THE TRAPPED BIRDS

“Did you hear that?” Julius said, trying to catch his breath after jumping down from the stone wall.

“It sounded like a scream coming from the next room over,” Howard replies, taking a black UV light out of his pocket, tracing the mossy stone walls for any clues that might help them escape.

Julius was reaching for a piece of paper that can only be reached after climbing on the wall’s footholds made of concrete. The footholds were man made and placed after the stone wall had been built. The footholds were clearly added later to the room, and someone placed this paper exactly where you would have no choice but to climb the wall just to know the paper was there.

The room is filled with torture devices from the Middle Ages like spiked medieval clubs and a breaking wheel. The stone on the walls is covered with moss, leaving a damp and earthy smell in the air. The room itself is 400 sq ft with dim lighting. Aside from the two boys, the only other sign of human life was the scream they had heard earlier. In the center of the room are two old wooden chairs bolted to the floor using small iron plates that are wrapped around the legs of the chairs.

“We have get out of here! We only have an hour, and we’ve been scrambling for most of that time.” Howard says while nervously surveying the ceiling of the cold, mossy room.

“You think I don’t know that? Here try this,” Julius hands Howard the piece of paper to shine the UV light on.

Howard shines the light on the paper, and it reveals a coded message. The message states that “the door can only be opened by those who show their soul,” with a drawing of an oval shape under the message.

“Show their souls, the hell does that mean?” Julius said with an irritated undertone.

“Maybe we should look for the oval shape somewhere in the room.”

“Obviously, how about you check the left side of the room, and I’ll check the right side.”

“You don’t have to sound like you know it all when you clearly don’t.” Clicking the black light off.

“Yeah whatever, let’s hurry up, were running out of time.” Julius grumbled and moved towards the right side of the room.

Howard moved towards the left side of the room, looking along the walls, tables, and chairs looking for an oval shape that matches the one on the paper. He looks under a ragged wooden table with scratch marks all over it. He found the oval shape hidden under the table with nothing else surrounding it.

“I found it!” Howard yelled in excitement.

Julius rushed over to see what it looked like, hunching under the rough and ragged table. He took a sigh filled with disappointment.

“Yeah, you found it, but we still don’t know what the riddle means genius.”

“Why don’t you figure it out, Julius the Genius?” Howard smirks at his own retort.

Julius rolls his eyes and looks at the oval shape under the table. He sees the oval shape, but notices something is missing. There’s no text or any other messages in or around the oval shape, nor does it show where the key could be. Was it just a useless clue or was there something else they needed to do? Then Julius remembered the black light.

“How about you make yourself useful and shine that light over here already?” Julius said agitatedly.

“Oh yeah, almost forgot about that.” Howard clicked the black light on and shined it on the wall under the table without much fuss.

The light showed facial features like eyes, a nose, and a mouth inside of the oval, but you can only see them with the black light shining on them. Julius took this chance to mash his face on the spot with the now visible clue within the oval.

“What the heck are you doing?!” Howard screamed at Julius, stunned and confused.

Julius didn’t say anything after mashing his head against the wall, his body just went limp. His head is now partially stuck inside the wall, as if it is entirely in another place.

“Julius?”

Julius’ body remained limp and unmoving. Howard started frantically shaking Julius’ body, still unresponsive on the floor.

“Julius wake up! Somebody help!” Howard screamed.

Howard pulled Julius’ body out from under the table and his head from the wall, hoping he could help Julius in some way. He flipped Julius over on his back to see if he could tell if he was breathing or not. Howard got on the floor and placed his ear on Julius’ chest to listen for a heartbeat.

“Julius.” Howard face burns red, and he starts crying.

Laying his head on Julius’ chest, unsure of what to do next, sobs. His face gets damp with the tears streaming down his eyes and puddling onto Julius’ shirt.

“Get off me with all that crying.” Julius shoves Howard off of him.

“What the hell man?! You were fine, but why did your body go limp?”

“I was messing with you idiot, that was pay back for calling me Julius the Genius.” Julius stuck his tongue out mockingly.

“I was actually worried about you, jerk.”

“Now you know better so watch your mouth when you talk to me.” Julius gets up to go back to the wall with the oval shape.

He reached his hand in the wall and came to find out it was an optical illusion drawn on a cloth covering a hole in the wall. All that you needed to do was put your head through to find the key to the room to escape.

“The black light showed that you should use your eyes, or the gateway to the soul, to look through the ‘wall’ to find the key. And you got all teary over an escape room attraction.” Julius mocked Howard heading towards the door.

Howard wiped his face in a hurry and ran towards the door.

“You guys made it out in an hour on the dot, congratulations!” The escape room worker applauded.

“It wasn’t that hard but definitely annoying going with my little brother.” Julius said in his usual rude tone.

“I’m never going into one of those with you again.” Howard pouted.

“Great, because I’d rather not have to deal with you crying again.”

“I didn’t cry, jerk!”

The two of them left the building scoffing at one another, knowing that they would have to go back to their home to tell their parents how much they hated doing “brotherly bonding” attractions.

ShaKara McCalley is an author of mystery and horror stories for all those craving something to tickle their brains. Theorists, logicists, and those who enjoy discussing hypotheticals are all welcome with her stories. She enjoys writing about those complex puzzles that get your heart racing, tied in with the fear of the unknown, which is what these stories bring. You're not alone; the thrill, mystery, and solutions await you with each novel and flash fiction.