Chapter 43 #3
There, at the bottom of what seemed to be a very small space…was a golden ClikByte logo token, shining up at me almost teasingly. The space was too deep to reach in and pull it out, I would need to literally climb into the hole to get it.
“This feels so fucking dumb,” I said again with another groan.
“This is the moment viewers will be screaming at me not to go in there, right? Like I’d be a total moron to take this bait.
” Somehow, talking it out aloud made me feel better.
Sort of. “Screw it. I’m not claustrophobic.
The worst thing that happens is I get stuck there until morning, and we lose the challenge. ”
Still, I needed to take a few moments to psych myself up. A quick search of the area didn’t offer me anything I could wedge the hatch open with, so I just needed to take a gamble and hope for the best.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered. “If anyone can hear me, please make sure Xavier adopts a cat in my honor. It’s the least he can do for me if I die here.”
Forcing some humor gave me the boost I needed to swing my legs over the lip of the hatch and drop down into the darkness. At least there were no decaying corpses in there with me. That had to be a bonus.
I shined my light around the floor to locate the token, then inspected it.
The thing was maybe the size of my palm and was a molded ClikByte logo with heart--shaped kiss lips.
“Got you,” I whispered to the token, my chest swelling with pride and my limbs trembling with relief.
I had the token, so our team was done with this challenge. Right?
Clang!
The hatch slammed shut above my head, and a scream escaped my chest before I could catch it. Fuck. I hated when I was right.
“I got the token!” I called out, trying to keep calm in the face of a shitty situation. “I found the token. We’re done!”
No response.
I climbed up the little ladder on the wall and shoved at the hatch, hoping it would simply open, but of course it did not.
“Hey!” I called out, searching around for a camera or sensor. “Hey, I got the token! Let me out!”
Nothing.
Maybe this wasn’t the token? Maybe it was a decoy? That’d suck but also wouldn’t shock me. It seemed like whoever was running the Clik Games this year had totally thrown the rule book out the window.
I banged on the hatch a couple more times before huffing a sigh of frustration and jumping off the ladder once more. It was a small space, and I’d only needed to stand on the first rung to reach the hatch. Otherwise, it was just big enough for one person, but definitely not two.
“Well, this fucking sucks,” I said out loud, glancing down at my camera to see if it was still on. The red light was still illuminated, so I had to assume it was still streaming, but my live would quickly lose views as I sat here in isolation.
Xavier was right, though. I wasn’t panicking; I was just annoyed. And my phone had absolutely no reception at all, so that was a pointless lifeline they’d left us with. Maybe on purpose?
As if mocking me, a light suddenly flickered to life, and the chamber I was in lit up like a dentist’s office. Actually, the dentist sounded more fun than this shit, because the light only showed me what I’d already worked out. There was no other way out.
“Ah yes, very scary small space,” I said out loud, convinced that someone had to be monitoring us and fucking with the doors. “I’m so scared. Can you let me out now? I found your dumb fucking token.”
Media training could kiss my ass. Besides, I was meant to be a dude, and dudes could get away with being abrasive when girls couldn’t.
In response, a digital clock lit up on one of the walls. No, not a clock—-a timer that started counting down from five minutes.
“Five minutes…until you let me out?” I asked with weak hope, which was instantly dashed as a valve opened near the hatch and water started gushing into the chamber. “Oh. Oh, good. Five minutes until I drown. For the third fucking time? Come on, give me a fucking break!”
Apparently my live stream was about to get a whole lot more interesting, as I quickly panicked myself into a heart attack. But hell, maybe that’d mean I’d be dead before the water got me?
For the next two and a half minutes, I did everything imaginable to keep myself calm.
Then for the next two minutes, I straight--up panicked.
Cried. Begged and bargained and climbed the ladder as high as I possibly could to keep my head above the rapidly rising water.
My face was directly against the glass of the hatch, my sobs coming in ragged gasps as the water lapped at my chin…
then I looked up and locked gazes with a familiar set of eyes that were watching me drown with cold detachment and cruel apathy.
“Xavier?” I whimpered as he stared down at me and made no move to open the hatch. Instead, he waved. Like he was saying goodbye. Then my foot slipped on the ladder rung, and I plunged under the water.
Xavier’s face in the hatch disappeared behind a thick wall of bubbles as I thrashed and fought my way back up, but it was no use. There was no air left…just bubbles. So many bubbles…and the unmistakable hazel gaze of my teammate watching me drown.
To be continued in PEACHES (ClikByte #3)