Isaac stared up at the ceiling for several minutes before his bran kicked in.

This...definitely wasn't his room. His ceiling was more interesting that the smooth white square above him. At least his room had a fan he could stare at; this room only had a flat circle in the ceiling.

How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was going into his room.

He tried to sit up.

That was when he finally realized he was strapped down.

He couldn't move at all, except for his right arm.

"Wh...what the hell?"

He struggled, but whatever was holding him down was too strong for him.

"I-Is someone else in here?"

A girls' voice? He didn't recognize it. It sounded like she was off to his right.

"I- yeah?? Who are you? Are you strapped down too?"

She answered immediately, her voice shaking. "Y-yeah. I can't- I can't move, except for my arm-"

Isaac reached out with his one free arm to see if he could touch her table, but found nothing.

"Shit. What the hell is going on?"

"I was hoping you might-"

A phone started ringing, somewhere off to Isaac's right again.

"Is that yours?" he asked.

"M-my phone wasn't in my pocket before..???"

"Answer it!" Isaac urged. "I want to know if we're being held here for ransom."

A faint beep.

"H-hello?"

"Why would you say 'hello' when we were just kidnapped?" Isaac huffed. "Say something like-

"Beginning voice guidance."

"Definitely don't say that."

"I-Is this a recording??"

Isaac sighed. "Damn, I don't get to ask for a portion of the ransom."

"I-Is this really the time-"

"The first trial will now begin. Isaac and Ashley: find the key hidden in the room. Then, unlock your restraints. If you cannot do so before the time limit expires, the device on the beds will activate, and your bodies will be crushed. By all means, please enjoy the thrill with all your body and soul. The time limit is a healthy 5 minutes. And note that there is only one key. Please discuss who will use it. Magical and/or supernatural abilities are not allowed during this trial."

Isaac's body went stiff.

The phone beeped again, then was silent.

"I-I don't understand," the girl stammered. Ashley? "Why are we here? And what did they mean by 'magical abilities'?"

Isaac swallowed. Someone kidnapped him? Who knew about his powers...?

But he couldn't worry about that now.

"Let's worry about not dying first," he said, as calmly as he could in the face of impending doom.

"Ok..." He could hear Ashley take a deep breath. "We should check our pockets. They put this phone in mine, maybe one of us has the key. Or maybe on the floor?"

Isaac searched his pockets awkwardly with his one free hand, but found nothing. He stretched his arm down towards the floor, and his fingers brushed something smooth and round.

"I think I got it! Let me-"

After some fumbling, Isaac managed to pick up a red resin key. "There!"

"Use it!"

Isaac frowned. "Wh- don't you-?"

"They said there's only one," she reminded him. "But it sounds like we can both escape. Just get out and figure something out!"

She sounded scared out of her mind, but she seemed determined too.

Isaac searched with his hand for the key hole. It was on the side of the bed. He unlocked his restraints and got up as quickly as he could.

Ashley was just as tightly bound as he'd been.

What the hell is going on?

Looking around, he didn't see much that would be of use. There was a combination lock by the door, some sandpaper hanging from a string, and a number written on the wall.

Ashley's bed did not have a number combination. It was just a green lock.

"This is the worst escape room ever," Isaac mumbled. "They have the door combination on the wall."

"Can you stop making jokes and help me?"

"I'm looking!"

He did a quick search under the beds, but found nothing else. Maybe it wasn't that complicated? Maybe he just had to use the key twice.

He tired it in the lock.

Too big.

"Shit..."

How much longer? Probably not long.

He had to hurry.

There were no hints on the back of the sand paper. There was nothing else on his bed.

He inspected the key again.

A small piece had broken off the end when he'd shoved it in the other lock. It was green underneath.

Maybe if he used the sandpaper, he could take off the red parts of the key and it would fit in the lock on Ashley's bed...?

Sure enough, the red came away and revealed a smaller green key, which fit perfectly in the green lock.

"Holy shit I did it."

Click.

The restraints around Ashley loosened. Isaac helped her pull some of them off.

"That...that was awful. Um...thank you. Isaac, was it?"

"Yeah...glad neither of us got squished."

Now that they were out of immediate danger, Isaac took a moment to look at her.

She was about his age, with short, light-brown hair, green eyes, and glasses. In her oversized red sweater and jeans, she looked like your average nerd.

"Let's get out of here," she said. "I want to go home."

They entered the number combination into the lock by the door. It made a pleasant dinging sound, but nothing else. As it turned out, the door was already unlocked.

"I'm giving this place 0 stars on Yelp," Isaac grumbled. "This is the actual worst escape room ever."

"What is it with you and jokes? We almost died!"

"Sorry. It's part of my wonderful personality."

They walked in silence, for all of about five seconds. Then Isaac started complaining.

"Why is it so dark?"

"I think we should try to follow the wall," Ashley suggested.

"Great idea. Which one?"

"Let's start with right."

The right wall appeared to be the right choice. Not that they could really tell, since it was so dark. They didn't find a single light on the way.

"I shouldn't have left the phone back there," Ashley grumbled. "Do you have anything we could use for a light?"

Isaac checked his pockets, not expecting to find anything he didn't notice before. Ashley stopped and checked herself too.

Suddenly, he felt like he was floating. Being pretty sure he didn't have any ability that involved spontaneous flight, he quickly came to the conclusion that he was falling.

He heard Ashley shriek something about staying after school for a book club, then all he could heard was the wind in his ears.

He wasn't sure how long he was falling for.

It felt like a long time.

Long enough that the initial adrenaline wore off and he got annoyed.

How far up were they before? Who the hell built this place??

If he was going to make some stupid pit fall, he wouldn't make it so long they-

"Oof-!"

"Oh good, we finally landed."

Ashley pushed herself off the giant cushion and glared at him.

"Don't pretend you weren't scared!"

"First off," he started, shakily standing, "I didn't say I wasn't. Second, you're glasses are crooked, Velma."

"Don't call me that!" She quickly fixed them. "Are you always this irritating?"

"Depends on who you ask. I'd say yes, but most people would say more."

She groaned. "Whatever. Let's get out of here."

This new hallway was much shorter, and much better lit. They quickly found themselves in a wide, open room.

There were nine other people there.

Isaac's attention was immediately pulled to the two boys in inverted versions of the same black-and-white letterman jacket, arguing over something. One was a senior from Isaac's high school. The other was from Isaac's year.

The younger one noticed him too. They stared for a second before pointing at each and saying, loud enough for everyone to notice that two new people had arrived, "What the fuck are you doing here?!"