Time is ticking incessantly, threateningly like a bomb. We have to start doing something before it's too late. There are cards on the table, ten of them. Sarah picks them up and looks through them.
"So these are the games they were talking about," she says, looking at the cards skeptically. "I don't think we have any choice but to play one."
"Have you found one that sounds doable?" Seth asks his twin sister, leaning over to her.
"This one sounds the easiest," she replies, placing one of the cards on the table.
The game seems to be called "Headset" and requires all of us to participate. It lasts half an hour. We can win eight hours or lose four. And Seth is right, it does sound easy. All we have to do is put on a headset for thirty minutes and not take it off. No matter how loud the music is on it, it can't be that bad.
"Who's in favor of us doing this?" asks Seth and four of us raise our hands. So it's decided, even though Evelyn and Jenny haven't spoken up.
According to the map, the venue is room 117, which we all go to together. The light in the corridors is so dim that it seems almost creepy. Unfortunately, the potted plants on the sides of the corridors don't make it any more cozy.
"Here we are," says Seth after a while as he stops in front of a room door. The number 117 is written on it in gold letters.
My heart starts to beat faster, it all feels so surreal, but time and time again I realize that this is real. And when Seth opens the door, you can almost feel the tension running through us all in the air.
Once again, the door slams shut and we all flinch. Evelyn tries to open it, but the door remains firmly shut. I swallow hard. So I guess there's no turning back now.
"Welcome, dear guests, to your first game. This game is called 'Headset' and requires the participation of six players. Please put on the headsets on the table and wait for the game to begin," the speakers announce. It doesn't make it any more pleasant that the voice sounds like a computer.
None of us say anything; we put on the headsets in front of us in absolute silence and wait for further instructions.
"Please go to the six different rooms adjacent to this room and wait for the game to start." Only now do I notice the other doors embedded in the walls. We each carefully move towards a different one.
The room I enter is empty, apart from a lone wooden chair. The walls here are black and only a brightly lit LED lamp provides any light.
"From now on, please don't take off your headsets until the game is over. In order to win the game, none of you may remove your headsets under any circumstances. Now, let the game begin." And with these words, music begins to play, getting louder by the second.
The first few minutes are still okay and bearable. The music is very loud, but nothing more. Nevertheless, after a while I have the feeling that my hearing is being damaged.
The next few minutes are worse, because the music gets louder than I would have thought possible. It gets more and more uncomfortable and I have to resist the urge to take off the headset as the music starts to crack, as if it's too much even for the headset.
I don't know how long I've been wearing this headset, but it's starting to feel like an eternity and I'm glad I can sit on the chair, because standing would hardly be bearable.
And then suddenly I hear someone screaming, even if barely audible due to the music. At that moment, I become aware of the microphone and start shouting into it.
"Hello?" I shout into the microphone as loud as I can, but I can barely hear myself.
"Ray?" I hear a tearful voice shout. Jenny. Now I recognize her. "I can't do this anymore!"
"No, Jenny, please! Don't do this!" I tell her immediately. If she takes it off, we'll lose four hours, and we hardly have any time left anyway. "I... I'm sure it won't be long anymore," I assure her, although I have no idea how much longer it will take.
I think I hear a sob, but I can hardly tell because of the volume of the music. Then...
"I think I..." Jenny calls out, but is interrupted.
"The game has ended. The participants have lost," echoes through the speakers.
Bloody hell! Has Jenny already taken it off? Or was it someone else?
Resigned and with my head down, I leave the room and go back to where we had actually gathered for the game, the headset in my hand.
"Who took the damn headset off?" I hear Sarah shout as I close the door behind me and put the headset on the table.
Silence hangs in the room for a while before Seth's hand rises. Ashamed, he looks to the floor. "Ray took it off first, so I thought I could take them off too."
"What?" I interject. "I never took the headset off."
"Yes, you did, you shouted through the headset. Everyone should have heard that too," explains Seth.
"Only Jenny shouted," I object, but I realize something even as I say it. "No... I think... We were all fooled."
"What do you mean we were all fooled'?" Sarah asks skeptically. Her gaze on me is like sharp needles on my skin.
"The game was way too easy..." I say. "What we heard... it wasn't real. The game was testing us... and we fell right into the trap."
"Ray that..." Seth says, faltering, thinking, continuing to speak. "I think you're right. And now we've lost four hours."
I look at my watch and see that it's almost twelve - and we only have until five in the afternoon.