I wearily open my eyes to a concerned looking girl hovering above me. She had a pixie cut and chestnut brown hair that suited her stone-white skin perfectly. She had thin-rimmed glasses that kept on riding down her petite nose. She had a rather childlike figure, but despite all this, she was insanely tall. "Are you awake?" She shakes my shoulder a bit.
"Yeah, I'm awake," I sit up a bit. I'm not familiar of my surroundings at all. There's a group of people at the center of what looked to be an ordinary high school gymnasium. There were no windows. They were instead replaced with thick walls, and my phone was no where to be found. "Where the hell am I?" I look around and see Summer sitting on the bleachers, staring directly at me. I could see the confusion and fear in her mysterious green eyes.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," the chestnut haired girl backs away from me, holding out a hand to help me up. I question whether it would be a good idea or not, but my legs were numb and my head was hurting, so I gratefully took her hand and she pulled me up. "I suddenly felt lightheaded when I set foot into the school. Ignoring it, as I thought it was just my nerves getting the best of me, but I hadn't noticed how major it was until I woke up here, realizing that I had passed out. Seems like I'm not the only one here with this issue, though."
"I see."
The room fills with awkward silence. All I can hear is the sound of my heart pounding. What kind of sick joke is this?
"So, what's your name?" I break the silence.
"Hm?" The girl pushes her glasses up with her index finger. "Stephanie. How about you?"
Summer walks down the stairs of the bleachers and stands a couple feet behind Stephanie, looking uncomfortable.
"Lexi," I say. I walk up to Summer and playfully punch her upper left arm. "This motherfucker right here is Summer," I smile, trying to lighten the mood. She nervously laughs and waves.
The speakers produce a loud screeching noise. We block our ears and when the screeching ends, I pull my hands away and open my eyes to a stuffed bear sitting on a podium at the front of the stage. It wasn't any ordinary stuffed animal, though. The left half of it was the average cute and cuddly everyday teddy bear. His other half? The exact opposite. On the left side, his fur looked snow white and soft. The right side was a rough, black coat. His right eye extended to his cheekbone and resembled what looked like a lightning bolt. It was blood red and it was faintly glowing. To top it all off, his 'dark' side had a crooked smile - a cheshire grin. He was basically ying-yang in stuffed bear form.
I climb onto the stage as the others gather around behind me. I raise my hands toward the bear, and all of a sudden, I am shoved off the stage and into the group of people below as the bear springs to life. I push myself back up to my feet. All our jaws drop in shock.
"Don't touch me!" The bears squeals, and I am still taken aback.
"What the hell? What are you?" A slightly tanned boy with ripped jeans, a red sweatshirt, and black hair exclaims from the crowd.
"I'm Monokuma," he scoffs. "I'm your principal here at Hope's Peak Academy."
"Bullshit," he snaps. "What kind of messed up prank is this? There's no way that you're our principal."
"There's no prank here, though," Monobear rests his head on his paw, looking bored and unamused.
"What about the windows?" Summer adds in, nervously playing with her fingers.
"Ah yes, the windows. Allow me to explain," he cackles. "Congratulations, you're the lucky 16 chosen to take part in Despair's Peak Academy. You won't be leaving here any time soon. That is, unless, you are willing to kill one of your fellow classmates."
"What you're saying is that you plan on keeping us hostage here, and the only way we'll be freed is if we commit murder?"
"Pupupu, you're correct!" Monobear maniacally laughs. "You sure do catch on quickly. Whenever a murder is committed, there will be a certain period of time to gather evidence and clues, and then you will all be sent to classroom trial where you poor souls will try to piece together who the murderer is. If the majority guesses the culprit correctly, the culprit will be executed brutally. However, if the majority guesses the murderer wrong, the true culprit will be set free and the rest of you will be killed off! Doesn't that sound fun?"
Everyone is frozen, trembling in fear. I clench my hands into a fist, shove past the crowd and pick Monobear up by his right ear and hold him where he's just a couple inches away from my face. He was about as light as a paperweight.
"Listen," I spat. "I don't exactly find stuffed animals intimidating, especially ones that are literally less than half my height and have the voice of a pubescent 10-year old girl!" I throw him across the room and he hits hard against the back wall of the stage. "No way in hell are we going to kill eachother. You're insane if you think we'll do that."
Monobear sat back up, his right eye flashing. He was furious. "What did I tell you? Violence against the principal in not prohibited," his claws extend to long, metal blades. "Try me one more time, and I'll slice you to bits!"
I slowly back away, turning my head to the crowd of people. "What?" All their eyes were locked on me. They were shivering, and I then realized that I was, too. "Why are you just staring at me?" They still don't reply. They were like statues.
"Well then, that concludes our opening ceremony," Monobear starts. "I have some special duties to attend to," he winks at us. "Down the hall from here on the left are your dorm rooms, where you will be sleeping for the time being until you escape, but let's be real here, you'll probably be dead by then."
Everyone knew as good as me that he was right, as much as we would hate to say it.
"On the left is the cafeteria. I left a small gift in there for all of you. Consider it a welcome to your new home," Monobear continues. "During Night Time, all areas will be closed off. That's all you need to know! If you need me, just call me down." And with that, he was gone in a cloud of smoke.
A short girl with long black hair collapses to her knees, her tears bursting as they hit the surface. "No..." She sputters.
"Jordyn!" Stephanie slides towards her, placing a hand on her back as the girl chokes on her tears between breaths.
"I don't... want to be here," she wipes the tears away with the sleeve of her cardigan.
"You think any of us want to be here?" A ginger haired girl crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "With that attitude, there's no way in hell you'll survive." She only said two sentences so far, but I had taken a disliking to her immediately.
Jordyn raises her head to the tall, skinny girl standing before her. "You're one to talk," she chokes out.
"I don't need to worry about that," she scoffs. "I have a plan, unlike you."
It wasn't long until they got physical, throwing punches and scratching at eachother. "Woah," Stephanie blurts out, pulling Jordyn away as the ginger trips back. "What are you trying to do, kill eachother? Isn't it still a bit early for that?"
I snicker a bit at the irony of that phrase. It was only a few minutes ago that we all agreed to not kill eachother no matter the circumstances, but now, there are multiple people that I would have no problem shanking. I'm positive the rest of the people here feel the exact same way.
"Right," the ginger flips her hair over her shoulder. "I wasn't planning to kill her in the first place. Only an idiot would be dumb enough to murder someone in front of witnesses."
"Of course," Jordyn gets back up to her feet, her sleeve now soaked with tears.
"Aside from that," Stephanie mutters. "We should probably get to the cafeteria. Didn't Monobear say that he left something for us?"
"Should we really go?" People exchange unassured whispers.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going," I stomp across the gymnasium and out the door, the others following slightly behind. As we walk, to the left, a long, colorful banner catches my eye.
Despair's Peak Academy, where the only absence is hope.
