I think I might have gotten lost on the way back to camp, or maybe I was just that far away. I wasn't sure. The fog was too thick to see through so I was mostly blindly walking through the forest, trying to find the campfire.
I catch sight of something moving in the corner of my eye. When I look in the direction, I saw nothing. It caused me to be on guard, and so I try to make my steps as light as possible. A twig snaps underneath my foot, startling me as well as a crow, who flies away.
There was nothing here, hopefully. I wanted to believe I was safe outside of the Trials but I wasn't quite sure. The incident with Claudette when she wandered off made me doubt I was actually safe.
The longer I walked, the colder it got. I cross my arms and hug myself tightly to try to preserve body warmth. I put my hood on to help out as well. There was a break in the woods up ahead, giving me a sense of hope that I had just found a way out of this hellhole.
I walk a bit faster until a crunch was heard under my foot. I look down to realize there was snow on the ground. My heart skipped with joy. The last time I saw snow was back at home. I quickly leave the forest, squinting my eyes a bit at the brightness.
I look behind me at the dark forest. I was free. A smile forms on my lips as I hobble away from the woods. A large building came into view that was oddly familiar. Loud music could be heard coming from the inside as I got closer. Someone was here.
I walk through a doorway that had a desk and a line of lockers. Turning around the corner, I am in a large space with a fireplace in the middle. "Hello?" I call out, trying to rise my voice over the loud music.
I didn't get a response, or if I did get one it was drowned out by the music that seemed to be coming from upstairs. I take a look around the place. I tried to piece together why it seemed to familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint it.
I take a seat on one of the old sofas and get a hit of deja vu. I tug on my hoodie strings a bit. The fire gave me warmth from the frigid winter temperatures. As the song died down, I was able to hear multiple voices.
People are here. I quickly make my way upstairs with overriding joy. They could help me get home. I walk past a mural on the wall that read The Legion. I was quite impressed by the skill of it. Whoever painted it was pretty talented in graffiti.
I walk into the room where the music was coming from. There were four people in the room. They all went silent when they see me enter the room. "Who the hell are you?" One of them asks. "I'm-"
I look at a girl with pink hair and freeze. She was all-too familiar. She was the girl that attacked me during my first Trial. I immediately knew I was no longer safe, and that I had not left the hellhole. I was only in a different part of it.
The tallest of the four approaches me, a hunting knife in his hand. The music cuts, raising the tension. I take a step back. "I said who are you," he repeats with a more threatening tone. I turn to run.
A hand clasps down on my arm and pulls me back. I squeak and look at him with fear. I whip my body around and bite down on his hand. He screams in pain, letting me go in the process. I run out of the room and down the stairs as fast as I could.
I heard footsteps following behind me, causing me to run faster. I was hardly able to make it out before someone pounces on me. They turn me onto my back so I could see them. I was only able to see a pale white mask and blonde hair. "Answer the fucking question: Who the fuck are you?" She yells at me, pinning her blade against my neck.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll leave!" I quickly say, trying to wiggle out from underneath her but she held me in place. "Answer me, or I'll fucking slit your throat." I close my eyes as I begin to cry. "I don't wanna die, please," I choke out.
"Julie," a voice calls out. The rest run over to us. The girl is pried off of me much to her resistance. "Get off of me!" I open my eyes to see the two girls. I scoot away from them and try to get up and flee to the forest, but someone graps a hold of my wrist.
I try to punch them, but they grab my other hand as well and turn me around, holding me in a chokehold. I flail myself around in an attempt to escape but they were too strong. I kick my legs around as I am dragged back into the building. "Let me go! Let me go!" I scream.
I am pushed onto the sofa. I whip around to face the group of Killers as they stand in front of me with their masks on. "Please don't hurt me," I say as tears streamed down my face.
One of them approaches me with a bleeding hand. "You fucking bitch!" He yells. He was now wearing his mask. "Fucking bit the shit out of me," he says. I flinched as he raised his fist and punches me in the cheek.
I fall onto my side and cling onto the couch to prevent me from falling off. A gasp could be heard from one of the girls. He grabs my throat and sits me back up before pinning me to the back of the sofa. I grabbed a hold of his hand and tries to pull it away, but his grip only tightens.
"Now, answer the motherfucking question or I swear to god I will kill you," he threatens. "H... S- Solar," I manage out, trying to pry myself free from being choked. "My name's Solar." His grip loosens and I take in as deep of breathes as I could.
"Why are you here?" I shake my head. "I don't know!" I struggle against his grip when he tightens it again. "I was lost!"
"That's two different answers. You're fucking lying to me." The chill of a blade presses against my throat underneath his hand. "Tell me the truth!" I was only able to cry more. I didn't have another answer. I didn't want to die because he didn't believe me.
"Frank," the pink-haired girl grabs his arm, catching his attention. "Get the fuck off!" He pushes her away. "No, Frank, you're scaring the shit out of her! We don't need to be this extreme!" I was beginning to like this girl. She seemed the most friendly out of them all.
"She's kind of right, man," a guy dressed in black says. I stared into the small holes of the mask in front of me, hoping he would listen to them. He lets out a frustrated groan and lets me go. I cough and gasp for air, collapsing on the worn sofa.
"Y'all deal with her, then. I gotta take care of this," he says and walks off. I look at the three standing in front of me, scared of what they are going to do.
The pink-haired girl takes a step forward. "Aren't you that one girl from a few Trials back with the hurt foot?" She tilts her head a bit. I could feel her eyes examine me as she tries to identify who I was. I nod my head.
"What are you doing here?" She questions. The blonde girl then speaks up, gripping her knife tightly in her hand. "And if you lie to us, I won't hesitate to use this." I stare at her knife for a moment before looking back at the girl in front of me.
"I don't know," I say. "I got lost and ended up here."
"Ugh, what the fuck are we doing?" The blonde-haired girl grumbles. "She's a stupid survivor, we're supposed to kill her!" The guy with the skull mask calms her. "Only in Trials," he says to her. She shakes her head and storms outside.
"I want to go back to the campfire. Please," I say, wiping the tears off of my face. The last two share a glance with each other before looking back at us. "You can't," the girl says. I feel my heart drop. More tears stream down my face. "Why not?"
"Because we said so," the guy says and takes a seat on another couch. I hide my face in my hands and cry more. "Why are you guys keeping me hostage? I didn't do anything." They don't answer my question, serving to irritate me. They didn't have a reason, they were just doing it to be assholes.
Well, I could be an asshole back then.
