June 19, 2014

I was held back along with 5 or so other people in some stranger’s house against our will. It was a rather old house, one that was very susceptible to termite damage. And moldy. In fact it was very damp. Moss was growing on the bed frames and for some reason we were tasked with creating miniature ecosystems in our rooms. Each person was responsible over maintaining their own, although all of them resembled swampy environments. We would sometimes give each other excess plants or insects to enrich each others’ habitats. I remember how earlier I was fishing for mudskippers with my dad at a small pond of a garden where a wedding was taking place.

Two girls had managed to escape the house and one of them was exceptionally tall. I asked her how she did it and she simply reminded me that the owner of the house had set the conditions of our release the moment we were set in this house. I recalled that he stated we simply had to kiss him and admit we were powerless to be set free. I replied how it was funny that all of us had collectively forgotten that until now and that we spent a week in here over nothing.

Two boys had also escaped and now I was in charge of taking care of the small gardens they left behind on their beds. I found a beetle on the floor of one of their rooms and thought it would be a nice addition to my own collection.

I heard someone breaking into the house and was quite alarmed. I rushed into the bathroom to hide because for some reason I felt like someone was trying to get me. I was holding a bottle of pills in my hand and so I decided to flush them down the toilet. I quickly realized that was a bad idea as I gave away my position.

–

The rehearsal for a night-time ceremony was about to start as everyone was lined up. Each of us was holding a quarter of a watermelon. The person in charge of the ceremony started to set down Pokemon cards on the floor - face up. Then he started to call out numbers that called forth some of the people that were in line. He took them to the side to have a talk with them.

“Is that what I think it is?”, a girl standing next to me asked.

“I have no idea.”

The man then came back and told us that the cards were merely a distraction. They in fact had nothing to do with the people he called up and was set down just to deceive us.

The ceremony was about to begin and so we started walking to our seats. I took two bites from the watermelon in my hand when I was reminded that this was the rehearsal and that we weren’t supposed to eat the fruit.

The seats were red and lanterns illuminated the night.