Saw

Chapter 2

Lawrence was looking around the room. His eyes came to a rest on a clock hung up on the wall. it was a clean, brand new clock, ticking away. The time was 10:22 am.

"Look at that clock." Lawrence said, squinting at it. "It's brand new."

"So?" Adam snapped, not understanding.

"So someone obviously wants us to know the time," Lawrence sighed. "Wait, I think I may be able to reach that door."

On Lawrence's end of the room there was a huge wooden sliding door. He reached as far as his chain would allow him, pushing against it with all his might. Meanwhile, Adam was in deep thought, then something in his mind clicked. He started frantically going through his pockets. In his back pocket he pulled out a plastic baggie with a white envelope in it. How did he not notice this before?

He opened the baggie, and pulled the envelope out. it read ADAM in huge letters. He sat there staring at it for a moment, wondering what was inside. He ripped open the envelope, and pulled out a micro cassette player. he turned it over between his fingers, examining it. Lawrence was still struggling with the door when he looked over and wondered what Adam had in his hands.

"What is that?" he asked. Adam didn't answer, still examining the tape. "Excuse me?" he asked again.

Adam glanced at Lawrence, then looked back down at the tape. "It's a tape."

Lawrence thought for a moment about asking where he got it, but then suddenly started reaching into his own pockets. He pulled out the same thing; a plastic baggie, with an envelope reading LAWRENCE in huge black lettering.

Adam was still staring at his tape. "It says Play Me."

Lawrence tore open his envelope, and pulled out another cassette tape that said Play Me, a small bullet, and a key. Doing the obvious, he reached down towards his shackle and put the key in the lock.

"Come on, come on, come on..." he mumbled to himself, desperately trying to open the shackle.

"Throw it over here!" Adam called out. Lawrence held up the key and threw it towards him. It landed just in front of a dirty toilet right next to Adam's pipe.

"Fuck." Adam said, trying to unlock his own shackle. It didn't work for him either. He yelled out and threw the key to the floor. It was then he realized something about the body in the middle of the room. There was a cassette player in the body's hand. He stretched out as far as his chain would go, but there was still four feet between him and the player.

"Use your shirt." Lawrence said.

Adam looked down at himself, then started to unbutton his blue flannel shirt. He held one sleeve of the shirt and flung it towards the cassette player. He tried multiple times but it was no use.

"It won't work," he said, frustrated.

"Look around," Lawrence said. "There must be something else you can use."

Adam looked around his immediate area, then into the bathtub. He noticed the tube plug, which was attached to a long cord. He pulled it out, then tied the cord to the sleeve of his shirt.

He threw the tube plug, attempting to get it through a loop on the cassette player. He tried three times before he finally got it. The player slid from underneath the corpse's hand and he pulled it towards him. Wasting no time, he placed his tape inside the player and pressed play.

At first there was nothing but static. He held it out a bit so they could both hear. Then came a chilling, raspy, deep male voice from the play. It sounded slightly distorted.

"Rise and shine, Adam. You're probably wondering where you are. I'll tell you where you might be. You might be in the room that you die in. Up until now, you've simply sat in the shadows, watching others live out their lives. But what do voyeurs see when they look into the mirror? I see you as a strange mix of someone angry and yet apathetic. But mostly just pathetic. So are you going to watch yourself die today, Adam? Or do something about it?"

The tape cut back to static then ended.

"I don't get it." Adam said, frightened and confused.

"Throw me the player." Lawrence asked, eagerly.

Adam paused for a moment, then said, "No, you throw me your tape."

Lawrence let out a heavy sigh. "Look, we're going to have to work together if we want to get out of here, now just throw it to me."

"I'm not going to risk breaking it," Adam said. "Throw me your tape."

Lawrence paused, then held up the tape and tossed it to him. It landed just behind Adam, who bent down and picked it up. He popped it into the player and pressed play. Again, it started off static. But then came the same chilling, raspy male voice as before.

"Dr. Gordon, this is your wake up call. Every day of your working life, you have given people the news that they're going to die soon. Now you will be the cause of death. Your aim in this game is to kill Adam. You have until six on the clock to do it. There's a man in the room with you. When there's that much poison in your blood, the only thing left to do is shoot yourself." The voice on the tape coughed, then continued. "There are ways to win hidden all around you. Just remember: X marks the spot for the treasure. If you do not kill Adam by 6:00, then Alison and Diana will die, and I'll leave you in this room to rot. Let the game begin."

The tape cut back to static, then ended. Lawrence and Adam looked into each other's eyes, both terrified. Then Lawrence stood up.

"Give me that," Lawrence said firmly. "Now!"

Adam tosses him the player with the tape inside it. Lawrence caught it, then pressed rewind.

"...then Alison and Diana will die, and I'll leave you in this room to rot. Let the game begin."

"Any idea who that is?" Adam asked. Lawrence shushed him.

"Wait, listen." Lawrence said.

As the tape cut to static, there was a moment's pause, then the voice said in a really hushed, quiet tone: "Follow your heart."

"What the hell does Follow your heart mean?" Adam said. Lawrence looked around the room, all along and up the walls looking for a sign. Then he noticed a small heart drawn on the dirty toilet next to Adam.

"There!" Lawrence exclaimed, pointing to the toilet. "Right next to you, on the toilet! Take off the lid!"

Adam glanced up at Lawrence, then removed the lid off the toilet. He reached inside and pulled out a black garbage bag. He tore open the bag and pulled out two rusty hacksaws. He threw one of them to Lawrence, then they both sat down and starting sawing on their chains furiously. There was no success or progress, and suddenly, Adam's saw snapped in the middle.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Adam yelled violently, throwing the broken saw across the room. It hit a mirror on the wall, and a small piece of the mirror broke off and fell onto the floor.

Lawrence was still sawing at his chain, pausing for a moment to react to what Adam had done. Adam sat down, breathing heavily, and Lawrence finally gave up, sitting down and leaning back up against the pipe. He held up the saw in front of his face, then came to a horrifying realisation.

"He doesn't want us to cut through our chains," he said. "He wants us to cut through our feet!"

They both looked at each other in shock. "I think I may know who's done this to us."

"What did you say?" Adam stood up, and looked at Lawrence as though he thought he had been hiding something from him.

"It's not someone I know personally, just... someone I know of."

"Jesus Christ! Tell me, who is it?"

Lawrence paused for a moment, then said: "The last I heard, the police still haven't caught him..."