Bakers Dozen

Christopher Mahagony sat alone in his room. It was exactly 3:13 AM in the morning and he could not sleep. He went down to drink some coffee since he couldn't drift off sleep anyway. He's 27 years old, currently living by himself in a small apartment and is unemployed. He took a sip of his coffee thinking of nonspecific things. He could feel the warmth go through him in every sip in his coffee, the feeling that makes him feel better.

His telephone rang causing the deafening silence to break. 'Who the hell would call me in the middle of the night?' He thought

"Hello?"

"Chris! Meet me in the café by the park tomo- uh, later at 7:00 AM sharp, don't be late!"

It was his friend, Jean Kress, who called him. Before he could say a word or ever ask him why he needs to be there, Jean hung up.

"Well then, I guess I'll just wait until the café then." He whispered to himself.

He tried to kill some time by playing with some darts. When he looked uo the clock he realized, "God dammit!" It was already 6:51 AM. He quickly washed himself and dressed up. He drove to the café. On his way, he didn't see anyone on the street, not even those early joggers. That's strange for a busy city.

He arrived at the café at exactly 7:01 AM.

"You're late." Jean stated with a smirk.

"By one minute." Chris replied.

They ordered 2 cups of coffee and sat down. Jean took something from his left breast pocket and passed it to Chris.

"What is this?" Chris questioned, "Pictures?" One picture showed the faces of 5 girls and 8 boys for a full set of 13 pictures all black and white.

"What should I do with this?" Chris questioned.

Jean let out a bight sight and looked at him directly. His eyes squinted a little and he finally bowed his head down "That's for you to find out." He let out a slight smirk. He left the table without any farewells and left his cup half empty while Chris just sat down quietly not knowing what the hell should he do with these pictures. He reexamined the pictures closely and still didn't find the answer to his question. He spent his whole day trying to find out what do those pictures mean, reexamining them over and over again until he heard a banging on his door. He opened it but found no one standing by his doorstep. Confused, he sat down, yet another sound of someone or something banging on his door, but this time it's much more louder. He opened it as fast he can but again found no one.

"What the hell do you want?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. He walked around and heard the sound of children laughing. He walked downstairs and found 2 children with pitch white skin laughing, but before his eyes the lights flickered and they vanished before the thin air. "What the fuck?!" He shouted. He ran outside and saw nothing but the darkness, nobody on the usually busy street, another rare sight in the city. He knocked on a door in the apartment yet no one answered, hell, he knocked on everyone's door as loudly as he can but nobody answered. He ran to his apartment room but it was locked, "Shit!" He took his phone from his pocket and called Jean.

"Hello? Jean! Answer it damn it!"

"Yes Chris?"

"Why aren't there people here?!"

"It's all part of the game, Christopher! Haha!"

"What the fuck is this game Jean?! Tell me you bastard!"

"It's for you to find out yourself." He ended the call with a crazy laugh.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Chris continued walking his way out and found himself walking on a pool of blood. Candavers, cadavers everywhere. He walked his way out and found those two pale children again, wait a minute, those are 2 of the boys in the set of pictures.

"Please play with us sir! We're are very bored," one pled.

"But I-"

"Please sir!"

"O-of course."

"Follow us!"

Chris followed the two and they lead him to some underground passage behind the building. They all climbed down and revealed 11 other children.

"What are your names?"

The two boys answered first.

"I'm Ollie!"

"And I'm Robert"

"I'm Ronald..."

"I'm Mary, sir!"

"I'm Elizabeth but people call me Elly."

"I'm Lara. Hmph!"

" I'm Geoff, aye!"

"I'm Richard! Haha."

"Erwin."

"Sally."

"Raymond."

"Marie!"

"My name's Gerald!"

"What's your name sir?" Mary asked meekly.

"My name's Christopher or Chris."

He took out the pictures the Jean gave him earlier and looked at it. Every face matched the picture Jean gave.