The Waiting Room

Chapter 12- Lone Tear

"Malia!" I screamed in horror, as I snapped up from the ground where I slept. This happened to me last night too. I just couldn't get over her. The nightmares haunted me, seeing her lifeless eyes an her pale skin with her torso soaked in blood. 

What was this cruel game? This felt like a horrible dream- a nightmare. A nightmare I could die in. Thinking about that made me think that this was all surreal and fake. Nothing was real anymore. Not since Malia died. It was so funny to think that since she was crazy, but I thought it was because I was starting to feel invincible because no one I knew had died yet. That was why I was broken after Malia’s death. It was a reminder that I could die, and anyone else could die too.

As soon as James heard me scream, he sat up too. Crystal had woken up too yesterday, but I guess she knew it was going to happen again. That was probably why she slept so far away from me. James hugged me tightly,

"Sh, breathe, Phaedra. You will be alright," he rubbed my arm. He kissed me on the cheek, as he calmed me down soothingly.

"James, please don't leave, too," I whimpered, I wasn’t thinking of him faling back to sleep, but more of him dying.

"Were going to make it out, all of us," he said with hope in his voice. He knew Crystal wasn’t listening, but he still wanted to say it..

"We're not leaving this room. Okay? We're not going to the next task," I said, I looked over at my friends. We didn’t need to be in more danger. They all visibly nodded.

"Agreed. Let Death come at us!" Crystal smiled. I frowned lightly, I supposed she was right. The wolves came at us, so I guessed that more animals could come.

"Hey guys, you should get some sleep," I told them. Crystal nodded, and went back to her little corner. James shrugged,

"I knew Johnny, Sammy, and little Tommy in real life," he said randomly. I smiled, I guessed we were going to start another random conversation.

"Yeah?" I asked amusedly. I wondered if they all went to school together. He nodded,

"Uh huh. We are all good friends. Yeah, sometimes I miss them and..." he trailed, probably thinking that this was a taboo subject. I just shrugged this had been a good enough distraction.

"Well, that was a fun conversation,” I grinned. I glanced at Jmaes to see he wasn’t grinning. Maybe what I had said was mean? “No, no I mean thank you for distracting us and-”

James cut me off, looking worried, "I heard a-" he was then cut off by a loud growling sound.

I grabbed the knife from my pocket. We seriously were not ready to have another fight against an animal. Death just wanted to get us. It was just yesterday that Malia died. We didn't need another combat. The growling got closer.

"Phaedra… " Crystal trailed in a quiet, terrified voice. I winced, and nodded to answer her unspoken question. She hopped up, and grabbed her pocket knife. In my peripheral vision, I saw James quickly taking his small knife off from the ground. Through one of the paper walls, I saw a shadow of a large man. My eyes widened, and my heart raced. Was this Death? Would he finally show himself? I anticipated him, but I was also scared. What did he want to do with us? I swallowed loudly, and James took that as a sign to start running. I quickly followed him and Crystal through the wall that the wolves broke through.

In the distance, I saw a purple light. We raced towards it. Once we arrived we crossed down the hall. I looked behind, and I saw the ape. So the large human shape that I had seen was only Death’s minions? So, he wouldn’t show himself? That did little to soothe me. The ape was large and black with glowing red eyes, and its fangs were sharper than any of our knives. I could hear our feet pound down onto the purple, marble ground, as we ran down the hallway. The walls were painted a light purple color, and were made of cement. The hallway seemed endless with an inifinty amount of doors on either side. I heard the ape’s loud breathing, and its constat growling. I quickly checked all the doors on the way. All of them were locked. James quickly started to do what I was doing, further down the hallway. I turned all the knobs, rapidly. It was to no luck though. Finally James cried,