Trapped in JetPunk - Chapter 3

If you didn't read the rest of the story, you probably should, for obvious reasons. Enjoy this chapter!

"Wow," I whisper under my breath.

Before me was a massive white box up against the blue wall. It too seems to go endlessly, but I can tell it doesn't. Inside the massive white box is more words, just for me. These words are the same size as the ones before, but are silver against the brightness of the white box. I had been walking for no time at all before I saw this box in the distance, back when I found the chain of words. However, this box spans much longer than the words did, and contains more than one word too. Within the massive white box reads "Search quizzes, users, or tags".

"Exactly what I was looking for," I say with an internal sigh of relief. I've found the one thing I needed since the beginning, back when I wanted answers. I still do of course, because these words only make some sense. I knew about quizzes, but users and tags? All these words aren't coming together how I thought they would, but I know this is some sort of website I'm stuck inside of. I'm glad to see the word "Search", since I know I have come to the right place.

Keeping only that one thought in mind, I walk up to the bottom of the bar. It's just out of reach, but much closer than the previous words. I don't know what to do with it, or if I should do anything at all. This is all I ever wanted since I got here, and can't just abandon it now. So, I turn around, walk about 20 steps back, and start sprinting at the endless blue wall. Once I get to the white box I use my momentum and leap high into the air. I touch the bottom of the white box, and fall back down to the floor, which is the exact same color as the box.

I catch my breath, and when I look up at the box, I exhale another relieving sigh. But I decide this isn't good enough, so I shout out into the nothingness behind me with everything I still have left.

"LET'S GO!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Again, as I expected, I get a softer echo in return, which bounces off the blue wall and leaves me forever. It felt good, but one moment doesn't last forever. I face the white box again, and the blinking line is still there. It's just before the "S" in "Search", and looks exactly how it looks compared to a computer. This blinking line is an indicator for your typing, but now I ask myself the question, "how do I type anything?"

I look around, hoping to find some blocky letters lying on the floor in a pile. However, when my eyes meet the blue wall again, I notice something that definitely wasn't there before. A small little keyboard under the search box, almost like it was made for me.

"How convenient," I say with some curiosity and a little suspicion. This keyboard is the only human-sized thing I've seen thus far, but I'm not complaining about it. I walk closer to the keyboard, and it's exactly the same as the ones I've used prior to my imprisonment here. No new buttons, no fancy gadgets, just plain and simple. "How convenient" I chuckle a little this time at the sight of something so normal. It feels out of place when you look around for less than five seconds.

Before touching anything, I decide to think about what I want to type. Food instantly rushes to the front of my mind, and I can't really argue with that. Not wanting to starve has been the main reason for my journey, and water sounds pretty tasty at the moment as well. "Maybe I can order Doordash?" I wonder. Another silly thought but it's not out of the question. So, with a set answer, I type "Food" into the keyboard. I turn around, and stop dead in my tracks. The bright, white floor has been completely transformed into a list, I think.

"Perfect!" I exclaim in delight. A list of food set out right before me is all I could have asked for. Walking towards this monstrosity of a new floor, I think back to the "Menu" word I saw earlier on my travels. "Was that actually a menu?" I wonder, because I had walked up to that word too, but the arrow beside it gave me nothing. It was too far up to touch, so how was I supposed to figure out that I could have seen so much more? And then "Create", could I have made my own platter of food? And the big fish! It was so obvious! Did I miss out on all of that! It seems that the farther away I get from the wall, the more thoughts take over my mind. Or maybe I'm just really hungry. Either way, now I want to go back and try to reach those words too, just like I did with the search bar. However, as I walk across the newly transformed floor, I recognize a familiar word: "Quizzes".

My mind brings itself back to reality. This isn't a food website, this is a "Quiz" website. I don't even know what that means, but I'm here inside one. As I keep walking, I take note of new colors like a vibrant orange and a dull blue where the word "Quizzes" is. The orange really catches my color-needing eyes, and it appears to be stars in a straight line all the way down until they fade into the horizon. "I must have a lot of options," I tease myself sarcastically.

I continue to walk down the list of... quizzes, I guess, as that's now what I think they are. The letters are really big, and since I'm right on top of them, it's hard to make out an entire word at once. So, I stop at the first item on the list, and as I walk down the sentence, I spell out each word.

"F o o d s b y C o u n t r y o f O r i g i n # 1" is the conclusion I make after walking the whole sentence.

"How specific can you be about food?" is a question I ask out loud. The silence makes me look up for a brief moment. Another question that rolls around in my mind at the same time is "What happens if I touch this too?" My intrusive thought wins, and my stomach agrees.

So, I kneel down onto the transformed floor, stick out my hand, and touch the number "1".

To be continued...