Why you should stay.

"Yo, Avery!" An excited call came for me as I made my way to class.

"Hey, Zakariya." I turned to answer.

Surprisingly, he was as giddy as ever. His smile beamed as he approached me.

"How was your weekend!" 

"It was okay, how about you?"

"'Okay'?! That's it? Then I guess it wasn't for everyone?" he tilted, confused.

I didn't want to pull Zakariya into whatever I had been into, so I decided not to say anything about it. However, his confused reply might show that he might have known more than what I gave him credit.

"You didn't play that round of rock, paper, scissors? I had seen so many other first years, that I thought you would have been a part of it too. Mannn... Here goes my chance to make fun of you." Zakariya slumped.

"Make fun of me? Rock, paper, scissors?"

"Yeah, it was pretty horrifying at first, but turned out quite fun." He said.

"Elaborate?" I said intrigued.

"Well, on Saturday morning I woke up somewhere other than my dorm room, a gray-aged room with a bunch of other freshmen, some of whom I knew. We started asking each other, but none of us knew anything, so we just sat there confused for a while, eventually when the last person woke up the speaker talked with a monotonous voice. It said that we were brought to play rock, paper, scissors against each other and that rewards would be given to those who win the most." Zakariya said as we started walking side-to-side to class. "The rules were just that we were to play one match against anyone we could find under the given 10-minute timer. The top 5 dudes with wins got away with a prize of 100 dollars with each placement growing by a hundred."

"So the top player got away with 500? And you?" I asked Zakariya.

"I... lost... though I was just 2 wins away from 5th place!" He exclaimed.

"And, what happened after?"

"Well, nothing really, they just let us go and that was it."

...What?

"And you? What did you or any of the others do?" I asked.

"Nothing just went to the dorm, the winners probably went and had fun with their rewards." 

My jaw had involuntarily dropped.

"Just what are you talking about?! So you get kidnapped and you think nothing of it?" I questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, we were told that it was under our contract, and when I went back to check it was. Getting used as study material for whatever the university deems as research is forced upon all students, so I can't complain." He exasperated.

"And what, you just took it?!"

Despite not being one to talk myself, I still felt as if his reasons were beyond reasonable. At least I had come here with prior knowledge of the experiments, but wasn't he completely clueless? Weren't the others? How could they be so accepting of the way this facility functions?

"Man, you sure are asking a lot... Avery, do you even understand what you are being given? Not only are they providing housing, but cuisines from all around the world, entertainment, and prospects almost unmatchable anywhere else. On top of that, during the event, we were even shown the chance to be given rewards. Hell, 100$ could be the least reward to expect here. Getting taken away from our sleep to play rock, paper, scissors is barely of question when you put that into perspective." Zakariya said.

"Bu-..." I had wanted to rebuttal, to give my view of the situation, but he spoke first.

Zakariya lowered his voice. "Plus, it's not like we have a choice. While some might have come here as a last resort, nowhere else to escape to. Those who do have an escape, have it ripped away from it. You should know this Avery, you are only allowed to leave the university under your advisor's approval, and then if you tried to escape you are not allowed to pass airport security without the university's approval. NUR practically runs this whole country."

His tone depressive he continued, "I had heard rumors from upperclassmen after the event, some students try to illegally escape, whether it be by sea or by ground. Not a single person could tell the tale. Whether they are undercover, or dead. Nobody knows." 

"And the authorities? How is this hell still running?" I asked emptly.

"I just told you, NUR is this country. And if you are talking about outside 'authorities', then forget it, as long as I've heard they completely ignore the existence of this place. Hell if I know why that is."

His usual bubbly personality had been destroyed. He must have been forcing himself this morning, and I went and ruined it.

"I'm sorry." I sincerely apologize.

"Oh no, no, no!" he faces me shaking his head, "Don't worry about it, Avery, you were right to question me. I spent all weekend rationalizing the situation to myself, I can understand why you would question it." 

We continued the rest of the way in silence.

At noon I had separated from Zakariya, I just wanted to have a change of pace for lunch, we would usually always pick out from the campus' main cafeteria, but I decided to only get a croissant today so I headed to the convenience store on the dorms' side of the campus.

The campus felt no different, the students passing back and forth had made me feel the odd one out. The case might be that not everyone was involved in an event, and to those who were they might be forcing it just as Zakariya had been...

I went in, got my croissant, paid its worth, and got out without any difficulties, after that I wandered around campus. Soon enough, he had shown up.

Sitting away all on his own, The Senior was drinking a carton of chocolate milk. He was resting on a round table that conveniently housed 2 seats. Once he had seen me he immediately waved. I approached him as that was my aim to begin with.

As I took my seat opposite of him, he started our conversation, "See, I'm not avoiding you."

"And now that you've said it, I'm just all the more convinced." 

The reason I had wandered all around was to catch a glimpse of him after all, if I had not run into him at all it would've confirmed my suspicions, but now I do not know what to make of this situation. While, yes, I wanted to run into him, doesn't this feel intentional? an exactly 2 seated table, waiting in solidarity, was he waiting for me?

Unable to hold it in I ask, "Did I keep you waiting?"

"Waiting...? Oh, the convenient setting you mean? Nah, I was talking with someone, another freshman just like you." The senior said.

"Another freshman? What, do you collect them or something? You don't have any seniors to hang out with instead?"

"Seniors, huh? Well, there are barely any, and the few of us who are still here tend to stray far from each other," he said emptying the carton by squeezing it, "Anyway, you were looking for me for a reason, weren't you? what is it?"

"Why don't you run away? Why are people still here even after participating in events?" I didn't have any reason to stall out or to justify my question, so I went straight in.

"Hey now, don't ask questions you already know the answer to." He said throwing his head back bored.

"I want your answer."

"My answer?" He looked at me irritated, "It's not going to be anything different. Contract yada yada yada, can't leave blah blah blah, benefits etc etc etc." he said bobbing his head.

"So it isn't that different for you too."

"Of course it isn't, why would it be? Even if I'm a senior, all it means is that I've been here longer."

"So, throughout your years, not once did you ponder escaping, or witness someone escape?"

he chuckled, "How about, let's say I can give the two answers to those two questions, and you can guess which is for which on your own." 

"You are as helpful as ever."

"Hey now, we gotta have fun when we are able to," he said snapping both his hands into finger guns.

"And childish as ever."

He dropped his shoulders exaggeratedly.

"Anyway," he jumped back up in his seat, "You want to ask about how you got through to me don't you? Probably doubting me."

This man was terrifying.

"It's nothing of the sort, Avery. If you had contacted anyone on the university's campus, other than the staff, then it would have passed."

"Then why even have such a filtering system then? Was it necessary to not speak to someone outside campus?"

He shook his finger clicking his tongue, "Avery, the whole point of the experiments is to produce realistic results while studying those who had participated. The university is only allowed to condone such actions within its own body, if you were to contact someone outside it, then they would be in for a big problemo. So, under that logic, anyone you contact would also become the subject of the study, and you had made me one so coldly only to then get all angry at me" He said, his voice melancholic.

"Then, why allow such a thing in the first place, didn't it defeat the whole idea of the prisoner's dilemma?"

"You have to understand, this is a study of people, and as such they pursue realism. they had tried to rip away your chance of contacting others by binding you with time, but, As every person in our modern age, when given time you would ask for another's advice pushing your problems onto them. Of course, not everyone is like that, some might rather think through and answer themselves, as such you were given the option, but not forced through it."

I brought my hand to my chin, "I see..." I said despite not understanding.

"You will get it once you've been through enough."

Taken aback by his statement, I slammed my palm on the round table, "Through enough?! What do you mean through enough?!"

"Hey hey, calm it, sonny boy. I have already told you this before, you in particular will be going through absolute hell." 

Hell? Me in particular? And why would that be? Just, what reason was there for them to target me? Was it due to the file? Did they know I owned it? If so, why not him?! Why me?!

Unable to contain myself, I circled the table and took hold of his collar, "And who do I have to thank for that?!" He brought me here. He wanted to. Giving that to me, he summoned me here. 

He raised his eyes to me, a sharp glare piercing through me. "You understood full well what coming here was gonna bring. You out of everyone should understand that well, yet you believe you have the right to complain? What about Zakariya, what about her? The poor souls came completely clueless, yet you. Not only did you know what you were coming at, but you were able to steal The Role on your very first experiment. You should be thanking me, Avery."

I clenched my fist, my nails digging into my palm, I could sense the warm blood covering my boxed fingers. I wanted to hit him, I wanted to push all my anger at him. It was as if I was holding the author of my revenge story, the real person behind all that I had gone through and will go through, He saw me as nothing but his entertainment, and that's why he wasn't afraid. That's why his eyes conveyed dominance, he knew what I would do, he didn't need to hope for anything, because he knew.

I threw him back in his chair.

"We will continue this on another day, you monster." I spun around and left. This won't be the last I see of him I'm sure.

"See you later, bae!" A final snarky comment as I dove into the crowd of students.

As I walked I pondered, just how will I face it all now.