The Cake Is Not a Lie

     Running through these white washed corridors, I began to wonder, what is cake? Since the beginning of this experimentation, I was promised cake. As I ran through these halls I would come across red lettered signs warning me that, "The cake is a lie". But what is cake? Is it the promise of freedom, a manifestation of hope, or is it a physical thing that would induce happiness, short lived pleasure?

     With the thought of cake swirling around in my head, I clutched my gun and prepared to enter the last part of the experiment. I was excited, I felt my brows get sweaty; little pinpricks tickled the back of my neck. I breathed in and out, trying to control my excitement, I squeezed the gun tighter and ran through the door.

     A platform caught me and slowly I started to move forwards, towards a wall. I looked down through the clear panes of the platform, seeing green and brown sludge, "water" they called it, and if I were to fall off into it for any reason at all, I would be deducted points, then die. The wall ahead looked of the same material as the walls surrounding me. I quickly formulated a plan and tested it out, firing my gun twice and jumping through the portals which it made. I passed the wall with some difficulty, almost falling off in the process, but I was still alive.

     As the platform moved onwards, slower and slower, I sat down laying the gun next to me and enjoying a few minutes of silence. A voice started to talk, a voice that belonged to a friend, a mentor. She congratulated me, told me how rewarding the cake would be, and a few facts about the gun that I had been using. It started to get warmer and as the platform turned a corner, I saw it, cake.

     A room filled with debris, piling up and creating towers of burning plastic, metal, and other materials that I could not identify. Flames reaching the ceiling, roaring and dancing, wrapped the room with an intense heat. This was it, the platform would not stop now, why would it? I inched closer and closer, towards the cake, feeling the intensity of the flames. My body started to sweat a flood, my suit absorbing it all like a glutton. I felt light headed, the room was swirling around me; I sat down and laid the gun on my lap and started to feel its smooth exterior for the last time.
     
     "Bye" A a metallic voice sung.
     
     "Goodbye GLaDOS" A tear slid down from my eyes and evaporated before it could get any further. "Goodbye."