December 13, 2023

"OPEN!" a threatening voice yelled.

A white light blurred my vision.

"Open up your eyes, sweetheart." a soothing voice whispered in my ear.

I jerked up in fear.

"Wha- where am I? Where's everyone else? Where's Lauren? What happened?" I ranted quietly, attempting to open my eyes.

There were two girls in front of me, one being Cassie, and the other, a girl I didn't know.

"Don't worry." Cassie declared, putting her hand on my shoulder. I swatted it off.

"He has reason to worry." the other girl said in an intimidating tone.

"Wha-"

"You have 60 seconds to make a life changing choice. Ready? Go." the stark girl asserted.

I looked around the room confusedly.

It was dark, completely made of metal, almost like a dungeon. It was small too. There was barely any moving space for me and the other two girls. I was kneeled down on the floor, with handcuffs latched around my wrists behind my back. Cassie didn't seem too shaken up by anything, and still had a bright smile on, and not a menacing one either. Her curly black hair was still the same, and she still had the same almond shaped brown eyes. Her pale skin gleamed in the yellow light that illuminated from the old lamp atop the ceiling. She sat casually on a small ledge that was placed against the wall, with her hands outreached towards me.

The other girl was quite the opposite, as she looked stern and strict, but at the same time, seemed almost laughable. She looked of Native-American race, with her upwards faced grey eyes, her tan-olive skin, and her thick black hair. She crossed her arms and tapped her toe impatiently.

"You need to explain to him what he's choosing, first." Cassie clarified, "We're not that mean."

"Cassandra, we are supposed to be taking our job seriously, because Mr. Kolinds said so. No, correction, he ordered us to." the girl retorted.

"It's been over 60 seconds." I mumbled.

"Well then I guess you're ready to die then?" the girl proclaimed, pulling a knife from her pocket and holding it close to my neck.

I didn't even flinch.

"You brought me here for a reason, you might as well tell me what it is." I acknowledged.

The girl rolled her eyes, and groaned in annoyance.

"Did he really have to assign us this one?" she complained to Cassie, "He could have at least given us the girl, I'm sure she'd be much more compliant."

"The girl is a little more troublesome than you think." Cassie said, balling up her fists, "Besides, do you really hate having a cute boy in here."

I attempted to control my confused expression, and felt myself blush a little, but then reminded myself:

Parker, this is Cassie.

"What girl?" I asked.

"You don't have the worth to ask questions right now, you tête stupide ridicule." the other girl said, finishing off with a nickname in another language.

"All that matters is that you have a choice to make." Cassie cut in, bouncing off of the wall.

"And you guys still have yet to tell me what that choice is. I can't exactly make a choice while you keep dancing around it in an attempt to be mysterious." I retorted, rolling my eyes.

I felt a hard hand backhand my face.

"Owwwwww." I moaned.

"That's what you get for talking back. We're not so tolerant here, Mr. Ecksen." the meaner girl said.

"Okay, I get your point." I mumbled.

"Good, now since you're so curious" the mean girl announced, "You have the choice to stay here, or go back to the FOF."

Her last words dropped with pure hatred, as she looked away.

"The girl also has the same choice," Cassie declared, "And I assume you'd want to stay with her, so choose wisely."

Were they talking about Lauren?

I felt like I knew how Lauren would answer in a heartbeat, but all I could do was hope that it was her.

"I'll stay here." I asserted.

"Good. Welcome to the Competitors Of Chance." the girl said, throwing me some clothes.

"You got lucky," Cassie said, "That girl picked the same thing as you."

I sighed in relief.

"Don't get your hopes up so early, boy." the mean girl said, holding the dagger close to my neck.

"Calm down, Marina." Cassie aided, crossing her arms and elbowing the other girl.

"It's Mariwa. How many times do I have to yell at you for you to comprehend this, Cassandra?" the meanie complained.

I coughed a little to get their attention.

"Oh yeah, you're still here." Cassie proclaimed with a smile, "Go ahead and get changed into those clothes, and meet up with us in the cafeteria."

"Where is-"

"Just ask someone." Mariwa interrupted me, "I'm sure you have the ability to read some signs. And although you've done anything but for the past 5 minutes, I think you can follow a few simple directions."

I decided that I'd wait until later to ask more questions, and complied by grabbing the pile of clothes, standing up, and walking out of the room.

I ran into a girl at the door.

"Oh, hello there." she said sweetly.

"Um, hi." I had a stumbled reaction at the sudden attention, so I awkwardly said, "I have to go get changed, do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Down the hall, take a left, go down the stairs, and then take a right." she pointed.

"Thank you." I responded.

________________________________

I exited the bathroom in a uniform sort of thing.

I had on a white polo shirt, black dress pants, nice shoes, and a red tie. It was really weird. It reminded me of when my father and mother forced me to wear fancy clothes when their friends came to the house.

"Parker?" a voice sounded.

"There you are." I responded, "I was looking for you, Firefly."

"Of course they brought you here." she complained.

She walked towards me, and stopped at my side.

She also had a uniform thingy on too. She had on a white polo shirt, a red tie, a black skirt, long socks, and brown dress shoes.

"Wearing this makes me feel like I should be using hair gel." I complained, a scuffing the sleeves of my shirt, "So uncomfortable."

She laughed a little, "It's kind of like an anime uniform."

"Then I don't like wearing an anime uniform." I responded.

She shook her head, "Anyway. Do you know what's happening here?"

"No, they refused to answer any of my questions." I muttered, "Do you know anything?"

"Sort of..." Lauren whispered.

I sighed, "You skipped over something again, didn't you?"

"Possibly." she said guilty.

"Never mind that." I confided, "Let's just figure out what's happening here."

"Cassie kept showing up at the mirror again." Lauren whispered to me.

"What do you mean again?" I inquired.

"I didn't tell you that-"

"Hey, you two!" a peppy voice yelled.

"Dear..." I cursed under my breath, "Houston, you just can't seem to leave us alone, can you?"

"They brought me here with you." Houston said running up to the two of us.

He was wearing the same thing as me, except obviously in a smaller size, because he was about only 5 feet tall.

"They gave you hair gel?" I mumbled to Houston.

Houston's usual curly blonde hair, was now gelled back, making his hair look way shorter, and way darker. He didn't have his glasses either, which also confused me.

"Can you all of the sudden miraculously see?" I asked him.

"Oh, they gave me contacts." Houston chirped.

"Why were they so nice to you?" I mumbled.

"What? Were they mean to you, Parkee?" Houston asked.

"I told you not to call me that." I replied starkly.

"Ha, now you know how it feels." Lauren laughed.

"It's different." I grumbled.

"In what way?" Lauren asked, crossing her arms sassily.

I rolled my eyes, "Let's just get going."

"But I didn't tell you about-"

"I'll figure it out for myself." I interrupted Lauren.

"All I know, is that the FOF doesn't like these people." Lauren said, while I kept walking forward, "And that's why I'm here."