Body Swappers 26
One more glimpse inside another memory reveals the killer.
Intro/outro sound is Prime Light Harp Melody 165 BPM.mp3 by snikpohneb — https://freesound.org/s/173463/ — License: Attribution 3.0
Gimble still wore a sour expression on his face, but there was a bit of green in his aura that hadn’t been there before. Hope?
“So if I let you take a look in my head,” he said, gesturing at Maya, then looking at Robert, “you'll represent me for free?”
“Yes,” Maya said, before Robert could say something unhelpful, like that he’d represent the weasel either way.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
Maya took a breath and let her irritation fall away. There was no place for that in what she was about to do. “I’ll be starting a first-level transference. I’ll be ‘in your head,’ as you said, but you will remain in control. Once I’m there, you can show me your thoughts, if you choose to. I can see your memory with you. But only if you consent. Mr. Gimble, do I have your permission to start a first-level transference with you?”
Gimble nodded, slowly, seriously.
Maya held her hands out, facing one another. “Please put your hand between mine.”
She swam against the pull of his blood, back to his center. Hello.
…Hi, he responded, seeming awkward even in his own head.
Please close your eyes, and imagine that night.
There was a controller in their hands, and they were mashing the buttons, playing some video game unfamiliar to Maya. It felt to her almost like they were holding their breath, like Gimble was so excited about what was happening on the screen that he’d forgotten, for the moment, to breathe. He was rigid with anticipation.
Then, the game was gone. Aw, come on! Gimble thought, before realizing the power hadn’t gone out, as had been his first impression. The TV was just gone, as was the controller. He was in a different room altogether. There was light leaking through the blinds, which were not in the same places that the windows were in his room. There was also a lot more traffic noise here. He tried to stand up, to find a light switch, but rope pulled tight against his ankles and legs from the movement, holding him to the hard chair he was suddenly in rather than his cushy couch.
He felt panic and despair coming on, from all that. But something else had happened when he’d moved. There’d been a funny metal sound from his lap.
He fumbled around with his hands and found a combo lock, just like his own bike lock. He started thumbing the dials, and pulling at it. As he settled into the rhythm of this, he began to think.
What the hell is happening here? This is the weirdest introduction to an escape room I’ve ever seen.
Maya was careful not to let her thoughts slip to Gimble—she didn’t want to distract him—but she found it curious how different this dark place was from the one everyone else so far had gone to.
Gimble didn’t remember what all he’d thought to himself…the memory blurred as an impression of time passed. Then, all of a sudden—
Click.
Their heart pounded, and Gimble’s fingers paused for a moment before ripping the lock off and shaking free of the restraints. He stood, and walked forward. He opened the blinds and looked out the window, onto the street…
He only got a glimpse before he felt himself being pulled. As soon as she felt that, Maya let herself fall away from him. Back in her own body, she shook, eyes closed.
Concern written in his voice, Robert asked, “Maya?”
She screwed up her mouth as pricks of pain lit up her nose and eyes. I don’t want to cry, she thought, and took a steadying breath, then opened her eyes.
“I know who the killer is.”