Playgrounds: Roses Without Thorns Are Like Knives Without Blades

"Help! This isn't just a normal game!" A man screams and whimpers as the walls of a library slowly close in.

He knocks over shelves out of panic and tosses multiple books.

"Where is that device? Where Is It?!" 

He has a major mood swing while looking for a device.

The walls are only two feet away from crushing the man. The mess of books and random pages makes the man slip and fall.

Thunk!

When his head hit the ground he heard a metal sound. He then throws all the books and pages around until he finds a red buzzer.

Click!

The walls stopped as it was only inches away from crushing him.

"Hahaha, you thought I was gonna die, didn't you?!" He shouted while feeling cocky.

Meanwhile, in a dark room, a figure could be seen looking at the man through a camera embedded in the walls.

The figure seems to be slim and thin. The figure smiles at the man from the screen.

The man looks around in confusion but is still happy.

"Where is the exit?" he pondered

The dark figure starts to speak up.

"Well, you see. You might have made a mistake."

The walls start to move closer and again. The man starts to get enraged and confused.

"What do you mean?! That was the button! You rigged this game!"

"Look around you. The only person here in the room is you and no one else. Your selfishness kills you."

"PLEASE!! Let me out of here!"

"Bye bye,"

The walls slowly crush the man's body into an actual pancake. Bones crack and bones go out of his body. Organs and body parts stain the walls.

Somehow he is still alive but the walls are more than halfway done.

"You sicko."

"Well, Kirasu would say something different."

The figure pulls out a picture of two children with their faces blurred out. 

…..

Step! Step!

This morning is like no other in Las Vegas, Nevada. The traffic was heavy yet smooth. 

'I am gonna be late if I keep this up.' Ray Kira thought to himself.

Ray was late for work and he ran with an egg in his mouth for breakfast.

A couple of weeks ago Ray got out of college and he has a job working at an escape room company. This company creates and plans many escape rooms in October for Halloween and in December for Christmas. The other months of the year aren't really a bigger holiday for escape rooms.

Suddenly Ray gets slapped on the back by his friend Kris Vault. Kris was Ray's childhood friend and with another friend, but she passed away because of an accident. They still visit her grave every now and then though.

"What are you doing Kris?"

"What do you mean? I am following you. We have the same job."

"Really?"

He then showed me a job certificate form. I wouldn't have expected him to get a job because of his wildness. Back at college, Kris would always cause a ruckus and get me and him in trouble, but we still graduated.

We walked and talked for a bit before we stood in front of a large building. This was probably the largest building in LV and the most high-tech. 

We scanned our ID's and entered the building while a robot with a werewolf head greeted us. Kris followed Ray as he didn't know where to go. I remember seeing that Kris was assigned the same floor as me, so it was nice knowing that someone I had known for a long time was with me.

I pressed the buttons for the elevator and we got on. The first floor of the building looked like a normal company building while the elevator looked more techy. 

We waited for a while as the floor we were assigned to was the 20th out of 25 floors. 

Ding!

We arrived at the floor and scanned our ID to enter the offices. And here we are. 

"Nice to meet you, would you like me to assist you any further?" A robotic attendant asked.

"No, please," I replied.

I walked into the boss's office with Kris and sat down in the office chairs.

"Nice to meet both of you today. I am Alfred and if you need to ask any questions or have comments please tell me at this time."

"What are our roles for this job?"

"Ray you are going to be the room designer and Kris you are gonna be a test runner."

"Can a designer also be a test runner?"

"The designer is supposed to stay and operate from the outside to look at digital problems and room issues."

My designing skills from college actually paid off. Designing escape rooms is like a dream to me, but I need to keep my composure when I am meeting boss.

...

Months past as Ray's life was doing pretty good, until one day...

"Ray you are fired!"

It was too sudden. Ray had never expected this outcome….