Shadow-Man's Game

News Broadcast: ¨We are back! Today's news, young Broadway star Jessica Houston, age 23, has gone missing. She has brown hair and green eyes. She is about 5'8". If you have any news concerning her..."

Jessica Houston walked slowly to the dressing room and changed out of her costume. She was exhausted from the week's shows. Jessica yawned and stretched and then headed to the lobby where her fans waited to get her autograph. Jessica looked over and noticed a tall man lurking in the corner, she shivered. Shaking off the nerves she smiled at herself and sat down ready to sign autographs. The line seemed endless and she smiled at each fan but she couldn't shake the growing uneasiness inside her. Suddenly, the tall man in a black trench coat walked up to her. He casually smiled and asked for her autograph. She laughed to herself for being silly. And took the paper from the stranger's hand. Jessica smiled and replied, "Sure, who do you want me to make this out to?"

"Make it out to, James Peterson please."

Jessica nodded and wrote down her name and handed him the paper. "Here you go, thank you so much for coming."

The tall man walked next to her and whispered to her in a low, scratchy voice, "Names are powerful things, you should not have given it out so easily." Jessica was startled by this and when she turned to respond the man was gone, the only thing left she could hear is the quiet, hushed laughter of the tall man. After Jessica finished signing autographs she called her friend Brianna, "Hey Brianna! I just finished signing autographs . . .Yeah the show went great, well anyways, I was wondering if you and the boys wanted to go and hang out. I really need a break after tonight. Great, see you then!" Jessica grabbed her things and headed out to meet her friends.

Jessica and her three friends met up and started to discuss what they wanted to do. Jason, a shorter man with dirty blond hair, suggested, "How about we just walk around New York. It's a nice night." Everyone nodded in agreement, and they started to walk around looking at the beautiful city of New York.

As they walked down the street, Mark, the other friend, noticed a man in a dark trenchcoat following them. "Not to startle you guys, but I think we are being followed. There is a man in a trenchcoat following us."

Brianna responds in a quiet, hushed tone. "How long has he been following us?"

"I don't know, maybe 30 minutes..."

Jessica cut him off, "I know him!"

"You do?" Inquired Jason.

"Yes, he was one of the people at my show, it was weird. He was the first in line to get an autograph and after he got it he said to me, '"Names are powerful things, you should not have given it out so easily."'Then he just disappeared." Mark turned pale, Jessica whispered, "Guys, maybe we should try to lose him."

They all nodded in agreement,and they all started running. They turned a corner and kept running, but no matter where they went and how fast they ran he was still behind them. A strange alarming, intoxicating feeling fell over them and one by one they all started feeling dizzy and then one by one they fell into a sort of fog, like a trance. First Brianna started walking into a dark alley way. Then Jason and Mark followed her. Jessica tried to yell at them to stop, but the sound of her voice sounded like it had been swallowed up in water. Then, Jessica fell into a trance and her vision fell dark.

When Jessica woke up she felt sick. Her vision was still blurry but she could make out the three figures of her friends lying in front of her. "Guys...are you ok?" Her friends began to stir. Jessica looked around, she realized that they were locked in a cage. Her vision cleared. Fearful she whispered, "Guys, we need to get out of here!" Her friends finally coherent enough, realized the danger they were in.

"What's the matter Jessica? Where are we?" Jason asked in a strained voice.

"I don't know...We are in a cage. But that is all I know." The four of them stood up and looked around.

Mark ran up to the cage and started yanking on it. "It won't budge!" Mark yelled in frustration. "I need to figure a way out." As Jessica and the others tried to find a way out Jessica stopped, she couldn't breath. Something was suffocating her from the inside. She couldn't speak and tell the others what was happening. Freaking out, her face turned red. The others ran over to her to see what was going on! Suddenly, Jessica was lifted into the air by an invisible force and then dropped violently to the ground. She could finally breath again after what seemed like forever. Then they all paused, they heard a screeching and a sound of claws scraping against metal.

"What is that?" Brianna asked terrified.

"I d-don't know, but we NEED to get out of here. If we don't..." Mark didn't finish what he was going to say, because they all knew what he would have said.

The four friends started to search the cell again, curiously, Jessica found some keys in the corner of the cell and unlocked the door. She thought it was strange but she didn't care. They just needed to get out.

"Hurry! We have to get out of here!" Jessica yelled as they ran in the opposite direction of the sound.

Jason screamed, "I can't see a way out!" The four of them kept running anyways. The sound grew closer and they heard the same horrible sound, the screeching was more horrible than anyone could imagine. When they heard the screeching, they would see their worst fears in their heads. Brianna and Mark suddenly stopped and turned around. Something un-natural was happening.

Jessica yelled, "Guys what are you doing! Come on, we have to go!"

But Brianna and Mark didn't listen they just stood there as if waiting for the creatures to come. Instantly a loud voice spoke to them in their heads.

The voice said, "Mark Jones, death by slaughter. Brianna Simpson, death by slaughter."

Jason screamed to Jessica, "We need to leave, they won't come!" Jessica and Jason started running, Jessica looked back and saw the creatures meet up with Brianna and Mark. The creatures started to attack, frozen in fear she just watched. Jason grabbed her and then she turned away so she did not have to see it. They kept running and running, then they suddenly fell through a trap door. The world around them was spinning, it was so dark. It was as if they were not in the world at all. It made Jessica feel sick, then she felt a sharp pain on her foot. She yelled out in pain. Jessica heard Jason grunt in pain.

Jason and Jessica looked around, they saw that they were surrounded by vines everywhere. They saw two directions to head, one left and one right.

Then it dawned on them, they were in a maze. "What the heck is this?! We were just in a cellar, and now we are in a maze." Jason said, as a chill washed over his body.

"Jason we..." Jessica was cut off by a booming voice, it sounded as if it was coming from everywhere.

"Congratulations! You are the last surviving contestants. You are now in the last portion of the game...So exciting! You are in the maze portion, now have fun in the Shadow man's game!"

Jason and Jessica stared at each-other. "He thinks this is fun?! He thinks it's a game! Two of our friends are dead, because of his so called game!" Jason screamed. Jessica put her hand on his shoulder as she tried to calm him down, Jason just shook it off.

"Jason, we need to find the way out. It's a maze right? So there has to be a way out. let's start, keep our heads, it's the only way we will survive this." Jason looked as if he was about to break down, but he just nodded. Jessica and Jason looked around and decided to go left. They started running, making split second decisions. As they were running they heard the voice again, this time it was Jason's name.

It said, "Jason Henson, death by arrow." Jason paled, and turned to Jessica and said, "No matter what happens..."

Jason stopped speaking when the arrow impaled him in the back. The arrow protruding from his chest. Jessica screamed, and kept running, tears streaming from her cheeks. Jessica was running, and running. Up ahead she saw a light at the end of the long dark pathway. She ran as hard and fast as she could, then she froze. She could not move. Slowly the invisible force turned her around. Then Jessica saw him, at the end of the path, the Shadow man. He grinned at her, that evil grin, and Jessica could hear his laughter. She felt herself pulled towards him. She dug her heels in to no avail. Nothing could stop her. she heard the voice, the evil, hard voice that killed her friends. It said, "Jessica Houston, death unknown."