"Dad?"
Jack softly called out to the dark corridor in front of him. He furrowed his brows as he read the slip of paper in his hands once more. A myriad of emotions began to assault him.
Ordinarily, he would've been incredibly excited to be able to leave his room, as he wanted to know what was outside of this room. However, not being able to see his father anymore quenched it entirely.
After all, despite being curious he never did end up leaving the room, not wanting to disobey his father. The difference between what the two of them meant was rather huge to him. However, Jack didn't completely despair since it said that he could still look for him and that he was out there somewhere, past his small little room.
Jack took another look at the corridor in front of him and began to feel a bit fearful. It felt a little strange to him that he was finally allowed to leave. The shackles that he had for so long were finally released without any warning.
He glanced back and took the oil lamp and stood right at the edge of the doorway. Jack began shivering slightly, feeling quite a bit overwhelmed. However, when he thought of his father being out there somewhere, his hesitation disappeared.
He took one step out of the room.
The sound of gravel was exactly the same as it was in his room, yet it still felt incredibly different to him. Nervously, he began to take another step and began walking through the corridor.
Despite moving forward, the only thing ahead was darkness. After a moment of hesitation, Jack called out.
"Dad?"
His voice echoed before disappearing. He bit the bottom of his lip before calling out again.
"Dad?!"
Once again, his voice only echoed. His walk gradually sped up into a full-on sprint. He dashed down the empty corridor, huffing and puffing.
"Dad? Dad! Where are you?"
Jack began tearing up, getting rather desperate. Despite feeling a burning pain in his legs, he continued running and running. His calls gradually grew louder and more afraid.
"Please! Tell me where you are! I'm scared! Daaaad!"
As he recklessly ran, he didn't even notice that there were a few other paths that went off to the left and right. His eyesight became blurry, making him unable to even see a bright blue light in front of him, causing him to barrel right through it.
Right as he did, a mechanical voice reverberated from his red deck.
[Entering Hub. Protection Aura is activated. Twelve hours remaining, resets in twenty-four hours.]
Hearing that, Jack rubbed his eyes and called out.
"Dad? Is that you?"
However, an incredibly different voice greeted him.
"What? I'm not your Dad. How could you even mistake me for him, I'm a girl!"
Jack was startled and continued to rub his eyes to clear up his vision. Once he did, he saw a girl that seemed a few years older looking back. She had long blonde hair and light blue eyes. She had her arms crossed and had a small frown on her face, somewhat displeased. Her getup was not too different from Jack's. Dirt had smudged her face, but her eyes still looked clear.
When he saw her, Jack was completely baffled.
"E-Eh? Your hair is yellow? And why do you sound so weird?"
The girl let out a long sigh.
"Fuck's sake, I'm not your Dad, couldn't you tell that already? I'm a girl! Alright?"
Jack blinked a few times, a bit stunned.
"...Girl?"
He then took a look around himself and observed where he was. It was a large room, one that made him gasp due to the unfamiliar size. Giant red card backs formed a rather large dome that surrounded him. On top of that, it was very bright. There didn't seem to be any light source, but it was undeniable that the entire place was very bright.
The card backs near the ceiling all seemed to be moving very slowly, overlapping on top of each other. Unlike the gravel that Jack was used to, the floor beneath him was a very clean marble instead.
There were also more people that seemed to be sleeping near the edges of this place. On top of that, there seemed to be more things, but he didn't really understand them.
He looked around, still amazed by all of the new sights when the girl sighed before calling out to him.
"I guess you ended up losing your father as you ran back to this hub, huh?"
She clicked her tongue before muttering under her breath.
"What kind of father even brings their child here of all places?"
Jack was a bit disappointed that he hadn't met with his father, but couldn't help but be amazed by seeing the person that was in front of him.
"U-Um, yes I lost my dad. Do you know where he went?"
The girl raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?"
Jack pouted and looked to the ground, on the verge of crying. Seeing this, the girl let out a sigh. She began muttering to herself about something and put one hand on Jack's shoulder.
This made him flinch. Although he was used to his father doing such a thing, the hand felt far too unfamiliar to him. It was lighter, while the fingers were both thinner and longer. It gave him an offputting feeling.
"Wh-What are you doing?"
The corner of the girl's lip twitched.
"I'm trying to comfort you, ungrateful bastard."
Jack looked down at the floor and muttered.
"S-Sorry..."
The girl let out a long sigh before shooting him a smile.
"Hey, how about I take care of you until we find your father?"
Jack looked back up with starry eyes.
"R-Really?"
A bitter smile formed on her face.
"Yeah, sure. My name is Jessica. What is yours?"
Jack cleared his throat after wiping away his tears and responded.
"My name is Jack..."
Jessica let out a short chuckle.
"Hah. What a fitting name for this place."
Jack shot her a confused look but didn't ask. On the other hand, Jessica pursed her lips before asking a question.
"By the way, what cards do you have on you?"
Jack tilted his head to the side.
"What do you mean?"
Jessica rolled her eyes.
"The cards in your deck, obviously."
She pointed towards the red deck he had sticking out of his pocket. Jack pulled it out and opened it up with a clack.
"I only have the joker card Dad gave me."
He pulled it out to show her, after which Jessica ended up bursting out in laughter.
"Why the hell did your father paint over a card and give it to you?"
Jack frowned when he heard that.
"It was the birthday gift that Dad got me. Why are you making fun of it?"
Jessica cleared her throat while wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Sorry, sorry. It's a very beautiful Joker card. Still, you really used up all your cards, huh? Hurry up and finish your Solitaire runs to get your twos."
Jack looked at her strangely.
"What are you talking about?"
Jessica furrowed her brows Before pointing in a direction.
"I'm telling you to go do your Solitaire runs. What, do you really think I'm going to spot you for food? I said I was taking care of you, but I'm not going to go that far."
Jack's gaze followed in the direction that she was pointing. There was a section in the wall that was carved on the side. Big bold black words hung over the top, saying 'Solitaire'. There were lights flashing within just as it would look on an average casino sign.
Below, was an intricate design that almost looked like it was made to be a portal of some kind, with glowing neon lights forming a rectangle. And in the middle of it, was a small indentation the size of a deck holder.
Just above it, were some flashy red words.
'Rewards!
Two cards from three.
A pair of twos guaranteed!'
Under that there were smaller, but still readable words.
'Punishment - 2'
Jack walked over to it, inspecting it curiously. He didn't know what he expected from the world outside his room, but this much already was more than he imagined. As he stared at it for a little longer, Jessica walked up next to him with a frown.
"Just put your deck in the slot already."
He wondered what exactly the punishment was supposed to be, but didn't ask questions. After a second of hesitation, Jack took out his red deck and placed it into the indent. A white light flashed. Before he knew it, he found himself sitting down in a chair, with a fairly large table in front of him. It appeared to be made of mahogany, while the top consisted of a dark green mat.
The room around him was solid red, without that much room.
As Jack was taking it all in, another mechanical voice rang out.
[Activating the effect of the Joker... Shuffled into deck...]
Jack saw two cards in front of him being shuffled. Then, two cards were placed in front of him. An ace of clubs, and his Joker card.
Jack was quite confused. He was very familiar with solitaire as it ended up being one of the games he had played the most. The solitaire that he remembered definitely had more than just an ace of clubs and joker.
But before he got too confused, a voice began explaining things.
[Welcome to Solitaire! In this game, you must sort all of your dealt cards into the proper suits in ascending order. The detailed rules will be shown across from you. But there are a few special rules that you should know.]
[1 - Each time you enter, one card will be added to the game. That means after you've played fifty-two games, it will become traditional Solitaire!]
[2 - In order to flip your stock, you may expend one of your three's, which means you can flip your stock for a total of four times!]
[3 - There are no undos, and if you ever get stuck, you will lose the game and suffer punishment! You can also forfeit prematurely by pressing the button under the stock!]
[Those are all the rul... 4 - Special effect, Joker! While unobstructed, the joker can be added to the hand at any time. They may temporarily act as any existing card. The joker must be in hand to win.]
[Those are all the rules, have fun!]
A board had formed in front of him, displaying the rules to solitaire, and below it were all the rules that were just announced to him. Jack didn't look at it though, since he was all too familiar with the rules of the game.
In front of him, there were two empty white rectangular outlines near the top left, with a big red button under one of them. To the right, there were four more of those outlines, but there were emblems of the different suits under them.
Below those were seven outlines. Two of them were filled, with the ace of clubs and joker card.
Jack scratched the side of his head while feeling a tad bit disappointed.
"How is this supposed to be a game if there are only these many cards..."
After sighing he put the ace of clubs into the proper suit area. He then picked up the joker card. Although he was disappointed, he was still quite surprised by how the process was automated for him, instead of him needing to deal.
The ace of clubs sank into the table and disappeared as though it had been swallowed up. Afterward, a flurry of cards came out of seemingly nowhere, before shuffling themselves in front of Jack. Two cards were dealt in front of him promptly.
A two of diamonds and a two of spades.
Then, the rest of the cards continued shuffling for a while before dealing with one last card.
A three of hearts.
[Take two cards as your reward]
The rest of the cards disappeared into the table. After that Jack raised an eyebrow.
"The rewards are cards? Why did Jessica make me do this?"