Dear Diary
The eagerly awaited day had finally come – the zombie escape game! I didn’t know that I had a phobia of zombies until yesterday.
A group of us went to a pop-up event at a converted warehouse. We split into groups to solve puzzles in order to escape death by zombies. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience as I never plan on doing it again.
The zombie actors were exceptionally convincing. There was one part where I think I had a panic attack when a zombie was screaming in my ear and another was slamming an empty oil drum on the ground next to me. The game took an hour. I didn’t contribute to any puzzles as I was running away from zombies the whole time. You see, they target the ones that look the most scared. In a way, I did contribute, as I distracted the zombies to allow my friends time to solve the puzzles for us.
I’ll tell you more later, but firstly I must share with you the message that Karate Kid sent a couple of hours before the zombie event. I wasn’t expecting a reply from him at all, but why would I be right this time? this guy just keeps getting back up and dusting himself off:
“Good Morning Anastasia, (it was actually 2PM when he sent the message…haha). Lets chat face to face tomorrow. To lessen your concerns, I haven’t seen anyone else while i have been with you. In terms of messenger, i was just being cheeky self. I will see you tonight at tappas before zombies.”
My initial response in my head was ‘No! no! I don’t want to talk face to face. What’s there to talk about? do you just want to get the last word in?” I honestly get the feeling that someone is helping him to write some of these messages.
His message was reassuring. I do believe him when he says that he hasn’t been with anyone else….but I also believe that he’s thought about being with other women during that time and still now even – not one minute facial expression will be missed when Plane Jane Peasant Maiden returns from her holiday. I will be observing every breath she and Karate Kid take when they are in the same room together whenever I return to the dance scene. Why you ask? because I want to be right. All I need is one moment of subjective truth and I will be satisfied that my lunacy is justified.
I ignored his message. There was nothing to say. I’d be seeing him in a couple of hour’s time whether I liked it or not. A few minutes later a message from an unknown number came through:
Unknown number: “I’m down for both today!”
Me: “Yayyy! Who is this btw? 😊”
Unknown number: “It’s meeeeeee!“
Me: “Lol. XX [The Lawyer]?“
Unknown number: “No it’s meeeeeee! How many meeeeeees do you know? And I can’t believe you forgot our lesbian experience!“
*This definitely had to be a man*
Me: “Lol I don’t know any meeeeees. Ummmmmm and those experiences may have been in your dreams 😉“
Unknown number: “Haha they just may have been! 😉 My ticket is under your booking.“
Me: “Hahaha okay mysterious friend. All will be revealed soon enough in that case“
A clever friend of mine put the number into Facey and Shy Guy’s profile came up. How cheeky!
At the tappas Karate Kid arrived just after I did. He hugged me and sat next to me. He gave me a look as if to say that he was fine and that everything was fine and back to normal. Thankfully, other friends arrived soon after. Karate Kid put his arm on the back of my chair a couple of times and I kept my body language neutral – what on Earth was he doing trying to claim me? He did tone it down as more people arrived (maybe because he was outnumbered?).
At the zombie event we all split into three teams. One team was already established so the rest of us had to divide. To make things less awkward we decided to flip a coin to make Team Heads and Team Tails. Karate Kid and Mr Friendly were on Team Tails. Myself, Polar Bear and Shy Guy were on Team Heads. I think Karate Kid was disappointed that we weren’t on the same team. I saw him scan Polar Bear up and down with an unimpressed look on his face – I wondered if he was jealous that Polar Bear may be competition for him. Karate Kid came to just below Polar Bear’s chest in height.
As we filed into the ‘debrief tent’ I started to get anxious. I knew that there were zombies inside waiting for us. I kind of wanted to be on the same team as Karate Kid so that I felt safer, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him or anyone.
On the inside, that’s when stuff got real. The lighting, the background music, the shrieking of zombies and the fake blood around the place were all too real. Most people were fine, only a few females were terrified – myself included. I stuck close to my team for shelter. The zombies kept managing to find me. They’d make piercing eye contact and then groan as they shuffled or jerked towards me. If you let them get close enough they’d breath on your neck or stand centimeters from your face and groan or shriek.
As time moved on in the converted warehouse, I found myself becoming more and more anxious. I started to cling to Shy Guy for protection (as he was on my team). Polar Bear was too preoccupied with the task at hand. I didn’t want to send Shy Guy the wrong messages, but I also didn’t want to be terrorised by zombies, so I tried not to be too clingy. A part came where we had to walk down an empty hallway…well, a seemingly empty hallway…moments in and psychotic zombies came out of nowhere! I put my arms by my head, screamed and shook like a leaf. Shy Guy was the closest so I leaned on him for comfort. He pretty much gently pushed me down the hallway step-by-step as zombies screamed in my ears. When we got to the safety of the next room there was a zombie standing in the corner facing the wall. If that wasn’t disturbing enough it then started screaming and turned around to lung at us! I ran to the next room and found myself to be sweating and hyperventilating. The next room had no zombies in it, thankfully. I pretty much just kept my arms close beside my chest and stuck close to my group. Everyone was busy trying to solve the puzzles – how could they all be so fine?
The good news is that we all won the game and were saved. The even better news was that we went for cake afterwards! I really needed it as I was still feeling highly strung. When I arrived at the cake shop I took me a while to organise my handbag before getting out of my car. When I went to open the car door Polar Bear was standing at my window with his arms up like a zombie! I screamed and hid my face. After laughing for a few minutes he then told me to move my car to a spot closer, but another car took it just as I turned on my ignition. I again organised my things to get out of the car and noticed that Polar Bear had disappeared. I gingerly stepped out of the car and peeked towards the rear of the vehicle. I screamed when I saw Polar Bear crouching behind my car. He didn’t even have to jump up to startle me. He did say that he would have apologised but that he wasn’t sorry for what he had done.
At the cake shop, Karate Kid patted my back a few times as if to mark me as his. Again, I acted neutral. Shy Guy thought it was funny to pretend to bite my shoulder like a zombie whilst we were standing in line for cake.
Conveniently, the virtual reality game place was next door to the cake shop. Most of our group went in to play a game whilst myself, my girl friend and Shy Guy stayed to finish our dessert (the rest left their ice cream cakes with reception to mind in the fridge it until they’d finished their 30 minute game). Karate Kid almost stayed, but the allure of virtual reality adventure got the better of him. So for 30 minutes, Shy Guy educated my friend and I on Marvel characters and related video games.
When the group came back the three of us were ready to go. We announced that we were leaving. I’d drop them both to their cars back at the converted warehouse. Karate Kid gave me a strong look as if to say ‘we are meeting tomorrow, please reply to my message’. I hoped that no one else saw it and didn’t suspect anything.
It was a short drive back to my friend and Shy Guy’s cars. My friend was first to get out. When I stopped at Shy Guy’s car he got out of the back seat and came to my drivers window. I put it half down as I thought we were just saying goodbye, but he leaned through the window to hug me. I panicked a little and tried to put the window down so that he had more space to lean….but I accidentally put it up! I apologised and he stepped back as I put it down further. He leaned in and gave me a hug goodbye. I wasn’t going to hang around to give him a chance to ask me out.
My friend sent me a message soon after I got home saying that she thought that Shy Guy liked me and that there was chemistry between us……not sure how I feel about that. There is something there, but logical brain says it’s too complicated as he is good friends with Karate Kid which is just awkward. Also, he’s obsessed with video games and plays into the early hours of the morning. That’s not compatible with my vision for a healthy relationship. I’m not going to compete with video games.
Polar Bear sent a message soon after I got home: “Just a quick one to say thank you again for organising tonight, and for inviting me. You have a wonderful ability for bringing people together and everybody has a great time; you’re a diamond, and a shining leader among men (and women!). Thank you Anastasia ☺️” Yep, it’s confirmed, we are definitely in the friend’s zone. I was a bit unsure for a short while there, but I think it’s been clarified without me having to do much.
Mr Friendly also sent a message saying that he had a nice time. The tone of his message was also just friends.
At 2AM, Karate Kid sent a message: “So are the zombies keeping you awake? :p” I did actually wake up at about 3AM from a bad dream about zombies. I saw his message and tried to get back to sleep. I wasn’t going to humour him. And why was he online at 2AM? was he messaging some other love interest and thought that he may check in on me whilst he was at it?
Anastasia
The Contemporary Princess 