The Hanging Game

Messages From The Unknown

I am awoken the next morning by knocking at the door. In a panic, I wake up Autumn and tell her to stay quiet and calm. I help her up from our bed, and slowly guide her into the library where the knocking is faded. But the knocking is... constant, I'd say. Six knocks and a pause, over and over. This goes on for what feels like the longest time, but really it has only been two minutes. I'm not that worried whatever is knocking will get into this place because of how well I made that impossible. The weirdest cry Is coming from beyond the doors..a strong weeping sound replacing the pause in the knocking, but this is no ordinary cry. This isn't a cry from pain, this is the cry you let out at times that your sadness has built up and it bursts. Like a bubble, all at once. There's no reason you're crying, or you just don't know what reason it is anymore. This is the cry you let out years after an event occurs, letting the emptiness be captured by your demons that pace in your room at night beside you. It's a man's cry. Like the man that cries on his anniversary, years after his spouse has left him barren and weak. Why is this man crying? Who Is he?

"Peyton, I know that voice. I heard it when I first came here, every day for seven days at eight am." Autumn shakes my arm and brings this new information to my attention.

Confused, I ask "Wait.. How do you know what time it is?"

"Didn't you see? There's a grandfather clock in the bathroom. Well, there was. Now that I... you know" Autumn points to her swollen eyes "am blind and all, I can't tell."

"I didn't see one, I'll check again" I whisper to her as I creep past the door to the bathroom.

She was right, there It was. I could swear It wasn't there when I checked all the rooms, but here it is. The clock reads eight O' five. I'm guessing AM, that's what Autumn said. This is weird.. too weird. I make my way back over to Autumn without even noticing that the crying has momentarily stopped and now its developed into scratching. Scratching? Not once did I even contemplate how strange the situation I'm in is. Well, it's happening, and I need to get through this.

I open the library doors to tell Autumn about the clock and find her cuddled into a small ball on the ground with her filthy hands covering her ears. She's shivering, but not from the cold. I run over to her and get on the ground next to her. I lift the poor girl up off the ground and take her hands away from her ears.

"Hey, It's just me. Did the scratching scare you? Are you okay?" I question Autumn in a whisper.

She takes a moment to calm down in the warmth of my arms. What a bizarre scene this is. Two filthy girls hugging on a cold library floor, one with her eyes gouged out and something scratching at the door.

After Autumn stops shaking she begins to speak.

"I-I was just standing there when you left to go check the bathroom. I heard you leave, and then I heard you come back. But you were running at me, past me, back and forth. Over and over. You stopped right behind me and spoke one word, a name. One I've never heard before. Alan. I knew It couldn't have been you, for I trust you and I do not think you would pull such a prank on me. I fell to the ground out of shock, I thought it was the witch girl I had killed when I played the game with her. I covered my ears so it would all stop."

I sit across from Autumn, stunned. I never should have left her. I should've took her with me. What does this mean? Is someone in the house...I swear I checked very thoroughly. Who's Alan?

"I'm sorry Autumn. I promise not to leave you alone again, okay?" I soothingly say to her.

"Okay. Hey, the scratching stopped." Autumn replies in an uplifting tone. She rises from the ground and asks me to move the bed into the library. I agree, It seems safer in here.

I walk over to the bed to move it, but I find a letter placed on top of it. It reads; Peyton, i'm happy to see you've decided to join us in this wonderful game! But you have no food...you'll have to come out sometime. Don't be scared, I don't bite!! -Alan It's at that moment I realize we aren't alone in this place. Either there is a secret entrance we don't know about, or someone is in here with us. I do not believe it is Alan, I have a feeling Alan is the tall man. It's probably one of the girls he sent to torture us.

I make Autumn take a nap as I decide what to do. If we leave the place for food, Alan and his employees are probably going to kill us before we have a chance to get any food. But isn't that against the rules? Don't you have to hang the components to win? Maybe they'll play fair. But it's their game, so they can change the rules as they please. I'll ask Autumn what she thinks when she wakes up.

To pass time, I pick up a short story with gold pages and faded ink. I'm about three pages in when I come across a letter addressing whoever is reading; Don't trust Alan. He pretends to be on your side and then he sends people to kill you. There's food hidden in the- and it just ends. No, the rest is ripped off. Damn. I spend the rest of the afternoon searching books for more notes. I find nothing.

By late evening, Autumn wakes up and complains about the pain her eyes are causing her.

"How about I make you a blindfold, to stop it from rubbing against everything?" I offer

"Yes, that would be nice." She tiredly replies. How can she still be tired?

I rip off a piece of my undershirt and tie it around Autumn's eyes as I promised I would.

"Hey, I'm exhausted, and I can see you are still tired. Should we sleep?" I ask knowing I won't be able to sleep anyways.

"I guess,we have nothing better to do." she agrees.

I eventually drift off to sleep, dreaming of Alan slaughtering Autumn in our game. He spells out the number F-I-V-E in her blood. Wait... there were six knocks on the door this morning. Why is Alan counting down?