Rules Of The Game

Chapter 4: Rules Of A Dream Part 2

...I woke up gasping for air. First thing I did was grab my neck to make sure I was breathing correctly, then I looked around my room. Everything seemed the same, except my closet. I'm a neat freak, and something about keeping my closet door closed makes my room feel clean, so im obviously wondering why its open. I run to my closet, not without a bat in my hand because im not stupid, and swing the door open, ready to hit whatever was in there.

"Claire?! What are you doing?!"

"What am I doing? You're the one sitting in my closet without my permission, you freaking stalker!" I swatted Zach with the bat, right where it would hurt; enough to get him gasping for air.

After he was done groaning for 5 seconds.

"I was trying to do you a favor. I used the staircase to get to your room and look out for you. I saw someone watching you from your car yesterday, after you freaked out about what was on your shoe."

I sat him on my bed and grabbed him an icepack from my mini-fridge. He was talking about the small, narrow staircase that led from my closet, straight to the outside. I used to sneak Zachary into my bedroom when we were dating, and apparently i'd left it unlocked.

"Did you see what he looked like? What he was wearing?"

Still gasping for air, he replied." No, but he seemed really into the fact that you were so into your phone."

This had to be the man, the person who runs that sick game I was talking about.

"And by the way, your black prada bag has a stain on it."

"You went through my closet?"

"What else was I supposed to do while I waited to make sure no one came and killed you in your sleep?"

"What kind of stain?" I asked. I take very good care of my things, so it was abnormal to have a stain on anything I own.

"I think it was an x. Yeah, something like that."

I rushed over to my closet and looked at the bag, and there it was. A yellow "x" on my bag.

"UGH!"

I pushed Zachary out of my room and back down the staircase.

"Although a protection program would be nice, thanks but no thanks."

As soon as I closed the door, I heard my phone chime. I ran up the stairs to check who it is and sure enough, it was the unknown number.

Unknown Number: If you wish to win, do as I say, if you do as I say, you will live another day. It seems you and Zachary have a love/hate relationship. How fun. Time to meet your team members. You have 30 minutes exactly to get to the ranch outside the city. Don't get caught, and remember the Rules of the Game.