Faceless

Period 1: Entrance exam

Today was my first day at Lilith all girls school as a year 7. I was excited to go at first, but then I actually arrived at the school. It was much more overgrown and old-looking than in the pictures. I studied so hard for that entrance exam and now I had to go to school in a dirty place like this? This was the right place, right? These thoughts flooded my brain as I stepped onto school grounds.

I entered through the gate and went through the big, wide doors at the main entrance. The inside was very run-down, damp and stank. I could see the main hall and peeked inside. Nobody was there. I felt a little nervous about the barrenness, but it was OK. I looked around, peeking in classrooms and going around the school in search of someone I could ask for help. Nobody was there.

Near the canteen, there was some weird-looking artwork. It was red, and when I touched it it felt sticky. It looked kind of like chunks of flesh, and I felt uneasy. I decided to just ignore it. The canteen was locked.

Why was nobody here? I started getting anxious. I tried to enter classroom 4, but the door was locked. The coolness of the handle cooled my sweaty palms, and it was the only comfort I had.

Soon, my panic searching turned to running around the school like a maniac. I felt lost and sick to my stomach. I tried to leave the school, but the gate was closed. I was trapped. I wanted to call my parents, but the cameras made me feel like I shouldn't, like I would get detention if I tried to pull it out. I didn't want to risk that, I wanted to be a spotless student, no matter how scared I was. My parents would be proud of me. Besides, they were probably busy, they both were very dedicated workers, I got it from the best I suppose.

Eventually, I was on the 3rd floor when I finally saw something. A pale, faceless effigy, maybe around year 8, stood before me in front of the stairs to the 4th floor. I felt disgusted, as I was not used to seeing faceless people yet.

"Hello, I need you to come with me," It said. It's voice I expected to be monotone, but was actually unusually friendly and cheerful. That only creeped me out more, it felt too fake.

"W-why?" I asked.

"Why, to see if your face needs to be ripped off of course!".

Terror immediately struck through me. I wanted to keep my face. I tried to run, but the effigies' slender fingers gripped my arm and dragged me up the stairs to the 4th floor. Kicking and screaming didn't help. This was all happening way too fast!

And thus began my nightmare as a 'student' at Lilith.

"You are about to be tested. It will be a similar test to the entrance exam, so you shouldn't do too badly. As you can see, I failed the test, so I got my face removed. That means I am a slave. I work at Lilith and I will for the rest of my life. If you pass though, it is heaven. You are treated like a god and get to treat the slaves how you like, and most people feel obligated to treat us badly. Well, I don't think that's the correct way to describe it, they are expected to treat us badly like they are expected to do their homework. As long as you keep your mouth shut about what is happening here, they won't kill you or your family. Oh, I should probably tell you that if you fail, they also kill everyone that knows you so nobody questions your disappearance".

Oh sweet Jesus, this was messed up! Was my face going to be ripped off!? I didn't want my family to die! I wanted to go home!

"I want to go home!".

"You can't, trust me, I've tried... I don't like it either, but if I don't escort you they will kill me. They will flay me and scoop my eyeballs out, they will cut chunks of my skin off and rip me apart limb from limb to torture me and then leave me to bleed out. I don't like it either, but if I rebel, if anyone rebels, whether they are a slave or not, that will happen to them. The slaves can't leave, ever. Even after they are graduation age, but they rarely live that long".