The Forbidden Game

Memories

As Luna laid there sleeping peacefully, her dreams took a left turn and decided to remind her of had led her to this moment in time, being forced to live in a mansion with 5 men.

"Be a good girl for Mrs. Clarence Luna, I will be back after work. I love you sweetheart."

The young woman with raven hair kissed the 10 year old girl on the cheek before walking out the door. Unbeknownst to the young girl, it would be the last time she ever saw her mother alive again.

The small girl stood at her mother's casket, emotionless and unthinking. She heard the adults talking about how a drunk driver did it. Why did they have to take her mother and not someone else's?

Tears began to stream down her cheeks but no sound escaped her mouth. Mr. and Mrs. Clarence were talking to someone in a suit and tie and they kept pointing at her. Her friend and their young daughter, Shelby Clarence, held Luna's small hand throught the whole funeral, never letting go.

"Luna sweetie," she turned her head towards Mrs. Clarence's kind voice. "This man is with child services, he states you have no other living family, is that true?"

She looked towards the man with the suit and tie. She wasn't stupid, she knew that if she said yes to Mrs. Clarence's question, this man would take her to some random location and drop her off with people she didn't know.

"That's not true, because you're my godmother and aunt, Linda Clarence," she smiled at the man and although he knew what was going on, to have the child state that was her family was enough to close the case on the orphan. The Clarences had property and well paying jobs, there was no reason to suspect any neglect would occur.

"Very well miss, good day and please call if you need anything at all," he handed Luna the card with his name and office phone number on it and got into his car to leave. Being the sassy little girl she was, she threw the card in a nearby trash can.

" Luna, that was a very grown up decision you just made. I'm proud of you," the woman smiled kindly at her.

Linda Clarence and her mother had been best friends since high school and they had raised their daughters together in the hopes they would become friends too. Michael Clarence, Shelby's father, was also a kind person and was happy to have another daughter. Luna squeezed Shelby's small hand and they walked together to the family van to start their life as sisters.

A few years later, Luna is a pre-teen and as most girls her age, she gets curious about things. She was looking online after school while Shelby was at piano practice and came across a website that looked interesting enough.

"Join the game, huh?" she said aloud as she clicked the link.

The website brought her to an online messenger where 5 people were waiting. She typed out "Hello?" and the replies came quickly.

"Hello, welcome to our game! We are sooooo bored. So glad you clicked the link" -Jin

Luna looked at the screen and smiled, maybe this will pass the time before dinner. "So, what is this game? Is it like online checkers or something?" she typed.

"No, more like truth or dare but we could be lying. It's up to you to figure it out." -Akira

"Hope you dont suck at this" -Collin

"Haha, sounds like you may have lost before" -Luna

"Shut up and let's play" -Collin

For hours, they played truth or dare and tried to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. A lot of it was innocent and sounded like kids being kids. Once her adopted parents came home, she knew she had to log off for dinner and she suddenly grew sad.

"I'm sorry but I have to go now" -Luna

"That's ok Luna, we will play again tomorrow" -Jin

She smiled and did come back the following day to play. As the days turned to months, it went from truth or dare to just truth and telling each other about themselves. They even sent pictures of each other through the messenger. Luna actually considered them to be friends. Months turned to years and as Luna grew up, she wanted to meet them in person.

"Princess, that isn't a good idea" -Jin

"Why not? I want to actually go and hang out. I can sneak out of the house or something since you are allergic to sunlight" -Luna

"You aren't ready yet" -Akira

"You have been saying that for a year, but you never explain what it means" -Luna

"Oh for God sakes, Luna end it before I scare you" -Collin

"You don't scare me Collin, whatever you got bring it on" -Luna

She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms confidently. I mean really, what could he possibly do through a computer screen? She heard the ping of the messenger and gasped when she looked at the screen.

From Collin, was a picture of her sitting at the computer with her arms crossed over her chest just moments ago. She turned and looked around her and didn't see anyone. She knew Shelby didn't know about this, and she was downstairs with her mother. She heard the ping again and saw another picture of herself, looking around, this time from Ryan. She began to panic.

"We told you, you aren't ready yet" -Jin

The last ping was of her in her bed last night fast asleep. She screamed and ran towards the kitchen and explained to her adopted mother what was going on. When all 3 ran into the computer room, the website was closed and the screen was on the home page. Luna typed in the url to search but it didn't exist.

"Sweetie, did you fall asleep at the computer and have a nightmare? You have such terrible ones, it wouldn't surprise me if you had a life like one like that," said her mother concerned.

"I....I guess I must have, a website just doesn't disappear that quickly....I'm sorry to worry you mama..." Luna said with her head down.

Luna became terrified, especially at night and decided to move out into her own place to feel safe again. She actually enjoyed being by herself and once a week Shelby spent the night with her. It wasn't long after that, Luna went hiking in the woods behind her cottage home.

While searching for wild lavender, she found a puppy all alone. She took the little guy home, cleaned him up and fed him and she decided to keep him. Her adopted father was allergic to EVERYTHING so her and Shelby never got to have a pet.

A year later, she was volunteering at a local animal shelter and instead of coming home with a good conscious, she came home with a black kitten, tiny enough to fit into her hand. Luna liked her life, she liked her friends, her family and her pets. She liked her house and her flowers and vegetable garden but it's all changed now.

"All because you played that stupid game" echoed a voice.

Luna woke up with a blanket wrapped around her and realized she was still in this unknown place. She turned her head towards the tv where The Golden Girls played softly. She sat up and smiled at Akira who was sitting on the other couch, reading a book. "That's my favorite show."

"I know, I thought having it on would make you feel better," he said as he closed his book to look at her.

"It actually does, thank you," she smiled at him brightly. His cheeks turned a shade of pink before he stood up to put his book back on the shelf.

"Ah, youre awake darling!" Sebastian walked in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. "I hope you're hungry, I made your favorite."

She was actually starving, not having eaten anything the day before either, but she was wary of what they would bring out to her. It could be poison, it could be a sedative, it could be gross...I mean Sebastian eats souls, how is he going to cook?

He brought her a plate to eat on the couch so she wouldn't have to get up and freeze in the nightgown.

Luna looked down at the plate and sweet baby Jesus it was her favorite! Enchiladas, and they smelled AMAZING! She was so hungry her stomach outweighed her mind and poison be damned, she was eating it.

After taking the first bite she set her fork down and looked at the plate.

"Is something the matter?" asked Sebastian, worried that he hadn't made it right or perhaps made it too spicy.

"It's....It's.....It's the best damn enchiladas I've ever had!" She said as she began to scarf it down.

Sebastian chuckled at her before taking her empty plate and brought her some tea. Jin had walked back into the living room and smiled endearingly when he noticed she was awake.

"I put some fresh clothes on the bed for you. I'm sure you have questions but you should put on something warmer," he said as he walked up to her, a little too close for comfort.

She took a few paces back and nodded at him, "I'll go take a shower then, I know how to get back to that room so I'm ok to go by myself." She turned on her heels and walked rather fast to get out of there and get some space. Jin looked after her, a slightly sad expression on his face.

From the couch he heard Collin snicker. "Swing and a miss," never once looking up from his book

"f**k you, demon," Jin said as he turned to leave the room.