Eventually, when her hysteria filters off, she retakes my hand and explains she’s leading me through the door. “You’re safe with me.”
“You could’ve fooled me,” I snap back.
She ignores me. “Okay, Eli, we’re inside a simply lit room, like an escape room, with what looks like clues all around.” Still holding on to my hand, she closes the door behind me. “Oh, there are words on the wall… ‘Welcome to Blind Trust, designed to test your trust in your partner and completely surrender.’” She reads them out loud.
“I won’t be good at this,” I state stiffly.
“We don’t even know what we are going to do yet, but your job is to listen to me, follow my instructions and feel your way through it.”
Okay, well, when she puts it like that, it might not be so bad. I’m not on board with the old musty smell, though; it makes me feel tense, my shoulders stiffening.
Sapphire reads something else. “Your task is to talk your partner through three games to reveal the combination code to unlock the key on the wall, which will set you free from this locked room.”
On cue, the door behind us locks with a loud metallic clunk sound, and I jump again.
“Fuck.” I really hate this, and it makes me feel like I’m being challenged, and not in a good way. I don’t like relying on other people either. I take a step backward, but Sapphire squeezes my hand.
“Wrong way, take a step forward for me.” She either doesn’t pick up on how awkward I am or she’s ignoring my need to run as far away as possible. “There’s a small box in front of us,” she adds then tells me what to do as I stumble on my own feet moving closer to where she wants me to be. “Find my secret, find the first number.”
Fumbling at first, I pat my hands out in front of me until I feel a square, the box, and run my fingers over it. Wooden, I think. “It’s flat.” Smooth on all sides with not a hint of a lock or combination.
“I think there are secret channels cut into the wood. Let me get a closer look.” Sapphire’s breath dusts across my hands, making me feel safe. She’s here with me. I can do this but I have my doubts.
I mumble under my breath and mutter to her that it would be faster if I just took the blindfold off, but like always, with laughter and warmth, Sapphire pulls me out of my usual rigidity and encourages me to go quiet and follow her voice.
After dozens of instructions, Sapphire’s voice kicks up in excitement. “It’s there, I can see it, Eli. Touch the top right-hand corner, further up, yes, that’s it. There’s a line in the wood, try pressing it down and sliding it to the right.”
When that doesn’t work, she tells me to, “Press it harder and slide it away from you.”
A small crack of what sounds like wood breaking makes me freeze for a second, caught somewhere between disbelief and pride, and I shift my focus to where I think she is and smile despite not believing I could trust her, or trust myself to do it.
My fingers slide a small piece of wood, separating it from the rest of the cube.
“Yes,” Sapphire yells before telling me to stick my finger into the box to see if there is anything in the hole it’s left.
“I’m not shoving my finger in there.” I feel around the entrance of the hole. “What if there’s a spider in it?”
“Or a bear,” she drawls. “Come on. Just do it, Eli.” She lays her hand over mine. “I would never ever tell you to do something if I didn’t think it was safe. I know how hard you are finding this. And I know how uncomfortable this makes you feel. But we’re in this together. If you lose a finger, I will chop off one of mine and give it to you.”
She laughs, and I can’t help but join in, feeling lighter. Her ability to disarm me is a skill all on its own.
Bumping her hip and shoulder into mine, she nudges me gently. “I think there will be a clue hidden inside to help us find the next number. I can’t touch the box, so you have to, Eli. Just breathe deep and stick your finger inside.”
“That’s the same words you used last night, Sapphire.”
“Shut up.”
Even though I can’t see her, I know her cheeks will be full of rosy-pink blotches.
Oh my God, here goes. Tentatively, I run my finger around the edge of the gap and slowly insert it into the hole, my fingertip feeling for something’s edge. When I fully press my finger on it, I let out a loud roar and shout, “It’s got me!” Then I shake my body as if something has bitten me, causing Sapphire to scream.
“What’s wrong? Eli?” she yells, panting and shouting, worried, and I hear a whirlwind of commotion by my side.
I freeze my body, like a statue, and whisper, “Gotcha.” As tempting as it is to take a peek at her reaction, I leave the blindfold on from fear of failing the challenge.
That makes her push my shoulder. “You are evil and such a nincompoop.”
“A nincompoop?” I fling my head back, laughing, then hold the small piece of what feels like paper in the air. “A nincompoop who found the next clue.”