CRAZE

3

After I'd gotten some clothes on, which were also grey, I looked at the two doors. Which one lead out? I didn't really want to check to find out. What if it was like those shows when one door is home free, then the other is death? I didn't really want to think about that either.

So I went to the nearest door first. I hesitantly reached out to the doorknob, biting my lip to the point of a pain in both my lip and my teeth. When I finally put my fingers on the silver metal, it took all I had to open it. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to turn it and...

It opened easily and I slowly peeked out into the, again, giant grey hallway with also no windows and hardly any light. When I was sure there was nothing going to jump out at me, I crept out and proceeded to the right. I frequently looked behind me and got distracted about halfway down by a painting. It was beautifully done. A little boy sitting under an oak in a storm. I peered closer and had to look away. The little boy had a horrifying expression on his face. It was mad, insane. I kept walking.

Not long after, there was another painting, a portrait of a man. A handsome one at that, but there was still something unsettling about it. The smile, like the one on the little boy, the grey skin, the grey eyes...

The same eyes that I saw in the girls bathroom at the theatre. My stomach lurched.

I was getting close to the end of the hall and saw a small table with two chairs on either side and a largish stack of papers in the middle. As I approached, I read the first page. They were all tied together with black string. I was surprised the paper wasn't grey too, but the words were. The Rules of Craze, it said. I glanced behind me and sat down at the table, pulling the stack toward me. What was "Craze"?

I opened the cover to Chapter One: Behaviour. Then I started reading.

This is mainly about how to deal with him, but you should know how to act with him too. He'll ask for simple things at first, strange questions sometimes, for you to touch him (nothing...you know in that...area yet....) You should always obey, or he'll get angry at even the slightest things sometimes, if he really wants it.

He likes to go out at night, wandering through the jungle. It pretty deadly out there, but if he asks you, you go. But you won't have much to worry about, he'll protect you from everything. Once in a while he'll meet up with a few friends from the Academy. He'll tell you about that when he wants to, but it's not a touchy subject so don't be afraid to ask him about it if curiosity gets the better of you.

I wasn't an eighth into the thing and I was already freaked out. I was in a jungle? Getting angry at the littlest things? How angry? Violent angry? I knew a kid like that in elementary school, but he changed schools in fourth grade. What was the "Academy"? Who was "him"? Craze? A weird name.

The rest of the chapter said things like how he'd make up nicknames for me. His most prized possession (other than me) was a grand collection of haunted and/or just plain terrifying dolls from different places. So, he'd probably make them up surrounding that. I thought that was a little creepy. How big was grand?

One thing that the author seemed not able to stress enough about was his "dark day". It was when, once a year, his whole system just...shuts down. He could be walking and all of a sudden be frozen in place, staring at nothing. It's best not to bother him when this happens because...well, it said that no one had ever done it. They were too scared of the unknown outcome. Now, that I didn't quite believe.

I continued on until I was on the next chapter, Control. It talked about how I was in control of him, even if it didn't seem that way. I was his weakness. Then it said a lot of stuff about how he has a lot of enemies and would probably use you against him if they found out about me. But he'd still do anything to keep me safe.