Derrick sat at one of the empty bar stools, feeling a mixture of eagerness and apprehension about what he was about to do. The place was modestly busy for a Saturday night, but it was early yet and he’d heard rumor that as the night progressed, it became one of the hottest spots around. It was an odd choice in a way, to choose a busy public establishment, but he had no way of knowing what would really happen, and thought of trying it there seemed more reasonable somehow than trying it at home all alone.<br/><br/>The package had been left on his doorstep the previous day, and only had two words written on the seamless brown paper surrounding it. That in itself was a nifty little trick, he thought. It sat on his counter for a while as he stared at it, trying to figure out whether or not to open it.<i>The Button</i>, scrawled on one side, or was it the top, wherever, didn’t make any sense to him. Finally, he dragged a blade through the paper and tore it free. Inside was a simple, black felt box like you’d get at any generic jewelry store, and a card.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Didact Gothic', 'sans-serif'">
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<span>Spoiler: <span class="bbCodeSpoiler-button-title">The Card</span></span>
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<div class="bbCodeBlock-content">Wear the ring and press the button<br/>
You’ll be teleported to another location<br/>
Someone will join you moments later</div>
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</div></span>​</div><br/>He felt fairly certain that it wouldn’t work, that it was probably just going to give him a little zap of electricity from a tiny capacitor or something, which would at least be better than nothing happening at all. But if it did work–well that was almost too hard to imagine, yet he couldn't stop feeling excited by the possibilities of who he might meet.<br/><br/>Derrick pulled the box from his pocket and sat it on the polished surface of the bar. Carefully he opened the lid and removed the gold ring from inside. It was a simple gold band that had a tiny recessed gold button on it that would’ve been difficult to detect if he hadn’t known to look for one. After trying to put the ring on several different fingers, it finally slipped on his left pinky. He intended to push the button right away, but found that he was hesitant. If the card was to be believed, he could end up anywhere. It was equally exciting and terrifying.<i>Stop being a pussy, Derrick!</i>He pressed the button.<br/><br/>There was no flash of light or weird sounds, he simply had the sensation that he’d become lost in thought, and then suddenly snapped out of it. It had absolutely worked! He was in a kitchen he’d never seen before, sitting at a kitchen table. It was quiet other than the sound of the refrigerator. The place was clean yet obviously lived in, and he started to think about how someone might react to finding him, a complete stranger, in their kitchen. Trying not to worry, and remembering that he could just press the button again if shit got too real, too fast, he decided to wait and see.<br/><br/>Derrick noticed that there were two polaroid pictures, both face dawn, laying on the table in front of him. He suddenly found it hard to swallow. Something didn’t seem right. Something other than having just teleported into a strangers house. It felt important to know what the pictures were of<i>before </i>anyone else arrived. And exactly how long was ‘a few moments later’ anyway? But what if he looked at the picture at the same moment someone came in? Sweat began beading on his forehead. Deciding that his first instinct was the correct one, he reached for one of the photos, and the door across the kitchen opened.