Chapter One: Door the First

Chapter One: Door the First

Suddenly, a loud noise boomed over them all. Katie looked suspiciously at Klaus who shrugged and pointed at Michael. Two more girls, Sarah and Tiffany, walked up to the group.

“Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!” The intensity of the barks over the apparent loudspeaker caused everybody to cover their ears. (Can you believe the author almost wrote “eyes” instead of “ears”? Well, she did.)

“Shh! Oh... wait... where was I? Oh yes. You are here to complete a mission. Okay, come on now, I'd appreciate if you all moved into a tighter group. I like seeing who I'm talking to.”

Everybody moved into a tighter group, personal space still intact.

“See? There must be cameras!” deducted Chris. Abigail took a picture of him. He scowled at her.

“Thank you. Now. Each door will unlock in turn. You must open that door before you can open any of the others. Once you open it, you may go back to it. However, I'd advise you to explore the rooms in sequence. Your mission is to discover--” A fanfare played triumphantly. “--me! The author!”

Carol opened her mouth.

“'Why?' you ask?”

“How does she do that?” Carol mumbled.

“Read on. You'll find out why.” Here, the speaker attempted an evil laugh, which cut short because she realized how incredibly stupid it sounded. “Anyway. Any more questions?”

Ben spoke up. “Shall I slay Santa?”

A pause filled the air. Finally, the speaker gave her answer.

“...” She coughed. “No. Santa shall remain alive and breathing for the time being.”

Klaus beamed. Carrie whispered something in his ear. “Thank you, o merciful one,” Klaus said. Carrie nodded proudly.

“Wow.”

Then the loudspeaker whistled and another voice could be heard. “Well, then what are you doing here?”

The first voice came back. “I know, I know. So, the first door is unlocked. Open, and explore.”

Low-volume music began to play again. It had been playing before but nobody had noticed it. And honestly, nobody paid much attention to it now. But it was playing nonetheless.

They stood around looking at each other for a while before curiosity got the best of Carrie and she strode determinedly to the only door without a sign. The others followed her eagerly. What would be through this first door?

When Carrie's hand hesitated over the doorknob, Matthew rushed toward it and opened the door without any hint of hesitation. Mark looked over Carrie's shoulder. Abigail took a picture. Unfortunately, the flash did not last long enough to show them what was in the room.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don't know,” responded Scarlett who somehow had managed to sneak a peek through the doorway.

“Maybe it'll get brighter?” Matthew suggested, shrugging. Losing interest, he moved toward the back of the group.

“I doubt it,” said Mark sensibly.

“Well, is anybody going to actually walk through the door?” asked Elisabeth impatiently.

“You might get splinters from that,” Chris replied, straight-faced.

“Oh, shut up!” she retorted.

Chris shrugged as if to say, “Well, you asked.” Just at that moment, a cricket sprang from his pocket.

“Cricket!” several girls from the group called at once.

“Chirp, chirp,” the cricket replied.

Ben kicked the cricket. Being a wise little cricket, he reminded Ben about “peace on earth”. Then without waiting for any of the girls to defend him, he leaped around wearing his red, pointed hat and landed near the door.

“Cricket, no!” shouted Carrie, making a dive for him.

But the cricket gave a saucy chirp and leaped through the doorway. Sarah threw herself behind him in an attempt to catch him.

Seeing his opportunity, a silent fellow no one had noticed before jumped to rescue Sarah.

“It's sulliedknight!” A fanfare played and a pre-recorded gasp sounded in the hallway.

Katie looked at Charlyn suspiciously. “I knew you liked him.”

“What?” Charlyn asked, confused. But before Katie could answer her, two “oof”s and a “chirp” came from the room.

Bekah peered into the room. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Sarah and the knight, who liked to be called “Sully”, called back. Suddenly, the room's lights came on to reveal the cricket perched on a lightswitch, looking as smug as a cricket can possibly look. Abigail snapped a few pictures for which the cricket, pleased with himself, smiled widely.

“Oh, you smart cricket, you,” said Tiffany.

“Chirp, chirp!”

“Oh, please, don't encourage him,” Cy moaned.

Since the light was on then, they could see a way down to the floor, which happened to be about 10 feet below the bottom of the doorway. The way down was by means of stairs. Klaus bravely led the way down. The others followed cautiously. Once they reached the floor, the lights went out, leaving them all to stand in the dark with no sense of direction.

“Cricket!” shouted Chris.

“Chirp, chirp!” Suddenly the lights flickered back on and the cricket leaped away from the lightswitch before Chris could catch him.

“Pesky bug,” Katie grumbled. “I'm the real bug.” The thought brightened her mood.

They began to explore the room. It had many white boxes of many shapes and sizes scattered about. Mark commented that it might be a fun area to play paintball in. (*chirp?*) They had all grouped together again to go around a particularly large box that no one wanted to go around by themselves. With much curiosity and suspicion, they crept around the corner.

“Hola,” said a girl.

“Kkim!” yelled Carrie, attacking the girl with a huge hug. Kim hugged her back, and then joined the group exploring the room.

“Wait.” Charlyn stopped in her tracks, and not in anyone else's tracks either. The entire group paused. “Why are we exploring these rooms when our goal is to find the author?” An unexpected fanfare played.

“Whoa, that's cool,” commented Kim. “The author.” The fanfare played again. “The author!” And again. “The au--”

“Kim...” said Carol, flatly.

“Oh, fine.” Kim fell silent. (Here the author contemplated making a joke about Kim skinning her knees, but decided against it.)

“But Charlyn's question is still not answered,” Abigail reminded them.

“Right,” replied Bekah.

“Look!” cried Scarlett. She pointed at one of the boxes. It bore words concerning their mission.

“THE REASON YOU MUST EXPLORE ALL THESE POINTLESS ROOMS IS THAT YOU MUST LEARN PATIENCE. YOU MUST LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER. AND MOST OF ALL, YOU MUST PROVIDE THE AUTHOR ENTERTAINMENT. YOU MAY ALSO FIND MANY VALUABLE ITEMS OF INTEREST IN THESE ROOMS AS WELL. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU TAKE YOUR TIME AND ENJOY THESE ROOMS. NO WORRIES, THIS IS THE MOST BORING OF THEM ALL.”

“Ah! That explains a lot,” commented Michael.

“That is does,” Bekah agreed.

“So let's finish exploring it!” Tiffany suggested.

They turned to continue their exploration of the room to see more words on a different box.

“SORRY, NO MORE EXPLORATION,” Ben read aloud.

“That's unfair!” protested Chris.

“LIFE'S NOT FAIR.”

“You made that up!”

“No, I didn't! Look for yourself!”

“DON'T BELIEVE HIM. HE MADE THAT UP.”

“But... that's not fair!”

“LIFE'S NOT FAIR.”

“I give up.”

“Okay, well let's get going. I wonder what's through those other doors...” said Sarah.

The group trudged back to the stairs and climbed up them. (Yes, they had grown.) Just as they reached the top, the lights went out and the cricket leaped through the doorway behind them, alighting softly on Carol's shoulder. Rainor pulled the door shut behind them.

They all heaved sighs of relief.