by Frank Stickler

Created on: August 01, 2008

You walk into a room. It's more of a library, one of those unnecessary rooms rich people have in their mansions. Two story high bookcases line the walls pack with books. A fireplace lines the north end of the room, a fire burning and cackling within it's walls. A table sits in front of it...with a chair.

On the table is a 1000 piece jig-saw puzzle. it's partially put together...you realize what it's supposed to be of...it's a puzzle of you! Next to it, on the table you notice an hour glass...sand pouring from the top camber to the bottom. You must put together this puzzle before the hour glass runs out.

You hurry, find pieces you know and put those together right away...what you are confused about you sit and figure out. You call a few friends or some family you know to help you, but they don't know how to get to you...truth be told, you don't know how you got to this room yourself...

Alone with no help, you put the puzzle together piece by piece. Along the way, you find out that certain pieces that you thought fit in one area, fit better in another. You make the necessary adjustments...and keep on trucking through.

Finally after so much time of laboring, it's finished. You put the last piece in place and breathe a sigh of relief. It's finished. You stare at it. It's an image of your face...in a nonspecific pose...staring at you.

Checking the hour-glass you notice something it wrong...it's supposed to stop when you've finished the puzzle. But it hasn't. It's continuing to drain sand from the top to the bottom. You go to pick it up, to turn it on its side to stop the flow...but glued to the table and won't budge. You try everything to make it stop...but it doesn't.
The best you can do is stand and watch the remaining sand filter to the bottom section

3...2...1...

Time's up.

Without warning, the bottom of the hour glass explodes forcefully in your direction...you are thrown backwards to the floor. Bits of streaming glass and sand have at you; tearing at your face, neck, hands, and arms as you struggle to protect yourself. Simultaneously, you start to feel a tremor beneath you. The ground before you shudders for seemingly ever. Various books from the shelves that line the wall, fall to the ground. For a few, some of the book cases themselves collapse under the force of the tremors. You see refuge under the table and wait it out. While you do, you hear a loud thud above you before it all stops.

Getting out from under the table...bruised and bleeding, you notice the puzzle. Now in ruins in front of you. Destroyed by a very large book that fell. One more sudden powerful tremor rocks the room. So forceful is it, that it knocks a piece of burning wood out of the fireplace and on to the very fine rug in front of the mantle...

The room starts to catch fire

Frantically looking for an exit of the room, you are frozen with fear as you realize...there is none. Trapped, smoke and heat fill the room, as fire takes over. While walking around, still trying, in vein, to find an exit...you trip over a book on the floor. Picking it up you read it's contents. You're so desperate at this point that it might help you. But as you read it, it's contents look strikingly familiar. It's something that happened in your life! The entire room is lined with books from your life. Memories, lessons, people, thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams, they're all in this room.

You are within yourself

And the room continues to burn

With no exit.

Fire and smoke and heat eat away at more of the room. It's becoming less and less safe...

Trapped with no way out

What do you do?

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