Mirage

CELESTE

It was a stupid dare, and we shouldn't have done it—we shouldn't have even considered it.

My heart pounded against my ribcage, the sound sickening to my ears. I could feel that something was extremely wrong, but the others made it seem like I was just being paranoid.

The explanation for my hesitance to participate in the Rumble games stood before me. It felt like I was slapped hard in the face after a bucket of ice-cold water was poured on me.

My frustration boiled over when we reached the entrance. I whipped my head around, but there was nothing. I could swear I saw something watching us from the corner of my eye.

"Um... Louis," I called out. The whole group turned towards me, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, Come on!" Andre groaned. I rolled my eyes at their naivety. Why wouldn't they listen to me?

"What's wrong?" Louis asked, walking up to me. He had been leading the group into the mansion because he was the bravest and I admired that about him.

But I knew this wasn't the night to be brave. Something sinister lurked around the whole property and we needed to get out before one of us got hurt.

"This doesn't feel right. It's stupid, and I think we should go back home."

"Don't tell me you're chickening out." Gloria scoffed. "What do you have to be scared about when we have powers?"

"We may have powers, but whatever is in there is way stronger than all of us combined. We can ditch the dare. Maybe lie that we did it, or face the consequences." I suggested, but Gloria and Lisa did not want to welcome the idea or anything I said that was against us exploring the house.

"Ugh. Don't be such a killjoy. It's just a stupid myth. It's just a house. We'll explore it and come back out." Lisa was the one who spoke this time.

She sounded like a cow with a nose problem, or Lois Griffin from Family Guy. I sighed, wondering why the universe decided to test me with a bunch of nutheads.

They all (Except Louis of course) acted like they shared the same brain cells. Imagine, one poor little brain cell doing the work for three adults.

"Besides, if there was any real danger, and you weren't doing this to seek attention, since we weren't giving you any, Louis would have known from when the dare was given.

'Louis is not a fucking Psychic' I wanted to say, but let it go. I didn't want to start up an irrelevant argument. Every second we spent there, in the territory of the house, the more dangerous it was for us to remain there.

"I know what I'm saying. You have to trust me, you guys." I tried again, but they just burst out laughing.

Why were they so keen on entering the house? Could it be that the demon, or whatever was in there was drawing them to him by manipulating their thinking?

"Why are you guys so adamant about going into the house?

"Simple. I need money." Andre shrugged.

Right. There was a reward for every dare completed by the team.

The other girls turned their heads away. They didn't want to reveal anything about themselves.

"There is no way I'm sticking my face in a raspberry pie in front of the whole academy." Gloria snapped.

"I second that." Lisa chirped in.

I paid no attention to them and focused on Louis. He was the only one I was familiar with. The others... I only met them today after one year and a half in the academy.

Louis was a calm and reasonable soul, which is why I was very surprised when he chose to lead the team to what I perceive as our deaths.

"I really don't feel good about this. Listen to me, please. I can feel it. There's so much-" I gasped and clutched my head. The negative energy was fucking with my powers, and I still didn't know how to harness then yet.

I only knew I was psychic, but Principal Watson told me there was more to uncover. Something about me possibly being stronger than my mother.

I had no idea how powerful my mum was because she wanted to shield me from that life. Heck, I didn't even know there was a world that had powers, or that I yielded any.

Everything had been myths and legends to me, but after she was killed two years ago, I learned about everything. The legends were true, and the myths were oh-so-true.

She had banished her two sisters because they took the wrong path. And that's putting it simply. However, no one knows where she banished them.

Everyone feared that her sisters would emerge since she was gone, but it had been two years and still no sign of them.

Principal Watson - who I thought was just my mum's best friend - took me in after she died and tried to protect me. But after the second attack, she changed her mind, and here I was.

A hundred meters away from the Academy. In the very place, she subtly warned me about. Everything was wrong. I knew it. And for people who had considerable amounts of power and had harnessed it to a great level, they seemed to be pretty oblivious.

Why work on bettering your abilities if you're ignoring your instincts? It almost seemed like they had no instincts at all. Whatever happened to true survival?

Doubling over, I retched, expecting the food I ate that evening to come out of me in the form of sludge, but I was surprised to see thick blood spill out of my mouth.

Louis came to my side and held me.

I saw movement from the corner of my eye again. I stood up and wiped the blood with the sleeve of my dress.

"Nice acting. Can we get this over with?" Lisa said, her expression bored.

I narrowed my eyes at her, bewildered. I just coughed up an uncomfortable amount of blood and her peanut brain could only interpret that as acting?

"Fucking attention seeker. Louis will never fuck you." Andre spat, his eyes filled with disgust.

My brows furrowed as I looked at him, wondering where he got the notion that I wanted to be 'fucked' by anyone at all.

Louis turned to glare at him, His fingertips still lingering on my forearm. "Shut up man! And grow up."

I felt the deafening pain again. It felt like loud bells were ringing in my head. "Please, let's get out of here," I whispered, losing the strength in my leg to keep me up.

Images flashed in my mind so quickly, intensifying the pain. "Celeste!" Louis shouted.

Black spots blotched my vision. I felt myself slump in his arms as I gave in, succumbing to the darkness.