“Please head back to your desks. Ed, your project is about to begin.”

The TV turned itself off upon hearing Buddie speak. Seeing this, the two got off the couch and headed for the door, sitting down on the bench to put their shoes on.

“Come on! It was just getting to the good part.” Zara complained.

“It’s fine, we can watch it some other time.” Why can’t we just have something normal to watch. I’ll have to see if I can buy some movies somewhere.

Stepping through the door, the two went back to their desks. They sat in front of Ed’s screen and waited for it to start.

The camera descended through the sky, starting with a bird's eye view of the factory and its surrounding area. The sweltering midday heat was practically visible, Ed, and Ed almost felt like he was about to sweat just from seeing it. The camera descended, phasing through the roof of the factory before zooming in on a crowd of poverty-stricken children. In the middle of the crowd laid a middle-aged man in torn and filthy clothing.

“Oooh, so we’re punishing a factory worker, what sick crime did he commit?” Zara asked curiously.

“Actually, he’s the owner of the factory, and as you can see, most of his employees are children. One of them died in an avoidable accident, so that’s why he’s here.” By the time Ed finished speaking, the man had stood up, and all of the children were shooed away by their supervisor.

The man walked up to the supervisor, looking down at him.

“Nephew Amar, why did you let those disgusting little cretins near me? Not only that, you left me lying in the dirt. I have half a mind to fire you.”

SLAP.

A resounding slap echoed through the screen, making Ed and Zara wince. The men on screen argued, resulting in Rahul being flung into a wall.

“Good morning, Rahul. As you may have noticed, the situation in your factory is now quite different from what it used to be. You no longer stand at the top. In fact, you are at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Do you remember the child who died in your factory because you refused to properly maintain the equipment? Well now you are in their place. And you better find a way to escape, otherwise you will soon suffer the same fate. Good luck Rahul.”

Slowly getting up, Rahul found where he was supposed to be and moved into place.

At the same time, the other children had got back to work, and the molten glass had started to flow again. Quickly, it started to gather on the spinning rod, cooling down into one long cylinder. Some of the boys complained, yelling at Rahul. However, one of them treated him with kindness, showing him how to do his job.

Although frustrated and furious, Rahul got stuck into work, running the hook along the glass repeatedly for an unknown amount of time, not noticing the plumes of smoke. The video ended with Rahul on the ground, his head sliced in half by fast moving molten glass.

Ugh, that’s an ugly death, but at least it happened quickly.

THUD.

Turning his head, he saw that Zara’s video had started. What’s going on? He rolled his chair over just in time to see the body surrounded by a pool of blood. Someone’s already dead? “Umm, did I miss something?”

“Nope, it only just started. The guy helped his girlfriend cover up a murder. I’m testing to see if he’ll do it all over again when given the opportunity.” Zara answered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

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“Interesting, but if it’s identical, won’t he just assume he’s dreaming? I feel like that could throw his chance at survival out the window.”

“Or it could increase his chance of surviving greatly, because he won’t feel any guilt about throwing his girlfriend under the bus. Let’s see which one it is.” She said excitedly.

While they were having their discussion, Ethan had finished comforting Bella, and had gone to grab the blanket.

“Good morning, Ethan. You have lived a happy and peaceful life with your girlfriend. You’re career prospects were on the rise, and yet, here you are. Disposing of a body. Why are you so willing to help a murderer? You have seen what she’s done, you could be next. And yet here you are, helping to clean up the mess without hesitation. Don’t think you can hide what has happened. People know, and now you will be punished for it. This is your chance to redeem yourself. Turn back and admit to the world what you’ve done. Good luck.”

Seeing him continue to help clean, they both agree that he’s assumed that he’s dreaming.

I wonder what he’s going to do when given the chance to escape. Watching them spend the better half of an hour cleaning, Ed yawned, feeling tired. Maybe I’ll rest early tonight. He stopped paying attention for a while, only tuning back in when they finally got in the car and drove off.

“Babe, keep an eye out for a gas station, we’re gonna need to make a stop.”

It’s been surprisingly barren; this might be his only chance to escape. I’ve been keeping an eye on his girlfriend, and she’s definitely going to kill him. He watched as they pulled into the gas station.

“Here comes his chance, let’s see what he’ll do.” Zara leaned forward, intent to see what Ethan would do.

“Fuck man, what time is it?” He said while yawning.

Ethan gave him a tired smirk. “I feel you man, it’s almost three in the morning. How long until you’re off?”

“Just a few more hours to go. You’re the first person I’ve seen all night. What are you even doing driving this late?” The clerk asked.

Ethan’s eyes flickered to his girlfriend for a moment, and Ed could see the hesitation hidden in them. “He’s hesitating, he might actually say something.”

“There was an emergency, so my girlfriend and I have to leave town.” Ethan said

“That sucks man. Stay safe out there, things haven’t been that safe recently.”

“Thanks, I’ll make sure to keep an ear out.” I think that’s the least of my worries. Paying for the gas, he walked back out to the car and hopped in the driver’s seat.

“Well, there goes his chance of surviving. I wonder how she’s going to kill him?” Zara said, now more relaxed.

The couple continued to drive along the highway. Eventually, they turned off road and stopped in the middle of a secluded forest. They watched as Ethan dug his own grave. The footage sped up, quickly covering hours of tedious digging. Going back to normal when Ethan had put the shovel down.

“Buddie, how long did that last?” Ed asked.

“Approximately six hours.” He replied

Well, there goes my plan to rest early. He watched as Ethan dragged the carpet to the grave, not knowing that Bella was right behind him with a shovel.

THUD.

Knocking Ethan out, Bella unfurled the carpet, easily picking up and tossing the body into the grave. She then went back to the car, grabbed some tape and rope, and went to work making sure Ethan couldn’t escape.

She threw him into the grave with the corpse and started filling it in with dirt.

“MMM!” Hearing the muffled screams, they looked down at Ethan, noticing he was awake, and they saw the fear and pain in his eyes.

“MMM!” Ethan tried to struggle, but he couldn’t escape his fate of being buried alive.

“You should have listened to me Ethan. I tried to warn you that she couldn’t be trusted, but you didn’t believe me. You had plenty of times to make up for what you’ve done, but now you have paid the price. Enjoy Hell Ethan, Goodbye.”

The footage ended when Ethan was no longer visible.

“Now that you have both completed your projects, you are free to spend the rest of your day doing whatever you want. You have each been paid ten credits for your traps.”

Looking around, Ed found that the office was significantly emptier than normal. Looks like most of them have left by now. He got out of his chair and turned to Zara. “It’s getting late, and we’ve been here a while. We should probably get some rest.”

Getting out of her chair, she yawned. “Yeah, I’m tired as well. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Stepping into his apartment, he kicked off his shoes before immediately crashing on his bed.