We walked in and then the door closed, leaving us in darkness. I'm not afraid of much, so I was pretty calm still. Lane, on the other hand, was not. He screamed and hugged me, shaking a lot. I hugged him back to reassure him that I was still here, and I turned on my flashlight. I grabbed Lane's flashlight, turned it on, and gave it back to him. We were looking around and we saw a whole lot of flasks filled with blue and red liquid. "That sicko is probably doing this just to scare us. Well, jokes on him because I'm a whole lot braver than that." I said, walking towards the first flight of stairs. "Look, there's another note." Lane said, pointing at another brightly colored piece of paper. "Okay, how about you grab onto my arm and read it while I make sure no one sneaks up to us?" I say, sticking my arm out for him to grab. "O-Okay, I'll d-do that." Lane said, grabbing my arm and turning to look at the paper. "I-It says... Hi. I see you've passed the first test, good job. I know you guys are probably scared out of your minds, haha! Sorry, but this is just the aesthetic, not the scary part. Also, remember, if you want to be a hero, you have to climb the tower and save these poor kids! I have seven kids up here so you kinda have to, or you'll have to explain yourself to the world. Wouldn't want to do that, now would you?" Lane said, hugging my arm slightly tighter.
"Don't worry, I'll be here if you get scared. We'll get up there and make this guy stop!" I said, starting to go up the stairs. A stair had a button that was the same color as the stairs, but I didn't know until I stepped on it. When I did, a recording started to play, all peppy and happy. "Hey, guys! Remember, watch your step, because if you hit another button, someone won't be very happy. Not with a bullet in their head they won't!!! Anyway, I'm so happy you accepted this challenge. Remember, these kids need you! Also, before this ends, I'll tell you the order of who I'll kill! First, Susie Duchanburg, second, Mark Harris, third, Annie Karp, fourth, Samantha Johnson, fifth, Dannie Robenson, sixth, James Fluther, and finally, Jessie Pax! Remember, they're waiting." The recording said, leaving Lee speechless. "I-I'm so scared! I don't want anyone to die, but what if it's an accident?!" Lane said, shaking. "Don't worry, that won't happen. He's just trying to scare us. If we calm down but keep our guard up, we won't be killing anyone." I said, holding Lane's hand and being very cautious about where I stepped.
We got to the 2nd floor and I was relieved that we didn't step on anything. I was still pretty careful about where I stepped until I got to the next challenge, a set of elevators. They looked almost identical. In between the elevators was a note. It read "Hi! This is the next challenge for you, and this one might be a bit difficult. It's the elevator game. Whoever goes on the elevator to the left needs to press the button 3a, and on the right, 3b. If both elevators have weight in them, they'll work properly, but if one does and one doesn't, let's just say it's quite the fall, especially since this place has a basement. Same for if you press the wrong button, so remember these directions. Once you get there, I drew arrows for you to follow, but sadly they aren't visible in the light. To see them, turn your flashlight off. Also, some mechanisms require you to flash your light and some don't. Beware, though, because these inventions are anything but safe... or good-looking. Well, all in all, just follow the arrows and you guys will meet in the middle, and there will be more instructions awaiting you up there. Bye!"
It still annoys me how happy-go-lucky that guy was. We obeyed and I took the right. Lane was really reluctant to do this, but he did anyway. We said our goodbyes and we went into the two elevators. I pressed 3b and felt the elevator go up. It really would have been a long way down. I shivered at the thought of me falling to my death, all because I didn't follow directions. When the elevator stopped and dinged, the doors opened as I readied my flashlight. I then got greeted by a tape recorder playing some music. It was on the wall and I took it. It was playing some jazz and when I took it a speaker was playing the jazz quietly and a person started talking. "Hello! I'm the one who installed all this awesome stuff for my murderous buddy. Now, listen here, you took the dangerous route, while your buddy on the other side of this wall took the easy one. The things over there can hurt him, but not kill him. The stuff lurking around here will try to kill you, kid. I'm guessing you didn't know that, because my friend is pretty lazy. He was supposed to label everything. This was supposed to be a choose your own adventure type thing. Don't worry, he was only supposed to label from the 1st floor to the 4th. I did everything from the 5th and up so it will be a lot more clear. I hope you're ready for a ride because that's what you're gonna get!" And the recording stopped.
There was a cart with buttons that said left and right on them and I climbed inside. A slot opened up that said "Place recorder here." on it. I did as instructed and the recorder started playing again. The cart also started moving. "Hey, kid! So, this part is where I tell you the rules of this game. There are 2 types of mechanisms and they glow in the dark. Also, some arrows point to where you need to go, which is another difference from the easy option. You can mess up as much as you want there, and the only consequence is that it gets a bit scarier. Here, though, you only get three strikes. Once you get all three, you get sent to an insanely scary boss battle where I can actually speak to you and you can speak back, but the chances of you surviving are slim to none. Anyway, this part's an intro so you don't have to worry. This tower is bigger than you think. This is the biggest floor. Okay, so for starters, you still have your flashlight, hopefully. You use that to scare off most of the monsters. Some are a bit tricky, though. I'll tell you more later, but right now get accustomed to the use of your flashlight." The recorder explained as the cart slowly moved.
The cart started to speed up a little bit and clowns illuminated with blue popped up, lunging at me. I flashed them with my flashlight and they fell. "Good job, you're still alive. Anyway, the clowns illuminated in red are a bit different. There should be a bat near your feet. You hit them with that, and they're out like a light, but if you flash them they get mad and try to kill you. Technically, you only need to hit them twice, and they're gone, but I'd just avoid flashing them, they're pretty fast. Oh yeah, and about the strikes, you only get those if you don't follow the arrows. There's a choice coming up actually. You have to keep your flashlight off to see it, though. Anyway, I hope you got all that because I'm out!" The recorder said, turning off. I was more scared of how Lane was doing than how I'm doing. Though all that easy stuff changed when I hit the left button instead of the right button. It changed a whole lot.