ESCAPE

Chapter Two

It feels like we've all been standing over the open basement door for an hour.

"Well, go on then," Bella says, nudging Luke.

"Oh, hell no," he says, shaking his head. "Haven't you ever seen a horror film? The black guy always dies first. No way I'm going down first."

Even Chia - who is usually the most easy-going and first to make a joke - looks uneasy and hesitant.

"You guys are ridiculous," I tell them, trying to inject confidence in my voice. I begin stepping down into the basement and add, "Do you seriously think something bad is going to happen? I'm telling you, it's just a game. I booked the thing, I should know. Now, come on, you big babies."

I enter a low-ceilinged storage room with clusters of antiques and random trinkets. The fluorescent lights feel very bright and hurt my eyes, after having gone through the dark shop upstairs. The air is warm and stale, with a strong mix of dust and old metals. I turn as Will comes down the steps. I take it as a good sign that he was the first to follow me down. The others soon follow and look around the room.

"See," I tell them. "Nothing to worry about."

A metal desk is on one side of the room, beside a tall filing cabinet. The opposite wall is mostly taken up with a large framed image of the world map. I step around a box of old clocks and see there is a door in the far corner.

"So how does this work?" Will asks. "We figure out how to open that door?"

"Something like that," Luke says, eyes scanning the room. The area is just about big enough to fit us all among the boxes of antiques without it feeling too cramped.

"Take everything as a clue," Chia tells him. "Leave no stone unturned. But you probably don't actually have to pick up any stones."

"Cool," Will says as he picks up an old book and starts flicking through it.

There are so many random objects in the room, surely we don't have to look over each and every one of them for a clue? I decide to check the desk. There's a stack of books and an old typewriter, beside a tall lampshade that has a flowery pattern. Everything looks pretty old and long-unused, but then that's probably normal for an antique shop storeroom.

There's a big padlock on one of the desk drawers. The other two drawers are empty. "Okay," I say out loud to everyone. "There's a four-digit code on this padlock. So, we'll need to find four numbers somewhere."

A rush of air precedes a huge boom as the basement door slams down. We all jump and our heads spin towards the sound. The steps now lead up to a thick metal door. No way out, now.

"What the hell?" Bella says.

Luke is the closest to the steps. He goes up and tries the door, but finds it firmly shut. "Looks like it's locked."

"Do you think someone pushed it?" Chia asks. She seems more excited than worried.

"I don't know about this, man," Luke says, shaking his head.

"It's fine, right?" Will asks. "I mean, the whole point is to unlock that door in the corner, anyway. It's not much of a challenge if we can just leave whenever we want."

I nod. "Yeah, you're right. Seriously guys, I know it's weird that no one was here when we came in, but I'm telling you, it's just an escape room. Look." I pick up a business card from the desk and show it to them. "This is the name of the place. Desk Apes. That's who I booked it with."

"Desk what?" Luke asks.

"Oh, I get it," Chia says, smiling. She always loved puns and was at her happiest when she figured one out. "Desk apes. Like, escapes."