Hide and Seek with Death

Chapter 2: Welcome to Space

Date: Unknown

Place: Unknown

The first thing that I notice since waking up is a cold and damp feeling. Just standing up makes my muscle ache from pain as if I had just fallen from a two story floor building or more. This is an unwelcome feeling to me as I am wondering what had happened to me. The second I slowly opens my eyes, I started to get confused on what was before me. I do not know where I am but this place is nothing but an closed spaces l similar to a cave then there is a structure in front which seems like a podium on how unnaturally polished the limestone it is made from. Aside from that, there is nothing else noteworthy on this place.

I cannot place head nor tails on what is happening that I am starting to get dizzy for some reasons.

"I now know where the moist feeling comes from", I said. I can confirm it well because the ground feels wet but I cannot justify it well due to lack of air circulating around the area. I looked around and notice that everyone is here. All those who are invited to participate in the hide and seek are here and it would seem that I am the first to regain consciousness.

I don't know what is happening but I don't feel like waiting here by myself, so I immediately move toward the nearest body I can find.to wake him or her up. The moment I rolled the body towards me, that person immediately clutches my wrist and grips it tightly. Whoever he is, he seems to be quite strong because I can feel like my hand is going to break from the force of his hand.

"My bad, my bad. I'm sorry!", I said. I tried to let go in retaliation but he is so strong!

"You, where are we?", says the brawny, brown man with a dark orange hair. It was hard ascertain what his real hair color in this darkness but he immediately let go of my hand after giving him an answer.

I cannot help but answer ambiguously because I also do not have a good grasp of the situation as well. "I think we are in a cave but I do not know how we got here. All I can remember is sitting in Room Number 13 at the old building!"

"I-is that so?", that is all that he said after hearing what I have to say. He has a big body that can easily intimidate people around him but it does not seem like a person that can be reasoned with or as much as I like to believe.

I want to stop talking about me. This situation is still very confusing to me but this man before me, he is more calm than I thought. He stands up and moves around quietly.

In the small while that the brawny man was away, I suddenly heard a whisper behind my back. He seems to be saying something about room number 13 or something but I cannot ring my finger around with if he is not willing to share his thoughts. I did not even notice that he is already up if he did not speak. By the way he looks like, he is someone that can be easily ignored. There is nothing special about him and you can easily tell that he is the type that prefers not being in large group of people. It would be a waste of time if I do not do anything so I decided to approach him.

"Hey! I am Eva Starlight. I see that you are already awake."

He accepts the hand I offered to him with his right hand. It will be weird if he does not tell me who he is after being in a place he do not know. It will be much better to have more familiar faces around as it will be much safer than way, usually. He then returns the gesture by saying his own name, "My name is Michael Montefalco but you can call me Mint for short."

Montefalco? Why does it feel like I had heard that name before? I do not remember so maybe it would be a waste of time pondering about it. I will try to convince him to wake everyone else up but he already sprang into action without saying a thing to me. I cannot help but confront him about it.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Waking her up", he answered. "She will help wake everyone up because she is better at it than me."

The person he is talking about is the girl who accompanies me to the old building. I believe her name is Arianne or something and come to think about it, this man is the one she is poking when we were at the room back then. It would seem that there will be more familiar faces around. I feel a bit comfortable at the thought of it.

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Moments later, the brawny man Eva is talking about returns and gives them an explanation of what he had observed after checking the whole area. At that time, the three of us had already awaken about seven people. It would seem that Eva is familiar with the two of them but she does not try to engage with them in a conversation. Thankfully enough, Arianne is around to keep them company. The situation we are in is a very unusual one, especially since we are expecting an ordinary game and an event at school but we are rather brought to a completely different place unknown to us.

"There are no exit around. I tried checking the walls and notice that they are made of a thick layer of rock everywhere. There is no chance for us to escape this cave even if we try to use brute strength. I am afraid I cannot do anything about it. How about you?"

For that question, Eva was the first to respond. She seems nervous but I will pretend not to notice it and try to act calm.

"W-we do not have anything in mind as well but I thought that waking everybody up will help us."

"Hmm.. do you notice it as well?"

"Do you mean the air? Yes, I find it weird as well. We are in a closed area with no other source of light aside from the glowing stones and where there is no breeze of the wind but I can breathe just fine."

The brawny man contemplates the words she said. Actually, it made sense. No matter how creepy this place may look like, but if you think about it rationally, it is indeed very unusual that there is air around yet you can breathe just fine. It is not a logical option but there is definitely wrong about this place.

I tried to interject with their conversation as I wanted to ask this thing first before anything else.

"Um.. may I know what your name is? My name is Michael. Montefalco but you can also call me Mint."

I want to at least know who this man is. He seems like the most reliable person at this moment so if possible, I wanted to at least know what his name is. He might be a notorious person at school and it will do no good if I am not aware of that. Who knows if we are still in a game or not. You may think that I am thinking hysterically but this is my best option if I want to survive.

"The name's Angelo Cielo. How about you?"

"E-Eva Starlight! You can just call me Eva if you want."

Now that the introductions are over, I can tell that he is no threat or a bully known at school. Thank goodness. What is left now is how will others will take this situation we are in.

No matter how you think about it, the fact that you are suddenly brought to an unknown place like this will cause others to panic. This will be complicated no matter how much I think about it. I know that even Arianne will not be able to handle it as all of us here are almost complete strangers to each other. I need to think of a way to get out of this predicament.

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An hour has passed since the plan to wake everyone was initiated. Everyone had finally came to but this is just where the problem starts.

They are students who was suddenly brought to an enclosed space. The first who will react in being brought to this situation are the ones who have a phobia of closed spaces. You can hear the group of seven people trying to comfort their friend who is breathing and sweating. The student named Gael Moore is the one panicking and no one can do a thing about it.

One person in a panic can cause another to do the same. It is a common psychology within a group where people are facing the unknown. No one knows where they are. They do not know that they will end up in this place because they wanted to have that 5 million dollars as a prize. Nobody knows if there is a chance that they can still return to their own world.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!", a blonde whose hair is tied in pigtails and is wearing eyeglasses is the first to shout. The person beside her who is also wearing glasses is crying while hugging herself in an attempt to contain her fears.

Everyone is in a panic and no one can do about it. There is someone trying to make a hole in the cave by punching it hard until his hands bleeds in doing so. There is also an i***t who is banging his head on the ground as he tries to make sense that what is happening to him is only a dream.

The four who was the first to wake up gave up on trying to get everyone to work together. It was easy at first because they are only dealing with a few people but the more comes to wake up, the more diverse their reactions had been. The most that they can do is to keep them from killing themselves. Such as when Angelo stops the one trying to kill himself by smashing his head and when Arianne and Eva tries to talk with the claustrophobic person. Everyone is trying to tone the tension down but it will do nothing as time continues to drag on. Not having a clear view of the situation can only bring confusion and chaos. This is hopeless.

No.

It is was everyone thinks when they heard a woman's hysterical laugh. They do not know how long she has been there but she just suddenly appeared in front of them. She laughs like a maniac, like a person who is having the time of their life in front of them. What is supposed to be an empty podium was filled in by this being.

There is no other description that can fit her aside from a ghost. She is like a white lady with red eyes staring down at you with a big grin on her mouth that is so exagerrated that it is reaching the space under her eyes. Creepy is what she is and she calls herself...

"Hello. I am Alpha."