"Fucking chavs," Lucas mutters, shaking his head in disgust.
Amsterdam is obviously a place where one can find a variety of colourful characters. One of them being British fucking chavs, wearing burberry, apparently. As if Lucas didn't get enough of them at home already.
Lucas is a science teacher at a secondary school in Canterbury. "The youth these days," he often finds himself saying, then cringing at how old he sounds. It's not his fault, though; a large number of his students act like complete idiots and tease the other half for not doing the same.
He has been really looking forward to a weekend away. His cousin, Darren, has organised a surprise destination guy's trip for his own birthday, and honestly, Lucas has been excited about it for weeks. Had he known where he was going, he might not have been so enthusiastic.
"How much for a suck??" He hears one particularly uncouthly mannered "bloke" ask some poor girl in one of the worldly famous windows.
Lucas has always had an odd relationship with sex. He's rather indifferent to girls as well as boys. When the urge strikes, he just wants to cum.
Alone.
He has an array of toys that help him achieve his desired orgasms. However, only when he is in the right mood. His sex drive isn't like other men's, whom he considers somewhat pathetic for their weak dependence on sexual gratification. Some random girl walks by and smiles at them, and that's it; they're off, cocks leading the way. "Pathetic," his mind remarks as he rools his eyes in disgust.
"I reckon Lucas deserves a bit of twat more than all of us put together," one of Darren's unkempt friends, Adam, decides to comment as they stroll down the cobbled street. "His little act ain't fooling me!" he adds with a nudge of the elbow. "You acting like you're too cool for a bit of fun; I bet you've already cum in your pants just looking at all these whores."
Lucas flashes him a sidelong glance, hoping Adam will stop attempting to entice him to join in on their sexual spree.
"Come on, Adam! Don't be a douche." Darren says, elbowing his friend in the ribs.
Adam scoffs in distain, but lets it go. For now.
The long weekend passes relatively quickly, and soon enough, it's Sunday evening. Their last night.
Lucas has enjoyed walks around the canal, museum visits, and reading novels in the beautiful gardens. Part of him feels guilty for not spending more time with his cousin, Darren, but it's just not his scene.
The last evening, however, they have a nice dinner planned and then an escape room, which Lucas is really looking forward to. He loves a challenge.
They have dinner in a traditional Dutch restaurant, which serves an array of authentic dishes accompanied by fancy cocktails. Lucas, metaphorically speaking, lets his hair down and drinks two! By the time they leave, he's giggling away like a schoolboy. Light-headed and fuzzy-mouthed, he laughs along with his travel buddies. Even Adam, the Neanderthal.
They arrive at the Escape Room just after nine p.m. It's dark and mysterious inside, just as Lucas had imagined it would be. He never asked what the theme would be, but it doesn't matter. He's quite confident that he will be able to solve whatever puzzles come his way. Even in his slightly inebriated state.
A lady with bright red lipstick at the desk calls out, "All forms need to be signed before entry to the rooms." Darren takes the standard consent forms and signs for everyone, while the others all fuck about.
"Ok!" She announces, "You're all set." Her smirk is both welcoming and a bit unsettling, adding to the mysterious atmosphere. "Enjoy," she mutters seductively as they shuffle past her.
They enter a massive room where a large screen shows some sort of scoreboard with their names. Lucas stifles a giggle at the thought of them competing against one another. His IQ is unquestionably higher than the group of friends his cousin surrounds himself with. "This is going to be a piece of cake," he thinks.
One by one, they get called and led in different directions. Lucas's tipsiness is starting to wear off; sensitivity is beginning to return to his lips; and his head doesn't feel so heavy anymore. When his name is called, he leaves the gigantic room and obediently follows the girl who called him.
"You're going to start in Room 1: Eros Enigma Symphony."
He opens the weighty wooden door and takes a deep breath before stepping into the unknown. The room on the other side is dimly lit with old oil lamps and flickering stage lights. It's an outdated theatre adorned with intricate tapestries along the walls. Rows and rows of red velvet chairs in a semicircle all face a majestic stage where a grand piano awaits. Lucas takes a deep breath as he steps inside, and the door closes behind him.
Lucas doesn't waste any time; he's done plenty of escape rooms in his life to know that time is precious. He searches within the rows, checking seating numbers and aisle letters to see if anything is out of the ordinary. He scans the dusty, old paintings on the walls, hoping to discover some sort of clue, still nothing.
The stage is spotless. Pristine and untouched, as if waiting for a performance that will never come. Lucas notices a small envelope neatly placed where one would read music, and his heart races with excitement as he carefully retrieves it. Inside, he finds a cryptic message:
In a room of notes, where melodies softly chime,
A grand piano waits, a riddle in rhyme.
Sit where keys meet; let your fingers entwine.
For beneath your touch, a reward you'll find.
He reads it again, desperate to figure out his next move. He settles upon the piano bench and starts tapping away at the black and white keys as if some sort of breakthrough would materialise before his eyes. The notes disturb the stillness, making Lucas halt instinctively. The air is thick with anticipation; Lucas is determined to escape before his cousin's stupid friends--
Suddenly, a spotlight shines down, precisely on where he sits, temporarily blinding him. He squints, but as he goes to rub his eyes, metal shackles clamp down onto his wrists, forcing him to stay in place. His ankles are also bound, trapping him in the spotlight's harsh glare.
"What the fuck?" He splutters as panic sets in and causes him to struggle.
"Well done." A robotic voice sounds from all around. "You've found the way out."
A surge of adrenaline pulses through his veins as he realises he is now part of some twisted game.
"The only way to escape is to endure," the eerily welcoming voice says.
"Endure what?"
The robot merely giggles in response before the floor opens up beneath him, and a boy appears underneath. The boy smiles up at him with big doe eyes. "He's pretty," Lucas's mind provides unhelpfully.
"What is this?" Lucas asks him.
Pretty boy gives him a quizzical look. "This is the game."
Lucas stutters a few throaty noises before spluttering out, "What am I supposed to do?"
The boy smiles again. "You do nothing," he answers, as if it were obvious. "You have to stay until the alarm goes off."
"Stay??" he shrieks, incredulous of the boy's composure. "Where the fuck can I go? I'm shackled to a fucking piano!"
"Uhh," the boy mumbles, looking up at him as if he were dumb. "You have a safe word." It sounds like a question.
Lucas's stomach drops. A safe word? Fuck. He knows instantly. Darren and those moron friends of his.
