The Henhouse

June 3rd, 2019 - 5:58 PM

"So, is something supposed to happen here, or....?"

Eight teenagers surrounded rectangular patch of hardwood, now bordered by thin strips of yellow light, which seemed to be slipping through thin cracks in the floor. No one dared to cross the strips, despite the hardwood inside seeming stable as ever. The dining table there had disappeared around an hour ago without a trace, yet the ornate uplight chandelier hanging above it still illuminated the floors cheerfully, like an over-excited hostress.

"Ooh, is this a test? Should I get firewood-?"

"Shut it, Jonah," Ivy hissed. She tapped her foot. "What time is it? It has to be soon."

"Only a few minutes to," Peter offered calmly. "Won't take much longer."

"Remind me why we needed 5 whole minutes to get off our asses and get out here, again?" Jonah argued. "Are we missing anyone?"

Justin scanned the crowd clockwise, starting from his left: Ivy, Peter, Dany, Jonah, Ella, Artie, Casper. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... and him.

"No, we're all here."

"Then can we GET STARTED, already?" Jonah yelled at the ceiling. Her voice rebounded off the high walls. She was probably looking for a camera in the ceiling, a microphone in the potted plants.

Justin almost pitied her. He'd been picking up on her wary eyes, nervous ticks and gulping throat ever since they'd arrived.

Truth was, she was terrified of this place.

Casper, on the other hand, was nowhere close to hiding his anxiety. He wobbled back and forth between two feet, twiddled his thumbs, and couldn't stop blinking, as though the whole place were a nightmare he was desperately trying to wake up from.

"Hey," Justin whispered, unable to stand the sound of his shoes tap-dancing on the floor. "We're fine. It's gonna be fine. It's just a dinner."

Casper looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded. Justin hadn't realized how short the kid was until now, standing side-by-side with him. Justin was at least a foot taller.

The beams of light in the floor snapped to red. Everyone took a few paces back as an alarm blared with incessant, intermittant beeps. Then the rectangle inside split in two, sliding open into a pit. From the depths rose a bouquet of flowers- several... on a dining table, with food neatly arranged into a center aisle, surrounded by 8 pristine place settings of what looked like expensive dinnerware.

"Er, was this supposed to be white-tie, or something?"

"Should've brought my prom dress."

The table rose to the appropriate height, and the rectangular floor below locked into place with a tremendous boom that rattled the whole building.

"Bon appétit," Ella said quietly. Justin might have smiled back, if his facial muscles weren't locked into place.

Jonah was first to choose a seat. She grabbed a chair right in front of her, but as she pulled it towards her the beams of light surrounding them turned red again, and one loud BEEP resounded about the room.

"What the-?"

"What's going on?"

"That's not your spot," Ivy explained. The group looked to her.

"Well, look!" she told them, exasperated. "The place settings are labeled."

So they were. Craning his neck over a chair, Justin saw that the plate directly in front of hiim held a notecard which clearly read "Casper Callaghan" in a small black print.