Eighteen year-old Eve Weaver was fresh out of highschool when her grandparents invited her to live with them for the summer. The last time she had seen them was several years before when her family had flown out for a similar summer visit. Only now, they only offered it to Eve.

Eve’s grandparents lived in the suburbs of a major city in another country. Eve had always wanted to spend more time with them and explore the area. This was her perfect opportunity. Not to mention getting away from her family that she had been cooped up with for the past 18 years. She was already being presented the opportunity to go live and be herself, well before college! Eve accepted immediately and was on her way to the airport before the week was out.

Eve settled nicely into her grandparents’ home. It was situated on the edge of a major city, surrounded by other houses like it. On the first day, Eve’s Grandpa took her downtown to experience the new culture. He believed that the best way to learn about it was to immerse yourself as much as possible. A day full of eating exotic foods and looking at foreign wares later, Eve was cozily curled up in a blanket in her own little room on the top floor of the old house, fast asleep.

A couple weeks into her stay, Eve was frustrated. While she had had a fantastic time in the area, her grandparents had forbidden her from leaving the outskirts of the neighborhood alone. “This is no place for a young girl like you to be walking about alone!” Grandma had told her sternly at the dinner table. Eve’s plans of exploration and freedom were slowly being cut short.

“But Grandma, all I’ve seen is good people! I’ve been to the city so many times with you guys, why can’t I go alone?”

“Bad folk stay away because Grandpa is with you.”

“But you go by yourself!”

“That is the end of the discussion, young lady. And you better do well to listen to your poor granny’s advice.”

So, Eve remained within the ‘safe’ boundary that was set and never ventured beyond the outskirts without one of her grandparents accompanying her.

Another week or so later, Eve was out walking the edge of the neighborhood. The suburb ended on three sides by a large highway-like road, and the fourth was blocked by a long row of warehouses. Eve was near the warehouses, where plenty of people her age loitered about. Each warehouse featured a different niche of people: one was a group of basketball players, one was a bunch of teens dressed in black listening to rap music, etc. Eve had been trying to slip into a group who were always sitting around a table playing cards, laughing amiably. She had wandered over a couple of times but had aborted the second someone made eye contact with her. She would flush brightly, look at her feet and quickly change direction to a different building with graffiti layered heavily on the wall. From there she would watch the group greedily, wishing to be a part but flushing at the thought of introducing herself. She wished that one of them would invite her over.

Today, the exact same thing happened. She was now leaning against the same wall, looking sadly at the group of card players as someone played a good hand and everyone cheered and laughed happily.

With a loud squeak, a metal door, almost completely camouflaged with graffiti layered over it, opened next to the garage door that Eve was leaning against.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there!” Eve stammered, jumping away as a man poked his head out.

The man chuckled. “No problem, just opening it up!”

“Is th-this your garage?”

“Yeah, I’ll let you look inside if you want.”

Before Eve could respond, the large garage door shuddered, sliding up. Eve stepped back, flushing brightly at the sudden interaction as the contents of the shop slowly came into view. It wasn’t anything impressive, there were stacks of cardboard boxes with labels inside and that was it.

“It ain’t much, but it’s business”, the man said before striding inside towards a stack of boxes.

Eve looked after him. He was tall and strongly built. He wore a tank top, showing his arms. They weren’t super muscley, but they were toned from a man who worked with moving boxes for a living. He was clean-shaven and had medium-length hair that bounced slightly as he walked. He was probably early twenties, he couldn’t have been more than three years older than Eve.

“What’s in the boxes?” Eve asked, intrigued.

“Ah, just stuff that comes with my line of work”. The man winked at her as he said this, as if he were letting her in on a little secret. He picked up a box with a grunt.

Eve blushed again. “And what’s that?” she asked politely.

“Well, it’s kind of a niche thing. I design and install escape rooms for people.”

“You mean like the puzzle rooms that little kids do?”

“Yeah! But I make them for older people. Adults, most of the time. Some people like a challenge.” The man set the box down outside the garage, then walked back in.

“What makes it harder for adults to do?”

“Well, let’s just say I make it harder to escape”, the man said cryptically as he grunted to pick up another box.

Eve smiled shyly. “Well, that does sound fun.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll tell ya what. I’ve seen you hanging out here a couple of times before, why don’t you come out and give it a go? I have a new one that I’ve been wanting to find a tester for.”

“Oh! Well, I don’t know if I could do that. See, I’m from another country and I’ve only been here for a little while…” Eve trailed off as the man smiled at her.

“That’s OK. If you ever change your mind though, here’s my card. My information should be on there, and if you do decide to come, well, you won’t regret it!” The man handed Eve a thin white card. Eve took it slowly and peered at what was written on it.

Todd Browning

Breakouts, Dungeons, Secrets and Mysteries

Escape This! LLC

Specializes in Escape Rooms and Escape Challenges

A phone number and address was written below.

“Where is this? I don’t recognize the address”, Eve said after a moment.

The man, who she now knew was Todd, grunted, lifting another box. “It’s downtown, just south of the market.”

“Oh, I can’t go there…” Eve said, suddenly disappointed. She hadn’t realized it, but she was quickly becoming more and more excited as Todd had told her more about what he did. At the thought of being a part of it, she was ecstatic. But now, she wouldn’t be able to help out.

“Ah, that sucks. Well, it was worth a shot. If you can figure out how to get there, I would love your help!”

‘I would love your help’, Eve thought to herself that night as she lay in her bed. That was what he had said, with a smile on his face. He seemed so inviting, so nice. She finally had a shot at being able to do her own thing, but she was stuck here in the stupid neighborhood. She knew her grandparents would never accompany her.

Eve thought back to her parents back home. The main reason she had come here was to get away, to do her own thing. And she was still being limited. She was an adult now for goodness sake! She can do her own thing!

Eve resolved to take Todd up on his offer. She would leave in the morning like she always did, but instead of staying in the neighborhood, she would take the train into town.

Eve stood outside the small shop nestled in the basement of the much larger building that towered above her. Glancing at the card, the address matched. She had taken the train from her neighborhood, careful to make sure her grandparents weren’t following her. They hadn’t ever done so, but Eve felt that the one day when she was disobeying them they would decide to see where she went. So, as she stood at the station, she was constantly checking over her shoulder and rubbing her palms against her shirt.

Eve was wearing a cream, button-up, silk blouse and a light blue skirt. She wore heels and had her hair done up in a bun. She had made sure to not be seen by her grandparents as she left the house, since she never dressed this way normally. But, since she was going to ‘testing’ out some things, and it being her first job, she wanted to come across as presentable. 

Standing in front of the steps leading to the basement, Eve was doing the same thing as on the platform: nervously rubbing her hands together, her heart thumping loudly. She hadn’t been bothered through the whole city like she thought would happen if she went alone, but that was nothing compared to going into a stranger’s home. Eve thought back to what she had learned throughout her childhood: stranger danger. But she was an adult now! And she was being offered a job! That had to count for something.

Swallowing her apprehension, Eve slowly stepped down the concrete stairs and knocked on the painted wooden door.

To her surprise, the door was unlatched and creaked open slowly at the weight of Eve’s knocks. She pushed the door open, peering tentatively inside.

The room seemed abandoned. The only light came from the cracked door behind Eve. The walls were painted the same black as the door and there was trash littered around the floor. A large metal trash can was in the center of the room. Glancing inside as she daintily stepped around the garbage, Eve saw that things had been burned inside. So that’s why the walls were black. From soot.

Eve walked to the far side of the room where another door was set. This one seemed nicer than the wooden one she had entered through before. It was latched and she turned the handle slowly to see what was in the next room.

It was much cleaner.The walls were still black, but they seemed to be made of a felt or cloth. A small light was shining from the ceiling over a table, centered in the room. Eve let the door go behind her and it closed with a soft click. Turning around to look at the door that had closed on its own, she realized there was no handle on the inside. She pressed her hands against the edge, trying to dig the door out with her fingernails, but it sat flush against the door. Taking a deep breath, Eve turned back towards the table. It was an escape room after all. Maybe her test had already begun?

On the table were a couple pieces of paper and a pen. Looking at what the paper on top said, Eve read something along the lines of a consent form. The paper underneath was something called a ‘non-disclosure agreement’. Eve didn’t know what those were. On the final paper was a small handwritten note. It read “Sign these and we’ll be all good to start! - Todd”

Eve glanced around the room cautiously, unsure why Todd didn’t just come out and talk to her. Maybe it was part of the test?

Eve picked up the pen and signed her name on both papers. Unknown to her, a small hidden camera in the ceiling zoomed in on her hand, making sure she had signed on the correct lines. Eve dropped the pen accidentally as she moved to the second paper, and she sheepishly leaned down to pick it up off the floor, glad nobody was watching her.

When she finished, Eve heard a small click from the other side of the table. To her surprise, a hidden door had swung open. Eve carefully stepped around the table, still forcing herself to continue onwards. Her heels padded softly on the floor as she smoothed her skirt, slowly pulling the hidden panel away to reveal yet another room. Eve stepped inside the new room. It was identical to the previous one, but with no table. Instead, two large boxes were on the floor roughly knee-high. The door swung closed behind her, clicking just like the last one had. 

Just as the door clicked shut, two more doors opened in front of her. From them, the first people she had seen since she arrived stepped out. There were three men, roughly the same size as Todd had been. They all wore black shirts and pants, like how the stage crew of a play would dress. However, they all wore ski masks over their faces and black felt gloves.

Startled, Eve stepped back towards the door as if to run away. It was locked behind her, just like the last one had been. She couldn’t find a door handle.

“Hey!” one of the men laughed. “Don’t panic, we’re just like you. Here to act!”

Eve stammered. “Wh-what?”

The man in front paused. “You’re an actor too, right?”

“I- uhh, I’m a tester if that’s what you mean?”

Both men had entered the room and now stood on the other sides of the boxes. Eve was still cowering away from them, subconsciously running her hands along the wall behind her to try to find the door.

“Yeah, well, I think that’s the same thing. Did you have to go through the dark rooms and sign some things?”

“Ye-yeah…”

“Oh, yeah, you’re exactly who we were waiting for then.” The man noticed how scared Eve looked. “Don’t worry! We were hired by Todd too.”

Eve visibly relaxed at the sound of Todd’s name. “Oh, good. I’m sorry, just all this secrecy and then you guys with masks on, it kinda freaked me out a little…” she trailed off.

The second man laughed. “Yeah, I get it. I was spooked too.”

Eve laughed nervously, trying to downplay her sudden fear. Her heart was still pounding in her head. Her mouth was dry and she swallowed to moisten her throat.

The four ‘actors’ stood awkwardly for a moment before one of the men coughed and said, “Well, let’s get started, no?”

“Are you ready to escape?” another one of the men directed at Eve.

“Y-yeah, I think so”, Eve said, taking another deep breath. Seeing all three men staring at her, she took one more and composed herself, standing up tall. “Alright. I’m ready.”

As if saying it had triggered the start of something, all three men jumped into action. One jumped straight at Eve, while the other went towards the boxes in the center of the room. Eve squealed and stumbled backwards away from the person jumping towards her, falling to the ground with a soft thump. He grabbed her about the wrist and pulled her towards the two blocks, where the others had taken the tops off and pulled supplies from within.

Eve squealed again as she was pressed into the floor between the two boxes. Her arms were handled behind her back as she kicked and struggled, crying out in fear. Smooth, brown rope was wound around her wrists, which were held in place by one of the men. Another person began working on her legs, tying them together at the ankles.

A flurry of thoughts flew through Eve’s mind. Was this part of the escape challenge? If being tied up was part of the escape challenge, she should just go with it, right? Nonetheless, she fought against the men holding her down and restraining her, regardless of how effective it was.

Her arms were pinned to her sides across the biceps and her elbows. Her arms were crossed behind her back all at 90-degree angles, like a box. Everything was cinched and frapped down tightly, so that nothing could move. 

Eve’s legs were tied just as tightly. Her ankles, calves and knees were wrapped and frapped together, the brown rope lying smoothly against her legs. One of the men pulled a roll of gray tape from one of the boxes and began wrapping it around Eve’s hands. Eve still cried out and struggled, but it was magnitudes less effective. Her hands were forced into fists and quickly swaddled away into tight little balls, pinned to the small of her back.

Eve was flipped over so she was facing up. She opened her mouth to shout out for help again, but a large red ball was shoved in. Eve gagged and coughed as the ball forced her jaw open, the heavy taste of rubber filling her mouth. Leather straps were wrapped around her head, keeping her from forcing the ball out. She pushed on it with her tongue, but nothing she did could move it beyond her teeth.

Moaning audibly, Eve was flipped back over. As her face was pushed into the ground, her legs were lifted up towards her head. Another length of rope secured her legs to the box tie on her arms, pulling her into a hogtie. Her body aching from the tightness of the ropes, Eve felt herself be hoisted up into the air and on top of one of the boxes. Her feet were propped up behind her on top of the box, while her knees sat on the carpet. She was facing the correct way up, except she was standing on her knees when her heeled feet hooked on the lip of the box.

From here, the other ‘actors’ began to secure Eve in place. Ropes were strung from her body up the ceiling to make sure she wouldn’t tip over, and a rope in front to make sure she couldn’t slide backwards. Eve continued to struggle, breathing heavily through her nose, but nothing she did could prevent the men from securing her more and more heavily.

At last, the men stepped backwards, catching their breath. Eve was wiggling about in her rope harness, completely restrained in place. She moaned through her gag, pleading with the men to let her go. The men didn’t say a word: they only smiled before leaving through the doors they came through. The doors clicked shut behind them, leaving Eve tethered in the black room.

Eve’s body already ached from the tightness of her restraints. Her ankles hurt where they were propped up on the harsh corner of the wooden box, and her arms felt numb from the tightness of the tethers reaching to the ceiling, making sure she wouldn’t tip over.

Eve cried out through the gag, hoping for someone to hear her. Was Todd around? What was going on? Little did Eve know, she was being watched. There were maybe a dozen cameras around the room, concealed from vision but all recording the display that was now being put on by Eve.

Am I supposed to escape from this? Eve wondered. Rather than blindly pulling at her restraints, Eve began to catalog each one. Her arms were very stuck, there was no moving those… what about her legs… no, those are just as tight… Eve just wished she could get the ball out of her mouth. Her jaw ached from how far it was forced to stretch, not to mention the straps crushing her head from all sides…

Eve bounced in her bondage, crying out in pain and frustration. As she did, she noticed two things. One, on the second box in front of her, a variety of tools were laid out. There was a pair of scissors, a pocket knife… It was at this moment that Eve knew that this was her challenge. Secondly, her bouncing had made something up above her click, like metal-on-metal tapping. Looking up, Eve saw one of the anchors that she was secured to bounced up and down when Eve threw her weight on it.

With newfound motivation, Eve began to tug at the overhead anchor. The hook, attached to a plate, wiggled up and down. The two objects clicked against each other with each bounce. A small bit of dust fell every time Eve’s weight fell on it. Shouting into her gag with excitement, Eve got into a rhythm, building up her momentum with each downward motion. With a cry of effort, Eve gave it one final tug. The metal hook snapped free from the tether, sending Eve crashing to the floor with a squeal of pain.

Eve’s shoulder hurt, but she knew she was much better off than she had been before. Slowly struggling against the hogtie, Eve began to inch her way to the box. Even out of view, Eve knew her goal. Just get the scissors, then you can cut your way out. Then you will have escaped!

Reaching the base of the box, Eve thumped her side against it a few times. She would never be able to reach the top, and so she bounced into it to make the scissors fall. The pocket knife fell first, which she ignored. Eve didn’t trust herself with a knife. Scissors would be much safer.

After another 5 minutes of struggling, the scissors fell to the floor. Eve cried out in glee as she wiggled towards them. Her muscles ached and all she wanted was to be free of her restraints, and she was so close to salvation…

Eve reached down with her hand to pick them up and realized how hard it would be. Her hands were swathed in tape, her fingers pinned into her fists. Eve cried out in anger as the round ball of her hand bumped into the scissors, unable to pick it up, much less maneuver it.

Thirty minutes of crying into her gag, mindlessly pulling at her restraints and trying to shake the tape off her hands, Eve heard a door open. She twisted her head to look behind her, where she saw Todd stepping silently through the entryway. Eve cried out into her gag, pleading with him to let her out.

That night, Eve lay wide-awake in her bed, nursing her wrists where the rope had sat. There were still marks that Eve had had to hide from her grandparents that night at dinner.

While (terribly slowly) untying her, Todd had explained that she had failed the test. He was satisfied with her performance, however, and would be making tweaks to the ‘escape challenge’ in response to her trial. He told her that she should have been able to get free, but it was OK. She would have another chance to try again,

As Eve thought about the large wad of cash sitting in her dresser, hidden beneath her socks, she thought about Todd’s request to see her the next day. Same place, same time, but she could dress a little more comfortably. Eve had rushed out, flustered, not promising anything. Thinking about her grandparent’s wishes for her to stay in the neighborhood, Todd’s request, and not to mention the money, Eve managed to fall asleep, still undecided on the next day.