Ready for it? (Joost Klein)

16

"I need scissors to cut this rope."

"Here is a pair of scissors with me. But to get free I need a four-digit code."

Joost is on the other side of the room and there is a lock on his rope.

"4 digits." I look around the room looking for 4 digits.

On the wall across from me is something written. "All first editions can help. Water flows through everything until you have what your heart promises you."

"What?" Joost looks at me confused.

All first editions can help...

"Joost, what year was the first edition of Eurovision Song Contest?"

"Uhm..."

"Try 1956."

Joost enters the numbers and the rope comes loose. "Yes, it worked!" When his hands are loose, he comes over to me with the scissors and cuts my rope loose too.

"And now what?"

I look around. "We need a key to open the door. But I think we should do something with this, too." I walk over to the stack of books.

They are open on certain pages. The books are in a different language. "Joost, what language is this? German?"

He comes up beside me. "This is more like Swedish."

"Do they expect us to understand this?"

Joost shakes his head and goes to a wall where there are all self-portraits hanging. "I think one of these people is from Sweden."

I see Einstein, Newton, Lorentz, Nobel, Bohr and other people I don't know. Joost looks at me. "I didn't finish school, you should do this."

I laugh and look for a connection. "They're all scientists. But what are we supposed to do with them?"

"What did you say earlier about water?"

I read off the text on the wall again. "All first editions can help. Water flows through everything until you have what your heart promises you."

Joost points to a small table standing in the corner. On the table are chemical test tubes with liquids in them. He picks up the one with H2O in it.

"Should we pour these in somewhere?" We look around the room.

"I don't think that's the purpose."

Joost stands by the self-portraits once more. "Livia, here! Each self-portrait has a little heart painted on it. I think we should pour the water over the painting."

I come and stand next to him. "Yes, good idea! I suppose we should look for the Swedish scientist. Einstein is from Germany, we can skip that one. And Newton is from England."

I go down all the self-portraits. "I have no idea where Lorentz and Nobel are from. Those are 2 options. Bohr I think is from Denmark."

Joost looks at me. "You're hot when you act intelligent."

I try to hide my smile from the camera while Joost pours the water over the painting of Lorentz and Nobel.

A word appears on each painting. "Flowerpot and doormat," reads Joost.

I go to the flowerpot and examine it. I look under it, inside it and study the outside but I see nothing.

Joost, meanwhile, stands by the doormat. "I found something! It's a key!"

We try to put the key in the hole and open the door. I expected this was already going to be the end, but we see a dark hallway.

"Do we have to go in here?"

Joost nods. "I think we're about to go into another room."

There are no lights on in the hallway and there is the laughter of a girl. It's scary as hell.

"I don't think I want to do this."

Joost takes my hand and steps through the hallway first.

The corridor is quite long and the girl's laughter gets louder and louder.

"Oh my god, this was not the deal. I'm terrified." I hold on to Joost's arm.

"Nothing is going to happen. I'm right here with you and it will be over in no time." Indeed, after a few more seconds, we come to a new door. Inside, the room is decorated like a prison cell.

To our right are instructions. "Mila, a little girl has been murdered. Use the riddles and olve who the murderer is. Otherwise you may be next. Work together, 1 person reads the witnesses and the other solves the riddles.'

The light flickers and the laughter is there again.

I go to the table where 5 photos of men can be seen, numbered from 1 to 5. Joost stands behind the soundproof glass near the witnesses.

There are walkie-talkies in front of us.

"Okay, Joost. I have five men here in front of me. I read the first sentence and you look for the answer in your witness statements, okay?"

He raises a thumb to me.

"The second guy has a black car." , I say into the walkie-talkie.

I see Joost searching among the statements of testimony. "It says here that a white van was spotted on the street where the girl lives the day she disappeared."

"Okay, great. I'm already crossing him off as a suspect."

And so we go on. Until we finally get to 1 man and can open the door with the correct numerical code.

Outside, the host approaches us with a camera crew. "You have escaped! And with a very good time!"

Joost takes me in a hug. "You did that well!"I hug him back. "You too."

"Cut!" The camera stops and the host congratulates us. "It will be hard for the other team to beat you guys. We'll let you know who won. Thanks for joining us!" 

Moments later, Joost and I are outside. "What do you have to do now?", he asks me. I shrug. "Going back to Belgium."

"You can do that later. You and I will have dinner together now."