The Recall Trials -
Chapter 72: The Floor Is Lava
Chapter 72: The Floor Is Lava
The voice returned, colder this time, echoing off the steel walls.
"You have twenty minutes. Reach the exit before the clock runs out. Or burn."
As the final word dropped, the floor trembled.
"Is that... a volcano?" someone whispered from behind me.
No one answered.
Because we were all too stunned.
The machine pulsed, alive and angry. It didn’t just look hot. It was hot. The heat scorched our skin, the kind that made your eyes water, the kind that could melt flesh if you stood too close. The ground beneath it shimmered, like reality itself was glitching. And maybe it was. Because it didn’t seem fully real...some of it flickered, holographic almost. But the threat? The heat? The way the air warped?
That part was dead real.
Then clang!...twelve circular platforms shot up from the floor with a synchronized metallic thud. Each one stood at knee height, spaced out unevenly around the molten core. Their surfaces were matte black, with faintly glowing ring in the center.
Twenty platforms.
Eighty two contestants.
One volcano.
The voice crackled again...
"These platforms are time-sensitive. You have twenty minutes to make it to the far end of the room and out the exit door... or become fried chicken. And remember..."
A beat.
"...Not everything here is what it seems."
A loud BEEP ripped through the silence.
And on the wall behind us, a countdown timer lit up in glaring red digits:
20:00
19:59
19:58
Shadows danced on the faces of the contestants. Some froze. Others trembled. No one spoke.
I didn’t move.
I just stared....at the churning volcano, at the platforms, at the terrified faces around me.
And for some reason...
I smiled.
There it was again...that familiar hum in my chest. That high. That thrill. That energy.
"This..." I whispered to myself, "...is really beautiful."
Not because it was safe.
Not because it was fair.
But because it was chaos. Controlled, burning chaos.
And finally....I felt at home.
From the edge of the room, one of the contestants...a boy I barely remembered the name.....stepped forward, chest heaving. His hands were trembling, but his legs moved like they were being pushed by desperation.
"Screw this," a contestant hissed. "I’m not dying in here."
He bolted.
One jump...thud...he landed on the first platform.
We all held our breath.
A soft blue glow pulsed beneath his feet.
He swayed for a second, catching his balance, then straightened, chest heaving in relief.
"It’s safe!" he shouted. "Guys...it’s solid! I swear, just go one after the other!"
Before he even finished the sentence, another contestant....a girl with her hair tied in a ponytail, took a leap beside him. Her platform lit up too.
People exhaled.
And then the rush began.
The room exploded with movement as others lunged forward, racing toward the line of platforms. Everyone had the same thought: Get across. Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t die.
I waited.
Waited just long enough to watch the chaos unfold.
I stepped forward, placing one boot on the next platform.
Its soft blue ring pulsed.
I jumped.
The landing was smooth.
And then...
A scream ripped through the room.
"NO—NO! SHIT....SHI.....AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
It came from the front.
The first boy...the one who shouted it was safe...was mid-jump to the next platform when his foot passed straight through it.
Not solid.
Not real.
His body plunged downward, arms flailing. The look on his face was pure horror, wild and pleading...just before he vanished into the churning lava.
SPLOOSH!
Steam burst upward like the earth itself had just swallowed him.
"HE’S IN THE LAVA!" someone screamed.
"HOLY SHIT. IT’S NOT REAL! THE PLATFORM WASN’T REAL!"
Someone screamed. A girl backed away, tripped, and almost fell off her own platform.
"OH MY GOD!"
"He fell...he FELL!"
The air filled with the stench of burning.
His screams lasted four seconds.
Then... silence.
Just the bubbling of lava.
The glow of red.
The smell of death.
Someone sobbed.
Another contestant vomited onto the metal floor.
My lips curved upward, slowly.
"Guess he didn’t trust his gut enough," I muttered to myself.
"He said it was safe," another whimpered.
But I was smiling again.
Because I remembered the voice.
"Not everything here is what it seems."
And they forgot.
They always forget.
And now?
That warning had fangs.
I glanced at the flickering platform still hovering next to where he vanished. The lava still shimmered beneath it, like it had just fed and was hungry for more.
"That was... horrifying," someone whispered.
I turned toward them, face unreadable.
"I thought it was funny."
Their eyes snapped to me.
Disgust.
Fear.
Confusion.
But I didn’t care.
Because they still thought this was a game of survival.
It wasn’t.
It was a game of clarity.
And I?
I was starting to see it for what it really was.
The timer on the wall kept ticking.
17:03
17:02
"Go! Go! Just jump! GO!" someone shouted from behind the girl at the front of the line.
The screams echoed across the molten room...panicked, desperate. Someone shoved from behind. Someone else cursed loudly. All eyes were on the girl ahead, standing frozen on her platform
But she wasn’t moving.
She stood frozen, her knees bent like she was about to leap, but her body trembled too much to commit. Her hands hovered in the air, fingers twitching. Her chest rose and fell in rapid bursts. Panic. Full-blown panic.
"Move, girl!" another voice snapped, "We don’t have time—just GO!"
Still, she hesitated.
"Move it! We don’t have time!"
"You’re blocking the way! Go or jump off!"
But she just stood there, paralyzed by fear, her arms stiff at her sides, breathing in short, sharp gasps.
I stood silently on my own platform farther back. My boots warm from the platform’s heat. I tilted my head, narrowing my gaze at the platforms ahead. They all glowed the same soft blue. Almost.
There has to be a difference, I thought. There’s always a pattern. Always a tell.
I scanned each one, watching the way the light pulsed...slow, then fast....wondering if the fakes flickered slightly different, or if they didn’t reflect heat like the others. There bad to be Something...anything, that separated the real from the fake.
Then...another scream.
High-pitched.
"SOMETHING’S WRONG. THE PLATFORM!" someone yelled from the front.
I looked up.
The girl...the same frozen one...her platform had begun to descend. Slowly at first.
But then faster, like it had sensed her hesitation.
It was like the room itself was swallowing her.
The time-sensitive platform, I remembered. The voice said if you wait too long...
Now she was dropping faster...and faster.
"MOVE...JUMP!" someone shouted.
She couldn’t.
She let out a scream as her knees gave in.
The boy behind her reached out in instinct, grabbing her arm just before her body sank below the edge. Her face was gone, just the top of her hand remained above the rim of the platform now, clutched tightly in his grasp.
He grunted, straining, crouched low, pulling with all his strength. "Don’t let go! Don’t—don’t you let go! I got you!"
Everyone watched.
The room was silent except for the hissing lava, and his ragged breath as he yanked upward.
Then...
He lifted.
"I got her. She’s okay! I—"
He froze.
We all did.
What came up.....
Wasn’t a face.
It was her hand.
Only her fucking hand.
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