Chapter Text
Sleep has always felt more like a suggestion than a necessity.
Most nights you spend hours staring at the ceiling, watching the plastic stars glow above your bed. They're cheap and tacky, but in a place like this, they're close enough.
You know every constellation by heart now. The crooked one above your dresser. The cluster over your door. The single star hanging slightly lower than the rest because the adhesive is starting to give out.
Back home, you'd spend nights sitting outside with your eyes fixed on the sky. Here, all you get is plastic and paint. It's not the same.
At some point, exhaustion finally wins and you fall asleep. Unfortunately, it only lasts for about three hours.
A loud knock rattles your door. "Bea? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready!” The cheery voice is muffled by the wooden door.
You groan and bury your face in your pillow.
Ragatha knocks again. "Bea?"
"I'm up, I'm up.” You answer and sigh before sliding out of bed and heading for the door.
The ragdoll greets you with a soft smile. “There you are! Come on, let's get going.”
By the time you and Ragatha reach the dining hall, everyone else is already scattered around the table.
Pomni sits half-asleep in her chair while she slowly mixes the slop with her spoon.
Kinger is trying to convince Zooble that cereal is technically a soup.
Gangle quietly eats her breakfast while listening to the chaos unfold.
Jax is balancing his chair on two legs despite multiple laws of physics suggesting he shouldn't be.
You settle into the empty seat beside Ragatha without really thinking about it. At some point over the last few weeks, it had become routine. Compared to the others, she is the closest thing you've got to a friend.
“Good morning everyone!” She cheerfully announces as she grabs a serving of what appears to be oatmeal.
"Morning," Pomni mutters.
Exhausted, you let your head fall against the table.
"God, you look awful." Jax snickers at you from his seat.
You ignore him and watch as Ragatha places a bowl in front of you. "Eat."
You stare into the bowl. The green glop sloshes around with a wet splorch. "...What is it?"
"I think it's oatmeal?" Ragatha offers.
"You think?"
"I don't actually know."
You poke it with your spoon. It pokes back. You immediately drop the spoon. "Nope."
Pomni snorts into her drink.
"I'm serious." You shove the bowl away. "I could bake something better than this half asleep."
The lights suddenly dim. You immediately groan. Across the table, Zooble does the same.
"Caine's awake," she says.
A spotlight slams onto the center of the room. Confetti explodes from absolutely nowhere. Kinger screams. Caine drops from the ceiling.
"Hello my fantastic flowers!" Caine spins through the air looking as happy as ever. "I have a wonderful surprise for all of you!"
You and Ragatha exchange a look. The word surprise has never once led to anything good.
After exploring haunted houses and being subjected to what was essentially unpaid labor, your standards aren't exactly high. Still, a relaxing bath house or beach day would be nice. Anything that didn't involve running for your life.
“Today’s adventure is… Duo Escape Rooms.”
To your surprise, that actually doesn't sound terrible.
You used to love escape rooms in the real world. The puzzles. The clues. The satisfaction of finally putting everything together. Sure, it's not the relaxing spa day you were hoping for, but it's definitely better than "Climb to the Top of Mount Everest!"
And maybe, if you're lucky, it'll be a chance to get to know some of the others a little better. Unfortunately, luck has never liked you very much.
Zooble groans and starts to walk away. “Yeah, no. I don't find fun in being Sherlock Holmes,” they mumble.
“I was hoping you'd say that Zooble!” Zooble seems to pause at this, turning around to look at Caine like he just lost his mind.
“You were?” Honestly, you're just as surprised.
“Yes! Since there's an uneven number of people I was going to have one of you sit out!” Caine swings over and side hugs them. Their expression becomes strained and disgusted.
“Great, can you—”
“Since you took one for the team I will reward you with your own private adventure!”
“Wait what! You can't just—” Caine snaps his fingers. Zooble disappears in an instant. You feel a bit bad as they're always getting roped into doing things they don't want to do.
“Now, where were we…. Oh yes!” Caine floats back up to the top of the tent. "Teams have already been decided!"
You immediately don't like where this is going.
"Ragatha and Gangle!"
Ragatha smiles.
"Pomni and Kinger!"
Pomni looks relieved.
"And finally..."
Your stomach drops.
"...Jax and Bea!"
No. Absolutely not.
When you said you wanted to get to know the group better, this isn't exactly what you meant. Jax is the one person you can't stand in this dreadful place. Ever since he shoved you in that pool of piranhas you've hated his guts. Those fish had torn apart your plush skin, eaten out your stuffing, caused you more physical pain than you had ever experienced. On top of that, he's a nonsensical jerk who only cares about himself and a good joke.
Your chest tightens as you look over at the purple rabbit. He stands with his arms crossed across his chest. To your surprise he's already eyeing you with that evil yellow smirk.
"Aw," Jax says. "I got Bea."
…You are so gonna die.