"A crack?"
A tiny crack as big as his fingernail appeared
Suddenly, he remembered his name
Grid
Have I not known my name for all this time? Grid looked in the mirror at his baggy eyes, his restless face, and he knew. The wall had something to do with it. Only when it cracked could he remember his name. It was both exhilarating and shocking.
Grid had prepared to punch the hell out of this wall.
1 punch, 2, no breakthrough happened, but he kept pummeling 5,6, his fists were aching for rest,7,10,12, his fists became bloodied, coating the crusty rug in a new red, opposed to its yellow counterpart.
After a couple of minutes of making the wall his punching bag, he eventually stopped. He saw a bigger whole now, big enough to stick his head through, but his head began seeping with memories of himself. Some are as useless as when he cried himself to sleep because his friend didn't play with him, to memories explaining why he was there.
***
When he was 9, he had seen a poster on a fancy building saying:
"If you're in need, call us."
I didn't pay much attention to it at first, since, well, it was quite the weird poster, and the one next to it was for a fun fair.
***
Grid was shocked. Every time he breaks this wall, memories come up?
Grid suddenly had a new ambition.n
'I'm gonna break that wall down.'
Grid quickly grabbed a chair from his workdesk and was about to smash it against the wall when suddenly.
It was no longer there.
"First stage 'ambition' cleared"
'First stage? Where did that voice come from-'
On Grid's 90s computer, a chibi bear, yellow and white, with a black nose that looked like a tiny cherry.
"Hi, I'm Epho, and I'm the bear guide here, who gives you the bear minimum to start with. Ey ey, get the joke?"
Grid responds disappointingly
"Not funny, but keep going."
epho puts an image of a sad emoji on the left of the screen, then grabs the mouth and flips it in a cartoony style. And then yells to Grid.
"So you've finally broken the wall after? Two years? Hey, excuse me mate, I have to go out of acting as the cutest bear just to say, HOW DID YOU NOT BREAK THE WALL EARLIER?"
Epho puts an angry emoji on the screen and shortens it to be on his face.
Grid just looks at the waving colours with boredom.
"So are you gonna tell me how things work, or do I have to pry the information out of you?"
'Wait, it's my first interaction with... maybe a human. So why am I so violent towards him? I'm usually calm. Maybe it's the new memories? But my memories weren't that aggressive?'
"Spot on Grid"
Grid looks at him with a confused expression.
"How do you know my name? More importantly, how did you read my thoughts?"
Epho just deletes the angry emoji and places a thumbs-up emoji on the screen.n
"Don't ask. Anyway, here's some information you critter, since, well, you'll need it very soon. Every stage here is behind a wall. Every challenge and life-threatening event is behind them."
Grid responds cluelessly
"So why would-"
"We're getting there, so SHUT UP. Now the reason you would go beyond those walls is because, well, you don't wanna stay here, right?
Grid was almost gonna speak up, but kept his mouth shut not to anger the cartoonish bear.
"So go on through, make your legend about fame, glory, and maybe you might not come back, and why are you even still here?"
Grid just looks at the bear in a tired tone.
"Maybe because I need more information? I mean, you weren't gonna shove me into what seems like a death trap. RIGHT?"
Grid shoves his face into the dimming light of the computer.
"Excuse me, Grid, it seems like the wall is gonna reappear soon, so hop to it, and also, at each stage, we'll explain more things to the survivors, so get to it."
Grid looks perplexed for a second.
"Wait, explain to the survivors?-"
The bright, joyous screen suddenly went pitch-black.
'Well, only 1 thing I can really do now.'
Grid approaches the next area, which is pitch black on his side, and notices a small coin embedded in the floor, which once had quite a tall wall on top of it. He slowly picked it up and stepped through the black area, and reached a dimly lit wooden cabin.
The wooden cabin had 5 chairs, 4 were filled, and 1 was for him. The 1st chair had a tall, lean, black bald man with a briefcase and an army outfit; he also had quite the cool tattoo on his head. Paired with striking brown eyes, he almost looked like a businessmen.
The second chair had a woman with long brunette hair, tan skin, a white sweater, and long black yoga pants with a striking necklace, hosting a small ruby. She also had calm green eyes, almost verdant.
'Guess she's had it comfortable, while I, in a weird mix of pajamas and a suit and tie, had to deal with this shitty computer work every day. But hey, at least I got... and the coin fell out of my pocket. Great.'
The third chair had a small child with a red and black hat, a shirt that had a cartoon of a bunny eating a carrot on it. He wore shorts and had black gloves with blond hair. Pale skin and tiny blue eyes. Looking at the brunette woman with suspicion.
'Weird.'
The fourth chair, no one?
The businessmen spoke in a condescending tone.
"Hey, are you just gonna stand there eyeballing us? Or will you sit down?"
Grid quickly responded in a respectful tone.
"S-sorry, sir, it's just-'
The thug quickly shot out a response in a tone of understanding anger.
"We know you probably had to stay in some shitty place for a long time, but the bear told us to sit and wait for the last person. Also, don't be so formal, my name's Marley. Take a seat."
Grid quickly took his seat and looked at the kid.
The brunette started talking.
"Look, Godwin, I-"
A loud voice can be heard.
"Yes, yes, can we go on with the stages like the bear said?"
A pale skinned, black-haired woman, to the right of the vintage chairs, can be seen with a hand on her hip, beautiful amber eyes, and a black dress with silky white sleeves, paired with black high heels.
"Yes, I know you guys have things to settle, but let's first get through whatever we have to do."
A small bear appears.
"HI, it's Epho again, and the girl here is correct. Today, the challenge is simple: you'll be playing a quick game of Mafia here."