The Longest Escape ((on hold))

The Second Trial

My stomach slowly becomes a growing butterfly enclosure as I round the corner cautiously, not knowing what to expect. But as I turn the corner, I realize that it's just another empty room. Blinking in confusion, I glance around to see that it does, in fact, look exactly like the red room I had just been in. However, the light that shines in this one is blue. What's with all the colors? I ask silently as I move closer to the center of the room. Setting down the plate of food, I stand up straight as I keep my senses alert.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Not even the slightest of sounds, or tiniest movement can be found. It's like the whole world has just come to a complete stop, frozen. The only sound I can hear is my own heartbeat, thumping in my chest.

I slowly turn in a circle and soon come to a stop to find a small circular table a few feet away from me. How does this stuff just keep appearing here like this? Stepping up beside the table, I notice a nicely folded piece of paper in the center of the glass covered table. Curious, I pick up the paper and begin unfolding it. After the fifth half fold, a full plain piece of printer paper comes alive. Writing covers the paper from top to bottom. Whoever wrote it has huge handwriting; only a few words fit across the paper in one line.

Remember the colors or become ablated.

Remember the colors or be ablated? What's that supposed to mean? I move my eyes up to focus on the light fixed in this room. Blue light. The other room was red. Remember the colors...

A strange sound coming from behind me snaps me from my daze. I look over my shoulder to see a large dog scoffing down the food on the plate that I had set down on the floor. It's bigger than the Rottweiler in my last test, and it is silver-colored, with patches of darker gray. Taking slow, steady steps backwards, I inch away from the creature. After my tenth step, the dog suddenly stops eating and remains still. After a few seconds passing by, I started to think that it had become paralyzed or something. But before the thought could fully enter my head, the creature's head snaps up, its glaring green eyes looking straight at me. It is now that I realize that this is no dog. The animal baring its sharp canines at me is a large gray wolf.

My heart stops as I stay still, my whole body tense as if it would make me invisible. Hours seem to pass by before the wolf slowly lowers its head to devour the rest of the food on the plate. Once it finishes, it raises its head, its long pink tongue dragging across its lips as its eyes meet mine once more. It isn't until now that my lungs start screaming for air, making me realize I had been holding my breath. As silent as possible, I puff out the air in my lungs and draw in a deep breath. The creature must have noticed because it starts to draw back its lips into a deadly snarl.

My breath hitches as I remain as still as my seemingly liquid body can. It feels like I could just collapse into a puddle at any given moment. I don't know what to do. It's not like I can just jump up and hang onto something, the ceilings are too high. It's not like I can just wrestle off the wolf with my bare ha- The knife... the thought suddenly comes to me. I completely forgot about the long, sharp kitchen knife at my side. I glance down at my waist, able to see the tip of the blade. I can't though... I can't kill the animal... I think.

A loud growl makes me snap back into reality. I look up to see the wolf inching towards me, one careful pawstep forward after the other. I sigh in defeat as I slowly bring my hand up to my side, careful not to touch the blade. Wrapping my sweaty fingers around the handle of the weapon, I carefully drag it from its resting place against my hip. Holding the knife with the blade facing the large wolf, I move my legs into a defensive stance. Please don't do this... I don't want to hurt you...

As if answering my thoughts, the growling abruptly stops and immediately turns into high-pitched whimpers. Straightening up, I watch the wolf's sudden change in behavior curiously. It takes shaky steps backwards in retreat, and with closer examination, I can see that its gaze points towards something big behind me. It is at this moment that I hear a deep grunt high above my head, hot breath streaming down my neck.