A/N: No copy infringement intended on Forbidden Game series. All quotes were taken out of the following:
More will be explained in time you just have to trust me.
See you next time in: Dark Reality
This chapter was made in suspense with this song:
Artist: Emily Browning
Song: Sweet Dreams
Chapter Twelve: Stranded
An eternity could've passed before Jenny felt the nerves spark in her fingertips, causing the tendons to twitch along her her hands, neck, and head. Dazed, it felt as if her very oxygen had been sucked out, severing the neurons in her head. While pieces like that of a jigsaw puzzle slowly snapped into place from the ever-unraveling mysteries to the labyrinth of this game.
The dollhouse had been destroyed, Julian's oath undone the same night the games had officially ended. Which meant this couldn't be real, especially the haggard looking blonde before her. No way was that her real friend Summer Parker-Pearson.
Which means...
Slowly, ever so slowly, Jenny's gaze rose to her curly haired friend. Devoid of the euphoric energy of harnessed light Summer naturally carried.
"It's just you and me... you and me..." Julian's words spun in her mind.
"Jenny?" Summer's eyes shined with an eerie probing, almost too invasive for comfort.
Jenny found herself leaning further back into the headboard, head craning to the side as if afraid it would invade the distance between them.
As if a clock were ticking down the seconds, this 'Summer' began to, shift. It was like watching a rubber band expand and contract. The skin stretched tighter over the skeletal bones of her face, the shadows beneath her eyes, hollowing out as gold tendrils of hair began to fall in clumps.
And shrivel.
Instantly the alarm bells sounded in Jenny's head, Jenny, move your ass!
In sickening horror the eyes before her began to liquefy into two, oily pools of black. Like a bottomless pit. It hinted at the demonic beast from beneath, slowly emerging forth as the fear speared all six senses, evoking a blood curdling scream that cleaved the air-
Just as the color from its face drained; a sickly, chalk white. Their cracked lips stretched into an over-extending, distorted smile of daggered teeth sharp as a blade. Before it suddenly shot up with a hoarse cry and levitated above her. "To one's death you shall go as every drop is drained from your soul..."
The voice titillated from a child-like lilt to a disturbing deep and grating tone that sent the hairs straight up on her skin, their blackened rags rippling in an unseen breeze, as the morphed fiend extended skeletal, blackened talons.
It instantly sent Jenny's mind reeling back to a Halloween night that had taken place many years ago, traumatizing her for years of trick or treating to come...
She was twelve, dressed in pink ruffles and a crown atop her curly head as the Princess Peach. Invited into a stranger's home and ready to attain more candy, the old woman dressed in a sparkling pink gown and silver crown matching her wand, was giving out caramel apples into the inviting hands of costumed children.
Happily Jenny pranced in to pick up a bright, red apple feeling much like a storybook princess entranced by the vibrancy of the fruit. Yet it was right then as she held the succulent, ripened fruit, she caught a glimpse off a film that flickered out of the corner of her eye.
Set apart from the excited chitter of children emerged a voice, a dark, unhallowed voice. Jennys heart instantly skittered against her ribcage as her eyes fell across a creature with eyes as bright as rubies as their body twisted in a serpentine way.
Headed right for her.
It caused Jenny's mind to tumble back into a time where shadow creatures had taken away her grandfather, having nearly come for her. As her spine tingling scream pierced the air, children fled in terror, some leaving their bright orange pumpkin bucket.
Just as she...
Thus, many years would pass after before Jenny would learn of what she'd seen. A timeworn scene from a 70's movie horror fanatics would consider a classic.
The Exorcist III.
Now, at this very moment, she was facing a semi-version of her twelve-year-old nightmare. The fear was palpable. Every limb in her body locked as the scent of death and decay festered. The grotesque creature drew inches from her as if it fed off her very fear.
Jennys breathing shallowed as she violently shook. Julian had once told her to never underestimate him.
Did I lose... please...no...
Jenny squeezed her eyes shut as a single tear trickled down her cheek.
Michael had once told her about a time he'd watched his entire life flash before her eyes. A near death experience had occured after a drunk driving accident sent he and his father rolling across the highway in his truck. Once Jenny believed he'd dramatized parts of his story. How she understood now.
It was as if a film reel abruptly unrolled before her eyes...
Her first birthday. Her grandfather's peppermint and pipe tobacco smell. Zach's shy smile as he showed her the sandcastle at their family reunion. A bright, red tricycle presented for her sixth birthday. The taste of the fluffy, sweet cotton candy at her first fair. Her parents bright, beaming faces as she'd graduated kindergarten. Dee's colorful, chalk drawing that displayed her and Jenny against the backdrop of a blazing sun. Audrey applying a tube of red lipstick to Jenny's lips at their first dance together. Summer's blushing cheeks the first time she'd walked in a swimsuit to Jenny's pool party. Tom's dancing green and gold-flecked eyes the first day of elementary. And Julian... his dark, cobalt eyes boring into hers, "I can mold dreams into reality..."
Reality.
Wait...
Slowly, Jenny opened her eyes only to find-
The creature was gone.
I'm... alive.
Jenny sucked in a deep quivering breath, as black spots infested her vision. Nearly sending her on the cusp of shock.
In.
Out.
She fought to calm her racing heart and brought trembling fingers to her face. Deep breaths. Her mind was surely going to drive her to the pit of insanity before the Shadow Men did.
But she was beginning to form a clear picture. If she was not mistaken, or on the right path, they were weaponizing her mind.
Against her.
No doubt that was something the Shadow Men would do. Jenny swallowed once, twice, before she managed to remove her trembling form from the bed. Acid began to churn in her stomach and Jenny swallowed down the bile.
She could not get sick from this.
It would only show weakness.
Still, she had to steady herself against the bedpost. Across was an opulent framed mirror showcasing what scant clothing she had on-just as the garments abruptly disintegrated. Replaced was a familiar mud-stained jade tank top and high-waisted jean shorts with her scuffed trainers.
Familiarity.
She hugged her arms to herself from the very pieces of home it signified. It was only seconds later was Jenny frantically searching her pockets, remembering the riddle.
So when she brushed against the thin slip of paper, Jenny let out her first sigh of relief since the start of the game. Julian had said she would need the riddle for the end. It was her only shot of winning. Hopefully before they drove her to the brink.
After what she'd just encountered, Jenny wasted no time bounding for the door. Without a glance back, she reached for the crystal knob.
And walked into a shallow, closet-sized room.
A small, rumpled cot was pushed in one corner. A sink was set against the opposite wall with a pipe jutting out of blocks of cement. A toilet layered in tufts of mold lay adjacent. As if it hadn't been scrubbed in decades.
What is this?
Jenny whirled around, preparing to go back, only to see a solid wall where the door had been. There was a distinct prickle at the back of her mind that urged for Jenny to look down. And at once, her eyes widened.
White.
"Jenny Elizabeth Thornton?"
Jenny's head snapped up at a gruff voice that sounded. Her eyes squinted through the darkness to see two shadows cast across the floor, growing closer with each passing second. Framed through solid, iron bars not a foot ahead. Right before the doors opened with a jarring clack, it clicked.
A cell.
Two thick, burly men dressed in blue uniforms with bulky, black belts stepped into the cell. Their faces remained stone-like and bore slit eyes, each a stomach-curdling shade of orange and yellow.
Other Shadow Men.
Their thin lips curled at the corner, a cruelty as if they'd read her mind. Jenny didn't even have time to react before they'd grabbed her limbs in a vice lock-hold.
Ice, cold metal scraped skin.
Snikt.
Handcuffs, Jenny realized.
Back as a young tween Jenny had watched the show COPS with her dad. More than familiar with their routine, it didn't take her long to realize what these monsters were dressed as. Guards not fashioned from policemen but, "Prison?" she whispered.
"Shut up!" The wintry voice replied, jerking her arm.
Jenny yelped in pain.
They fastened a thick chain from wrist to ankle making it impossible to do anything but a slow walk. Both men seemingly ignored her as they shoved her out of the cell.
Jenny's feet slid against the ground as their boots thundered down the strange empty cells and into another hallway. There was no knowing what was coming next and she sensed the reality of the situation was going to be bad.
Very bad.
In past games she'd been clued as to what would entail, next. This she was walking into with pure blindness. Never did she seem to know what was coming next and it unsettled her deeply.
"Rough little girl." Gruff voice grumbled.
They shoved open the door ahead, the thick steel falling against the wall with a loud BANG! Bright lights shined against linoleum floor; the hallways bare aside for a pair of steel doors ahead. Jenny didn't like this. Orange uniform: that's what prisoners wore right? But she was wearing white. Why did that jar her nerves so much? Now was the time to create a type of distraction. If only to buy time to figure this out quickly.
She looked up at wintry voice.
Their hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, face hard and unmerciful. She jerked her wrists, eyes narrowed at him. "Your nails are digging into my arm!" she exclaimed. She used her weight to push back against them hoping to elicit a reaction.
It worked.
"Shut up you pathetic lump of flesh!" the deeper, gruff voice shouted, holding her other arm. His yellow eyes were sickly bright, a clear satisfaction settled there. Jenny realized it was the Crocodile Shadow Man she'd once met on Neiflhem. Their balding, splotched head showcased the deep purple veins barely concealing his true scaly form beneath. Unlike his partner, the look alone was more than revolting to Jenny.
"Murderer," the other sing songed with a wintry chill.
The Crocodile Shadow Mans's arm darted out and whipped across Jenny's face.
SMACK!
Tears stung Jenny's eyes as white stars burst behind her eyelids setting her cheek aflame. As small blood vessels broke beneath the skin, the last of his words were enough to refocus her attention as her watery eyes skittered up to him.
MURDERER?
"What did you say?"
"Pick her up or I will break her legs and use them for a chair." Wintrys voice sent an icicle-like feeling down her spine.
"No!" Jenny yelled out as her back met a cement-like chest.
The Crocodile Shadow Man with his fiery, disconcerting yellow eyes, had moved in back of her. Jenny tried to kick out her legs now clasped in weighted chains and impossible to lift.
Wintry voice squeezed her from behind so hard a rib bone creaked.
Jenny gasped from the jolt of pain and nearly buckled.
As they came through the double set of doors, they were greeted by a man dressed in a white lab coat. "So, this is Jenny Thornton?"
Their dark blue eyes gave her a once over behind thick spectacles. Beneath the rectangular lights they looked lighter, like silver. They shook their head in what looked like disappointment. "A shame, such a pretty one for a mortal."
"A pain too." The Crocodile Shadow Man replied.
Wintry voice chortled.
A white, cushioned chair was propped in the center, laden with substantial, heavy-set straps. A series of tubes ran from the chair to a large piece of machinery placed against the far back wall. The horror was almost too great. Having watched many criminal cases with her father, Jenny had figured it out.
This was where a prisoner went under a death sentence.
"No, no, no!" Jenny could feel herself begin to shake as she tried to wiggle herself free. She'd sworn to never give them her fear but this, this was a whole new story. The two burley men were far stronger and hoisted her into the chair.
Oh, God.
In the florescent lighting she could make out their reptile skin surfacing from the flesh they possessed as incarnated humans. Oh. This was greater than the aliens that had probed her and Dee in The Dollhouse. This was far worse than when she'd almost frozen to death in the cavern in Joyland Park. This was more terrifying than when Julian had set bees on every inch of her body in the beginning.
"Jenny Elizabeth Thornton, age nineteen. Height 5"6 and weighs 120. Daughter to Jon and Marjorie Thornton. Younger brother named Joey. Boyfriend was a quarterback for Vista Grande. Known for hair like honey in the sunshine and eyes as green as the Nile..."
Jenny looked up as the men began strapping her down none too gently. Their rough skin rubbed against hers like sandpaper. Leaving fresh, bloodied abrasions across her arms and legs. A choked yelp split the air as Crocodile jabbed a needle into her vein.
While Wintry voice sing songed about death.
The thick spectacle man's image before her began to... shift. Their light, sandy hair deepened, taking on a red hue as their face sharpened. It was their eyes she instantly recognized as they grew brighter, like gunmetal.
"W-Wait!" Jenny was trying to stall if possible. She dove into bite wintry voice's hand as he secured hewrlast strap.
"Wretched skin bag!"
SMACK!
Black spots danced in her vision, Jenny was sure more busted vessels that lead to more contusions. Through tears riddled from pain, she saw Jadan shaking his head at her as he flipped a clipboard he held in one hand.
"On all charges," he began in what sounded amusement. "You have been found guilty of the murder of Summer Jean Parker-Pearson after her disappearance fourteen months ago... tsk tsk... naughty, naughty."
He flung off the glasses, the lens shattering as they hit the floor.
He smiled cruelly. "The penalty, death! So, what do you have to say for yourself, Ms. Thornton?"
Jenny felt the tremors course through her body. Not only were they weaponizing her mind, but they were placing fragments of the past and molding them into realities. She was sure of it now. If that's what their intention was, then she was one step closer to figuring out this twisted game.
Summer had disappeared because of the nightmare in The Dollhouse. She couldn't overcome it. But we retrieved her in Joyland Park. She's alive back in California. Not dead. Not murdered.
Jenny fought to keep this in mind so as to not twist her reality. It was what they wanted. Yet this foolery would be their end. Unwilling to be duped into their sadistic hands, a strange sense of peace overcame her. As her eyes flicked up to the monster before her, she used this inner strength and snarled, "I'd say... go to hell, Jadan!"
Jadan shook his head as the Shadow Men at Jenny's side disappeared into a plume of smoke and chilling laughter.
Taking the few steps towards her, his black, polished shoes gleamed in the light with lab coat in place. "Such a sharp tongue, Little Red." He snapped his fingers together as his eyes remained fixated upon hers. "For someone so close to the edge of death itself."
Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny saw a strange-like substance begin to spiral through the tubes attached to her. Death by lethal injection: one of the sentences she remembered seeing.
Don't panic. Don't panic.
Jenny closed her eyes swallowing the painful lump in her throat before opening them again. She'd faced death before, even in the face of the ancient Shadow Men, remembering the blunted teeth like tusks of the red-eyed Shadow Man she'd nearly sealed her fate to. She'd placed her hand in his thick, padded fingers raised to points, imagining what those talons had done to previous victims.
If she could stare death in the face, she could do this.
Jadan rolled his eyes, cocking his head to the side as if already bored. "Oh, alright."
He dug into his pocket and produced a strange like dice. The etched numbers eerily glowed within the black cubes and reflected in his crazed gaze.
Jenny could see the liquid emerging closer.
"Six you live, five you die, let us see with a roll of the dice."
Closer... closer.
Don't believe him.
Jenny inhaled sharply as Jadan dropped the dice, the cubes rolling across the floor.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
Jenny closed her eyes as the liquid snaked up over the tubes around her wrist.
"One..." she whispered.
"Did you get lucky? I guess we will see in one, two, three-"
It was the last thing she heard before her world eclipsed with a flash...