"And…do not be afraid."
That was the last thing the priest told me before I lost my consciousness.
And now, after I had woken up, he was nowhere to be seen. I was just left alone.
Which was quite sad, actually, but whatever.
I just stared at the red silky tablecloth on the table in front of me while leaning forward on my wooden chair.
I was quite bored, to be honest, and the fact that the priest disappeared added frustration to my mix of emotions.
So, how long will it take for my order to arrive?
That was my current concern.
What order? That might be your question, and well, I didn't exactly tell you where I had woken up, right?
A restaurant.
A totally normal restaurant.
However, in this 'world' or 'universe', nothing is normal.
So, yeah, this restaurant isn't normal at all.
Because the first thing that I noticed while I woke up was the man or woman sitting across me.
It was just scrolling on its phone while ignoring me, which quite hurt my feelings.
Judging by the clothes, it seemed more like a woman, but who am I to assume?
Rule number 1- Don't, don't touch any snakes.
That was the first rule of this place.
How do I know?
Well, right now I was fully covered in black ink, which had the instructions to survive this 'space'.
Well, that was an exaggeration; only my forearms had the instructions.
The words were densely packed together and thus almost no skin could be seen on my arms.
"So, how was your day?" I asked the 'woman' across the table with slight curiosity.
She heard the question and put down her phone for a moment, and answered me in a casual tone,
"Quite boring actually, my coworkers are the worst."
Her voice had no difference from a normal human, nor did it feel weird to talk with her.
"I see," I replied and ended the conversation there and went back to my musing.
She, however, wasn't going to let this conversation go and asked, "So, how do I look today? I had my hair done by my friend at her salon."
Well, what an innocent question.
Would you like to know? Freak.
"Quite beautiful, I especially like how tangled up your face looks with all those snakes." My answer came swiftly, and she…just went quiet.
And after a few seconds, she went back to scrolling on her phone.
Did I hurt her feelings? Awww.
Well, what else was I supposed to say to that 'face'?
She had no normal human features, it was just a tangled mess of snakes taking a human form.
The snakes were strangely quite colourful, I could see a lot of them, actually, including the classics like red, green, blue, etc.
The waiter whom I talked to a moment ago was also the same.
I know I try to hide it under sarcasm, but the snake's skin makes my skin crawl.
As a man with ophidiophobia, this is literal hell.
My phobia of snakes isn't an extreme case; it is still bearable.
But the slippery skin and them tangling with each other with their tongues out literally makes my stomach churn.
I really want to vomit.
But I can't, even if I did, nothing would come out.
Explanation number 1- You don't need food, water or any other human needs, you can't get hurt except for some special circumstances, but you WON'T die.
Was it necessary to write the 'wont' in all caps?
In total, there are five instructions or rules, if you like to call it that, on my forearms.
Other than instructions, there are some explanations about this place.
But they are vague as hell…the second explanation just said all of this is real and not a dream/coma, they didn't even say what it actually was.
Which was quite…useful? Maybe.
My objective is, of course, to leave or escape this space.
So, you may be wondering what I am doing here in this restaurant.
The thing is, I have no idea.
This isn't a room anymore, it's a whole city.
Yes, I tried to leave through the doors, and my sight was greeted with my old city and umbrellas.
Raining, and floating umbrellas are stuck in the sky motionlessly.
I can't smell nor taste if I do during my time here, it's an anomaly and could either be a useful clue or harmful.
I leaned back against the chair with all the strength I could muster, and as usual, it didn't even budge.
I can't move anything in here unless I'm supposed to do so, I don't need to eat food for sufficiency or anything, and I can't get hurt except in some special circumstances…
So, as long as I don't interact with anything that can't hurt me, I am basically invincible.
Although I'm pretty sure the snakes can hurt me.
And I can't and won't die.
Which was reassuring.
But the thing is, how can I trust these writings on my body? I'm a hundred per cent sure the priest wrote it, but can I trust him?
It it true?
If it isn't, what am I supposed to do?
Just because he helped me leave the cemetery doesn't mean I can trust him.
But, for now, I will.
Because I, too, have a bad feeling about those snakes.
I heaved a sigh and closed my eyes for a moment.
I can't be joking or sarcastic about this. I need to leave, and I can't play around.
I won't break any rules, nor will I try to test them.
I need to leave, and that's all that matters. I can't be overly curious about the surrealism of this place.
After all, curiosity kills the cat.
Forget the order, I will just leave. After all, I just did it for fun testing it's not like I'm going to eat it or anything.
And thus I stood up in silence and made my way towards the exit.
The woman was still on her phone, not even paying attention as I walked away.
As I was walking away, I slowly raised my left forehand and took a glance at the final rule.
Rule 5- Don't let the lies cloud the truths.
That was the final rule, a cryptic one to be exact.
What does it mean?
I don't know, but I'm sure the answer lies in this stage.
And finding the answer is the key to escape.
In this black and white odourless world with no sound or temperature, I walked out through the front doors with full confidence.
It's quite interesting, actually, the fact that the outside world was colourless while the inside of the restaurant was normal.
Maybe, in here, colourless might be considered normal, or others haven't noticed it yet.
Don't let the lies cloud the truths.
That's my objective and my key to escape.