False Paradise.

Chapter 7 - If it works, it works.

"Out of bounds..." No matter how much I repeated it, it didn't make any more sense than the first time I read it.

We crowded around the metal, Antoinette running her fingers along the surface until stopping at what looked like a handle.

"What is this? Some sort of door?" she muttered, tugging on the handle. "... Sebastian, open it."

"What? Why me?" Though I had to admit I was incredibly curiously.

"Because if it's dangerous, you can scream and give us a headstart to run away."

I scowled. At least she was upfront about it.
I stomped down onto the ground and took the handle, digging my heels into the dirt as I pull with all my strength, until...

I fell back, my grip slipped. My head collided painfully against the ground below and I immediately take my head. "Ow! Sonofa- did it open? What the hell... why would they even make pain a thing here?" I mutter, sitting back up.

"To simulate the real world," said Antoinette. "But isn't it weird?" She turned back to the door, completely ignoring my pain. "What's an underground room doing all the way out here?"

"Maybe it's a trophy room for the winners of the race!", said Claire with a clap, looking too enthusiastic of her idea.

Antoinette got up and pointed at her. "I don't think so, otherwise it wouldn't be called out of bounds."

I deadpan. "What is this, some mystery thriller? Don't pull stupid poses like that," I say, crossing my arms. She lowered her arm, flustered.

"In that case.." Claire crouched down next to the trap door, suddenly having lost all interest. "Maybe it's just some storage room," she suggested, tilting her head.

She may well be right, but I felt like there's something more than just that. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about that door... called me. I had to know.

I tried forcing the door open a few more times before eventually calling it quits on account of my head hurting from falling back so much.

"If that's that, then come on, let's gooo," said Claire, leaning back. "I'm getting bored and it's gonna get dark and then we'll really be lost. Plus, I still gotta find Kristi."

Antoinette is still crouching next to the trap door -she seems to be deep in thought. But eventually, she stands up and closes her eyes, turning her head up. That seems like a weird thing to do, she can't even see so why is she looking up at the sky if-

"Let's go," she said, interrupting my monologue. "I don't think we'll be able to find anything here unless we can open this door."

"Well... duh." I raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that obvious? Antoinette frowned at me.

Wait, so we're leaving just like that? No, I want to open this thing. Now that it's here, I can't just ignore it.

I try heading over to the metal again, but Claire grabbed me the collar, promptly choking me. "You can't open it, Sebby," she said, dissapointed, like I wasn't just here trying that. "And it's getting dark soon. We'll just ask for help later! Surely there's gotta be someone that knows about this."
I massaged my pained neck and cough as they start walking, continuing downstream. Tearing my thoughts away from the door, I'm forced to follow them.

We continue to walk for about five minutes, and during that time we still haven't gotten any closer to finding the way back, but at least I've managed to somewhat stop thinking about that door. Antoinette did say that the race takes about at least ten more minutes to finish, so we have that going for us.