Harlequin

He picked up the full-featured phone lying on the counter and dialed a different number, then held the handset to his ear. The phone rang once--twice--three times. Harlequin frowned. The other handset was working--it should be ringing loudly enough. Wake up, already. He had checked it in the morning, before placing his newest acquisitions in their rooms. It rang again, and was cut short, finally, by an answer.



"Hmm, hello?"



"You ought to learn to answer the phone when it rings."



"I--I\'m sorry, I was asleep." Unexpectedly, his voice became angry, upset. "Where am I? Who are you?"



"I figured it was time for you to wake up. There\'s a note in your pocket. Don\'t ask me questions before you read it. I\'ll call you."



Harlequin hung up the phone and put his feet up on the counter, and placed the phone in his lap. He closed his eyes, just for a moment, and wished he could sleep. That was the downside to this particular plan--it was good fun, of course, but he was always on call. Perhaps pure solitary survival for twenty-four hours was better. Still, Meagan at least had proven that there were merits to his plan, in only the first of the twenty-four. More coffee. He wasn\'t that tired, just a little cold.



Time to call again.



-------------



Jeff sat on the floor of a supply closet, reading and rereading the note the voice on the other end of the line had instructed him to examine.



Welcome to Evergreen Mental Facility. As you may or may not know, not a lot of people are imprisoned here these days. You are one of an unlucky few; there are other prisoners here with whom you\'ll pass the time before you die. Or before you escape. But I\'m getting ahead of myself. Your goal is to find the other person in this facility and kill her. It doesn\'t matter how or when, so long as you do it within the next twenty-four hours.



Because no one can give you better advice on how to do this than me, I will offer you some advice:



There will be no map of the facility or photographs of your victim. That would be cheating.



When you find her, you don\'t have to kill her right away. Gain her trust. Make her like you.



Right now, you\'re unarmed. I\'m not sure you could kill someone with your bare hands, so I left you a few presents to give you a little help. The first is here with you in the closet. If you don\'t like it, don\'t worry. You\'ll have more options later.



If you fail to find your mark, if she dies in some other way, if she escapes before you kill her, or if you simply do not kill her, I will find you, and I will kill you instead.



I\'ve provided you with a phone (it\'s in the closet) designed for children, with the same number programmed into all four available slots, so don\'t bother trying to call home. You can call me for help, and I will help you, but only twice; even better, I\'ll disable one of the traps that are waiting for your victim, all around the facility. But choose wisely. I\'ll only do it once. Keep in mind, the batteries on the phone are low. It won\'t last you the whole twenty-four hours. Use it wisely.



Good luck. Your twenty-four hours begin at 3:00 this afternoon.



--Harlequin



Jeff checked his watch. 3:58.



Shit.