How to Survive the Game

Level One: Things That Go Bump

The dark room cast shadows all over Markus's face. The creaking of the floorboards and the rustling of the old tree branches outside chilled him. He shivered, and pulled out his flashlight. He flicked the on switch. Nothing. 

"Dammit," he swore under his breath. He banged the flashlight against his other palm, and the dark red device slowly flickered to life. "There we go," he muttered. 

He turns the flashlight on the scene in front of him. It was the dining room. Old sets of cutlery, tarnished from age, rested on the table. The table itself was draped in a ratty old tablecloth with tears in it. The table was chipped and worn at the ages, with holes in it and names scribbled on it. If you looked close, it detailed all the names of the people killed here in the last thirty minutes. 

He turned his light to the rest of the room. An old lounge chair sat in the corner, springs curling up and stuffing falling out. It was tainted with brown and red stains on it. They looked very suspicious. Lying next to a lamp with a tattered lampshade and a broken bulb was a cabinet. The cabinet was a dark brown and it's glass case was broken. The items inside were cracked and broken. 

The walls were a covered in designs of flowers, particularly roses. They were peeling off in many places, and the baseboards were cracked. The light bulbs overhead were either broken or completely missing. 

A small noise sounded behind him. He whirled around and pulled out a knife he had taken from the kitchen, its tip stained dark brown. 

Nothing there. He scanned the area. Nothing, no other people, no monsters. He slowly turned and yelled. 

A small child was there, its hands wrapped around the rope which held him up, locked in a futile attempt to stay alive. Its mouth was open in a silent scream, its eyes dull and glassy. His brown hair was long and stringy, barely reaching its shoulders. Its white and light pink dress was stained dark brown and its bare feet were covered in grime and dirt. 

He breathed a sigh of relief. No monsters, just a dead child. He lifted the knife and cut down the rope from the rafters high up. The body fell to the floor, limp. He slowly stepped over it and continued to look for anything that could kill him. 

Something jumped out from behind a wall and he screamed. The freaky man with a white mask and no eyes screeched, and jumped at him. Markus had no time to arm himself before he was killed.