Fear

Chapter One: The Masks

Darkness.

The air was black all around me. My head throbbing as if I'd been drugged or whacked in the head multiple times.

I grabbed my head in the dark, steadying myself and trying to stand up to explore my surroundings.

My legs felt weak as I held myself against the wall behind my back, preventing myself from falling.

Green eyes unfocused, my chocolate brown hands grasped at anything I could to steady myself.

Groaning at the pain in my head, I managed to grab onto something; a bed. Hard; I must have been in a bedroom or something...

In front of me, a light suddenly flickered repetitively, it looked as if it was at the end of a corridor.

On, off. On, off. On off.

"Nyx, " a chorus of voices began whispering my name.

"S-stay back, " I tried to keep my voice steady.

"Get b-back I have a k-knife, " I held out my hand as if I had a weapon, but yet they still continued.

"Nyx... Nyx..." The voices we're getting closer and closer.

Closing my eyes, I steadied my breaths.

In, out. In, out. In, out. Perfectly in sync with the constant flicker of the light.

Swallowing hard, the people who had been whispering my name turned a corner and I caught sight of the people coming towards me. I couldn't see them properly in the flickering lights, but I could see that they were all wearing masks and there was about ten of them. All in black apart from their masks, all different and none the same. But the one that was probably the scariest was the one in a porcelain doll mask.

"D-don't hurt me, I didn't do n-nothing..."

But they still walked slowly towards me. The slow flicker of the lights followed their footsteps as they walked towards me.

Opening my eyes slightly, I found that the people were walking just as slowly.

Although they looked creepy, I had to admit, they were scaring me too slowly and, I'm sorry I couldn't help it, but I yawned.

Not a small ah. Nope, a full arm stretch, wide-mouth yawn. It wasn't intentional, but for some reason, it just felt right.

"An elderly man with no feet could walk faster than you," I said to no one in particular, hopefully convincing them that I wasn't scared.

No more than a second after I had uttered the words, a man around the same age as me, sixteen, jumped into my view.

He was laughing, but it wasn't an evil laugh, it was more of a... childish laugh. He sounded like a little boy on the beach, or a kid in a candy store.

The Man looked at me, his two brown and blue eyes glinting with mischief.

"Hey there Nyx, how are you today?" He gave an annoying chuckle, " You look a bit distraught, what happened?"

"W-who are you?"

"Ah ah ah, I asked the question first."

"Fine, " I said, determined to keep my voice steady, "I'm not scared of you, why are you asking me what happened? My head feels like I've been drugged and I can't remember how I got here, so chances are, you know full well what happened." I looked him dead in the eyes.

The man chuckled again, then looked towards the masked figures, still approaching slowly, "Have you guys not got here yet?! Ugh. I swear-" the man hesitated for a second before looking to the wall, "Oh gosh it's happening again..."

"Uhrm... What's happening...?"

"Cut everything, I need to pee..."

"Shouldn't you have gone before?" one of the masked figures asked a hint of humour in his tone.

"Hey, it's not my fault I can't control my bladder!" the man shot back.

"If everyone else can, why can't yo-"

"What is happening? Is this a joke because it's not very funny." I glared at the man, "Who would even play such a sick trick on me anyway?"

The man giggled again, more maniac than before, "No one said it was a joke, but it is a game. You know who it is. Don't you feel it in your gut? I know I do! It's as if I can feel your fear! Pretty cool huh?"

"What are you on about? What game? How on earth are you supposed to feel what I'm feeling, when I'm not even scared of you?"

"Obviously I can feel your aura! Now can someone get this girl some light so that I can please pee?!" The man shouted making me flinch slightly.

"Heh, scared you did I?" The man smirked at me.

"No, and maybe if you had gone to the bathroom before, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place!"

"Incorrect, my Feisty Fox. I'll find you and me are stuck together for a very long time." He giggled again, anger flaring inside me, while I tried to keep my voice calm.

"Will you please stop giggling like that, I'm not sure you realise how annoying it is... I think your huge ego is messing with your brain, " I rolled my eyes at him, trying not to show how scared I actually was.

"Whatever, before my bladder explodes, toodle pip!"

The masked people rushed forward after being slower than a snail, grabbing me and pressing me into the wall; if this was some porno, it would probably be considered hot, but seeing as the people were in pretty terrifying masks, I'd probably slap whoever had those dirty thoughts.

"Don't. Move, " one with a blank mask and a small dot at the side whispered in a distorted voice. Obviously, I still moved, straining against the masked figures grip. I don't like being told what to do, so whatever.

Another in a mask caught my eye. It was the only one glowing blue. It had a familiar scent, but I wasn't sure where I had smelt it before.

Struggling to get out of their grasps, I pretended to go slack on instinct. 

As soon as they weakened their grip on me, I quickly shoved them out of the way catching them off guard and running as far as I could... But I didn't know where I was or where I was going... Which is always a good start.

Fate definitely had it in for me as I ran straight into the man from before.

"Oh, hello there! Did you want to see me in the toilet then," He smirked zipping his fly back up.

I shielded my eyes dramatically, "Ew... I don't even want to see your ugly face, let alone anything else."

"Heh sure you didn't. Where were you even trying to go? There's no way out of here, I think it's a good idea to go back shall we?" He kept a tight grip on my arm.

"Y'know I don't think that's the best idea, don't you think the best idea would be to let me go?" I asked him jokingly, so that he would hopefully let me go. But no such luck. 

He gave his signature laugh, "Now, now, let's not be rash," he then lowered his voice, whispering in my ear, "I'm going to ask you one. More. Time. Let's go shall we?" I couldn't help but shudder at the sudden intensity of his voice, and nodded quickly.

The man clapped his hands together and tugged me towards where I was before, facing a camera I didn't notice beforehand.

"Your favourite host is back!" The man spread his hands smiling gleefully at the camera, "I am your host, Rocco and this is Nyx, one of our ten contestants on 'Face your Fears', how do you feel?"

"Is this a joke? " I laughed nervously, "Hah! This is all a joke, how funny! I bet you guys'll take off your masks and are actually people from school, playing a joke on me!"

Rocco, the man with an obnoxious giggle, turned to me a bit confused, "Of course this is no joke, you're stuck here my little Feisty Fox."

=+=

A/N

This is a trial chapter, if all goes well, I will publish the whole book x

-Nyx