《Flower of the Mansion》 Chapter 1: Free From the Dark ~ZANDER~ ... I opened my eyes. I woke up on the cold, wet stone floor. It was so dark that I couldn''t see anything. My back hurt. My neck hurt. Everything hurts. Voices in a strange language resound in my thoughts. Screaming. Laughing. Crying. I tried to recall what had happened before this... but nothing. I couldn''t recall a single thing before I woke up. I didn''t even rememeber who I was. All I can remember was a name¡ªZander. I had everyday clothes on, but I had nothing else on me. Just shoes, pants, and a shirt. I stood up, almost slipping, but I managed to grab onto a metal railing attached to the wall. I started to walk, dragging my feet and hoping I could get out of the darkness. After a minute of dragging my feet along the wet floor, I hit a tube-like object with my feet. Curious, I reached down to grab it. A flashlight? I took a deep breath and turned it on. The first thing I saw was the floor, and it was drenched with... blood. But the blood wasn''t the only eerie thing in this place. I pointed the flashlight behind me. It was a stone room that went on forever, with the railings and even the blood repeating infinitely. I pointed the flashlight in the other direction. Fortunately, this room DOES have an end. There was a wall with a door meters away from where I''m currently standing right now. I sighed in relief and continued walking, but knowing I''m stepping on blood makes it somehow difficult to move. Eventually, I managed to reach the door. There was no handle on the rusted metal door. I pushed the door open, but it did not open. I tried prying it open with my fingernails, but it wouldn''t budge. I stared to panic. This is just a nightmare, right? I''m going to wake up, right? I kept trying to open the door by putting my nails between the gap and pulling, but no luck whatsoever. I put my hands on my head out of frustration and started banging on the metal door. *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* "HELP!!!" I kept banging on the door as loud as possible, "SOMEONE PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!!!" ... But there was not a single living thing out there. I felt like I''d been hitting this door for almost an hour now. My heart started pounding hard in my chest as the flashlight started to run out of batteries. It was pure darkness again. I stopped and lay on the ground to sleep. Hopefully, once I wake up, I''ll escape this nightmare. *** I woke up, but still in the same dark, damp place. I was unusually calm for some reason. Should I be more worried than this? The voices were back, I couldn''t understand what they were saying, but they seemed like they were laughing. I was about to give up, but suddenly... *Click* The door opened. I turned my head up and saw three figures appear at the door. It was two girls and a guy. One of the girls was carrying an old oil lamp. The other girl holds a wooden rod. They seemed surprised to see me on the bloody floor, as if all of the stuff on the floor was mine. I cheked myself and from the looks of my own body I looked like a teenager, just like them. I smiled to them and tried to slowly stand up. "Don''t move! Don''t you dare try anything stupid!" The girl who was holding the rod yelled at me. She looked like she was scared at me, like I was about to jump and attack her. I sat back down and raised my hands. I had no other choice. I didn''t want to make them more wary of me. Hopefully, they''re not the ones who''ll jump on me and attack me. She walked next to the girl with the lamp. I can see her a bit better now. She had a bob cut dyed with a bit of red, green eyes, and wore a black long-sleeve shirt and jeans. She looked like a punk and she was giving me a weird look that made me think she saw me as a threat.
"Um... Fey, he looks human. I don''t think he''s one of them," The girl with the lamp spoke. She had wavy brown hair, brown eyes and glasses, and she wore a white sweater and a skirt.
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"Just because he looks human, doesn''t mean he''s not a threat," said Punk girl whose name I assumed was Fey. The guy who''d been behind them the entire time started to speak up. "You''re being paranoid. Plus, you''re armed and there are three of us. Anyway, we should bring him along. We can''t leave him here. The more, the merrier." The guy walked closer to the girl with the lamp. I can get a good look at him now too. He was a tall guy who had medium black hair, black eyes, and wore a blue hoodie and jeans.
"Do you know where we are?" I asked the group. Hopefully they had an idea of what this place is. "Sorry, but I''m not sure. It seems we''re in a giant mansion though." "Mansion? Any idea how you ended up here? " "No, sorry. We''re as confused as you are," Lamp girl walked behind me and looked out the window... Wait.. A window? What? That wasn''t there before! The entire room looked different from before. It was now just an empty stone room with a single window. I stood up and looked out the window. All I was able to see was pure nothingness, not a single thing out there. "Yeah... That happens. This place will often mess with your mind," Hoodie guy laid his hand on the walls, "I''m guessing the room was different before we got here. You better get used to it. This place is a living nightmare." "Don''t you think it''s a good idea to get going? What if that thing comes here?" Punk girl looked worried and started clutching the weapon in her hand. "Yeah, I think we should. Besides, what do you guys think will happen if that thing find us again? Do you think we''ll be able to fight them off? We barely have any weapons, and even if we did, I doubt we''d win against something like that, especially if there''s more of that thing," Hoodie guy replied. "Well, we have her menacing stick of power, so we seem pretty safe," I pointed to punk girl, trying to lighten the mood. "Ha. Ha. You''re so funny," Punk girl scoffed. "You two seem to be getting along," Lamp girl stopped looking out the window, "We should go. We can''t be sure this room is safe at all." I should ask this first, "Can you tell me what you know about this place? I''m lost in the dark here." "To sum it up, we''re in a giant mansion. The entire place is filled with doors that lead into weird rooms. Like REALLY weird rooms," Hoodie guy replied, "The last door had this long-neck lady painting the walls with the blood coming out of her mouth," he shivered, "It chased us for a good minute and stopped for some reason. Don''t wanna see that again." Could that be the "thing" they were talking about? Anyway, they''ve been nice enough to not attack me. I think it was time to introduce myself, "By the way, my name''s Zander." "My name is Sandra," Lamp girl was the first to speak. "The name''s Ethan," then Hoodie guy. "Fey," and then Punk girl. "We need to go back to regroup," Ethan said, grabbing the lamp from Sandra and leading the way. "There''s this large courtyard area. The others are waiting there, so we should hurry." "Others?" So it''s not just the four of us. "We split up with the rest so we could cover more ground in this place," Ethan walked out of the room, "You can tell that was a dumb idea. But hey! We found you and now there are 10 of us." We walked out of the room, and the dark hallway looked really eerie, with the lamp being the only light source. It felt like a maze. Every now and then we saw a bunch of doors that all looked different from one another and looked completely out of place. The floor had a large trail of blood, and it was probably from that thing that was chasing them earlier. The doors that appeared normal led us to one-way rooms where the door we came from was the only entrance and exit¡ªtypically bathrooms, bedrooms, and other normal rooms¡ªor doors that weren''t one-way and had more doors that led into more rooms. They said it was too risky to go that way since they''d probably get lost. The doors that looked out of place¡ªon the ground, the ceiling, were sideways and were a completely different style, like a sliding door or a door made out of old wooden planks. These doors were the ones that led into the most dangerous and disturbing areas. It could either have dangerous creatures or dangerous areas that can mess with your perception. I''m still not sure what the latter exactly means, though. We were walking in a formation where Sandra and Ethan were taking the lead, while me and Fey were at the back. The two at the front were chatting about something. Me and Fey? Pure awkward silence. "Do you remember which direction''s the courtyard?" Sandra asked Ethan. "Yeah, I''ve got a little trick to get back there without getting lost," he replied. "By the way. Next time, we should close the doors properly. I don''t think they can open them from the inside." "We were panicking during that entire time, so it was fine. Plus, it''s the person behind''s fault. They were the ones who left it open." "Ethan... YOU were the person behind." "... The person behind was not the one accountable. We are all equally responsible for that silly mistake." "Um... Okay... Once we closed a door and saw something running to the door, have you ever noticed they were completely silent?" "Whaddya mean?" "I mean, aren''t we at least supposed to¡ª" "Okay, you two," Fey interrupted them, "That''s enough chit-chat. Maybe you guys should not talk about that last part around him. Let''s not make any noise anymore. I don''t want that thing to find us." I heard something dripping from behind me. I stopped walking and turned around. The sudden realization brought chills down my spine. The rest noticed me, so they stopped and turned too. The light from the lamp wasn''t much, but we could see it. A figure with a long neck and something continuously dripping down its mouth. Its long arms and metal-like nails straddled the walls, leaving claw marks behind. It walked towards us, making itself more visible in the light. It smiled, and started laughing, with blood spattering out of its mouth.
Right at this moment, I just realized that... This was not a nightmare. [To Be Continued...] Chapter 2: Bloodstained Splinters ~ZANDER~ As the creature slowly walked towards us, she kept laughing harder and harder. She scratched the walls with her metal-like nails and violently shook her head side to side, splashing blood on them. Her skin was so pale that I could even see veins through it, and her eyes were covered by it.
I''m frozen with fear as I stared into its bloody pale face. My mind was screaming for me to run, but my body refused to move. I knew that this thing wasn''t human. This creature was a demon. But there was no denying it... This was real. It was right in front of me. It was so close that I can smell its stench of death and decay. Its odor made my stomach turn. "Zander, what are you doing?! Run!" Fey shouted and started running away along with the others. I snapped out of it and started sprinting for my life. They''re quite ahead, but I can still see them. I took a glimpse behind me and the demon started chasing after me. The closer it got, the more I could feel her reaching out to grab me. It was almost as if I could tell I was going to die if I ran just a tiny bit slower. I looked behind me and saw it was getting closer and closer. She stopped laughing and was instead howling in rage. Oh god. Oh god! OH GOD! OH GOD!!! *CRACK* I looked back. Luckily, her foot broke through a wooden plank on the floor. Her trying to get it out will keep me far from the "you are dead" range of her claws. There was some distance between us now, but not enough to stop her from chasing us. "Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled out to them. They ran a bit slower for me to catch up, and Ethan said, "C''mon, hurry!" She was back on the hunt for us, and she was getting closer and closer again. I need to think of something to slow her down! I noticed the furniture, like lamps, coat racks, and some other stuff we passed through in the hallways. So I tried the best thing I can do. Slowing her down a bit by knocking them down in her way, but it wasn''t really doing much. She easily got past them by either breaking them with her claws or jumping over them. For something with heavy-looking arms that barely fits in the hallway, she was terrifyingly athletic! Her lengthy arms and nails, but helpful to us because her claws get hooked on furniture and walls from time to time. "We need to lose her first! We can''t lead her to the others! " Ethan starts taking random turns, trying to get rid of her. It was pointless. She was still gaining on us, even with me knocking down the furniture in her way. "Shit! We can''t get rid of her off!" Ethan shouts, "Fey, remember the thing we talked about earlier?" "Wait, we''re going with that plan?! Are you insane?! What if it goes for me instead?!" Fey shouted back. "Don''t worry! They''ll go for the light first!" "And what if they don''t?! We''re not even sure if that actually works!" "We either do it, or we keep running forever, and you know the second one is not happening!" "It''s easy for you to say! I''m the only one who''s going to die if it doesn''t go after you guys!" Sandra looks at Fey with a terrified look. "Fey, please. We''re counting on you. If you don''t, we''ll all die." "..." "Fey, please. I don''t wanna die." "Fine." "It''s right over there," Ethan said, pointing forward to an intersection in the hallways. "You go right, we go straight. Let''s stay close to the right wall and hope she won''t notice you when we split up. I''ll keep the light a bit farther so she won''t see you much." "And what if she don''t need light to see?!" Fey yelled. Ethan was silent and didn''t said a single thing. He didn''t bother respond and started running even faster, putting distance between him and the three of us. "Ethan?! ... Damn it," Fey yelled again, but it turned to a worried tone. He was now a few meters ahead, and we could barely see each other. When we got to the intersection, we kept running straight, and Fey went right, separating from the group. Me and Sandra both looked back and could still see the monster''s figure and its getting closer. It was suprising it didn''t got caught up to us yet for some reason. "Ethan, it didn''t go for Fey! It''s still after us!" Sandra shouted. "Good! We need to keep running!" Ethan took a left turn, and we followed, "Zander, keep slowing her down. We need to make enough distance between her and us." "Okay!" I kept doing the thing I''ve been doing. I still don''t know where this plan was going, but I''m choosing to turn this plan of theirs. We took another left turn.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As we kept running from her, we started to get exhausted. I kept turning over the furniture as we passed through to slow her down. But I saw something I hadn''t seen in the hallway yet¡ªa vase. I grabbed the water-filled vase and threw it right at her. It hit her right in the face and broke on impact, drenching her. She started shrieking in pain while her skin started to peel off. What was in that vase?! It suddenly stopped moving and just stared. It was as still as a statue. It felt like it was glaring right at me. Did I mess up?
We took one more left turn. The demon wasn''t in sight anymore. I think I paralyzed it with the water earlier. Whatever was in that vase, it saved our lives. ... "Why do I hear galloping noises behind us?" Sandra asked me with a pale look. I looked behind me and... yup, I messed up! She was now galloping on all fours, and she was gaining on us fast. TOO fast! She could be slashing the two of us into ribbons any moment now! "We''re almost there!" Ethan shouted. We could see the intersection from earlier. We kept running as fast as possible until we reached the intersection. And then, "NOW!" Ethan shouted as loud as possible, and someone appeared around the corner. "DIIIIIEE!!!" Fey roared out a booming shout and¡ª *SNAP!* Splinters flew into the air as the wooden rod broke into pieces. She swung her weapon so hard that she managed to knock down the demon backwards. It was still moving so fast that it kept sliding forward, knocking over me, Sandra, and even Ethan, who was a few meters ahead. Just like bolwing pins. We avoided hitting our heads by covering it with our hands and landing on our shoulders. Same with Ethan while keeping the lamp safe. The demon tried to get up but it was too injured to get up properly and dropped back down. "DON''T YOU DARE FUCKING GET UP!!!" Fey''s voice trembled with a mixture of fear and rage. She ran up to the demon on the ground and began repeatedly striking and stabbing its head and neck with what was left of the wooden rod she was holding. Sandra stood up and rushed over to Fey. Fey''s hand started to bleed from the splinters from the rod, but she kept stabbing the demon again and again. To the point where the skin on the demon''s face was completely off and the neck was covered in cuts. "Fey! Stop! Your hands are bleeding!" Sandra grabbed Fey''s arms, trying to stop her. Fey stood up, panting, and threw the piece of wood into the body on the ground. She looked at her wounded hands and tried to wipe the blood off them, but it was still seeping out. Ethan walked up to us and said, "We need to go back. If we don''t hurry, you might get an infection." Fey said, putting her hands in her pockets. "No, no. I think I''m fine." "If you say so. By the way, did you kill it?" Fey had messed up the demon a lot earlier. She stabbed the body quite a lot, to the point where the face was barely recognizable. I guess that WAS a menacing stick of power. We looked where the body was earlier and... It was gone. Only a puddle of blood was left. All three of us had the same shocked and confused expressions. It didn''t even make a single sound! How?! "Um..." Sandra broke the silence, "Can we go back to the courtyard? I don''t feel comfortable staying here anymore." "Yeah, sure," Ethan led the way. We were finally on our way back to their group again. We went back to walking in that little formation we had earlier before whatever that was started chasing us¡ªEthan and Sandra at the front, and me and Fey at the back. "How does he know where to go? This place is pretty big. And he still knows where to go after all that running," I tried starting a conversation with Fey. "Now that you mentioned it... Hey, Ethan. How DO you know where to go?" Fey said to Ethan. "The doors," he replied. "Huh?" "Look at the doors. What do you think they all have in common?" Fey looked confused and says, "I-I don''t know! Just tell me, you don''t have to make this into a riddle." "It''s the aura of the doors, my friend." "Excuse me?" "You can feel the spiritual energy flowing from the doors. Can''t you feel it too?" "Um... No? What the heck are you talking about?" "As we get closer to the heart of the stucture, which is the courtyard. I sense the powerful force resonating from the doors getting stronger. Do you now understand, my friends?" "Dude, I think you hit your head really badly," Fey scratched the back of her head. "Nope, not even a tiny bit," I replied to Ethan. "I stopped paying attention the moment you said auras," Sandra replied. Ethan started chuckling, "Geez, I''m just messing with you guys. I might be dangerously wrong but I''m following those marks to get back," He pointed to many things. He''s pointing at scratch marks on the walls, and then at blood stains that makes symbol that looks like a sword or a tip of a spear. "They sometimes appear on the way, and they seemed to always point which way''s the courtyard."
My head started to ache as the voices returned again. This time they were screaming in fear and in terror. But I was starting to notice the voices were quieter compared when I was at that room. I felt like that symbol was very important to me somehow. I couldn''t seem to recall anything. "I might sound like a broken record, but..." Fey said to Ethan, "Don''t risk our lives for your stupid intuition!" "Hey, it helped us most of the time. And this area looks familiar, so we''re going the right way." "That''s the thing! It''s most of the time, not all of the time! What if we died by your own hands because of a stupid choice you made?" "C''mon, have some faith on me. I only did two mistakes so far." "''SO FAR''! See the problem there, genius?" As the two blabbered on I tried to star a conversation with Sandra get more info about them. "By the way, how long have you guys been here?" I asked Sandra. "I believe it has been almost a week since the first time I woke up in the courtyard," Sandra replied, "I really do hope we can escape this place soon. My family must''ve been worried sick about me. I don''t want to be here any longer." "Fey, how''s your hands?" Those two seemed to stopped talking, so I tried starting a conversation with Fey again. She looked at her hands and said, "They stopped bleeding, so I guess you guys don''t have to worry." "Oh, great. Um... you still don''t trust me?" "If you''re worrying about that, don''t worry. I already trust you after all that." "I''m glad to hear that. You smacked that demon in the face quite hard earlier. I''m not sure if that stick was really brittle or you were just really strong. " "Thanks, I used to be a great baseball player back in school, but I suddenly stopped playing, and now I''m here in this hell hole. Maybe that''s why I''m here," she laughed at her own joke. We countiued chatting on as we walked back to the courtyard. We were quite loud, hopely we won''t encounter that demon again. *** After half an hour of walking in the dark hallways, we finally saw a big archway that led to the open air. We were now in the courtyard, and it was WAY bigger than I expected, spanning about 100 square meters. The area had so much foliage that it was big enough to be considered a small park. This place was breath-taking... If I could see all of it. It was so dark that I could barely see the rest of it. In the middle of the courtyard, I saw a bunch of people sitting on a campfire next to a big fountain with a statue of a woman. When they noticed us, some waved, some just stared, some even walked towards us. But they were all doing one thing the same¡ªwondering who I was. [To Be Continued...] Chapter 3: The Sanctuary - Part 1 ~ZANDER~ As we walked on the stone path, the six people by the fountain stared at us. It was a diverse group of people-a blonde girl, a blond guy, a girl with dark skin, an asian guy, an asian girl, and a white girl with black messy hair. They seemed to be having a conversation earlier, so it was safe to assume they all spoke the same language. The girl with dark skin ran up to us and said, "Where have you guys been? We were getting worried about y-!" "I''ll tell you about that later," Ethan said, setting the oil lamp on the ground. "First, we have a new guy. Found him in one of those rooms by himself. So that makes ten of us now." I took a step forward and waved in an awkward manner, "Hi, I''m Zander." The girl with the dark skin smiled and reached out her hand to me. "Nice to meet you, Zach. I''m Isabel. There isn''t much we can do to get out of here right now, but we''ll eventually find a way." I smiled back and grabbed her hand, and then a sudden blood-red flash covered my vision. When I regained my vision in a few seconds, everything was just... wrong. The girl''s hand I was shaking was on the floor bleeding with her eyes gouged out and lacerations throughout her body. I quickly dropped her hand in fear and noticed everyone was on the ground bleeding and mutilated. The fountain was overflowing with blood from the eyes of the statue, soaking the floor with the red liquid. The entire courtyard was on fire, and I could see hundreds of people wearing rags and robes among the flames walking towards me. Zander... Zander... Zander... "Zander!" Ethan was shaking my sholders, put up his fingers, and said, "How many do I have up?" "Huh...? Um, eight?" I replied. "Yeah, he''s fine." "How are you feeling? You were zoning out just now," Isabel said, with a worried expression on her face. She turned to Ethan and said, "You said you found him alone in a room, right? What was he like when you found him?" "He was on the floor, all bloody, but I doubt it was his. He hasn''t told us much yet since we were a bit busy with a lil'' something something right after finding him," Ethan replied. "What happened?" "Well, better sit down. I''ll tell what happened, campfire story style." I felt nervous and uncomfortable because I wasn''t sure what kind of reaction I would get from them. But I guess I didn''t get any bad reactions. We sat down with the others, except Ethan. "By the way," said Ethan, "We shouldn''t split the exploration team into two groups of three anymore. We need to be more prepared next time we go to the hallways for supplies." "Oh yah? What happened?" the filipino girl asked. "Yeah, yeah, I''m getting to that part." Everyone was sitting in a circle around the fire, and Ethan started telling the part of the story before they found me. He was talking about when they were walking around checking the hallways, they found a path that goes in a loop. He said he thought up the plan as a "what if" and as a joke when they saw the intersection, but it managed to get useful. But that was the only plan they could think of at that moment. While Ethan was busy telling the story to them. I looked behind me to look at my surroundings, and it was really dark. The overgrown foliage here makes it feel like a creepy forest. I looked up at the sky and it was pitch black. I switched to looking at the fountain. There''s a marble statue of a woman at the center, and water was flowing out of her eyes. The figure''s face looks familiar... ...! I averted my gaze from the statue''s eyes. My heart was beating rapidly. I focused back on him talking.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "We found this one creepy room with the entire room covered in blood. And there was this-" I returned my attention to the courtyard. I just realized something. There''s something glowing in the corner. It doesn''t seem like they''re noticing it, so I stood up and walked to the faint light. "Huh? Where''s Zander going?" said Fey. I walked across the small hedge to the unpaved part of the courtyard. This place doesn''t have many trees like an actual forest would. So the path was pretty much straight forward. "Zander! Dude, what are you doing?" Fey shouted. "There''s something glowing over there. I''m going to check it out," I shouted back. "Be careful. There''re thorny bushes there," Sandra yelled. "I will! Thanks!" I continued walking. I saw the bushes Sandra was talking about and tried to avoid the ones that could hurt me. After a while, the glow gets brighter and brighter. I walked closer to the light until I saw what it was. It was gone. There was nothing here other than grass. I squatted down and started looking around to see if I could find something hidden among the grass. "Boo!" "Ahh!" I jumped back in shock. I turned around, and it''s the filipino girl. "Haha! Sorry. What are you doing? "I think I just saw something around here. I might be seeing things," I replied. "Hm?" she looked behind me and there wasn''t a single thing apart from grass and the dark. "Hey, do you need to eat something? I''mma guess you''re hallucinating from being in that room they talked about for too long." "Yeah... I guess so," I could''ve sworn there was something glowing here earlier. Where did it go? "Anyway, thanks, um..." "The one and only Ozzy Alcantara!" she made a peace sign, put it beside her eye, and winked. ...OK? I guess I''ll play along. I need to cheer up. "Many thanks ''the one and only Ozzy Alcantara!''" I mimicked her peace sign thingy. "Yup! That''s my full name!" "Huh?" "Hm?" ...What? "Anyway, let''s go back. Grab a piece of bread in one of those baskets over there, or something. You can drink the water at the fountain if you''re thirsty," she pointed around the fountain. She tugged on my arm and started pulling me back. Am I really sure I''m not having a bad dream? After getting back to the others, I sat back down in my original place. They were still rambling about what happened earlier. I saw a couple of old baskets by the fountain, so I helped myself with a piece of bread. Their food was running low. Six pieces of bread were left in the basket, and I don''t think that was enough to feed the ten of us. I looked at the fountain. I stood up and walked towards it. It looks clear and doesn''t smell like anything weird. It seems safe enough. I cupped my hands and sipped the water from the fountain to quench my thirst. ... "That''s that then," Ethan sat down, "I think we''ll take an actual weapon with us next time. Something that''s better than a stick that breaks easily." "I''ll volunteer," The asian guy-who seemed to be korean-raised his hand. "I can be a super weapon if I get serious," he started unimpresively punching the air. "You''re super bait at best. But if you wanna take on a literal monster, then be my guess," the blonde girl interjected. Ozzy raised her hand, "Shouldn''t we call it a different name other than just demon or monster and write stuff about them? What if there are like, um... some other types of them, and um... stuff. Do you agree with me, Alex?" The girl-who seemed to be named Alex-didn''t utter a word, just smiled and nodded. "See? She agrees with me." "Type? Like that one game where you catch creatures in balls and make them fight?" asked the blond guy. "Nooo, we''re not going to make them fight each other-I mean, that would be awesome if we could-but what I mean is there''s definitely more of them, so let''s call them stuff so we won''t get confused which is which." "I understand calling them different names, but why write about them?" "I dunno, weakness and shiz? I just wanna write something on paper again. It''s been a while." "I guess that could be useful. We have nothing to write with though," said Isabel. "So, what are we going to call her then?" Ethan snapped his finger. "I know! ''Claw bitch!''" "What? No," said Sandra. "Yeah, that sounds stupid," The korean guy added. "Period mouth!''" "Jin! That''s even worse!" Sandra yelled. "You two aren''t being serious, right?" "Let''s just make Zander name it. It''ll definitely be better than what these two bozos will think up," said Fey. "Hey, Zander?" ... Oh. I was zoning out again. "Zander, you can take a nap if you want to," Isabel said worryingly. "You must be exhausted." "No, it''s okay," I replied. "It spits blood nonstop and has claws. So, ''Bloodclaw''?" "Edgy," said Ethan, " I like it! Any objections?" No one objected. Ethan stood up and said, "Now that we''re done with that! Introduction time!" "Didn''t we already do that days ago?" said the korean guy, whose name seems to be Jin. "That''s right! And we''re doing it again, but we have to say something about ourselves this time! The new member of our little club has to know us somehow." "Huh? Little club, my ass! We''re stuck in a shitty place with an actual demon-" "Nuh uh uh. Not demon, Ms. Sch?rling. Bloodclaw." She was completely baffled and too perplexed to speak for a moment. She stood up as she shouted at him, "I had it with you! You''re just treating this like it''s some kind of fucking game!" "Hey," the blond guy said to her, "That''s enough. Sit down." "Brynn, calm down," said Ozzy, "He''s just trying to boost morale, that''s all. He''s taking this seriously... Probably. Maybe. I hope so." "Now that everyone has calmed down," said Ethan, "Let''s do this alphabetically. Alex, you go first," he pointed to the girl with the short messy hair. "Tell us your name and a bit about yourself." [To Be Continued...] Chapter 3: The Sanctuary - Part 2 ~ZANDER~ ... "Now that everyone has calmed down," said Ethan, "Let''s do this alphabetically. Alex, you go first," he pointed to the girl with the short messy hair. "Tell us your name and a bit about yourself." Alex nodded and stood up with her hands clasped in front of her. She smiled and we waited for her to speak.
... ... ... ... ... ... She tilted her head and kept smiling. "Oh yeah, she can''t talk," Ethan said, signaling her to sit down with his hands. Alex sat down and did a little silent giggle. "I''ll just say what we know of her. She''s mute, and she told us her name by placing sticks on the ground. She might not talk, but she''s really lively," Ethan pointed his finger at the next person, "Brynn, your turn." Brynn rolled her eyes and reluctantly stood up. She crossed her arms and just stared at him without saying anything. He playfully grinned at her and said, "Go on."
She smiled back at him-obviously fake-and sighed. "I''m Brynn Sch?rling, and I hate your guts, Ethan," she sat back down. "Thank you for the compliment," Ethan replied. "Chris, you''re up."
The blond guy stood up. "I''m Chris Sch?rling. The person before me is my sister. She''s always grumpy, so it''s best to get used to it. Don''t worry about dogpiling her. I won''t mind." "Hey. You''re supposed to be on my side here, jerk," said Brynn. "I''m tired of always protecting you and tolerating you acting like a princess. I think this situation is the best place for you to change yourself." "I-" she cut herself off and glared at him. "Okay, who''s next?" Chris sat down.
"That''s me," Ethan said in a jolly way. "You guys already know me. I''m Ethan Anderson, and I am known as the super childish guy, right Brynn?" he looked at her. "Fuck you," she replied in a monotone voice. "Anyway, I''m pretty average actually. I''m not super smart like Sandra, talented in gaming like Jin, or as cool as Brynn," he pointed to her. "Again, fuck you," she said apathetically. "Ethan, ya really like teasing her, huh?" Fey smirked. "Don''t worry, I don''t dislike her. I just really enjoy her responses," said Ethan. Brynn sighed, "For the third time, fuck you," she said, almost void of emotion. "That''s not what I meant, idiot," Fey continued to smirk,"So, whose turn is it?" "It''s your turn," said Isabel.
"Oh, um. Ahem," Fey stood up, "Okay, so... I''m Fey Griffin. I know, cool name. I used to play baseball, but I stopped. I like classical music-don''t judge me-and I hate tomatoes in my burgers," she sat down.
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Sandra stood up right away, "My name is Sandra O''Sullivan." I am of Irish descent. I was born on April 12, and I am 16 years old as of now. I read books as a hobby, and my favorite food is cr¨ºpes," she sat down, "That is all for me. Ozzy-"
"HELLO HELLO HELLO, EVERYONE~!" Ozzy jumped up, not even letting Sandra finish her sentence, "This beautiful girl''s name is Ozzy Alcantara. I hope that we can all be friends and have fun together. And of course, not get us killed~ Don''t think that I forgot what situation we''re in," she quickly glanced at Brynn. She noticed it and has an expression that screams "you too?!" Ozzy continued her blabbering, "I''m 17 years old. I was born on January 16. I love music, I love kdrama, I love history, I love reading and writing stuff, I love stalking my favorite kpop idols online, I love reading BL fanfics on wattpad and watching people argue in the comment section, I love-" "Okay, okay, okay," Ethan interrupted her, "I think we need to give other people a chance to talk about themselves too, alright?" "Oh, oops. Sorry," she giggled and sat down. "I believe it''s my turn to introduce myself," Isabel stood up. "Can you imagine if someone new just walked into the courtyard and we had to do this all over again?" Jin spoke. "I''m down for it. This time we''ll at least need three minutes to talk about ourselves," Ethan replied. "Please don''t," Brynn said, shaking her head.
Isabel continued and said, "I am Isabel Taylor. I volunteered to be the leader of the group, so we can find a way to get out of this place and get back to our homes and families. I hope that everyone will be cooperative and help with tasks like finding supplies and such. Always remember that your safety and well-being is top priority, so please never do anything dangerous if your life doesn''t depend on it. So let''s do our best to work together," she did a little bow and sat down.
Jin jumped up, "YO, YO, YO! WHAT IS UP, MY GUYS?" "Hey! Don''t copy my introduction style!" Ozzy shouted. "My name is Yeon-Jin Lee. You can call me Jin. I''m 17 years old. I''m a streamer. I play games and stuff," he quickly sat down. "That''s everyone, right?" "Zander hasn''t introduced himself yet," Sandra pointed out. "Actually, he''s been a bit quiet for a while." "Dude, are you feeling alright?" Fey asked. ... I don''t know why, but I feel strange for some reason. I looked at them and they seemed worried that I was spacing out the entire time. "Ah, sorry." I stood up. I feel dizzy.
"My name is Zander... and..." I trailed off. "And?" Isabel asked. "I don''t remember who I am, I don''t remember where I''m from, I don''t know a single thing about me. All I know was a word-Zander-nothing else." "Do you know why you were in that room?" "No... All I know is that I was walking for a long time there." ... We were all quiet for a while and didn''t know what to say. "Okay!" Ethan broke the silence. "Let''s talk about what we found from our little expeditions earlier. We''ll go first. Because of that bloodclaw, we didn''t get the chance to check many rooms earlier. We found Zander though." "We found some seeds," Ozzy said, pulling out a handful of small brown seeds from her pocket. "We need to prepare for the worst. We don''t know how long we''ll be stuck here. Other than that, nothing else." "That''s dumb," said Brynn. "The police will rescue us by the time that sprouts. Our families couldn''t just let us go missing forever." "Maybe the demons will kill a lot of them and say it''s too dangerous to continue," Jin shrugged. "There''s already one running around in there. Maybe we won''t last long." "Can I see that?" Sandra walked towards her. She squinted at the seeds and said, "I think those are radish seeds." "How long do they take to grow?" Isabel asked. "Um... around three to five weeks. We already have soil and water here. I don''t know about sunlight though." "Better to plant them than just leave them to waste." "By the way," said Ethan, "Let''s go back in there and find more food and supplies again. We''re running low on food. Hopefully, we can find a way out too," he walked off the paved part of the court yard and picked up something from the ground, "We can use this as a weapon." It''s a fist-size rock. "Isn''t there something else?" Fey asked. "I know it''s better than nothing, but that bloodclaw would bite your hand if you tried that on her." "Who said I''m going to use it?" he tossed the rock to her. She caught it and said, "Huh? Hey! What do you think I am? I''m not some sort of killing machine!" "You''re the one with the best throwing skills. No one''s more qualified than you." "I''m a batter, not a pitcher." "I''ll carry the rocks for you." "Deal." Ethan grabbed a few rocks on the ground and had enough to fill his pockets. "Who''s going to stay here with me and Sandra?" Isabel asked. "We''ll clear out a spot for these seeds to grow, and plant them." "I''ll stay and help," Brynn said, raising her hand. "Okay, anyone else? Alex?" She asked her. She responded by shaking her head. "I think I''ll help with the farming too," Jin also raised his hand and said, "You guys might not know, I am a natural farmer, with a legndary green thumb." "Coward," said Brynn. "You''re just too afraid to go, aren''t you?" Jin didn''t reply. "He can stay," said Isabel. "He''ll clear out a spot for the seeds. Ozzy, can you put them in that basket?" "Sure thing!" Ozzy poured handfuls of radish seeds into the basket. There was more than we expected. It looked like her pockets were full of them. "Where did you find those anyway?" I said something after a long while. "I found a jar full of them in one of the rooms." She answered. "Why not just bring the jar?" She stopped putting the seeds in for a moment and froze. She continued to put them in the basket as if she hadn''t heard anything. "Okay," Ethan spoke, "So the ones going to look for supplies are me, Zander, Chris, Alex, Fey, and Ozzy. The ones who''re gonna stay here are Jin, Brynn, Sandra, and Isabel. Let''s go deeper into the mansion since there''re more of us now. Is everyone ready to go?" he grabbed the oil lamp from the floor. "I''m ready," I replied. "I want to beat that lady to a pulp again," then Fey. "Yeah," Chris. "LEZZGOOO~!" Ozzy. And Alex, who started hopping, smiling, and nodding. Ethan grinned and walked towards the arc leading inside. We followed his lead, and the four left behind waved and wished us luck. Luck for returning back into the dark depths of this wrecthed mansion. [To Be Continued...]