A/N: I highly recommend playing the video above on loop to set the mood.
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The entire bus seemed to stir with excitement; kids whispering among each other and fidgeting in their seats.
(Y/N) didn't notice. She couldn't. She was overwhelmed by the suffocating feeling of pure evil. Her breath had caught in her throat, and she seemed to push herself against the back of her seat so hard that she might as well have been trying to break through the bus itself.
Cain chewed on the nail of his thumb, and only gave (Y/N) short side-glances every few moments. It seemed that he too was anticipating something.
The rattle and groans of the bus especially didn't help to calm the girl's nerves. It grew more intense the deeper they went down.
Not only that- but the entire bus seemed to get warmer, too. In fact, it had begun to get so uncomfortably hot that (Y/N) had to frantically throw off her layers of clothes and beanie until she wore only a tank-top and jeans, tightly fitting her curves.
Once catching a glimpse of (Y/N) without a puffy jacket- Cain couldn't help but do a double take. "You look hot."
"Yeah— it's really toasty in here," (Y/N) muttered, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Not what I meant, but, okay."
(Y/N) sent Cain a glare, folding her arms over her chest. She was too uneasy to focus on telling him off for any perverted comments. Nobody else seemed too affected by it, which made her all the more consciously aware about the unbearable heat.
Within minutes, the bus had been engulfed in utter, total darkness. The driver hadn't even his headlights on. What sort of tunnel was this ..? How deep could it go?
Lifting up her hand even inches in front of her face, (Y/N) failed to see anything but black as deep as the dimmest night. She shuddered, completely unnerved. She turned her head to the boy beside her, softly whispering out to him. "What's going on?"
Silence. In fact, it seemed that when (Y/N) wasn't paying attention, the other students fell into a deadly quiet as well, leaving her in what seemed like an abyss.
"Hey—.." (Y/N) anxiously bit on her lower lip, blindly reaching out to where Cain should've been. Yet, strangely enough, her hands met nothing but air. In fact, she couldn't even feel the seats. Was she sitting on nothing? It didn't make sense.
Her heart began to race against her chest like a bird in a cage. What was happening?
She rose up from her "seat", and began to walk forward into the nothingness, her anxiety only increasing. (Y/N) usually wasn't one to cower away from danger. Even now, she couldn't prove to herself that she actually was in immediate danger. Yet, she trusted her gut more than anything. And her instincts simply screamed that;
Something was not right.
Suddenly, she felt- not heard- a voice whisper and echo in and out of her mind. (Y/N) shuddered with absolute dread, gradually forcing herself to turn around.
There was a pit. Visually, it seemed ... about six feet across both ways. A dim, yet clearly blood red light emitted from what seemed to be the bottom of it (which one couldn't actually see). Was this where she was supposed to go?
It was so alluring. The light beckoned her like a mother calls her children, and so - she answered.
Taking one tiny step at a time toward the hole, (Y/N)'s knees trembled to the point where she thought she might collapse.
And, she did.
Only inches from the pit, the girl's legs gave way, and she tripped over herself. Toppling into the hole, she released a blood curdling scream for help as she began to violently plummet down, down, and down some more.
The red only grew more vivid, and only more intense. And as the color seemed to engulf her, so did her perturbation. She'd never been this petrified in her life. Was this what it was like to die of fear? Perhaps she'd find out.
And once (Y/N)'s entire body was enveloped by red flame — as suddenly as it started, it had stopped as she felt her body violently meet with the ground.
Daring to open her eyes- which she hadn't realized she had closed in her nightmarish experience, she was met with abrupt applause, and even cheering.
(Y/N) poked her head up from her arms to see that young adults- some of them aged (yet eerily gorgeous) were standing around her in a semi-circle, whooping and applauding. She didn't recognize anybody. What was this? In the cluster of people, she caught eye of Cain, who helped pull her up to her feet. Out of everyone, he had to be the familiar face.
"Took you long enough, princess."
The girl furrowed her brow, shifting her eyes about the faces of people, who did not approach further. Then- suddenly realizing that she was still holding Cain's switchblade, she slid it into her back pocket; hilt down.
With one swift moment, (Y/N) was violently yanked in with everyone else by Cain's strong hands, at which she released an angrily confused yelp from.
"What was that for-?!" she'd begun to exclaim, before broke off by another loud round of applause. Cain smirked at her, before pushing her cheek so that she now looked to where he had just pulled her from.
Where (Y/N) once was, there was Victoria- laying face flat on the ground. She promptly pushed herself up with a groan, and took her time to elegantly brush down her skirt, gazing about the crowd and nodding to them each with a polite smile, and then trekking to the sidelines. However, not before sending a look that, for some reason, quickly translating itself as "how the fuck did you get here before me".
And, as the other students began to roll in, it was then that (Y/N) saw that they seemed to fall from dark clouds above.
The scenery was an entire new adventure. The ground was made of naturally red, rocky turf. And as the girl's (E/C) gaze trailed up to her surroundings, she found that she couldn't- for a horrible mist desaturated out anything further than ten feet. If one were to walk out on their own, they could quickly get lost. There was no doubt about it.
The air tasted of brimstone, and the very fumes of it stung at (Y/N)'s eyes unpleasantly, so she found herself needing to squint in order to control the watering in her now glossy eyes. Despite this, everything felt so very dry. The now familiar brittle heat hadn't dwindled done whatsoever. In fact, it only seemed to pulse harder throughout the girl's tender body. How in the world would she be able to survive an entire school year of this?
It now seemed as if the entire bus had been successfully transported, save for the driver.
One of the more aged adults in the crowd- a tall and broad man, with a suave and slicked back raven-colored haircut, only with small streaks of grey lining the sides of his head - stepped out from the swarm of supernatural persons, and announced in a booming voice:
"To the new students joining us now, welcome to Lakeside."
Another spout of applause broke out, this time additionally adding the whoops and hollers of teenagers.
The representative that (Y/N) could only assume was the headmaster begun to usher specifically the adults who were clearly teachers. They began to sort out students and gather them all in a well organized clump.
"Come along!" a rather lean and extremely attractive woman announced, leading the group. As (Y/N) began to take her first few steps to follow, large and frigid cold fingers wrapped around her right shoulder. She shuddered from the feeling, turning her head over her shoulder.
The headmaster's thunderous form towered over behind her. He frowned, and clearly spoke out the words- "Not you. You stay."
It was only then that she spotted Cain's still form, dragging his gaze over her figure. Furrowing her brows with both annoyance and confusion, (Y/N) fully turned about to face the pair.
"Wipe that horrific expression off of your face before I become intolerant of your unique position," the headmaster growled out.
This couldn't be good.