He heard the screams. Not screams out of fear, but wild screams of wanting more. People clapped endlessly, whistled and shouted their names. It was overwhelming.
"Encore! Encore! Encore!"
He was so out of breath while looking at the audiences below the stage. There were bouts of smiles plastered on the faces of the people. The smell of sweat lingered in the air, but it wasn't unpleasant.
It smelled sweet.
"Rayen! Look at me!"
He looked towards the person who shouted his name. The person's face was flushed while shouting. They held a banner bearing his name and a picture of his head wearing a flower crown. He flashed a smile towards them and waved.
Bang!
A sudden gunshot woke him up from his dream.
When Rayen opened his eyes again, he was lying on a flat stone slab. His back was stiff and cold as if he had been lying on that slab for a very long time.
What happened?
The first thing that registered in his vision was a transparent roof and the cloudy sky beyond it. The entire sky was painted in an orange hue, but it didn't give a vibe of a twilight. The sky looked like it was a mix of smog and orange light, and the clouds weren't moving as if time had stopped. It gave an eerie feeling the longer that Rayen stared at it.
He stretched his neck to look around and saw that he was inside a greenhouse. The area was full of different variety of flowers and plants. Some were potted, some directly planted on the ground.
Why was he here?
He's not even familiar with this place. He blinked and tried to remember what he had done to end up here, but the more he tried to think, his head would hurt as if his mind was deliberately preventing him to recall what happened.
He hissed in pain while sitting up. Both his back and his brain hurts. Did he drink too much during the concert after party and ended up here in his drunken stupor? His head felt like splitting apart!
He stayed still for a moment to let the pain pass while massaging his temples. After the dizziness and pain subsided, Rayen looked around, but he could not see much of the outside because the glass walls were moist and cloudy. He then looked towards the door of the greenhouse. He stood up and headed towards it. The whole time he did, it was eerily silent.
When he opened the door, he found himself in a secluded corridor. Although the sky was no longer visible, the lights inside was still orange and somewhat gloomy. Rayen closed the greenhouse door, his footsteps reverberating the whole way until he saw a french door at the other end of the corridor.
He peeked inside from the glass and saw the interior of the building. It was still unfamiliar to him. He was trying to scrutinize the whole place, but he discovered that the door wasn't closed when he leaned towards it slightly. The door was pushed open and he nearly fell face first.
Rayen pretended to fix his clothes and lightly coughed out of embarrassment, but he realized that there wasn't even a single soul inside the room.
I guess I worried for nothing.
He silently heaved a sigh and closed the door. He observed his whole surroundings and found the room's interior heavily leaning towards retro style. The furnitures and wallpapers featured vibrant and bold colors with playful patterns on it.
This really feels so weird.
He had never seen a place with this kind of style in this time and age. Perhaps not really used to it, Rayen felt uncomfortable and unapproving of the design. His eyes felt irritated with the bright colors.
He walked further inside while enduring the sight until he found a jukebox. The design was still considered retro, but the model wasn't really old. There was a wide screen like the modern LCDs at the middle of it. He stared at it for a while and was about to walk away from it when the screen suddenly flashed open.
"Participant Rayen, please sing a song."
A playful distorted voice came from the jukebox.
What?
Rayen stopped his feet and looked back. The jukebox's screen was showing a playlist of songs. Some familiar to him, some not. He was slightly terrified of the jukebox because it just called his name.
Participant Rayen?
What participant? Is this a prank? What's happening?
Rayen looked around the whole room, trying to find hidden cameras but found nothing. It was silent except the mechanical sound of the activated jukebox. He stared at the jukebox again, eyes landing on the words above the list of songs in the screen.
[Select a song to sing.]
This must be a prank. I guess, I'll just have to play along.
He touched the screen and scrolled down on the list until he finally found something he could sing. He then took the microphone that was hanging at the side of the jukebox. His eyes were still darting around to spot the people lying in wait to record everything but ultimately found nothing.
Unmanned hidden cameras?
His mind was till wandering about when the song started to play. But as if it was an instinct to him, he started singing on time and without delay.
"Say my name... Say that it's me."
When Rayen finished the song, he was still unable to determine if someone was recording him. He gazed at the screen and placed the microphone at its original location. Was this not a prank afterall?
"Good job! You are a nice singer!" The distorted voice said again.
Of course, that's how I make my living!
Just as when Rayen was feeling satisfied, the screen finally showed his score. But it was not what he expected.
What is this?
[Singing: S
Perhaps you could do more!]
It's not numerical? Who grades singing in karaoke like this? Ah wait, this isn't a karaoke but a jukebox. But this still doesn't make sense.
Is this part of the prank? There was even a comment under it. Do more? Not satisfied?
Should I sing another one?
Rayen continued talking to himself inwardly when the words suddenly started to change on the screen as he was about to select a song to sing again.
[Please select a song to dance.]
What? Dance?
His mouth twitched. Are they f*cking with me?
Dance? Me? I'm just a singer! Just a band vocalist! How could I dance? I don't even know how!
Suddenly, the voice who called for him before, spoke again. The voice was strange that he was unable to determine if it was a man or a woman, a child or an adult. It was distorted and as if the voice wasn't from a single person but also not from multiple people. The voice also carried a teasing tone with it.
"If you don't choose a song within ten seconds, I will choose a song for you."
"You dance yourself! Ain't no way I will do it!" Rayen shouted.
"10, 9, 8, 7..."
Rayen walked away towards the door, but discovered that it was now locked. He gazed towards the jukebox not far away from him, the colors on the LED corners of it changing with every second that it counted. He suddenly felt annoyed, but he thought that he might be being recorded so he couldn't burst out in anger.
Just when the voice was about to finish counting, he shouted.
"Alright! Okay, I'll dance!"
It's better to be comical than lash out at the innocent jukebox.
I don't really like dancing...
He scrolled the list again and found some TokTok song that he was somewhat familiar with. He had heard the song countless times, and it was quite catchy and easy to remember. But although he knew the song, he didn't know the dance steps. Fortunately, the dance steps were shown on the screen just as when the song started.
What is this? Just Dance? Whoever's messing with me must be having so much fun.
Rayen tried to follow the steps shown on the screen. The figure in the screen has one of its arm raised and pointing upwards and there were arrows near the waist to indicate the hips swaying movement. Just imagining what he looked like made his mind numb.
Whoever's messing with me must be having so much fun!
Hip sway, make a rainbow, hip sway, turn around, hip sway, repeat. He followed the steps with a straight face until the end. When the song finished, a happy clap resounded from the jukebox.
"Yey~"
Rayen's face turned more sour at the teasing voice.
"Congratulations, you finished dancing!"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
[Dancing: D
Try harder next time!]
Was it happy that I managed to finish the song, or was it happy that I had finished and stopped?
Rayen tried hard not to kick the jukebox out of annoyance.
"Participant Rayen, please follow the arrows to exit the room."
He followed the arrows begrudgingly, still unsure what kind of place he was thrown into.