There's No Way Out

Lost and Found

I wake up, head pounding. I have no idea when I fell asleep. I look below me, to see a thin mattress on metal bars. Where am I? I think. I try to stand up, but there is an excruciating pain in my back and my legs, almost as if my bones were replaced with blades. But once I successfully stand up, it's gone.

That was weird, I think. As I put my feet on the floor, I realize I am barefoot. Also that there's a large bandage on my left thigh. The floor is almost as dirty as the bed.

I'm in a small, dirt-covered room, only lit by a small window and a dangling lamp that looks like it could fall any second. I can see a dresser with two drawers, and a box with a handle. A tiny, gray box. With a lock that can only be solved with a 4 digit number.

My first instinct is to run to the window and see what's out there. But I see it has to be at least a foot of tinted bullet-proof glass. Great, I think. No other visible way out, and no way to break that glass. Even if I could break it, it's too small to crawl through. I look up, to see a vent over the bed. How did I not notice that before? The face of the vent and the screws holding it on look rusted. Maybe I could crawl through there...

Where does it lead? That's the only thing on my mind, until I start to look around. I look underneath the bed, to find cobwebs. But when I look under the dresser, I hear buzzing. Is it getting louder? I can't tell. I feel insane. I finally kick it over, fed up with being locked in here. The source of the buzzing is a black battery pack, with a red dot of light. But that's not all there is.

A 4 digit code. 9608. This is it! I dash over to the miniature gray box. I enter the code in, but it makes a rude buzzing noise at me, signaling that the code was wrong. I am so fed up with this place. I sit on the uncomfortable mattress again, leaning against the unsanitary wall. I feel useless. The place feels trapping, but for some reason, I don't feel panicked. I just feel... sleepy. I lay back down, and fall asleep immediately.

---

I woke up gasping for air. No nightmare, yet I'm on edge. I'm not scared, but I'm shaking. I blame it on the lack of blankets. I decide that maybe I missed something along the way. When I look in the gray box, the code is different. And then I realize. How foolish could I be? I was looking at it upside down. The code wasn't 9608. It was 8096. I am... brainless.

I look over to the box, and jump off my bed right to it, landing on my knees. I enter in 8096, and look at that, it opens. But inside, contains another lockbox.

"You're killing me," I say to the unknown thing keeping me here, and then I remember that they can probably hear me through the beeping device that I found earlier. It is resting on the ground next to the dresser I kicked over. I empty the contents of the gray box to find a couple coins. A quarter, a dime, and a penny. Great, I'm stuck in here, and I'm broke.

I have an idea. I pick up the coins and jump on my mattress. I put the quarter between my thumb and pointer finger. I jam the quarter in the rusty screw in the vent and try to twist. The quarter is too big and keeps slipping out. I reach for the penny in my other hand and let the other coins fall to the bed. The penny is a perfect fit, but the screw is too rusted to the face of the vent. I feel like crying at this point. After minutes of trying, my hands, and my ego, are too tired to keep going.

When I step down, the bandage on my leg rips off halfway and it pulls my skin. I yelp in discomfort, because the pain was surprising. Since it's already coming off, I rip the rest of it off, which hurts just as bad. But there was no injury on my leg. Why was that there? I look at the bandage and I understand. The number 65 is printed in black marker on the inside of the gauze. I flip it over to be sure I'm not getting the number wrong, like last time. Another number that's practically useless to me.

---

After a long time to think about the situation, I connect the information I have. I still have (at least) one more lock from the original lockbox. That, too, is a 4 digit code. I have the number 65 from my bandage, and I have three coins, totaling 36 cents. That could be 6536 or 3665. I decide to try them both.

I get up, with a backache. This was expected, from laying on the poor quality bedding. I enter 6536, which results in buzzing. Then 3665. It accepts this, and the small cube's door swings open to reveal a small control, which looks like a garage door opener. I press the button, and behind me, a strip of the wall disappears into the ceiling. A full body mirror is the only thing visible, which give me a chance to examine my profile. I don't look like myself. My neck looks irritated and a little bruised. Accompanied with navy blue shorts, I am wearing a short medical dress. The ones that they give long-term patients. It looks just as murky as the walls and floor do. It's a grayish-brown now, but something about the condition of it, tells me that it used to be white.

In the area just exposed by the garage opener, there is only that mirror. I touch it, and it bends slightly backwards, telling me that there is nothing behind it. It's breakable. I take a look at the room behind me, looking for something to throw at it.

I notice the dresser, which would be too heavy. But what caught my eye is that I never opened the drawers. Amateur move. I open the top drawer to find nothing, but I stick my hand in to be sure. The second one seems empty too, but I do the same thing, and my hand hits a slip of paper on the top of the drawer. I peel it lightly off, to be sure I wouldn't rip it, to see that it is an ad from a newspaper.

Try the new Escape Room!

Complete puzzles with family and friends, and receive a prize if you succeed!

This text is accompanied by a picture of the building that I can only assume hosts the escape rooms, and a picture of one of the rooms. It looks similar to something I've seen before...

I flip it over to see more information.

Solve puzzles in a series of rooms to finish the game. You have 1 hour to figure them out!

Come with your smart friends and family to try and get out!

This makes me think about the time. I've been here for way longer than an hour.

I can tell the card was from a while ago, from the style of advertising and the quality of the piece of paper. It was ripped from the daily paper, obviously, because the edges are jagged. The glue that held it on the roof of the drawer must have ripped some of the words off, because the rest of the card isn't decipherable.

I double check both of the drawers, but nothing else is in there. I take the original gray box and put this in there. I collect everything else that may be useful, like the coins, the little remote, the bandage, and the first code from the bottom of the dresser. I take both locks, making sure each one is with their corresponding code. Just in case, I think. You can never be too sure, and there was room for them, despite how small the box is.

I don't know what to do. The dresser is too heavy to lift to break the mirror, and the box is too light to do any damage. So I come to a conclusion. I have to break it with my body. I set the box gently on the bed, and I charge.

---

There is glass all over the floor, piercing my feet. I carry the box in my left hand, with a large shard of mirror in my right. You never know.