Escape Room

4

Adeline and her older sister, Marilyn, both sat criss-cross-apple-sauce on top of the kitchen counter with a bowl of snacks in their hands as the dim kitchen lights being their only source of brightness and the faint sounds of chattering in the television as their background noise. Marilyn had softer facial features compared to Adeline's sharp ones. She resembles a deer with her soft pink lips, strawberry blonde hair, softly curved jawline and rounded eyes. On the other hand, her little sister possessed a wolf-like face. Sharp nose, jet black hair, narrow eyes and a well-sculpted jawline which made them the total opposites of each other.

Both of them were focused on stuffing their mouths with chips and neither of them said anything. The silence lasted for a while before Marilyn spoke up. "You see Addy, going to an escape room as a so-called 'escape' from stress doesn't sound very..," she paused, trying to find the right words but adeline was quick to catch on. "Normal?" "Yes, normal," she nodded.

"I can't disagree, but I wasn't exactly alone earlier," she smirked. Marilyn's ears perked up and put her snack bowl aside and leaned in to give her full attention to the story. "You met someone? Was he hot?," her shameless question almost caused Adeline to choke on her potato chips. "Uh, too fast?," Marilyn laughed at her sister's astounded face and passed her a glass of water. "Hold your horses, damn it. Do you want me to die?," Adeline dramatically stated. "Not until you tell me the whole story," Marilyn winked.

Adeline told her sister in detail about what had occurred from the moment Emery walked in on her kicking the door until the moment he asked her out for coffee. The story left Marilyn in shock, as if she had just seen a talking whale. "My sister's going on a date!," she squealed and clapped her hands which resulted with Adeline shushing her. "Shut up you'll wake up the whole neighbourhood," she hissed and Marilyn licked her palm in response, causing Adeline to snatch her hand away. Marilyn only grinned at her cheekily.

"You agreed to the coffee date?" Marilyn asked again. "Yes, but it's not a date, don't gaslight me," Marilyn rolled her eyes at her little sister. "How about you stop gaslighting yourself that it's not a date? He asked you out and he meant that as in a 'date' but in your perspective, it's just a friendly hangout," Marilyn continued to munch on her snacks. Adeline let her sister's words sink in thoroughly in her mind. She's not wrong, but she can be wrong as well. You can't be too sure about boys in this fucked up generation. Anything could happen when you least expect it.

"Did i mention he's on his way to see me? I dropped my bracelet and he's gonna send it to our home," Adeline's casual statement made Marilyn choke on her drink. "Oh? Meeting up again, huh? He is so attracted to you already," Marilyn was slightly in disbelief. It felt like yesterday when she and Adeline threw mud at each other in their backyard. She watched her sister grew up into a brave and bold woman, and she is the proudest sister to Adeline. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and spoke up again.

"If one day he confesses to you, bring him to me and Dad first. We'll gonna interrogate him for you so he doesn't hurt you like your past lovers did. If he does, you'll be seeing my face on the news," Marilyn uttered with an innocent smile as if she hadn't just threatened to kill someone. "Goodness, calm down," Adeline replied, slightly scared of her sister's capability. "Just sayin'," Marilyn shrugged.