Camp Murder (Inanimate Insanity)

Chapter 1 - Bright Lights

The bright Lights dorm was medium-sized, big enough to fit four or five people. Once he opened the door to the dorm he could only stare. There was not four, not five, but nine people.

The room was in complete panic.

Nobody noticed Fan at first, so he took the opportunity to examine the room. Two girls flung a ball of clothes to eachother. One girl was rounded with blonde hair, the other petite with white. A tall, dark-skinned person yelled at them about everything and nothing, whilst a red-haired girl with pigtails tried desperately to join in with the game.

Hunched under a blanket fast asleep was a figure that Fan could not make out. Sat on top of that sleeping figure was a weird boy ripping at his hair and muttering to himself.

Fan opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it as the room spiralled into silence.
"Um, hi." Fan shifted his feet awkwardly.
"Hi!" A voice chirped from behind him. He jumped, and swerved to face it's owner. The voice belonged to a tall, thin green-haired girl. Was she there before? He couldn't remember.

"Test Tube," the tall shouting one stood forward. "Don't scare the new people. Hey, I'm Paintbrush!"
"Oh!" Fan gasped. He recognised them from the last season. "You're the bitter one from season 1! I remember you!"
Paintbrush blinked, slightly taken aback by being called 'bitter'. They pulled a weird face at Fan.

"Yo yo yo, paper boy! Over here! I'm Lightbulb." The blonde called to Fan in a slightly-accented but very joyous tone. She chucked him the clothing-ball with no warning. He reached out to catch it, awkwardly stumbling forward and falling to his knees.

A few members of the Bright Lights erupted into laughter, but not in a cruel way. Fan got a warm feeling in his stomach as he pulled himself back to his feet. He was too starstruck to be embarrassed- at the presence of season 1 participants.

"Um... I'm Marshmallow," the small white-haired girl squeaked. "And that's...Apple." She motioned towards the girl now clinging to her arm. There was a hint of resilience in her voice that nobody bothered to mention.

"That there's Yin Yang, and beneath him is Tissues. They're both kinda gross, so I'd recommend staying out of their way." Paintbrush retorted, a little more rudely than they'd have liked.
"And- where's Cherries?" They snapped as a pair of redhead twins exited the closet with rubber gloves on. Fan frowned at who he assumed was Cherries, before taking out his MePhone and snapping a picture of his new team. Just in case.

After about an hour of unpacking his suitcase, Fan grew increasingly tired. He rested his head against the bed frame. It was almost impossible not to doze off in the warm glow emitting from the flickering lights. He checked his phone. The blog was blowing up with this newfound information that he was on the show, which was great! Business is good.

"Fan, is it?"
Fan looked up from his phone to see Test Tube awkwardly standing at his bed frame.
"Test Tube! Hi!" He greeted her and she took it as an invite to sit on his bed. Fan bit his bottom lip and didn't say anything as she sat there, silently staring.

"Um," he racked his brain for something to speak about. "Why do you want to win the million?"
Test Tube's face creased up in thought, causing her glasses to slide down her nose. "I dunno. I guess I want more science equipment. That would be nice. But! There's only a 1 out of 20 chance of me winning."

Fan rested his head next to her leg on the bed. "So you're a scientist?" He internally cringed after asking such a dumb and obvious question.
"Yeah!" Test Tube grinned without missing a beat. "Science rules!"

She opened her mouth, about to continue, but was interrupted by muffled yelling outside. Through the thin walls Fan could hear Paintbrush going off on something- he couldn't miss that for the world! He jumped to his feet, giving an expectant look to Test Tube.
"Oh, no. You go. I promised Tissues I'd examine his 'condition' after we spoke."

Fan shrugged and slid his phone into his hoodie pocket, making his way outside into the cold evening. The wind hit his face like an intrusive snowstorm.
When he looked to the centre of the campgrounds, Fan's jaw dropped at the sight before him. Wow.

A large crowd surrounded what he could only imagine to be Paintbrush beating the living hell out of somebody.