Room 93 (FIRST DRAFT)

Day 2

I hear shouting and breathing. I feel cold, the cold seeping into my veins. Not again. My heart beat quickens as I hear the voice,
'Eight! Eight!' I recognise that voice! I try to move my hand to my arm to feel the cuts. I remember the pain. The searing pain. I remember the knife as well. The voice cuts through me worse than the knife did, reminding me what happened that day.

Rules and riddles, rules and riddles. I hear the voice echoing in my head. Not the boys voice, a different one. Riddles. Rules. I remember the voice as clear as day but I can no longer tag a name to it.

'Eight! Wake up eight!' The boys voice haunts me once more and I fight the voices teasing me, poking and prodding me with their cruel words. You must figure them out. You must save them all. You must remember. The voice again. It mocks me. It twists my opinions and confuses me. Why now? Why me? I am too young!

Light seeps into me and I gasp. Blood stains my dress. I can see it on the dress as my eyes open,
'Eight?' The boy calls my number, relief flooding his voice, 'I thought you were dead, I thought I was alone.' He sighs as I shake my head,
'No. You're not alone nine! You'll always have me,' I can't stop the words coming out. I feel I already know him. I keep thinking about telling things to him and I can't filter what I say around him. It is like I already trust him,
'I know, I was just really worried. What happened?' He sounds calmer and relaxed than he was a second ago,
'I don't know. I blacked out and I could hear voices. They were shouting things. Telling me about riddles and rules.' There I go again, potty mouthed telling this little eight year old everything about me, although I already suspected that he was big compared to me.
'Riddles?' Curiosity seeps into his voice,
'Yeah. Riddles and rules, rules and riddles.' My voice drifts off into nothing.

A chilled breeze wraps around me, squeezing me. It takes me a second or two to realise that there isn't a door or a window for a breeze to be coming in from. There wasn't a breeze before I passed out. Papers scatter the floor as well. They all look the same. Nine leans forward to pick one up and I see a green band around his wrist. I lean forwards and grab it,
'What's this?' I can't stop myself from asking,
'I dunno. You have one too. Our numbers are carved into it, I don't know how they knew our numbers but they are carved into the bracelet.' I look down at my own wrist. Sure enough - although it is covered in blood - a green tinged metal bracelet is fastened to my own wrist, the number eight is carved into the metal. I trace the number with my finger and think about it. Rules and riddles, eight, rules and riddles. I gasp. The stupid voice won't leave me alone!
'Eight...' Nines voice calls me back to reality. He doesn't sound joyful like he has been so far, he sound confused,
'What's wrong?' He looks at me and I notice the piece of paper in his hands,
'Listen to this: A midnight bell tolls In a moonlight haze,
But still under its watch, Room 93 plays... There is also a capital E in the bottom corner and a c in the top corner. What does it mean?' Nine's voice still sounds curious although fear slips its way into his voice,
'I don't know, and that scares me,' I sigh.

A midnight bell tolls In a moonlight haze,
But still under its watch, Room 93 plays.

I rub my forehead and crumple the poem up in my hand. How can a room play? Unless it means plays with your mind, but that absurd.

The wind blows again and I curl up in a ball to warm up. A sheet of paper flys towards me, it is identical to the last one. The same riddle, rhyme or poem thing and the same small E in the bottom corner and c in the top corner. Another sheet blows towards me but it is different. The poem is the same but it is different. There are no letters in the corners:

A midnight bell tolls in a moonlight haZe,
But still under Its watch, room 93 pLays.

I pick up the two sheets and compare them. Surprise covers me as I realise the difference. The wind dies down and the papers stop blowing round.
'Nine! Come here!' I shout to nine and he comes running over,
'What is it?' He looks over my shoulder,
'Look at these two sheets, what is different about them?' I lay them on the floor next to each other. He traces the words quickly then turns to me,
'The capital letters. The first one has i and r capitalised but the second has z, i and l. Also the first has a e and a c in the corners the second doesn't have any.' I nod, he is getting the idea.
'Read out the capital letter nine!' I tell him softly, hoping he'll get the idea,
'CIRE and ZIL.' He frowns as he speaks. I can't suppress a sigh,
'Read it the other way round,'
'Eric and Liz?' As he finishes each word the bracelets light up and a hissing sound surrounds us. We did it, we figured out the riddle, Eric and Me...