The Key to Everything

Chapter 23

HEYYYY.

HOW ARE YOU?

I AM FINE BUT I WOULD BETTER IF YOU READ AND ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER.

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dream

"Oh, oh. Sorry." I heard someone behind Eros say. Eros moved away from me like the speed of light and turned around to meet Carl's surprised eyes or they were scared, I wasn't so sure.

I cleared my throat and took a pan out of a cabinet, my cheeks heated up. I turned on the elegant stove and set the pan on it. While Eros was behind me, he got the batter and set it near the stove. "You should go and sit, I can do the rest." Said Eros, his voice uptight.

"OK." I responded by matching him.

I went near the fireplace where Carl was nowhere to be seen but Diana sat there in a ladylike position, with a book between her fragile hands. I sat next to her and asked "What are you reading?"

"Just some book I found in our room. What happened between you and Eros?" She asked, catching me off guard.

"Oh well, nothing. He is in the kitchen making chocolate pancakes."

"For sure. It's okay though, I'll wait." She responded, sarcastically.

A bubble of guilt formed inside me, I thought of her as a friend and I really wanted to tell her; and the look on her face wasn't helping. Her ocean blue eyes provoking me to tell her the whole truth and I wanted to but something inside was preventing me from doing that.

"Eros kissed me." Before I knew it, the words slipped out of my mouth. The expression on Diana's face didn't change, not even in the slightest.

"I knew that. I just wanted you to say it." She said, finally fully looking up from her book. "Did Carl tell you?" I asked. She nodded. Eros came into the room and kept the tray of pancakes on the table in front of us, "Here, Me and Carl are eating on the dinner table." He said.

I nodded, avoiding eye contact. When Eros left, I looked back at Diana, who looked like she had a question at the tip of her tongue.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you like it?" She asked and when I had a confused expression on my face she added, "The kiss. Did you like it?"

"It was barely a kiss, his lips just brushed against mine." I responded, feeling my cheeks heat up. "Did you like it, regardless of how long it was."

When my silence answered instead of me, a glint of excitement sparkled in her eyes. "You both should date already, I mean you like him and vice versa. Just give it a shot, plus you liked his lips brush against yours." Diana explained. If I thought about it, she wasn't wrong and I could give it a shot.

I ate some of the pancakes and they came out perfectly. After the breakfast magically stopped appearing on the table, we all had to prepare breakfast ourselves. I didn't mind it though, it felt like the only normal thing around us all. The fact that we were stuck in a game where the snow was magenta and I was considering dating a guy I would've puked in his face last year.

I finished my pancakes and went to take a quick shower before leaving the cabin. I let the soft warm water flow down my body while I tried to sort my thoughts out. I had the habit of doing that because of my not so normal childhood, the only time I was at somewhat peace was the shower. By the time I came out of the shower, I was ten times calmer than I was before I entered the shower. I came out and saw everyone packing some of the food in some boxes.

By the time we stepped out and looked back the cabin had already vanished. We followed the map and Eros kept avoiding each other. I was pretty sure Carl and Diana noticed because Diana was by my side the whole time and Carl was with Eros. It was ridiculous, honestly. We all knew it but no one said it and just played along. When we reached the portal, we all stepped in, almost immediately. To distract from the awkwardness, and trust me it did. We forgot about it all in seconds when we saw what lay in front of us.

A tall building which looked a lot like the hanging garden of Babylon, before it was destroyed stood in front of us. The delicate details framing the beauty of the actual structure. All the trees and plants only enhanced the charm this building had. The whole building stood in the middle of a water body, which I couldn't identify and we were standing on a majestic wooden boat. When I searched for the post-it note, I found something else instead. Instead of a post-it note, I found a stone which had the note carved into it near one of the seats.

It said, "Welcome, Rue Arena, Eros Oakes, Carl Martin and lastly, Diana Adalyn. Congratulations on finishing the first part of the game and now you have reached the second and last part of the game. This is where you will have to use not only your powers but also your mental strength. This structure in front of you is a hanging garden and there is a hidden gem here which you will need to escape this game. The projector didn't mention this gem because players get to know about it only after they have reached the second part of the game. Best of luck for the four of you."

I was excited to find out that we were half way through the game but I was kind of sad because this experience has been life changing for me, literally. It sometimes feels like this is all a dream and none of it is real, but if this all is a dream, it would prove that dreams are the only weapon in the war against reality.

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I hope you liked that chapter, if you did please vote. TYSM for reading

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