'This is bullshit! This is bullshit!' the mantra was stuck on repeat in his head. With everything that was going on he really could find no better way to describe his situation.
Grab the telescope, enter some weird as code, burn the straw dummy, oh look it's a finger now. …
"Seriously what the fuck!" he murmured for the hundredth time that evening. Due to his aversion for the creepy ass clown in the first hall he attached the finger as quickly as possible before winding the key and stepping back. The dummy sprang to life moving its hand is a circular pattern as if was trying to write something down, maybe that's where all the black scribble patterns on the pages spread out in front of it came from. 'Clearly it needs a pen or something' he figured, he decided to head to the back room with the rope tied door. Maybe something in the next room could help him.
Clancy held his re-lit candle firmly placing it under the thick rope for several seconds before it finally ignited. He straightened himself back up staring at the flames consuming the red rope for a few long seconds. He felt entranced by the burning rope, he had always found flames to be beautiful but in this moment they evoked a feeling of uneasy as he gazed into them.

When the rope had been eaten through enough to fall apart Clancy reached out, the handle was a bit warm still from the flames. He braced himself, who could know what would jump out at him from behind the door. Taking a deep breath, he let the door fall open, "This is bullshit!" he said staring at the room full of balloons. Kicking the balloons out of the way he marched up the other door which of course he found to be locked apparently know he needed a 5 letter sequence to get the dame valve handle on the other sided. He turned looking back towards the other door and scanned the floor, 'something must be in here' he thought to himself, Lucas seemed to have planned every detail of this place very deliberately. He leaned down holding out his candle to see in the dim light as he searched the floor for some clue maybe as to what the code might be. His candle strayed to near to a gray balloon. The *POP* echoed in the room startling Clancy, he dropped his candle as he fell back against the wall letting out a uneasy snicker at his own skittishness. After a breath, he looked down to find the candle in the mass of balloons, his task was made very easy as another balloon popped in the candles wake. As he picked it up he noticed a greenish yellow balloon that was much smaller than the rest. He picked it up noting that it weighed more than a normal balloon as well. Looking it over he found that the opening had an attachment to make filling it with air easier. It clicked for him then, he was supposed to fill the balloon with the air that was flowing out of the broken pip in the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen it took him two tries to fit the balloon over the nozzle of the pipe, when he finally managed it began to fill fast causing odd spike shaped protrusions to distort the shape of the balloon making it look more like a morning star. Dumbfounded he continued to stare as the balloon swelled bigger and bigger. Finally, his brain kicked back on, adrenaline flooded thought him as became aware of his mistake. It was too late to move away or hide but thankfully his instincts saved his face. The balloon exploded sending tacks in all directions his hands shot up guarding his eyes and receiving a puncture wound for their trouble. In hindsight, why hadn't he just ripped the balloon open, if he hadn't been so wrapped up with doing the puzzle he would have been fine now, he thought as he stared at the nail sticking through his hand for a second breathing in an out in disbelief. Still in shock reached up with his right hand grabbing the head of the nail and pulling, it hadn't really hurt until then but as he pulled the nail slid against raw nerves igniting a fierce burn that traveled all the way up his arm making his eyes sting with tears. As the nail slid free he couldn't help the pained moan that escaped his lips. Only when the nail clanged against the floor did he realize that there was pain somewhere else too. He looked down in search of more nails but instead found an old style quill pen that had made a new home in is stomach. He stared at it, he hands coming up to cup the sides of the foreign object. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed, as a nauseating ache bloomed inside of him. He grasped the edge of the pen, he felt the tip move inside of him and his stomach clenched he could almost feel the stomach acid work its way up his esophagus. Determination drove him forward though and with shear mental effort he pulled continuously until the pen came out with a wet squelching noise. His eyes were fixed on the pen, blurry and unfocused around the edges, Clancy had never before wanted his own bed so much! He would give his hand (not that is was working to well with a hole in it anyway) to have student loans, mortgages, or bitchy confusing girlfriends be his only problems in life.

In in daze he wandered back toward the clown. Standing in front of the creepy piece of technology he felt a shiver run down his spine. Reaching out with both hands he fitted the quill into the repaired hand of the clown before winding the key in its abdomen. As Clancy pulled his hand back from the key the clowns right hand flipped up grasping his wrist tightly. Clancy in a frantic rush began tugging at his arm but he stopped in horror as the clown's other hand joined the party. He felt the quill pens tip press and break the flesh of his upper forearm dragging is pointed tip down along the skin. As he endured more trauma his brain seemed to check out, for Clancy it was over in a blur of pain and fear. When his wrist was finally released he jerked it back holding it to his chest defensively as he attempted to calm himself down. Once he was no longer afraid of entering cardiac arrest he turned his palm up to look at the damage done to his arm. "LOSER" was scrawled into his arm, long jagged letters that wept bloody tears.

It took him a while to process what the word meant. Did he lose the game? Did he do something wrong? What Lucas going to kill him in here? It took him a full minute to make sense of the 5 letters on his arm before he realized that the lock he didn't have a code for needed 5 characters. He wanted to slap himself, but settled on a light face palm.

Feeling entirely drained and stunned he walked back to the balloon room to input the code. The lock clicked open and he sighed in relief. It was over he knew exactly what to do with the valve handle now in his possession all he had to do was turn off the water that kept him from getting the lit candle into the cake room and he was done! With new found determination he walked back into the kitchen, he sat the candle down next to the stove top that he never bothered to turn off and walked into the cake room getting drenched for the last time. The candles were lit and a distorted version of the happy birthday song was playing. He fit the handle into its slot on the wall next to the door and turned it a few times to the right until it would go no more. After collecting the candle, he triumphantly stood in front of the cake. With more force than was necessary he pressed the candle into the top of the cake queuing cheering and applause from the speaker system.

One second Clancy was looking down on the stupid pink birthday cake, the next he was staring up at the ceiling, he ears were ringing and white spots were decorating his vision. Sitting up on the floor he took stock of the room, pink icing was splatted over the walks and the table that once held the cake was just a pile of flaming sticks. He watched the flames as he tried to orient himself still thinking 'what the hell just happened!' when suddenly the flaming pile of table sparked the oil that had leaked all over the floor of the room. Standing up quickly Clancy tried desperately to brush the flames of his pants earning him even more pain as blisters started popping up on his palms. He backed away from the spreading flames, staring at them in shock.

Water! He needed water! Turning to the valve handle that he had recently placed on the wall he began to turn it only hesitating due to the pain that sprung up as a result of his injured hands coming in contact with the still cool metal. The valve was stuck! As he tried to break it lose he heard Lucas's laughter in the background playing from the speakers. God! He didn't want to die like this, not after surviving the night in the basement and escaping that mad woman with her putrid food! Using all his might and tearing his palms up even more Clancy felt the handle shift and then to his dismay it fell away from the wall! He was left completely defenseless against the encroaching flames. The inferno rose up like a hungry animal, tongues of flame lapping at his legs! He pressed himself against the wall were the door way once was, the oil had yet to cover this part of the floor but the blasé was making quick work devouring every ignitable surface it could find. Thankfully the water that had been spilled there was now making it very hard for it to eaten up by the flames. Clancy was in full blow panic mood now, he could hear his own desperate panting over the roar of the fire! He turned clawing at the wall that stopped his retreat, "PLEASE!" he screamed! "Let me out!" his shrieks when unanswered. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" he yelled, his panting now sounded more like hysterical laughter. He could feel the heat burning him despite its distance and his lungs felt like acid had replaced his air supply. Spots were again clouding his vision, he didn't even feel the pain of his knees slamming the ground as he fell forward.

The ability to comprehend his dire situation was leaving him fast, his overtaxed mind was consumed in a whirl of heat, pain, and fear. In the state he was in he only vaguely realized that the wall he was leaning on was moving up and away from him receding back into the ceiling. The flames, which like him where seeking more oxygen, jumped over him scorching his back as they tried to escape into the room beyond.

The little coherence he had been struggling to hold on to slipped away leaving him to gracelessly fall against the floor boards with a thump, gasping at the fresh air like a fish on land. His only protest when rough hands drug him forward agitating his wounds was a small whine. And by the time he was fully removed from the room turned hell on Earth he had already passed out succumbing to stress and his injuries.