Inside Out {{Karl Jacobs}}

𓇚 one 𓇚

Elsie laid on her back, staring at the black tiled ceiling, trying her best not to count each square; she wanted to save exciting activities like that for a special occasion.

She heaved out a heavy sigh, the competition hadn't even started and she was already bouncing off the walls. Well, bouncing off of the nonexistent walls that she, and ninety-nine other people, would be stuck in for the foreseeable future.

It was her own downfall; a challenge.

She never backed down, especially when her best friend Henry was the one to set it.

"Ready to get your ass kicked?" He had taunted her as they arrived outside of the warehouse, convinced that the short girl would be packed up and heading home before the day's end.

"Are you?" She had countered confidence laced in her velvety voice, "because I could stay here all month, Nightly"

"I doubt that Nelley" Henry shot back, pushing his gold-rimmed glasses further up his nose, his eyes sparkling with the prospect of proving her wrong.

Elsie had been so confident, yet here she laid, one leg bent at the knee and the other flung over it, her hands clasped over her chest, bored out of her mind whilst people were still arriving.

They'd been ushered in by people wearing Beast clothing, presumably workers that would be checking up on the large group for the foreseeable future.

Henry had been ushered into a separate part of the building, coming back sporting a blue shirt whilst Elsie adorned a yellow one herself. After they had regrouped Henry had promptly left to 'network', joining random conversation and getting to know the people he could possibly spend the next few weeks with.

Meanwhile, Elsie had stayed put, letting anxiety take over her mind; it'd be better to keep to herself for now than force conversation with strangers, no matter how long she'd have to spend with them.

Any conversation she forced wouldn't end well, and she'd rather these people think she was relatively normal for at least the first day.

"Alright!" A voice scared her. Elsie sat up straight and looked around, her eyes landing on a man, dressed in all black, holding a red and white megaphone, "We'll be starting in ten minutes, we're just waiting for Karl"

"Of course!" A voice shouted back from within the crowd outside the circle, causing a large laugh.

Elsie couldn't say that she knew who this 'Karl' was, but could already tell that he must usually be late, as he seemed to be the one they were all waiting for.

"You excited?" Yet another voice startled her, the small girl turned to see a tall man holding a camera up to her face, the sticker on his blue shirt read 'Airrack'.

"I guess," she nodded, looking into the camera swiftly before looking away, "who doesn't want to spend a month in a circle?"

The man laughed, showing a bright smile, one that she almost mirrored; it was infectious.

"True, how long do you think you'll last?" His eyes flickered between her and the screen of his camera, making sure the frame was fit properly.

"Either ten minutes or ten days, no in-between" she shrugged, another smile coming to her lips.

"Respectable" he nodded before finally putting the camera down, "I'm Airrack, nice to be sharing a circle with you"

"Elsie" she replied, her eyes flickering behind him, noticing Henry making his way back, moving his shoulders as if he was shimmying, "and that's Henry"

"Oh, we've met" Henry stated, holding his hand out to pull her up.

"Yeah, he's my predicted winner; other than myself, obviously" Airrack stated, a smirk on his lips, Henry pushed his shoulder, letting out a small 'you wish', before grabbing Elsie's hand again and pulling her away with a quick goodbye.

"Why did I have to get up?" She whined softly, turning her head side to side to crack her neck, "we're waiting for that guy"

"'That guy' is the one stood near the ladder" he pointed up at a large structure, less of a ladder and more of a crane lift you'd see in warehouses, "we're about to start so everyone has to gather.

The two friends joined the back of the large group, Henry waving his hand as the man at the top, presumably Mr Beast, spoke loudly to a camera.

"I don't care how long this takes!" He yelled out to them, "the last to leave wins half a million dollars"

The group whooped and hollered back, some people jumping in anticipation.

This was it; the start.

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Written: 27th September 2021
Published: 28th September 2021
Hiiii new story!! Hopefully i'll actually update this one :b
Check out my quackity story if you want!