Down Come Seven (ReWrite 2018)

C H E C K M A T E

Sitting down next to Smiley Face, I proceeded to stick my semitransparent hand in and out of his body.

It was mostly for fun... but I guess I could claim that it was a valiant effort to wake the unconscious teen.

I was just pretending to stick my hand into his brains...when the red-head suddenly sat up with a groan.

I leapt back, clutching my red hand.

"Oh! Ah...Yo, Smiley, wat up!?" I waved casually. Tried to anyway.

Smiley Face didn't react.

Didn't seem to hear me at all.

Great. Not only was I incorporeal, I'm invisible...

...Or he's just ignoring me.

Who Knows.

"Joker Chic?" Instead of looking at me, Smiley Face crawled over to where my body lay, shaking its shoulder to try and wake it...me... up.

Of course, it didn't work.

"...Figures." I pouted.

Guess being a ghost can't just be all fun and games.

"...Try slapping her again." The Brat muttered as he sat up. "It worked on the space ship. And it certainly cheers me up."

I glared at him, tempted to try and possess him.

The Staring Girl was the last of my companions to wake, slowly sitting up to see what was going on.

"Is she okay?" She asked quietly.

"...Way I see it, there's a 10% chance she's hurt. 40% chance the Witch has done something to her and a 50% chance she's just faking." Smiley Face reasoned.

"My money's on the last one... Where are we anyway?" The Brat asked, climbing to his feet.

They looked around, trying to come to grips with their strange surroundings.

"It's a chess board. "Smiley Face shrugged, not that impressed with our whacky surroundings.

Which was a shame.

Not every day you wake up on a giant chess board, surrounded by complete darkness.

Like we really were at the bottom of the abyss.

Light seemed to be coming from the luminous white checkered squares. Chess pieces the size of cars floated in the air above us, as if untouched by gravity. Every piece was white and seemed to glow as brightly as the white squares.

"I know I say this all the time, but this has to be the Joker round." The Brat declared hands on hips. "Even if it wasn't crazy, there just aren't any options left.

Smiley Face nodded.

"Fear, Empty, Menace, Fake, Victim...We lost the Celebrity in the bonus round so... Joker is the only one left... and if we can get through this round..."

"....we can go home." The Staring Girl concluded.

Smiley Face paused, seeming to find this prediction too optimistic.

"I wouldn't..."

"Shut up. We made it through two rounds without losing anyone." The Brat snapped. "I don't care what the Witch wants. We're all getting out of here."

Smiley Face sighed.

"Fine."

I smiled, moving to stand...

Only to have earth-shattering pain explode in my chest.

Gasping, I curled into a tight ball.

The pain clawed through me, forcing all the air from my lungs. I couldn't even scream.