Dreaming

The Tower

I outed him.

I threw him out that door.

There was a game, a fun little opportunity that I don't remember how I came across but I know that I took the chance. Many people did. From all ages, too — from grade schoolers to old men. There was a whole town, we could live how we wanted. Kids could still go to school — I was a college student — adults had jobs, but there was this one thing we all had to do.

The tower. They said it was an opportunity for riches, for all that you could want. We just had to go through initiation. We had to attend a meeting. They told us the rules, and they gave us our schedules or job descriptions, whichever you were old enough for. We just had to survive.

Cliques were already beginning to form, people grouping with whoever they thought had a chance. I was with a good group, all the popular people.

Somehow, we got early access to the tower, more for us. There were seven of us in the group, all young, around the same age. We were running through the halls, claiming rooms as we went, securing any loot that we could.

But then the game started. The first one was released.

I didn't know this at first, but apparently we had roles — I should've paid more attention at the meeting. Those roles were very important, I would come to find out.

They announced that she was released. More monster than woman, really. I forgot what she was called, but she was vicious . Roles were very important. You see, the tower worked on a point system, the more you achieved, the more points you have, and the more points you have, the better rewards you can get.

We all hid in the nearest rooms we could find, I ran into some sort of computer lab and held the door shut. I looked into the room, and this dandy old man was there, sitting at a computer like this was just any other day. He must've been an veteran at this, here to watch the new initiates. He stayed silent while I held the door.

Something tried to enter. I held tight until I realized that that something was a someone. He was a middle aged man, balding, dressed in a typical shirt and tie with khakis. He looked so stressed that I just had to let him in. He thanked me. Some actions get you rewards.

We all got a notification. The woman would go away if we gave her the ...

I looked next to me. It was him, the man I had just let in. I looked at the notification. If I gave him to her, I'd get points and a reward, and she'd go away. If not, then we'd just have to survive. Roles are very important.

I shoved him out of the room, and she was immediately upon him. She mauled him right outside the door. I tried not to look out of that window, tried not to let myself be seen by her until it was over. When the screams died down, she looked me in the eye. I stared into that soulless abyss. "Meet me after work," she said. She walked away. This was just another day's work.

Everyone congratulated me, told me I did a good job. I thought so too. The old man looked at me, impressed. I went to go sit, now that the threat was gone. There was another guy in the room now. The old man looked at us.

"Do you want to be a part of my club?"