Page 31 of The Trap

My lips part, but the voice resumes before I can speak. “This place is our little secret. You can’t find us on a map, Google, nothing. We are off the radar, underground, and most importantly, soundproof. What happens within our walls stays within our walls. If you don’t follow the rules, your time here will become more…permanent.”

Colson clasps his hands behind his head as he begins pacing. Every few steps, his heated gaze flickers over to me, as if this is my fault. “Of course,” he groans.

“Are you okay?” I ask sounding sarcastic, even though I mean it.

“Um yeah, I’m fantastic. We’re just in a real-life version ofSaw. No big deal.” He points his finger at the speaker for emphasis and I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous this whole situation is.

The validity in his joke isn’t lost on me because I’m wondering that exact thing, but I can’t let him see that I’m afraid, because then he’ll really crumble. As it is, he’s already probably freaking out that he can’t rip a couple hits of his vape to calm down, since whoever is responsible for kidnapping us made sure to empty our pockets before we got here.

“Calm down. I’ll protect you, big boy. I’ll keep a look out for the puppet on the tricycle.” I pout, sealing my words with a middle finger aimed towards him.

“Fuck you,” he sneers.

“Later,” the voice interrupts, stealing our attention once more.

“There’s a series of obstacles you must go through. Three rounds. One challenge, one dare and then of course, the truth round.”

“What happens if we don’t want to play?” Colson asks.

I turn to where he stands with his chest puffed out. “That’s not how escape rooms work.”

He lifts both hands in condescending defeat “Oh, that’s right, you’re the mastermind behind it all. Of course, you know how it works.”

“Once again, I didn’t do this. And secondly, that’s literally the universal truth of escape rooms. You have to work to escape them. They’re not just going to hand you the key and go ‘exit this way.’”

“Last time I checked, people don’t get kidnapped and forced into them,” he counters.

“Correct,” the voice interjects, drawing our attention to it once more. “Which is why if you want out of here and want this,” the voice stops and a grainy image appears, projected onto the brick. It’s difficult to see at first, but once the picture comes into focus, we both stare at the flash drive labeled Demonio. “You play.”

Both our eyes widen, though Colson’s reaction morphs into pure rage. Again, he points at me, and his steel gray irises look darker than I’ve ever seen them. “You’re really going to keep this act up, pretending you didn’t have anything to do with this?”

“I didn’t,” I protest, but it’s useless.

“Bullshit! That’s what you stole that night. Isn’t it?!”

“Yeah, but it means nothing to me! It was just a job.”

His neck cranks forward. “Just a job? What kind of fucking job do you work that requires you to go undercover and steal from people?”

“If it were that simple, I’d tell you. But think about what you’re asking. It’s above your pay grade, buddy. Now, shut the fuck up.”

Thankfully, he has nothing left to say.

“Ok, we’re ready,” I answer for us, and I can tell by the way Colson is audibly grinding his teeth that he isn’t so sure.

“No,” Colson quips with his jaw tense.

I turn to him, glaring.

“We’re ready,” I repeat.

“You’re going to pay for this,” he mutters.

Yeah okay, buddy, keep fucking thinking that.

Refusing to respond verbally, I blow him a kiss hoping that it both eases his worries and annoys him.

He rolls his eyes before turning his head in the direction of the speaker on the wall.

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