Chapter 1 - entering the labyrinth

The only reason I was at this tacky McDonalds was because I had a crush on Jordan, hands down the hottest in my friend group. But to my knowledge, she had no feelings for me beyond a cordial friendship.
Our friend group had decided to take a late-night trip to the only food place still open – McDonalds. We had long finished our food, and that meant we were now fucking around in the McDonalds playground. Much to the disinterest of the employees working at this late hour.

After going on the child-sized slide for what felt the tenth time. Jordan came up to me looking at me with her big brown eyes, and told me she was bored. She then proceeded to dare me to hide in the McDonalds ball pit so I could jump out and scare out friend “Big” Donald (Yes that’s really his name). Because I couldn’t say no to anything Jordan asked me to do, and because it seemed like fun, I stealthed over to the ball pit, trying not to be seen by big Donald. Jordan gave me a big thumbs up, and a mischievous smile. As I crept into the ball pit and got settled amongst the balls, to my dismay I realized the pit was far deeper than initially expected.

Struggling to stay afloat, I sank into the pit, growing more worried as the artificial lights grew more and more obscured by the plastic balls swallowing me up. Before I knew it, I was falling in pitch darkness down a steep, waxed, plastic slide. I landed harshly on a rubbery mat. Scrambling for my phone to illuminate the pitch darkness, I saw I had no phone service. As I looked around a chill ran through me. In ever y direction, McDonalds themed plastic walls twisted and stretched out in curving corridors, the darkness of the halls far deeper and thicker than the pitiful light my phone produced.

At a loss for anything to do, I stayed where I was, hoping one of my friends would find me. Maybe this was a weird prank Jordan was playing on me? Turning my phone off to conserve battery, the late hour of the night got the better of me, and I drifted off to sleep against the soft rubber matt.