One Killer Maze

Chapter 16

The way Y/N wanted to wake up was definitely not in her sleep. The world around her...it wasn't real. She didn't seem to feel her real-world pain here.

Then, she realized, that this was definitely not the circus or the stage.

She was in a dark forest.

A very, very dark forest. She could only see two feet in front of her. Y/N knew that shouting out in the dark would not be the smartest of ideas...she knew how those movies went. Instead, she decided to shuffle slowly over to the nearest tree and slide alongside those. These trees were dark and a pale grey. It was sickly to touch them since they felt so cold.

A screech erupted the silence. It sounded painful...and frightening. Goosebumps fled up the female's arms as she pressed herself further against the tree.

It sounded animalistic.

Were there more creatures around? Like the one white beast? And that other one with the black mane and leathery skin. She didn't want to encounter those things anymore....even if they were nothing but helpful.

If you could call helpful being forced off a cliff.

Y/N wandered to what seemed to be deeper and deeper into the forest. It suddenly got harder and harder for her to see. The void around her was suffocating. Was she getting closer to the source? That was the opposite of what she wanted...but it was too late for her to turn back.

She was walking in complete darkness now; she felt claustrophobic. It didn't help when the shadows pricked her skin with coolness like ice. They were almost like claws dragging against her exposed skin.

"H-hey! You!" A shout from within the darkness caused her to jump from her skin. She looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice. A hand touched her shoulder and she froze on the sudden contact. Y/N whirled around, bumping the hand off of her shoulder. There was another figure there. The owner of the voice.

It was a male with dirty blond hair. His eyes were dark, but he stepped closer and she spotted a glint of blue. Y/N felt the urge to smile around him, her lips twitched, but she moved her mouth around to stop the action.

"I really don't like this place," he hissed out, looking around while his hands were parted in front of him, "especially what happened last time."

This caught her attention. She brushed his arm with her hand and then yanked it back. He regarded her with a quick look.

"What do you mean? What happened?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

"Okay, like, there was this big event when we slept. This guy, Mike - I think his name was Mike, he volunteered to take part of this even thing 'cause Brian didn't make it," he began to explain with a wave of his hand, "and- and then, there was this huuuuge room. I think it was a Plinko game? It was real old..."

Y/N remembered the title. Wasn't Plinko where you shoot out a ball from the top and then it descends downwards while bouncing on protruding metal? It would usually fall in a random hole at the bottom which would decide how many tickets you won in the end.

"So, Candy Pop drops one ball down and they're all scrambling around, except Mike. He's standing there, watching it fall down. It looks like it's going to fall down on him, but then it starts heading to the opposite side! Where Miles and Victor are!" He exclaims in a shocked tone like he was reliving the moment again, "you can probably guess who won in the end. Miles didn't even last two rounds and Victor got squashed after four rounds."