Needles and Butterflies (CANCELLED)

Listen

How strange life can be.

One minute you are living in luxury, the next you have been dethroned and stripped of everything you once knew. Or it could be the complete opposite.

You never know what to expect.

I'm not sure what happened to me.

My past remains a blur on the lens of my life. I can not clean the lens, for the blur seems to be a stain. A permanent stain.

Am I breathing? Am I alive?

I inhale, digging my nails deep into my chapped lips. Blood leaks from the wound, droplets falling onto my white skinny jeans.

I'm alive.

A gross, choking sound reverberates through the vacant room. I realize that I made that noise, no one else did. Tears trickle down my cheeks, the feeling of relief rippling through me. I'm alive, I'm fucking breathing.

As my eyes scan the room, deja vu begins to swallow me whole. I fight the beast away, instead focusing on finding out why I am in this dark room. I shakily stand, my knees threatening to crumple. I force myself to walk through the room, my arms waving wildly through the darkness. My calloused palms slam into a slick, moist surface.

I blink, moving my hands across the surface, eventually touching what felt like a lever. I wrap my fingers around the lever, and push it up. Light floods the room, leaving me temporarily blinded.

I force myself to blink once more, noticing the wall my hands were on was caked in strange ooze. I yanked my arms back in disgust, hastily wiping my hands on my white pants.

Something sharp pricked my finger as I was brushing out any creases in my pants. I winced, glancing down at the deep pocket in my pants. Something sharp was protruding out of it. I cautiously reach into my pocket, only to withdraw a long, thin needle.

A scream catches in my throat. A slip of memory is found-I'm scared of needles. Terrified of them, in fact. I try to recall why, but no visuals are appearing. My head begins to throb when I try harder to remember, so I give up, and I stare down at the needle.

I blink, and suddenly there's two needles, both the same physique and size. My eyes widen as I rapidly blink, trying to differ reality from illusion. A tear forms in my left eye as an eyelash wedges itself behind my eyelid. I ignore it, and blink once more.

The 2nd needle was still there.

Abruptly, a wave of nausea washes over me. I clutch the needles in my hand, almost scared to let them hit the ground. A voice can be faintly heard.

Look in your shoe, Tabitha.

"My.....shoe?" I whisper, the words barely leaving my lips. In the midst of my confusion, I realize I was just told my name.

Tabitha.

I smile softly. Tabitha-what a pretty name. My thoughts are interrupted by that same cruel, mysterious voice.

Look in your shoe. Before its too late.

"Too late....?" I mutter, looking at my feet. I'm wearing a tattered, dark brown sneaker on my left foot. My other foot is wrapped tightly in bandages. I bend down, and untie the pink shoelaces. I ease the shoe off of my foot, and find a neatly folded sheet of paper inside.

Tabitha, read it now; The voice hissed. I nod to myself, and pick up the paper in my trembling fingers. I unfold it slowly, and I'm greeted by a vast amount of words.

Tabitha, congratulations. You made it to the checkpoint! Sadly, you have suffered a big blow to the head. You must be very confused. No worries! You'll be fine. You just need to read, and take all of the following into consideration. One, if you don't carry out our orders, we'll grant you death. Two, if you do listen to us, you may die anyway. But most likely, if you do everything you're told like a good little girl, you will live. Anyways, now let me explain your task.

You are you locate a girl named Reckelle Swartz. You must befriend her, deceive her with your beauty. You have a month to do so. Then, when the sun sets on August 30th, you must stab her with both needles. Regradeless of whether or not you grow feelings for her, you will inject her with the needles.

You have 12 minutes to get out of this room.

I look up from the paper, letting it slip out of my hand and fall to the ground. I take a step back, tilting my head upward. I spot a hole in the ceiling, along with a few roaches scurrying about.

A loud thud echoes throughout the narrow room. My breathes increase in volume as the sound of footsteps fill my ears. A blurry visual appears in my head. I blink, the visual becoming more distinct. I see a curvy woman, wearing a short skirt that rides up her thighs, and a button up sweater. She's walking towards me in bright pink heels.

I start to panic, unsure on whether the visual served as a warning or not. The clunks of a shoe become louder and louder as the seconds tick by. I refuse to ponder on it any longer as I look around franticly. I spot a window close to me.

Click, click. Click, click. Click, click.

I don't hesitate to hurl myself out the window.