Playing a dangerous game

Play

I stood silently.

The cold wind brushed against my colourless face, my hair frozen. In front was the derelict mansion I once played freely in. A beautiful house, now a run-down building hiding away from the nearby village. Away from all civilization it stood. Vines clung to its window and thorns stuck to the rotten bricks. Flowers had withered and the path was cracked and broken. The sight of its transformation ran chills down my spine. A moaning whisper brushed pass and the door groaned open. From where I stood, all I could see was darkness inside. Fear pervaded my soul. The moon's white hands reached towards me showing the shadow casted by the mansion.

In its magnificence it stood, in brilliant moonlight.

I shook my head and walked forwards. Naked trees surrounded the area, the winter's tempest ever growing stronger-like invisible blades cutting the silent atmosphere into a thousand pieces. I pushed the door open and stepped in. My footsteps echoed along the damp, solitary walls.

I stepped again.

This time a screaming creek protruded from the wet floor beneath my foot. The stench of rotten wood and faeces creeped up my nostrils. I held in a gag and walked up the stairs. It let out a strained screech as I carefully put one foot in front of the other. I prayed; hoping that I wouldn't make too much noise, for it had felt I had disturbed something more than the animals here.

Something malicious and evil.

I held delicately onto the wooden handrail as I made my way up to the second floor. It was brighter up here due to the eerie moonlight glancing through the windows. It's hands shone on a deserted room. In the middle sat a large chair. The walls were covered with rotten wallpaper peeling off. Beyond this room was another at the end. From where I stood there was a smashed window. Like wide eyes it stared at me. I walked forward ignoring the sound of scuttling cockroaches and the squeals of mice scattering.

A graveyard.

I'd never heard or seen this before. My eyes widened. Suddenly my blood ran cold, the temperature dropped and I heard a noise.

Creek.

I turned around suddenly. "Who's there?" I called out to the nothingness. I trembled.

Silence.

I let out a heavy sigh. Then a voice called out from the dark.

"Stay."

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My eyes turned bloodshot. My fingers numbed, my skin turned pale like glass.

"Stay?" I mumbled to myself repeatedly. My eyes darting from one end of the room to another, I tried to understand. "Stay? What do you mean?"

Nothing.

Then it called.

"I'm lonely." I figured that it was a little girl.

"L-lonely?" I stuttered.

"I want to play with you." My eyes widened.

"Play?"

"Play." The voice whispered. My heart pounded against my chest like it was trying to break free.

"What are you?" I said turning in the same spot.

"What do you mean?" I tried to hear the direction from which the voice had come from.

"Are you a ghost?" I questioned.

"No... Let's say... I was an experiment gone wrong." Then she stopped. "Now, I want to play." The voice said again impatiently.

"But I can't-"

Bang! Smash!

The shutters on every window shut leaving the light outside. "What the..." I said mumbling like a psychopath.

"I said I want to play." The voice said innocently but an evil intent danced playfully behind the words. The room was pitch black. My eyes struggled to see. My breathing hitched.

"W-what?"

"I want to play!" The voice screamed, the sound vibrating my ears nearly forcing them to explode. My hands covered my ears tightly as the floor started to shake. Blinding light appeared from nowhere striking the floor like lightning. I stumbled and scrambled back onto my feet.

"Okay! Okay!" I shouted. Suddenly everything stopped as if nothing happened. No noise, no lightning, just nothing.

"You want to play?" The voice asked.

"On one condition." I trembled.

"What?"

"You let me go afterwards."

Then a malicious chuckle came out.

My heart crumbled. The heat drained out of me. It felt like I was truly in the presence of evil.

"Well... On one condition." Then girl said. I felt an evil smile creep up on her face even though I couldn't see her.

"What?"

"If you win, you live, free to go. If not..." A pause came. "You'll find out." She laughed.

Suddenly a blast of white light appeared. I felt as if my body was twisted and bent and thrown away like a rag doll. The light disappeared. I scrambled to my feet, the pain lingering. Then I see trees and blood smeared along the bark. I'm no longer in the mansion.

A jungle?

"What the-" Then the voice called out.

"Let the game begin."

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That was intense! Hope you enjoyed!

Mylittlebluesongbird.