⊹ ｡ ﾟ⁖✦ •𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘈𝘜⁖ °✦ ･ﾟ⋆

Chapter 2

Mark had spent his day switching between various activities. He read, he wrote, and he gambled. That was what it seemed he could do. Cesar did say he could explore the hotel, but Mark just didn't have the guts to do so yet. He still felt like he couldn't trust anything. It was still just his first day there.

At around 7:55pm, Mark left his room and started down the stairs to the casino lobby, where Cesar had told him to meet up at. Mark took another look out over the railing at the lobby. The gigantic glass windows had red curtains drawn shut. Despite it being dark outside, the atmosphere of the building itself still felt warm and inviting. And most of all; safe. Cesar was standing in front of the casino lobby waiting. When he noticed Mark, his face lit up and he gave Mark one of his usual big friendly smiles.

"Mark! Good to see you again, glad you didn't forget! Hahaha!"
Mark still didn't understand what was so important or why he would forget. The way Cesar drilled it into his brain about how important this meeting was, Mark didn't allow himself to forget.

"Mhm, so..what are we doing?" He asked. "Glad you asked! Follow me." Cesar then led Mark over to a large round dark brown wooden table. It seemed to have some kind of shiny coating over it. "Have a seat!" Cesar motioned from across the table. The two were now sitting across from each other, opposite sides of the table. "So," Cesar began, "Name of the game is Go Fish!"
Something in Mark snapped. "Are you SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!" He blurted. "ALL OF THIS TROUBLE JUST FOR A GAME OF FUCKING GO FISH?! WHAT THE HELL, CESAR!"
Cesar stopped shuffling the cards and sat there unfazed by Mark's outburst.

Mark shook his head. "I know you've always liked to be a bit dramatic and light hearted, but dude. Come on. How is THIS life or DEATH? If this is some sort of joke, I'm not laughing." Cesar maintained his composure and simply said, "It's not a joke." Mark threw his hands up in annoyance.

"This isn't really like you. You're being too..." Mark paused and sighed. "I don't know." Cesar sat motionless for a second before returning to shuffling the cards and setting their game up. "You'll see how important these games are soon, Mark. I just haven't explained the rules to you, yet." That last sentence made Mark's hair stand up. "So you see, well...this may be hard to believe at first." "Just spit it all out. Please." "Alrighty," Cesar had the game all set. The two began playing.

"If you win, I genuinely hope you do! You'll get to see another day here at the wonderful Mandela Casino Hotel." Mark looked up from his cards and raised his eyebrows. "What?" He questioned. "What?" Cesar shot back. "It's-it's just, what do you mean I'll get to 'see another day'?" Cesar held a straight face before closing his eyes and giggling as if Mark had just told him the funniest joke of the century. Mark really wanted to get out of there at this point.
"Well, here comes the hard to believe part! If you lose, it's LITERALLY game over! You're gone for good!" "Gone?" "You know, dead!" Cesar said nonchalantly while taking his turn.
Mark looked shocked. Why was he saying such strange things out of the blue with no problems? Was he really serious? No matter what, Mark made sure to play his cards right and make sure he didn't lose.

The two guys played five rounds of Go Fish. After the last round, they shook hands. Mark had been sweating through all of those games. He was about to turn and go up the stairs to his suite, but he stopped. "Cesar...can I ask you something?" "Of course, my dear friend! What is it?" Mark gulped and cleared his throat. "Um...so since I won...what happens to you now?"
The two made eye contact. Cesar gave a warm smile once more.
"Don't worry about me! This is about you. I'll always be fine."
That answer kind of ticked Mark off. Why was Cesar the one destined to survive? That was how it seemed, at least. Was this some sort of punishment handed down to Mark? He nodded and walked away with no words.

"Oh wait," Cesar stopped what he was doing for a moment and Mark froze in place. What now?
"This is also really important to know! You need to be in your suite by 11pm. No later. You don't have to be asleep, in fact no one could possibly give any care about what you do! You just NEED to stay in your room until sunrise. Good night!"

That night, Mark found himself sleepless. He tossed and turned. What the hell did Cesar mean? What did any of this mean? Why was he here? His mind was racing with questions. Questions that would probably remain unanswered. They burned a hole through his brain. He sat up and got one of his journals out and began to write. This time, it was all of the questions he had swimming in his mind.

The curfew...why was there a curfew? It was just him and Cesar there, wasn't it? Nothing made any sense.
Mark must have eventually drifted off, because when he opened his eyes again, there was sunlight coming in through the window. However, he still felt like he got no sleep at all. Mark dragged himself out from under the sheets and got dressed. He stopped at Cesar's room, which had its door open. Cesar wasn't in there. Mark sighed and walked down the stairs; then it hit him. Cesar had never told him where to go for meals. It had also just occurred to him that neither Cesar or himself had eaten at all the day before. Mark didn't even remember feeling hungry at any point in the day. He looked around for Cesar, who was still nowhere in sight. Who he did see, was a woman of average height with medium-length curly brown hair tied back. She was facing the doors of the lobby and was standing behind what appeared to be a reception desk. Mark sheepishly walked over.
"Um...e-excuse me, could you show me where I'm supposed to go to eat breakfast?" He asked.
The woman turned around to see who was talking to her. She looked Mark up and down.
"Oh...Cesar didn't tell you?" "N-no." Mark began to sweat again. He just wished he was home.
The woman clicked her tongue. "Follow me." She led Mark past the casino lobby and through a set of big double doors. Once through the second pair, they were in a room with one of those long party tables. Cesar was sitting there with plates of food surrounding him. When he noticed the two walk in, his face lit up and he waved.

The woman sighed. "Cesar, you really gotta start telling your friend here where to go. He's not a mind reader." Cesar swallowed the food in his mouth and chuckled. "Hehe~ yeah, my bad! Thanks Ruth!" "Mhm." Ruth responded. Then she turned around and left. Mark sat down across from Cesar, who started eating again. "Sorry 'bout that. Here!" Cesar handed Mark a menu. Mark furrowed his eyebrows and shot Cesar a confused look.

"Check it out! Basically, you order what you want out of there. And don't worry, because it changes every day!" Mark studied the menu before deciding on something simple, as opposed to Cesar's several plates as assorted breakfast foods. "So to 'order'," Cesar started explaining, using air quotes "You ring that bell there!" He pointed to a bell that was sitting off to the side of Mark's table spot. Mark had just noticed that there were bells elsewhere on the table too. Just when this place couldn't get any weirder...

Mark tapped the bell. Just then, he saw the silhouette of a person come up to the door to the kitchen, and then a mustached middle-aged man wearing a chef's hat, a culinary coat, and...sunglasses? "Mornin! What can I getcha?" The man exclaimed, taking out a small notepad and pen. "Uh, I'll just have some pancakes and fruit please..." "Gotcha! I'll be back!"
Cesar smiled and laughed. "Funny, right?" "Sure."
About twenty minutes later, the chef came back out with a plate of pancakes, a small bowl of mixed fruit, and a glass of chocolate milk. Mark hadn't ordered that, but he *was* thinking about it. He thanked the chef and dug in.

Once he and Cesar had finished, Cesar started up a conversation. "What do you think you'll do today?" "I have no idea." "Fair fair, me neither really." They sat in silence for a minute.
"There's always exploring! And casino games, of course. There's a lot to do if you think about it!" "I guess." Mark replied. Although his breakfast was delicious and vaguely tasted of home, he was still homesick. Usually, having his best friend around would have completed this feeling, but Cesar wasn't helping. The way he acted like everything was normal and to be expected...annoyed and confused Mark.

Mark headed back up to his suite and sat in a chair in one corner of his room with a journal and thought of what to write. This chair was fancier than his desk chair, which was still situated at his desk. This chair was upholstered with maroon velvet and had the spades embroidered on it. Mark had noticed a special chair like this in Cesar's room earlier, too. Cesar's was different—it was black with red A's and hearts embroidered on it. Mark drew up what he had seen. He then wrote down anything and everything that came to mind.