pushed hard. The boat gave way under her force and slid closer to the water, breaking the curling lap of the water with its stern. She stepped into the water with one foot and launched the boat further out as she climbed up inside. The long ripples echoed across the flat face of the lake. The boat floated for a while along the steel on slate backdrop, as if she were drifting awash in a world of mirrors. Then a mist descended, so that she lost all her bearings. She looked over the edge. There in the water's reflection was an ugly toothless ghoul that was, in fact her. The very worst version of her. She pulled back suddenly letting the image sink in. She looked up into the sky above. Above her, just out of arm's reach, was another reflection. A beautiful face, perfect in every way. Smooth skin, glossy teeth, bright long-lash eyes. Her very best face hanging above her, and it smiled. Rose looked at it intently.
A voice drifted up to her from the water, "Who are you - what are you doing here?"
"I'm Rose, I'm in Level One of a game called... "
Sirens wailed in her ear and on her invisible screen the words scrolled: WARNING.
"She broke the rules, she broke the rules," said a voice from the water outside the boat.
"What rules? I didn't see any rules," asked Rose.
"She broke the rules," the voce repeated.
"I didn't know there were any. How can I know what I don't know?" Rose said
"How do you know what you know?" Another voice piped up.
"Well, I don't exactly like the way you're talking to me either. I think..."
"You think. You think do you?"
The boat started to rock vigorously from side to side and Rose clung on tightly as the lake transformed into rocking waves.
"What have you done?" Asked the shrill voice.
"Me? What have I done?" She tried to stand in the rocking boat, and nearly fell.
"If you drink the water you'll die," said a voice from the water. Rose tried to look onto the surface, but she couldn't see it for the mist. A face appeared then, her own face, a very ugly version of her face.
"You're trapped forever here if we want you to be."
She ignored the voice from her ugly self and sat down, leaning back into the boat.
"You have small heart," hissed the voice after a moment. She held onto the sides of the boat with her eyes shut. The waves subsided.
Rose thought for a moment. Maybe it's true? She swallowed hard. Yes I could be better, she thought, but my heart is not small.
"No. That is not true of me," she said calmly, looking over the edge into the face below. It faded back into the water.
Above her, she noticed her own good face again.
"Rose, Rose. You are here to have whatever you want - just name it, and take it!" Rose closed her eyes tight. She was hungry and thirsty now. Surely, she could ask for some water. Just then, she heard the clink, clink of a bottle against the boat. She looked over the edge. There was a sealed bottle with liquid. Mmm... a ice cool drink would be nice right now, thought Rose, and she reach over and collected it from the water and took a sip.
"You look tired Rose. Why don't you take a rest for a while? Sleep a little?" This, from the reflection above, coupled with the bottle in her hands, suddenly made her suspicious. What if she drank it and fell asleep in this rudderless boat in the mist. She shook her head, feeling overwhelmingly tired and struggling to hold her eyes open. No. She thought. I mustn't. It can't be good if I sleep now. Instead, she mustered all the energy within her to stay awake.
A word appeared on screen, CONGRATULATIONS. The boat jerked to a halt. She looked over the edge. This time she could see the sand beneath the water. The mist had cleared, but the sky was dark and the beach filled with shadow. She carefully got up and jumped onto the sand. The point counter at the edge of her screen lit up and her point score raced forward to 1,200. The timer read 03h 21m 48s.
There appeared to be a rugged cliff face ahead, but covered in dark undergrowth or sand grass. As she took a few steps a small round circle in the sand ahead of her lit up, like a stepping stone. She stepped onto it and waited. The patch began to fade, and as it did she began to sink. She searched the sand ahead for another lighted circle, but it was dark. She started to panic.
"Where to next? Where?" she yelled. The beach was almost completely dark now.
Just then, she heard an explosion and a whizzing sound passed by her face, as if someone had shot a gun or a fire cracker. She looked up, squinting into the dark. A shadow moved on the cliff edge. Someone was shooting at her. She searched the sand ahead for her next step, with one foot already deep in sand to her ankle. Her heart was racing. She decided to step anyway, and as she leaped ahead a circle of sand lit up. She landed just on the edge of it, and sighed loudly. Another shot rang out and whizzed past her.
"Why are you shooting at me?" she yelled into the darkness. A hail of shots rang out and she ducked low at first, then leapt ahead onto a small circle. She landed safely on it. She bit her lip and stood there resting. As the circle of light began to fade, she leapt ahead again - keeping carefully silent.
As she reached the cliff face she began to scamper up the embankment and then pulled on loose roots and grasses to climb the steeper edge of the cliff. When she reached the top, her point counter flipped. It now read 1,066.
Ahead of her was a small path cut into the grass. She followed along the path toward a wood, and into the wood a clearing, where the path stopped. In the centre of the clearing was a large wooden chair. She walked over to the chair and examined it closely. It was fairly simple, with a high back - more like a dinning chair than a kitchen chair. There didn't appear to be anything else to do other than to sit down in it. As soon as she did she felt very sleepy, and rested her head back. Warm arms wrapped around her as she drifted off to sleep.
"Rose", said the voice. "What do you want?"
“I want to win the game,” said Rose.
"That is right. And why do you want to win the game?"
"Because that is what I do. I'm a gamer."
"Yes. But there's more."
"I like winning."
"Yes."
After a moment the voice asked, "Will you win this game?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"Good."
She opened her eyes. The arms around her, from the chair, let her go and she stood. The point counter read 1,400. The timer was still rolling, now at 02h 21m 32s.
She noticed then that the clearing funnelled into a path deeper into the wood. As she approached she saw a path, much broader now, like a footpath, and she followed into the wood. As the tree branches crowded overhead and either side of the path grew thick with tree trunks, she saw a set of white doors side by side up ahead.
When she reached the doors, she rested her hand on the handle and open one side. There was another set of doors set directly behind the first. On one side, the door was blue. She opened the door on the other side also. The set behind was red. She continued like this, opening door after door on each side, but not finding an entrance. She tried a few different combinations of doors. Blue and then black, white and red. Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone clapping as she struck a particular combination, and as she open the doors together she saw a hallway ahead.
As she walked along, and came to another set of doors. She tried various different combinations again. Then, the sound of more clapping as she opened the last set of doors. Again, they led to into another hallway, this one bigger than the first. She followed through two more sets of doors, until finally the doors opened to a deafening sound of clapping.
She was inside a large arena, or even a cave - but it was pitch black apart from a bright light, like a spotlight up ahead. She couldn't see anything else, so it made perfect sense to walk over to the light.
Her point score was 2,100. The timer was still rolling, now at 2h 57m 12s.
A voice spoke into her ear from the game, "YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME".
She stepped into the light and waited. There was no sound
, but she could perceive a great many people around her. She cleared her throat.
"Um. I'm not sure...". Her voice trailed off.
"Sing Rose. Sing," yelled someone from the darkness.
Rose sang.
The darkness lifted and a crowd of people seated around her clapped.
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