¶ I pushed open the other half oh her coffin, "I understand if you don't believe me, but I don't know where we are". Her eyes were clear, "Of course I trust you Reeling". She struggled out of her coffin then used my side to balance herself. She looked around the room, "Are we underwater"? Hearing her point out our seemingly absurd situation made me laugh, "Yeah, I think we are". She continued, "So how do we get out of here"? I pointed at the broken floorboards, "That's how I got in here".
¶ Jamie and I wasted no time climbing up the incline, but the roof was beyond our reach even with our extended jumps. I shouted, "Evan, I'm going to carry Jamie over my shoulders". Evan peeked his head over the gap. She gasped, "You're here too Evan". Seeing someone besides me stuck in this place brought some enthusiasm back into Evan's voice. "It's nice to see you Jamie, despite the situation". I carried Jamie onto my shoulder and Evan pulled her hands out of the hull. I heard Evan whisper, "I don't trust Reeling. I think he put us here, maybe we should leave him here". Jamie whispered back, "This is Reeling we're talking". I interrupted their hushed argument, "Are you guys going to pull me up"? There was a brief pause before Evan finally offered his hand through the hole.
¶ His hand was slightly beyond my reach. "I think I'm stuck". I looked around the room, but there was absolutely nothing in here besides Jamie's coffin. Jamie looked down from the hole and asked, "can you try pulling the thing I was in over here"? Without much hope for success, I positioned myself in front of the coffin and tried pulling it up the incline. I expected it to instantly fall back to its place, but instead, it fell slow enough for me to climb on top of it and jump high enough to reach Evan's hand. While Evan and I caught our breath, I laughed, "I can't believe that worked". Jamie countered with a pout, "my ideas always work". Evan copied my laugh and Jamie soon followed. For that brief exchange, it felt like we weren't trapped here.
¶ The moment was short lived, we walked back to the elevator in silence. Once we took our first step inside the elevator, Jamie broke the silence, "So how do we use-". Before she could finish her sentence, the elevator shook rapidly and rose at a steady pace. Her eyes showed a hint of fear, but when I offered her my hand, her emotions began to settle. She squeezed my hand until the door finally opened. She marveled at the pure white room. Somehow, the door to Evan's room had disappeared, so in its place now lied a simple white wall.
¶ "Which room do we go to next"? I bobbed my head in between the two remaining rooms, "I'm not sure". Evan pointed to the left room, "let's go there". Without questioning it, we followed him. Jamie nearly fell to the floor as the room rattled, but I caught her arm before she could. When the room finally settled, Evan rushed to open the door. Beyond the door, we were surprised to find a near empty room. There were only two things in the room, a test tube looking pod with a man inside and a robot with a square head. Once we stepped into the room, the robot made an odd sequence of sounds and flashed on its one eye.
¶ Evan immediately tried running back inside the elevator, but the door was already shut. Despite how far away from the machine we were, we heard it perfectly, "Hello Contestant One, Two, and Three. Contestant Four is in the next room". A light below his eye shined which revealed a digital smile. Jamie stood behind me while Evan hugged the wall. "To proceed, one contestant must best me in a game of their choice". Jamie peeked her head out from behind my shoulder, "Who's in the next room"? The robot maintained its stare, "as I stated prior, Contestant Four is beyond this room". I felt my voice quiver as I asked, "what game do you want us to play"? The robot responded, "as I stated prior, it is your choice". Jamie asked, "do we all need to beat you"? It quickly responded, "only one of you must best me in a game of your choice".
¶ Jamie and I shared a look and nodded, "Okay, we choose a coinflip". The robot made a whistle sound, "Invalid game, please choose from the pre-selected list". It continued, "Contest one, a riddle. Contest two, a physical altercation. Contest three, tik-tak-toe". Evan, now standing beside me with his knees shaking, "What's the riddle"? The robot made a bell sound, "What has no beginning and end, but will forever remain". Jamie shouted, "a circle"! The robot's eye flashed red, "Invalid response, Contestant Two and Three are barred from retaking any contest". I felt Jamie shrink into my arm while Evan nearly fell to his knees. I hesitated, but ultimately a soft and quiverful voice escaped my lips, "I choose tik-tak-toe". A monitor arose from the ground directly infront of the robot. Each step felt heavier then the last, but I made my way standing alone in front of the robot.
¶ There's this trick to playing tik-tak-toe, if you play first and place your piece in a corner, and your opponent places their piece in the center, you win automatically. My only hope is if this robot somehow let's me make the first move and places its first piece in the center. To my surprise, the robot both didn't make a move until I made the first move, I stared at it in suspense, and to my surprise, it placed its first piece in the center. I stared at the machine in disbelief, a part of me wondered if it had let me win. I had easily won the game. Before the robot shut off, I could have sworn it winked at me. The wall opposite the elevator began to lower itself. The fourth pod stood in the center of the room without worry. If this was all I had to worry about, my heart could be at ease. This whole experience will be nothing but a thing I think about in nightmares.
¶ I ran in front of the fourth pod and instantly noticed my long time friend Lucas, Evan and Jamie were still a small distance away, Evan squinted and pointed out, "Are his eyes open"? The pod opened automatically and the man inside quickly tore off all the tubes and things keeping him suspended, instantly he jumped from his pod and landed right on top of me. His first punch didn't register, it wasn't until the third one that I realized he was berating my face with his fists. He yelled with vigor, "You won't take me alive"! I couldn't make a sound, I could only wonder why they wasn't helping me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Evan and Jamie running my way. A few minutes had passed, but it had felt like an hour, until Evan finally pushed him off of me. Lucas rolled onto his knees, and let out shaky breath while he surveyed the rest of our party. His voice shook, "Evan, where are we"?