Sign Here

"Can you make out any of the words?" I ask Olivia while squinting my eyes. "No, can you?" "No.This sucks. He'll probably be back any moment and I still have no idea what this contract says."  "So? We just won't sign." Olivia says. I sigh. "Yeah, $10,000 is a lot of money." "It is, but I don't trust him." "Nor do I." I reply. Olivia smiles. "There. Looks like we made a decision." "Yes. We're gonna sign." "What." Olivia shouts. "We'll find a way to get out of it." I say as I sign my name. Olivia takes a deep breath and signs after me. The moment the paper has both our signatures it vanishes. "Now what?" Olivia asks. "Now, you claim your prize." We turn around to see Chad holding a large brief case filled with money.

Tiny Type

The papers Chad wanted us to sign turned out to be a contact with teny,  tiny, microscopic type. I strained my eyes trying to read the type. "They're just words." Chad says, watching my squint. "I know that, but what does it say?" "Just the standard contract stuff, you know." "No, I don't." I say. "Don't worry about the words. Don't you want $10,000?" "Of course I do, but-" "But what? You want to know if I'm screwing you over?" Neither I nor Olivia responds. "Well, I can assure you I am not." "We don't exactly have much reason to trust you." Olivia says. Chad takes a deep breath. "Fine, you two want to read it, I'll let you read it. I'll leave with my driver, so you two can have some privacy in reading. However, when I come back I expect a decision to be made." Chad starts to walk away. "How much time are you giving us?" I ask. "Enough." He shouts back before exiting with his driver and leaving us alone in a strange cabin.

Time to Sign

"What kind of papers are those?"I ask. "They'e the kind that needs to be signed." Chad responds sarcastically. "But what are we signing?" "Papers." "Give us one good reason why we should sign?" Olivia breaks in, disrupting our banter. "Of course you don't have to sign. You don't have have to do anything you don't want to do. However, I would take another good look at my driver." We turn back to the driver. He holds a knife again, but this time it's even bigger than before.  "You can't fool us. That's just illusion." Olivia says. "Would you bet your lives on that?" Chad asks. There is a brief pause. Olivia sighs. "No. We'll sign."

"So glad you made it"

I looked back into the infinite darkness to try and get an idea where the voice was coming from. All I saw was black. When I turned my head to the fireplace Chad Billington was standing there, nonchalantly, as if he were there the whole time."I  said I'm so glad you made it. Please, come out of the gloom." Neither Olivia, nor I respond. Chad claps his hands. A moment later every single light in the cabin pops on. The sudden brightness causes us to wince. "My apologies for  the assault on your retinas, but I did ask you to come out of the gloom." "What kind of game are you playing?" I ask, still squinting. "A game? Whatever makes you think that." "There is a madman out there." Olivia shouts. "And what does this madman look like?" "He's your driver." She says with gritted teeth.  "You mean the man standing behind you?" Chad asks. Olivia and I turn to see the driver standing right behind us.He holds a butcher knife in a sinister fashion. Olivia yelps while I'm frozen in place. "Come now, what are you so afraid of?" Chad asks. "Because he wants to carve us like a pumpkin." Olivia shouts. "With What? His ball point pen?" Chad says. "He has a large knife." "Look closer." Chad instructs. We look at the knife. All the sudden as if by magic, the large knife turns to a small pen. Chad walks to the driver. "You see, the pen truly is mightier than the sword." I take a deep breath. "What's going on?" I ask. Chad smiles smugly. "I  want you to sign some papers."

The Dark Room

Sometimes I watch a movie and I shout to the screen, "No, you idiot. Why would you go in there?" But now I know. It's curiosity, or greed actually. However, in this instance, for these two characters it was curiosity. We stepped into the cabin into a dark, dark room. Our footsteps echoed in the darkness. There was nothing but dark for a long time.  Then out of nowhere we saw a flame. It was a torch at first,  but it grew into a massive, lit fireplace. Olivia and I both expected someone to be standing there. Instead a familiar voice called out from somewhere in the shadows. It said "I'm so glad you made it."

The Cabin on the Hill

The cabin at the top of the hill was much further away than we realized, and the hill was steeper than we had anticipated. At times it felt as though the cabin was being pushed further and further away. However, after much struggle, and perhaps losing a quart of sweat, we reached the top. It was then that we realized that this was no ordinary, quaint cabin. The front door had a sleek, art deco look, and the doorbell was a diamond. I pressed the doorbell. It rang three times to the tune of an old fashioned grandfather clock. Then, as if on it's own, the front door popped open.

Flicker

We had our shield, but it wasn't as strong as it could be.It kept flickering like a faulty lightbulb. It did this for a long while. Eventually the flickering ceased and we were left with no shield at all. Luckily, the path in forest was becoming clearer. We could now see a cabin at the top of a hill. It appeared that the residents were home. Perhaps they were friendly. Perhaps they could help.