*Clink*

"Here you go, ten tokens for one dollar," the booth attendant told me.

"Cool bro, you got two of those special tokens," my friend remarked as he looked over my hand. His name is Mike.

I picked up one of the special tokens. Instead of the cartoon bear that's the mascot of the arcade, the token had an edgy dog howling at a star.

"Are these for some event or something?" I asked.

"No, the arcade's not holding any event. I think that's just some variation of the regular tokens," the booth operator said.

"Cool bro," Mike said. "What are you planning on playing?"

"I think I'm going to look over the video games. One of the racing games, I think," I answered.

My friend frowned slightly. "Welp, I'm going over there and try to earn some tickets." He separates with me. I do remember him wanting that cool-looking action figure back at the prize counter.

I browsed around the dark portion of the arcade. The chamber was filled with bright blinking lights and noise. There were a couple of dance machines and a battalion of fighting games. Shooting games and fishing tables stand by the side. None of them interested me.

I went straight to one of the racing cabinets. This one was called Battle Racer. It had a red leather seat and stereo speakers near the ears and vibrations. It looked cool and fun and it called me by name.

I inserted a token into the slot and the game changed modes. Loud music began blaring out the speakers, drowning out the sounds of the arcade, immersing me into the fantasy of the game.

I was put into the seat of a racer going through tracks undergoing destruction. I felt the vibrations go through the seat and wheel as the car drove over some rough terrain. The vibrations caused by the explosions felt like they were taking me off my seat. I was immersed deep in that I leant slightly when I turned the wheel.

I slotted four of my tokens into the game and was ready to insert a fifth one when the door that was hidden in the darkness of the side of the machine opened. It startled me so much that my neatly stacked tokens on the dashboard fell over and scattered the shiny disks onto the floor.

"I'm very sorry," the employee said and bent down to pick up my fallen tokens. He places four of my tokens back on the dashboard of the game. He then walks away… to somewhere I had to leave the seat and turn to see.

And he didn't find all my tokens.

I sighed as I left my seat to find my missing tokens. Although the metal disks were quite shiny, the dim lighting and the dull carpet masked them from my sight. Thankfully, none of them rolled under the machines.

Before returning to the game, I turned to where the employee had come from. There, the light gray door with a lever handle stood before me, blending easily to the black painted wall. Screwed in the middle of it was a sign saying "Employees Only".

I was about to go back to playing when I noticed the coin slot. The door has a coin slot. It had a bright yellow sticker that declared that it was asking for two tokens. It was bizarre that I momentarily forgot about returning to the game.

I looked behind me just to be sure that there was nobody looking at me messing around with the door. I tested the handle first, experimentally turning it, and found that it wasn't locked. It opened to a rather plain room with white tiles. There was a mess of wires and computers inside. I quietly closed the door before anyone saw me peeking. What was the point of the coin slot? Is it some sort of easter egg or something?

I gingerly inserted one of my tokens into the slot. It simply spat them back out. I tried again, but the coin slot simply didn't accept them. Then I noticed that the token graphic on the sticker was different. Instead of the regular tokens with the cartoon bear, the coin slot asked for one with the edgy dog.

There must be a secret event going on with the special tokens. I wonder what kind of prize I would get if I inserted special tokens into the slot?

*Clink*

The slot ate it up and didn't spit it back out. Success. Now for another one. Huh. That's a really realistic screen. I thought it was a sticker. The sticker now changed into asking for one token instead of two. I guess it detected my first investment.

*Clink*

And there goes my second special token. And…

*Click*

The door suddenly clicked as though it was being unlocked. The door opened slightly and now it was slightly ajar. I pushed the door wide open, but the view I saw was completely different to what I thought was behind the door. Instead of a plain tiled floor with mechanisms behind the magic strewn, I saw more of the arcade.

Grey carpet, dim colored lighting, rows of video game cabinets, and dark striped wallpaper welcomed me. The room was completely unpopulated, with idle machines showing off their coolness in hopes of attracting the non-existent arcade goer.

I stepped inside to investigate the room, but that would turn out to be the worst decision I have ever made. The moment my two feet were firmly planted onto the carpet and my body had wholly passed the threshold, the door behind me slammed shut with a bang. I turned on reflex from hearing the loud sound, and what I saw caused my heart to drop.

The door had disappeared. There was no evidence that the door had ever been there. There was no discolored patch on the wallpaper in the shape of the door nor a conspicuous unoccupied space. A couple of machines and a trash can were set flush to the walls without sign of being moved there. The room was completely irreverent to the existence of the door I just entered.

Worse, some sort of force was rooting me in place. No matter how much I tried to move myself, I was firmly stuck in place. I tried walking, running, crawling, rolling, anything, but all that did to me was just changing my pose without changing my position.

"Somebody help! Help!" I cried. I was panicking, fear coursing in my veins like a cold flood. I clawed at the floor, digging my fingers into the fibers. And nobody came to help me.

I was stuck in place for a minute or two, but with its suddenness and inexplicability, it felt like forever.

|Your Turn: 2:04|

Then suddenly, my suffering ended and I was able to move again. I don't think I can take more crawling in place. That sudden freedom came with a notification panel that resided persistently in my mind. It was like always being in the corner of my eye, indistinct or perhaps invisible, but legible nonetheless.

|Your Turn: 1:54|

It's counting down? What's it counting down for? Is it a status effect or something? Maybe it's counting to something awful… like a bomb timer. What if… it'll immobilize me again.

|Your Turn: 1:45|

No, I better get help. There's gotta be something that can help me. A booth teller, a counter attendant, a security guard, any of them could help me.

I get up and start exploring the place. The games in these parts were odd but nothing unordinary. Giraffe Escape, Electrominoes, Maze Defier, Galaxy Brainy, Student Grader, and many others. They could just be ordinary arcade cabinets from Japan. I heard Japan had an arcade culture completely bizarre to American tastes.

There was a doorway out of the room. Emphasis on way. It was simply a door jamb without the door. It led to an even darker emptier room.

|Your Turn: 1:11|

Learning from my first mistakes, I stopped before crossing the threshold. I planted one foot on the other side and bent to examine the next room. It was a long dark room lit by poor incandescent sconces; the room could be brighter even if they used nightlights instead of those light bulbs. Instead of dark purple and desaturated green, the walls had a singular horizontal mustard line running the length of the room on a navy sea with cartoon boats and waves. The arched ceiling hovered high above, high enough to hang a chandelier ten feet above your head. Fluted columns partially recessed into the walls descended from high above, holding up the arches.

I looked left and right, but the hallway was just as unpopulated as the room I came from. I called out a tentative hello, and heard the echoes of my voice be swallowed by the darkness. I heard and saw nobody come to aid me.

|Your Turn: 0:39|

I mustered up the courage to step over the threshold and enter the hallway fully. I braced myself to be frozen in place again, but the mysterious force didn't come this time. However, the mental timer was slowly but surely running out.

The hallway was sparsely furnished. Benches, potted plants, and what appeared to be gumball machines were placed irregularly throughout the hallway. I went to a nearby bench to wait for the timer to run out in a more comfortable place. The bench was fairly simplistic. It was a concrete slab placed over two concrete legs. Stars were carved into the stone and mustard paint made them pop out over the lime of the rest of the bench. A potted plant was placed beside the bench. It's plastic, though I'm not sure what kind of plant it's supposed to be imitating. It was a herbaceous plant with long fronds and curling tendrils.

|Your Turn: 0:03|

|Your Turn: 0:02|

|Your Turn: 0:01|

|Your Turn: 0:00|

| |

The notification panel quietly disappears from my mind. I tried to find out what changed and lo and behold, I can't move, again. At least it confirmed what the timer was counting down to. The bench is uncomfortable to sit on, but what you gotta do; it's better than sitting uncomfortably on the floor.

I wait for some time. Hopefully, I'll get my turn again after a few minutes. It's called turn after all. It turns like a circle, a wheel.

…?

A glint of light at the corner of my eye drew me out of my dreary lull. I turned my head and I saw something that caused my heart rate to rise. In a dark corner lay a monster.

It was a mound of shag carpet the same shade of grey as the carpet of the hall. It laid low on the ground, ready to pounce. Stout legs like timber lay by its side, and glass shards arms its hands with serrated claws. Upon its large head were three pairs of almond-shaped eyes. Those eyes glinted bright even in the candle-like lighting.

I immediately stood from my seat and moved to run away, but by the rules of this place, my body stayed stalwartly above the space I was rooted over.

The monster opened its large dreadful mouth, and it was like watching someone slice a steak lengthwise. Its maw opened up like a great crack that tore its body in half. Rows upon rows of glass shards lined that horrible mouth. Its intent was clearly evident in the air, and I could already feel all those glittering treasures sinking into my flesh from simply seeing them.

Sweat flowed out my pores as the monster sprinted across the room with its mouth wide open. My limbs quivered in horror as the horrifying monster drew ever closer, unable to move or run. I fell back, my rump falling to the soft floor. My hands covered my eyes, awaiting my fate.

But then…

|Your Turn: 2:04|

It didn't. The monster felt so close, yet the devouring maw never came down to swallow me whole. I slowly removed my hands from my face and saw the monster frozen in place. It was snarling and growling, digging deep trenches into the carpet as it tried to pull itself closer to me without avail. It glared its malevolent eyes into my fear-laden frame, hungry.

If it were any faster, it could've come a little closer, enough to reach me and shove me down its gullet.

|Your Turn: 1:50|

I need to get out of here. When I had to wait to get my turn again, I should have known that I was waiting for others to have their turn. Just how many monsters' turns did I have to wait before I mine again?

I stood and backed away slowly at first before running at top speed. The monster roared with indignation as it saw its prey ruin before its very eyes. I didn't stop to catch my breath. I had to get away as fast as possible, get to somewhere safe or something I could use to defend myself before the time runs out. I sped past many benches and strange potted plants. Machines vending popcorn, gumballs, and canned soda blurred as I blazed through the carpeted corridors. The hallway turned right at regular intervals, but somehow, I hadn't returned to where I began.

|Your Turn: 0:42|

I had passed through many doorways leading to some equally dark rooms. None of them attracted me despite all the loud ringing and brilliant flashing from within, but the time was running out. There had to be somewhere with a door here.

But alas, my search was fruitless, so I ducked into the next best thing. I turned to the next door to my left. I didn’t care what kind of room it was, as long as it was an enclosed room with somewhere I could hide, I would be happy.

I slid into the room, and my shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor. Instead of video game machines, there was a variety of gambling machines and claw machines. The room was bright and ringing with the calls of pinball machines asking for your attention, and at the back of the room was a large candy-themed carousel. Another doorway was at the back.

|Your Turn: 0:07|

I would have pushed a machine to block the monster from entering the room, but that would take too much time. I just had to find somewhere to hide behind, and it was quite fortunate that the room had offered a couple stalls I could hide behind. One was lime green with a forest green trim, apparently selling something called a Fallgrady, and the other was a bright yellow stall with a big cartoony wedge of cheese that sold bowls of oatmeal.

I jumped over the counter of the Fallgrady stall, and hid under its counter. I had to squeeze myself between two small fridges. I braced myself for immobilization as the timer ticked down to zero.

|Your Turn: 0:00|

I huddled in the corner, hoping no monster would wander into the room. I tried to keep my breathing as low as possible, lest the noise attracts nearby monsters to my location. I leaned my back into the cheap plyboard. Cold crept into my thighs as my legs were pressed against the metal sides of the refrigerators.

…

There was nothing that stirred the air beyond the clicking and beeping of the machines asking for his attention. I hadn’t heard anything break the regular tones of the arcade machines. I hoped that that meant no monsters were nearby to wander into the room. Even after all this time, the dark monster with glowing eyes hadn’t seemed to have caught up with me.

Soon enough, my wait was over. My turn came to pass.

|Your Turn: 2:04|

Once again, my turn came to pass. I rose from my hidden position and surveyed the room. I scrutinized at a distance all the machines that were arranged in neat rows in the room. I narrowed my eyes as I made sure that there wasn't anything hiding in the shadows between machines. The inadequate lighting and blinking lights didn't help, but after a time, I was reasonably sure there weren't any monsters with me in here.

I had become a little parched after my panicked skedaddling. I hunched down to inspect the contents of the fridges. I was expecting some water inside, but all I saw was a shiny bag filled with some sort of powder. The other fridge was just as sparse, holding only a block of ice. The stall was oddly underequipped. There weren't any tools, cups, or bottles. The only significant furnishing was the trash bin by the corner and the large coin-operated machine mounted on the counter.

The machine was another can of worms. It looked like an arcade cabinet was grafted onto the counter. Wood paneling covered up the front of the machine while its inner tubings and mechanisms were visible at the back. A stylized image of a cut lime alongside the name Fallgrady in cursive was printed up its front; a subtitle of "concentrated calamansi" lay just below that. Three coin slots were situated on its side, corresponding to three sizes and three prices: small, moderate, and gigantic; and one, two, and five.

That's too bad. I left my tokens on the dashboard of Battle Racer… Yeah, somebody surely had stolen it by now. It's been abandoned for more than ten minutes. Maybe this machine accepts regular coins.

I reach into my pockets and pull out my phone? Wait, I have a phone- and it has no network. Fantastic. This place has a roof so thick that cellular signal can't get through. Well, in you go to my other pocket.

I pulled out some coins from my wallet and began testing them into the machine.

*Clink*

Damn. Looks like it doesn’t take dimes. Maybe pennies.

*Clink* *Clink* *Clink*

It doesn’t take dimes, pennies, nickels, or quarters. Looks like I’d need to find a token exchange. I sighed in resignation as I jumped over the counter of the stall.

I jumped over the counter of the stall…

I clawed against the wooden counter, trying to get over it, but some force seems to be putting me back in place.

What? I can’t move… But I still had a minute or so left.

| |

What happened to my time? I wasn’t ready! I ducked down below the counter, but I couldn’t crawl back into the crevice between the fridges. My fingers hurt from my scared scratching on the floor.

I layed there on the plastic-covered floor, shaking. My eyes intently looked up, up to the dark ceiling bearing down one of its pinlights on me. My body felt cold. Well, it was cold. There was a hidden AC somewhere, blasting cold air into the room. I feel the need to move, but my body had been confined in this position.

The timer isn’t back. I don’t know what made it go away prematurely. It’s been minutes now, and the cold was exacerbating the fear factor of this place. I was afraid that some monster would pop their head over the counter and nom me, and I could do nothing about it.

*Scratch*

Scratching. I can hear scratching in the room. Something hard and sold scratching linoleum. They’re looking for me, I know it. They’re bumping into the machines, sniffing, thumping against the wooden shells of the machines. I closed my eyes, and hoped that they wouldn’t hear my feeble breathing from wherever they are. I just had to… stall for time.

|Your Turn: 2:04|

I rose from my position, and hastily jumped over the counter. I know there are monsters in this room. I ran to the doorway at the back of the room. There were multiple monsters hiding behind the machines, ready to pounce on me, but alas, I had detected them before I could become their meal.

They were a small pack of angular dogs with a hard outer shell. All of them were painted with dark colors and each of them had unique brightly colored decals that stood out against their dark backgrounds. A couple of them had a mane of skewers pointed back. They turned their heads to my fleeing body, flaring their light-bulb eyes and baring their needle-like teeth. Electronic sounds escaped their throats as our eyes met.

“Ding ding ding.” “Bang.” “The game is on!” They said.

The next room was just about as dark as the room I came from, but the machines inside were wildly different. Instead of numerous game cabinets, a horde of rides welcomed me. All of them were those sorts that rocked you back and forth. Many of them had cartoon eyes that seemed to follow me as I ran through the room.

There were three exits from the room, excluding the door that I had come from. All but one was dark. Bright light filtered through the doorway across the room. The white tiles and green walls beyond were clearly visible from where I stood. I wasn’t very sure where it led to, but I’d rather run through lighted rooms than wander in poorly lit rooms.

|Your Turn: 1:13|

I ran through the doorway, and I found myself in what appeared to be some sort of office. There were rows of computer cubicles. Each of them was numbered, and just under the computer tables were coin slots, just like pretty everything in this place.

I stopped by one of the computers and rested my hand on the table to catch my breath, but that appeared to be a mistake. As my hands rested on the black keyboard, the computer suddenly morphed into a monster. Brass needles popped from under the keyboard, impaling my hand in place. The monitor shattered into twenty pieces as it transformed into a canine head. The rest of its body, a tangled mass of cables and light indicators in the rough shape of the dog, emerged from a hidden compartment of the table.

It pushed me prone to the floor, and now it stood upon my chest, showing off its menacing face. It opened its mouth wide open, about to shove my head into its shadowy gullet. Before it could enact that, I managed to push it off me and kick it. It slid across the floor, leaving a long scratch that revealed the true color of the ceramic.

It stopped over some cracked tiles, but before it could run off, the floor beneath its feet crumbled. The cracked tiles fell apart, letting the monster fall. Echoes of its whimpers, a series of error dings, rang from beyond the hole until the monster’s cries eventually faded.

I stood up to look over the hole, to see what fate had befallen to the monster, but a horrible realization had come to me.

| |

N-no. No! This can’t be real. The m-monster stole my turn. I can’t move. I need to run. Tears ran down my face as fear gripped my heart. My blood had turned freezing cold, and my limbs were shaking more wildly than a sapling’s branches in a windy night.

A set of claws lay onto the floor from behind me. I turned to see a pack of seven monsters baring their teeth at me. Seven monsters painted like an arcade cabinet trained their light-bulb eyes at him. Cheerful tunes and electronic dings emanated from their forms. I braced for a fight, but I was no good in a fight.

They ran at me. One jumped at my chest, toppling me over. The others pinned my limbs down, sinking their teeth into my flesh. A puddle of red began to form under me as they ravaged my body. I cried and screamed in pain as they tore me to shreds. The last thing I saw was teeth sinking into my eyes.