ONE LAST TIME
A smartly dressed man in his mid-thirties strolled into a sleek reception area. He sauntered towards the receptionist, who greeted him with a smile.
“Welcome to VR ESCAPE. Do you have an appointment?”
“Eckhart,” the man replied. “I’m here about the missing person case.”
The receptionist nodded, her fingers tapping on her keyboard. After a moment, she gestured to a corridor.
“Pod three is ready for you. Follow the lights.”
Eckhart ventured down the narrow hallway, as neon strobes pulsed along the floor. He reached his designated room, where an oval VR pod stood.
“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got,” Eckhart muttered as he took his seat.
He put on the VR headset, and it activated, making the world around him disappear.
It reformed into a hyper-realistic version of the reception area he had just left.
Eckhart blinked, momentarily disoriented.
He strode towards the receptionist, and she greeted him with the same smile. “Welcome to VR ESCAPE. Do you have an appointment?”
Eckhart frowned. “The private detective? Missing person case?”
The receptionist checked her computer. “Pod three is ready for you. Follow the lights”
Eckhart walked down the identical hallway, his unease growing.
“This is weird,” he muttered.
Reaching pod three, he sat down and donned the headset once more.
Again, he found himself in the VR reception area. This time though, a plant on the desk was different.
“Something’s really off…” Eckhart mumbled.
The receptionist repeated her greeting, and Eckhart identified himself. She directed him to the pod and Eckhart walked down the hallway.
“Maybe something else’ll be different next time?” he thought aloud.
Frustration mounting, he sat in the pod and put on the headset.
Back in the reception area, he noticed another minor change: a different piece of artwork on the wall.
“Is this something to do with getting out of this loop?!” he yelled at the receptionist.
When she replied with her familiar smile, Eckhart rushed over and grabbed her arm.
“What the fuck is this!?” he demanded. “Who’s behind this shit?!”
“Pod three is ready for you,” she responded mechanically. “Follow the lights.”
Eckhart dejectedly trudged down the hall and sat in the pod.
“Think, Eckhart, think,” he grumbled.
He scanned the room and his eyes landed on a maintenance hatch he hadn’t noticed before.
Eckhart yanked the hatch open and crawled through. However, he found himself back in the same reception area.
“No, no, no,” he groaned, slumping against the wall. The receptionist approached, her expression completely unchanged.
“Welcome to VR ESCAPE. Do you have an appointment?”
“I can’t be stuck here,” Eckhart muttered, defeat creeping into his voice. He shambled back to the pod, his hands trembling as he put on the headset.
This time, Eckhart immediately noticed a ‘MISSING PERSON’ poster on the wall behind the desk.
He scrambled over to it, but his eyes grew wide with shock. The poster showed his own face looking back at him.
“No!” he shouted, as he stumbled back. “What the fuck is happening?!”
Horrified, he moved away further as the receptionist approached. “Pod three is ready for you. Follow the—”
“There has to be a way out!” Eckhart screamed, searching the reception frantically.
Finding nothing, he started smashing everything in sight.
“None of this is real!” he bellowed, as the receptionist looked vacantly on.
His energy spent; Eckhart staggered down the corridor and sat in the pod.
He considered the headset for a few moments, but then smashed it repeatedly into the ground. With the headset completely destroyed, Eckhart leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.
When he opened them, Eckhart was back in the reception area. He looked around and almost everything was back to normal.
But this time, an old man stood behind the desk instead of the female receptionist.
“Who are you?” Eckhart questioned, his voice trembling.
The older man smiled sadly. “I’m you, Eckhart. We’ve been here a very long time.”
Eckhart stepped closer, horror dawning on his face. “No... that can’t be right.”
“You’ve always been the missing person,” the old man revealed. “You’ve never left.”
Eckhart fell to his knees, realization crashing down on him.
“I have to get out,” he sobbed, covering his face with his hands.
The old man stepped from behind the desk and stood over him.
“Do you have an appointment?” he asked.
Eckhart looked up, tears in his eyes. “The private detective... missing person case.”
The old man helped Eckhart to his feet and guided him to the corridor. “Pod three is ready for you. Follow the lights.”
Eckhart walked down the hallway, tears gushing down his face.
“This can’t be happening...” he choked as he sat down in the pod.
“Please,” he pleaded, pulling the headset down over his eyes. “Just one last time.”