NEW REALITY

"This is unreal, I am not playing a game for the entertainment of some people," I said in anger. I was convinced. This was some prank by some rich idle people in entertainment using us as circus monkeys. But as I was walking back to the bus, I heard a loud splash from afar. "whoa! Look!" Cheryl shouted, pointing over the ocean. From afar, there were dark clouds, lightning and a giant wave heading over our way. We entered the bus immediately, having nowhere to run. For once in my life I needed company, I sat next to Cheryl who was crying, and I couldn't believe any of it, but it was happening. The mask face was still repeating the words again and again. So we decided to solve the riddle maybe it was a prank, but we had no choice.

The time was passing unusually fast, and we had not come close to solving the riddle. Cheryl was slowly frustrated. We re-read the riddle too many times to count and still didn't make any sense. I was a writer for goodness sake, and I should at least came up with anything. About one hour in and we were fed up. "screw this," I snarled while getting off the bus. "We're not playing your games, and we want no part in this absurd mockery," I shouted at the head, which was now an hourglass. But after all that shouting, there was no response at all. The wave was still clearing in with a lot of wind and drizzle. So I got back on the bus and decided to wait for the 'consequences.' I went straight to the back of the bus and laid there. "what are you doing?" Cheryl came up and asked. "This is stupid, am not gonna be part of any of these shenanigans," I replied. "But what about the wave and the little time that's left? We don't know what happens when that time runs outcome on!" she said dramatically. "Then I guess we'll find out soon enough," I replied with a smile on my face.

I somehow knew that if this were what I thought it was, then the initiators wouldn't let us die, just scare us nearly to death. So I had a peace of mind as I laid there. I could Still hear Cheryl scribbling on her notebook and mumbling. I almost felt sorry for her. So I decided to shut her out by wearing my earphones, turning on the music and rolled over to the other side. As I lay there, I started reminiscing on how my life was going fine. How by now, I would be getting ready to go home to my cat and my warm bed.

I had even started to think about turning the guest room into a gym where I'd never enter. Then it hit me, my phone has no signal, and I didn't show up to work today. Noo, people were going to do weird stuff to my desk, and yes, I'd get fired for not calling in. Why was this happening to me? I never even liked Reality shows. By the time I was through thinking, sleep had carried me away. I am very sure I dreamt that this was a dream and I woke up at my house. But I knew it was too good to be true that my place was more prominent and somehow my cat was making me breakfast with a chef's hat on.

"Wake up, wake up!" Cheryl vigorously shook me awake. "look outside," she shouted in fear. I went over the window, and the wave was gigantic, and it was twirling with lightning striking through it. It was dark, and all I could hear was "SUBMIT THE ANSWER" over and over again. "Time is up, and we're gonna die," Cheryl said. She sat down on the floor, hugged herself self and mumbled while crying. Suddenly hailstones started dropping, hitting and breaking the windows, and I couldn't move. But as I stood there, the riddle started making sense to me. So I grabbed my backpack, put it over my head and ran outside. I got hit a couple of times, but the adrenaline caused by near-death experience didn't allow me to feel it. I approached the hourglass and shouted: "Memories, the answer is memories." Immediately everything stopped the wave, the hailstones and the lightning. The hourglass disappeared, and I could hear Cheryl's footsteps behind me. "CONGRATULATIONS YOU WILL NOW MOVE TO THE NEXT STAGE," the face appeared and said. "no no no I quit am done…" I said before being interrupted by the bus's ignition.

I turned around, and there he was—the driver who brought us to this purgatory of a Reality. I charged towards him with the intent of beating the lights out of him. All this time, Cheryl was staring at the clear blue evening sky. "You monster take me home right now," I said while still charging. But the moment I got close to throw a deadening punch, I found myself inside the bus punching the seat in front of me. Cheryl was there beside me, and we had our seatbelts on. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" The driver asked. It was the same way, same tone and same gesturing as earlier. "Can you please take us back home, please?" I said while trying to unfasten my seatbelt. But it was no use. It was too tight. "I can't go through that again," Cheryl said while crying. "Hey, it's gonna be fine, we'll be fine, we're alive aren't we?", I said. "yea, thank you by the way I owe my life," she said while drying out her tears. "it's okay I'm sure you could have done the same thing," I replied, just like the last time fog appeared and I was a little scared of what to expect. The mist got thicker until the engine stopped. My heart was pounding faster. The driver, just like the last time, got off, and I was pretty sure he disappeared. The seatbelts suddenly popped open. We slowly stood up, grabbed our backpacks and got out of the bus.