Can I Have Your Attention Please

The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. I knew I wasn't going to like my day.  I could not remember the events that lead me here. I search for an exit.

A chair, a table, and a bed fill the middle of the room. I go to the bed and push down on the mattress. The bedding falls through to the floor. I pick up the bedding and lay it in a pile by the wall.

Tired of searching the walls, I make a bed for myself.

I manage to fall asleep. Suddenly, I'm falling. I fall five feet and come to a stop. I'm hovering in mid-air. There's a glass wall with people pointing and gesturing at me. I wave at them and scream help. They laugh and wave back. I start falling again and scream. I land badly. I howl in pain and rise to my feet. This room has a door. I open it and rush out into the street. Trams are moving slowly enough to hop on and ride. I hop on and sit down closing my eyes.

Hearing a noise, I open my eyes, and looked around. The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. I panic and look for an exit. I remember a few things, and don't want to repeat them. I go to the spot where I had fell before. Using my pocket knife, I open the trapdoor. There is a ladder. I sit down and slide to the edge and put my foot on the top rung. I climb down the ladder. I pass the glass wall with people.watching me. They wave at me. Ignoring them I descend into the next room. This time there is second door. I decide to try it. I open the door and it leads to a forest. I go back inside the room and the other door has vanished. I go back to the forest door and step through. I hear a noise and look behind me to find the building gone.

Controlling my panic, I close my eyes and listen for a minute. There are no noises. Nothing but total silence. I open my eyes and look around.

The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. Remembering my steps. I go down the ladder and now there are three doors at the bottom. I choose a door and walk through. I do not see any people and the buildings are all in a state of decay. I can't hear any noise. I yell out, "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?" I get no response. I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them and lower my head. I close my eyes and moan.

I hear something and open my eyes. The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. A man sits by the table. He stands and comes over, takes my hand and shakes it.

"I congratulate you on making it to level three. Most people make it to level three. We need to know if you are ready for the next phase."

I look at him incredulously, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on just a second while I reverse the effects." He pulls a box out and pushes a button and suddenly my memories return.

He pushes another button on the box and the wall opens, revealing an audience people. Spinning me around, he looks at the audience and says, "Can I have your attention, please." All is quiet. "What do you say, Sam. Are you ready to go for level four? You have a hundred thousand now, do you want to risk all to continue. What do you say? Yes or No?"

I thought about how strange the last three levels were. I saw my parents in the front row nodding their heads. I hear myself say, "Yes!"

The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. I don't remember anything from my past. A bed, table, and chair sit in the middle of the room I sit down in the chair and the chair tilts down ejecting me through the a hole. I land about twenty feet down in another room. I look around and see four doors, one on each wall. I choose the first one I see. The area beyond the door is alive with sounds. It's a rainforest and I am staring a crouching tiger, ready to pounce. I run. I jump a ravine and fall. I underestimated how far the other side was. I fall into a river at the bottom of the ravine.

I hurry, swimming towards the shoreline. I hear a splash behind me and turn, watching in horror, seeing the tiger swimming towards me. Reaching the shore I pull myself out of the water and take off. I don't turn to look back. I grab a vine and swing over the next ravine and drop. I stop, panting hard and look back. There's the tiger glaring at me. I wasn't sure the tiger could cross the ravine so I run. I find a tree and climb up and look down. The tiger had given up and gone away. I lay my head back on the trunk of the tree and close my eyes.

I open my eyes and I'm back in the unfamiliar room. A man sits by the table. He gets up and holds out his hand.

"I would like to congratulate you on making it to level four. Only a few people have ever made it to level four."

I push him away and yell, "Who are you? What's happening to me?"

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box and pushes a button. "Sorry, I always forget to restore your memories."

I am getting a sense that I should be remembering something. My brain is still trying to piece everything together when it suddenly freezes up on the scene of a tiger ready to pounce on me. I scream and push the man down and run. I hit the wall and bounce back falling to the floor.

"Sam? Sam, are you okay? The man says.

"Your name is Tom." I say. My memory starts filling in the blanks.

"Yes it is. Sorry, it's a side-effect of the process." He takes my arm and pushes another button on the box. The wall disappears, revealing the audience. They all rise and applaud and I can hear chanting, "More, More."

"Yes, folks, here his is. Now, will he continue? Sam will you walk away with your winnings or will you triple it by completing level five. A moment of silence ladies and gentlemen while he contemplates the decision. Sam you now have two hundred thousand and if you complete level five you will walk away with six hundred thousand. What will it be? You have fifteen seconds to decide."

A large display on a screen behind my head started the countdown. You could hear the murmuring in the crowd as they whispered among themselves and placed side bets on my decision. I thought about the last level. It didn't seem that scary now that I could look at it logically. There was an escape route and all I had to do was escape. I just needed to think, which I was very good at. I heard myself yell, "YES!" The audience roared. I closed my eyes relishing the attention.

The room is unfamiliar.  I don't know how I got here. There is a table, a chair, and a bed. I go over to the bed and sit down and fall through the frame. I continue falling through the floor and falling hard at the bottom of another room. My leg is twisted at a crazy angle and my head is swimming. I see a door. I stand and test my leg. It hurts but I'm able to walk. I walk through the door and fall.

I cradle my head and curl up into a fetal position to try and brace for the impact. I land in front of a herd of strange animals. They ignore me as I look around. I hear a noise. The animals stampede in my direction. I run also. I dive behind a rock and cover my head, coming out once they have passed.

There is a horrific beast staring at me. It growls and I run. I head for the trees. The creature chases me. I grab onto the nearest branch of the first tree and swing myself up on the limb and start climbing up. Hoping that the beast can't climb trees. To my horror, I see it climbing up.

All the trees are somewhat interconnected and I start racing from tree to tree. I check the progress of my protagonist. It's not as as fast in the trees. The ground is close now and I jump down.

I hear a thud as the creature jumps to the ground. I start looking for anything that I can use as a weapon. I will have to kill this thing before I can rest. A branch falls and I grab it up. It has a sharpened point where it split from the tree. It seems sturdy enough to use as a spear. I stop and brace myself. The creature runs onto the spear impaling itself, dying. I close my eyes.

I hear clapping and open my eyes. The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. A man sits on a chair by the table. He stands up, takes my hand and shakes it.

"I congratulate you on making it to level five. Fewer people have ever made it this far. What you did with that branch was amazing."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box and pushes a button. "Okay Sam. How was your experience? Are you okay? You're looking a little pale."

I am getting a sense that I should be remembering something. I take a deep breath. My head is spinning and my leg is throbbing.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"Come with me, Sam. You will remember everything in just a moment." He pushes another button and the wall disappears and a roar goes up from the audience.

My brain resets and I look down and see my parents looking up at me solemnly.

"Sam, are you going to make your parents proud and go to the next level. You have only one left. I will tell you now. Only two people have ever made it back from level six. One billion. Will you be the third in our game? I will put five minutes on the clock this time and you can go over and discuss it with whomever you choose this time. While you are deciding we will take a quick break to check in with our sponsors." He cues the camera crews and then leads Sam over to his parents who are climbing up onto the stage.

"Mom, dad, I don't know. It's a lot of money. We could live in a better place." I thought about what would happen if I didn't survive the next level. They were holding me and crying.

I finally said, "I have to. I will survive. My survival instincts are good."

Tom, cued the camera crews and everyone got back to their seats. I walked over and took my place beside Tom.

"Well folks, here he is with his decision. Sam, what will it be. Are you going to risk it all to complete level six the very last level worth one billion dollars? I need your answer, now."

"Yes!" I say, closing my eyes.

I hear a grating noise and open my eyes. The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. There is no furniture and the floors are smooth. I finally get tired of looking for a way out and sit down against a wall and close my eyes listening for a moment.

I open my eyes and flail my arms about to try and stop the fall. My body is plummeting rapidly to the room below. I cradle my head and roll up trying to protect myself from the impact. I hit the bottom and cry out. I didn't break any bones, but I hurt. A ladder hangs over me. I am hurting too much to attempt climbing the ladder so my only option is the door in the wall.

I go to the door and open it slowly. It leads to a meadow. A river is flowing to the side and there are deer grazing. I walk out head towards the river. I squat down and put my hand in the water. The water is icy. I am trying to remember how I got here.

I hear a growl that stands my hair on ends. I turn and see a large wolf looking at me and snarling. I could never run without the wolf catching me. I do the only thing left I jump into the river. I see the wolf running towards me. I swim. The water is so cold that I am having trouble breathing. The wolf is running beside the river following me and waiting for me to come to shore. I swim faster, trying to get to the other side, but my body is cold and I am having more trouble moving my arms and legs. My teeth are chattering and I know I am not going to make it. I sink to the bottom and realize, I'm in waist-deep water, a hundred yards from where I jumped in. The wolf is there trying to decide if it is worth getting wet to come after me. I stand and struggle to make my legs carry me to the other side so I can pull myself out of the river. I stumble and fall and swim to the other side. The wolf sits down on the other side and howls. The sound hurts my ears and I cringe. I make myself crawl out of the water. I start scooching backwards and come to a stop against a tree. I look up and see my salvation. I pull myself up and grab the side of the tree and start climbing the tree. I get about twenty feet off the ground and look down. A pack of wolves have arrived. Braving the water, they now sit at the base of the tree. They try to climb the tree and fail. Finally they leave. I climb further and find a decent limb to spread out on. I close my eyes.

I hear a noise and open my eyes. The room is unfamiliar. I don't know how I got here. A man is coming to me grinning.

"Welcome back. Sam you have done amazingly well. That was incredible how you jumped in the river. That was ingenious thinking on your part. That is the kind of thinking we need in our newest colony. You earned a seat on the next transport. You will have to sign a non disclosure agreement on everything that happened here. All you can say is that you won the money. Do you understand? We only have so many spots available in the new colony. This is how we choose the brightest minds."

I could hear everything he said and I was reveling in my moment. I was going to the new colony that was all that mattered. Tom pushed a button on his box and the wall disappeared one last time. The audience surged the stage and his parents were up on the stage and grabbing him as he walked forward.

"I did it. Did you see? I made it." I yelled above the crowd, as my parents joined me. I shook Tom's hand and smiled for the camera then signed the non-disclosure agreement on the podium.

I hear a coughing noise and open my eyes. The room is unfamiliar. But I know how I got here. I am on the transport ship with my parents heading to our new lives.