I found you, but didn't find myself, Guess i will be stuck in this escape room!

"If you could go back in time, what would be the one thing you would change?", my school counselor asked the class. One girl said, "I would like to study extra hours for that math exam", another one jumped in, " I would change my choice of hobby", another one said, "I would take the number of this girl i met at a fair"....and it went for so long, till the counselor asked me. "What do u think?", she was expecting the same repetitive, tedious, too close to present answer. "I would never meet them", i said. "Who?", she asked, slightly curious.

"Everyone, i would make every opposite choice and get out of this city."

If you would ask me this same question now, as i m entering my 20s, i would give you a comprehensive list of people i would not like to meet, and pretty much every opportunity i turned down, and would like to say yes to it.

Time is fluid, A change in one detail would create a ripple effect and everything would change.

I despise time. It says it heals everything? it doesn't, All it does is, make you believe the delusion that you are fine, that whatever happened is in the past, that it wont bother you anymore. And its helpful, this faith in time, until time does what it always does, bring back memories, pushing you in your own mind, a natural escape room made by your own self.

Escape Rooms originated in Japan in 2007, very new phenomenon but its very poetic to me in some sense. The story of an escape room is always based around the main character. The said person is given clues and they have to solve those clues in a given time and get out of the room. One puzzle should lead to another , in most cases. The alignment of these clues is not always linear.

But what if you are stuck in an escape room made by your mind? And you have to find yourself?

i entered a dimly lit room

it looked like a cafe

but with the only source of light

from the moon,

darkness was my friend

and so were rules

and there was only 1 rule to follow

that was to find my end

which was definitely you.

started with the book shelves

surfing through the wide collection of nameless books

all indicating at how insignificant

you made me look-

in your life.

your favorite flowers

(on the tables)

your favorite drink

(on the counter, half empty)

your favorite song

(mildly playing in the background)

your favorite hobby-

(to push me to the brink)

all were consuming my senses

and i knew where i would find you

and it wasn't in the room

but inside my head

that was the key

to get out of this room.

looked at the mirror - broke it

found the key wrapped with your ribbon

but where would this key fit?

looked around

and found the biggest irony

the cabinet of the pendulum clock

and had a message for me

"you found them

but what about you?

are you still there?"

looks like i was escaping from myself...

The school counselor was not happy with my answer. Probably worried her too much because the next day my parents were called.

Are they really worth all the brain aneurysms you are getting for them? Because if they are, feel free to never get off the ventilator. Because time wont spare you, It would force its way in your dreams and make you play the cruel game of escape room again.