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Authors: Michael Shaw

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BOOK: Jack in the Box
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I was still unsure if the test were really hell anyway. But it was my only good theory. Well, it was my only theory, actually.

You just don't know
,
I remembered Brian's words. and I really didn't. I didn't know
.
He keeps talking about this place like it is hell, but is that just part of the test, too?

I tried to stop thinking about it. Tried to stop thinking of the test as hell. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to.

"Okay," I said to myself. "I just have to focus on the test." I had to figure out how to find my way around.

I took the piece of paper out of my pocket. The one I'd found the other day. Unfolded it. I reexamined the four letters. It immediately hit me. It was North, South, East, and West. It was like a compass.

Good, now I'm getting somewhere. Why didn't I notice this when I first saw it
?
It seemed so simple. I should have recognized it sooner. I mean, I was supposed to be super smart according to Brian's little intelligence tests he gave me at the beginning. But I remembered that I was trying to figure it out during that part of the day when I used to pass out. It was like my body was working against me. When I was tired, I couldn't figure it out. It seemed like something obvious for me to realize, but I hadn't thought about it before. I couldn't think straight unless I slept. Which meant that I had to keep dreaming about my weird life before the test if I wanted to get out of it
.
Whether I like it or not, I'm going to have to keep dreaming.

I refocused on the paper
.
Okay, now what? I don't have a compass
.
I looked around the room
.
Maybe Im supposed to find a compass in one of these rooms, just like I found the paper
.
The idea seemed like it could be true, but I'd have no idea when to give up searching. What if I never found it? What if it weren't even there? I could never know.

Then I had a different idea. I walked to the center of the room
.
I bet each compass direction matches a door
.
It made sense. Four doors. Four directions. Now I knew why this paper was even around. It was to help me. Either to help me figure out my way around the rooms, or to lead me through the rooms to some destination. Once I got the compass, I could see if the directions lined up with the doors.

At that point, I didn't know what else to do. I had to get a compass. Hopefully it would help me figure things out. But I wasn't sure if
I
coul
d
figure things out. Was there even a way to navigate through the place? Was there some sort of "system" that this would lead me to? I felt like maybe when in the test there was no possible way to know which room was which. Maybe there was no secret. But if there was no secret, how could Brian know how to travel around? How would he get himself back to my room? Could he work outside the boundaries of the test?

No
,
I dismissed the idea
.
He told me himself. He's bound by the rules too
.
But even then I wasn't sure
.
He could've lied. He could've just said that to fool me.

Granted, Brian had only told me the truth about everything else. Or at least, as far as I knew. But everything he warned me against was right, namely the things that got me attacked and forced to unconsciousness by some invisible man. So, I had to trust him. He was the only person I knew that I could trust in some way. Actually, he was the only person I knew, but it still counted for something.

I exited the room
.
Well, I guess the rest of this day will be like the ones before, unless my hopeful theory is right and I come across a compass. Other than that, nothing will happen.

And then something happened. I walked straight into my room. It actually made me jump a little. "Whoa!" I said quietly. It was hard to believe. I was actually back in my room. How'd that happen? I still had no way to understand where I was going in this ridiculous place, but somehow, I was there, in my room. With its bed, and table, and chairs, and desk. . .

I don't have a desk. .
.
I approached the foreign item. No papers. No books. Just a desk. A desk with one drawer compartment underneath. I examined the drawer. Tried to open it. Locked. A keyhole was centered on the front of the drawer.

"You'd probably need this," Brian said. He was standing right behind me.

I tried to act like I wasn't surprised. Purposely made no reaction. I turned around slowly. "Oh yeah?"

He held a key at chest level. Smiled. "Yeah."

"So when'd you have this desk put in here?" I gave off a lighthearted tone. "You're stronger than I thought!"

"Oh, that's been there," Brian said bluntly, putting the key in his pocket. He wasn't smiling anymore.

My eyes followed the key. I was confused now. "Wha-"

"This is my room, Jack," Brian put his hands in his pockets.

I took a step back. Looked around me. "Oh. . ." I could tell now. The covers on the bed were a different color. The table in the center of the room was round, not square.

"But, I'm going to go, now," Brian started toward a door. "Lunch is in ten minutes."

I raised my eyebrows
.
Wait, so he's going to my room to have lunch? Couldn't I just follow him?

I tried to, and it worked. He was obviously aware of it, but he acted like nothing was happening. He casually walked from door to door, turning his head back periodically to see if I was still there.

I was clueless without following Brian. Every time he changed directions, I wondered what he was using to give him guidance. There were no clues in the rooms. He wasn't using any tool. He just knew. He got us to my room with no problem.

We sat down. Lunch was already there for us. Sandwiches. Hadn't had one of those since, well, I couldn't remember. Since sometime in my past life. They were good. And I tasted something else I didn't remember having ever. Soda. It was good. I figured I must've tried it in the life of my dreams.

"Good, right?" Brian noticed how much I was savoring it.

"Yeah," I replied. "Helps me out."

"Really?" Brian asked.

"Yeah." I took a big bite. "In case you haven't noticed, this test is. . ." I looked at him to catch what I was saying.

He did nothing but stare. Squinted a little. Like he didn't understand.

I lowered my head. Let out a breath and lifted my eyes. "It's hard, Brian."

He smiled and leaned back. "I'm the one who told you that. But maybe it's not hard in itself. Maybe it's hard because of you." He pointed at his head. "You're just making it hard."

"Are you sure? Because according to you I'm really smart," I clapped my hands together. "But guess what? I haven't figured it out yet."

Brian shook his head. "Okay, let me tell you something."

I folded my arms. "I'm all ears."

He rubbed his hands together. "I want you to imagine yourself."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Just listen, Jack." He kept his hands together. "Picture yourself."

"Okay," I did.

"You're in an airplane. Someone puts you and one other person in a large metal box. And then he just. . ." Brian threw his hands up. "Pushes you out of the plane."

I leaned forward.

"There's two ways to get out. The metal box is locked from the inside, but the lock has a combination. Figure it out, and you're out of the box."

"Okay," I said. "What does this-"

He put his hand up. "The other way: the person in the plane will remotely open the box if you can do one thing." He leaned in so that our faces were inches apart. "Just one thing. Kill the other guy in the box."

I said nothing. I found myself gripping the sides of the table.

"But here's the thing," Brian used his hands as visual aids. "The box was shoved out of a plane. If you kill the guy, you get out, and then you hit the ground. You're both dead. If you figure out the combination, sure, you both get out. But then yo
u
bot
h
hit the ground. Either way, everyone dies in the end."

Now I understood what he was saying. I tried to object. "Yeah, but that's not the same as-"

Brian slammed his hand on the table. "We're in a box, Jack!" his voice was firm. He pointed his finger at me. "And it's great that you're trying to figure out the combination, but in the end. . ." He thrust his arms out. As wide as he could. "In the end. We still. Hit. The Ground!"

I squeezed the table even tighter. My hands turned completely white
.
Is this really happening?

"You can't stop gravity. You think you're saving a life? You're just prolonging death."

I let my arms fall. "I. . ."

Brian stood up. "But go ahead. Keep working on that combination."  And he left the room.

I slumped back in my chair, and I realized that I was breathing really heavily
.
I don't understand. Why would Brian want me to kill him? Is this still part of the test? Or does he have a death wish
?
I rubbed my temples
.
He told me in the beginning that he didn't want me to kill him. Why would he encourage it now?

I buried my head in my hands
.
I know I can do it
,
I thought, and I lifted my head. Looked at my palms
.
But I won't. It's. . . It's wrong.

Wrong. I had never thought that word before. Not in that way. But I had always had some sort of feeling of it. Like there are certain things I should do and others that I shouldn't. Right and wrong. Morality. I don't remember ever acquiring this feeling. It was like I always had this sense. This sense, this feeling, that certain things just weren't right. Ever since I woke up in the test. It had been there all along.

Thinking about that, and all the time I had spent in the test before then, made me rethink my strategy. I went in aimlessly and got easily frustrated or freaked out by whatever happened. Just being stuck in the place almost led me to suicide. I hadn't even been in there long, and I already felt pushed to my limits. The very nature of the test made me act too rashly at the beginning. Too frustrated, too immature. I had been going about this wrong. The test really was like a game. I needed to start playing smarter. Stop letting my emotions flow outward whenever something weird happened. Start focusing on the test, and getting it done. I had to figure out the combination, as Brian put it.

This new perspective felt right. Like my true personality was returning. I burned myself out those first few days in the test with my emotions, frustrated mind, and lack of focus. Is the test to blame? Probably a little. But I realized I needed to suck it up and focus on cracking this thing. I was taking the high road
.
Brian's gonna come down, but I won't kill him.

I didn't leave my room. I took the paper out of my pocket and opened it up. Looked for anything I may have missed. Then I noticed something. All the letters, the N, S, E, and W, were all underlined. Except the N and the E weren't just underlined once. They had two underlines underneath them
.
Okay, so earlier I realized that these were compass directions. Now there's the underlines. What do those mean
?
I scratched the side of my head
.
The compass directions are the directions of the rooms. At least, I think they are
.
My fingers tapped the tabl
e
. But regardless of what the underlines mean, I still need a compass
.
I wished I had asked Brian about that. I know that there were a lot of questions he didn't answer. But it couldn't hurt. There was only one way to know what questions could or couldn't be answered. And that was to keep asking questions.

Okay
.
I folded the paper back up and put it in my pocket
.
So I have a plan. Ask about the compass. But what do I do now
?
I looked around the room
.
Leaving would be pointless. I'd just get lost then end up back here tomorrow morning. Why not stay here
?
That seemed like the smartest idea. I remembered that I had considered it before, but now I actually got to.

I sat down, getting the feeling that I was going to be there, doing nothing, for a while. But I didn't want to go out and not be able to come back.

"Now what. . ."

No one was there to answer. Just me. I put my head down.

Thirty minutes passed.

An hour.

Two hours.

Finally, I remembered something. My head shot up. My notebook. I took it from my pocket and placed it on the table. I decided to tear a piece of paper out, then got up and walked to a door.

I thought about all those papers that had vanished and reappeared. I was still so confused about it
.
How am I supposed to use my intelligence if the test works irrationally?

BOOK: Jack in the Box
11.97Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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