When the Clock Strikes Midnight

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

It was a crisp Autumn night, the sky scattered with clouds that were dimly illuminated by the brilliant full moon. Several gusts of sharp wind rustled through the trees, a howling echo following in its wake as it attempted to claw through the closed windows.

Five people sat surrounding a board on the ground, their silhouettes vaguely visible in the dark room in which was lit by nothing but a few candles. One of the figures appeared significantly more nervous than the others, a discontented frown present on her face. She sat further back from the board in the middle, arms crossed firmly across her chest as she watched on dubiously.

"I still don't understand why we're doing this in my house," she whined - to everyone's annoyance.

"We're doing it here because no one else has a free house for the whole weekend," one of the boys responded with agitation.

"Yeah but you guys know I hate this shit," she continued, "I just don't think it's something we should be playing around with, especially in my goddamn fucking house."

She was met with an exasperated sigh that echoed much more than it should've, and sank back further as the group continued setting up the game. Four different coloured sets of cards were placed on each end of the navy blue board, and a palm sized antique style clock sat in the centre. Instructions were sprawled vaguely on a discoloured sheet of paper that appeared as if it would disintegrate at any given moment.

"Jess, are you still cool to be the game master?" asked one of the boys.

"Well I'm not fucking playing," the girl in question responded.

Satisfied, he handed over the instruction sheet and watched as she skimmed through it, her face only scarcely visible from the candlelight. She picked out a handful of silver tokens from a decrepit looking blood red bag, silk in texture yet unnerving to the touch. A foreboding chill ran down her spine as she distributed them to the group, unmatched by the lingering sense of unease that had echoed through the room since the box was revealed.

"Cool, so what now?" the last girl spoke, ignoring the way the token sent iciness down her veins.

"Um, so everyone has a coin..." Jess began, eyes straining to read the faded text only just visible in the dim room, "okay so turn it over and say what number is on the back."

"Like all at the same time?" one of the boys asked in response, subconsciously tapping the coin against the wooden floor.

"No," she continued, staring intently at the yellow paper, "one at a time in a clockwise rotation."

The air thickened immensely as dubious glances were shared between the group, two of the girls mumbling a sarcastic remark to each other. Starting from the boy to the left of Jess, they began to reveal the numbers engraved on the back of their tokens.

Four, one, three, two.

Several particularly harsh gusts of wind slammed aggressively into the house, doors rattling forcefully against the gale.

"So highest number draws the first card, which means that Eammon you're first," Jess explained, "then it's second highest, so Mila, then Tayah, and then Lachlan last. First card is drawn based on your star sign."

"Do I look like the kind of person who knows my star sign?" Eammon responded, sounding almost offended.

"Hang on I have a chart on my phone," one of the girls interjected. She squinted against the brightness that contrasted starkly against the faint candlelight. "23rd of August is... Virgo."

She scanned the instructions once again, ignoring the four paragraphs of warnings that occupied a significant amount of space on the ancient paper. Almost as if the skies themselves were providing their piece of foreboding, wind strong enough to shake the house to its foundations whipped violently in every direction. The windows rattled and creaked, several doors slamming shut with a shattering bang that echoed with ferocity.