The Call
There were five of us.
Two women, three men, all dressed to kill. All terrified. Though, of course, we would die first before we admitted this to each other.
We all came for the coveted McMillan internship interview. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. We were all young, driven, newly minted MBAs, called to compete. Some of us had multiple advanced degrees. We waited in a glass walled conference room for an excruciating two hours, at first with excitement, then, as the minutes passed, with increasing worry.
Eventually, we all seemed to collectively agree that something was very wrong.
It was Shannon, the only other female of the group other than myself, who tried the doors first.
“They’re locked.” She whispered loudly in surprise. She turned back to all of us, looking alarmed, wisps of her fire red hair falling free from her loose chignon. “Why would they be locked?”
“They can’t be locked. Here, let me try.” A wiry Asian man with glasses stood up and also tried to wiggle the doors. From our earlier introductions I knew his name was Harry. I had clocked him to be my biggest competition. He had a dual Master’s from MIT and was razor sharp.
However, he was wrong. As I expected, the doors didn’t budge.
“It’s a test.” A low voice.
I turned, surprised. The words came from Grant, a tall, dark man who had been quiet for the better part of the last two hours. It was the first time I heard him speak since we were all introduced. He was standing near the back of the room, hands in his pockets, dark eyes watchful.
I paused, considering him. He held my gaze without flinching, telling me something without words. I nodded in his direction and spoke to the group. “Of course. It makes sense. This is some kind of field interview. To see how we can problem solve, work as a team. That kind of thing.”
“Uh-huh. Your name is, what again, Jackie? Julia?” An irritatingly confident voice sliced through the room. It was Erick, all flaxen curls and pale blue eyes, with an annoying dimpled smile to match. I glared at him in response. I took the trouble of remembering his name. The least he could do was not pretend he couldn’t remember mine.
“It’s Jenny.” I muttered through gritted teeth and Erick’s smile widened.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Every time I introduce myself I watch as the other person nods with a snap judgment based on my name and my looks alone. Jenny. Nobody is ever threatened by a Jenny. Jenny is the name of your kindergarten teacher, your school nurse, your middle school bestfriend. All hugs and unassuming brown hair and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Oh, how I am not that girl.
Erick continued to smile. He seemed to be one of those boys with a permanent arrogant smirk fixed on his face. “Right, Jenny, if this is some kind of test, maybe we should get to know each other. Maybe we should start with you. That makes sense, right? Get to know the team.”
I didn’t disagree, but I didn’t like the tone of his voice, or the way his eyes bored into mine, like I’m a specimen he is about to dissect. I decided to match his tone, I couldn’t help myself. “Let me guess, Erick, you volunteer to be team leader?”
I said it as a taunt, but Erick playing captain was actually fine with me. I like to sit back and watch the group dynamic. Control doesn’t have to be overt. It can be subtle. No, I was not a natural leader, but I don’t have to be.
Erick shrugged nonchalantly, like this was a high school group project. “Sure. I mean, someone has to facilitate, right?”
I stifled a groan and sat back to look around at my companions.
Shannon didn’t seem to be paying attention, she was wringing her hands on her lap, mind elsewhere. If I had to guess, she was probably still worried about the doors.
Harry seemed preoccupied as well, no doubt his mind going in all kinds of directions. He was frowning at something on his phone and was purposefully tapping on his screen.
Grant seemed to have resumed his position in the back as the quiet one of the group. A calm seemed to radiate off him. It was a stark difference to the nervous energy of the room.
Something told me to keep my eye on him.
I turned back to Erick and sighed. “Fine. Should we start with our backgrounds? Our favorite colors?” The sarcasm dripped from my words and I realized I probably need to reel it in. Something about Erick just makes me agitated. Maybe it’s the frat boy square jaw.
“We don’t have time for this.” Shannon suddenly piped up. “What is wrong with you people? This is obviously not a normal situation. Why would they lock us in? Why wouldn’t they tell us the objective of the exercise? Something’s not right here.”
“Oh come on.” Erick rolled his eyes. “Calm down. This is probably exactly what they’re testing for. Which one of us immediately panics? Who can try to solve the problem with composure? Obviously you’re not doing too good in that department, Red.”
Shannon’s cheeks flushed and she reached for her purse. “Ugh. I’m calling someone, I’m out of here.”
“You can’t.” Harry said suddenly, standing up. He was seemingly about to comfort her but then hesitated. “We don’t have any service. This whole room is a dead zone.”
“What? But I was literally just on my phone a few minutes ago!” Shannon cried, frantically swiping at her phone. “We all were! While we were waiting, we were all on our phones.”
I didn’t have to check my phone to confirm. I already predicted that they would do this. If somebody were locking you in, they wouldn’t want you to have access to one of the best ways to get out of a locked room: the ability to call for outside help.
I took a breath. “So, this is some kind of... an escape room situation?”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Erick said bluntly.
“What other goal could there be?” I shot back.
“Judging from the way you’re both at each other’s throats I’d say this looks more like a Hunger Games situation.” Harry quipped with a wry smile on his face.
Shannon laughed at that, albeit somewhat hysterically.
As if on cue, all our phones dinged at once. We all looked at each other silently for a beat before we reached for our phones to look at our screens.
I sucked in a breath as I read the short message:
First Objective: Exit the room. The last one out will be eliminated.
“Okay, so, escape room.” I declared. It took all my self control not to turn to Erick and say I told you so.
Ding! Another message:
You have one hour.
I sighed. Great. I set a timer on my watch to start a countdown. I wondered what would happen if none of us could exit the room in one hour. It really couldn’t come to bodily harm, could it? I mean, this was McMillan. The biggest consulting company in the West Coast. If this was an unorthodox exercise, I’m sure the environment would be controlled.
Harry was frowning at his phone and was murmuring to himself. “Interesting, they can send messages to our phones but I don’t see any bars. I wonder…”
“Wait.” Shannon’s voice was soft, worried. “What does it mean by ‘eliminated’?
“Death, probably.” Erick responded with a grin and Shannon paled. “Geeze, Red, calm down. Obviously it just means out of the running for the job. Oh my god, how did you even get here?’
“Hey, man, take it easy.” Harry stepped forward, subtly putting himself in front of Shannon. It was a protective move. I made note of it, it could prove useful later.
I noticed Grant eyeing the situation as carefully as me. Our eyes locked for a second. His expression gave nothing away.
Erick sighed loudly, exaggerating the exhalation. “Whatever. While you guys panic and freak out, I’m going to try to get out of here.”
I stood up, time to come up with a plan. My timer read: Fifty-eight minutes.
Here’s what I know: two of the four walls were glass, overlooking Downtown San Francisco. We were twenty stories up. There were two exits, both of which were held shut with what looked like standard deadbolt locks.
There were two large vents, about two feet wide. Judging from our sizes, Shannon and I were probably the only ones that could comfortably fit through the openings. They wouldn’t put such an obvious exit, would they?
I studied the corners of the vents carefully. The screws were smooth, almost melted in, the edges were flush against the wall with the slats too narrow for even my thin fingers to go through.
Erick was going around the room, turning over every movable object he could find. He was flipping over every book on the shelves, no doubt looking for a secret door.
Grant started methodically stomping on the floor, looking for hollow spots. Shannon and Harry followed his lead and began stomping as well. Erick took the cue and tapped on the walls.
“Here!” Grant called, outlining a spot on the floor with a mechanical pencil. “This area here is hollow.”
Harry used his knuckles to knock on the spot three times, then did the same at a different spot three feet away. It did sound different. He studied the area closely. “Okay, agreed. The floor looks smooth though. I don’t think there’s a hinge mechanism.”
“So we have to break through?” Erick looked absolutely ecstatic about the idea. “I’m sure we can find something to smash that spot with.”
“It doesn’t look big enough to be an exit.” Grant said thoughtfully.
“No, it doesn’t.” I murmured, more to myself. I knelt down over the marked area and ran my hands through the surface. My fingers caught on a raised area near the corner. “Wait, there’s something here. Give me your pencil, Grant.”
He handed it to me and I shaded the uneven area with the lead. Slowly, I recognized letters where the area was subtly scratched so as not to pick up the pencil shading:
T... H... E... G... L… A... S... S… I… S... N... O… T..
“The glass is not? I don’t get it.” Shannon said softly.
R… E… A… L...
“The glass is not real!” Harry cried, you could almost see the lightbulb flash above his head. “I knew something was off with the layout of the room. When we got off the elevator I saw floor to ceiling windows lining the hallways, when we entered the conference room the glass walls didn’t match their location outside… That must mean…”
He tried to pick up one of the chairs but they were deadbolted into the floor. The table was, too, as well as the shelves. We all slowly realized that every single piece of furniture in the conference room was immovable.
Thirty more minutes passed as we all tried to think of different methods to break the glass.
“I don’t know....” Shannon said softly as she studied the windows. She regarded Harry worriedly. “It looks pretty real. I could almost feel the wind from outside... hear the noise from the streets...”
“They can make anything look real.” Harry said confidently. I noticed he was squaring his shoulders. “I’m telling you, the layout of the room doesn’t make sense. There has to be another room beyond that glass.”
“There has to be something we can use to smash it.” Erick grumbled, frustrated.
“We have ten minutes, guys.” I warned, checking my watch.
“Oh, fuck it.”
Before we all knew what was happening Harry was already running across the room and going full speed into the glass that had a clear view of the San Francisco streets twenty stories below.
I felt a hand grip my arm. I was surprised to realize it was Erick’s.
“Wait! No, Harry, what if--” Shannon yelled, the words evaporating from her lips as Harry hit the glass.
The glass broke, too easily, and we all watched in silent shock as Harry fell through.
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