Three Man Value [IDV]

Vines

Andrew had been woken up in the middle of the night, and he looked around his room, seemingly panicked. He had had a nightmare. Yes, it is deemed a bit childish to still get nightmares and to get afraid of them, but that didn't mean that he liked them one bit.

Knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to get to sleep for a while, he pulled himself out of bed and walked down the hallway. He had brought a lantern just in case. He liked the dark, but he at least needed to be able to see.

Assuming that everyone else in the manor was asleep, he quietly made his way through the halls, trying not to make any loud noises to disturb them. The door of the manor would always creak, so he opened it just enough so that he could skip through.

The sky was decently clear that night. If you looked up, you could see all the stars scattered across it. Stargazing was always one of Andrew's hobbies, since he'd usually be up and awake by that time of night.

He though that he'd go for a little walk, maybe collect a flower or two, and then return to the manor to which he'd fall asleep. It sounded like a decent plan. Nobody else was there, so he could take his time and enjoy it.

Stepping through the woodsy area proved to be somewhat difficult— just because of all the bushes and roots and all that stuff— but it wasn't that bad. Besides, for him, it wasn't in the sunlight, which helped considerably.

After about a minute or two of walking, he felt his right wrist being pulled back with a somewhat violent force. He stumbled backwards, fumbling with the lantern in his other hand to see why he had done so.

A vine-like plant with sharp thorns had somehow wrapped around his arm. Though, he would have avoided it if he had saw it. Wasn't it not there just a moment ago?

It also hurt like absolute hell. With the thorns, any movement would cause them to dig deeper into the skin. He set the lantern down on the ground and carefully started pulling the plant away from his wrist, muttering curses to himself while doing so.

Suddenly, he felt the same kind of vine wrap around his other wrist, pulling both of his hands together. He bit hard on his lip to avoid screaming. He could feel the thorns digging deeper every time he moved.

He glanced back helplessly at his lantern on the ground as he felt himself being pulled away. He tried to dig his feet into the ground to have it stop, but the force would only grow stronger each time he did so and would give a harsh jolt in a random direction as a warning.

In less than a minute he was thrown to the ground, the recoiling of the vines from his wrists hurting more than the initial impact. He shakily stood up and looked around, seeing that he was at the entrance of the manor again.

He shook his head in disbelief. He knew he had walked at least a minute's worth away from that place, but suddenly he was right back at the start. His looked down, seeing his lantern being tossed to the ground next to him.

No person was there, so how was that possible? Sure, plants could move, but not like that.

He bent down to pick up his lantern and winced, setting it back down. He pulled his sleeve up on both of his arms and saw bad cuts near his wrist, the ones on his right being deeper than his left. He let out a shaky sigh and picked up the lantern, biting back pain as he walked into the manor again, giving up on walking through its exterior.

Mrs. Dryer wouldn't mind that he took a bit of bandage wrap from her office, right? He had seen some in Victor's room as well as a few other people's rooms, so it should be fine.

He quietly went inside the nurse's office and looked through the cabinet that had the bandage wrap inside of it. How would he apply it, though?

"Andrew?" a soft voice called from the doorway, making Andrew jump a bit. "O-Oh, its okay, it's just me."

Emily walked into the room, looking at Andrew. "Did you get yourself hurt?"

He nodded as Emily looked down at his wrists. He nervously looked down and pulled his sleeves over his wrists again. "I-It's nothing, really," he muttered.

Emily shook her head. She took the bandage wrap from Andrew and had him sit down on one of the beds as she examined his injuries. "You went outside of the manor, didn't you?"

"Y-Yes," Andrew paused. "How did you-"

"The injuries from those plants always look the same," Emily responded, carefully starting to apply the bandage wrap on his wrists. "Multiple stinging cuts around the wrist area. They never feel good."

"Have you ever gotten cut by them?" Andrew asked. The doctor fell silent for a few seconds.

"I have not, but I've seen many of the others have them." Emily sighed. "They all get desperate to escape this place after a while and choose to run away. But, their cuts looked a lot worse than this, so maybe you weren't actively trying to escape."

Andrew nodded. Emily finished applying the bandage wrap and smiled. "Try to get some rest, alright, Andrew?"

"A-Alright." Andrew stood up from the bed and started walking to the door. "How come you're up so early?" he asked.

Emily shrugged. "I usually get up early to set up the office in preparation for the matches of the day. I go to sleep earlier than most of the others so I still get a good amount of rest. You, on the other hand, need to sleep."

Andrew gave a small wave, wincing a bit and putting his hands back down to his sides as he walked back to his room.

So he couldn't escape. Neither could anyone else. It was either this game, or... whatever was out there. He didn't want to admit it, but it would be a hell of a lot better to do the matches than to get caught in the vines again.