54
I gazed down at the bustling crowd below me as I caught my breath. The building I was resting on was quite tall, but I doubted that it would hide me for very long. All I need is a minute. I thought to myself over and over again. But alas I was never a very lucky person.
“There she is!” They yelled behind me. Shooooot! I lunged onto the windowsill right below me and slid down the flag poll onto the shabby apartment’s roof. Remember, I’m safer when higher. I’m safer when higher. I’m safer when higher. The men were catching up. I swear they were everywhere.
I glanced ahead. The only option was to go forward. The building I chose was too small. Everything around it was too tall to climb without getting caught. I was hoping that that shabby rundown town would have had smaller crappy buildings! Well, there was really nothing that I could do except run. Don’t think! RUN!
The long apartments were coming to an end, and I would have no choice but to jump. I could basically feel the glares on the back of my neck as I planned my jump. It was too busy a road to jump right into traffic, the army trucks and supply wagons were constantly being shipped through this shabby town. Honestly, I had never been in that city before, so I was seriously hoping that I was wrong.
As I looked down at the line of government vehicles below me, I realized that I was royally screwed. I couldn’t stop, but I had no choice. They can’t catch me! They can’t catch me! Please anything but that! Then I saw my escape and before I could even rethink my decision, I had already launched myself off the building and into the supply car below.
“Ouch!” Someone screamed at me. OUCH?! This is a supply car! I looked up and realized that I was in a crowd of people who were all chained together with bags over their heads. There was barely any room to even move, and three different people’s chains were digging into my back.
“What is this?” I asked. “Why are we all in this truck?” I was looking around for an escape, but I really misjudged the looks of this truck when I jumped. The sides were too tall and smooth to climb and judging by the speed of the car eve if I was to use someone was a stepping stool and jumped out, I would’ve probably died.
“What do you mean? None of us really know where we’re going! We only know the rumors,” Some guy behind me said. Now that caught my curiosity and honestly anything was better than getting caught.
“What rumors?” I asked, intrigued.
“We are going to be sentenced by the Prince of Madness!”
“The god of insanity!”
“The fate of the condemned!”
“I heard that no one survives a week, in his palace!”
“The winner becomes apart of his court of psychopaths.” At this point I was convinced that I was on a train to the looney bin. There is no “Prince of Psychos” or whatever, and no one can even agree on his stupid name. He was probably just a psychiatrist who gave out morphine to the crazies in this car.
“So, why are we going to this man’s house of horrors?” I asked sweetly, barely able to breathe out the question. A couple people just sadly laughed at my question.
“Where you not in the same holding cells as us?” he sarcastically threw at me. “We were sent from all over the world to be sentenced by him.
“Why?” I pushed, clenching my jaw tightly trying to not express the fear rising from my stomach.
“Why!!” He spit at me “WHY! It’s because we’ve done some bad things little girl and this man thrives off of torture.” I flinched at his tone despite myself, “I heard that he’s been doing this sense the beginning of time and if you fail to give him his sacrifice once every couple of months, he turns on the country and causes chaos too to arise.” Huh, interesting. I’m stuck in car full of criminally insane people.
“So, does he like take appointments or anything? And why does he need so many of us? I feel like the forty some people in here are kind of ridiculous.” At this point I was invested into his little fantasy and also kind of excited to see the people in the white coats that come out to greet us once we get there. I can play crazy, its better that the alternative.
“That’s the funny part! We don’t know!” At this point he was manically laughing, and I really wish that I could see his face. He sounded like a senile fifty-year-old, so I’m guessing he’ll be the first admitted. The space was filled with stories and rumors about this man, that I couldn’t tell if they were terrified of him or if they were worshipping him. I couldn’t tell if I was more frightened or curious.
“I heard that there are multiple!” Another guy said which got a chorus of murmurs going. “There’s the Prince, the knight, and the lady! There’s madness, brutality and lies! They try to get into your head and make you go mad like the rest of them!” This guy sounded closer to my age, which really made me consider the wide variety of people in this car. At least they all had something in common with each other. Insanity.
“Of course, there’s multiple, you idiot! It’s a whole court of madness! I think the two main ones here are actually women because I’ve been told that they seduce you into believing them and then trick you into killing yourself. The prince could actually be a princess. We don’t know what he/she is except that they are our death sentence!” This guy was a bit further away, so it was kind of hard to hear the end of his mental breakdown.
“Any other guesses? I asked. “We could bet on who’s the closest.” I murmured trying to lighten the dark helpless mood.
“It’s definitely a woman!” Some lady yelled. “No man wants to torture these many killers and rapists!” Wait! What?
“Well, what are you in for?” Someone yelled back at her.
“For killing twenty-eight people in that office fire,” She yelled back. What the actual heck! That started a chorus of people yelling out their crimes like they were some type of accomplishment.
“I killed twenty-nine people over the course of seven years!” The person beside me yelled, which caused me to slowly scoot away from him.
“Those are child’s numbers!” Another yelled.
“Try thirty-two!”
“Dang, I only got seventeen!” Someone literally whined.
“So um, where are all of you from?” I asked changing the topic, a pit forming in the depths of my stomach trying to process all the crimes being shouted.
“I’m from Octaviland,” The senile fifty-year-old responded.
“I’m from Caspiopia!” So, both sides of the war are contributing to this.
“I’m from Bellivina!” Oh same. Wait, there are people here from even overseas! This guy must’ve been a big deal if they were sending him people from literally all over! I zoned out the chorus of countries being yelled out. I was just too confused. The reality of this was starting to hit me. For once I had literally no idea what was going to happen. No one in this car is even remotely believable.
Then the truck came to an abrupt stop, and we all slammed into each other. My heart was pounding. I was terrified. I needed to get out before they get back here. I jumped onto the man beside me and stood on his shoulders. He started to aggressively yell and try to shake me off, but I held my balance until I could jump and grab the top of the wall. I pulled myself over and jumped. I took off at a dead sprint not even looking at my surroundings.
“Oof!” I was grabbed from behind and pulled into a hard chest.
“Where do you think you’re going,” his breath tickled my ears and sent shivers down my spine. My brain stopped. I couldn’t think. I got to say something.
He grabbed my arm in vice like grip and pulled me back toward the truck. I looked up and saw the biggest palace I had ever seen in my whole life. I stared at the back of my captor and willed him to release me, although he did have a very nice back and beautiful golden blonde hair. He matched the house in a weird way. They both felt off, I’ve felt this one other time before, but I couldn’t place it. It drew me in and felt so familiar and right, but it was tinged with something like madness. Everything was off. But felt so right. I was being pulled in both directions. Part of me is begging to go in and the other part is screaming to run. It’s the same as the man in front of me I was drawn to him in a way I can’t understand. He radiated power, but it was also off. I pulled myself out of my thoughts and tried to yank my hand away.
“Nuh uh uh,” He tutted at me turning around, “You belong in my castle.” I looked into his golden crazy eyes. He was smiling at me in a way that curled my toes in terror. He cocked his head at me in the most horrifying way possible. My heart dropped. His face twisted up into a cruel, wicked smile. Then fixed his crooked crown that sat on top of his disheveled hair. His entire outfit was formal attire, but it seemed as if he had been rolling around in it. It was wrinkled and untucked. He tilted his head to the side and glared right into my soul giving me the scariest smile I had ever seen. “You’re going to have fun in my house,” he stated before disappearing. Then I realized that he had pulled me inside his castle and that I was back with the group in the hallway.
People or servants came floating in gracefully, and without sparing anyone an actual glace, they began to pull of the bags and unlock the chains. The weird men in suits drifted out as fast as they came in. Their faces without emotion, their eyes glassy, they looked as if they didn’t have a mind of their own.
As soon as they departed the house started to shift. Everything around us was spinning, until we were in a completely different room. The doors were gone. Everything was gone but a huge stage. We all looked around at each other confused. Maybe their predictions weren’t all wrong. My heart was pounding this isn’t right. It feels off again! I can feel it!
Then the room went dark, and the stage lights flew on. We all stared terrified, waiting for something to happen. Then the music came. It was quiet and absolutely terrifying as the stage lights flickered. Leaving us in semidarkness. There was a long pause as if everyone in the room held their breath. The music sang its way into our souls leaving us a paranoid mess.
Then I heard the first scream. I’ll never forget it. It was bloodcurdling and frantic. We all spun around only hearing the music that was now spinning backward and playing the part over and over again. The exact part that was playing as he was killed. In the corner was the body. We’ll never know what happened to him, except that he was the first of many. His body leaked blood unto the floor, and it streamed out making its path toward our feet. My eyes widened as I threw my hands over my mouth to conceal my silent screams of horror. I wanted to puke.
Then the music stopped. Everyone around me was too scared to move or speak. I was practically hyperventilating as I watched the man bleed out on the floor. The silence was horrible. It was like waiting for something to happen. Then the stage lights flared to a brightness that it had never been before and the man that dragged me into this appeared on stage. I shielded my eyes away from the bright light that invaded our patch of darkness. I slowly looked back up, preparing for the worst. He was just as terrifying as before. With his crazy eyes and psychotic smile. He wasn’t alone. Another man was on stage with him. He had dark black hair and eyes that matched. His crisp white shirt and black dress pants contrasted dramatically with the blonde’s rumpled appearance. His face held no expression, he just stared, his eyes soulless. He as well had off that off feeling rolling off of him like a wave. They weren’t right. With a blink of an eye the black-haired boy was by the body, I swore his eyes turned purple. That was when the flags went off in my brain. It was same feeling as earlier with the blonde and the house.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” His deranged voice echoed across the room. We all spun around away from the other boy to stare at this one. He looked ready to combust. He was practically bouncing in place with excitement, but his smile said it was anything but good. “You are here because you have done some pretty naughty things.” He shook his finger at the crowd. “But I’m here to give you your punishment,” He growled and bared his teeth at us. We flinched back and a couple people whimpered in fear. His eyes danced around our faces drinking in our expressions. His face showed pure childlike delight at out reactions where his partner stood aloof. After a dramatic pause, watching as his words bared down us, he continued. “But I am also offering an escape. Whoever can get out of this house or survives the longest, gets to join my court! Isn’t that just truly wonderful and exciting!” He threw his arms out and smiled mischievously at us. Everyone just stared blankly at him. He looked ecstatic with the attention he was getting. If he wasn’t so terrifying, it would’ve been kind of cute.
“Why would we listen to a kid?” Someone yelled. Everyone froze. The look on his face was sinister. Then he slowly smiled at the man. A predators smile. One that will be forever ingrained in my brain.
“Why I’m 17 that’s hardly a child, isn’t it,” He blinked up innocently at the man. The man gulped and shook his head. “Who do you think I am?” The boy said terrifyingly calm.
“You’re the god of insanity,” he stuttered. The boy looked back at his friend.
“Well, that’s a new one,” he smiled to himself contently, “I like it! It’s usually something like Prince of Madness or King of Mischief or Lord of Chaos. I’ve been upgraded to a god statis!” He looked back up at his friend, excitedly. “Maybe if you’d participate more, you’d get a cooler name. What was it last time? Knight of Brutality, Lord of Darkness, or my personal favorite Poet of death? Like where did they get poet? You rarely talk to these low lifers!” He looked back at the poor man who started this rant and his eyes darkened. “I’ll take care of you at supper.” He then sauntered back up to the stage, fixed his crown and the same weird feeling washed over me as they disappeared, leaving us in complete darkness.
I couldn’t tell how long the darkness lasted. Minutes? Hours? Whenever it was the lights flickered on with another blood curdling scream. I whipped my head around trying to locate where the sound was coming from. On the other side of the room a women had knife lodged inside her neck. Slumped over against the wall. Next to the women the Prince of Madness towered over her, slowly retrieving his dagger. He smiled at us softly before licking the bloody side of the knife. My breathe caught at the sight of it. “Who’s next?” The minute the eerie words left his mouth everyone began moving. There screaming, crying, begging it was all chaos. The only other sound was the Lord of Chaos’ maniac laughs. He was doubled over in laughter as everyone was freaking out. I watched as a door appeared, and everyone franticly ran out, away from him. I watched frozen in place, until I was the only person in the room.
My throat went dry when me and the god of chaos, or whoever he was, looked at me. Our eyes caught briefly, I tried to speak, move, but I was frozen in place. His sinister smile never left his face as he walked out the door to follow the rest of the crowd. I gasped, releasing the breath that I was holding. My chest tightened as I fought the urge to cry. I’m alive. How am I alive? It doesn’t matter I have to move. I forced myself out the door and was in complete awe.
It was almost confusing to look at. On the left side of the room was a giant staircase that twisted so far up I couldn’t see where it ends. The walls were maroon with gold etchings of old magic. The walls were lined with big black doors all looking the same. I made a quick decision to avoid the staircase, just looking at it made my heart fall. I carefully made my way to the first door, wondering if I should open it or continue before I was shoved roughly into the wall.
Ouch! I blinked rapidly trying to wrap my head around who this was and what was happening. That same off feeling was suddenly suffocating me. The person quickly opened the door, shoving me inside roughly. I stumbled into the room before turning angrily towards this mysterious person. My anger dissolved immediately when I looked down at the surprisingly young girl. She couldn’t be older than ten. I stared stunned at the moment before cautiously asking “Who are you?”
“You can call me Evie.” She said surprisingly calm. She had big brown eyes, and loose curly brown hair that went to her mid back. She had on a green dress that was so filthy I could hardly make out the color.
“How did you end up here? You’re so little?” She giggled very loudly and frantically. Her eyes glazing over in humor.
“You don’t want to know,” that was not the answer I was expecting. The little girl kept laughing. “But it involves a bit of death and a lot of dirt.” I didn’t even want to know. Definitely not the answer I was expecting. I stared at her in horror as her eyes lit up thinking about it. “They didn’t understand. No one ever does. No one will!” Her laughing stops briefly before it starts again. “But I know you understand. I can feel that you do.” Her large eyes staring up at me as she says this.
“W-what?” I stammered taken aback that she would think I could understand what she was rambling on about. She was probably just as mental as the rest of these delinquents. She didn’t have the time to reply before the familiar voice filled the room.
“Good evening, everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying your stay. In the next hour you should all make you ways to you designated dining hall. Anyone not there at the end of the hour.” He let out a deep chuckle, “will be properly punished by me or my dear partner. The timer starts now, I am excited to meet you all!” A thousand questions swarmed my head. Where’s the dining hall? How do we know which one to go to? What punishment awaits if I don’t get there on time? However, I don’t have much time to think before a giant timer appeared on the wall counting down an hour. The little girl grabbed my hand as we pushed open the door and made our way to barrel down the hallway.
The hallway now looked nothing like it did before, the door opened to a large black circular room. There were only three doors in this one. The one we came out of, and two others directly across from us. I stared at Evie a second not knowing exactly what to do.
“Which door?” She asked sounding the sanest since I met her. I didn’t answer just stared at the doors blankly.
“Err, I don’t know let’s open both?” I suggested making my way over to the door on the left. Evie shrugged going towards the other door. A dark feeling pooled over me when I touched the silver handle. I pulled back instantly looking over at Evie.
“It’s locked,” she announced with a sigh. I slowly reached back for the handle turning it despite the off feeling. It was also locked. Great. I turned around to go back to other room, but the door was gone. “What do we do now?”
“Let me think…” I surveyed the room carefully. It was bare besides a few old pictures, all of them looking very familiar for some reason. The timer was also in this room, we had 50 minutes left. There were three pictures, each of them displaying a different person, but they all had the same background. They were sitting on an old swing that was in front of a lake. The picture itself looked nice, but the cold dead stare each person held sent chills down my spine.
“Who are these people?” Evie asked. “They kind of remind me of the poet of death.” She was right they had the same black eyes and deathly stare. Evie started laughing hysterically again. I ignored her, continuing to examine the pictures. One was of an old lady in a wine-colored dress, the second was of a man in a suit with dark hair and beard, the third was of a young boy in a white dress shirt and black pants. I walked over and touched the photo of the young boy. For some reason it gave me that off feeling, I pulled back for a second, “I knew you understood!” Evie said through fits of laughter. I ignored the psychotic child, I really needed to get out of here. I kept studying the pictures, his hair was pristine not a piece out of place. He looked so familiar, and it gave me the chills. The second my hand touched the painting; I knew that it was the Poet of Death. I ran my hand over the wooden frame feeling the grooves of the wood. I looked carefully at it scraping away the dust that clogged its pores.
“Sebastian,” I read off the frame. Then I heard the click. Evie’s laugh immediate stopped as we ran over to the door on the left, it opened without any resistance. We walked through the door into dining room 2. Why did it give us his name so easily? That makes no sense! How would they allow that!
The room was huge and bright. It had multiple crystal chandlers lining the ceiling. The walls were white and gold with statues lining them. There was a huge table in the middle. It was the longest table I’d ever seen. It had a white tablecloth and was set with beautiful white China plates and crystal cups. The only other person in the room was a girl about my age with beautiful brown curly hair that went down to her waist and big brown eyes. She was so pretty in a subtle way. She was also extremely clean and was wearing a white dress and complimented her dark skin beautifully. She immediately saw us and smiled brightly.
“Hi, I’m Nevaeh! Congrats on being the first ones here!” She beamed at us. “You can sit anywhere except for the two reserved seats of course!” She graciously strutted to her seat; her long dress floated behind her. She sat at right of the throne. Leaving us to find a seat.
Evie wandered to a seat near the center of the table. A smart move, we will be glanced over. Slowly the room started to fill with people. Everyone looking slightly relieved and some looking extremely overly confident. They seriously needed a reality check. We are literally here to die. Once the majority of the seats were filled up, a loud siren went off, suffocating the huge room with noise. I instinctively pulled my hands over my ears.
“Dinner Time!” His voice rang out, “I hope you all made it in time!” Then there were his loud giggles before the siren stopped. I was expecting him to strut into the room, but when the doors flew open it was The Knight of Brutality or Sebastian, confidently walked through the doors and sat down. Immediately the room went quiet as his harsh gaze stared down at each of us. His gaze stopped once it reached me and Evie and his eyes widened just a fraction before he continued his harsh trail with his eyes. His clothes once again flawless and his demeaner was murderous. He took his seat at the throne then smiled lovingly down at Nevaeh. Everyone’s mouth gaped. He can show emotion?! Nevaeh immediately started gushing about something and he just sat listening intently. This girl must’ve been some kind of witch or something! She seriously must’ve casted a spell on him. There was no way that that soft face and loving smile belong to the same man who was on that stage earlier. Maybe he’s just not as bad as he looks.
Then the room started fill with servants carrying platters of food. It looked delicious. I can’t even remember the last time I had anything to eat. Everyone just stared at the massive amounts of food ahead of us. Instinctively we looked at Sebastian. His hard gaze looked at us disgustingly. Never mind he is still just as bad as I thought before.
“What are you looking at? Eat!” He boomed. We all immediately started filling our plates, the only noise being Nevaeh’s soft voice. The food was amazing. I’d never had such good turkey in my entire life. It was mouthwatering, and the bread was incredible.
“So, what did you guys have to go through to get here?” A man at the end asked confidently with a smug smile gracing his lips. Sebastian’s black eyes shot up so fast and before I could blink the man was falling over the table with a knife lodged in his throat. His dark blood staining the beautiful white tablecloth as it spread toward our buffet. My appetite disappeared.
“Continue,” Sebastian said to Nevaeh. She started excitedly talking again. Everyone just stared at him absolutely terrified. He paid us no mind as he listened to Nevaeh. I was just shocked that she didn’t care in the slightest. I looked over at Evie and she was just eating like nothing happened with a big fat smile on her face. Along with a couple other insane people, who didn’t give it a second thought. I stared at my plate, not knowing when the next time I would be able to eat, but also being too sick to take another bite. I just stared, I had no idea how long I was zoned out until Sebastian’s voice broke the silence, “You have thirty minutes, so I advise that you eat. This is also your assigned dining room for the rest of your stay, or until we say otherwise so get used to the setting.” Then he stood up, took Nevaeh’s hand and walked out the door. It was like the room collectively released a breath.
I looked up to see that desert had been put on the table and Evie had put a piece of cake on my plate. I couldn’t remember the last time I had tasted cake, but my stomach wouldn’t be able to take it. I sadly pushed it aside and half waited for us to be released. I didn’t even know what time it was. There were no clocks or anything.
“Ring Ring Ring! Dinner’s over! So please leave the dining hall!” His voice rang out over the speakers. “I have so much more fun planned out for you!” I could practically hear his grin.
Our chairs suddenly tipped back at the prince’s last word, and I was falling. I screamed as I fell through the air. My hair was whipping my face and my heart was lodged in my throat. Oof! I smashed onto a carpeted floor. My head and back were pounding as I tried to stand up. Damn that hurt! I slowly stood and allowed my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room. Wait where’s Evie! I suddenly started to search the room. No no no, I can’t be here alone. Yes, you can! You’ve been alone for long enough before this!
“Evie?” I said looking around. No! I’m alone! I started to panic a little bit. Where is she? The room was red with carpeted floors and no way out as far as I could tell. The walls were bare, and it smelled of dried blood. I stood up slowly, the room was very tiny. I didn’t see any doors or anything at all. The metallic smell was almost too much to bear, as I studied the walls closer, I noticed that they were dripping. My stomach dropped. The blood slowly dripping down the walls, made me feel queasy. I plugged my nose, but it was useless, the smell kept leeching its way in. I was very thankful that I didn’t eat much of dinner. I stumbled back to the ground watching the blood fall around me, that with the smell was enough for me too..
