MineSwept

The smell of cigarettes and beer filled the air. Mark was tense, his eyes scanning the room. Eleven Maple had been abandoned for years, since the crime that shook the town. His friends seemed happily unaware of the history. But he knew. He knew too well.

Mark glanced down again at the note. Of all the places, why had he been invited to Eleven Maple, the creepiest house in the whole neighborhood. Last he heard it had been condemned. Mark read the riddle one last time and slowly entered the galley kitchen.

The place was silent, which was to be expected. But eerily so. Not the sound of a car nor the squawk of a crow could be heard in this abandoned home. From beneath what Mark assumed to be the door to the study, a light suddenly flickered on.

The light was accompanied by an electronic sound: a pleasant BRAP. Then the light flashed again, with the same sound. Then again, followed by a different color light and a squelchy BROMP. The pattern repeated, with a new light and sound added every second time through.

"Is it some sort of code?" I thought about what it could mean. The lights kept flashing and making noises. "What could it mean?" I said out loud. I wondered about it for a second and realized it sounded familiar. "Is that the MineSweeper sound effect!" "BOOM!"

Beneath me the floor trembled. I scrambled for purchase but could find none. The walls around me began to shake as well. My heart pounded. The floor began to cave in. Above me the ceiling opened and I realized my fate, in the hands of a faceless entity and a computer keyboard.