Carla woke in a mysterious room, the dust piling in her lungs made her cough while her eyes adjusted to the light, she was sitting up on the ground leaning on a bed foot cabinet. The room looked old and smelt even worse. The cold pricked at her skin from the floor, she didn't recognize this place, she also didn't recognize the person sitting across from her, still in a deep sleep. Carla's eyes widened in panic, and she felt herself hyperventilating as she slowly rose from the floor.
In a place that looked as ancient as this, most of the floorboards would probably creak. So, she refrained from moving much as to not wake the random girl in the room with her, Carla peered into the broken vanity the many cracked versions of her staring back, her eyes overloaded with wet tears. She didn't know why, but something about a broken mirror made her upset.
She snapped out of her trance with the mirror and her head swiftly turned towards the door, using her dirty hands to wipe the salty water off her face.
"Ugh.” Carla let out a small yelp when she heard it. She thought the other girl was still sleeping, but, to her surprise. She was not. As the other girls' eyes adjusted, she spotted Carla, and screamed “WHO ARE YOU??!!” Her voice was piercing, Carla's ears weren't used to the louder sounds.
“Can you be a little quieter please?” Carla muttered, her hands scrunching her ears to quiet the noise.
“QUIET?? YOU WANT ME TO BE QUIET??” The girls face showed anger, but her eyes filled with panic
“I WOKE UP AT GOD KNOWS WERE WITH A RANDOM GIRL I DON'T EVEN KNOW!” Tears slid down the girl's face, and Carla couldn't tell if it was because of the situation, or because of the dust. But maybe, just maybe, this was an opening to a new friendship, i know, in this situation the last thing you would be thinking about would be friends. But if Carla had some, maybe she wouldn’t have so much hope.
“I-...I’m Carla” Her voice was shaky, but it sounded confident enough.
“.... Poppy.” The other girl whispered it quietly, but loud enough for Carla to hear.
“Let's try and get out of here, ok?”
Carla shook the door handle uncontrollably, it wasn't budging. It was locked, and the lock was complex enough to not be picked by Poppy's mysterious lock picking abilities. Poppy couldn’t remember where she came from or who she was, Carla thought about it, she could not remember either. The two sped around the room trying to check every nook and cranny for a key, any hope of escape. Nothing. All they found was dust and lost wills.
“There's... nothing here...” Poppy muttered to herself “There's nothing here...” She giggled, not happily though, crazily, as if she were losing her mind, to be fair, she probably was. Carla's back was turned but she could feel Poppy's stare burn her spine, Poppy's gaze felt claustrophobic, even more than the tiny room did.
“Poppy?” Carla turned carefully, attempting to cover up the shaking in her voice but failing. Poppy was staring deep into her soul, not saying a word. Maybe it was for the best, whatever words would come out of her mouth would be horrid.
The lights flickered, after the third flicker, A hooded figure appeared in the room, far enough away from both girls that they wouldn't be in attack range. Soon enough, it spoke.
“Hello.” Its voice was reverbed beyond recognition, but it was enough for Carla to piece together that it was a man.
“It appears you are stuck on this room, so I will give you a hint.” Carla didn't want a hint, she wanted to find out what was happening to Poppy.
“A Mirror is where a true self is shown, if its broken so is your spirit.” The reverbed words stuck, they ringed through Carla's ears and bounced around her brain. And as soon as the hooded figure appeared, he disappeared. Carla turned her attention to Poppy; her attention was locked on the spot the hooded figure once was.
“Poppy?...”
“What.” Her tone was stiff, like a brick, her gaze still not faltering from the place where the guy stood.
“I-I think I figured it out...”
Carla and Poppy glared at the multiples of themselves on the shattered vanity. Poppy had her hand on her chin while Carla just stared into her own eyes through the glass, what had that guy meant? What was he even talking about? Carla sighed, slumping to the ground in defeat. Poppy muttered to herself before slinking to the floor right next to her.
“So... What now?” Poppy said it like the answer was easy, it was in fact, not easy, not easy at all. Carla pondered in silence, but after wondering for a full five minutes she noticed something. A floorboard. A loose floorboard. How had she not noticed before? Carla's eyes locked on it, she slinked into a crawling position and made her way to the loose floorboard, ignoring the obvious yells of concern from Poppy. Carla attempted to lift the piece of wood, her fingers straining on the wood as she tried to open it, Poppy ripped her off the slab with one pull, and Poppy did what Carla couldn't. Throwing off the wooden board with one yank, revealing a dark black pit.
Carla and Poppy stared blankly at each other, And before Carla could stop her, Poppy stuck her hand into the abyss and her eyes went wide.
“Carla...-” Suddenly poppy was cut off from her sentence by the hooded figure appearing
“You... won.” he said it as if he had been defeated, like we were his opponents in a bigger game.
“Congratulations.” Then everything went black.
Carla didn't know how much time had passed. But she woke up in a concrete room, wearing a white hospital gown. Poppy across from her, still sleeping. Carla eyes adjusted to the change of scenery and light, and as she did a girl wearing a doctor's outfit strolled into the room
“Your awake, 29366? Well welcome back, I am Grace.” Grace stared at Carla. As Grace stared at her she began to regain some memories. Like that she was in her 2nd year of university, top of her class. She had three friends; Tori, Jessica and Stephanie and that... she came here willingly. She signed up for an escape room for money, despite her friends' desperate pleas to not join. Even so, she did. The worst decision of her life.