Mari took a deep breath, trying to ignore the flow of blood running down her cheek. Everything was wrong. Nothing, nothing about this was okay. The last ten minutes had been some of the worst of her life, but she didn't have time to reflect on it, because quite frankly, she was terrified. Her life was in danger, and it was all her fault.
Chat had confessed to Ladybug. It wasn't entirely shocking, and Chat didn't seem entirely surprised when the words "I'm sorry." left her lips. She'd felt bad about it, but he'd promised he wouldn't let it interfere with their partnership. And he hadn't. A week had turned into a month and nothing had changed. Well.. Not nothing. The flirting had stopped. As had the nicknames. And the puns. And as every day passed with Chat simply speaking to her as a partner, the more guilty and heartbroken she felt. She could see the life in his eyes die out day by day. And it burned. She knew that those green eyes were dimming because of her.
Then today, on Halloween, Adrien had come dressed as Ladybug, and she as Chat Noir, as had been their running joke for the past two years. She'd turned around in class to ask a question and saw that same dying look in Adrien's eyes. And she'd known. Suddenly everything came crashing down around her head. She'd rejected the man she'd loved for himself. And when he'd glanced up, he'd noticed her staring at his ring. Then he noticed her earrings. He'd fled. When Alya had asked Nino what was wrong, he sheepishly replied that he might have let slip about Mari's crush. Marinette wanted to cry. All her fault. All of it. She'd ruined her entire relationship with Adrien and she knew it.
But Alya had told her not to worry. "Let's go to that haunted house! The rest of the class is going!" And Marinette, much as she didn't want to, found herself agreeing. And at first it hadn't been much. A simple house with various floors, that were designed to be scarier the higher up you went. Seven floors. Simple. And indeed, the first three were. But then came the fourth floor.
Juleka, Rose, Kim, Nathaniel, Chloe, Sabrina, Ivan, Nino, Alya, and herself. They all entered prepared for the worst the actors could throw at them. Silence. They heard the door shut behind them. A scream echoed from up ahead.
"Weak." Kim chuckled, striding forward confidently. That was when a clown busted through a door and ran, screaming, for the door behind them. The group jumped out of the way as the clown beat desperately on the door, asking desperately for their help. The group only stared. A laugh echoed from down the hallway. Something flew out of the darkness and landed at their feet.
"Kenny." The clown whispered, tears running down his face. It was a severed head, still oozing some blood.
"That's a really convincing performance." MaxMax said nervously. The clown burst into hysterical tears, clawing at the door, trying to escape whatever had supposedly killed Kenny. Alya sighed and started walking forwards.
"Guys come on it can't be-"
"Stop." The voice that came from the speaker wasn't sinister, but that almost made it worse for Mari. She knew that voice. "Let's play a game." Adrien said smoothly. "I just made it up. It's called, "Don't end up like Kenny. It's simple. If I catch you, you lose. You die."
"Ha ha ha." Ivan said, mock applauding. "Come on then. Prove it." A hesitation from the speakers.
"Very well."
"Chat no!" Mari shouted desperately.
"Chat?" Alya asked bewildered. Silence reigned supreme as the group waited with the sobbing clown, who was still trying to get out. That was when they heard footsteps. The clown screamed and redoubled his efforts to escape.
"Oh god he's coming!" He shouted desperately. After a few more steps, they stopped. Then the light went out. The group was plunged into complete darkness. The light flickered to life for a moment and Mari saw a flash of black besides her, before they went back out.
"You'll do nicely." A brief scream was cut off quickly, and the lights remained out. Ten seconds later, they came back on, and Rose was missing.
"Who's next?" Chat asked