The Playing Fields First Draft

Chapter Two

     Claire felt like someone hit her in the head with a sledgehammer.

     The last thing Claire remembered was that she was talking to Jenny while walking home from Rob's party.

     Now?

     Now Claire found herself in the middle of a strange field where nothing felt right. Even the light of dawn illuminating the sky felt strange to Claire. A kind of light that looked dark to her. Almost like the blend favored the dark a bit more. Claire realized, and quickly noticed something else wrong with the picture.

     Her clothes were gone.

     It took Claire a moment to realize this, as she was dressed for the warm fall day, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. A stark difference between them, and the underwear that Claire had as the only clothing on her, but to be fair in Claire's case, she woke up in the middle of nowhere with no memory of what happened to get her there.

     So, what now? Claire wondered, as she hid herself among the tall grass in the field. While it looked like there was no one in the around in the general vicinity, Claire had the sensation of someone watching her. All right, first order of business, find some clothes! Claire decided, as she begrudgingly stepped out of the grass to look around. Claire had to find something, anything, that resembled a building. If there's a building, there's gotta be some pants. Claire rationalized.

     Wait. Claire realized something funny about her situation. I feel like I read this in a comic somewhere...nevermind, not the time! Despite how funny it seemed, Claire wasn't in a position to laugh about it. She had to get moving.

     And tripped over a trunk.

     "Owww..." Claire fell head-first onto the ground, and landed on her back. "What the...?"

     The trunk looked to have been made sometime between the seventeenth and eighteenth century, constructed from what looked to be a heavy oak. What Claire found to be the strangest thing about the trunk was the lack of a lock and latch. "Who would design a trunk that anyone could get into?" She wondered aloud. "And who would put a trunk in the middle of nowhere?"

     Claire had a sneaking suspicion about where she was, but confirmation was always a good thing. She opened the trunk, maybe with a little too much strength as the trunk tipped over and spilled its contents. A pair of shorts, a short tank top, and a pair of running shoes with a note.

     The hell is this? Claire thought, as she picked up the shorts. The shorts looked to be a size too small for her to wear. The same story with the tank top, though strangely enough the running shoes broke with the other two to fit her perfectly.

     They're the best I've got. Claire sighed and slipped her leg into the shorts.

     Everything that Claire got from her visual inspection of the clothing was correct. Despite being an outfit to exercise in, Claire would be lucky enough to breathe regularly. Well, better than nothing, right?

     Claire left the note for last, perhaps it was that eerie feeling of someone watching her that made Claire dress first. Granted, the outfit she had on now still didn't leave much to the imagination, but it was a step in the right direction.

     The note was folded, the paper had a strange texture that Claire couldn't explain what it felt like. Claire knew why she couldn't explain it, which was the final piece of the puzzle. It was a type of paper Claire found in a notebook at a specialty shop specializing in products from one location.

     The Other World.

     It explained everything perfectly. The strange light, the uncomfortable feeling of someone watching Claire, and now the specialty paper. While Claire felt as though she didn't need the note to explain everything, she decided to read it anyway. It was a note from a woman named Donella, a banshee fae of the Unseelie Court. It was an explanation of where Claire was, and why she was there.

     It was a game.

     Donella referred to the game as "The Playing Fields", where four abductees would be scattered across four fields. Two of them would start the game together, while the rest were alone. In the unoccupied field was where the monster would start at.

     The monster was described to be anything, from a random mythological creature to a changeling. The most dangerous part of the monster being a changeling was that the changeling could pass off as another abductee, and strike when the others had their guards down. Even more so considering that swapping human babies with their own was something that every race of fae did, so changeling meant more than one type of creature.

     Claire shivered at the thought. She knew all about changelings from when Claire had the same education about the supernatural as Seanna and Thomas. Claire really did not want to run into a banshee changeling given their ability to phase through walls.

     Donella went onto the four fields of the Playing Fields, the Field (where Claire woke up in), the City, the Forest, and the Orchard. Each of the fields were based on the cities that the abductees were taken from, in this case, they were from the city of Lakewood.

     Claire recognized the Field as the place she would play with her siblings as children. Thank you for not getting us video games, mother and father. Claire thought, as she read on. The Field was just a twisted version of that field, where the grass was uneven in length. In some places the grass went up to seven feet, and others were up to two feet. There were hidden surprises in the Field as well. Donella didn't say what they were, or where.

     The City was four blocks of Lakewood, just as twisted as the Field was. Lakewood was a coastal city along Lake Michigan, and had its own portal to the Other World. The City was described as "apocalyptic", and held many places for abductees to hide should they encounter the monster. There wasn't much more about the city other than it seemed as though the emphasis on the monster made it seem like it came from the City.

     Monsters come from the city. Feels like a pretentious version of Remnants now. Claire thought of the long-running reality show where contestants had to survive in a remote area. Granted nobody would die in the show, they would just be voted away. Maybe the fae were responsible for the show.

     The Orchard was described as a twisted version of Lakewood Orchard, a farmhouse that dated back to the mid-nineteenth century. Lakewood Orchard was the first building in the area when the ground found to be well suited for growing apples. In this version, however, it was filled with failed apple trees, and a dilapidated house. There was nothing other than to stay out of the house's cellar.

     A warning. Claire thought. All the more reason to go in. It was part of Claire's nature to be rebellious against someone who held her as a captive.

     The Forest was described as a sea of twisted trees in a fog dense region. A twisted version of the one Claire would usually walk through. The creatures of the forest hide in the trees whenever someone walks into their lair. While they are content with watching strangers from afar, angering them would be a costly mistake.

     Why didn't I wake up there? Claire wondered she knew the Field as well as she did the Forest. Mysteries of the fae. Claire concluded, as she shook her head.

     The objective of the Playing Fields was to find three key components in the Fields, one per field, and a hatch to freedom in the last one. The components could only be assembled when they were close to the hatch. Once the components were assembled, the monster would be teleported away for the victors to celebrate with a leisurely exit.

     Donella ended the note with what seemed like a fake "Good luck!", the same kind that would be used by game show hosts hoping that you won't win too much money.

     Claire crumpled up the letter and tossed it aside. She had enough of the fae and their games. Time to get to work. Claire thought as she started to walk through the Field.

     As soon as Claire made it ten feet from the trunk, the pain coming from her head intensified, causing Claire to drop to the ground in agonizing pain. She grabbed at her forehead and back of her neck to try to treat it as a migraine.

     It failed.