“Wh-what happened?” I groaned and tried to lift my hand to my head, where I could sense a cut, but my hand wouldn’t move.
“What the hell?” I tried lifting my hand again, but it would still not move. I tried my legs, which also turned out to be frozen. I started to panic, struggling to move. Beside my blinking eyes, only my mouth could move. I was stuck, frozen in this strange sitting position, in a large, empty room. The floor and walls were the same eerie blue, making it seem as I were floating in space.
All of a sudden floating text appeared in front of me, the word START glowing green. A small > appeared below it.
“What is this?” I yelled. “What’s going on?” I could feel tears pricking my eyes.
“Yes!” I screamed. “Yes, START! Get me out of here!” I still couldn’t move. I started to cry freely now, mumbling yes, start, yes. A moment later I was crying so hard I couldn’t even mumble the words, and so I just screamed them in my head. Last night I was- I- I don’t know. I couldn’t remember anything. My crying eventually calmed down, and I could hear a beeping. I forced my tears to stop, and eventually blinked the tears away so I could focus on what was happening.
The beeping continued and I could see the word START had been replaced.
A long hallway appears, with two doors
I stared at the hallway below the words. Indeed there were two doors, one on the left side, one on the right. I tried to stand up, but I was still frozen. “I want to stand up! I want to move!” I yelled at the words. “Do you understand me?! I want to move again!”
A long hallway appears, with two doors
Your yelling is confusing. Too many commands.
I stared in shock at the words. A small thought formed in my head and I tried asking again. “Um, I want to move.”
The “Um” shows your uncertainty. A long hallway appears, with one door.
One of the doors disappeared. I could feel myself starting to panic again, but forced myself to stay calm. “Return mobility.” I tried, in as confident a voice I could master.
I cannot return something you never lost
“But I can’t move!” I shouted in frustration. “Okay then, I want to open the door!”
Too many commands
Clearly whatever was listening to me was really stupid. I dumbed it down. “Open door!”
The door opens (you turn knob first) and you see another hallway. The floor is carpeted, there are three doors, and there is a painting and flowerpot at the end of the hallway.
All of a sudden I found myself standing in front of the open door. The text no longer appeared in front of me, but in the corner of my eye. The hallway looked exactly like the description. Of course though, there were some details the text didn’t mention, though I suppose the flowery pattern of the carpet didn’t matter.
“Open door!” I called out again. It worked last time, so hopefully it could work again.
There are three doors. Or can’t you count?
The sarcasm eased my panic a little and I could feel myself calming down. “Okay, open door one!” This time, the first door swung open and I was floating in front of it.
The door opened and you find yourself in a bedroom. There is, of course, a bed, a dresser, and a fireplace. Some clothes are strewn randomly. The owner is obviously messy.
I really didn’t understand what I was supposed to be doing or why I was here. I figured I should try and find a door that lead to the outside. And at least I was starting to get the hang of the text.
“Go back.”
I reappeared at the entrance of the hallway. I looked at the other two doors. “Open door two.”
Door is locked.
I tried the third door, “open door three.”
Door is locked
Stumped I asked to open the other door again, “open door two.”
You’ve already tried this door. Or, in the few seconds between tries, did you forget it was locked?
I thought about my options for a second. “Unlock door two.”
Don’t you need a key to do that?
I let out a sigh. I was gonna have to go on a key hunt.
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