You See, the Trick Is....

“How do we reach it?” Kalisa John asked. Her new beau, Mannix Malveaux, stood beside her. On their first date, they decided to master a Dover, Delaware escape room. The prize was five thousand dollars each, a gourmet dinner, and a bottle of Merlot.

Malveaux gripped her tightly. “I think if we use the movie and TV titles around us, we can crack the code,” he said.

All around the room, TV shows and movie posters showed the promotional material for various shows and films. The posters circled the room but every second one’s first letter gave a clue.

“Okay,” Kalisa said. “Seinfeld, Martin, Alfie, Ray, Tommy...SMART!” she exclaimed. Malveaux tapped the screen to the door that looked like a smartphone. He entered the word into the device. The door opened. Malveaux and Kalisa laughed and hugged. But they were far from reaching that room with the prizes.

“Alright, alright, alright. We have to think our way out of this room now,” Kalisa said. “More than before.”

The room looked like a giant Rube Goldberg machine, made to an almost impossible scale. It blocked their entry to the door on the opposite end of a long room.

“Do you have a lighter, or matches?” she asked.

“I do,” Malveaux said.

He pulled out a lighter and lit the end of the contraption that prevented them from advancing.

A fuse ignited and flickered like a sparkler on the Fourth of July. It stopped at a thread holding a bowling ball, which whirled around a metal apparatus, and then dropped onto a pad. It then launched a spoon, sending it spinning upward to strike a needle and thread, unspooled, and wrapped around hammers, that pounded out some notes from a tiny piano. Kalisa and Malveaux stood on edge watching the mechanisms of the great piece of machinery.

“This could take all evening. We’re being timed for this right?” Malveaux had questions now.

“Yes. Six minutes, so we’ve got to be close.”

After the piano played the tune, the machine separated into two distinct pieces, creating a path. The door opened. The couple found their way across the room hoping the machine didn’t come back together in the time they reached the opposite door.

“Okay. Final stretch,” Malveaux said.

“Yes, we’re almost there.” The room was blindingly white like sun on fresh snow. Huge panels of artificial light poured down on them. This time no hints jumped out at them. Light even came up from under their feet. The walls showed no indication of any exit at all. They ran to the door from whence they came and a panel of light slid down to block them.

“Okay. We’ve got three minutes to figure out how to get out of here,” Kalisa said.

“Let’s go!” Malveaux shouted.

Kalisa observed the panels of light. “There’s a pattern. Every third panel forms a sequence. It’s A...T...C...G. It’s a DNA molecule!” Kalisa said. “Tap DNA into the touchscreen!”

Malveaux followed Kalisa’s instructions and the room went black save for one column of light and the door opened. Malveaux crossed the threshold, but before Kalisa could get through the door, she was locked out.

“Wait! Wait! I’m supposed to cross over, too!”

The column closed and Kalisa slid down the panel on her back. Tears streaked her face. A small TV then appeared in one of the panels. She watched as Malveaux ascended the stairs and stood before his chair. A woman her age walked through the door. Kalisa made out her face. It was her former best friend from college Bernadine. Kalisa shrieked in outrage. A butler presented the pair with a scrumptious meal of filet mignon, green beans, and truffled potato gratin. Kalisa could see it all. The two sat at the table. The butler poured each of them a glass of Merlot.

They toasted each other and the poor girl still locked in the escape room. In a moment, a panel opened, exposing her to the night. Kalisa faced the cold wind and walked to her car for a lonely journey home, forsaken and betrayed.