➿2

How it began.  

The only type of reading Alana could stomach was anything to do with conspiracy theories. The spookiness of it excited her. She liked it,she liked that people can be weird as hell. Her favorite theory was of Jesus Christ. She read Dan Brown like a sucker and the Leonardo Da Vinci's The last supper excited her. Jesus Christ had a wife? It made her hungry for more so she stayed up all night, looking at Leonardo Da Vinci's works. Along the line she found out creepy things about the artist himself. She dug deeper into conspiracy theories and history. She suddenly felt like Freud was referring to her when he called Leonardo Da Vinci a man who woke up too early in darkness while others were asleep.

She tried to push her newfound theories to her friends who called her batshit crazy. She wasn't crazy. She was enlightened. She called herself that after reading about the illuminati. But most of what she knew and thought about was from Dan Brown's Angels and demons. She sympathized with them in a way. She read about freemasonry. It was a whole new world of knowledge for her. She was barely listening in classes, wondering what wild theories she could read about next.

One Friday,while reading about the Nazis and the world war in the library,she heard Roger and Laine arguing.

"Ana!"

Laine called out to her and she turned to face her and Roger. She raised a brow for inquiry.

"Come over here" Laine beckoned.

"But I'm reading something exciting" Lana raised the big book she had in her hand, murmuring.

"It'll be quick,hurry" Roger pitched in.

Lana put a pen in between her book to mark the page she stopped at and walked over to them.

"What now"

"Look at this Article from 1957" Roger said.

Lana leaned over him and Laine and looked at it

Chronicles of the Death Loop

The title read.

Her eyes skimmed over it. Her eyes caught the words ".. death evasion " "..loop of life " ".. stated time" "Rumours have it that people have been doing this challenge " "unknown chants and cults".

Her eyes widened and she reached for the book.

"Lemme see nibbit" she said. The article was of a new cult that had a challenge where people had to evade their death at a fixed time. If they evaded it,they were granted a life of wealth and happiness. Lana's smile widened like her eyes.

"Do you think it's true?" Roger asked.

"Of course it isn't. Roger you're crazy" Ghislaine chirped.

"Ro,get my phone at the back of my bag, I want to look at this Article when I get home"

"Okay" Roger said and skipped to her bag.

"You don't believe it,do you?" Laine asked.

"Who knows,I'll have to find out if it's true or not" Lana smirked.

"Here" Roger said, giving her the phone. She took a picture of the Article and gave the book back.

Throughout the day,that article was stuck in her mind. What if it was real? If she could evade death,she would have a life with no worries.

On her way back home,a call from her mom brought her out of her train of thought.

"Hey mom"

"Alana,baby how are you?"

"I'm great thank you,what's up?"

"Uh, about the money you requested.."

She knew what her mom was about to say.

"I don't have it now, but I promise I'll find a way baby". Her mom's voice broke at the end. She has been saying this for weeks now.

Being a single mom was hard in this economy, and Alana couldn't find a good job. The one she had paid her scraps. She needed some money to buy a new book and a CD from a talk. But her mom was having a hard time earning enough to give her the money.

"I understand mom,take your time. I'll get from Ro if I have to " She said.

"Oh Alana,I'm sorry baby, I'm trying " Her mom was sobbing on the other end. It broke her heart.

"Hey,mom,it's fine. We'll be fine " The words slid off her tongue confidently.

They'll be fine. For their sake, she'll try this challenge. If she could evade it,her mom would have the life she deserves.

➿➿

So for the next few days,she did alot of research on the article and the challenge. She scoured the internet trying to find anything valuable. Finally,she came across a link that took her to a website. It felt like a whole new world when she got on the website. She had met someone called The Seeker,a kind of receptionist on the website who told her she had an assigned killer and had to evade him. She hadn't thought about it before agreeing. She couldn't get out of the game after the agreement. She didn't know she would have to evade every time,every day until she was worn out. The first time she heard the rules,she had thought if she died it'll be worth it. Her mom wouldn't have to take care of her. But no,she had to go through with it every day. The day continued until her original life life burned out or the killer's burned out.