CONTENT WARNING: Death

Oh, I don't even know how to start; today was hectic. It was probably the worst day of my life. I woke up in a place I didn't recognise. It was a large room, with no windows and a single door. The walls were made from wooden planks and mounted on each side of the room was a lit torch. There was no furniture, except a large, locked chest, that was sitting in one of the corners. There were also big speakers, mounted on each of the four corners. There were 18 other people in the room with me. Some were still sleeping, some were whispering to each other and many were huddled close, while quietly sobbing. I sat there in a daze, still half asleep, wondering if i'm even awake.

I was very confused and had no idea what was happening or why everyone looked so terrified. So I got up from the ground and stood in front of the nearest person, that wasn't freaking out, and I asked them about where were we, what was happening and why everybody looked so distressed. Though he was looking my way, he wasn't looking at me. He was looking right through me at the dark oak wood of the entrance door. He didn't speak, he actually didn't respond to my question at all. He looked so stressed and disturbed, so I just asked the person sitting next to him. I was disappointed when her reaction was similar, though she started crying when I tried to approach her.

»There used to be 23 of us…« sounded from a dark corner of the room. I looked over, and sitting there was a tall man, with pitch black hair and dark brown eyes. He was very muscular and he was wearing a plain grey T-shirt with black stripes along the sleeves and dark blue jeans. He stood up and walked over to me, his tall intimidating build blocking my escape.

»Now as you can see, only 19 people are left.« I looked at him feeling confused. Where did they go? Why are we still here in this cramped shack instead of out there with them? And why is everybody still sad and scared? »Well…? What happened to them?« I finally asked after a long pause. I was nervous, and there were a thousand questions piling up inside my head. Where am I? Why am I here with a bunch of strangers? How did I get here? What is this guy implying? Did they eat the four missing guys? Are they about to eat me? Is that why some people are crying? Because they know that they are next? What the hell is happening?

After I sounded the question he looked at me with dead eyes, his expression so dark, it felt like the whole room got colder. When he focused his gaze on me, it felt like the whole place was closing in on me, and it suddenly became very hard to breathe. I felt like a fish out of the water, gasping for air, not knowing what to say to fix this, knowing I pressed on a touchy subject.

»They died… They were disintegrated in front of our eyes, boiled to death in acidic fluid, that reaches temperatures over 200° C (about 400 F). They died within minutes and after an hour, their bodies dissipated, leaving no trace behind, that they even existed. Their bodies dissolved so fast, that by the time we realised what just happened, they were mostly already gone. The fluid was so deadly that even the person that got out almost immediately, died within 20 minutes. Their screams were disturbing. Literal screeching, so loud, so agonising. The sound carried so much pain, you could almost feel what they were experiencing. Those bloodcurdling screams for help, that were yelled in such agony and suffering are what will haunt me and I believe many others until our death.«

I was horrified. He talked with such raw emotion, it sent shivers down my spine. It was so mortifying it froze me in place. I was left staring at him, not able to move an inch, trying my best not to cry or scream from the sheer horror, that was just unleashed upon me. Despite my frightened expression, he continued.

»They were good people. They would help anybody in need, they were brave and didn't mind sacrificing themselves for others. They feared nothing and were very close to one another. They wanted to know what was happening here and to get out, so of course, they first went for the door. The moment that they opened it, a disgusting smell of rotting eggs hit them. After they fully opened the door though, they were amazed. A beautiful turquoise coloured lake, with comfortable steam rising up in the air. The crystal clear water was all around us, it seemed like this tiny shack was built on top of the water, in the middle of this beautiful lake. They relaxed and started joking around, pushing each other near the edge, to make them fall inside the mysterious lake. One of them, Alen, accidentally slipped inside, and the moment his skin touched the water, all the fun stopped. He started screaming, he screamed so much, that he tore his vocal chords, and couldn't make any sound other then a loud screeching noise, while his skin slowly pealed off of his body. The guys were still frozen in place after he was already long gone and his body was already in a million pieces, destroyed by the acid. The youngest one of them-20 year old Jackie, was hurt the most by the loss. He lost his own brother, and they were really close. In tears, he fell to his knees and grabbed his brother's cap, that was sitting on the ground, since Alen dropped it right before he fell. It was now the only thing remaining of his brother.

He held it close to his heart, while mourning the tragic loss. Soon after, a voice sounded from the speakers and what they heard, shocked everybody. The voice said: ˝Alen discovered floor was lava˝.

That scared everybody. There is somebody out there, that saw what happened and thought it was hilarious. There is SOMEONE OUT THERE that is INTENTIONALLY MESSING with us and takes pleasure in our pain and suffering. And this SOMEONE is probably the reason why we are here in the first place. After that, nobody wanted to open that door anymore, and that's how it stayed for a few days. By then people were almost dying of thirst and the voice sounded again.

»Thou who touches thy shore across thy lake, thou shall bring salvation upon thyself… That should make it a bit more entertaining ^^«

That was the most horrifying thing many of us ever heard, because now, this thing was threatening us, basically wanting us to jump to our death, for its entertainment.

But Jackie stood up and walked to the door nonetheless. He opened the door and looked back one last time. He gave us a sad smile and then jumped into the acid lake, before anybody could stop him. He stood there, in agonising pain, crying and yelling for a while, when he stopped. His skin was almost gone so all of his pain receptors were probably gone as well. He tried making his way to the shore on the other side, and just as he reached the sandy ground, his body went limp.

One of the remaining two friends ran after him in an attempt to save him, but luckily another man stopped him. He quickly pulled away from the man's grasp and ran to the edge of the lake. He immediately regretted it though, as the piece of wood below him fell apart due to the acid and he went tumbling into the acidic water. He tried his best to crawl out of the fluid while screaming bloody murder. He was pulled out of the water by the man that previously stopped him, and got to safety, but it was too late. After he got on land, he kept screaming for another 15 minutes, when he just… stopped… 5 minutes later he stopped breathing and some guys put his lifeless body back into the acid to finish the job. That's when the voice sounded again. »My, oh, my! How wonderful! Such a heroic deed cannot be overlooked can it? He got to the other side, so as promised, I will give you guys a little hint..The light lays under thy bulldog's foot.«

The room fell silent again. The light lays under thy bulldog's foot. What in the world was that supposed to mean?? People began screaming and yelling, some were crying and they all were blaming the voice. How could they do this to us? Why? He did what they wanted, so why were we still suffering? The voice promised salvation, but all we got was a goddamn riddle!?! There was chaos inside the room. Nobody knew what to do. And that's when Andrew, the last of the four spoke up. »QUIET! Screaming and yelling will help nobody right now! We need to calm down and think about this rationally. If this continues, we are definitely not going to survive. This riddle is the only clue we have to finding the way out, or at least getting some food and water. We need to gather our thoughts and find the solution to the puzzle. So... The light... I believe our clue, lays under thy bulldog's foot. So? Any ideas what that could be referring to?« »Maybe it could mean a drawing of a dog is somewhere in this shed? And it may lead to somewhere?« Sounded a small voice from the corner. »That's a good idea! Let's look around« was Andrew's answer. And so they did. They looked everywhere, searched every nook any cranny, but nobody found any drawings of anything resembling a dog. Nobody even wore a shirt or any ornaments that would even remotely look like a dog. So they were back to square one. And when they were getting more and more annoyed somebody yelled out... »Wait, what about a nickname? I know this guy!« He said pointing at a sleeping man, that sat, leaning on the wall. »We used to make fun of him and call him dog in school, since he ate everything he saw and was scared shitless by loud noises and thunder... I personally would use a chihuahua instead of bulldog to describe him, but a dog is a dog right? Maybe he's sitting on a secret door or something?« People exchanged weird looks, nobody really taking him seriously, but in the end, nobody had a better idea either, so they tried it anyways. Andrew picked up the guy that people called 'dog', and moved him a bit to the left. They looked at the spot where he was sitting and there it was! A hole, big enough to fit a finger was staring right back up at them. It looked like maybe a sort of a handle? Andrew put his index finger inside, and tried to pull the floor board off. And it worked! The floor board came off easily, and it revealed a small key, lying in the hole. Andrew picked it up and examined it. It was a nice looking golden key, that seemed like it was carved by hand. On the handle was a small carving of a flying bird. Everybody looked at the chest. The locked chest, that was waiting in the corner, bearing countless beautiful carvings of many different birds in flight. Andrew jogged towards it and quickly opened the lock, to look what was inside the chest. The chest opened and it revealed a bunch of water bottles and canned food. The sight brought everybody happiness and they quickly grabbed as much as they could carry, and ran to their part of the room, to share what they could with others in need.

Then the voice sounded again. At first it praised us, saying that we did good. We solved the puzzle. But then, it announced a devastating news-we are actually located on one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, and the shed is built on top of one of the many acidic geysers that often erupt. The eruption is going to happen very soon and the geysers will spew acid all over the shack, destroying it, while killing us in the process. »You have five days to get out of here before they erupt« »Good luck« he snickered, while menacingly laughing to himself. Once he stopped speaking, the room fell silent.

After some time, Andrew got up and walked to the door. He opened it and was shocked by what he saw. There were floating rocks on the surface of the lake. Everybody suddenly gained hope, that we will get out of here eventually. Andrew then suddenly ran forward, and jumped to the first stone. He made it, but the rock moved under his feet because of the force. He quickly regained his balance and jumped to the next stone. Then the third and fourth… On the fifth stone, he stopped and waited to calm himself a little, but the stone immediately started sinking. It was smaller then the previous one, and it couldn't support his weight anymore. Panicked, he tried jumping to the next one, but missed and fell into the deepest part of the lake, never to be seen again.

As you can see it's very disturbing, and despite all the screaming and crying some people, like you slept through it all. Every day exactly one person wakes up, and we can do nothing to wake up even a single one left. No matter how much we scream or yell or shake them, they sleep. There is three days let until the eruption and there are three people left sleeping. This place is a death sentence and there is no way out. We can do nothing. We will wait in misery for the inevitable and hope to die a quick painless death.«

To be continued...