You can't take anymore. You can't deal with the constant rush of alternating hope and despair.  You want to just move on. Go back to the endless corridors.

 You flee around the former Exposition Booth and fling open the door beside it.  

Ah. Yes. Of course. Brick wall.  That ...that scans.  

Of course you can't actually leave  yet.

The shopkeep pipes up from behind you. "Already beat you to that one. It's sometimes a brick wall, except when it isn't. You'd be surprised how finnicky doors are around here. How do you like them apples?"

When you glance back, she looks immediately preoccupied with her own train of thought. "Hmm... apples..."

Wait. The doors can *change*. Someone is ...  You have never hated JR more than you do now.  Your breath starts going in great, panicky gasps.

You need to stop from spiralling. You need to focus on something, ANYTHING, besides how overwhelmingly wrong these corridors are.

"A-apples?"

"Apples," she replies, her head sluggishly nodding. "Or oranges. Bananas are very good. You don't get those around here. But apples, though... had a new employee actively eating one on the line while I was doing damage control. You could hear every crunch. Hardest sell of my life."

Her eyes lock with yours again. You get that same feeling of foreboding in the pit of your stomach, but this time you're too busy trying not to spiral. "What about you? Do you like apples?"

You swallow thickly.  You can't remember the last time you ate anything. You can't remember the last time you felt hunger.  

Your breath is more under control though. Juddering, slow, in and out. Your vision is hazy and everything seems a bit too in focus. 

Apples. Crunchy apples.

"You. Could hear them eating? "

You swallow again.

"Was it... Did they... Did it sound like a GOOD apple?" 

What were good apples like again?

"Juicy?"

"Not juicy, no. Other fruits are juicy. You can hear when an orange or a tangerine is juicy. There's a squirt to it. Phones don't always pick it up. Apples, though. You have to bring them to your mouth, you know. And then you have to..." She brings her hand near her mouth and mimics out the motion,  "bite in. Over, and over. You get that crunch to it every time. It's almost maddening... in a good way, I suppose. It's more upsetting when it stops."


This makes sense. Maybe its the first thing that does in these endless hallways.

"Because... because that means the apple is gone. You can't have it. "

You can't have the apple. Apples aren't for you. 


She gives you a solemn nod. “But we make do in its absence. There’s too much work to do to… focus on it, too much. I, for one, keep myself busy, man this booth, and whatnot. But sometimes the thought of that call comes back to me. I deal with it when it happens. That phone rings for all of us at least once, you know.”

You are overcome with the feeling that you have made a bond with this shopkeeper in a way that words cannot explain. You cannot tell if this is a good thing. 

You are glad to have at least one connection in these horrifying corridors, you decide. 

You stare at the off white landline.  You feel that maybe...its rung for you before?

The memories won't stick though. It's probably not true. When have you ever not been in these endless hallways?

You feel the tug again. You need to go back to exploring. Its... important. 

"I need to go. Its important. I have to see everything. " you tell your Best Friend.

She smiles. “Then go. Door out’s in the back.” 

You look back at the door. It’s open. It was always open.  An idea creeps into the back of your mind that you could've always left, and that you could've never left; or, rather, that you could've always left, but you didn't know how to. Is something different about you? Or is it another one of JR's smug bullshit machinations?

You decide it doesn't matter. Not here. Not now. This is simply how it is. You leave.