Stepping through the doorway, you find yourself in another dimly lit hallway. Looking at the doors that are blocked off with warnings painted on them, you wonder if perhaps the warnings are empty? Maybe escape from this place is just a matter of breaking the rules?

Stopping at the door you are meant to walk through, you pick up the tape waiting for you and put it into the player.

"Hello Ciara, you are so close to facing all of your demons. Only two more remain. Beyond this door lies a woman you might not recognize, but her choices directly affected the direction of your life from early on. Inside the next room you will find everything you need to know about her in order to make your choice regarding her fate. Will you show her the mercy she did not show you? Make your choice."

The message makes you frown, unsure just what it could mean. Looking at the door in front of you, you can't help but be afraid of what is in the next room. You've already seen enough people suffer, even if they did deserve it. Glancing back down the hall you just walked through, you eye one of the doors warning you from opening it.

You go Through The Door

Resisting the urge to break the rules, you instead go through the intended door and find yourself in a well lit room once more. In the center of it, you see a woman you don't recognize strapped to a chair. Above her is what looks like some kind of pipe that opens up over her head. She begins to struggle and cry once she sees you, but with the gag in her mouth you can't make out anything she is saying. Begging for help if you have to make a guess.

There is no television in this room, instead, a table covered in binders and manilla folders is off to the side. There is no tape to give you instructions either, instead, it seems you have to do your own detective work and go through the various bits of information. Walking over to the table, you look down at all the different stacks of binders and folders.

Picking up one folder you are surprised to find that it contains several forms going over case information from the time CPS was investigating your parents after teachers at your school grew concerned over your change in behavior after your stepfather began to pay you late night visits as a child.

Skim reading the papers, you see details of why they were investigating. Unusual behavior at school on your part. You had apparently informed a teacher that your privates hurt after a game with your stepfather the previous night. It turns your stomach to even think about it. You had been so young when that started. You never really had a chance.

Flipping through the papers, you find the notes from the CPS investigation. There was nothing but glowing notes on what good parents you had, how clean the house was, and so on and so forth. Confusion fills your mind as you think back to your childhood. The house had never been particularly organized or clean, you had your stepfather visiting you at night and your mother ignoring it, not to mention she also blamed you as some kind of kid sized seductress. How had none of that been seen and noted?

You open one of the binders and find some photographs. Most are of you as a little girl right before your mom had remarried. You look so happy in those pictures. Just a regular little girl with a big grin, not a care in the world. Then as you flip further back you find yourself staring at a little girl with dead eyes and no joy to her expression, flanked by your stepfather in every picture. It makes you feel sick to your stomach to see the way he looks at you in some of the pictures, how his hand is often possessively gripping your shoulder.

As you continue to look through the items on the table, you come across what looks like some kind of badge. You recognize the woman's face as the same one you're now in a room with. She works for CPS and according to the name on the badge, she's the same one that filled out the paperwork with the glowing reviews of your family...

You confront Her

You look at the woman, Monica according to the badge you found, and try to remember her from when you were just a kid. Vaguely you do remember her. A stranger you didn't know who was there to talk to you and your family a few times. Her presence had made your parents nervous, your stepfather was angry that she was there at all. The night before she visited for the last time, he had come to your room and the game he wanted to play was rougher than usual.

"You worked with CPS?" You ask sharply, feeling your chest start to tighten in anger.

She can only nod her head, the gag muffling anything she might try to say.

"Those papers over there say you came to my house when I was a kid. My stepdad was... he was hurting me. You left me there," You swallow roughly as the emotions start to bubble up to the surface, far to sharp and clear in your unwanted sobriety, "You could have helped me... But you didn't."

She begins to cry again, just shaking her head and mumbling into the gag in her mouth. In this moment, you almost hate her more than your stepfather. It had been her job to save you from that hellhole... From him. And instead, she had just left you there to rot.

Another Choice

A strange rattling sound pulls you out of your thoughts. It's coming from the pipe over the woman's head, but nothing but the noise seems to be coming out. Looking back at Monica, you notice that there is actually an envelope sitting on the ground near her feet.

You pick it up, eyeing her as she struggles against her binds before opening up the envelope and pulling out a newspaper clipping. Recognizing Monica's face on the article, you read over it quickly and feel your blood start to run cold. According to the article, Monica was part of a scandal in CPS where certain caseworkers had accepted bribes. Had she possibly taken a bribe to write off the allegations against your parents?

A small flashcard behind the newspaper article is written in the same handwriting as the other notes you have found so far.

Let her drown in the money she valued over the welfare of children or pay the price to forgive her.

To your surprise, a small key is taped to the back of the card. Though, you aren't so sure she deserves to be set free. She could have saved you from years and years of hell. But, she had left you to rot for cash? She was as much of a monster as your stepfather.

A metallic clacking sound catches your attention and brings it back up to the pipe. Something clatters down the pipe then falls down, landing on Monica's head before bouncing to the floor. Crouching down, you pick up what looks like a penny. It is hot to the touch, almost enough to burn. Another one comes clattering down the pipe, but this one lands on the floor and splatters slightly, halfway melted down.

You try To Help

You look at the key and back to Monica, unable to help but feel like this is far too easy. The note said you would have to pay a price to free her. But, the key had just been handed to you so carelessly. Taking a deep breath, you hurry over to Monica's side and look at the locks keeping the bindings on her wrists and ankles secured in place.

Putting the key into the first lock on her wrist, you twist it around until the lock comes undone. All you have to do now is unbuckle the leather restraints. You start working on that when suddenly a glowing mass of molten copper splatters out of the pipe, landing on Monica's shoulder, some of the splatter landing on your hip and burning clean through your pants.

On reflex you throw yourself backward away from her, watching as she starts to scream while the molten copper burns into her shoulder. The scent of her burning flesh stings your nose.

You give Up

You grit your teeth and take a few more steps back from Monica as more molten copper splatters out of the pipe to land in her lap. It sounds like cold water being thrown onto a hot pan and smoke rising from her as it burns through her clothing and skin. She screams through the gag and thrashes about, but nothing she does is going to get her free.

You aren't willing to risk yourself for the woman who left you to the mercy of your stepfather. The pain you feel from your hip is like nothing else. The molten metal had burnt your skin to a deep blister when it had splattered onto you while you were trying to free her.

You watch in awe as a flood of molten copper pours out of the pipe, completely dousing Monica from head to toe in the stuff. She stops screaming, going oddly quiet as her body twitches under the liquified metal as smoke rises up from it. A moment later she goes still, the smell of her burnt skin and still cooking flesh mixing the scent of the molten copper in the air.

Another door opens in the far side of the room. You don't look back as you head out.

You leave

The next room doesn't have a tape waiting for you outside the door, instead, you go in without any warning about what is to come. Once inside, you find yourself in a dimly lit room that smells foul. There is a man hunched forward in a chair like device, the sound of his sobbing fills the room almost as much as the foul smell does. Walking closer, you recognize him easily enough once you get a good look at his face.

Trigga was what he was called. He had his filthy hands in everything pretty much. Drugs, prostitutes, the black market. He was the one selling drugs to Forrest and he was the one who owned the debt Forrest owed when he traded you to pay it off. You had been so high when he dragged you into the trap house Trigga was using to sell drugs and prostitutes that you didn't even fully understand what was happening.

Then Forrest had shook hands with Trigga and left. You had learned very quickly that keeping Trigga happy was the most important thing in your life. Refusing him was dangerous, often times deadly. One of the girls had bitten him when he forced her to give him head, he had brought in some kind of black market chop shop surgeon who harvested her organs to sell. After that, all of the girls behaved, including you.

Living in that trap house, servicing Trigga and his clients had been hell on earth. One of the worst parts of the entire experience had been the branding. Each girl had to endure a tattoo on their groin with Trigga's name. He didn't want anyone to think any of you were owned by someone else. And if someone paid him enough, they could do whatever they wanted to the girls. There was no act too violent or obscene for him to turn down cash money for. At times there had even been children kept down in the basement for short periods of time, used in pornographic films that he could sell to the right demographic. He never kept the kids there long and you don't know what happened to them after they had been used for their few films then removed from the house.

He looks up at you as you stand before, brown eyes as hateful and accusing as always. But, he knows who you are. It's only been a few years since the two of you had last seen each other after all. You feel yourself wither a bit under his glare, taking a step back to avoid his gaze. Even though he had been crying when you walked in and the tears still shine wetly off his cheek, you know what he's capable of.

"What the fuck is going on, Ciara?" His voice cracks a bit, but you still flinch reflexively.

"I don't know... Someone took a bunch of people and is making me go through the rooms-"

"Shut the fuck up and get me out of here," He cuts you off.

You assert Yourself

"No, you shut up. I don't have to help you." You do your best to keep your voice level and firm.

"Bitch, I will do things to you can't imagine. I will fuck you up," He tries to reassert himself.

"Only if I don't let you die," You snap back, feeling more than a little satisfied when he goes quiet.

Feeling confident, you start to examine the device he is stuck in. It's a metal chair with several additions made to it and clockwork of various metal pieces, gears, and other things. Straps have him forced into a hunched over position with his legs spread wide, you quickly realize that he is naked.

Some kind of shallow metal bucket covers his groin and duct tape has it secured in place to his skin. You can hear a strange scurrying sound inside that makes him flinch. Looking closer at it, you can see a blow torch mechanism similar to the ones Forrest's device had had at the bottom of the bucket. His arms are tied behind him and forced upward onto the back of the chair in a very uncomfortable angle. As you walk around behind him, you blink when you realize there is a rifle in some kind of device that seems to make it fire behind him. It is angled toward him and the end of the barrel disappears into his asscheeks.

Behind the device holding the rifle in place, you spot a tape laying on the ground and hurry to pick it up.

You listen To The Tape

Putting the tape into the recorder, you hit play and listen as the voice starts to speak.

"Hello Jermaine, for years you made your living off preying on the most vulnerable people. Addicts, troubled youth, children, and so many more. So many people have been at your mercy over and you so very rarely have been merciful to them. You have murdered, raped, and abused again and again. But, today, you find yourself on the other side of the cycle. You are now at the mercy of someone who was once at the mercy of you. Will she show you the same mercy you showed her? Or will she forgive you? Once the device activates, you won't have long before the bucket gets hot enough to burn anything inside. The rat trapped inside will do whatever it takes to escape, even if that means chewing through your body to do so. Such injuries are survivable if Ciara chooses to forgive you, but you should convince her quickly though, in sixty seconds the choice will be made for you. Let the game begin."

You jump when you hear the torch beneath the bucket turn on, the flame hitting the metal and causing the scurrying sounds inside to grow louder. Trigga, or Jermaine as seems to be his real name, begins to scream and squirm though he is held firmly in place within the device.

Looking over the device some more, you see that his wrists and ankles are held together by only belted leather restraints. There are no locks or keys this time and you don't seem to have to pay a price either... Except perhaps your dignity. Forgiving this monster seems impossible after everything he has done. The world would be a better place without him.

The clock on the side of the device that holds the gun reaches twenty seconds and Jermaine's screams turn from fear to pain.

"It's eating me! It's eating me, get me out. I'll give you anything. I have money." He begs.

You set Him Free

"Three hundred grand, I'll forgive you for that." You bargain, standing back as the sounds of squeaking and scurrying inside the metal pan around his genitals gets louder.

"I'll do it, now let me out." He begs and with that, you hurry to undo the restraints.

Once free, he lurches out of the device and falls to the floor with a squeal of pain. The rat inside the pan flees to safety, but you can see it chewed up Jermaine's favorite tool badly. A strong smell hits your nose and he scrambles out of the line of fire where the gun is aimed. A trail of liquid shit follows him, leaking out of his now unplugged ass.

The gun goes off, the bullet lodging into the wall at the far side of the room.

Jermaine slowly stands up, looking back at the device and then at the floor as if in a daze. He didn't deserve life, but three hundred thousand dollars would buy you a house, a car, and set you on the right path. You can get out of town, get clean, buy a house and start over somewhere far away.

Your happy thoughts turn sour when Jermaine lurches toward you and barrels into you with his full weight. A big man, he is easily twice your size and heavily muscled. He pins you down on the floor easily and squeezes his hands around your neck as you batter him with your fists and kick your legs.

"Stupid bitch. I ain't paying you nothing. You're nothing." He spits as he talks and the edges of your visions start to blur as you struggle to get air.

With your lungs burning, you feel your body start to give out and everything goes to black.