Sinner's Game

7 - Collect

Anna

As Anna slid through the partly opened door to follow Jim, a breathtaking sight unfolded in front of her. The grim lighting of the cave had faded and had been replaced by a bright white light that shone from above. In front of them was a roughly cylindrical room, around 50 meters in diameter. The walls were shaped out of toys – like the ones at outside of the cave – and towered upwards until out of sight.

In the open space between the room's tower-like walls, countless giant toys were suspended in mid-air, held up by the Doll-Maker's strings – which could be made out by the reflection of them in the light which loomed from the false sky above.

The floor once more consisted out of colourful, plastic-like bricks. In the middle of the room was a massive pile consisting of presents, all neatly arranged in wrapping paper, tidy and with care.

Anna and Jim looked at each other. She hesitated. Jim nodded.

"But this makes no sense. We are underground, right? If there would have been a tower that tall, we would have seen it from miles away."

"Maybe we just got teleported far enough away? Or this is how it enters its cave and we are actually just very deep down?"

Another coughing sound emitted not too far away from them – this time more loud and clear. It had originated from the pile of presents. Jim held up his scissors, started walking forward. "Help me search. Maybe there is someone still alive hiding in there. And keep your eyes open for loot."

Anna rearranged her ponytail to calm herself down, followed her friend towards the pile, "I think we shouldn't be at this place."

"You wanted to be saved too, right?" Jim pointed his scissors into the direction of the pile, which was at least 10 meters high. "Maybe the person had a similar fate... just didn't get saved."

Realizing that Jim had a point, Anna nodded and walked over to the pile, started examining it closer. She had made a promise to herself, and she had to back it up with actions now. Jim walked to the right, kept his scissor close as he left her field of vision. She moved to the left to cover more ground.

Right as Anna walked past one of the presents, she could have sworn she had heard another cough, only quieter this time. She also realized how well packed up the presents were, like from someone very skilled. The paper had no dirty spots or unevenly folded sides, and every single one was nicely arranged. What also stood out was that no present looked like another. They all looked unique.

How did this stuff even get here? Maybe she shouldn't think about logic at this place too much, but it still seemed odd.

Then, another cough. This time, it sounded more like a grunt, a muffled panting.

This one! she thought.

Anna pulled one present from the pile, got it down with a lot of effort. Whatever was in there was very heavy. Perhaps Jim's assumption had been right, but his reasoning was flawed since the person wouldn't have been able to package themselves up from the inside.

She peered down on the box. A green and red striped package just big enough for someone around her size to hide inside of... great. Anna pulled on the blue ribbon which rested on top of the present, then pulled off the band attached to it. She used her fingernails to pull away the wrapping paper, revealed a cardboard box underneath.

Slow, hesitant fingers hovered over the box. She slowly moved her fingers to the pieces of cardboard, took a deep breath.