Jack in the Box (23 page)

I raised my eyebrow.

This guy wore an arrogant smile. It made me uneasy. I wouldn't have thought that I'd like a guy even less after actually being able to see his face.

I ignored him for the time being. "So, it's a suit?" I said, looking down at it.

"You should know." the man said, "Jack Colson invented it."

I lowered myself down and examined the suit more closely. What I'd thought was skin was actually an elastic outer covering. I could see now, the texture of the exterior was made so it'd feel like a lizard.

I squatted down even more and felt the suit. Examined the head. Two glass ovals for the eyes to see through. Those were what I'd thought were its actual eyes. And over the mouth. Some small device. A speaker on the front.

I looked up at the referee. "A voice changer?"

He popped his eyebrows and nodded. "Pretty cool, right? Sent chills right through you."

I rolled my eyes.

The referee stood smiling. Hands in his pockets.

I rose back up. "Who are you?"

The man scratched his chin. "Now, what fun would it be if I told you?" He walked back to the suit. Picked it up. "You put on a good show, Jack. I don't want to mess it up."

I put my hand on my head. At this point, I could only take a  deep breath and try to wrap my mind around everything.

You're alive. You're in the test. Almost everything you've learned from Brian thus far has been a lie. And now, there's another human in the test that was here all along.

Brian cleared his throat.

I felt both his and the referee's eyes watching me.

They stood and watched me think for a few more moments.

"Well, I'm not going to lie," Brian said, "This is more awkward than when I pretended to be your dad."

I looked up at the referee. "So, you're going to just be visible from now on?"

"I'll get a new suit tonight," he crossed his arms. "You kinda tore mine with a knife, you know."

"You didn't stop me."

He breathed out deliberately. "Yeah, well. . ." he gritted his teeth and scratched his nose, "I guess that's. . . true. . ." He looked at the device on his wrist. Apparently i
t
di
d
serve as a watch as well. "Then for today, I guess I'll be visible. So, Jack. . ." he spun confidently and waltzed toward me.

"What?"

He rubbed his hands together. "Tell me how it felt."

I tilted my head.

"I saw the tears in your eyes when you found out daddy wasn't Daddy after all," he grinned, "tough stuff."

I stood motionless. He didn't faze me.

His crooked smile grew, "Hold on, there, Jack. You don't want to let any of that anger build up."

"Don't you have a suit to fix?" I stared him down. He was strong. But his arms hung loose. He was completely relaxed. I could take him. I looked to the side. He stood next to a door.

"Didn't you hear me?" he pointed at his ear, "I have to wait until-"

I grabbed his upheld hand and shoved it onto the doorknob. I pulled, opening the door. Then, I proceeded to yank him back, off of the handle.

He fell to the ground.

I put my hands in my pockets.

He sat up. "Hey! What's the deal? You. . ." he looked at the open door.

I walked toward Brian.

The referee collapsed.

I looked back. Shut the door with my feet.

Brian chuckled.

I turned my head to face Brian. "I liked him better in the suit."

sixteen

Brian took a deep breath. "Well, that was an interesting conversation."

I looked at the referee's unconscious body. "Who is this guy?"

"Ask the right questions, Jack."

I shook my head. "That's such a cop-out."

He scratched his cheek. "I don't make the rules."

I breathed out. I needed to sit down again.

Then it clicked in my brain again. Brian. He'd lied to me. He'd pretended to be my father. He made me think this was hell.

He patted his legs. "I guess the best thing to do now. . . is to test."

I lifted my head and our eyes locked. I clenched my fists. "Yeah, I guess it is the best thing to do."

Brian lifted his eyebrows.

I darted toward him.

He got out of the room as quickly as possible, and I pursued him.

My hand twitched for the feeling of a gun in its grip.

→

I found Brian quickly. It was hard to focus on the task. Finding out that so much, almost everything I'd learned, was a lie, made it difficult to keep my mind on the objective. But at the same time, it was what drove me to catch him.

I chased him for several rooms. This time, he didn't use his usual maneuvers. He didn't change directions at all. It was just a straight line. He ran fast, and I tried to run faster. Was he relying on speed, now?

I started to catch up to him. He stopped, turned, and knocked me back with a flat palm. Then, just as quickly as he'd turned to me, he spun back around and kept running.

I staggered back. Saw him run into the next room. "Brian!" I growled. I went after him.

Even being driven by anger, I felt confident in the rooms. I knew how they worked. I'd had my practice navigating them. It was easy, now. It was comfortable. I imagined that if I ever got to enter a normal building, I'd become confused in it. After getting so accustomed to moving through the rooms of the test, a normal building would actually seem abnormal.

We'd gone through what seemed like hundreds of rooms. I remained at the same distance behind him for a long time. Slowly, I was getting closer to him.

He looked back.

"How long are you going to do this, Brian?"

"Indefinitely." He ran into the next room.

I opened the door and kept running. "Why'd you lie to me?"

"I don't invent lies. I only encourage them."

"How does that make any difference?" I yelled as he went into another room.

He closed the door and I immediately reopened it.

He was gone.

I closed the door behind me
.
What? Where'd he go
?
I looked around the entire room
.
He's not hiding. He couldn't have been fast enough to go into one of the next rooms
.
I put my hand on my head. Had I followed him that long just to lose him again? I turned around. We'd been going North. What could he have done to lose me? Did he use the South door
?
Two steps forward
.
I opened the door. The door I'd just come through
.
One step back.

There was Brian. He walked casually toward another door.

I shut the door behind me.

His head spun in my direction.

"Nice trick," I smiled. "Don't forget, there are things that
I
d
o
know, too."

He glared at me.

"Why'd you lie to me, Brian?" I walked forward and stopped a few feet in front of him. "What's the point of all this?"

He pointed to my leg. "You should know."

I looked down at myself. "What?"

"The paper. Principle 10. Didn't you read it?"

"You saw that?" I took the paper out. Took another step forward.

"What, do you think I'm blind? I saw you tear it out. So don't ask me why I lied to you." He looked defensive. Almost angry.

I shook my head. "You pretended to be my father. You completely manipulated-"

"
I
neve
r
claimed to be your father!" he clenched his fist and pointed a finger at my face.

"You never denied it, either!" I thrust the paper in front out in front of me, displaying it to Brian.

He snatched the paper out of my hand. As I stepped forward to take it back, he pushed my arm to the side. In response, I shoved him in the chest. He took a step back. Felt behind himself and grabbed the doorknob.

I pulled the gun out. "Stop."

He looked at the gun. Smirked. "Yeah, because you're totally going to use that."

I kept it aimed at his head. "You're nothing but a liar. All you do is manipulate."

He shrugged.

My eyebrows came down. "Why are you even doing this? You're not stuck in hell. Why are you spending all this time for this?"

His expression grew solemn. "What I said about hell was a lie." He looked down. Hand still on the doorknob. "But what the man in charge said? Not a lie."

My breaths were shaky. "I'll still catch you."

He darted out of the room.

I started to chase after him.

He tried to close the door in my face.

I shoved through it and shut it behind me. I ran toward him as he disappeared into the next room.

A voice spoke up from behind me. "Not cool, man."

I turned around.

The referee walked in, looking slightly disoriented.

What?

"Knock me out once, shame on you. Knock me out twice. . ." he mumbled a few nonsensical words.

"You're already awake?"

"Yes indeed, Jacky." He rubbed his eyes. "The whole system can be inconsistent. Sometimes you're out for a day. Sometimes you're out for twenty minutes." He shook his head and slapped his face. "Regardless of how long, though, it's always made me pretty drowsy."

I looked around. "What do you want?"

The referee stood up straighter. He was awake, now. "Don't forget who I am, Jacky. I'm making sure you don't break any rules. It's all part of. . . well, the rules!" he smiled and clapped his hands together.

"Yeah? Well, you made me lose Brian." I turned to back towards the door. I was going to follow him. But I knew he was gone
.
I can't wait for the referee to be back in his suit
.
I faced him. "Thanks for that. I'm not going to find him now."

"No problem, man," he smirked and cracked his knuckles.

I watched him. He had slight wrinkles in his face. But he acted like a kid. Was he toying with me? Or was he just cocky? It could have been either. I assumed it was both.

We stared at each other.

The referee rocked on his feet.

"So. . ." I said.

"So, go on." the referee waved me on with the back of his hands. "I'm visible today, but I still have to be here."

I slowly nodded, "Okay. . . But. . . Tell me if you can help me with something."

He put his hands in his pockets and raised an eyebrow.

"I may have been lied to, but tell me if this is the truth:
I
ca
n
pass the test, right?"

He lifted his upper lip. "Of course."

"Without killing?"

He narrowed his eyes. Strolled to the right. "You are very adamant against doing what should seem so natural to you."

"Just tell me."

He ignored me. "I wonder why that is. . ." he walked to the left.

"What?"

He lifted his head to look at the ceiling. "Jack Colson was a mass-murderer. You won't even take the life of your captor."

I shook my head. "Wait. What are you-"

"Jack Colson invented the test. You have yet to find a solution."

I took a step back. "No. That's not. . ."

"Jack Colson," he overpowered me with his voice. He brought his feet together and spun to face me. His gaze stunned me. "Jack Colson had brown eyes."

I knew that. I had seen it. But I didn't think it meant anything. Or, I didn't want it to. It was just eye color. And besides, I'd thought I was in hell. It didn't seem like a big deal.

It was.

"What are you saying?" my chest rose and fell quickly.

He grinned and tapped his foot.

I put my hand on my head. Looked down
.
The test isn't hell. I'm not dead. And. . .

I'm not Jack Colson. . .

I lifted my head. "No!"

"Believe it, Jacky." the referee rubbed his hands together.

"No! That's a lie." I pointed at him. My muscles tensed.

His smiling lips parted to reveal his crooked teeth. "Haven't you been feeling it all along? Jack Colson was a stranger to you. This man's memories were in your head, but why? He was nothing like you." His smile went away and he said bluntly, "You're nothing like him."

The room spun. But I was wide awake. Today everything fell apart. A few hours was all it took. All they had needed to do was cover the hook with all their bait, so that I'd believe the lies.

I staggered back. Felt my forehead
.
I'm not Jack Colson? Then why do I have these memories
?
"Are you lying to me?"

The referee's smile grew. He stared at my chest.

I looked down at myself. Lowered my shirt collar. There was no arrow. There was no birthmark on my skin. I rubbed the place where it should've been. "No. . ."

"Jack, just because we call you Jack, doesn't mean you're Jack. Got it Jack?" the referee laughed shrilly.

I growled. But I asked again. I had to be sure. "Are you lying to me?" I said more forcefully. I started rubbing my head.

He scoffed. "The only lies were your own," he put his hands in his pockets. "Our job was to agree with them. Materialize the lies. Make them undeniable."

"Why tell me this, then?" I lowered my hand. "What's the point of hiding the truth and then allowing me to see it?"

"It teaches you a little lesson, Jacky."

I curled my fingers into a fist.

This was all happening too fast. But I suppose finding out something like this would always seem to happen too fast. It didn't make much sense. At the same time, though, it made more sense than the thought that I was Jack Colson in hell. Not that I didn't believe it before, but who can escape from hell? That should have been a clue to me from the beginning. Why would the world's most depraved man be given another life after he died?

But what now? Now I'm supposed to believe that I'm not the man whose memories fill my head?

"The test is all about your trying to pass, and our trying to fail you. Believe it or not, this ordeal should've taught you something."

I ignored him. I was beginning to realize the test was not just what was happening to me. It was not just overcoming physical obstacles. The test was not the Box.

The test was my mind.

"Are you hearing me, Jack?" the referee tilted his head.

I threw my hands up. "What? What does it teach me?" I said impatiently.

He straightened up slowly and smiled. "Is it not clear?"

I leaned slightly forward. Flat lips.

"You," he gestured with one hand, "can't outsmart us." He pointed a thumb at himself.

Something inside me churned. I felt as though a flame had been lit. My heart was hot. I lowered my head.

"You don't know what's true or not."

My hand once again formed a white-knuckled fist

His dirty teeth showed themselves again. "We easily had you hooked on the 'hell' thing for such a long time."

I stared at my fist.

"Face it, there's nothing you can do to-"

I dove at him. My fingers extended out.

His eyes popped open wide, and he held flat palms out to stop me.

I grabbed his neck while in the air and came down on top of him.

He grabbed my hands which were now clenching his neck.  His eyes screamed true fear. His feet kicked and squirmed.

I shook his neck up and down a few times. It wasn't to kill him. I kept a tight grip, only to restrict his airway. To get his attention.