𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ,, colby madden

twenty four

the maddens, elaine, and declan walked into the escape room they were surprising hartley with, vic extremely confident.

"here we are. who's ready for 60 minutes of puzzle-solving teamwork?" declan said.

"sixty minutes? eh, i guess it makes sense. one minute for me to escape and 59 more to gloat." vic said.

"you mean 59 for you to try to escape and 1 for you to cry when you don't get it?" elaine said back.

"so, dec, what do we get if we win?" jake said. "uh, nothing." declan said, as if that was obvious.

"don't take this the wrong way, but you are just one big disappointment." amy said.

"i always thought escape rooms were more elaborate. the place is tiny." jake said.

"oh, i wouldn't say it's that small." declan spoke.
"well, i would. i mean, what are we escaping from? the bathroom in the international space station?" eva said as everyone laughed.

"but you did buy us tickets, so we should be more gracious." eva said. not really meaning it.

"thank you, mrs. madden."

"just hope you didn't pay too much because this place is a joke." elaine crossed her arms.

"i already see, like, seven different ways out of here." vic said. "i highly doubt that. name one." declan said.

"oh, i don't want to ruin the fun for everyone who's not as smart as me." vic said.

"oh, there's eight, nine, and ten."

"wait, where's your younger brother?" declan said, sounding worried. "he stayed home to watch the season finale of idiot circus." amy said.

"it's his favorite tv show. you know, the one where people do all those dangerously dumb stunts." jake said.

"last week, a guy shot himself out of a cannon and landed on some lady's pickup truck." elaine said.

"it would have been impressive if he didn't bounce off the truck in an oncoming traffic." jake said and the three of them laughed.

"and he had a little fallout with his little girlfriend." amy said hitting elaine.

"ouch."

"good."

"you said the whole family was gonna be here." declan said. "and you said this place would be fun. again, full of disappointments." amy said.

"i just want everything to be perfect for hartley." declan said.

"speaking of hartley, shouldn't she be here by now?" elaine said.

"uh, yeah. i'll go call her." declan said leaving. "well, tell her we're in the teeny-tiny room at the end of the hallway." eva said and everyone laughed again.

-

they were all starting to get bored, declan was gone and hartley still wasn't here.

"declan's been gone forever." jake said. he gasped, "i wonder if this is one of the escape room puzzles. wait, if you rearrange the letters in declan's name, it spells "candle." quick, light one."

"that was the stupidest thing ever." elaine said to him. "what is going on? i mean... i can't even get enough signal in here to call hartley." amy said.

"i'm sure it's all part of declan's plan to heighten the suspense and scare all of us. you know, he struck me as the moody and overdramatic type." vic said.

"that's rich, coming from you." elaine said. "i'll go find him."

amy stood in front of the door, waving her arms. "that's weird. the door isn't opening."

she pushed it and grunted, "it's locked." "maybe it's part of the escape room experience. we do have to escape." elaine said

"i don't think so. there aren't any clues in here." jake said, he took his phone out, "i can't even play today's wordle puzzle."

"oh, i already did. the word is "scam."" vic said. jake looked at his dad in horror, "you monster."

"i don't like this. something's not right." amy said.

vic walked up to the door, pushing it and trying to open it, "it won't budge."

"i thought you said you knew ten different ways to get us out." elaine said. "well, i had to say that. half of being a genius is being a showman."

"jake, just use your super strength." amy said. jake walked up to the door, and started to punch it.

the whole room shame, but the door didn't even have a single dent in it. "it's not working."

"how is that possible?" amy said. "okay, back up. let me see if i can zap a hole in it." eva said.

she zapped the door twice; and again nothing happened.

vic laughed, "look at that. suddenly, i'm not the only failure in the room." eva zapped him, "ha ha. but you are the only failure on the floor."

"whatever was used to build this room is obviously impenetrable to our power." vic said standing up.

then declan came on a screen, "oh, finally, our first clue." eva said.

"your feeble attempts to break out won't do you any good. you fools fell right into my trap." declan said.

"oh, he's good. so realistic. i'm guessing the key word is "fools."" eva said.

"i knew it. you've been lying this whole time.who are you?" amy said.

"my name..." and then he went into smoke and came back with an all black suit with a hood, "is oculon."

"i was sent by onyx to capture you and bring you to centropolis, where you will spend the rest of your lives imprisoned for challenging our all-powerful leader. your days of freedom are over, maddens." declan said.

"or should i say havoc, chaos, surge, and kraniac."and then he showed a photo of the underground lair.

"okay. it's starting to get a little too real." eva said. "wait, so you're telling me..."

"he really is a villain and onyx sent him here to capture us." amy said. "and that he..."

"really did trap us in here so he can send us to centropolis and live a torturous life in onyx's prison."

"well, this is quite the thursday night, isn't it?" eva said. "it's wednesday, but i see your point." vic said.

"question, why am i here then?" elaine said. "i can see how much the family cares for you, so if they do anything wrong, onyx will kill you." declan said.

"oh...so exciting." elaine said sarcastically, and then ran to eva hugging her.

"i knew you were shady. i should have trusted my gut." amy said. "yeah, we both had you pegged." jake said.

"what? who are you kidding? you're all, "what's up, dec? how's it going, dec?"" amy said.

"havoc, you could have prevented this whole thing. i mean, you had the evidence right in your hands." declan said turning on his watch.

"i knew you were talking to someone on that weird watch. it was onyx, wasn't it?" amy said.

"you almost had me. but then you got weak and caved because your best friend told you to." declan said.

"oh, you mean hartley? the completely innocent person you used and betrayed?"

"you're going to pay for this. no one messes with my family or my best friend."

"just enjoy your last moments together. transport will be here soon to take you to centropolis, where you will face onyx's wrath." declan said.

"yeah? well, i only have one thing to say to that." vic said.

"will there be a meal served on this transport? because i am famished.""

everyone turned to him, and eva shocked him for a while, and then he fell down.