Surviving a Real Life Horror Story

Chapter Twelve

It was hard for me to believe that a stranger could make me feel this way. A stranger could get inside my head, twist my thoughts and emotions until I no longer understood what I truly wanted.

The entire ride home, I know that Andi had no idea what thoughts were running through my mind. I felt guilty as I listened to her talking away like usual about things that just didn’t catch my interest. I couldn’t help but look at her with sadness.

I thought of how devastated she would be if I did take Milton’s offer. I thought about the sacrifice that she might make for my choice. The thought pained me. I didn’t know if I’d be okay if I knew I was the reason that my best friend was dead.

I sighed and looked at the dvd in my hand. It was oddly light for the heavy information that it contained. Just before we left, the owner had caught up to us and handed Andi and I each one of the discs. He explained that they contained all of the interviews of our competitors and clips from previous year’s events.

The thought made me shiver. I knew perfectly well that the disc contained real murders. I didn’t know if I had the stomach to watch them.

Beside me, Andi fell silent, and I took my opportunity to ask, “Have you thought about what’s on these yet?”

She tilted her head to the side a bit. “Yeah, I don’t think we should watch them.”

“As much as I’d love to agree, I think we have to,” I said, feeling my stomach clench in disgust. “They’ll show us clips of the arenas. That little bit of information might help us get prepared for what we’re going to have to face tomorrow.”

“You’re right,” she said pushing her lips into a pencil straight line.

I nodded, glad that for once she was willing to listen. The silence seemed unusually thick as we climbed out of the car. She led the way into her house, and I followed close behind. I tried to avoid looking down the street as I did so. Thoughts of Brenda and Krista tugged at my heart, making me want to visit them before I lost my chance.

I knew that I couldn’t do that either. It would make things so hard. Seeing Krista the way she was would make me spill my plans to Brenda, and on instinct, she would stop me from going through with it.

As much as I hated the idea, I had to do it.

By the time I stepped into the house, Andi was already on her knees, sliding the dvd into the player. I could feel anxiety bubbling in my throat. I didn’t know why I expected to have a chance at relaxation before we watched it.

This could be my last night alive…relaxing didn’t exist today.

“There’s a menu screen,” she said as she picked up the remote. “Do you want to watch interviews first, or old scenes?”

I frowned to myself as I sat down on the couch. Both of them were things that we needed to see. We needed to know who we were up against AND where it would be at. I swallowed down that feeling of anxiety as I finally replied, “Old scenes.”

Andi nodded and for once, didn’t say a word as she clicked the option.

It seemed like neither of us were breathing as we watched the footage begin to play. It was dark, a forest it looked like. There was a small blonde haired girl hiding beneath a shrub. She was panting and half of her face was covered in blood. She looked terrified, panic shone in her eyes.

I bit my lip, guessing her fate. I bit harder as I noticed a figure dressed like Michael Myers step into view. He held up his trademark butcher knife as he looked for her. I noticed that it was covered in blood, and I wondered if any of it belonged to the girl or not. I watched the way the man moved; he was quiet and definite.

A practiced killer.

The girl however, wasn’t as experienced. She heard him step on a nearby twig. Instead of keeping her silence, she screamed, a loud, long sound and he found her. He didn’t waste a second driving the knife through her throat. Andi gasped as she put her hands in front of her face.

“I don’t want to watch anymore,” she said, climbing quickly to her feet as she ran to the bathroom.

I looked down at the floor, never agreeing more. On the tv, I could hear him dragging her body away, but I couldn’t bring myself up to look. The only thing I could think of was the look on the girl’s face as she hid. She knew she was going to die…but there was nothing she could do about it.

I had that feeling and I wasn’t even in the arena yet.

I thought for a long time about the girl. Had she gone in with a partner, or had she entered alone. If she had a partner, could it have saved her life? I looked up at the tv in time to see a different frightened person dashing through the woods. I couldn’t bring myself to watch another person die, so I closed my eyes and fast forwarded until I was back at the main menu.

Andi had been right about the old scenes. There was one thing she didn’t understand; they were scarring. The images in my brain were motivational…though I didn’t quite understand what that meant yet. In my head, I kept playing over Milton’s offer.

My head seemed to know what my heart wouldn’t accept…he was my best chance.

At that moment, Andi stepped back into the living room. “Is it over?” she asked weakly.

I nodded. “I fast-forwarded through it…that was a terrible thing to watch.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“Still want to watch the interviews?” I asked.

She nodded and picked up the remote to click on the option.

“Which one do you want to hear about first?” she asked.

“Let’s just watch them all in order.”

She nodded, and we fell silent as we began to watch.

The first interview was with a small girl with long tangled red hair named Melanie. She claimed she brought “faith” to the competition.

“She’s really nice,” Andi noted from beside me.

I nodded, but didn’t say a word as we continued to watch.

The burly guy that Milton had pointed out was next. His name was Bruno, and he responded with “ruthlessness.” I knew what that meant-Milton had already warned me of him. He would show no mercy in the arena just like the killers. I shivered at the sight of him.

We sat in silence as we watched the other six interviews. Finally, Milton was on. I listened to the same words that I had heard him say earlier, and once again I thought of his words. I thought of what he could do for me, and what Andi couldn’t.

I bowed my head as Andi’s came on.

“I think we’re finished with this,” she said.

I nodded in agreement.

“I’m gonna head to my room…I-I just want to be alone for a while,” Andi said suddenly.

I looked at her in surprise. “Are you okay?” I asked.

She gave me a weak smile. “Yeah, I’ll be just fine.”