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In the foyer of the Hall of All Livid Things, there are two claw chairs on either side of a door with a retina scanner. The wallpaper looked antique, like something out of 1912, as did the paintings and gas lamps hanging from the walls.
Star kept busy, playing Sudoku on her hologram, waiting for Gerald who was on the other side of the door trying to ascend. She'd been waiting for twelve minutes and six seconds when he bursted out of the door, panting as if he'd been holding his breath for minutes, gasping for the very air that surrounded him.
Star shot up from her seat, running over to his side as he crouched onto the ground, digging his nails into the wool carpet. Two people walking into the Hall, giving Gerald looks.
"First timer?" One said.
Gerald held up his finger, he couldn't get a word out.
"First timer," the other confirmed as scanner reached both their retinas and the door slid downward, revealing an elevator. One got in the shaft, it slid down and the other entered. The door appeared for the next player to enter.
Star pulled up her notebook and a keypad on her hologram, "What was it this time?"
Gerald sat on the ground across from her, steading his breathing, "2012. I uh, snuck into my summer job after work and almost drowned."
Star typed her fingers away, "How'd you get out?"
Gerald swiped through his refrigerator app, taking out a water bottle and chugging half of it, "Safeword."
Star rolled her eyes, "Try finding a plug."
He looked at her intently, "A plug?"
"Yeah, like in a tub, you plug the drain so that the water can't get out," she explained, closing her watch. "Remember, HALT makes you experience your worst memories but gives you the opportunity to face them. It lets you try again."
He nodded, crushing his empty bottle and tossing it into the air, disappearing. "Will you go with me?"
Drowning was one of Gerald's worst fears, he told her about that night once they went bar hopping for his twenty-first; at least what they estimated was his twenty-first. They lost track after the first couple hundred days. She parted her lips, "Sure, yeah."
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