Chapter 3: into the box

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Julia was confused. First off she was supposed to be in odd world with her friends eating 4 scoop ice cream, but instead of that, she was in a little cold... building? The truth was that Julia had no idea where she was, but she was willing to find out. Julia peered out of the opened door and saw fake trees and bushes. The sound of trickling water was heard throughout the halls. This used to be a place. It was just abandoned. Julia had heard of places like this, and how teens would go to parties there and never come back. Julia was terrified, yet curious of what such things awaited for her to see.


The rest of the class piled out of the tiny door and awed at the mysterious setup. "The dude said to find his blocks and bring them back." Jacob said from a bush.

"We should split if the blocks are all around here." Julia said and turned to the door on the right. But Alita grabbed her hand right after she was about to reach for the doorknob.

"Julia. Do you think it's safe here? I mean you never know" Alita said as she was shaking.

"Alita, we got this. Just leave it to me."

"If you get hurt I'll tell mom it's all my fault." Alita said sarcastically but with a hint of seriousness.

"Alita, stop worrying. Like I said, we got this. We're gonna be out of here in no time."

...

Julia was walking through the tiny hallway with students, Ben, Lee, Carol, Love, and of course, Alita. The rest of the students were out somewhere inside of the building. Julia sometimes heard heavy footsteps and talking throughout the walls and floors so she always stopped in the middle of walks. Then a scream was heard;

"What was that?" Ben asked.

"The other's must be in trouble." Alita answered.

"I'm scared..." Julia said.

"It's gonna be fine little sis." Alita said, gripping Julia's hand tightly.  The group started running to where the screaming was. Hopefully the group was just scared that something fell down or something like that. But this scream sounded of true fear. No one knew, but this place was bad from the start of its existence. The building was haunted. Julia could feel it.

...

Julia turned a corner and found something she would have in her head for the rest of her life. There was no erasing it. Julia saw her classmate, Matilda, being eaten by a blue creature with a button eye and a crown. Blood spilled everywhere. Guts splattered onto the ground causing more blood to get onto the white polished floors. Bones were clattered onto the blood covered ground. The blue creature ate what was left of the classmates in one whole bite and walked away. Julia's hands were over her mouth, but she wished they were over her eyes. Luckily most of the class survived the attack; they were all in their boxes. A few eyes started to peer out and crawl out of them.

"What was that?!" Emma asked.

"I don't know." Erin said.

"Will it come back?" Nikki asked.

"I don't know."

The class went silent looking at the blood and guts that the creature squeezed out of their old friend.

"Does anyone have any blocks?" Julia asked well, crying tiny tears. A blonde haired girl came out of her box.

"Yeah. A few. We need to get out of here." Mira said. "Where do we put them?"

Julia looked up at the sign above. It said "theater" in white paint.

"Why don't we put them there?" Julia said, pointing to the theater sign above her.

"What a good idea. Let's check it out." Mira said.

...

The theater was the coziest place Julia had ever been. It was warm like a fuzzy blanket. The best part was that it was monster proof too. Whenever the blue creature rolled by it stopped and turned back.

Julia felt a strange little connection toward the blue monster like she knew him from somewhere. And she could also hear tiny voices that sounded familiar as well. This whole place was familiar in some way. Julia was also probably scaring herself. Her friend just died. She was scared. There was a monster on the loose. She was probably making it all up.  But yet again there was a tiny part of her that still felt like she belonged here.

"Julia! Stop thinking!"

Julia was looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh um. Hi?" Julia said in an awkward voice.

"Well you were daydreaming, Erin and I got some blocks." Alita said.

"Oh... that's grEat!"

Silence.

Erin and Alita just put the blocks on a table. And sat back down on the polished floor. "Who wants to go out next?" Erin asked.

The class looked around at each other.

"Guys, If we want to get out, we'll all have to face our fears. That means going outside all together. Call me crazy, but it's the truth." Lee said abruptly.

The class started muttering.

"Let's do it." The class said

"Now we just need a leader." Emma said.

"I wonder who that could be." Alita said. "How about someone who's strong enough to fight these monsters, someone who looks out for other people, someone who can bravely trust, someone like... Julia."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh yeah you're perfect." Ben said.

"You escaped from school to be with your friends. If you could do that you can do anything." Love said.

"You're the best out of all of us." Lee said.

"Really. You guys must be joking."

"Julia, you don't have to do it if you're not brave enough." Alita said.

"Oh I'm brave. I'm super brave. After what I saw. I'll do it. I'll be your leader."

The class went bursting with joy. They started chanting Julia over and over and over. Julia was drowning from fame. For once she was the center of attention. And she will lead her class out of this mess. No matter what gets in her way.

...

A figure was in his office looking at the happy celebration from his computer. He started tapping his fingers onto the desk.

"Julia huh? Let's see if she can hold up with two of us. I'm sure she'll be dead by tomorrow night. Isn't that right green?"

"Yes, I won't let you down. Red."

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