The Death Game

Chapter 1 - Strange

"5... 4... 3... 2... and 1... Done! Time to go home," Ng said to himself in his mind as he glares anxiously at the clock on his laptop, waiting to clock out of yet another dreadful day at work. He looked over his monitor and glanced around. He had hoped to see if any of his colleagues made any movements to signal their departure. Yet, none of them showed signs of budging from their seats. He slumped back into the discomfort of his chair with a sigh and wondered how much longer he would have to wait before he could leave.

"Well I could leave now, but then I'd have to pass by everyone's desk and they already think of me as lazy anyway," he contemplated. Indecisions like these plagued his entire life. The mere thought of having to decide if he should leave the office now triggered his anxiety. A lump swelled at the back of his throat. He felt his heartbeat begin to quicken and his palms begin to sweat.

"If I left now, they will think I didn't have any work to do and let's be honest, I've spent the last hour shamelessly reading fanfiction. If I leave later, then they would think I was hard working and I could perhaps end up with more work than I want to do. Fuck work though. I do need to leave now, it looks like its gonna rain. I don't wanna get stuck in traffic. Fuck this shit. I'm so tired though. Should I stay a while more? Ugh what should I do?" Thoughts raced through his mind.

He decided to wait a little and played some music on his phone so he could focus on his breathing. He called to mind his sessions with Ms. Adella, his therapist, and channeled her voice into his head as he did his breathing exercises. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. In, hold, out.

The fluorescent light above him flickered and it drew his attention to a couple of flies overhead. He looked out the window and he saw storm clouds from afar rolling in amidst a fiery sunset, bathing the sky in a purplish green hue.

He shut his eyes and focused on his breathing. Ng shifted his attention to the ridges of his fingerprints, as he rubbed the tips of his thumb and fore finger. Slowly but surely he calmed himself down. Fifteen minutes passed by. "Surely someone would have left by now," he thought as he stood up and glanced around the room. Much to his delight, a couple of his colleagues had left their cubicles.

He threw his backpack over his shoulders and made a beeline for the elevator at the end of the corridor. He saw a couple of his colleagues already waiting for the elevator. The elevator arrived with him, much to his delight. The doors swung open and his excitement plunged quickly into a pool of despair. The lift was full of people sardined in together. Blank looks of sheer exhaustion plastered across their faces. The lift doors closed and it began its descent. He let out a sigh of exasperation and diverted his attention to the LED screen over the lift, and watched the numbers change quickly.

He waited eagerly for the steel trap that would take him to his freedom. It went all the way up to the 20th floor and began its descent again slowly. It stopped at almost all the floors on its way down. "Pretty sure this would be full of people as well," he said to his colleagues standing beside him. They simply nodded in agreement. Eager to get home, Ng decided to use the emergency staircase instead. "Good thing were on the 5th floor then," he said to himself as he entered to the stairwell to climb the stairs down.

He heard some footsteps on the stairs from the levels above but didn't see anyone as he looked up. He continued his way down. Ever steep he took was followed by echoes ringing through the hollow stairwell.

The air became hot and humid. The inadvertent exercise he decided to engage in caused him to sweat. It didn't help that there was no ventilation in this stairwell. Click clack, click clack, click clack, sounded his wooden-soled leather shoes as he made his way down. Sweat formed on his brow and trickled down his back. His backpack now sticking to his back. He folded his sleeves up to his elbow to feel a bit of coolness. It was no help at all.