Five teens. Kidnapped. To live out their darkest fears.
***
When five teenagers are abducted outside of the local nightclub, it sends shockwaves through the small town of Redstone.
How were they taken? Where are they...
"They took you away on a table, I pace back and forth as you lay still. I pull you in to feel your heartbeat, can you hear me screaming please don't leave me?"Chord overstreet
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When Aaron had been little, Nihil had been his favourite person in the world.
He had been the 'fun' Uncle. Always up for a game of hide and seek, or ready to throw a ball around. Nihil used to spend hours watching Aaron draw, and his fridge at home had been covered in pictures that Aaron had sketched for him.
Now, as Aaron looked up at the ghost of his uncle, he felt no trace of the love he used to have for him, only sheer and utter hatred. This man was not the same one that spent three hours hiding in a cupboard waiting for Aaron to find him. This one was filled to the brim with evil intentions.
"You grew your hair out, Aaron. I don't like it."
Aaron knew that Nihil wanted a reaction and he didn't want to give him one. But his body betrayed him. Goosebumps covered his skin, noticeable even in the dim light. He felt himself begin to shake from Nihil's proximity, remembering clearly all the awful things he had gone through as a child.
"Or did you grow it out simply because you thought I wouldn't like it?"
Don't answer, he wants you to. He's not here. He's not real.
"It's so rude to ignore people Aaron."
Nihil grasped Aaron's chin and yanked his face upwards. His touch felt so real that Aaron's eyes widened in shock. Aaron could feel the rough tips of his uncle's fingers as they clutched his skin. The force behind the tug caused a sharp pain to run down Aaron's neck.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, boy."
And Aaron did. He looked at his uncle and instead of seeing the predator he had witnessed so many times in his childhood, he saw an old man. Up close, Nihil looked broken and beaten down by age, with fine wrinkles covering his skin and grey peppering his dark hair.
The strangest part about the whole thing was that Nihil had been only forty-four when he had died. Beaten to death by other inmates when they found out what he did. And yet, the uncle that stood before him looked to be at least ten years older than he would have been if he had never passed away.
Aaron couldn't understand it, but he didn't want to linger on it.
He's not here. He's not real.
"Maybe it's time we play one of our special games?"
Aaron knew the threat that hid behind those words. He knew exactly what his uncle meant by that simple question. But for some reason, they didn't have the same impact on him that they used to.
