Grian-based one-shots

never look up

AN AT THE END

TW: SELF HARM, MURDER, DEATH, GORE, VERY GRAPHIC IN GENERAL

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"When you hear an unusual sound in the dark, look to your left, right, and behind. But don't look up, she hates being seen."
-Unknown

I am a fast learner. I catch onto the rules of games quickly. This game wasn't an exception.

The rules were simple: never look up.

We were never told why though, and none of us asked. We just did what we were told and that's what kept us alive.

We've watched our friends fail and look up. We knew very well what would happen if someone looked up.

I recall Victoria. She was skeptical. We told her she shouldn't, but she looked up anyway.

It started off with a struggle. She was overwhelmed by strange visions and sensations. The images of the endless, dark depths consumed her mind. We knew she was doomed. I wish I could have said goodbye.

In a final act of desperation, she cried out for mercy, for sanity, for anything that might save her from the horrifying grasp of the creature. Her efforts proved futile once more, they failed to escape.

Her hands stiffened and clawed at the walls and the doors, as though escape would save her from her fate. She bashed at the doors, but they were too strong. The first few minutes her hands would leave just scratches - then the fingers weakened, and the cold stone walls would be smeared red. As she bludgeoned her own hands her strange muttering would echo throughout the chamber. She screamed until her lungs were sore, until her voice went hoarse. She kept on screaming. The thoughts never stopped; her mind continued to unravel.

Victoria was trapped in the endless abyss of the creature's grasp; it was a fate far worse than death. And there was no escaping it.

In two days, Victoria was able to let go of the Earthly tethers by battering her head repeatedly against the walls (we got new designer-red wallpapers that day, so not too bad😎). What an emetic sight it was.

If by the third day she had not stopped screaming, the participants would be given a gun with only one bullet. They choose what to do with it.

As the days stretched to weeks, our numbers diminished. People were losing hope. After Victoria, there was Karl; after Karl, there was James; after James, there was Ann, and so it continued. There were just three of us left.

Our voices rang through the chamber. The smell of mold that we were so used to by now flooded our nostrils; in and out, in and out, as the dust-filled air continued to rot our lungs.

Dark and cold it was.

Dead leaves on the floor and rubble. Where did the rubble come from? My eyes slowly began to examine the forever-red walls as they did a million times before. I looked around, my mind begging to feed on something more interesting other than 'a pebble', or 'a leaf', or 'another crack'. The walls had started to scrap off, like the person's past was shedding its skin off as everyone forgets about it.

I could smell death in there. It wasn't corpses, but the death of an era, the death of a lifetime, the death of innocents. The death of your humanity.

None of us knew how much time had passed. None of us knew how much longer we'd be trapped in this stupid game. None of us could take it anymore. We all agreed to look up. To finally end this cruel game, to finally be free.

as we gather around in a circle, a mix of anxiety and anticipation hung in the air. We had all agreed to a bold and daring plan, one that required an immense amount of courage and conviction. But as the minutes ticked by, and the time drew closer for it to be put into action, one of us began to falter.