Hell's Academy

Prologue

"Loud and clear," I winced. A rumble started coming from the stage in front of us. We stepped back, and in an instant it stopped, and out popped.... a teddy bear... There was a silence as we stood and stared at the stuffed animal in a shared expression of confusion. The bear's design was strange too, sort of a Ying and Yang like design, one half of the toy was white and had a black button eye, and the other half was black with a menacing, evil looking red eye. 

"Is that a teddy bear?" One of the students asked as she cautiously approached it.

"I'm not a teddy bear, I'm Monokuma!" The bear sprung to life and stood in front of us all. We all stood in shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I was being spoken to by a bloody teddy bear. Was this a joke? Some sort of weird prank? "My god, you young'uns have no respect. Not even a hello?" It yelled in it's overtly cartoonish voice as it waddled forward.

"Umm, hello?" I awkwardly interjected. What an earth has my life come to?

"Thank you, young man." He stated. "You guys seem a bit tense. I know what'll help: a proper introduction." He cleared his throat, somehow, and continued. "My name is Monokuma. I know what you're all thinking, and no, I am not a Build A Bear reject. I'm your new headmaster. Nice to meet ya." Headmaster? This has got to be a joke.

"Haha, good one guys." Someone sarcastically laughed. "Now can we cut the bullshit and get this started properly. I can't speak for everyone, but I, personally, don't have time for this funny business."

"Now that's not how you talk to your headmaster, is it? How about you show me some respect?" He said in a more sinister tone. He sounded almost dangerous. The student shuddered and stood back a bit. "But if you want me to get straight to the point, miss, I will do as you please. Welcome to your new living quarters in the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering how long your stay will be. Hmm... approximately, the rest of your lives." My heart sank.

"W-What?" I stuttered, followed by similar mutters of fear, confusion and distress.

"Oh yes, when I say living quarters, I mean permanent living quarters. Rest assured this is all for your own good. Can't have those low lifes outside ruin those talents of yours, eh?" The bear chuckled.

"You can't be serious. The rest of our lives? This has to be some sort of prank!" Ben yelled, shaking.

"Sorry Kiddo. I assure you this is very real." The bear's grin widened as he leaned closer to Ben, almost trying to provoke something. More of a reaction, maybe? "Oh come on guys, it's not all bad, you guys have all the food you could ever ask for, all free of charge."

"You really think food is the focus here? No offense but I have other things to do with my life than spend the entirety of it in this shithole, believe it or not some of us have families and friends to get back to, you know!" I yelled, this bear was really starting to piss me off.

"Do you now?" He smirked, his grin looking even more menacing than before. The way he said that made my heart sink further. I felt myself shiver, the way he said that felt off, horribly off.

"What's with that smirk on your face? What have you done?" I shook, there was more to this bear than it was letting on.

"Oh nothing, relax kid you're reading too much into this. Now, as some of you seem to not be fully content with these conditions, there is a loophole." The bear said, turning his back to us.

"Enlighten us!" Connor demanded.

"Good old fashioned murder!" The bear cheered, bouncing back on to the stage. "That's right, the person who kills another classmate, and gets away with it, will get to walk from this school scot-free." I froze up. There's no way this is true.

"Stop fucking around with us, this isn't funny." One of the other students yelled.

"Hey, now he's speaking my language." Emily chuckled, seeming completely unphased by this entire situation. "Now, who's throat am I slitting to get out of this shithole?"

"I appreciate the enthusiasm but don't go killing willy nilly, if you get caught, you won't like the consequences, to say the least." He chuckled.

"What kind of consequences are we talking here?" Another student asked.

"I guess another word for it would be execution." His expessioned remained composed. "That's right, you get caught killing and you get the axe. Same goes the other way round too, fail to catch the perpetrator and the rest of you bite the dust while the killer gets to leave the school."

"And how exactly do you expect us to catch the killer?"  I yelled.

"Well now, I can't go spoiling the main event, can I?" The bear giggled. "Anyways, why don't you guys get to know each other? Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, right? This concludes your induction to Hope's Peak Academy. Bye-onara bitches." Right after that he jumped back into the hole from whence he came, leaving us all stood there in silence, completely lost for words. What were we even supposed to say? We were just told if we wanted to see our families again, we'd have to kill someone.

"Its best we do what the bear says." One of the students sighed, wiping his glasses. 

"How do you expect us to-" Ben was cut off.

"We're his prisoners, not much else we can do. Best just play by his rules if we want to have a chance of staying alive." The student continued. As much as I didn't want to say it, he was right. We all nodded in agreement, clinging on to whatever small hope we had left in us.

So, that's how our new life started, if you could even call it a life. Hope's Peak, the name was a hundred percent ironic. This was far from a school of hope, it was a school of despair.

End of Prologue