Down Come Seven (ReWrite 2018)

QUIT

"...coward."

I stared up at the black void I had just been spat out of.

"What sort of jerk says that at the last possible second...?"

Nobody answered.

Maybe because the question was rhetorical. Maybe because the void didn't care about my relationship problems.

Maybe because this time,

I really was alone.

"... Fine. Ditch me to go live in a winter wonderland for the rest of eternity. " I sat up, muscles complaining just as much as everything else. "See if I care."

The moment I moved, the floor shifted and rolled beneath me.

Which lead me to discover that the surface I currently sat upon was made entirely of white beads.

Millions of them, rising around me like waves. Stretching on as far as the eye could see.

... Someone.

Is a hoarder.

My hand clench painfully into the beads below.

Among other less flattering things...

I leapt to my feet, scrambling as I fought to keep my balance.

"Self-sacrificing idiots!" I hurled my hand-full of beads as far as I could. "How could you put me at the mercy of a sadistic, bead-collecting psychopath!?"

Seriously.

Next time just shove me into the lava pit.

I was left panting in the silence.

Realising just how unsatisfying it was to throw a tantrum where no one could see me.

Lame.

Defeated, my gaze naturally travelled down to my feet... Where it happened to notice that the beads I stood on each had small black markings.

F a c e s

The exact same design that could be could on any mask to ever play this game.

"....no way."

It had to be a coincidence.

"Nope."

I mean, what are the odds that the Witch would turn everyone she sadistically murdered into a bead and keep them all in a room like trophies...?

"I'm standing on them!"

Which turned into jumping on them in an epic battle against the forces of gravity.

FYI.

Gravity won.

It was while I was doing this dance denial that childish laughter pierced the room.

Followed by hand clapping and a feeling of impending doom.

Frozen with one leg mid-air, I turned to see the Witch, standing on top of a high bead dune.

Watching me in delight.

"Congratulations!" She slid sideways down the dune, surfing the beads like a pro.

"You did it!" She Cheered. "You won!"

The Witch skipped forward with a twirl.

The very vision of Doom.