Multi Fandom One Shots And Short Stories

(ESCAPE ROOM) What A Twist to the Plot That'd Be When I Was so Ready to Die

TW- attempted suicide, survivor's guilt, mention of murder and Hunger-Games-like violence, trauma, severe mental trauma, torture, interactions with police but I made them nice, major character death... I think that's it? It's a horror movie, c'mon, cut me some slack.

Title taken from 'sugercrash! but it's sadder' by Kade McCuen.

Word count: 3599

Zoey couldn't remember a time when she wasn't a light sleeper. Even before the crash and her consistent nightmares, she'd always been awakened easily. After the escape rooms and her and Ben's narrow escape, it had just gotten lighter. The nightmares were almost a nightly occurrence, which wasn't a very big change from what they had been before. She had been dealing with the aftermath of the crash for a few years at this point, so she knew how to cope with all of the new emotions she was feeling. Her experiences in the Minos Escape rooms only really impacted her sleep.

It was just past 1:30 in the morning when she was awakened by her phone buzzing on the nightstand beside her bed. She made sure to keep her volume down to not disturb Allison. The buzz would be enough to wake her up if it was needed.

Zoey almost didn't answer it, trying to peel her eyes open enough to look at the glowing screen. Eventually, after about 4 rings, she was able to see the caller ID. Ben?

Zoey sat up and swung her legs out of bed, answering the call and bringing the phone to her ear. "Ben?" She whispered, "What's going on? You ok?" She made her way to the other side of the dorm, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn't disturb the other sleeping girl in the room.

On the other side of the phone, Zoey could hear Ben. He sounded a bit panicked, which wasn't unusual. It wasn't necessarily uncommon for him to call Zoey at ungodly hours of the night because of his nightmares. Zoey figured that was what this was.

"Hey, Zoey?" He said, "Uh, could you..." It seemed he paused to take a shaky breath before he continued, "Could you maybe come over here? I just need- I need someone here."

Zoey was already making her way to her shoes, snatching her car keys from the bowl next to the door and slipping her sneakers on. As she straightened, she asked, "On my way. Are you at your mom's place?"

She heard Ben mumble something but she couldn't make it out. "What?" She said, closing her door quietly and turning to make her way to the car park.

"I'm on the roof."

Zoey froze, her eyes narrowing. "Ben..." She said slowly, "Why are you on the roof?"

He was silent. More insistently, she said again, "Ben, why are you on the roof?"

Brokenly, he said, "I'm sorry, Zoey. I can't- I can't do it anymore." Just like that, the dams seemed to break and all she could hear was her best friend sobbing on the other end. "I don't want to, Zo. I don't want to die! But I don't want to live either, I can't live with what I've seen- with what they made me do!"

Zoey didn't even realize she was running until she made it to her car under a minute later, breathless and a little light headed. She threw open the door and nearly hurled herself into the driver's seat. "Ben," she panted, "don't! Please, I'm on my way, just don't- don't do anything!" She was begging and she didn't care. She didn't receive an answer, just more broken, anguished crying.

Only seconds later, she was peeling out of the parking lot, not particularly caring how many laws she was breaking. Speeding be damned, Zoey refused to lose the only other survivor. She'd already said that she hated being the last one standing and that certainly wouldn't be changing any time soon.