"Arrrgh!" Atlas shouted as he pounded on the blue wall. They had been trapped in this room for two agonizing days. Hunger was making them restless. Thirst was making them irritable. They had managed to solve another puzzle, and it had granted them another protein bar and beverage as a reward. Even with the prize, they were no closer to the freedom or answers that they desired.

It hadn't been a complex puzzle, just a simple safe in the corner with no apparent combination code or keyhole. The only feature on its surface was what appeared to be a card slot, the smallest rectangular hole in the middle. The room had seemed a bit off upon entering.

As they stepped in, they could see the back of a dark brown cloth couch. In front of the sofa sat a small wooden coffee table, a transparent panel in the middle of its surface. On either side of the couch sat two medium-sized nightstands, each adorned with a bit of decor. The living space was tied together with a large, soft, ornate rug.

Atlas had immediately pointed out the symmetry imbalance in the flower vases that sat on top of the nightstands. The vessel to the left contained small round pebbles and eight fake flowers. The vessel on the right held the same stones, but with 12 flowers. Atlas set towards the vases and arranged them so that there were ten on each side. This action caused a chain reaction and prompted the safe in the corner of the room to slam open wide and provide their meal, which they had split on their first day in the new area.

They had no more food or water until they left this room.

Presently, however, the room appeared very different from when they first found it. Hope and Atlas had both torn the place apart in search of the new puzzle to grant them escape. The rug was turned up and halfway across the room. The coffee table was upside down. The safe had was inspected five times over, and the beautiful nightstands had been overturned, spilling the contents of the vases across the floor. Hope had begun to work on destroying the fabric of the couch. She primed her scissors and ripped out a large portion of it's back.

Finding nothing inside the couch, she cut the fabric into a template and created a sort of sling or messenger bag. With her new bag tied securely around her slim body, she rolled her eyes at Atlas' fury. Hope had long expended her anger and set to work on productive tasks.

"Relax. We will get out of here. We just need to look harder," Hope said, with a note of optimism in her voice.

She placed her scissors and her fingernail clippers into the new bag, "Would you like me to make you a bag?" she offered.

Atlas sighed, shaking his head. It was rather foolish of him to get angry at this. No amount of anger would help him escape. He walked around the walls for the nth time that day. Two days was a long time to be contained, and Atlas was growing disconcerted.

That guy from earlier must have stayed there at least a week. Alone.

His thoughts had seemed to wander more often the past day. He looked over to Hope, who had taken off her shoes to walk along the hardwood flooring. He knew she was searching for the puzzle by using her feet and sense of touch.

Atlas would, now and then, cast a glance at Hope. She was beautiful. He watched as she tucked her autumn locks behind her ears. She did it every five minutes, or so, often, there was no hair falling into her face. It reminded him of a nervous tick or a habit that she was none the wiser to.

Hope looked up at him from across the room. They made eye contact, and she gave him a beaming smile before resuming her search. The smile sent warmth through his body. It was like her soul had radiated happiness into him. This feeling felt wrong with the current situation, but it repressed his anger. He awkwardly went back to his search after being caught, but this time with rosy red cheeks.

After searching for a few more hours, Atlas couldn't take it anymore. His anger took over again as he brought his foot down on the turned over coffee table he was standing beside. The glass center shattered on impact. He was breathing hard as he shook the glittering shards off of his shoe and proceeded to kick at the table.

"Are you happy?! Is this what you wanted?!" he shouted at the ceiling. He gave the table one more kick for good measure. His rage subsided a little with the effort.

He heard Hope speak from behind him. "They aren't listening."

He turned to face the girl. She had her hands placed firmly on her hips. Her face a picture of sympathy and concern. His breathing slowed as he processed her words.

"Of course they are listening," he snapped. " They knew when we completed the other puzzles."

Hope rolled her eyes at the immature boy. "They don't have to be listening to watch us solve a puzzle." The playful mockery of her words was like a slap on his wrist.

"Think about it, Atlas. Every time we jump into the elevator, it moves and jerks us to the side. When we move to the side, we end up in the same room. That means there is a series of elevators right beside each other that look identical. When we move down a floor, we end up in a different room. That means that level has identical rooms as well. Don't you see?" Hope finished her explanation, and Atlas rubbed his temples.

"It's a grid," he said, looking back at her, "I don't understand what that has to do with them listening."

"If it's a grid, then there is no way for us to know how many rooms are on each floor. It could be fifty, hundreds, thousands. Who knows? It is highly unlikely that they are listening to all of these rooms at once. Especially if there is a person in every vertical column."

Atlas let out a breath. He nodded. "You're probably right... it did make me feel a little better to destroy the table, though." He relived the euphoric relief in his mind and thought about how his anger had lessened.

Hope laughed as she watched the anger and tension leave his shoulders.

"So, what's the plan once we get out of this room?" Hope asked her companion.

"If we can find the puzzle and solve it, we should head sideways. That way we can get some more food. After all, we have been in this room for two days."

Hope nodded in agreement and went back to where she had been searching previously. Atlas looked at the coffee table and used the toe of his shoe to poke some of the broken glass in an absentminded manner. Then it caught his eye, the smallest blue glimmer in the middle of the glass.

The entire pile was shiny, but this piece was different. Atlas bent down and carefully picked up the shard by its edge. It was a small rectangular piece of glass. This shard had a blue tint to its surface, and rounded borders. A broad and enthusiastic grin spread across Atlas' face.

"Hope!" he shouted and spun around to her, "I found it! This is the next puzzle!"

Hope skipped over to him to look at the thin card-like object. Her face scrunched in confusion, "Where does it go?" she asked, looking up to him for the answer.

"I have a theory." He walked towards the safe on the far wall. Lining the key up to the small hole on the safe's door, he pushed it in. The key only went in halfway. Confused, Atlas pulled the card back out to inspect the hole. He couldn't believe that after days of searching, he had found the solution only for it to fail. Looking into the small slit, he saw a mechanism halfway through that was stopping the glass from entering completely. His brow furrowed.

Where else could it go?

"There was a similar slot in the elevator," Hope pointed behind them.

Atlas handed Hope the key, and she walked through the doors. Turning so that she faced the inner buttons, she aimed the card at the other slot. Pushing it forward, she watched it slide in and then slide back out. She took the card and tilted her head to the side.

"Did that do anything?" she asked Atlas. He sat at the safe and peered back into the hole.

"The stopper moved!" he shouted. Hope brought the key back over and handed it to the crouched boy. He took the key and got it ready to slide in. Hope watched nervously and clutched the makeshift bag that rested on her left shoulder and right hip. Atlas looked back to her.

"Get ready to run," he said before pushing the card further. The card remained inside, and the pair ran towards the doors. They were about halfway across the room when the doors started to shut.

They leaped into the elevator and heard the doors shut, yet again, behind them. They were breathing hard as they lay against the icy elevator floor. Atlas held his arm above his face to block the fluorescent light. He found himself looking at the ticking watch at his wrist.

They made it out. Now they had to do it all over again.