The Trap

Chapter 9: Toby

I follow the voice's directions. It takes about a minute to get there and when I do I see that the door is wide open and there's not much light coming out of the room. 

I nervously step inside and am greeted by a hooded figure. 

"Sit down." Says the hooded figure, while gesturing me to a small wooden chair with a small metal table in front of it. 

I follow his command and I sit down in the chair. Once i'm in the chair I notice that there are restraints on the arms of the chair, probably to keep me from escaping. 

The hooded figure walks over and wraps the restraints around my arm. They are tied very tightly around my arm, so tight that it feels as if my blood is being cut off from the rest of my arm. 

When the hooded figure is done, It leaves the room and closes the door behind it and I hear a loud click of a lock when the door is fully closed. 

Nothing happens right away, so my eyes start to wonder around the room. On the table are two  medium sized buttons, one is red and the other is black. The red one kinda looks like the Staple's button that says Easy on it except this button doesn't have anything written on it. The black button does say something on it though, this one says Me on it in bold white lettering.

My heart starts pounding in my chest and I start nervously sweating...  If one of them is for me then who is the other one for? 

Suddenly, three square shaped lights turn on it front of me and it takes me a moment to realize that they are televisions. The images starts out blurry but slowly gets clearer. The images look like... I gasp horrifyingly at the images in front of me. They are all images of young women, who are chained to a corner of a wall.  

"See those girls there?" Says a voice suddenly. 

I look around the room as far as my head turns in this chair and I see no one here so there must be another speaker in here. 

"Do you see those girls there!?" The voice says again, sounding frustrated that I didn't answer the first time.

"Yes." I respond. 

"Good. Because their lives are in your hands."

I don't say anything. I just let tears fall down my face.  

"See, those aren't just images, that is a live footage of the girls. Every choice you make, will cause a painful experience to either them or you and when you choose them over you, you will see it happen to them." 

"What if I choose no one?" I ask, feeling like I solved the problem. 

" That's not an option because if you don't choose someone, everyone will die including you and you'll be the last one to die so you can watch. So if you value your life and theirs, you will make a decision." 

"And if I choose them over me... will they die anyways?" 

"No. Death is too easy, you need to watch them suffer. Maybe you'll like it." 

"I will NEVER like hurting someone else for my own benefit!" I yelled

"We'll see about that won't we." 

Suddenly, a very painful stinging sensation engulfs my body and I start flipping my body wildly in different directions in the chair, and I can't control it. As the stinging continues I feel really hot, so hot I that I might actually be on fire. But I can't tell if there are any flames because my head won't stay still and my vision is getting blurry. 

Suddenly, it stops and my whole body goes numb. What just happened? 

" That is what happens when you pick yourself, you get electrocuted. So if you don't want to feel that way again then I suggest you pick them instead." The voice from the speaker says as if some how reading my mind. 

I can't say anything, my body is too weak. The only thing that I can do is cry, so I do.

" So I'm going to give you a question and If you get it right then nothing happens to the girls or you. If you get it wrong, someone needs to be punished. So, press one of the buttons on the table to give a little shock to the looser. Also, each time you get a question wrong the amount of volts of electricity increase." 

Increase? That was already extremely painful and now if I get a question wrong... 

"What was the name of the Italian Cruise Ship hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in October of 1985?" 

"I... I don't know." I say feeling my heart break 

I'm going to loose... If there's more questions like this there's no way I'm going to win! Who am I going to choose? How many questions are there? 

I close my eyes and press down on my button. The electricity flows through my body and once again, I feel as If my body is on fire as I flail around in the chair like a fish. But this time the electricity is more powerful and I can't help but scream in agony. 

When the electricity stops, my body goes completely numb and my vision keeps switching from clear to blurry. 

"Here's the next question." The voice says, and I can already feel the next volt of electricity that will go through my body when I get that question wrong. " Who was Karl Marx's partner in creating his book the Communist Manifesto? " 

My eyes widened in surprise. I know this answer! I'm a big history geek and I know all about Karl Marx. 

"Friedrich Engels."  I say proudly 

"What?! I thought you didn't learn about Karl Marx until High School!" he says flabbergasted 

I smile proudly even though it hurts. 

"You may of gotten this one correct but I know you won't get this one." He says. " What's my name?"  

"George." I say, guessing a random name and hoping it's his.

"WRONG!" He shouts through the speaker "Now pick your looser."

"I'm sorry." I say quietly to myself

I press the button and again my body feels the harsh electricity flow though my body. This time it's harder for me to stay awake but my screams keep me from going into the darkness. What a horrible sound I can make. 

When the electricity stops I feel the ghost of it still traveling through my body. I know it's not on anymore because I've stopped screaming and my body is only twitching now. 

"Why do you keep picking yourself over those girls?! You don't even know them!" asks the voice, sounding both confused and angry. 

"That's why I'm doing this. They could be more valuable than me and that's a risk I'm willing to take." I say weakly 

"So, you'll do anything to help someone even if you don't know them?" The voice asks, sounding surprised

"Yes." I reply before, blacking out.