Away From Eden

The Shot Glass

The theme of the party was glitz and glam. The guests were welcomed by sparkling showgirls. While in the wide stage were large props of martini glasses, glitter handball balance with performers providing entertainment for the event. The party was classy and glamorous. That is its signature. Guests arrived in dozens with wide smiles on their faces, wrapped in their fanciest clothes, arriving in their luxury cars.

Tonight is the feast of the elite.

Tonight is Standford's alumni. The reunion of those deserving, of those who were given an invitation.

Carsen was just quiet in the corner, sipping wine while others were chatting in a group. He noticed that most of those who were here were from his class, but he barely remembers them all since he dropped out in the middle of the school year. He took a deep breath. Staying at a party like this is not his thing.

It's kind of suffocating. Carsen thinks.

And he slightly loosened his bow tie.

" Hey, dude!"

Carsen's attention was got by a male who had just arrived in a tuxedo. He is cheerful and loud, the best in congeniality type of a guy. He rushed to a group in the end corner. They were laughing, saying hello, and looking at him, the guy seemed to be the life of the party.

Jair Santana. He heard that was his name.

" Hi!"

Another, Carsen's attention was grabbed by a girl who had suddenly joined his table. She was cute, not so tall, and with a wide seductive smile on her face.

" I have noticed you're just alone, here," she said grinning.

Carsen just throw a glance at her and continued sipping his wine.

" I remember you were the guys who transferred in the third year, right?" she began to establish a conversation with him.

Then she reached out her hand for a shake, " Lizzie, remember me in the first year?" she said. Her face was friendly.

Carsen smiled yet he shook his head.

" The class muse!" she giggled.

" Oh..yeah!" Carsen chuckled awkwardly.

The chattings continue.

While a soft melody was drifting in the atmosphere, the scene was somehow like stolen by a guest who arrived late. Greetings were offered to her as she walked along the dainty path. It was as if all eyes were on her as she walks. She successfully had steal everyone's attention with that dress of hers. She greeted back with a smile.

" Janesi!"

Someone at the end of the table waved and called her name.

Okay, so she's Janesi. Carsen thinks.

The girl smiled and waved her hand in reply, then she goes to the table where the first loud guy had gone.

"Okay, so they're friends!" Carsen commented.

Lizzie frowned, " who? Janesi and those guys?" she shrieked.

" Yeah," Lizzie said with a raised eyebrow. She drank some wine like she's uninterested.

" You don't know her?" Lizzie asked.

Carsen shook his head, " who is she?"

" Oh well, she's the pretty girl who married a Castellan, and that's where every bottom girl is getting inspiration now, " Lizzie's tone is scornful. 

After a while, the fun was interrupted when a man went up to the stage to call their attention. He was probably the host of the event. He was jolly and welcoming yet after he said some greetings and cheers. Carsen saw the guests falling on the floor.

What's happening? He asked himself.

Then, seconds later he felt like his eyelids were drooping, sleepiness pulled him over. Until he can't help but himself among them that fell asleep on the party floor.

" Ladies and gentlemen now the party games began!"

Those were the last words Carsen had heard before he lost his consciousness.

Meanwhile in a spacious room filled with monitors. In the center of it is a man sitting with headphones. His eyes are fixed on the screen where he's currently seeing the recent happening at the party.

" How's Carsen Adams?"

Someone asked from his headphones.

" He also fainted, sir," the man replied

" Are you sure of him?" the man asked.

" Yeah, he wouldn't have a 400 IQ AND 90% EQ for nothing," the man in the other line replied.

The man in the headphones was lost for words for a moment. He only knows that Carsen Adams was born with an exceptional gift, but he hadn't heard his intelligence was that high. No wonder, his boss would be obsessed with him. In fact, this entire control room was set up to hack the events in the game all to monitor Carsen.

" Wow.." the man whispered.

And the man on the other line has dropped the call.

Meanwhile in the reunion party

The invited had woken up already, clutching at their heavy head they realized there has been some sleep inducer in the drink served to them.

" Welcome Deserving!"

Their attention was grabbed by that voice-over that echoed in the entire place. Carsen glanced around. A while ago, they were in the fancy party hall and now they're confounded in this empty high walled place that feels like a huge basement. He had a bad feeling about this.

Looking at every corner he knows by then that this environment is a setup one. And knowing the people behind this reunion he won't be surprised if they have made a simulated world just for this.

" Okay, so first let's lay the costs," said the voice-over.

And in front of them flashed images like it was a hologram, showing them the ladders of the hierarchy and monetary prizes.

The voice-over explained how they would ascend to the top, into being instant Castellans no matter what their background, and how they would lose their lives too for every single wrong move in the game. Precautions and warnings were clearly said at first and after that the wall opened, bringing the invited to another place.

" Okay, guys we want don't want to be hard on you at the first level, so it's going to be a group game," the voice-over was heard all over the place again.

" First level is - a shot glass," said the voice-over.

" Huh?! shot..glass?"

There were nervous mumblings among the invited.

After that, they were given time to choose their teammates. There were hundreds of them in the basement, and they need to group themselves into five.

Janesi chooses her team, and so as Lizie and Jair. Everyone has chosen whom they would like to team up with except for Carsen. He's the only one left undecided in the corner, and all guys were already glaring at him since the timer in the hologram is already ticking out.

Until Carsen goes to where Lizie is. He had a talked with her earlier, and so somehow he's an acquaintance.

" Kind of choosy huh?" Lizie teased Carsen as he joined in their line.

Then when all is done, the voice-over reverberated in the atmosphere again.

" Now, let's continue with the first game - the shot glass. In this game, you need to identify who the culprit is. Then you will check your answer by yourself," said the voice-over.

"Is that all? No explanations? Conditions?"

Someone from the other team whined.

The huge images were projected in front of them as if they were in a 3D cinema, depicting the backgrounds of the possible culprit. The players need to choose one.

It was a homicide case, said in the visuals.

The first suspect was a robber.

The second was a street sweeper.

And last was a lord - a village leader.

The victim's face and body were flashed on the screen for their observation, and minutes after the hologram went off.

The room went into a panic when the next thing they heard was again the ticking of the timer. There were whinings and murmurings in each group. Minutes, after they were asked to press the image of their chosen culprit, on that vendo like machine, every time they swipe their choice, a shot glass, would pop out in the bottom. In which they don't have a choice but to drink it or else, the floor that they're standing in would sense it, and they would fall into a deadly pit if not. And if they press the wrong answer, the machine would give out a toxic drink that every player who got a wrong answer would fall instantly dead on the floor.

They don't have a choice then but to tremble in fear for every death they witness, for someone else's mistake, and would even shake more to fear when they're the next in line to press that shot glass machine.

And since it's a team game, each one of the players is allowed to share their answers with their team. The team may decide what they think is the correct answer.

" There's no way we can cheat that machine!"

one of Crasen's teammates whined.

Yeah, he's right. There's no even way they peek answers of those who get it right. It's well guarded. Lights are blocking their visions. The screen of the shot glass machine is blurry from afar, what's clear only is the bloodshed on the floor, and the dead bodies lying. They can't even move closer to it or else there will be stuff popping out on the walls or somewhere, hitting them. The basement is full of traps.

" So, who do you think guys are the culprit?" Lizie asked.

There was silence.

And she sighed.

" I think it was the robber?" one from their group suggested

" Because you see based on the victim's clothes, branded clothes it seems she's wealthy," the man added.

The group mates nodded. He has a point.

" No, I think it was the street sweeper," one butted in with certainty in his tone.

" Why did you say so?" the group asked him.

He scoffed, " oh man... it's typical in our society right now, those people at the bottom are desperate!" he replied.

His words caused a negative reaction from some of their group members specifically those who are from the flocks - the bottom in the hierarchy.

A commotion broke out.

" Stop!" Carsen yelled at them.

" It's the Lord!" he said.

All their eyes then were directed at him.

" We're gonna go out of this room and would line in there and press the lord's face," he said to the team.

But their faces don't seem convinced.

" Are you sure?" Lizie asked him.

" There's no way a lord would do that?!" one of them scowled.

" Hmm!" Carsen cleared his throat like he was preparing for some preaching.

He looks at the guy who chooses the street sweeper.

" First, don't conclude without basis, and don't generalize all that's in the bottom," he said.

" Next, being rich or being robbed isn't the only reason for murders," he added looking at a group mate that chooses the robber.

Then he continued, " Have you seen the mark on his skin, the cut on the side of his neck... it looks like from a weapon that only a lord could own," Carsen explained.

They were all silent in awe.

" We...didn't notice the wound on the neck. Her hair was covering it." someone said.

" Wait.." Lizie butted in.

" You sound like a cop," she chuckled.

Carsen looked straight at her, " I am," he replied.

Their group had got the right answer. They sighed a relief when nothing bad happens to them upon pressing their choice. While the other groups had been dead. So, for the next round, as the voice-over announced, there were only three teams remaining - Carsen's team, Janesi's group, and Jair.

After the first round, the simulated room moved again, transporting the remaining players into another place. Then again they heard the voice-over telling them they can rest and eat for a while before the next game began.