

22: 57

I'm scanning the room again, in hopes of finding something that I couldn't find before...and there it is. A little wooden box which I couldn't somewhat see before, stood in the corner of the room past the bed. I rush to it and open it fast. Inside it is a stainless steel metal paint scraper along with a key.

A paint scraper? What am I supposed to use that for?

A key and a paint scraper, maybe the door is under all that wall paint. Maybe I should scrape it all off. Wait, no. I'll lose all the time I have by scraping the whole walls of the room. Maybe I should search for irregularity in one of the walls. And so I do. I pass my hands all over the walls, one by one. The first wall was super smooth, no bumps, and not even a little scrap. Same with the second and the third wall. I approach the last wall that's in front of the bed. I pass my hands all over it, the same as I did to the others, and find a little bump on the bottom middle of the wall.

I start scraping it off bleakly and rapidly like I'm digging a box full of money from under the soil.

22: 30

After a little while of scraping, a little key knob appears. I run back to the little wooden box and perceive the key, trying it in the little opening. Hopefully, a magical door appears or something. But, it didn't work. Screw it. I try harder until the key gets stuck in the knob and wouldn't come off. Then, a loud voice blared through a speaker. "Congratulations, you have completed the first level. You have twenty-two hours and five minutes to reach the end. Good luck," the voice spoke.

"What? Wait?" I yell. After the voice faded into the dimness of silence, the wall ahead of me starts turning in a very slow motion until it stops at precisely half the way and makes two entries from both sides to a second room. I run through it to the other side, and as fast as I do the wall behind me closes again on itself.