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

Chapter 4

"GOOD MORNING!!!" Cesar yelled through the door. He was pacing around the hallway waiting for Mark and Adam. Mark was actually already awake. He left his suite and stood at the door watching Cesar. "Good morning..?" He questioned. "Ah! Good morning to you too! Just waitin' on Adam now."

It had been a long time since Mark had seen his friend so energetic. It made him pretty happy...somewhat reminded him of old times. Adam was rudely awoken by Cesar who seemed to be pretending to be his alarm clock. He groaned and rolled over to face the window. It was a bright sunny day. He got up and looked outside. Still looked like an alleyway. The cement below looked wet and it was misty, about the same as the day he arrived—yesterday.

Adam peeked his head out the door and saw Cesar and Mark talking. "Um..." Adam started. "Oh! Good morning Adam!" Cesar said again. "Yeah, I just have a quick question...I guess. Do I have to get up this early? I just-" "Early? It's 9 am!" Cesar interrupted him.

Adam just sighed and closed his door. All three of the guys were walking down to the dining room. Cesar was telling some kind of story—Adam wasn't paying attention. Suddenly, Cesar included Adam into the conversation. "Right, Adam?" He teased. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure." This made Cesar giggle and Mark smile to keep his laugh away. "What?" Said Adam. "There was no question, he was just messing with you." Mark explained.

He was used to silly unorthodox things like this from Cesar, having known him for most of his life. Adam rolled his eyes and sped up to get further away from the other two. After a filling breakfast, everyone went back to the hotel's lobby. "So," Cesar began, "as we can all see, there are a lot of choices! But you can also feel free to explore the place too!"
"Can I go back to my room?" Adam asked. "Of course you can!" Adam chuckled to himself smugly. And left the Mark and Cesar behind.

Several hours later, the clock chimes. 8pm. Adam was already in the area, checking the gambling machines out. Mark appeared from a hallway on the other side of the room. "Where did you go?" Adam asked him. "Found a library." Mark replied. Mark spent his whole day in there. Books on just about every topic you could imagine, a seemingly endless supply, and better yet, it was nice and quiet! No one came in there the entire day.

Cesar walked in shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. "Good evening, guys! Tonight's game is a nice game of group solitaire." Adam groaned. "Hey, my first night was Go Fish. Consider yourself lucky." "Yeah, how about I let you guys do that again, and I'll leave?"

Adam started walking away smugly, when he bumped into what felt like an invisible wall. Cesar chuckled. "I'm afraid you STILL have no choice, my friend!" Adam turned around again to face Cesar and Mark. "Again, I'm not your friend. And what's the big deal with playing games? And the wall? Am I tripping or something?" "Believe me or not, this building is enchanted! As for the games part, I believe I explained the rules to you last night." Cesar replied while setting the game up.

"Well yeah, but I didn't think you were serious!" Adam wailed. He walked back over to the table and took a seat in defeat. "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them." Cesar said. "Now who's ready?" Then the doorbell rang.

Jonah found himself in an unfamiliar alleyway. It was dark and damp, only lit up by the moon and some faint lights here and there. He looked around in all directions, then he saw it; the big, glittering sign for the Mandela Casino Hotel. "Oh hell yeah!" He thought.

Although, he had no money. But no one needed to know that, right? He walks in, and sees a strangely empty lobby. The sight kind of freaked him out. He had always expected a casino to be busy and bustling; but not this one. What did that sign say? Mandela? He must still be in Mandela County, he thought.

A chubby guy with short, slicked black hair walked up to him from an area off to the side. Jonah could see slot machines over there. He got excited. "Welcome, welcome! You're in the Mandela Casino Hotel! I'm Cesar Torres, and-" Jonah interrupted him.

"Yeah that's cool, comin' through!" He tried to walk past Cesar, but Cesar held up a hand to stop him. "I'm very happy to see how eager you are, but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way! Allow me to explain-" Mark and Adam stepped out to see what was going on. Jonah got even more excited when he saw Adam. "DUUUUDE!" Jonah yelled happily. Adam started running over. "HOLY SHIT, JONAH? NO FUCKING WAY!"

The two guys pulled each other in for a hug and did an elaborate handshake. Jonah started to tear up. "I never thought I would see you again! Oh my god, I'm so sorry man..." "No, *I'm* sorry. What happened is all on me. Don't blame yourself."
Cesar cleared his throat."I'm very glad to see that you two are acquainted, but not only do we have an important ritual going on, but I also now need to explain everything to Jonah."

"I can do it." Adam offered. "We're stuck in here and the only way out is death by losing or something like that." "Bull-shit!" Jonah laughed and playfully punched Adam's left arm. "No, he is 100% correct!" Cesar added. Jonah turned his full attention to Cesar and got serious.

"What?" "That is what I've been needing to explain to you! So you see," "Oh nah, I get it. This is basically a purgatory, right?" Cesar was annoyed that he got interrupted again, but surprised that someone had finally mentioned that. "Wh- yes! You're the first one to really realize that and point it out!"
Jonah laughed and cheered. "And now that you're here, now about we get back to that game?" Cesar said, turning to everyone. While playing, Cesar explained the extra information to Jonah.

"Weird, but okay." Was all he really had to say. They played five rounds. "Well I'm excited that we now have enough people for a good game of poker! Maybe we'll play that tomorrow night! Alright everyone, sleep well!" Adam and Jonah caught up a bit on their way up the stairs. Adam followed Jonah to his door to make sure he got in alright.

"Woah," Jonah gasped when he turned on the light. Everything was so clean and it all matched...very different from the room he had in his home. "Yeah, mine is sorta like this too. Different colors, though." Adam said. "Guess I should get going to my own room. See ya tomorrow, okay? Night." Adam turned around and began walking away. "Wait, you can't stay with me just a bit longer?" Jonah asked.

"Not really, another weird rule is that we aren't allowed in each other's rooms at night." Jonah giggled. "Pfft, what do they think is gonna happen?! And since when do YOU follow rules?" He teased. "Hey, if the rules are keeping me here, then so be it. I don't want to see what death here would be." "Okay, fair." Jonah responded. He stepped out of his room and into the hallway to give Adam a big hug. They both missed things like this.

"I really need to get going, we aren't supposed to even be outside of our rooms until morning." Adam said. "Okay. I swear I'll still be here tomorrow! I am not leaving you again." Adam smiled and walked away.
Adam had the best sleep he'd had in a while that night.