Euphoria

Chapter 20

The sound of dripping water pulled (Y/N) back to consciousness as she slowly open her eyes, her entire body felt heavy and her ankle stung from the scabbed-over wound in it. Various puddles of water covered the floor, but not the entirety of it leaving her to wonder where she was. The room was barren, stone walls with a small barred window overlooking rolling dark clouds, patches of memories began to come back to her as panic sank into her heart and it began to pound in her chest. Thankfully the creature that had dragged her here was nowhere to be found, however that didn't quench her fear of seeing it again as she turned to the steel door behind her and tried to peek out through the small window set into the centre of it. A seemingly endless bricked hallway with other doors similar to hers set into the walls was vaguely visible through the small piece of glass, she yanked frantically on the handle but it was locked from the outside. She jumped as a piercing wail sounded from one of the rooms, she peeked through the window again to see a woman with piercing hollow eyes being hauled out of her room by her hair by an armoured creature with only swarming shadows for a body. They both disappeared down a flight of crude stairs carved out of the stone of the wall before a blaring alarm rang out and every door flew open at the same time. Confusion and fear pulsed through her as noise began to fill the hall and she peeked out to find the halls filled with other girls from the school, all of them looking just as confused and scared as she felt.

She carefully crept out of her room to join one of the groups of girls, recognizing a few of them from her gym class as they talked amongst each other. As she got closer she heard each of them retelling of their being abducted by the same creature that had brought her here as well, shivers went down her spine as she recalled her own experience before the blare of another alarm rang out and a door suddenly popped out of the wall. She felt everyone stop for a moment before the panicked crowd all rushed to the door at once, almost trampling the girl as she was forced along with the crowd through the door into what looked like some kind of twisted ballroom. Black iron spires flecked with peeling gold paint stretched up to embrace the ceiling and a grand decrepit garden was visible through cracks where the stone walls had weathered away, battered with the wind and rain from the storm outside. A sudden chill washed through the room as the center of the floor opened to reveal a slender hooded man, accompanied by several more armoured shadows. He could almost pass for human if it wasn't for his translucent form or the extra sets of gleaming scarlet eyes visible beneath the shadow of his hood. Looking rather bored, he yawned before addressing the crowd of fearful students. "I'm sure your all wondering why you're here, to put it simply you've all become a problem for someone in your life and they wish to have you erased."

The entirety of the ballroom froze as his words sank in, before all hell broke loose and the groups of students broke into a panicked run, some trying to fit through the wider cracks in the walls while others proceeded to immediately collapse and wail. (Y/N) was frozen in place as the reality of the situation sank in and she tried to keep herself from shaking violently. It would be different, if she was armed she'd have some fighting chance of escaping but she was just as stuck as the rest of them. The man groaned in irritation and snapped his fingers as the grotesque creature that had captured her plummeted down from the ceiling to land behind the man, the room seemed to shrink around it as everyone ran to get as far away from it as possible. The creature scanned the room, briefly locking eyes with  (Y/N) as she shivered and felt nausea rising in her stomach.

The mans voice had turned from bored to angry as he glared at the students. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and trust me what you went through to get here is nothing compared to what I have planned if you choose to be difficult." The majority of the group stayed silent, however a few of them kept desperately trying to escape the room through the cracks on the walls. A scowl formed on his face as the creature dove onto the girls, swallowing them whole before muffled screams could be heard from inside the creature. The entire room freezes in fear as the screams slow to a stop before the creature returns to the man's side and the armoured shadows begin dividing up the crowd of girls into smaller groups. Cries of protest fall onto deaf ears as a crack sounds out and one girl falls to her knees in pain, wailing as the bone of her arm can be seen sticking out of her skin before she's hauled to her feet and dragged out of the room and down to another level. A sick smile formed on the man's shadowed face as he addressed the remaining girls. "I'd be more than happy to do the same if you keep being a problem, this is already a pain in the ass as it is." He rolled his eyes as two of the groups were shuffled out of the room, quiet whimpers silenced by the doors creaking shut as the rest of the group was left in the ballroom.

Stress and fear were thick on the air as some of the girls started chatting amongst each other, (Y/N) briefly heard the words "escape" and "nightmare" passed around before the man stepped back to where the floor had opened, gradually disappearing as the opening began to close and the man waved to them, seeming to stare directly at (Y/N) as he spoke. "Get comfy, none of you are going anywhere~