Part 5:

Pushing myself to my feet. Jay was right. I thought. It was not the time to give up, we still have a chance to save everyone.

“Alright.” I said, feeling more resolved.

“Let’s try this one more time”

“B-but.” Annisha sobbed out. “There’s no point! we’re all dead anyways.” She continued sobbing into Habbiki’s chest.

“Stop it.” Habikki said softly, lifting up her chin to look at him. “We can’t give up, let’s try one more time…huh?” Caressing her face, he brushed his thumb softly up against her cheek, wiping away her tears. “I said I’d take you to the dance in a horse and carriage, a fairytale that you‘ve always dreamt of…remember?”

She nodded. “O-okay. I trust you.”

Habikki forced himself onto his feet, before reaching his hand out towards her. With a shaky hand, she took his in hers.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Habikki said, peering over at me and Jay, his eyes burning with resolve. We bolted once again through the fog, this time splitting up. One group headed towards the gates in the opposite direction from where we ran, maybe we could figure out some kind of clue or a possible way out.

The countdown hit four as we skidded to a stop, we were right back in the center. All of us staring at one another. “N-no way!” | stomped on the ground, shouting out my frustrations. “Turn around! Let’s try again!” We all turned and ran frantically back through the thick fog. Time was up, and we were back to being face to face with one another. “We need to hide!”

We rushed towards the gravestones, hiding back behind them. My mouth went dry and my heart thudded against my chest, when that familiar sound of a bell rang out in the distance, followed by that unsettling voice.

“W-what do we do!?” I yelled in a whisper. I felt as if I couldn’t breathe, like the whole world was closing in on me.

“Shh!.” Jay said, grabbing my hand. “Be quiet, calm yourself down.” He let go of my hand and slowly peeked his head over the gravestone, only to crouch back down in a frenzy. His breath quickened and the mask of composure he had worn before, completely shattered. With a shaky finger, he nervously fixed his glasses. “I-I think It saw me” His voice shook “We gotta move to a different spot.”

“Too late.” My heart sank, Its distorted whisper sounded like it was right behind us. “I know where you are.” It laughed.

A cold shiver ran down my spine, my body unable to move. Just then, Habikki shot up. “Run you guys, I’ll hold him off.”

“No!” Annisha screeched.

“Save us by beating that thing at its own game and keep them safe!” Habikki smiled. I could see his lips quivering slightly, but his eyes held so much confidence. “Jay, I leave it to you.”

Understanding, Jay grabbed both me and Annisha. “No! No!” Annisha screamed, breaking free from Jay’s grasp.

“Annisha!” I screamed after her. She turned back and smiled at me. “You are our only hope!” She shook her head, her decision final. “I can’t live without him, I know you’ll save us.” She slid her hand into Habbiki’s.

I tried to pry my hand away from Jay’s, but he had surprising strength, as he tugged at my hand with an iron grip. We dashed to a large gravestone, ducking down behind it. My world felt like it was breaking into millions of pieces. Noticing this, Jay wrapped his arms around me. “Im sorry… I’m sorry.” He hugged me tighter, his voice cracking. “But we’re running out of time!” He let out a shaky breath. “We only have one more shot at this and we can’t afford to get caught, everyone is counting on us.”

Part 6:

I rested my head against his shoulders, breathing in and out. Feeling like I was back in control, I gently pushed away from him. We put our heads together, coming up with a game plan. “Wait.” Jay said “The riddle he gave us, didn’t he say; ‘find the object that started the game?’“

My eyes widened and I practically face palmed.

“How could we possibly be so stupid?!” I shouted in the air. “It was so simple.”

“Exactly, but it knew we would be too scared to process the riddle and make a run for it. That thing knows how to play its victims well.” He spat out, his face twisting in disgust.

“So..”‘ I growled. “Let’s end this game.”

We both hadn’t notice it was times up until it’s voice cut through our thoughts like a Razer. “Ready or not, here I come!”

“We need a decoy!” Jay blurted out.

“Alright I’~” I began.

“‘I’ll do it.” Jay cut in.

“No but~”

“No…” he shook his head. “…I’ll do it, you are faster than me, you’re on the track team remember…The fastest in school, you must get that board.” I wanted to argue so bad, but the bell was growing closer and we were running out of time. I got up and dashed towards the brick wall of fog. A blood curdling screech echoed somewhere behind me and then the sound of a bell ringing like crazy heading in my direction. The noise blared in my ears and the fog blinded me, it seemed like the thing wasn’t ready for the game to end just yet.

The wind picked up and the sound of laughter followed, Then that dreaded count down continued.

You cheater! I yelled.

“I’m playing fair, I’m seeking and you’re finding, there is no exact order of how I do this little girl”

The light I was searching for never appeared before me. What does he call this then? I thought.

“Your time is nearly up.” It taunted.

“We will see!” I retorted. As he countinued his countdown from five, I noticed something was off. Was he forcing me to run in a loop? If so…. I closed my eyes, I had one shot to do this, trusting myself, I leaped for it.