The Beige Room

Chapter 8

~Please enter through the door marked Cafetorium, Your next task will be through that door. You have 7 hours.~

Everyone in the room was on edge. Each person's muscles were tensed and their fists clenched. Greyson came charging through the door into the beige room.

"Guys the a door in the next room just clicked!" Greyson said his voice cracking.

Kalum raced into the next room, with the others at his heels. He slowly opened the door, and peered inside.

"Wait!" said Osiris. "I don't think it"s a good idea to enter. What if the room is dangerous."

"I don't think so Kalum," said "Look". He pointed at the room. Everyone craned their necks to get a good view. The room was beautiful. In the center of the room, was a large glass table. The surface was glass and it was held up by ornate golden legs. A huge red velvet rug covered the wooden floors, and around the perimeter of the rug was golden stitching. On the table were huge plates and serving bowls stocked high with mouthwatering food. There were mashed potatoes and gravy, a large turkey, bowls of stuffing and chips, plate full of sandwiches, and a tray with all sorts of desserts. Yuno's mouth watered. However, what really set the victims on edge were the large portraits on the walls surrounded by ornate gold frames. There were six portraits. One for each member of the group. They were in stunning detail and very accurate. Beside those portraits the room felt very homey and safe. On the edge of the room was a beautiful leather couch with colorful throw pillows and blankets. Each person hungrily eyed the food.

"So, let's eat!" Yuno said joyfully. "I'm starving". Yuno approached the table, with Greyson and Nala following behind her.

"Wait, I don't trust it," Osiris said cautiously.

"Our captors are giving us food, of the highest quality I might add. We should enjoy it." Greyson said.

"I agree, we don't know when we will get the chance to eat again," Nala added.

"No," Kalum's rough voice cut in,"We can't trust it, the food could be poisoned."

"Like Greyson said, our captors gave us this food. Do you really trust the people who put this here; the same people that kidnapped us?" Archer said.

While everyone was arguing Yuno approached the table and sat in a large backed chair. She tentatively piled food on her plate, and examined it. Seems fine, she thought. She took a large spoonful of mashed potatoes and shoveled it into her mouth.

"Mmmm! This tastes amazing!"

"You idiot, that food could be poisoned!" Osiris yelled.

"Maybe poisoned with good flavor!" Yuno said around another spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"Thats enough proof for me," Greyson said as he piled his own plate with food. He bit into a turkey leg, and moaned in pleasure.

"This tastes great!" Greyson purred.

Nala looked to the rest of the group. Osiris shook his head. Nala looked back at the food again. She gave in and settled next to Yuno. She reached for a sandwich and Archer slapped her hand away. "Don't do it love, I don't want to see you hurt yourself". He said. Nala pulled away from him and said. "Look if it was poisoned, the effects would have settled in already. It's probably fine". 

She grabbed a plate and put as much food as she could on it. Osiris, Kallum, and Archer stood as they watched in horror.

"We really should stop them they are going to end up poisoning themselves," Osiris muttered.

"No let them eat it," Kallum replied. "It was their own stupid decision, they should face the consequences."

"That does sound a bit harsh don't you think?" Archer replied. Kalum said nothing.

Forks clanked against the plates as the three slowly began to finish their meal. Yuno yawned and said. "Wow that was amazing you guys should have ate with us." Osiris and Kallum were still completely suspicious of the food. However Archer seemed to grow a little less suspicious. He saw that nothing was happening. Perhaps the food really was harmless. The food sat there and continued to tempt him, his stomach started grumbling he slowly reached for a sandwich his mouth watering until he heard a loud crash.

Nala tumbled to the ground with a loud thump bringing a few plates down with her as they shattered against the floor and showered everyone with glass fragments. Yuno and greyson started screaming. Greyson then doubled over and started vomiting all over the beautifully delicate red velvet rug. Everyone winced away in disgust. Osiris just stared blankly as feelings of guilt flooded through his brain. I should have stopped them, he thought. There were so many chances where I could have stopped them but I was too afraid to. Kalum showed no emotion and Archer just stood in a states of fear realizing that this could have been him. Yuno then fell to the ground and started having violent seizures and convulsions. Her body thrashed around violently knocking over plates and bowls having them crashing to the floor and then shattering. It was complete chaos.

Osiris tried helping by dragging Nala to the corner of the room where she would be safe from all of the falling dishes and plates. Greyson still continued throwing up in the corner holding his stomach as if it were in great pain. Yuno continued thrashing and rolling around the floor violently and Kalum tried to hold her down. Archer then went over to Greyson and gave him an empty bowl to vomit in so he wouldn't mess up the rug. After a few minutes things began to calm down a bit. Yuno stopped convulsing but instead she was left in an unconscious state. Nala started waking up only to find the completely destroyed room. Osiris tried explaining to her what happened as she watched with a look of complete terror. She had a cut on the side of her face from one of the glass shards and Osiris tried wiping the blood with a napkin he found on the table. Kalum was dragging Yuno away from the broken glass. Greyson stopped vomiting but he was still holding his stomach as Archer tried to help him sit down. Kalum picked up a comatose Yuno and layed her down on the couch. Osiris was still tending to Nala's wound. Greyson was looking around the room at each person. All of them had some type of injury from the glass shards. Yuno's leg was cut. Kalum's arm was cut and slightly bleeding. Nala had a cut on the side of her face, but the bleeding has stopped. Suddenly, the intercom burst to life.

~Hello, I hope everyone enjoyed the food. In case you haven't noticed you have been poisoned. You can receive the antidote, when you finish the next task. Proceed with caution.~

Everyone who was conscious tensed when they heard the door on the opposite of the room click. Nala got up from the corner and cautiously opened the door.