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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/IgnisAurumProbat19 on 2024-09-07 16:52:24+00:00.
The inquisitive looks on everyone’s faces as I arrived at the party made me want to hide. They looked at me with equal parts concern, pity and curiosity as I made my way into the crowd, trying to locate the birthday boy so that I could say hi, spend the least amount of time I could without being rude, and head home.
It’s been four months since I’ve gotten out of the psych ward, but I’ve managed to avoid most social events, pretending I needed to rest, so I’m not yet used to getting those looks. Matthew’s birthday, however, I could not avoid. He’s been my friend since kindergarten, and he’s one of the few who came to visit me at the hospital.
It was the worst possible return to a social life, though, because she would be there too.
And before I could even spot Matthew, there she was, laughing with a friend, a drink in hand. Beautiful, warm, perfect. Her eyes met mine and her smile fell, before returning in a slightly embarrassed, barely curving at the edges way. She waved. I waved back. I knew better than to try and talk to her, that was what got me into the psych ward in the first place. The girl I once knew, the woman I’ve loved for a decade, was gone.
I met Stella on my first day of college. She was dating my roommate, both of them elated to finally be out of their hometown, to finally be where real life happened. She was sweet, she was cute, and so clearly in love that I often found myself wishing I had a girlfriend that loved me like she loved Andrew. Which made it harder for me to keep my mouth shut when Andrew started taking home girls who were not Stella, a neverending string of forgettable women who he somehow manage to talk into accepting being the other woman, all of them unaware that they were several to share this ugly title.
I caved in right before Christmas break. When she came around with a homemade advent Christmas calendar for him. I told her the whole truth, watched her heart break in front of me and while I felt terrible both for the pain I caused her and the hell I was putting myself through by having to endure the rest of year living with someone who now hated me, I knew I was doing the right thing. And I gained a friend, our bond created in the trust she now put in me, in this moment of shared vulnerability when I was the witness of her worst pain.
We stayed friends through college, texting regularly, going for breakfast sometimes on Saturday morning, supporting each other through exams and failed dating experiments.
I always knew what I felt for her was more than just friendship. What I did not expect, however, was for my feels to be reciprocated and for her to lean in for a kiss at the graduation party. The feeling was exhilarating, like everything clicked into place. The right person, the right time, the right everything.
The next two months were a blur of perfect moments, the smell of her skin, the smell of pancakes eaten in my bed in the small studio I had gotten while I worked as a barista in the town near our campus, the smell of her cup of tea cooling down on the coffee table when I came home to her and found her sending resume after resume, doing interviews on Zoom, honing her Linkedin profile. She was trying to find her first “big girl job”, as she said, just like I had done, my first day looming mid-september. Real life felt like a distant threat, something we could ignore for as long as we needed, something so vulgar and crude compared to our love that it didn’t even feel real.
It was mid-july when she finally got hired. She jumped into my arms when I got home from work, acting as if it was great news that she was leaving me for a job on the other coast, waiting for me to congratulate her as if my whole world wasn’t shattering. We can facetime, she said. I’ll come for thanksgiving, you’ll come for Christmas, we’ll figure it out. It’s just a first job, we’ll make it work, it won’t last forever, she begged.
But I could not stand it. I could see it, clear as the day. The phone calls, long and daily at first, but getting cut short more and more as we both got busy with our lives, our jobs, our new friends. The facetimes, making it more evident that my sunset was her dark sky, my dinner her late night snack, our watches always discordant. The slow, painful death of love, the goodbyes getting less and less poignant, the agonizing realization that building a life together would mean uprooting everything, for one of us or both of us.
And so I ended it before it could die. I buried myself in work, in the gym, in new hobbies, new friends, new women. She was in the back of my head, every minute of every day, but I had made the right decision, I was so sure of it, I had to be the brave one, I had to prevent more pain in the future for both of us, and while her naïve, love-conquers-all mindset was touching, it was no match for the reality I knew I was avoiding for us.
It was five years before we saw each other again.
I wouldn’t have come if I knew she was there. She was in town visiting a college friend, and one of our mutual friends invited her over for our monthly escape game night. We’d been doing that for over a year, finding a new escape game to try every month, getting burgers and beers afterwards. It was fun and it helped us stay in touch, though everyone wasn’t available every month, this ritual meant we still got to see one another regularly. For that month’s night out, only three of us in the group of us answered present : Tony (one of my best friends since childhood, the third element to our golden trio with Andrew), his fiancé Ellie, and me.
It was mid-October. Halloween was just around the corner. Going to an horror themed escape game made sense, even though I never liked horror movies.
I hate them even more now.
DARK AND TWISTED, the entrance said. It was an industrial building, slightly out of town. No decoration on the outside, no skeleton, no skull, no pumpkin.
“It looks kinda cheap, doesn’t it?” Tony said when we parked in front.
“They’ve only been opened for two weeks, babe. They’re probably still working on it. The Google reviews are SO good though”, Ellie answered, putting her hand through his hair as he started unbuckling his seatbelt.
I was silent, staring right ahead at the silhouette standing in front of the building. Stella.
“Yeah, dude, I know I should have told you but come on, you would have bailed. It’s been five years. You guys can’t keep avoiding each other, it’s getting annoying. You know our wedding’s coming up next year too, so you know, Ellie and I thought it would be better if you two saw each other beforehand so it wouldn’t be awk-“ Tony stopped as I shot him a dark look and opened the car door.
This is gonna be the worst night ever, I thought. Man, was I right.
One awkward hug later, the four of us got in Dark and Twisted, and the horror began.
“GOOD EVENING LADIES AND GENTLEMAN”, a voice erupted from the dimly lit hallway.
As our eyes got used to the obscurity, we started to discern a tall, meaty man with salt and pepper hair and a plump, rosy-cheeked redhead woman, both of them in their fifties or early sixties.
“We’re Connor and Molly”, she said, almost chanting. Clearly it was an act they had rehearsed, and there was something deeply touching about that.
“WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES” Conor shouted – his usual manner of communication, we would soon learn.
“Erm, Ellie, Stella, Tom and Tony. Hi.”
“GREAT ! ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?” His Irish accent was thick as butter.
Stella and I shared a look, and she smiled. The spark. Oh the spark. It was still there. I needed to kill that shit now. I looked away, keeping my face as straight as I could as we started to follow Connor through a bright red corridor, Molly walking right after us.
“ALRRRIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMAN. THE RULES ARE SIMPLE. FOUR OF YOU MEANS YOU GET ACCES TO FOUR ROOMS. YOU CANNOT MOVE TO THE NEXT ROOM BEFORE YOU’VE UNLOCKED THE PREVIOUS ONE. YOU CANNOT WALK BACK INTO THE PREVIOUS ROOM ONCE YOU’VE MADE IT TO THE NEXT. ANY ATTEMPT TO DO SO WILL BE PUNISHED. IF YOU DON’T UNLOCK THE NEXT ROOM BEFORE THE COUNTDOWN IS UP, YOU WILL STAY TRAPPED FOREVER. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE IF YOU DO NOT RESPECT THE RULES.”
There was something pathetic about his little act. Like he was trying to be a bigger man than he was, and still could not make himself be intimidating despite his height and build. His top hat and black tailcoat looked cheap and did not fit him well. His face was warm and kind, his grey moustache perking up at the edges. I guess we all wanted to be nice to him, so we overdid our enthusiasm.
“Alright !” “Yeah !” “Let’s do this, team !”, we all high fived, electricity sparkling in my palm as it touched Stella’s for the first time in five years. Last time I held her hand, I thought, was when she was sitting in my bed, crying, begging me to give us a chance.
I darted my eyes towards the floor, and when I looked up, here was Molly, looking at me fondly.
She stepped closer. Smiled. Put one hand on my cheek, and whispered “Good luck, dear. Good luck.”
As Tony grabbed me by the shoulder and gave me gentle push towards my friends, who were entering the first room, I looked back at Molly, perplexed. Connor was putting his arm around her shoulders, his big smile already gone, a concerned look on his face. The corridor was too dark for me to be certain, but I swear I saw tears in Molly’s eyes.
FIRST ROOM
The first room was completely empty...
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