forum "5821" ((STALKERS WELCOME)) 1 on 1 w/CasualAssasin

Started March 08, 2021 by @someone_who_occasionally_writes_

tune

Adam rolled his eyes, "I'll do it."
He neared the door, and faced away from it, slowly cracking it open. He peaked out and saw…
Absolutely nothing.

"Orion there's nothing here."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know if we should leave." They stuck their hand out the door tentatively.

"Damn it Orion, we could be home by now."
Adam jerked the door open and walked through, unscathed.

"We could also be dead. I just want to be cautious, alright? If there's one thing I know, it's that deception is the best way to take advantage of someone." They followed him cautiously, eyes flickering back and forth.

"Ok ok sorry, I'm just, you know."
Adam took a few cautious steps before stopping.
"Where are we even going?" He whispered, thinking someone might be listening.

~~~

James smiled, watching as they finally exited the room. He would let them run around for a while, and figure out how they were connected, and why they were here before deciding to move.

For Rose

"I don't know. I don't know. I don't like this at all. I hate this, in fact. Let's be careful. There's someone here with us, I know that for sure." They glanced at him, then down the hall.

(I'm sorry I disappeared, I took an ACT yesterday)

"Let's look around for like, I don't know, a weapon or something. It looks like we're in a basement?"
Adam took a few steps in the darkness, well, it was dark but it was just light enough to see. He looked over and saw a row of closed doors, each different from the last. One pink, another metal, and so on. He frowned and turned to Orion.
"You see the doors right? I'm not going crazy?"

(dw about it!)
"Yes, I see the doors. And yes, you are going crazy." They crossed their arms. "Go on. What stupid idea are you gonna try now, hm?" Orion glanced at him, then at the doors.

"Don't get short with me…"
Adam squinted at a door in the distance.
"D-Does that say-"
Adam took off in the direction of the door with no warning.

"Christ. See, this is what I'm talking about." They followed him reluctantly. "What? What is it?"

Adam neared a door, with four numbers on it, the same numbers as the ones on his bracelet.
5821

"You see this?"

Adam placed his hand on the doorknob and yelped, jerking his hand back.

"Fuck! It's hot!"

"You just keep proving my point, pal." They looked at the numbers, thinking, then reached up and tentatively touched the numbers.

"What do you think it means? Is it really a code?"
Adam babied his burned hand and squinted.
"It's gotta be important if it's here. And if the kidnapper took the time to rig the doorknob, and to give us bracelets, it's gotta mean something."

"Obviously it means something. Look, why'd you get kidnapped? What were you doing?"

"I-I don't know, I was buying eggs!"
Adam shrugged and took a few steps away from the door, racking his brain.
"Maybe, maybe it has something to do with how we met, how did we meet?"

"School, I'd guess. I dunno. I was going home. But I locked myself out so I was going to have to go through the window." They shook their head.

Adam huffed, in frustration, fatigue, hunger, whatever it was. The caked mud on his shirt was drying, making him itch. His hand was hurting from the doorknob, and Adam had no clue where they were or how to escape.
The bracelet was making his wrist itch, which Adam overlooked, for the most part.
He stared at the number, trying to think of what it meant. He knew it had to have meant something. The braceltes were enough to prove that.
He brushed his fingers across the numbers, thinking about what could have brought him here.
And it hit him.

"May 8, 2021." Adam whispered.
"It's a date."

"A date?" They huffed. "Well, what happened on May 8? That's helpful." They spun on their heel and squinted down the hallway.

"Do you seriously not remember?"
Adam grabbed Orion's shoulder and spun them around.
"It may be a coincidence, but May 8 was when that one girl died, remember?"

Adam shuddered, memories flooding into his head.
He had been friends with the killer's cousin. They're not now, he had cut ties shortly after the trials, but he can still see his face.

"Don't touch me," they said sharply. Then as an afterthought, tacked on, "Please." They tipped their head. "I remember. A little bit. I only had to come in to testify about the weapon. Then they let me go."

"Wait, you testified?"

Adam took a few steps back.
"Why? Were you involved?"

Adam thought back to a night when he and the cousin were talking about the killer, well, he wasn't at the time. He remembered faintly him telling Adam that he was going to do it.

He never took him seriously.

"Was I involved? I don't kill people. I might look like I do, but no. I collect weapons. And one of them was stolen from my apartment three days before the murder."

"Damn."

Adam looked around and tried to connect the dots.
He realized that they were both somehow connected to the murder, but does that even mean anything?
"So, for some reason, if this theory holds up, we have been placed in an area or something, and both of us has this bracelet with this date on it, and the door that has the same date on it is highly defended. I say knock down the door."

~~~

James smiled, they were close, so close.
He licked his lips and giggled.

The time was near.

"No. Don't knock down the door. Let me ask you a question. Do you think anything good is behind that door? I'm willing to bet the answer is no. If the handle is hot on our side, there could be something dangerous on the other side. Think for a minute."

Adam sighed, "You're right, you're right. You know what, none of this matters, we just need to get out of here, right?"

"Yes. I would say so. It's a good thing they threw me in here with you or you might have died already. Let's check out the other doors."

"Oh haha, very funny." Adam followed them, rolling his eyes.

~~~

James yelled and threw a chair against the wall.
"No no NO"
He then sat down and started sobbing.

"I'm sorry Rose, I'm sorry. You'll have to wait. I have to think."

"I'm only half-joking. What do you think of this pink one? Any new details that you think are worth noting?"

"I don't see an exit sign, so I couldn't think that there is too much important about it."

Adam looked around him, starting to get paranoid.

"Don't you think that it's weird that no one has come for us? And there is no…sound?"

"Because you said 'Don't you think that it's weird I'm going to guess that you do think it's weird. I'm now going to congratulate you on making a useful observation." They paused. "Congratulations on making a useful observation. Yes, we should check that out. And the lack of an exit sign doesn't mean a ton."