SCREAM [ GMW ]

xvi. when it all goes down in flames

yo yo yo !!! i have had pneumonia the past two weeks but mustered up the energy to get up and fix part of the corrupted file (if u didn't know my file for this story got corrupted) and got the next chapter back. enjoy and i should be back sometime soon!!

"I'll play the game."

Mr. W. laughed sickly once again, the ringing of his voice carrying through the dust particles in the air and settling deep in Maya's bloodstream. He flowed through her.

Maybe, she really was losing her mind.

"Oh, Maya?"

"What?"

"You are most definitely not losing your mind. I have that effect on people- I want you to feel like that."

"That makes me feel even more insane."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now...shall we start?"

"Yes."

"You lead the way, Miss Hart. I shall be seeing you, later."

Maya remained still in the corridor, puzzled. Going straight would be following the path Mr. W. had set her on, so that would mean he wanted her to go that way. Left or right would be wild cards- they have no correlation. Backwards would be...the most misleading option.

Maya spun quickly on her heels, walking quickly in the opposite direction. Mr. W. would either want her to walk forwards, or get lost taking the left or right path's. The backwards path is what she would least expect- but she's Maya Hart, and if he dealt the card, she will play it. As she absentmindedly drug her fingertips against the cold walls, she noticed the grooves under her nails. Her eyes traveled to the ridges, and that's when she realized.

They were etchings- some were names, birthdays, maybe tallies to keep count of how much of their sentence had been completed- but one name caught her eye, of course.

'Harlan Jones, love u my wife my son'

Harlan had a family?

Maya shook off the small detail and continued to walk, glancing in and out of the cells, looking for clues. As she walked into number twenty-three she finally decided that the place had been deserted for at least a few years. After all, no inmates- no prison. Maya flipped up the pillows on the top and bottom bunk of the bed frame, and discovered a small tear in the top bunk's mattress. The blonde's small hand dove into the hole, and she fished out a bottle of some sort of medicine. As she wiped the grime off of it, she realized what it was.

Advil 

Ibuprofen Tablets, 200 MG

Barbiturate Pain Killer/ Fever Reducer              

Maya thought back to the day of Riley's party. She had woken up with a headache, so her mother had given her some advil before she left the house. Didn't I leave the bottle on one of the picnic tables?

The bottle was empty.

She continued to rummage around the room until she found a clipboard under a chest in the corner of the room. Maya licker the pads of her fingers before beginning to flip through the dirty, yellowing pages. One corner in particular was folded up, so she flipped to that specific sheet and began to read the contents.

MORROWOOD FACILITY

INMATE: Harlan Jones

CHARGED WITH: Drug Abuse, Murder

SENTENCE: Lifetime with no chance of parole

NOTES: Appears partial to his family.