The Grand Escape

THE GRAND ESCAPE

It was a foggy and chilly October night when my friends first discussed the furtive escape game. The Halloween themed flyers enticed daring participants to enter a mysterious contest. The prediction warned that only the wittiest possessed the innate skill to disentangle an intricate maze and discover an expeditious escape route. The enigmatic ads decorated the old world style architecture of the Main Avenue of our small New England town. The suspense was further exacerbated by the fact that no one could pinpoint the time or method used to strategically position the cryptic flyers. The mysticism earned the contest an increasingly dubious reputation. The elder population initiated hasty gatherings to gossip over tea. Participants’ heads shook and jaws dropped at fanciful ideas aimed to decipher the suspicious competition. . Few locals went as far as to tactfully stroll by only to destroy what they deemed were malevolent flyers aimed to poison our town. The young, inebriated crowd inundated the local bar, “Whiskey rebels” to brainstorm distinct game scenarios with a comical twist vehemently enhanced by liquor. I admit the skepticism only made the idea more attractive to our group.

“I can definitely win it!” Jenna announced confidently. “I was born on a lucky day. Every contest I enter…I win!” Her confidence was based on a nebulous sense of reality. Undoubtedly she was a talented athlete with some trophies to her name. However, her self-assurance was contingent on a vivid imagination. Her mind dwelled in a fantasy world full of stardom to cope with a reality that was a bit more challenging than even us as friends knew. That night, we trespassed the “Do not enter sign” at the local park at 9:01pm. We had roamed the vicinity hours prior to closing time. The tardy entrance was in my view a ludicrous idea but was favored by a majority of the girls. I was often outnumbered. My friends were way riskier than I was; except for Zoe that was. That girl was literally scared of her shadow. Zoe resembled the angel at your right side that admonished all your risky thoughts and adventures. The voice of reason that too often you shrugged off in disgust or annoyance. Zoe’s daily lectures were predominantly ignored. “The idea of a company giving away $20,000 is too good to be true,” she whispered. She shrugged her small shoulders and directed her concerned gaze at the dirty ground beneath her. In retrospect, I must admit she was right.

​At the time however, it became the joke of the night. “Debbie downer alert!” shouted Jessie laughing as she playfully swung high on the rusty swings. “How do you leave your house every day? Even a step outside is a risk you know. You must pee in your pants just thinking about it, “Jessie teasingly shouted as she attempted yet another acrobatic move on the seesaw. I was honestly just too broke to fear a contest that offered a possibility to gain some cash in my empty pocket. “What do we have to lose? I will sleep on top of my money just to wake up and believe it was not a dream.” I sighed and smiled at just the thought of feeling rich while everyone laughed. Jenna announced that the game entrance deadline was tomorrow. We had no time to waste. As per the announcement, contestants would enter one of the escape rooms and whatever group executed the quickest escape route was the grand prize winner of of $20,000. The second and third place contestants would also win monetary prices of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. The following day we entered all our names into the contest. Zoe was persuaded thanks to our majority rule tactic. Zoe was detail oriented; a favorable quality that may help discover clues.

The anticipated contest had finally arrived. Each group embarked in a bumpy hayride to a secluded, grassy area located in the outskirts of our town. We were instructed to enter a secretive maze. A staff member announced that the maze led to a unique room. It was the pivotal point to attempt to decipher the most expedient method to reach our final destination. Our walk through the extensive corn maze felt eternal as we stumbled like lost mice. The ground was rocky and muddy at times. It was definitely not the best terrain to walk for an extended period of time. The murky journey enjoyed the vivid entertainment of a variety of spooky and comical characters: skeletons, vampires, witches and zombies surrounded us. The exuberant characters burst out of nowhere. They were a fun distraction in a tough obstacle course to reach an elusive goal. At times I admit that we forgot the seriousness of the contest and burst out laughing at the silly faces some characters made. At other times however, even the toughest ones felt terrified by the mischievous stares of characters that looked too real to be fictional. The luminous moon was the only faithful accomplice in our path. The bifurcation of the trails was a devious enemy that resembled the mimic octopus to morph and engulf us in an act of deterrence to conquer our desired end. Finally upon arrival, the moon inconspicuously hid its light as in an act of contempt. The gloomy room had a nauseatingly old, rotten wood scent mixed with peppermint. The heavy vault like door closed hard behind us like it was forcing us inside. A harsh male voice startled us as he welcomed us to our destination via a loud surround system. He warned that we had a maximum of two clues that may be requested at any time desired but that they must be used wisely.

The antiquated room full of massive spider webs was surrounded by dusty book shelves that resembled a miniature college library in the 1920s. At its center, was an old brown desk with an outdated compass pointing south, a wooden box of fragile maps and a variety of game sets that included a golden poker chip set, a large Russian roulette and other casino style type games. The room also offered a few coffee tables at various locations adorned with antique statues of wild animals and valiant warriors. The center wall had a large black and white painting depicting the shadowy figures of four elegantly dressed men with diamond studded watches. The men strategically wore dark homburg hats pulled over their faces and were engulfed in an abundance of grey and white cigar smoke that served to conceal their identity. The desolate, dark streets behind them depicted the ideal scenario to eliminate any potential witnesses to any illicit actions. The painting vividly resembled a scene from a mafia movie. It had such a hypnotic effect that we all stared at the amazing details and almost felt like we were in a time warp. The wall on the right side of the room had an old frame that exposed black and red hieroglyphic symbols from an ancient era. There was also a small painting hidden at a corner of the room with the image of a group of hikers with heavy backpacks on a journey up a hill. Our groups moved every single object, attempted to open drawers and even searched in the floor for possible clues. We never saw our individual qualities shine as much as in that moment. The group cooperated with each other to reach a grand goal. It was at the paws of a menacing bronze statue of a powerful lion in hunting position that Jessie found our first clue, a shiny key. We desperately attempted to open all cabinet drawers in the room. Finally, Jenna was able to open the smallest desk drawer. It had within it a hardcover, little black book. The book written in elegant calligraphy had within its pages sad, poems of broken hearts as well as the names of four literary masterpieces that we later discovered in the extensive collection of the room’s library. We patiently searched each book for more clues. As time went on, our impatience grew and we started shaking the books. We knew time was our enemy so we decided to ask for a clue. The male voice warned us to examine the fragile maps but with care emphasizing that if we ripped them inadvertently we might never leave the room. Zoe was given the scrupulous task to carefully review the maps. I told her to remember that the compass pointed south which might be a clue. Zoe looked at the southern part of the map. She noticed that the map’s key designated libraries with an image of books. Jenna also noticed that the four spots where the book symbols were located resembled the shape of the hats the men wore. We used the longitude and latitude points as numbers to search those pages in the books. We found a number 7 in each of those four books. We were perplexed as to the meaning of the lucky seven numbers. We began brainstorming ideas of what the number 7 could symbolize. We began to see there were some drawers closed by combination locks. We attempted to put our lucky 7 combination so many times that we felt like quitting. Finally, next to the only window in the room we found a small wooden box in the shape of a treasure chest. The lock opened with our combination. It had within it clues that resembled the hieroglyphic figures in the other wall with a key to decipher the wall puzzle. We were able to figure out a hidden message that dictated, “ Prosperum iter destinatum non!” All of us tried to guess what that message meant. At times we seriously felt like crying. We had wasted so much time looking at objects that offered no clues at all. We found a series of keys but they did not open any of the drawers or the main door. We had no more ideas so in desperation we asked for our last clue. The male voice shouted the last clue, “It is a phrase written in Latin. Your ability to decipher its meaning will bring you what you the treasure that you most desire.” We looked through the countless books until we found an old, brittle book with an image of a treasure and it had excerpts written in Latin with some English translations. It was there that word by word we discovered the powerful message, “Success is a journey not a destination!”

As I looked up I looked around at the last art piece which depicted a group of hikers struggling yet determined to get to the peak of a mountain. The painting had no real destination but emphasized the journey of those that hiked. We all went close to the small painting and discovered a key taped to one of the travel bags of one of the hikers. We moved the painting which we had not paid attention before and behind it found a safe. The safe opened swiftly with the key we had found. The safe had a note that stated “Success is a journey not a destination!” Next to the note was a large key. The group offered me the honor to use the key to attempt to open the main door. We all prayed more than we had ever done before prior to turning that key. At first due to nervousness I was turning it the wrong way but at the end the door opened. We had successfully exited the room. We were at that moment uncertain if we were the first or the last ones out. We just knew we finally were out. We felt relief at not being stuck inside forever and of the thoughts of seeing our families and friends who we missed. It felt as if we were exiting a prison. At that moment, we heard the cheers of everyone outside. The organizers neatly dressed in suits and ties gave us hugs, put medals around our necks and handed to us the grand prize, stacks of cash in the amount of $20,000. We all cried of joy. The journey had taught us the value of team work, the value of freedom and that lesson that the journey is even more important than a destination. I will still sleep on top of the money tonight just to believe it was not a dream.