Hide Seek Kill - A Thriller Novel || Draft One

Fourteen: Amelia

Amelia is searching the second floor, hoping to find some windows or something that could give her a better sense of direction.

She opens one of the heavy oak doors to her right and inside is a dark room, lit only by the kerosene lamp that sits on a desk. Mia finds the lightswitch and slowly the lights turn on, the warm light illuminating the room.

Amelia is surprised to see she's in a beautiful but dusty schoolroom. With a blackboard on the wall to her left and rows of desks to her right, each row slightly higher than the last, she reminisces of her time in a private school back at home.

Those were some good times...until high school. Those last three years are something she'd like to just forget.

She notices some white on the large blackboard and moves closer to read the fancy cursive. Chills run down her spine when she realizes what it says.

Welcome to the Game, Mee-uh Oh-my-uh.

Who wrote that? Is the Host trying to mess with her? How did they know that it was going to be Mia that would first find this room? How did they know she was going to play the Game?
Most importantly, how did they know that name?

It was what he used to call her. Amelia trembles slightly upon remembering the shouts, slurs, and slaps.

Her mind wanders to a darker place as she vigorously scrubs away at the chalk with an eraser, but doesn't get very far because the usual fog blankets her memories, making her blank out and forget it all.

Amelia runs her fingers along the surface of the cedarwood desk, wondering why there is even a schoolroom. Then she remembers that multiple families, usually the servants and employees, live in mansions such as this one. Their children had to learn somewhere and so there would usually be a hired teacher who also lived in the mansion.

Setting the history aside, Mia goes back to her initial task: finding good windows. And lucky for her, large, circular windows line the side of the classroom, letting in the pretty starlight.

To anyone else, her quest would be pointless, as there is no daylight, but Amelia knows that some things can only be spotted under the cover of darkness.

She creeps up to the windows and squints her eyes. The lights are creating a glare on the glass, so Mia quickly flicks off the light, leaving the lantern as the only light source once more.

As she lets her eyes adjust, she subconsciously shivers. Being alone in a dark room such as this one brings back memories that her brain has blocked for so long; her own demons that had haunted her for four years of her life.

If they return, she just might lose it.

It had taken two years of counseling to get her back to a good place. If her past were to come back to her now, in the middle of a Game that consists of many deadly people, she could lose both her sanity and her life.

Which would mean she'd lose the Game.
And that wasn't an option.

If she lost, well...She wouldn't. Mia knows how to get her way and she has no doubt that she can make the other Players do what she wants them to.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turns back to the window. For a moment, she sees nothing, but as her eyes further become accustomed to the lighting, she sees there are small lights flickering in the distance. The only question is, what are the lights. The only identifying indicator is that they seem to spin clockwise while flashing.

Mia tries to get a closer look at the source of the light. She can make a faint outline of a tall building in the distance, but it's too dark to tell what it really is.