Summer's POV

The darkness swirled around my feet, beckoning for me to come forward and embrace the icy shadows. I hesitated for a second; something was holding me back…something important was waiting at the edges of my consciousness but dissipating when I tried to focus on it. I couldn't remember what it was that was so important to me and that scared me the most. If I couldn't remember that, then what else had I forgotten? I shivered and looked around, wishing I could find something to trigger my memory. But everywhere I looked there was darkness, the shadows had surrounded me.

I struggled to recall a memory but the shadows made it impossible. They swirled around me impatiently, demanding my attention with each icy caress. I fought with the fog that seemed to have clouded over my mind but with each advance I made in one direction, it seemed to disrupt more and more of the rest of my mind. It was as if I was disorientated in my own mind, my sanctuary. The darkness rose around me again, brushing my calves and causing goosebumps to break out across my flesh. I blinked. What had I just been doing? I'd forgotten. My stomach twisted as I realised how vulnerable I was. Whatever was invading my mind had a power over me.

The shadows receded into the darkest corner of the room, as if some invisible force had pulled them back. It was as if they were waiting for something. Or someone. Now only a wispy smoke-like tendril remained around me, its presence doing little to comfort me as my breathing spiked and my heart rate accelerated. Something was wrong; there were holes in my memory and it had something to do with the fog in my mind. The pale shadow tautened as it swirled around my legs working upwards until it rested against my neck, its cool touch like ice. From one touch I knew that I was running out of time; the shadows promised safety and protection but only if I came with them immediately.

I had to make a decision or the darkness would go and I'd be defenceless to whatever dangers decided to come my way. I let out a quiet whimper; I didn't want to be alone. The shadows suddenly faded as if their power was being drawn away from them and the small shadow behind me dropped another couple of degrees. A shiver ran up my spine as I realised that I was out of time; whatever the other shadows were anticipating had arrived. The shadow behind me was drawing away from me and I let out a strangled gasp. I didn't want to be alone with whatever was coming.

The shadow behind me grew even taller and I felt a draft tickle the back of my neck as the shadow seemed to solidify. I gasped as I realised what was happening but the 'shadow' had now completely solidified and had me immobilised. I twisted to face it, hoping that all I would see when I turned around was the harmless shadow. My hope was wasted.

I looked up and felt my heart stop before picking up at twice its usual pace. I felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming van. I was staring into the impossibly blue eyes of Julian. He looked amused, like how you would expect a cat to look at a cornered mouse. I gulped.

"Did you like my trick?" he asked, his voice somehow managing to sound hostile and amused at the same time, "I personally thought it was my best yet. A Shadow Man hiding in the shadows; it was very original if you ask me."

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked, furious with myself when I heard the tremor in my voice.

All traces of amusement left his face and I felt my insides knot with fear. "You're here because you failed," he snarled, "and when you fail, you become my slave. Do you know what that means?" he was speaking slowly now, as if I would have trouble understanding him and that made everything twice as bad. "I have complete control of you."

Another shiver ran up my spine, I had just wanted to leave here but now I was trapped. I felt venom seep into my thoughts. This was all Jenny's fault, if she hadn't bought the game in the first place I wouldn't be in this mess. The desire to escape became unbearable. I had to escape. I felt part of me scream out in protest as I figured out what I was going to do; I could end up dead if this didn't work, or worse, but the rest of my mind smothered my warnings. I closed my eyes and –

Cold hands grabbed me and I screamed, my eyes flying open. A person was in front of me, with light hair and pale skin, but something was blurring my vision, I couldn't focus on their features. Oh God…please don't let it be him. I kicked out and scrambled away as panic took me, but the hands on my arms only tightened. Something cold traced a path down my face and I stiffened, the shadows were touching me again. I shouldn't have been so stupid; I shouldn't have even considered trying to escape him, now I'd made my situation ten times worse; I was probably going to die right here and right now.

"Please-please let me go! I didn't do anything!" I shrieked.

I tried to scream but only managed a choked sob as another cold shadow ran down my face. My stomach was knotting with fear and I was feeling dizzy. I gasped trying to force air into my lungs but it was as if they'd collapsed. Black dots swarmed in front of my vision and I felt like I was about to faint. Oh God, please pleaseplease don't let it be him. Please don't let it be Julian.

"Summer!"

The harshness of the voice made me gasp and I struggled again, clawing at my captor's face. But the hands began to shake me.

"Summer!" The voice sounded half scared now.

For the first time I actually focused on who it was. They had light hair but not the pure white of Julian's and their eyes weren't the same captivating shade of electric blue that had tormented me so much when I was…gone. It was Zach. The 'shadows' sliding down my face were tears.

The realisation hit me hard. Zach was staring at me from behind a curtain of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes during my struggle, with a half pained, half scared look on his face. I'd never felt so far away from him. The look in his eyes made me feel as if I was stuck on the other side of a ravine, or a unique animal that everyone was fascinated with but never quite understood. We stared at each other in silence for what seemed like forever and then I gave up. For the first time since I got back, I began to cry.

Audrey's POV

I hung up quickly and slid down the wall before dropping onto the floor. My life seemed to be falling apart around me. How could I have forgotten? I felt tears spill down my cheeks and in a moment of sheer fury, threw my phone across the room. It hit the tiled wall with a hollow clunk before dropping to the floor with a satisfying crack.

I was going to the place where my nightmares were born to face my fears alone. I was going to leave all my friends and, more importantly, abandon Michael. Misery whirled up inside me, but I wouldn't cry. I refused to cry. I had learnt and perfected the art of betraying no emotion a long time ago. I know how to not let anyone see the real me. But I had finally found the place where I could belong. Of course my parents had to take it away. They always had and always would find a way to take away the things that mattered most to me.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, hoping that if I held myself tightly enough I wouldn't fall to pieces. I closed my eyes. Deep breaths, I told myself, deep breaths. But no matter how deeply I breathed in and out, I couldn't stop the misery that swirled in the pit of my stomach or the tears that slid silently down my face. For the first time since the games had begun I was allowing myself to truly feel what I had stored so deeply within me and I hated every second of it. I knew that I wouldn't be in this mess if I'd just opened up to someone; but that had meant getting close to people, I hadn't been ready to do that when it could just be ripped away from me in a matter of seconds. But that was before I was pulled into a game that forced me to face my worst fears and forced me to open up before I exploded. That was before I'd realised how truly in love I was with Michael. I hadn't opened up, because before all this I'd been smart enough to know that letting people in was just another way to invite loneliness into my life.

I must have fallen asleep because when I awoke, pale grey sunlight was filtering in through the window behind me, casting pale shadows. I stretched and felt my muscles protest loudly. I groaned and stood up so that I could look out of the window. It was so peaceful outside, the birds were singing quietly from the trees, waiting for the last of the mist to clear from around the trees before they took flight. I smiled in a moment of pure happiness. The feeling felt strange to me, like I hadn't been happy in a while. I sighed and turned away from the quiet scene outside and back to the storm raging within me.

Tom's POV

I woke up with a feeling of weightlessness; it wasn't the feeling you get when you're extremely happy, more like the one you get when someone's turned off the gravity. I was floating in my own head. What the hell? Panic overwhelmed me as I struggled to understand what was going on. I tried to move but I felt like I didn't have the energy, it felt like I had to spend time harbouring energy before I could actually do anything to control my body. But I didn't have time to do that. Was I paralysed? The thought slipped from behind one of my walls and I felt hysteria bubbling up from somewhere. I hastily tried to push it down. Please no, I can't be paralysed….people don't just wake up one day and find themselves paralysed. Something clicked deep down inside me. People don't just wake up paralysed; something has to happen to them. Nothing's happened to me…except for Julian.

What the hell did he do? I practically shouted the thought, but it just echoed. As if Julian had gone…or he had blocked me. I tried again. What the hell did you do, you-

'You' what? The cold voice I was all too familiar with interrupted me, suddenly making me wish I hadn't spoken. Julian laughed at my silence. Are you too afraid to answer or something? Cos' you didn't seem afraid of me a second ago.

Something was different about him, he sounded stronger, more powerful. But if he was stronger, then I must be…weaker.

A/N: Ok, don't hate on me for not updating all march.I know my plan kinda failed…by kinda I mean completely failed XD. But don't I get brownie points for making this the longest chappie so far? It's four pages long & almost 2000 words! I'd like to thank all my reviewers particularly RockMusicLoverx (hi again!) you're awesome, and Nightgirl25 for reviewing practically every chappie and putting up with my crappy updating, I would also like to thank all the other pple who read but don't review…though I would REALLY REALLY love it if you reviewed :P.

Ok I'm babbling, but I have three questions for the awesome people who actually bother to read this:

Is this story tooo angsty…AND should I change the genre to angst?

Should I change the main characters to Jenny and Julian considering that Tom's gonna bite the dust pretty soon?

And finally the most important question of them all:

WILL YOU REVIEW? (Plz say yes!)