(Three Years Ago…)

Anne Boonchuy was your typical eleven-year-old girl, she was energetic, happy, and loved playing with her two best friends Sasha and Marcy. It was summer break, and the three girls were already at Sasha's house having one of their typical sleepovers. They would rotate the order of whose house they would stay at, a few nights ago it was Marcy, and before that it was Anne, this time it was Sasha's turn. But seeing as it was her father's time to have her per the divorce agreement, the girls were spending their time at his house. Which wasn't bad, both of Sasha's parents were well off financially speaking, allowing the divorcee to have a room made up ready for his daughter to sleep in at any time she needed it.

Sasha knew her father was trying to play the role of the "fun parent" since the divorce happened, but honestly, it seemed like both of them were trying to fulfill that role.

Of course, Anne didn't know much about that stuff, and she did feel bad for Sasha. The Thai girl couldn't imagine seeing her parents separating, but if they did, she didn't think she would like to have to choose between her mother and father when it came to who she wanted to live with. As much as she loved her mom, if Anne absolutely, without any hesitation, had to choose which of her own parents she wanted to live with…it would be her dad. Not to disparage her mother, but she could be a little strict, and her father was a lot more lenient when it came to certain matters.

But that was a subject for another time. Currently, the three girls were busy getting their snacks and things assembled in Sasha's room. It still annoyed Anne that she was the youngest of the three of them. She wouldn't turn twelve until after the summer break, while her two best friends were already twelve years old. They'd only be the same age for a few months before next year rolled around.

Kinda unfair that Mar-Mar and Sashy are going to be teenagers before me, thought Anne.

"Hey, Anne…think fast!"

"Wha – OMPH!"

Anne was immediately smacked in the face by a flying pillow that sent the girl plopping onto the beanbag chair behind her. The young Thai girl was wearing a faded blue t-shirt with the words "No Responsibility" with the image of a cat in shades showing a thumbs up, along with a pair of shorts. Sasha was in a pink tank top that had "Bad Girl" written in glittering purple letters, along with a pair of shorts. Marcy was wearing a turquoise-colored t-shirt with a picture of a videogame character on it, also in shorts. The three girls were in the middle of a pillow fight, smacking each other in the face with the fluffy things or hurling them across the room. Thankfully, anything breakable was removed from the room for just this sort of occasion, and an assortment of bean bag chairs were strewn around Sasha's room to act as cover or as a soft landing for when they got knocked down.

The three girls kept this up for at least ten minutes straight before collapsing onto the floor in a triangle as they panted from their antics.

"No fair…with surprise attacks, Sasha," Anne complained.

"All's fair…in love and war…Anne," Sasha replied.

"She's got a point, Anna-Banana," Marcy concurred.

Anne groaned, but then another noise followed, the sound of her growling stomach. The young Thai girl sat up and rubbed her stomach as she looked to her friends.

"Now I'm hungry," said Anne.

"Race to the kitchen!"

Sasha got up immediately and bolted from the room, but Anne was right behind her, with Marcy bringing up the rear. Anne and Sasha made it around the corner, but Sasha managed to pull ahead and was the first one into the kitchen. The young blonde held up her fists into the air as she took her victory pose.

"Yeah! The winner!" Sasha declared.

"Humph, just wait, I'll win next time," Anne promised.

The young Taiwanese girl arrived last, bending over with her hands on her knees as she panted. Having to run from the bedroom right after a pillow fight was not that much fun. But then again, Sasha and Anne were always the more athletic ones compared to her. She much preferred spending her time inside playing games or watching anime or cartoons. And some older rated anime that her parents knew nothing about, but also made it a point to introduce her friends to tonight if things went well.

From there, the three girls began ingesting a near ungodly amount of sugary snacks, greasy foods like pizza, and soda. Now with their belly's full, and their brains juiced up on sugar, the trio returned to Sasha's room where she turned off the lights and broke out a flashlight as she illuminated her face with it.

"Okay, girls, it's time for…the Scare Dare Challenge!" Sasha announced.

Anne and Marcy gulped.

The Scare Dare Challenge had become a tradition among their various sleepovers. Sasha would pick a scary dare and they would all have to do it, the winner was determined by whoever could complete the dare, be that one, two, or three of them. The ones who didn't complete the dare would have their names forever etched into a book that Marcy was in charge of – by Sasha's decree – and brought to every sleepover. This was the Book of Losers. Every scary dare was written down in the book, and every time only two names were ever written down in it, that being Anne and Marcy's names.

This time around, Anne was determined to show Sasha that she wasn't afraid. So long as she could complete the Scare Dare with Sasha, she could at least not have her name put in the Book of Losers, at least for one dare, at least.

"Okay, Sashy…what's the dare?" Marcy asked, nervously.

"Oh, nothing too bad this go around," Sasha assured.

That should've given them relief, but to Anne and Marcy, it was the set up for a punchline.

"We're just going to have a walk around town, at night, in the dark."

"WHAT!?" the other two girls exclaimed.

"Y-You want to walk around the city, at night?!" Marcy asked.

"Yep."

"B-But, Sash, we're not supposed to walk around at night! Especially in the city!" Anne asserted.

You see, Sasha's father's home was a condo in the city itself. Which meant that all they had to do was go down the elevator and out the front doors, and they'd be right in the middle of Los Angeles. However, given that it was practically midnight, and Summer Vacation, it meant that there were more people out at night. Their parents told them more than once to be inside before the streetlights turned on, or at least before the sun set. Otherwise, they might run into weird people.

"That's what makes it a perfect dare." Sasha replied. "My dad's asleep, and I know the code to the alarm, so we can get out and be back before he even knows we're gone."

"B-But, for how long?" Anne inquired.

"Hmm? Good question. We can't be out too long, otherwise, Dad might wake up and see that we're not here…but it also has to be long enough for it to be a proper Scare Dare…Hmm…" Sasha paced the floor back and forth as she tried to come up with a decent enough length of time for them to be wandering around the city. "Ah! Ten minutes sounds good."

"TEN MINUTES?!" they exclaimed.

"SHH!" Sasha hissed. "Yes, ten! Plenty of time for us to walk the block and do a little exploring."

Sasha could tell that her friends weren't into it, so she sighed and relented.

"We'll take our cellphones with us and put a timer on to make sure we don't stay out too late. Also, like I said, we'll just circle the block, nothing more. Even you two can do this. By the time we've done a full circle, we'll be back at the front of the building."

Anne had to admit, Sasha did make a good point. Ten minutes was plenty of time for them to walk the block and return to the building's entrance. And they would have their cellphones, so it wouldn't be that scary…maybe. Still, the part of the brain that told Anne that this was not a good idea, was nagging at her that she shouldn't do this. But then there was the other part of her brain that did not want Sasha Waybright to keep seeing her as a scaredy cat, call it the foolish or bravest part of her brain, your choice.

"Let's do it!" Anne confirmed.

"…Okay, if Anna-Banana's in, then let's do it," said Marcy.

"Alright, then that makes this Scare Dare Challenge…"

"OFFICIAL."

"OFFICIAL."

"OFFICIAL."


Just as Sasha said, she knew the code for the alarm system, deactivating it before closing the door and locking it, and making sure the house keys were secure in her pocket. The girls made sure that their cellphones were charged up to full before heading out, Marcy had said that it was a classic horror movie mistake to go anywhere without a fully charged cellphone. To which Sasha and Anne told her this wasn't a horror movie.

Although Anne was starting to rethink that criticism. The city was very different at night, it wasn't as if either of the girls were unfamiliar with the city they've grown up in, in the daytime, they could navigate it easily enough. But at night, things always looked different. The shadows were darker, longer, and covered more of the crevices and corners than they'd normally would. It made it hard to see if there was anyone or anything watching them. Plus, it didn't help that it felt like the sounds of the city were magnified at night, or at the very least sounded different.

A rustle there or clank here sounded unnaturally loud, echoing off the walls of the buildings from the alleyways. People seemed different too, not just in appearance, but also in attitude. Anne believed this was also due to the effects of the night, the shadows helped to hide their facial expressions, and their actions. In the daytime, you could clearly see if someone was upset, happy, sad, or just plain annoyed. Plus, you could also see if they were holding something. But Anne couldn't see any of that, not until they passed under a streetlamp, or passed them by, but by then it would've been too late to know if they were holding something dangerous.

Anne flinched when she heard something coming down from one of the alleys. It sounded like a cat judging by the hissing sound it was making. Her own cat, Domino, sometimes made a noise like that if she was being threatened by something or threatening another animal that had gotten to close to her.

"C'mon, Anne," Sasha urged.

Anne hurriedly rejoined Sasha. Both her and Marcy were walking right behind the blonde girl, keeping as close as possible without accidentally tripping their friend with their own feet.

"H-How long has it been?" Marcy asked.

Sasha took out her cellphone and announced, "Five minutes so far. I'm impressed you guys, we're halfway done! Just another five minutes and you two can officially say you completed a Scare Dare Challenge! No Book of Losers for you two tonight!"

The prospect of completing their very first Scare Dare Challenge did manage to bolster Anne and Marcy's confidence, and hearing how impressed Sasha was made Anne even more determined to stay the course.

However, that plan fell flat on its face when a homeless person appeared around the corner. He was disheveled, wearing a large coat that made him look bigger than normal. It was torn up, stained, and there was a pungent aroma coming off him. It was hard to make out much more, as most of his body was covered in shadows, and the moonlight was barely giving them enough light to allow their eyes to see much more. What more they could see was that this man did have a thick beard, and unruly hair.

Sasha furrowed her brow as she looked up at the homeless man, while Anne and Marcy had wide eyes filled with fear, shaking like leaves at the sight of this stranger.

"Eh…spare some money?" he asked.

"Sorry, no. We don't have any," Sasha stated.

"C'mon, kid, I don't need much. A dollar be just fine."

"Not even a dollar, we didn't exactly come out here with the intention of buying anything. So, neither one of us has money. Now piss off," Sasha restated with annoyance.

"Eh…you got a real attitude little girl," said the man as he took a step closer. "You outta watch what you say to people, liable to tick the wrong person off on the wrong day, or night if you know what I mean."

Anne and Marcy were cowering behind Sasha, their legs shaking violently as if they were in the middle of an earthquake with tears threatening to come streaming down their faces.

"Oh, is that a threat? 'Cause you better be ready to back it up." Sasha narrowed her gaze at the homeless man, those blue eyes taking on an icy edge to them. "The moment you try and harm my friends, I'll make you regret you ever met me."

The homeless man and Sasha held each other's gazes for a long, intense minute. But somehow, the homeless man was the one to back away from her. Despite the man being older and bigger than Sasha, there was just something about Sasha's aura that radiated intimidation, and strength. The fact that this young girl wasn't flinching, but instead fearlessly staring him down and outright threatening him without any hesitation was enough to make him wonder if this girl was secretly some kind of crazy girl. If there was any kind of person who this girl could easily kill (if she was so inclined) it would be a person who was homeless and who no one knew about.

"Tch…damn disrespectful kids…" he complained.

Sasha held her ground as she watched the homeless man turn to his right and walk to other side of the street.

"Ha! I knew it, all bark no bite. Anyways, now that that's outta the way, let's…uh…"

She didn't hear anything because she was too focused on the man in front of them, and because both her friends were stifling their crying, but she saw that they were indeed terrified by that man.

"H-Hey, girls, it's okay, he's not going bother us," Sasha assured.

"I wanna go back," said Marcy.

"Mar-Mar, c'mon, don't back out now. We're almost done. I mean, look," Sasha whipped her cellphone back out and showed how much time they had left. "We just have three more minutes to go."

"I don't care! I wanna go back!" the Taiwanese girl insisted.

"Ah…uh…" Sasha looked to Anne, looking for some support here. "Anne, we're almost done, don't give up now."

Anne looked to Marcy, her friend looked close to peeing herself, and honestly, she wasn't far behind her in wanting to do the same. The pride she had of wanting to show Sasha that she wasn't afraid had diminished when she saw that man, fearing that all three of them were about to be hurt or worse.

"I…I think we should go back, too, Sasha," said Anne.

The blonde-haired preteen sighed heavily as she shook her head in disappointment.

"Ugh…fine. This counts as a forfeit though, got it?"

Neither girl disagreed.

"Okay, so, as much as you don't want to hear it, we're going to have to keep moving forward," Sasha informed.

"W-W-What?! But you said we can forfeit and go back to your house!" Marcy cried out.

"I did, but if we go back the way we came, it'll just take us a lot longer to get there. And since you two are so scared, the fastest way to get back home is to keep going. Unless you want to stay out here longer?" Sasha suggested.

As much as Marcy didn't want to admit it, logically speaking, given their current location, walking back the way they came from would indeed make the trip longer. Which meant they would spend more time out here in the dark and at risk of running into another scary person. On the other hand, if they kept going, they would be at Sasha's place much faster than if they backtracked.

"O-O-Okay," they said in unison.

With that in mind, all three continued their walk, fortunately they were able to make it without further incident and arrived back at Sasha's place. However, when they did, Sasha said something that shocked both girls.

"Alright, you're safe and sound now. Well, I'm heading out to complete the challenge, see you in ten," said Sasha in a nonchalant manner.

"Sasha what are you talking about?! You already won, we forfeited!" Anne argued.

"No, no one won yet. The challenge was to walk around outside for ten minutes."

"Which we did!" Marcy also argued. "We were out there for eleven and a half minutes because that scary person stopped us! You completed the challenge, Sashy!"

"No, I didn't. I just escorted you two back to my house. I haven't completed the challenge yet. So, now that you're both safe in my house, you can go back to my room and relax. I'll be back in ten minutes, and we can do something else."

Sasha didn't say anything else as she turned around and left, with both girls watching as she headed down the elevator.


(10 Minutes Later…)

Anne and Marcy were waiting in Sasha's room, anxiously worrying about their best friend's safety, as well as anxious about what they would say if Mr. Waybright woke up and didn't find her in the room. Thankfully, Sasha's room had its own private bathroom, so they could always say that Sasha was in there, but if she didn't come back then they'd really be in trouble.

"Anne…I don't like this," said Marcy.

"Me neither…dang it…" Anne looked at the clock on Sasha's nightstand, eleven minutes had passed now. "Dang it! I can't do this!"

Marcy watched as Anne stood up and began walking out of the door. The Taiwanese girl followed after her and saw her best friend stopped before the front door.

"I'm going to go find her," said Anne.

"Wait, but Sashy might be just held up somewhere, or…?"

"It's the 'or' I'm scared about," Anne retorted.

Anne left the room without really thinking, if she had, she probably would've thought to call Sasha on her cellphone to see if she was alright. But fear can often make it hard for rational thinking to take place. When the elevator reached the bottom floor, Anne bolted out of the building and headed in the opposite direction of where they started. Believing that her best chance of intercepting Sasha would be if she went in this direction. However, as Anne ran, she was steadily becoming more worried when she didn't see her friend.

The more worried she got, the more panicked she became. At some point Anne took a wrong turn and ended up going in a completely different direction. After a couple minutes of running, Anne paused to catch her breath, panting, and sweating from exertion and worry.

"W-Where…are you…Sasha?!" Anne exclaimed.

Anne ran again, going down an alley and ending up…somewhere else…

"What…"

Anne was now standing before a dilapidated building. It had a "condemned" sign on it and had boarded up windows, along with a chain link fence that ran the perimeter of the building. Although, some boards were broken off, indicating that people have broken into it in the past. It looked like an apartment building from what Anne could tell. However, that was not important. What was important was the fact that Anne felt incredibly scared when she saw this building. It was hard to explain, her body seized up, and her mind was scrambling to form a coherent thought. The only thing that Anne could articulate this feeling as, was fear, pure fear. Something primal inside of her told Anne that there was something wrong with this place, that it was not safe, that there was something here that could easily end her life. Heck, just being this close to the building felt like it was too close.

Suddenly, Anne felt someone grab her wrist. Her fight of flight instincts took hold, choosing the former as she whipped around with a punch to hit the person who was grabbing her. Her fist did make contact, but whoever was holding her was still keeping their grip on her. Anne was about to thrash around but was then slapped in the face.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, BOONCHUY!"

Anne managed to focus her mind, and that's when she saw Sasha.

"S-Sasha!"

"C'mon!"

Sasha kept holding onto Anne's wrist, leading both as far away from that abandoned building as she could. When the young blonde believed that they were far enough away, she stopped and had the two of them brace against a wall as they caught their breath.

"Wh…Why are you out here?" Sasha asked.

"Y-You were taking so long…I…I got worried," Anne answered.

Sasha chuckled.

"Anne, you know I'm tougher than that. I just took a longer route and–"

"I WAS SCARED, OKAY!" Anne yelled, cutting Sasha off. "I…I was scared that you were hurt! I was scared that you were taken by someone! I…I just…I just…"

Sasha's confidence faded as she saw the frightened face of her best friend. It wasn't that she was scared about being out here, she was scared for her. The blonde preteen reached out and gently brought her friend into a hug. The two of them sat down, with Sasha holding onto Anne as she cried into her chest.

"I'm sorry, Anne, I…I didn't mean to make you scared for me," Sasha apologized.

"It would've been my fault if something happened to you…and I couldn't bear that…"

"What do you mean, your fault?"

"If I was braver, then I could've gone with you! Or maybe I could've convinced Marcy to keep going if she saw that both us weren't scared! You came back out here because we weren't brave enough," Anne confessed. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry you have to be friends with a scared girl like me, that you have to keep protecting me and Marcy."

Sasha held Anne tighter.

"I'm not, Anne. I'm not sorry for having you and Marcy as my best friends. Don't ever think that," Sasha stated. "With my parents…divorced…having you two In my life is more important to me than ever. You two are the only people I can count on. Besides, I don't mind protecting you."

Anne separated a little from Sasha and asked, "You don't?"

"Nah." Sasha smirked as she added, "I like coming to the rescue of my damsels in distress, being your knight in shining armor and all that."

Anne blushed as she pushed Sasha away.

"Dude, shut up," Anne chuckled.

"Heh, but seriously, Anne. I won't let anyone hurt you or Marcy, I promise. So, don't worry that you're not brave or fearless or whatever. You be you, 'kay?"

Anne's blush continued as she brought her legs up and hugged them close to her chest as she lowered her gaze to hide it. Sasha looked down the alleyway they were just in, and sighed as she looked back at Anne.

"Anne, I'm going to tell you something that no one else knows. And I want you to keep it secret, even from Marcy. Promise me," said Sasha.

Anne looked at her friend and nodded with a serious expression.

"…I'm not afraid of much. But among the very few things that do scare me…that place we just ran from…that's one of those things that I am afraid of," Sasha confessed.

"Wait, you were afraid of that place too? Just what is that place?" Anne asked.

"I've only heard stories, rumors, urban legends. Apparently, it was hotel a long time ago, but…people say it's cursed. One day, a whole lot of people went crazy and…killed each other there. They say you can still hear their screams and mad laughter if you go in there."

Anne raised an eyebrow and said, "Sounds like your typical haunted house kind of deal like in those ghost hunting tv shows."

"Yeah…well…this is one of those haunted houses that even those guys don't dare go into. A lot of people tried to reopen that place, but each time, it only added to the body count. What you felt being near there, yeah, that's what most people feel. A great fear, something bad is just in there, and it's so bad that it can make be afraid just by being outside of the building. It's worse at night," she explained.

"So, why hasn't anyone just taken a wrecking ball to the place?" Anne questioned.

"Another mysterious thing. It's like the building knows when you're here to do something to it. People have tried blowing it up or taking a wrecking ball to it. But each time they do, they just can't do it. They're too afraid, as if the building is saying, 'if you dare to harm me, I will hurt you far worse than you hurt me'. So, because of that, they just boarded it up the best they could and slapped a condemned sticker on it. But that place still kills people. Once in a while, you'll have some people who are stupid enough to go in there and try and prove their bravery. Only to end up six feet under."

Anne gulped, there really was such a place in Los Angeles, she had lived here for all eleven years of her life and hadn't once heard about that building.

"What was it called?" Anne asked.

"The Red Rose Hotel, or it's more infamous nickname, the Blood Red Hotel. Honestly, I think that Stephen King guy got the idea of that one book of his from hearing the stories of about that place. Anyway, most people just try to ignore it, not talk about it. Thinking that the less they bring it up, the less likely it is that people will find it and add to the already high body count of that place. Los Angeles's best kept secret, and it's the one place I will never ever use as a Scare Dare Challenge. That place…it's evil. And I don't use that term often, so you should understand how serious I am about it."

Anne never would've guessed that there was a place so terrifying that the Sasha Waybright was too scared to ever set foot in. It was shocking to say the least, but at the same time exciting. Not the whole "death hotel" thing, but the fact that Sasha confided in her about something like this. That she was being vulnerable and allowing Anne to know something about herself that not many knew about.

"Sasha, thanks for telling me. And I promise I won't ever tell anyone. I'll take it to my grave," Anne promised.

"I'm holding you to that, Boonchuy." Sasha got up and dusted off her shorts. "I think we've worried Mar-Mar enough, she's probably on the verge of waking up my Dad. I'll shoot her a text, so she knows we're okay."

Anne groaned as she facepalmed herself.

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot! I could've just called you or texted to you to see if you were alright, instead of running out here," said Anne.

Sasha smiled as she replied, "Yeah, but still, it's sweet that you ran out here to my rescue."

Anne blushed again.

"Oh, B-T-dubs, I'm also bisexual, so, something else to keep on the downlow between us," Sasha mentioned.

"Oh, okay, cool." It took a minute before that information finally clicked in Anne's head. "WAIT, WHAT?!"


(1 year and some months later…)

Anne had no idea why she was thinking about that one sleepover almost two years ago. Maybe it was because that was the first time Sasha confessed to being really afraid of something? Maybe it was because of how scared she was about not finding Sasha? The fear of the Red Rose Hotel? The Scare Dare itself? Or maybe it had to do with the fact that her BFF just came out of the closet to her and her alone? Probably a combination of all the above.

I mean, was that Sasha trying to tell me that she's…into me? I mean, it's no big deal if she is. But…it would be cool if the most popular girl in SJMS had a crush on me, Anne thought.

Her bike ride to school granted the Thai teen a lot of time to about things, and when she didn't want to think about things like homework and such, these were the topics that popped into her head.

But what does that say about me, that I like the idea of Sasha possibly having a crush on me? Does…Does that mean I'm gay or bisexual? It's not like I found any boy particularly interesting. And even I can tell when a boy is cute, handsome, or hot.

Anne kept pondering this topic off and on since that night, whether or not Sasha's confession of her sexuality was her way of asking Anne if she swung that way, and by extension, asking Anne if she was into her.

Not like I wouldn't mind; we've known each other since we were little. Probably be little weird at first, but I think it could work.

Anne rolled up to school, bringing her bike to a stop and rolling it the rest of the way to the bike racks. She began locking the bike to the rack, all while munching a special snack her mother made her before she left the house.

Ugh, dream on Boonchuy. Going out with Sasha Waybright? Pfft, you have a better chance of getting isekai'd, she thought. And that would also imply you actually have the balls to ask her out. Whatever, it's fine. Being friends is more than okay, but if Sasha asked me out…I mean…it'd be rude not to at least say yes, right?

"Hey, Boobchuy!"

Speaking of rude…

Anne removed her special snack out of her mouth and turned to face the owner of the familiar voice. Her name was Margo, or Maggie as she preferred. The girl in question was wearing the uniform of Saint James Middle School, which consisted of a gray shirt and a skirt, however, the school provided this uniform in three different colors. They consisted of pink, green, and purple, and on the chest of the uniform was the emblem of the school with its initials "SJMS". While Anne wore a purple skirt with a matching collar, the other girl was wearing a pink skirt with a matching color. She had a pair of white heeled boots, and thigh high stockings. She also wore a hoodie that was emblazoned with the school's emblem as well.

Maggie was a ginger girl, with red hair that was tied into two braided pigtails that hung loosely over her shoulders, she also wore a baseball cap that was turned around, and had a small tooth gap, and freckles.

Unfortunately, Anne was familiar with this girl. She was her bully, among others. And her classic nickname for Anne, "Boobchuy", was an obvious play on her family name for two reasons. One was because, well, even Anne wasn't going to deny it, her grades were subpar, leading to many saying she was dumb. The other, and most obvious reason was that, among her classmates, Anne developed more in the chest area faster than most of the other girls. This did lead to the boys at the time making fun of her for having "big boobs" before their teenage boy hormones kicked in. So, now instead of making fun of her for having relatively big boobs, they couldn't stop ogling her for having them. Honestly, it made Anne uncomfortable, and she would've preferred it if they went back to making fun of her for them.

Of course, this also sparked some jealousy and just general mean spiritedness amongst her fellow female classmates, leading them to perpetuate the "Boobchuy" nickname, and harass her at every turn. Chief among them was Maggie. Now, it was no secret that Anne's parents were immigrants from Thailand, and that Anne was born in America, making her a first generation of Boonchuy in the US. But of course, that didn't come without its share of problems.

Despite Anne not really adopting many of her parents' Thai traditions, she was still the subject of some xenophobic sentiments among her peers. It was partly the reason why her mother insisted on having Anne go to a private school, believing that they would discourage such behavior. Well, they did, but kids always found a way around the watchful eyes of adults, and right now was no different.

"Hi, Maggie," Anne greeted with a lackluster response.

"What 'cha got there? A puke bun, heh-ha!" Maggie mocked.

"It's actually a khao niew bing. A traditional Thai snack, made from rice and coconut milk." Anne explained. "My mom made it for me because, it's meh birthday."

Maggie looked at the khao niew bing, and then back at Anne.

"Oh, well, happy birthday."

That's when Maggie slapped the khao niew bing out of Anne's hand, making the Thai teen yelp in pain and surprise. Maggie raised her right foot and stepped on the treat, grinning maliciously as she did so.

"Hey! What's your damage, dude?!" Anne shouted.

"Big words coming from big-boobed-Anne," Maggie stated as she grabbed a fistful of Anne's shirt. "Since when do you talk back?"

Anne froze, she hated this, she always froze up whenever Maggie was involved. And especially when she had that creepy smile on her face, a smile that told Anne she liked seeing her afraid.

"H-Hey…c-c'mon, Mags, just calm down, alright?"

"You know what, that was rude of me."

Maggie slowly released Anne as she patted the Thai teen's shoulder.

"I shouldn't have wasted food like that." Maggie brought up her right foot and scrapped off the khao niew bing remnants and presented them to Anne. "Here, it's your special birthday treat, be a shame if it went to waste."

"Uh…n-no thanks, dude. I-I'm good," Anne insisted as her voice shook.

Maggie placed her left hand on Anne's shoulder, and gave it a harsh squeeze, making Anne wince from the pain.

"Wasn't asking, Boobchuy, either you eat this, or I'll make you it eat it."

"Or here's a better idea, Margo…"

Anne and Maggie turned their heads in the direction of the new voice. When they did, both girls beheld the figure of Sasha Waybright, Saint James Middle School's most popular teen, the captain of cheerleaders, and arguably the most badass and fearless girl around. The blonde teen was standing there, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed as she glared daggers at Maggie.

"You let Anne go, and I don't take that mess in your hands and force feed it to you myself," Sasha threatened.

There were few things that made Maggie back down quicker than a steely eyed glare from Sasha, the other thing was Sasha with a closed fist.

Maggie glanced between Sasha and Anne, presumably weighing her options. Finally, the ginger girl released Anne and tossed the remnants of the khao niew bing at Anne, letting it hit against her chest before it fell to the ground.

"Chill out, Waybright, I was just having a little fun," Maggie assured.

"Oh, is thaaat what you call fun? Cool, cool, so, that means later at lunch I can step on your food and then make you eat it? 'Cause, I gotta say, that sounds like loads of fun to me, too" Sasha taunted.

Maggie growled as she started walking past Sasha, but stopped when she was on her left.

"You can't protect Boobchuy forever, Waybright," Maggie threatened.

"You wanna bet?" Sasha retorted.

"Humph."

Maggie walked away, heading into the school building. Once gone, the tense moment ended, and Sasha headed over to her friend.

"Hey, you alright?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, she uh…she didn't do anything to me, at least not yet," Anne answered.

Sasha walked up to her best friend and gave her a quick hug before breaking the hug.

"Seriously, Margo's escalating. Making you eat something off her shoe? What kind of fucked up shit is that?" Sasha growled. "Maybe I should really teach her what happens when you mess with Sasha Waybright's friends. Also, what was she trying to make you eat?"

Anne looked down at the now ruined treat and said, "It was a khao niew bing, it was something my mom made for my b-day, something special from Thailand. So…yeah, this is kind of a bummer."

Sasha's anger only rose more, it wasn't just some random snack, it was a special snack that Mrs. Boonchuy had taken the time to make for Anne.

"Okay, now I want to punch Margo even more. No one disrespects Mrs. B's food like that!"

Anne chuckled.

"Dude, you can barely handle my parents' cooking some days."

Sasha blushed a little as she puffed up her cheeks.

"Well, sor-ry if I can't handle it some days. Still doesn't mean it doesn't taste good. Anyway, enough about that bitch. You're finally joining me and Mar-Mar as a fellow teen!" Sasha gushed. "Happy birthday, girl!"

Both girls then released a high-pitched squeal of delight as Sasha and spun Anne around playfully like a dancer.

"Finally, I'm thirteen, we're all officially the same age!" Anne exclaimed. "No more being the odd one out!"

"Yet, you're still the youngest of all three of us."

Anne's excitement fell as a deadpan expression appeared.

"Well, thanks for that reminder."

Sasha chuckled as she threw her right arm over Anne's shoulder's and said, "But, hey, I like 'em young."

"Dude, that sounded hella creepy."

Both girls chuckled as Sasha led Anne inside the school. The two of them made their way to Anne's locker, talking about this and that, and about the party that her parents were getting ready for her later in the day. As Anne opened her locker, she paused for a moment, Sasha was now talking to some of her cheerleading friends, allowing Anne some time to look upon the piece of paper that stared back at her in the locker. The words upon it reading, "Who Am I?"

Yesterday, the three of them threw an impromptu K-Pop dance party throughout the school, with Marcy using her amazing technical skills to hack the school's PA system so that Sasha could make her announcement and blare their favorite song all over the campus. And for added fun, they unleashed hordes of puppies and dogs into the school. Looking back on it, Anne really didn't know why they chose to throw the dogs into that plan, but hey, they were cute.

Needless to say, all three of them got in trouble for their stunt. Well, not necessarily. Sasha and Marcy were just given warnings to not do what they did again, while Anne…she was given a lecture, pretty much, about how she wasn't applying herself. And how the principal was worried about her. Her "punishment", in a way, was for Anne to write an essay about what she wanted to be. Honestly it only just made Anne's fears for her future come to the surface.

I'm not a genius like Marcy, I'm not even half as smart as her. And Sasha? She's a natural born leader. I'm just good at athletics, and even then, I don't think I have the skills to go pro or anything…

There were times when Anne had little existential crisis moments about what she would do when she was older. Heck, she'd be amazed if she passed middle school, much less graduating high school. Anne briefly glanced at Sasha, noting just how pretty she looked from the side, and how naturally she was able to command respect.

Dream on Boonchuy. Why would Sasha-freakin'-Waybright ever even want to go out with a washout like me?

Anne got out her books and then closed the locker, deciding not to think about this any further. As she turned to face Sasha, Anne noticed that her best friend had furrowed her brow with a concerned look on her face.

"Hey, Sash, everything okay?" Anne asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, it's nothing. Just thinking about what kind of swimsuit I'm gonna wear for the house party I'm throwing next weekend," said Sasha. "Of course, you and Marcy are invited, as always."

"Sasha, you know you don't have to always invite us. I mean, it's mostly the cool kids who go, so it's not really our crowd," Anne suggested.

"Even more so why I want my besties there. I may be friends with them, but they're not my best friends like you two. With you and Marcy I can talk about anything, plus, you can help me unwind after talking to some of them. And don't lie," Sasha struck a pose as she added, "I know you're dying to see this awesome figure in a bikini."

"W-What?! A-A bikini?! Sash, we're thirteen, isn't that little…suggestive?" Anne questioned.

Sasha grinned as she said, "I never said it was going to be a revealing bikini. You know there are different types that don't expose too much skin. Or were you thinking I was going to wear something naughty to the pool party? Just what kind of girl do you think I am, Anne?"

Anne blushed as she began waving her hands about in a dismissive manner.

"N-N-NO! I wasn't! I know you're not like that! It's just that I – I mean – you can be – that's not to say that–!"

"Anne, chill. I know what you mean. I'm just messing with you."

Anne sighed heavily.

The two teens began heading towards their classes, and as they did, Sasha seemed to be scanning the crowd, as if looking for someone, or rather, being on the lookout for someone.

"Hey, Anne."

"Yeah?"

"I gotta proposal for you."

"Okay, what is it?"

"I wanna ditch school, and celebrate your b-day together," Sasha suggested.

"Heh, good one, Sash."

"I'm not joking, Anne." Sasha brought her friend into a half hug as she smiled at her. "This is your thirteenth birthday, Anne. This is your entry into your teen years. This is the time when you live your life to the fullest! So, I say, we get outta here, and go crazy!"

Anne's heart pounded, but from excitement and from fear. If they did this, and got caught, her parents would tear her a new one for ditching school like that. However, the prospect of spending time alone with Sasha, just the two of them, was fun to think about.

"But what about Marcy?" Anne asked.

"Anne, no offense to Mar-Mar, but you I both know we wouldn't get far with her clumsiness. She's likely to trip over nothing or pull something that'll get us caught. Plus, I think she has a few tests today, and you know how her parents are strict with her grades."

Anne couldn't really fault Sasha's logic. Marcy's stealth game wasn't that good, video games were one thing, but real life was another. Marcy's parents, mostly her father, were strict when it came to her GPA. It was honestly cliché, the whole "Asian parents demanding perfect grades" thing, but clichés were clichés for a reason, they happened, a lot. And Marcy was no exception to that. To a degree, Anne's mother was the same way, but not as bad as Marcy's father. Thankfully, Marcy was incredibly smart, even on an off day for her, she was always pulling in "A+" grades.

"Yeah…you got a point. The last thing I want is for Marcy to get in trouble with her dad," said Anne.

"Right? So, just follow my lead when it happens and I'll make sure you have the best b-day ever, girl."


(Hours Later…)

Playing hooky was both extremely fun and extremely terrifying. Every minute they were outside, Anne was afraid that the cops would find out that they were truant, or that someone would recognize them and rat them out to their parents. It was not as if they were able to hide the fact that they were Saint James students, the uniform kind of gave it away. One of the drawbacks of going to a private school, the rule of wearing a specific uniform for their school. Which, Anne assumed, was to deter this kind of action. If she were in a regular public school, she could wear whatever she wanted and easily blend in with the crowd. But with a school uniform, you were basically standing out like a sore thumb wherever you went.

Still, Sasha didn't let the fact that they stood out hinder their fun. They hit up the arcade, playing their favorite co-op game, Super Dance Fusion, and once again defending their high score. Sasha and Anne saw the names of the various other players who tried to beat their score but were woefully unable to even come close.

After the arcade, Anne was taken on a shopping cart joyride in the park. By which I mean Sasha had Anne ride in the cart, pushed said cart down a hill, and had the two of them let fate decide whether they would live or die as they rolled through the park on an out of control, four wheeled, screaming metal cage of death. Of course, Anne screamed her head off like a wild banshee, while Sasha was screaming with excitement and laughter like she was on a roller coaster. By the good grace of God, the cart came to a halt down the hill, losing momentum and rolling to a stop just before nearly launching the two of them into a pond.

After that near death experience, Sasha decided to keep the adrenaline high going by taking Anne into the city and tag an alleyway. Sasha managed to get a can of spray paint and started writing her name in a stylistic fashion on the brick wall in front of them.

Anne was constantly anxious, worrying that the police were going to catch them, or worried that some adult was going to come and call them out. However, again, by some stroke of luck or a deity's pity, they weren't caught. Anne nearly had a heart attack when Sasha gave her the spray can to do some graffiti of her own, and for a moment, Anne contemplated drawing something. But that thought quickly evaporated when she heard a police car zoom by with its sirens and lights flashing. Anne yelped loudly, threw the can of spray paint into the air, and latched onto Sasha.

The blonde teen chuckled at her scaredy cat BFF and patted her on the head.

"There, there, Boonchuy. Your gangster lifestyle isn't about to come to an end," Sasha joked.

"Oh, shut up, Waybright."

From there, their fun continued to a clothing store where Sasha tried on various outfits, even some swimsuits. Anne felt a little embarrassed, again, when she saw Sasha in a bikini. It really wasn't revealing compared to some others that were on the racks, but it did make her feel funny the longer she looked at her friend dressed like that.

If I'm not gay, then I'm definitely gay for Sasha, if nothing else…

Sasha wasn't one to be the only one trying stuff on, she would drag Anne into the changing rooms and have her go through a myriad of different outfits. Some Anne did like and got her thinking she would need to save her allowance for them, others were…ahem…a little bold for her.

Afterwards, they hit up a little smoothie shop to take a break from their antics, at least until Sasha could come up with something else. Anne and Sasha were sitting at a table, their feet kicked up as they leaned their chairs back and sipped down their smoothies.

"Mmm, so that's what a unicorn tastes like, corn syrup," said Anne.

"Drink up, Anne, we're just getting started. Also, I wanted to ask, why didn't you let me buy you those clothes? I would've, y'know, I have my card with me." Sasha asked as she stylishly whipped out her credit card.

"Well, some of those weren't too bad, but the others…I don't think they're right for me…"

"Anne, if I'm being honest, I think those would've look great on you," Sasha commented.

"N-N-No way! I don't have the figure for those kinds of clothes," said Anne.

"Please, don't sell yourself short. I can tell you're going to have all the boys' heads turning later on."

Anne sipped her smoothie as she mumbled, "I don't think it's the boys who's heads I want to turn…"

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"Did you say something, Anne?" Sasha inquired.

Anne's face went red.

Oh crap! Did she hear me?! No way! No way! Think Boonchuy, say something else – act dumb!

"Who's Anne?"

NOT THAT DUMB!

Sasha blinked and then started to laugh, believing that Anne was just joking around. But to Anne, she still wished she hadn't said it like that.

Great, you made yourself look like an idiot…

Anne put down her smoothie and got up from the table fast.

"Anne?"

"I…I need to use the restroom. BRB."

Sasha watched as Anne left, going down the short hallway and into the lady's restroom. Anne looked at herself in the mirror. She gripped the sink hard, frustrated with her lack of courage.

"All I have to do is just tell her…but dammit…I'm afraid of what that'll do to us. What if she doesn't like me like that? Or what if it ruins our friendship? It could split us all up, and all because I thought I was good enough for Sasha Waybright…but…she did say she would always protect us…protect me…"

"Damn, that was so gay, I think I might vomit a rainbow."

Anne quickly turned to her left, and that's when she saw someone she hadn't been expecting to see.

"Maggie?!"

"S'up, Boobchuy," she greeted. "Wow, I knew you were dumb. But to think you're actually gay for Waybright, like, in lesbian with her, it's freakin' hilarious!"

Anne's blush deepened as her hands shook. This was bad, Maggie overheard her practically pining for Sasha, but there was one bit of good news that she managed to latch onto.

I don't think she knows that Sasha's bi, she just thinks this might be a one-sided thing…not like she's wrong, but at the very least I can protect Sasha.

"Yep, I'm super gay for Sasha Waybright! I mean, just, how can you not be? She's hot, captain of the cheerleaders, strong, cool–"

"Alright, alright, I don't need the full profile. Anyway, looks like you and Waybright ditched classes," Maggie observed.

"And?"

"Nothing, it's just that I was looking all over for you at school and come to find out you and Waybright up and played hooky. I thought about going to see that nerd about where you were–"

"Marcy?!" Anne exclaimed. "What did you do to her?!"

"Cool your tits, we haven't done anything to her…yet."

Anne paused as she took apart that sentence. Maggie said "we" as in more than one person. Did that mean there were others outside? There was no way they'd pull something here. The smoothie shop had plenty of customers inside, and Sasha was in there as well. If they tried anything, Maggie and whoever else she brought with her would be caught. Or, maybe cornering her in this bathroom was the plan?

"What do you want, Maggie?" Anne questioned.

"I'm getting real tired of how you and that nerd just so casually hang around Sasha. Like you're better than the rest of us," Maggie answered.

"That's – Marcy and I never acted like that! And Sasha's our best friend, we've been friends since we were little! Who she's friends with is her choice, not yours or anyone else's!" Anne argued.

Maggie slammed her fist against the wall, making Anne jump back a little.

"That attitude is also why I don't like you. But overall…" A sinister smile formed on Maggie's face. "I just love messing with you and that nerd, a lot. Like, to the point that I might like it too much."

Maggie took out her cellphone and pushed a few buttons. They waited for a moment and then Maggie's smile grew wider.

"Here's what's going to happen, Boobchuy. You're going to come with me out the back where my friends are waiting. And then, we're going to go do a little urban exploration," said Maggie.

"And why the hell would I go anywhere with you?"

"Because, if you don't, I can't exactly guarantee that nothing will happen to the nerd."

Maggie turned her cellphone around, showing that it was a video call. The screen flipped around and now showed Marcy sitting in the library, reading through a stack of books. From the angle of the video, the person holding the cellphone was peeking around a bookshelf behind her friend. And Marcy being Marcy, Anne knew that her oblivious nature wouldn't allow her to notice the danger until it was too late.

"All I need to do is send the text and my friend there…well…let's just say, he's got a thing for nerdy Asian chicks," Maggie explained.

"No! Leave her alone, Maggie!" Anne demanded.

"I will, so long as you do what I say, Boobchuy. She'll be left alone. But my friend is under orders to keep an eye on her until I say otherwise. So, what do you say? Come with me and protect the nerd. Otherwise, I'll just mess you up right here and now and have my friend do what he wants. And by the time Waybright notices, it'll be too late. Make your choice Boobchuy, clock's ticking."

Anne was beginning to sweat, if she didn't do what Maggie wanted, whoever was watching Marcy would do something bad to her, and Maggie would just hurt her before Sasha could help. But if she went with the bully, she could at least keep Marcy safe. It was a choice of either both her and Marcy get hurt, or only one of them ends up potentially hurt.

And let's face it, I'm more physically fit than Marcy is. Whatever they do to me, I could probably take better than she could…

"…Okay, just don't hurt her."

"Huh, not as dumb as you look after all." Maggie turned the phone towards her, and said, "Keep an eye on Wu, and don't make a move unless I give you the word."

Anne couldn't see if the person on the other end nodded, but it was enough for Maggie to end the call.

"Alright, let's go," Maggie ordered.

Anne slowly walked towards her, about to exit the bathroom, but that's when Maggie threw up her right hand and pressed it against Anne's chest, stopping the Thai teen in her tracks.

"First, though, hand over your cell. Can't have you texting or calling anyone until we're done."

She had hoped Maggie would forget that little detail, but it seemed the bully was on her "A" game today. Reluctantly, Anne fished her cellphone out of her skirt pocket, and handed it to Maggie. Once in hand, the ginger girl put it in her hoody's pocket and directed Anne towards the back of the shop, walking behind her as to keep Anne from running away.

Meanwhile, Sasha was sitting at the table, still waiting for Anne. It had been about five minutes since her friend left her, and she was starting to get a little worried. Sasha pulled out her cellphone and began texting her friend.

[Hey, Anne, did you fall in or something? lol]

Sasha waited, but there was no response.

[Okay, real talk, r u ok in there? It's been more than 5 mins, getting a little worried.]

Sasha tapped her finger against the table, but her phone showed no replies even after a full minute had passed. Deciding that she wasn't going to wait anymore, and getting a little worried that Anne might not be feeling good, Sasha got up from the table and headed into the restroom.

"Hey, Anne, seriously, you're kinda worrying me a little. Are you not feeling good?" Sasha asked.

The blonde teen began opening each stall, going all the way down the row until she reached the last one, but it, too, was vacant. Now Sasha was both confused and worried. She clearly saw Anne head down the hallway towards the bathrooms, and she had a good view from where the table was situated that there was no way Sasha wouldn't have seen Anne leaving. So, where was Anne then?

Sasha left the shop and headed outside, she walked around to the alleyway, just on a hunch, and checked to see if Anne was there. But there was nobody except for some alley cats. Sasha quickly took out her cellphone again, checked for any replies, and when none were seen, she called Anne's phone directly.

"Pick up, pick up," Sasha murmured.

{Hi, this is Anne Boonchuy! You know what to do dude! *BEEP*}

"Anne, what the hell?! Where are you?! Did you just ditch me or something? I'm still at the smoothie shop…Just, call me or text or something, I'm kinda freaking out a little here."

Sasha ended the call and decided to go on a search for her friend, not knowing that she was already far away, and in peril.


Anne was being led through the back alleys, away from prying eyes. Maggie, it seemed, had brought along some friends who were indeed waiting at the back door of the shop. Standing behind her was Marcus, he was a linebacker of the varsity football team for SJMS. Even for his age, he was tall, and had thick muscles from all his weight training and football practices. He had short cut black hair, green eyes, and lightly tanned skin.

On her right was a tall girl, with brunette hair that reached down to her back, and fair skin. Her name was Astrid, she was one of the cheerleaders on Sasha's squad. She had skill for sure, but Sasha beat her out in both skill, personality, and looks. Astrid, apparently, was the it girl at her old school before she got into the same school as Sasha Waybright, and her rank in the social pecking order went down a peg when Sasha took that position.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that she's in on this…

On her left was a slightly portly boy, she knew him as Lewis. He was already a bully to the little kids outside of school and did the same to the younger kids in their grade and below. He stole their lunches, lunch money, and when you didn't give him what he wanted, well, he wasn't about showing that his size wasn't just for show, he could pack a hard punch.

And of course, leading this little quadra of Saint James's finest was Maggie.

The sun was starting to get low, bathing the sky in fire with hues of orange and yellow. Anne didn't need her cellphone to know that it was definitely getting late, and soon enough her parents were going to start calling or texting her, asking where she was and why she hadn't come home yet for her party. Sure enough, it happened. Anne's cellphone went off in Maggie's hoodie, prompting the bully to take it out and check who had called. When she saw that it was Anne's mom, she chuckled and turned the volume down.

"Sorry, Boobchuy, we're keeping ya from your party," Maggie mocked.

"It's…It's no big," Anne responded.

"Hey, Mags, where are we going anyway?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, we've been walking for, like, a while now," said Astrid.

"And I'm gettin' tired of it," Lewis complained.

"Ugh, quit your bitching, guys, we're almost there. It's just around the corner," Maggie assured.

Anne didn't know why, but this alley felt familiar for some reason. When they made the turn to exit the alley, Anne realized just where they were.

"No…No way…not here!" Anne exclaimed.

"Oh, so you know this place. I'm impressed, not many people do," said Maggie.

"Uh, it's just a condemned building, what's so special about it?" Astrid asked.

"Ha, shows how much you know," Marcus stated. "This is the Red Rose Hotel, aka the Blood Red Hotel. Lotta people died here back in the day, and some recently. People go in, but they don't come out. Got so bad they made this fence around it to keep people from going inside."

"And just like any other fence, there's always people who want to cut it to get inside. Now, c'mon." The others started to walk, but stopped when Anne didn't move. "What now?"

Anne looked terrified of this place, she could feel that same aura from two years ago, but it wasn't as potent as it was then. Maybe there was some truth to the fear factor of Red Rose getting worse at night. But still, that didn't make it any better.

"Move your ass, Boobchuy," Marcus ordered as she shoved Anne forward.

Anne stumbled, but pushed on, keeping her mind focused on protecting Marcy.

Maggie led them to a spot where the fence had been cut into, allowing all five of them to get in without much issue. They were brought to a door that had obviously been forced open, but miraculously was still on its hinges. The eerie, intimidating aura of the place was still prevalent, but Anne seemed to be the only one affected by it. She occasionally glanced between her four captors, wondering how it was that they couldn't feel what she was feeling right now? Was she just that much of a coward or was this place actively focusing its attention on her?

"Okay, Boobchuy, I'm sure you want the rest of this school year to be smooth sailing, right?" Maggie asked.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Good, so, here's the deal. Me and my buddies will leave you and the nerd alone for the whole school year, that means no pranks, no threats, no beat downs, no nothing."

Anne waited for the catch.

"And all you have to do…is spend one hour inside this place."

"WHAT?! You want me to spend an hour in there?! You know what's happened to people who've gone in there!" Anne exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, whoever goes inside dies, blah, blah, blah. No one's been in there in, like, ever. So, prove the legends wrong today, Boobchuy. One hour, that's it. And if you're still alive, then a deal's a deal."

Anne looked up at the building, feeling as if it wanted her to come in, like it couldn't wait to show her horrible things, or do horrible things to her.

"No way! I'll do anything else, but not this!" Anne insisted.

"Tough, 'cause you don't have a choice in the matter. Marcus."

The tall, buff boy quickly scooped Anne up and tossed her over his shoulder. Maggie opened the door, and let Marcus toss Anne through it. Anne rolled along the dusty floor for a few seconds before stopping on her front. When she realized where she was, the Thai teen scrambled to her feet and dashed for the door, but before she could make it, the door slammed shut, making Anne wrestle with the door handle as she tried to open it.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! WHY WON'T THIS STUPID DOOR OPEN?!"

"Sorry, Boobchuy, but the door only opens out, not in. And we blocked it, so you're not getting out through here," Maggie informed.

"WHO MAKES A DOOR THAT OPENS FROM THE OUTSIDE?!" Anne screamed. "MAGGIE, PLEASE, LET ME OUT!"

"One hour, Boobchuy, stay there or explore, it's up to you."

Anne kept pounding on the door, trying to force it open or at least gain the attention of someone so they could hear her. But Anne's cries for help were not reaching anyone. There was a descent amount of space between the hotel and other buildings, cleared out for eventual demolition, but never conducted due to all the accidents. The Thai teen's throat started to become rough from her constant yelling, which made her stop along with the cessation of her pounding against the door.

At this point, she was just wasting her energy. There were only four of them, they couldn't cover the entire building. So, there had to be another way out, someplace where people in the past broke in. That was Anne's only hope, but without her cellphone, she had no light source, which meant she would have to stumble around in the pitch black until her eyes adjusted enough to allow her some amount of night vision to see where she was going.

Anne put her hand against the wall and began slowly walking down the hallway. It grossed her out so much, feeling the moldy wallpaper, and occasionally rubbing her hand against a cockroach. Anne yelped when she felt the bugs, tripping herself up as she fell onto the floor, kicking dust that had long gone undisturbed for decades. The Thai teen crawled about, trying to find the wall, but winced a few times when she grazed something sharp, a nail, a broken floorboard? It was hard to tell, but Anne wasn't about to stop, stopping meant she would die in this place, and she didn't want to die.

The Thai teen got back up and started to walk, following the wall. The final rays of daylight had finally left, creating darker shadows inside of the hotel. That ominous feeling she had before returned – no – it was always there, but it was steadily gaining in intensity.

"This is stupid! How am I supposed to find my way around here without any light?!"

Suddenly, a pulse of yellow light lit up the entire hallway for a few seconds before everything faded to black again. Anne froze, she didn't know what that was, but whatever that light was, it washed over everything for a couple of seconds, and was bright enough to light up the hallway.

"W-What the…?"

That's when Anne saw something at the other end of the hall. It was a light, a yellow light that pulsed over and over again.

"Yeah, no, seen enough horror movies to know not to go near the creepy light."

As Anne started to do an about face, something called to her.

{Fear…detected…}

Anne froze.

Suddenly, something ghostly yellow appeared, it was some kind of monster. It phased through the walls as if it were really a ghost, but its features were so alien, it might as well have been a demon as far as she was concerned. The ghostly monster hissed at her and charged straight in her direction. Anne screamed as she was forced to run back the other way, towards where the light was pulsing. The creature crawled along the walls, leaving gashes and holes as its claws hit the ceiling, walls, and floor. Anne made it to the other end of the hall, but when she did, the light was gone. She hurriedly looked down the same way she came but realized that nothing was there.

"What…What the hell? Did I…Did I imagine that?" Anne questioned. "Great, I'm seeing things now. Heh…maybe I'm going crazy."

Then again, maybe she wasn't. That same light now shined from the other end of the hallway, illuminating a staircase that led down.

"Oh, hell no! That's a basement! No way in hell am I going down there!"

Anne suddenly heard another noise.

"Oh…fuck my life…"

She turned around and saw a tentacled creature phasing through the walls and slithering towards her. The rest of the creature followed suit, revealing its full body which looked close to an octopus, and at the center of the writhing tentacles was a wide mouth with dozens of sharp teeth ready to eat her alive. The creature lashed out with one of its tentacles, but Anne dove out of the way at the last second, narrowly missing the hit. The young teen hurriedly got to her feet, and in her panic, ran towards the light. It wasn't as if these things were giving her much choice, she could barely see anything else in this deathtrap of a dilapidated hotel.

The Thai teen ran, stopping once she reached the edge of the staircase. Anne looked back towards the monster that was still approaching, and with a gulp, readied herself to take that first step down. However, the light that illuminated the staircase suddenly snuffed out mid step. Without the light to show her where the stairs were, Anne immediately fell forward. She felt weightless for several seconds before inevitably hitting something hard. Anne screamed and grunted as she tumbled down the long flight of stairs.

In the pitch-black darkness, Anne couldn't tell up from down as she continued to tumble, nor could she tell if there was even a bottom to this. Unfortunately, she found out. Anne struck the bottom level, her head making contact with the hard floor before her head was sent spinning, and her mind began to shut down…

Anne opened her eyes, looking everywhere, anywhere, for anyone. It was strange, she was surrounded by darkness, and yet her body was completely visible to her.

"Heh…Hello?" Anne called out. "Hellooo!"

She received no response, if anything, her voice seemed to echo in the darkness.

"What's going on…? What happened to me?"

"Ooh, is little Anny going to cry?"

"W-W-What?"

Suddenly, a yellow flash of light went off and Maggie appeared in its stead.

"You're such a scared little bitch, is it any wonder why I like tormenting you, Boobchuy? It's because I know you're weak, I know you'll never raise a hand against me."

To emphasize her point, Maggie raised her fist and prepared to strike Anne, causing the teen to raise her own hands up in an attempt to protect herself. But that's when Maggie laughed mockingly at the Thai girl.

"Heh, see what I mean? And you wanna get with Sasha Waybright? You are pathetic."

"It-It's none of your business, Maggie!" Anne retorted. "I…So what if I like her as more than friend?!"

"Tch…" Maggie began circling Anne, leering at her the whole time, and causing the Thai teen to tremble at what she would do to her. "You're just dead weight, Boobchuy, a waste of space. You're not going to amount to anything in the future."

"T-That's not true…!"

"Don't fool yourself, your parents know you don't amount to nothin'. The teachers know you're a lost cause as well. You can't do anything worthwhile, well, maybe there is one thing. I'm sure there's something you can be good for," Maggie mocked as she made a lewd gesture with her hands.

Anne covered her chest with her arms as she scowled at Maggie for a moment, but then became saddened as her mind started to fill with negative thoughts about her future. What if that was all she was going to be doing when she grew up? Could she really just work in her parent's restaurant for the rest of her life? She doubted they would want a failure of a daughter to run their business, watching her ruin everything they worked hard for.

"That girl has a point." Anne turned to her left and watched as her mother materialized in a flash of yellow light. "Your father and I went through so much to make sure you'd have a better life than we did, worked hard to send you to a good school that would give you the best education. And in return, you just laze about, put in no effort into anything! Honestly, I am ashamed to call you my daughter."

"M-Mom…no! I-I can do better!" Anne pleaded. "I-I just…"

"I hate to say it, Anne, but she's got a point." Anne turned to her right, and that's when she saw Sasha appear. "I mean, even if I was gay for you, what makes you think I'd settle for a loser like you?"

"Y-You don't mean that!" Anne countered.

"It's exhausting as hell to watch out for you and keep you safe from this bitch. No offense," said Sasha.

Maggie shrugged and replied, "Eh, none taken, I know I am."

"Looking out for you, protecting you, do you really think I want to do that for the rest of my life? Hell, do you even think I want to do that even IF I wanted to go out with you? Why would I want a girlfriend who can't even stand up for herself? Who's so afraid of getting picked on that she's constantly in fear."

"WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME?!" Anne yelled at Sasha. "I don't know what else to do, okay! Don't you think I'm tired of being so scared of getting into a fight?! So scared of you thinking I'm a waste of time?! Of disappointing my parents?!"

Anne gripped the sides of her head, and all around her different people began to appear. Her teachers, the additional bullies that were with Maggie, the people of the Thai community, all of them sneering at her with judgmental eyes, bearing down on her and causing her to feel a great crushing weight on her mind. Anxiety began to build up inside of her as Anne's beathing grew heavier. Fear was strong in her, threatening to paralyze her and break her to pieces.

"I'm afraid, okay! I'm afraid and I don't know what to do!"

Sasha walked out from the crowd of people surrounding Anne. She then crouched in front of Anne and rested her chin in the palm of her right hand.

"Then, why don't you embrace it?" Sasha suggested.

"W-What?" Anne questioned.

"Don't run from it, embrace it. Embrace your fear, become it. Become bigger and scarier than anything else around you. Rise above that which seeks to put you down and show the world why it should be afraid of Anne Boonchuy!"

Anne lowered her hands from her head as she stared up into Sasha's eyes.

"Is that…Is that something I can do?"

"All depends on you, Anne. You can keep writhing and let the fear eat you alive and die a miserable, and painful death…"

The darkness that surrounded her suddenly came alive as Anne's feet and legs were starting to get coated in it. The darkness slowly crawled up her legs, creeping inch by inch and threatening to engulf her.

"…Are you, Anne? Are you capable of becoming fear itself? Do you have the drive to show the world that you're not afraid of it? And that it should be afraid of you?"

The darkness was now at her waist, Anne was panicking, she was really going to die. She was going to die surrounded by these fake versions of people she knew. The teachers, her classmates, and even her parents all chuckled with maddening glee as they watched Anne getting swallowed by the dark, but the only one who wasn't laughing, the only one who kept a stoic expression, was the girl still crouched in front of her. Sasha was just there, waiting for Anne's answer. But was she able to do what Sasha asked of her? Could she become fear? Wield it as her own?

The darkness had now engulfed all of Anne's lower body and was making its way higher. Her whole body was shaking, sweat dripping from her forehead as she tried to think of a way out of this situation. She was scared, so scared. And at the same time, she was tired of it. Tired of being engulfed in fear, tired of being a victim, tired of being seen as lesser than by everyone. The Thai teen balled up her fists as she decided to stop being afraid, maybe the best way to combat fear, was to embrace it as Sasha as said.

"Okay, Sash, yeah…I see what you mean," said Anne.

Sasha smirked.

"Do you?"

"I want to be the one who makes people fear me instead of the other way around! If I had the chance, I'd make Maggie and those assholes outside realize that they messed with the wrong girl! Heh, yeah, they expected me to die here, they expect me to lose my mind to fear and scream bloody murder! Well, screw them!"

A thin veil of yellow light began to outline Anne's body, but it seemed as if the Thai teen was unaware of this. Slowly, Anne began to rise to her feet, again either ignoring or not noticing that the darkness was receding from her body.

"I don't want to be someone who you have to keep protecting, Sash! I want to be able to show you what I can do!" Anne declared.

Sasha smirked as her irises and pupils were replaced with yellow light.

"Good…it's finally time…"

A flash of yellow light went off before Anne, erasing the darkness around her, and the figures who stood around to mock her. The light grew brighter and brighter, and then…

Anne gasped, and then cried out in pain as her whole body hurt. The back of her head was throbbing, along with every other part of her. Her left leg hurt the most, and Anne wondered if she had broken it. However, her questions about her potential injuries faded when she saw a yellow light illuminating the room. Anne now realized she had fallen into the hotel's basement level. There were many boxes, old, moldy, and dusty from years of neglect. Some of which had their contents spilling out due to rupturing of the old cardboard.

"AAH!" Anne cried out as the throbbing pain returned.

She managed to look up. Thanks to the light she was able to see that she had fallen down a long staircase. It was a miracle that her neck didn't break, but then again, she wouldn't discount having a possible concussion. Anne looked around the room again, trying to find the source of this yellow light, and that's when her eyes were drawn to a hole in the basement floor. Considering that it was the only light source in this rundown building, and if she was going to be able to navigate the hotel, she would need that light. Whatever it was.

Anne tried to get up but yelled in pain.

Yep, it's broken, definitely broken! Anne thought.

It could've just been fractured, the only thing she was grateful for when it came to her leg was that it didn't appear that any bones were sticking out like in the movies. So, that was something. With little options given to her, Anne decided to crawl towards the light. The task itself was a painful one, her arms were thoroughly bruised, and possibly had a crack or two themselves, but either way, Anne pressed on. She wasn't about to let Maggie and her friends have the last laugh, she wasn't going to die here because of them.

After crawling for what felt like hours, Anne managed to get to the center of the basement. She shielded her eyes from the light, but somehow it seemed to dim slightly, allowing her to see it better. The floor was solid concrete, and yet, there was a large hole that allowed Anne to see the dirt below. Strangely enough, as she took in more details about the hole, and the debris that surrounded the hole looked like whatever made it had done so from the bottom up, instead of top down.

Putting that aside, Anne looked down and saw something lying there. It was…a ring? Anne crawled a little closer to the edge and confirmed that it was indeed a ring. It was hard to make out what kind of material it was made of, but it did have a kind of metallic sheen to it. At the center of the ring was a strange symbol that Anne had never seen before, although she wasn't an expert on ancient symbols or anything, so for all she knew it was only unknown to her. What was even weirder about this ring was the fact that it was creating the light. There didn't seem to be any cables, no flames, no anything that would indicate that the ring was a conduit for the light, but rather, it seemed to be producing it.

As Anne basked in that yellow light, she could feel that strong aura of intimidation, of fear. Her body shook, her primal instincts kicking in again like on that night two years ago. But this time, Anne wasn't choosing flight, she wanted to fight. Whatever this ring was, it was the source. Somehow, she knew, she could just feel it.

"You're the thing that's been…been causing trouble here for all these years, aren't you?" Anne crawled closer and reached out to the ring.

{Anne Boonchuy of Earth…}

Anne paused. It was that voice again. The same voice she heard back in the hallway.

{You have the potential to instill great Fear. Do you have what it takes to wield the power of Fear itself? To become one who can bring bone chilling terror to your enemies, and those who trespass against the weak and helpless? By any means necessary?}

Anne didn't hesitate to answer the ring, pushing aside the fact that a yellow ring was talking to her. If she was going crazy, then why not just accept the crazy at this point.

"Yeah, I'm through letting people make me afraid! It's time to make them feel fear! I won't let anyone push me or those I care about around!" Anne exclaimed.

{Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.}

The ring immediately shot towards Anne, slipping over her right middle finger like it was made for her. The ring immediately began coating Anne in yellow light, making her body rise higher and higher into the air, and once the light had completely covered her, it started to break away. Fragments of yellow light chipped off her body, revealing a new outfit for Anne.

Her school uniform had been completely replaced, what was there in its stead was yellow armor that covered her chest and stomach. In the middle of her chest was the same strange symbol that was on her ring, glowing yellow against a black backdrop. Her pauldrons had a double curved edge to them, and her gauntlets had fingertips that were sharpened to a point, giving her the appearance of claws, while the top of the forearms had three serrated edges. Yellow bands wrapped around her biceps, matching the three on each side of her thighs. Going lower, her lower legs were encased in boots that came to a point. Around her neck was a brightly glowing, neon yellow cape, making it hard to determine if it was made of fabric or concentrated light. Anne's ears had yellow metal earpieces that hugged her outer ear, starting at the earlobe and extending out to a sharp point as they went upwards, giving her the appearance of having elf ears. Her hair, which was once a large afro, had straightened, and was now flowing down her back. But the most striking change was her eyes. The normal dark brown coloring was replaced by a glowing yellow color, and her pupils were no longer round, but were now slits like that of a demon.

It was more than a makeover, Anne felt power rushing through her entire body, and the pain she was feeling from her earlier injuries was steadily disappearing. Anne looked upon herself, staring at her new outfit with fascination and excitement over what she had just gained.

"Holy crap! This is amazing! I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect this!" Anne looked at her new ring. "Just what are you?"

{I am a tool for the use of my designated user, one who has joined the Sinestro Corps.}

"Ah, okay." Anne raised her right leg, while still floating in the air, and crossed it over her left as if she was sitting on a chair. "So…you wouldn't happen to know the time, would you?"

{Time is approximately 6:30 p.m. Earth Pacific Standard Time.}

"Dammit…Mom and Dad are probably freaking out right about now. No doubt Sasha and Marcy are also worried as hell since they haven't heard from me. What a freakin' birthday this is turning out to be."

Anne looked up, her gaze mentally piercing through the layers of concrete and wood and focusing on the four bullies who threw her into this building with the explicit thought of her dying here. The Thai teen's eyes narrowed with anger, but at the same time, a smile crossed her lips.

"Hey, ring, we got about ten minutes. Tell me everything you can do in that time," said Anne.

{As you wish.}


(10 Minutes Later…)

"Heh, damn, Boobchuy's phone is blowin' up," Maggie mocked as she looked at Anne's cellphone.

For the last hour, the bully had been snickering at the myriad of text messages and missed calls that were piling up on her favorite victim's phone. She took a kind of perverse joy in seeing how worried Anne's parents were, and at the same time, how Sasha and her nerdy sidekick were freaking out about their little friend's whereabouts.

[Sasha: ANNE, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! PLEASE ANSWER US!]

[Marcy: ANNE, THIS REALLY ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE! CALL US, TEXT US, ANYTHING!]

[Mom: ANNE, PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE NOT ANSWERING ME OR YOUR FATHER, OR YOUR FRIENDS, BUT JUST ANSWER SOMEONE! IF YOU'RE MAD ME, I'M SORRY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO TALK TO ME, BUT JUST LET US KNOW YOU'RE OKAY!]

[Dad: ANNE, JUST COME HOME, WE'RE NOT ANGRY, WE'RE JUST SCARED, PLEASE CALL US!]

[Missed Calls: 158, Unread Texts: 100]

"AHAHAHAHAAHAHA! Holy shit, they are freaking the hell out right now, it's hilarious, AHAHAHAHAHA!" Maggie laughed.

"Hey, B-T-dubs, it's been an hour, Mags. Shouldn't we let Boobchuy out now?" Astrid asked.

Maggie looked at the door and rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, I'm tempted to just leave her ass here," Maggie answered.

Lewis looked at the ginger girl and asked, "Wait, but what'll happen to us if she's not okay? I don't buy into that haunted house shit, but a place like this can kill you in different ways."

"Eh, Lew's got a point," Marcus agreed. "Forget ghosts, this place has probably got rotted floors, nails sticking out of places, rats, mold, and all kinds of crap. Plus, it's pitch black in there. She could smack into something and knock herself out cold."

Maggie shot her male compatriots an annoyed glare.

"What, all of a sudden you give a damn about that soon-to-be slut?" Maggie accused. "Oh, wait, I get it. You two probably want to tap that before she croaks, right?"

Lewis and Marcus blushed, but still furrowed their brows.

"That's not–!"

"I never said–!"

"Fine, fine, she's probably just huddled up against the wall just waiting for us to open the door. We'll let you two in and have your fun, but then we're leaving her here. And don't take too long, alright." Maggie stated.

Lewis and Marcus gave each other uneasy glances. It wasn't as if they didn't think Boonchuy had an attractive body, but at the same time, they weren't really sure if they had the guts to do something like that. Maggie was more hardcore than they thought, and a psycho bitch if they were being honest. The two boys looked up from their seated position, watching as Maggie moved the debris they had gathered to block the only working exit/entrance into the building.

"A-Are you even sure about this?" Lewis asked, still wary about the prospect.

"Ugh, what good are you two if you don't even have the balls go that far?" Astrid mocked. "It's, like, literally, what you're here for. To do the heavy lifting, be the muscle, and if need be, screw that little Asian whore until she's broke."

"Heh, nice one," Maggie added.

Lewis and Marcus shrugged, if they were going to leave Anne in this place for that long, then there wasn't really a chance of her ratting them out, not if she even made it. The two of them assisted Maggie with unblocking the door, and once they did, the ginger girl opened it.

"Hey, Boobchuy, it's been an hour, you dead yet?" Maggie asked.

There was no response.

"Boobchuy? Hey, Boobchuy, I'm talking to you, you skank! Answer me!"

There was still no reply.

Maggie took out her cellphone and turned on its flashlight, shining it into the dark hallway. She shined it at the floor next to the door, taking a cautious step forward to check the sides of the door, thinking that Anne was probably hiding there, waiting to slip out. But when she did, Maggie found no one there.

"Ah, shit, looks like she went and tried to find a way out," said Maggie in a tone of faux disappointment.

"What?!" Marcus and Lewis exclaimed as they went in, pushing Maggie aside.

The two boys took out their cellphones and turned on the flashlight function, adding more light into the hall, and verifying that Maggie was right. Anne was not there at all. Astrid groaned as she went inside as well, looking back and forth.

"Huh, well, that's disappointing. Guess you two aren't getting your cherries popped tonight," Astrid chuckled.

"Isn't this bad?" Marcus asked. "If Boonchuy is still alive she could find a way out, and then we're all screwed!"

Maggie waved her hand, dismissing his concern.

"Not likely. This place has no power, no light, and every other exit and entrance is boarded up or the locks are so rusted that they're rusted shut. She could be wandering around here for days before finding an exit, or if she's really desperate, she could always take the old 'one step shortcut to the lobby'."

Astrid, Lewis, and Marcus took a moment to figure out what Maggie meant, and when they did, they winced when the vivid image of that happening entered their minds.

"Alright, let's leave already, I can't wait to see Sasha's face tomorrow when–!"

*SLAM!*

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them, the force that it generated knocked Astrid forward, making her fall – face first – onto the hardwood floor. Maggie, Marcus, and Lewis turned around, shocked at how the door had just closed on its own.

"What the fuck?! How did it close?!" Lewis asked in a panic.

"Keep your shit together, we just need to push it open." Maggie stated as she began pushing on the door but found the task tougher than she thought. "Ugh, you two just going to stand there or are you going to help me open this thing?!"

The two boys hurriedly rushed to the door and began pushing on it. However, no matter how hard they tried, it didn't budge an inch. If anything, it felt as if something extremely heavy was pushed against the door, keeping it from even slightly moving. While this was going on, Astrid managed to pull herself up, getting on her hands and knees as her face throbbed painfully. She felt something dripping from her nose, and when she took out her cellphone and shined its light on herself, Astrid saw that her nose was bleeding.

"OW! FUCK! I think I broke my nose!" Astrid cried out.

"Get off your skinny ass and give us a hand, or a broken nose is going to be the least of your worries," said Maggie.

Astrid, still a little woozy from the impact, turned around and helped the others try to open the door. But nothing worked, no matter how hard all four of them tried, the door would not open.

"Fuck it! Fine, we'll just find another way out."

"But you just said–!"

"Dipshit, we have light, Boobchuy doesn't, even in the daytime, this place is pitch black, and for all we know that dumbass is probably on the second floor or something. So, let's find another way, and get out before she finds out we found an exit," Maggie ordered.

Without much in the way of options, Marcus, Astrid, and Lewis followed Maggie as they began searching for a way out. Their cellphones illuminated the hallway, allowing them to see just how much the hotel was in disrepair. The building's wallpaper either clung onto the walls by a shred, or completely peeled off and piled onto the floor. There were some black spots along different parts of the walls and ceiling, no doubt black mold. Which only made them more aware that this place was a deathtrap, if it wasn't ghosts, then surely the air was poisonous. Old buildings like this probably had asbestos and other things that were deemed health hazards by today's standards.

There were some floorboards that were bent upwards, and others that were missing, allowing a full view of what lay underneath the floor. Roaches and the squealing of rats could be heard, along with the skittering of both as they rushed across the floor and walls. Astrid occasionally made noises that indicated her disgust with this place, as well as her annoyance. While Lewis was waving his light around at anything that he perceived to be moving around the hall.

Maggie rolled her eyes at them, aside from herself and Marcus, the others were scared. They finally made it to the other end of the hall, where it parted into three other directions. They looked for any signs that would give them direction, but from what they could tell, they were taken by people who were either brave enough or stupid enough to come into the building, taking them as trophies to show off that they entered the Blood Red Hotel and lived.

"Now where do we go?" Marcus asked.

"Let's start at the lobby, see if there's anything there," Maggie suggested.

"Hey, what happens if we do run into Boonchuy," Astrid asked, sounding nasally from her injury.

"Depends, if she tries to tag along." Maggie looked at the two boys. "You two know what to do if that happens."

Honestly, Marcus and Lewis couldn't care less at this point. They just wanted to get out of this building as fast as humanly possible.

"Got some naughty things in mind for me, Maggie…"

"WHA?!" Maggie quickly turned around and shined her light, but there was nothing there.

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked.

"I swear to God I heard Boobchuy just now! It was like she was right over my freakin' shoulder!"

Astrid, Marcus, and Lewis shined their lights around the area, but could see no sign of Anne. Now that she thought about it, how could Anne have even snuck up on them without them noticing?

"One…two…Anny's coming for you~"

Suddenly, all four of them could hear Anne's voice. It echoed all around them, but none of them could see where she was.

"What the fuck is that?!" Astrid asked.

"Boobchuy, you bitch, show yourself!" Maggie demanded.

"Three…four…better lock the door~"

Several rooms along the different hallways had their doors slam shut all at the same time as an eerie yellow glow faded from them.

"Five…six…grab a crucifix~"

"THIS SHIT AIN'T FUNNY, BOONCHUY!" Marcus yelled.

"LET'S GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE, ALREADY!" Lewis exclaimed.

"Seven…eight…time to celebrate~"

Just then, chains made of yellow light appeared out of the darkness down the hall they had just walked from. Those chains snaked their way at rapid speeds and latched themselves around Marcus's wrists and ankles. All four of the chains pulled at the same, wrenching Marcus off his feet as he was sent straight to the floor. Before Maggie, Astrid, or Lewis could do or say anything, the chains immediately reeled him in like a fish on a hook. Marcus screamed for the others to help him, but he was already halfway down the hallway before he disappeared.

The others could still hear Marcus's screams, which were getting louder and louder as he pleaded and begged for help, even going so far as to petition God for help. But all of it was futile.

"HELP ME! YOU GUYS, HELP ME! PLEASE GOD, HELP ME!"

The screams got louder and louder to the point that the other three were sure his throat was going to explode. All they could see from their position was the glow of the chains, and the vague outline of Marcus's arms and legs as they were held by the chains.

"NO, NO! STOP IT – IT HURTS! IT HURTS NO, NOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Then came a sickening sound, like the snaping of bones, and following right behind that was a fleshy, ripping and tearing sound. At the same time, the chains snapped in four different directions, disappearing into the walls as the screaming stopped.

"M-M-Marcus?!" Astrid called out.

There was no response, for some reason, it got eerily, disturbingly quiet now. No rats squeaking, no skittering noises, hell, there weren't even any signs of rats or roaches now. It was like they all just up and ran away.

"Marcus, dude, say something!" Lewis demanded.

As soon as Lewis said that a bright yellow light shined down on Marcus like a spotlight. But when it did, all three of the middle school kids beheld the dismembered body of Marcus. His arms and legs had been viciously torn off, leaving him as a limbless torso that was bleeding out on the floor. He made some attempts to move his head, but anyone looking at this grisly sight would tell you that Marcus well past anyone's help right now. The spotlight disappeared off Marcus, and in its place, appeared a figure.

From what they could see, it looked like Anne. She was made of yellow light, but the details of her clothes and body were clear enough to let them see that it was her. "Anne" began walking down the hallway, but her movements were erratic. She was jerking unnaturally to the left and right, wobbling this way and that as if drunk. Then she disappeared.

"What the fuck?!" Maggie exclaimed.

"She's over here!" Astrid yelled.

Maggie turned to where Astrid was shining her light, and sure enough, Anne was approaching them from that hallway now. She continued walking, getting closer, and still making those jerking, erratic movements before she disappeared again.

"Now she's over here!" Lewis warned.

Astrid and Maggie looked at the hallway Lewis was staring at, and she was there, but now much closer.

"Nine…ten~"

"Anne" got closer and closer, but then disappeared for a third time. All three of them were checking the halls, looking down each one as they tried to figure out where "Anne" was going to appear next. Then Maggie paused as she felt a chill run up her spine, her breath stopping for a moment as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"…Never live again~"

Maggie quickly turned around, and the moment she did, the yellow "Anne" raised her head and revealed that her face had morphed into a demonic monster. Her pupils were long slits, as her mouth opened unnaturally wide, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth as she released a shrieking roar. Astrid, Lewis, and Maggie screamed in absolute terror, but Maggie managed to force her brain to act as she crazily drew back her right fist and punched "Anne". The creature was sent flying and shattered against the wall, dispersing into particles of yellow light.

The bully panted as sweat began dripping down her body, fear gripping her heart and mind from what she just saw. Was that really Anne? Or were the legends of this hotel actually true?

Doesn't matter, Marcus is dead! That's a fact! Maggie thought.

"WE NEED TO GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" Astrid yelled.

"FUCK THIS, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!"

Lewis abandoned the two girls and ran in a random direction.

"LEWIS, YOU FAT FUCK, DON'T SPLIT UP!" Maggie yelled.

But Lewis was already gone, he kept running and running, probably running more than he had ever done in his life. He kept going until he made it to the end of the hall, but shined his light around until he found a staircase. Lewis began running up the stairs, skipping two steps at a time. He wasn't really thinking clearly right now, otherwise he would've realized that he was getting further away from the exits the higher he went. Lewis stopped when he got to the second floor, doubling over as he put his hands on his knees and panted heavily.

"Oh, Lewis~"

The portly boy froze.

"I remember you. You used to pick on Mar-Mar, didn't you?"

"W-W-What?!"

"Yeah, I almost forgot what with everything happening. But you used to make her give you her lunch money, but when she ignored you, you tried to get handsy with her."

"It-it-it wasn't like that! I swear!" Lewis shouted.

"Yeah, not buying it. That aside, you're a pretty shitty person all the same. The world doesn't need people like you, Lewis. People who only hurt others to get what they want, who torment those weaker than them."

Lewis whipped his light around, trying to see where Anne's voice was coming from, but no matter where he shined the light, he couldn't see her anywhere.

"So, what?! You're going to get revenge or something?!"

"Hmm, revenge feels too…personal. This isn't exactly that. Revenge is just a little bonus. No, this dear Lewis is punishment. Because little shits like you think they don't have to be afraid of anyone, or anything. Because you think karma's not going to catch up to you in this lifetime. Well, sadly, that's not the case anymore. I am that karma, and it's time I reacquaint you with the true meaning of FEAR."

Suddenly, Anne appeared out of nowhere, but this time she wasn't made of yellow light, she looked flesh and blood, but with a completely different outfit on. Anne raised her right fist and pointed it at Lewis as a yellow ring around her finger began to glow.

"Now, what do you fear, Lewis?"

The ring flashed, and Lewis's eyes started to glow with the same light. Anne's eyes glowed at the same time, and she smirked.

"Heh, can't say I blame you for being afraid of that. Enjoy."

Anne disappeared like a ghost. Lewis snapped his head back and forth, as if coming out of a trance. But as he did, a noise caught his attention. It sounded like croaking. Unfortunately, Lewis knew that sound all too well. It was the sound of a monster from a movie, from an urban legend his grandparents from Japan told him about. Slowly, Lewis turned his head, looking towards the stairs as a yellow glowing arm appeared out of the stairwell, followed by another. The portly boy then witnessed a female being spider walk onto the floor, her long hair obscuring her face for a moment before parting enough for him to see her one eye staring back at him.

"K-K-Kayako…?!" Lewis exclaimed.

The construct released a louder croaking sound as it began rapidly spider walking straight towards him. Finding his second wind, Lewis ran for his life down the hallway. He made so many turns that he honestly got lost, but no matter how many times he did, he could still hear Kayako's croaking not too far behind him. The teenage boy tried several doors, looking for someplace to hide. After about the thirteenth try, he finally managed to find a door that was open and went inside.

The hotel hadn't been cleared out of its furniture, what with all the deaths happening in it, people weren't exactly in a rush to get it out. The room was dirty from what he could see with this flashlight, the sheets on the bed were various colors of yellow and green, but these windows weren't boarded up. Lewis rushed to the window, trying desperately to open it. He knew that if he fell out from this height, it would more than likely break one or both of his legs, but honestly, he couldn't give a damn. So long as he was out of this hell hotel, he could crawl away for all he cared. Unfortunately for him, the window would not budge an inch, decade's worth of neglect had sealed the window shut. In desperation, he grabbed the heaviest thing he could find in the room, which turned out to be a broken chair leg, and smashed the window open.

Lewis used the chair leg to clear the broken shards of glass along the rim of the window as best he could and then looked down to see if there was anything he could land on to soften his fall. And just like he thought, there was nothing, just concrete. Lewis was about to make his move but paused. He felt something, like someone was watching him. Against his better judgement, the young teen turned his head to the left, and on the bed, sitting with his legs tucked against his chest, was a young Asian boy who was glowing yellow and was just staring at him.

"W-W-What the…?"

The construct of the Asian boy opened his mouth and let out a disturbingly loud cat yowl instead of a normal human voice. Lewis screamed as he started to push his head through the window, he could feel some of the glass shards that he wasn't able to clear out begin to pierce his skin, and tear into him. But his fear was drowning out the pain, all he cared about was getting out of the hotel. Lewis managed to get half his body out of the window, but that's when he came to a startling realization.

"I'm stuck…I'M FUCKING STUCK!"

Yes, his rotund middle had gotten stuck in the window, he tried pulling himself out further, but it was no use. Lewis stopped his struggling when he felt two hands grab his ankles. The hands tugged hard on him, jerking him backwards and making the glass tear into his flesh. Lewis struggled against the pulling, trying to escape. At this point, he didn't care if he fell headfirst down into the pavement, he just didn't want to die in there. But fate was not that kind.

With one more powerful pull, Lewis was brought back into the room and violently thrown to the floor. His head swam, seeing stars for a moment until his vision finally focused. He was now staring up at the ceiling, to his right was the boy, now looking down at him from his perch at the end of the bed. The construct boy then looked up, and so did Lewis. That's when he saw her, Kayako, she began phasing down from the ceiling, her long hair obscuring her face as she reached out with both arms towards him, still croaking horribly.

The Kayako construct got her hands around his head, holding onto him firmly as her eyes stared deep into his. Lewis yelled and screamed in pure terror, thrashing about to try and escape the ghost's wrath. But that wasn't happening this night, or any night, for the rest of his life.

The Kayako construct raised her right hand and balled it into a fist. The construct then pushed that fist against his mouth, the boy thrashed more as the Kayako construct kept pushing harder and harder, and that's when Lewis felt his jaw crack, being forced open by the construct's fist. The yellow monster kept pushing her fist further into his mouth, and then down his throat. The boy started to gag and choke, and yet he was still able to feel every excruciating moment of having this demon push her arm down his throat. Somehow, he hadn't died yet, and somehow the Kayako construct had managed to get half her arm down his throat.

Lewis now felt her hand in his stomach, she felt around it for a moment, and then, felt something sharp penetrate his stomach. The portly boy uttered a muffled scream, but it soon turned into a wet gargle as the Kayako construct kept retracting her arm. A noticeable bulge started to form in the boy's throat as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. And with one strong yank, the Kayako construct pulled out her bloodied arm, and in her hand, she held the boy's inverted stomach. The Kayako construct, as well as they young child, disappeared, leaving Lewis's dead body on the dirty floor, his mouth coated in blood.


"What do we do, Maggie?! WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO?!" Astrid yelled.

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Maggie retorted.

Suddenly, yellow tentacles appeared down one of the hallways, those same tentacles shot towards Maggie and Astrid, and before either girl could do anything, they were quickly wrapped up in them. They were swiftly dragged back down that hall, getting slammed against the walls, floor, and ceiling with little regard to their wellbeing. The tentacles drew the two girls down into the basement, where they were tossed unceremoniously onto the floor. Eight more tentacles appeared, wrapping around Maggie and Astrid as they were lifted into the air and had their limbs stretched out to form an "X" shape.

"Hey, girls…" Maggie and Astrid gasped as they beheld a transformed Anne Boonchuy floating in the air before them. "You know, I could get real freaky these tentacles, but I'm not about that stuff."

"Boobchuy?! W-What the hell happened to you?!" Maggie asked.

Anne deadpanned as she crossed her arms.

"It's actually amazing that you can still keep calling me that even though you're not in the best situation right now," said Anne. "And to answer your question…I decided to stop being afraid of you, and now, I want you to be afraid of me."

"W-W-Well, I'm afraid! Fucking terrified! Ahahaha! Good job, Anne!" Astrid exclaimed. "You don't have to do anything else; we get that you're badass now! So, just let us go, and we can just say none of this ever happened!"

Anne chuckled as she floated closer to Astrid.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen. I mean, I did just tear Marcus apart, and just a moment ago, Lewis just got merced. So, a little too late to stop now," Anne informed.

Astrid's eyes widened as fear gripped her, and Anne could feel it, her ring gave her the ability to sense a person's fear, and the more fear they felt, the stronger her powers were.

"A-A-Anne! Let me live! But you can kill Maggie, she's the one who put us all up to this! If anyone deserves to get offed it's that psycho bitch," said Astrid.

Maggie's eyes narrowed with rage as she yelled, "YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU COULDN'T WAIT TO GET IN ON THIS! JUST TO GET BACK AT WAYBRIGHT YOU PETTY SLUT!"

"FUCK YOU, MAGS! I'M NOT DYING BECAUSE OF YOUR CRAZY!" Astrid shot back.

Anne glanced between the two girls and asked, "Are you done? Because it's late, and my family and friends are probably worried sick about me, no thanks to you. So, let's wrap this up, huh?"

The yellow clad Thai girl pointed her ring at Astrid and Maggie, and the moment she did, the teens' eyes glowed bright yellow, and so did Anne's.

"Oh, now those are some nasty fears. Perfect."

Anne had the tentacles snap forward and throw Astrid onto the floor. The lanky teen was about to get up, but not before a box made of yellow light formed around Astrid. It was about eight feet, by eight feet, by eight feet. A pretty large box that almost touched the ceiling. Inside, Astrid was hyperventilating as she pounded against the walls of her prison, screaming for Anne to let her out.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! I'M SORRY, ANNE! I'M SORRY! PLEASE, LET ME OUT HERE!"

"What are going to do to her?!" Maggie inquired.

"Ever heard of claustrophobia?"

When Anne said that the box began to shrink. As it did, Astrids screams and pounding became more frantic and desperate.

"NO…NO! THE WALLS ARE SHRINKING! THE WALLS ARE SHRINKING! STOP IT! STOP IT NO! PLEASE STOP!"

The walls of the box continued to shrink with each passing second, going from eight feet to four feet within thirty seconds of its creation. The box shrunk more and more, with Astrid forced to her knees as her voice became hoarser from her crying and screaming.

"I CAN'T BREATHE! I CAN'T BREATHE! AAAH! STOP! STOP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Maggie watched as the box kept shrinking, and that's when she heard a crunch sound, the sound of bones breaking.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH! MOMMY! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!"

Even louder screams of pain and terror echoed in the room as Maggie watched the slow death of her compatriot, the symphony of breaking bones and wails of pain continued for about thirty more seconds before one big "CRUNCH!" sound ceased the screaming. When it was over, the box was completely flat, no bigger than three inches.

With a wave of her hand, Anne dismissed the box, allowing a mess of crushed bone, organs, and blood to spill onto the concrete floor. What was once a teenage girl, was nothing more than red paste.

Maggie stared at the red paste, her mind grappling with the fact that that mess on the floor was once Astrid.

"And then there was one," said Anne.

"A-A-Anne…t-t-this is going too far now…okay."

"Oh, now it's gone too far. Now that you're the last one standing," Anne pointed out.

"Y-You got your revenge, okay! I'm scared shitless! Marcus, Astrid, and Lewis are dead! Y-You don't have to kill me, alright! I-I-I'm sorry for giving you shit this whole time! I'm sorry for all of it!" Maggie begged. "Please, Anne, I'll do anything!"

Anne rubbed her chin with her right hand as she floated a little closer to the ginger girl.

"Okay, tell me the name of the person you had tailing Marcy. Do that, and I'll kill him instead of you," Anne offered.

Maggie's eyes widened with hope as she said, "Yeah, sure, no problem! The guy's name is Billy! He's a fucking freak, loves Asian girls, honestly, he jumped at the chance to follow Marcy! I think he might even be a stalker! So, totally justified in murdering his ass!"

Anne narrowed her gaze as she said, "I see."

"I-I can even give you his number!"

"Don't need you to, I got it." Anne's ring glowed as the phone that was still in Maggie's hand was wrenched free. Maggie's hoodie pocket started to glow, and out of it floated Anne's cellphone. Anne created a tear in space, whereupon she placed her own cellphone into the pocket dimension but kept Maggie's cellphone floating in front of her.

"Ring, download all contact information from this phone, as well as any text messages."

{As you command.}

Maggie watched in shock as the ring on Anne's right hand shot a beam at her phone. A few seconds later, the beam stopped, and the ring beeped.

{Download complete.}

"Sweet. Well, now that I got what I want, it's time for me to leave."

"O-O-Okay, y-you're going to let me go, too, right?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah, about that? I was totally lying, dude," Anne laughed.

"WHAT?!"

"Sorry, but did you really think I was going to let you live after seeing what I can do? After what I did to your asshole friends? And you have the nerve to call me a dumbass? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!"

"BOOBCHUY, YOU LYING PIECE OF SHI–ACK!"

Anne quickly clenched her left hand around Maggie's throat, squeezing tight to prevent her from finishing her sentence. The Thai teen looked into Maggie's eyes, making her tormentor stare at her demonic yellow eyes.

"I know what you're afraid of most, Maggie. And you're going to die experiencing that fear until your last breath."

Anne removed her hand from Maggie's throat and turned around. The Thai teen pointed her ring at the hole where she found her power ring and blasted it with a beam of yellow light. That yellow light began to take chunks of dirt, rock, and concrete from the ground, digging deeper and deeper into the earth until she managed to make a hole ten feet deep. Once the hole was done, she pointed her ring at a wooden crate, just big enough for a person to fit into. Anne used her ring to form a crowbar construct, and with it she broke open the crate's top, and dumbed its contents out of it. Next Anne formed a clawed monster hand and had it grab Maggie just as the tentacles released her.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, BOOBCHUY?!" Maggie asked.

"Your worst fear, Maggie…being buried alive."

"W-What?! Y-You're not serious! Hey! You're not serious, right?!"

Anne smirked, "Oh, I'm dead serious, Mags. You're going to die here, buried under this infamous hotel known for killing anyone who tries to come in. Honestly, you guys wrote out the perfect scenario for all of this."

Maggie watched as Anne placed her right wrist against her forehead in an "Oh woe was me" fashion.

"The four bullies of Saint James Middle School forced an innocent Anne Boonchuy into an abandoned hotel, intent on doing harm to her. But then the hotel came alive and started killing everyone in the most gruesome fashion. And yet, despite it all, Anne managed to make it out alive." Anne laughed loudly as she explained the scenario. "It practically writes itself, Maggie."

"THEY'LL GET YOU! YEAH…YEAH! THEY'LL GET YOU!" Maggie threatened. "LONE SURVIVOR MY ASS! THEY'LL LOOK AT YOU AS THE ONE WHO DID IT!"

Anne laughed even harder.

"No one's going to believe I killed anyone. Are they really going to look at me and think that a scrawny thirteen-year-old girl tore a jock like Marcus apart? That I tore out Lewis's stomach through his throat? Or crushed Astrid into paste? Or somehow took the time to dig a crude hole in the ground, through concrete, rock, and dirt, threw you into a crate, and buried you alive?"

Anne floated closer to Maggie as she smiled maliciously.

"The answer, is no."

With a flick of her wrist, Anne had the construct hand toss Maggie into the crate. The crate then shut itself tight, with Maggie already pounding against it in desperation.

"LET ME OUT, BOOBCHUY! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T LET ME THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" Maggie screamed.

Anne smirked, despite how Maggie sounded, she could sense through her ring that Maggie was going mad with fear. She could feel that the ginger girl was desperate, trying to make Anne feel like she was still beholden to her, that she still held some sway over her. But that was no longer the case. Anne floated the box down the hole she had made, making sure the crate's lid was pointed downwards. With another mental command, Anne had the dirt and concrete she had moved away return into the hole until it was completely filled up. And with that, the last of her tormentors had been silenced. Maggie's life would end soon, and by the time help arrived, it would be too late for anyone to do anything to help her.

The ring wielder looked at Maggie's cellphone and dropped it onto the floor. Anne floated down and then stomped on the phone a couple of times, breaking it.

"There we go, a little hint that she's here."

Anne took a moment to absorb all she had done so far. In the span of a few minutes, she effectively killed everyone who had sought to do her and her friends harm. You could look at this as murder, but then again, would they have faced justice? How long would it have been before they were back out on the streets, looking for revenge against Marcy, Sasha, and herself? Still, the fact of the matter was, Anne killed them, and she wasn't one bit sorry that she did.

That's that then…I killed four people. Hmm, well…

"Ring, is she still alive down there?"

Anne pointed the ring down where Maggie was buried, allowing the ring to shoot a beam of light that scanned the area.

{Life signs detected. Target has elevated heart rate. Oxygen levels are critical. Chance of cardiac arrest is imminent.}

"Is she afraid?"

{Subject is experiencing intense fear at this moment.}

"Good. Now…" Anne put her hands behind her head as thought aloud, "Guess it's time I put on a good performance."


The police were called in to search for Anne, with Sasha and Marcy helping, but with one or both of their parents accompanying them, the last thing they needed was another missing child. Sasha had been searching ever since she lost sight of Anne at the smoothie shop. And during that time, she had been beating herself up about not noticing sooner. She couldn't figure out how or when, but someone kidnapped Anne. That was the only explanation as to why she hadn't contacted anyone in the last two hours.

After giving her statement to the police about where she last saw her friend, Sasha insisted on looking for Anne herself. Her father had decided that if Sasha was going to go searching, then he was going to go with her. He wasn't a martial arts expert or anything, but he did work out, and could hold his own in a fight if the need arose. Sasha hoped that it didn't come to that, she hoped it was something less fear inducing than someone kidnapping Anne.

But who was she kidding? Anne wouldn't do something like this. She wasn't the kind of girl to go off and run away out of nowhere, apparently Marcy had run out of her house earlier that day, but whatever caused that to happen ended when Marcy found out that Anne had gone missing. Afterwards, Sasha found out that Marcy returned to her parents and joined the search for Anne.

Currently, her father was driving her around the area where he lived. It was a long shot, but right now they didn't have much else to go on when it came to Anne's location.

"I can't believe I let this happen," said Sasha.

"You didn't let anything happen, Sasha. You didn't know someone was trying to kidnap, Anne," Mr. Waybright assured.

"I promised Anne I would protect her! That I would keep her safe! And I fucking dropped the ball!" Sasha shouted.

Mr. Waybright raised an eyebrow. He was aware of how Sasha would occasionally protect her friends from bullies and other things at school. So, he understood why she was so hard on herself for not being able to protect Anne. But there was just something about the way his daughter said that that made him wonder. The older man shook his head. Now was not the time to delve into those kinds of questions, there would be plenty of time to have a talk with Sasha about such things when Anne was safe and sound.

"We'll find her, sweetie, don't worry. We'll keep this up all night if we have to," he assured.

Sasha smiled at her father, and returned to looking out the window to see if she could spot her friend. As Sasha looked around, she realized where they were. What was located on the other side of those buildings. For some inexplicable reason, Sasha felt that she needed to go there, it was biggest long shots of long shots, but if there was any place to hide someone after you kidnap someone, it was definitely going to be that place.

"Dad, I'm sorry!"

Before her father could ask what she meant, Sasha opened the passenger side door, and bolted out of the red sports car. She ran down the alley, hearing her father call out to her the whole time but ignoring his cries. They've looked in all the obvious places, but they didn't look in the unobvious places, one in particular that she knew Anne wouldn't go near willingly, and at the same time, made for a perfect place to hide away and do God knows what.

Sasha ran down the alley and ended up exiting the spot where she knew the Red Rose Hotel stood. And there was the infamous building, for some reason, the fear inducing aura that building gave off was no longer there. Sasha was afraid, but it wasn't close to the original fear she had of this place. Still, that didn't matter, she had to find Anne, and this was the last resort. Sasha ran towards the building, pushing down her fear as she allowed her concern for Anne's life take precedence over that fear. She ran to the left of the building, looking for any possible way in. She dared not call out to her friend, just in case the kidnapper was there and hurt Anne out of desperation of getting caught.

The blonde teen kept running but came to a stop when she stopped something up ahead. Just outside the fence, Sasha found a hole in it, and at the foot of that hole was a body. Sasha's heart felt ice cold as she ran towards that body, and when she did, she gasped when she noticed it was her best friend. The blonde teen immediately dropped to her knees and gently shook her Anne's body.

"A-Anne…ANNE! Please, say something, please alright!"

Anne started to groan a little, and that's when the Thai teen slowly rolled onto her side and looked up into the blue eyes of her best friend.

"S-Sa…sha?"

"ANNE! A-Anne, are you alright?! I mean, fuck, of course you're not! What happened?!" Sasha asked.

Anne looked back at the hotel, and said, "I…I made it outside? Like, for real, I'm outside the hotel?"

"Yes, Anne, you're outside," Sasha confirmed.

"Of fuck…I can't believe it…I made it…I really made it out alive…!" Anne exclaimed.

Sasha grew more worried by that statement.

"SASHA!" Mr. Waybright cried out as he exited the alley.

"Over here, Dad!" Sasha called.

"Sasha Elizabeth Waybright! What the hell were you thinking just running out of the car – ANNE?!"

Anne gave a little wave to the man and said, "Hey, Mr. Waybright…"

"Holy – Sasha, you found her! J-Just wait, I'll call the police! Ah, screw it, I'll take you to the hospital myself!"

Anne didn't argue as she allowed Mr. Waybright to carry her in his arms. Mr. Waybright, with Anne in his arms, ran back to his car with Sasha running at top speed right behind him. Sasha opened the rear passenger side door as her father gently placed Anne in the seat. Once he did, Sasha ran around to the rear driver's side door and sat in the seat next to Anne, while Mr. Waybright got into the driver's seat and gunned as he made his way to the nearest hospital.

"Anne…what happened to you? Who did this?" Sasha asked.

"…It…It was Maggie…"

"MARGO?!" Sasha exclaimed with both shock and deep rage.

"N-Not just her…But Marcus, Astrid, and another guy named Lewis, I think," said Anne.

"That fucking bitch! I'm going to murder her! She took you to that hotel and left you there to die!" Sasha shouted.

Mr. Waybright normally would admonish his daughter for her swearing, but if what Anne was saying was true, then the swearing was warranted.

"…T-They're…They're dead…Sash…"

Sasha's bluster suddenly fizzled when Anne uttered those words.

"What?" Sasha asked.

"T-They're dead. They took me there…all four of them…dragged me into the hotel to hurt me…but…God…something came for us. It attacked Marcus, tore him apart, then it went after Lewis, but he ran away. I ran away, but something was trying to come after me! I didn't bother looking back, I didn't care what happened to them, I just ran as fast I could!" Anne explained.

Sasha brought Anne into a hug, holding her tight.

"Hey, hey, you did nothing wrong! Something almost killed you, and those assholes were going to hurt you. You had no reason to go back and help them," Sasha assured.

"Thanks…anyway…I managed to get outside, but I was exhausted and collapsed where you found me. I don't know if they're even alive or dead right now, and as messed up as it sounds, I couldn't care less," Anne admitted.

"It's okay." Sasha broke the hug and smiled at her best friend. "I'm just so damn happy you're alive…I…I don't know what I would've done if you…"

The Thai teen smiled a little and leaned against Sasha's shoulder. That's when the blonde felt Anne grab her right hand. Sasha looked down, and watched as Anne intertwined their fingers together.

"Sash, I like you."

"A-Anne?" Sasha blushed. "D-Don't go saying stuff like that, you just had a near death experience. It…You're not in your right mind…"

"No…I am." Anne raised her head a little and gave Sasha a kiss on her cheek.

The blonde teen's eyes widened as her face turned red. Her heart thumbed hard in her chest, not believing what Anne just said and did.

"I don't want any regrets…no matter what. I want you to know, I like you, Sasha Waybright. I don't know if you feel the same way, but, I just wanted you to know that I do," said Anne.

"…Dammit, Boonchuy…" Sasha tightened her grip around Anne's hand a little, as if silently telling her that she would never let her go. "…I like you too, you loveable goof…"

Anne smiled and leaned closer to Sasha.

All the while Mr. Waybright watched all this transpire, he kept his mouth shut, letting his daughter and her best friend have their moment. He didn't know his daughter liked girls, least of all that both girls had a crush on each other. Although, to be honest, he was actually glad that it was Anne. Hopefully this wasn't just something born of a near death trauma, and that this could last longer.

"Anne, what's that?" Sasha asked as she felt something on Anne's finger.

"Oh, that?" Anne looked down at her hand, and at the object that Sasha was talking about, which was her ring. "I found it in there. I don't know why, but I felt like having it helped me get out of there."

A good luck charm, Sasha thought. Thank you for protecting my Anne when I couldn't.


(2 Weeks Later…)

An investigation was done, and it turned out what Anne told them about the deaths of her kidnappers was true. When the police arrived at the hotel, they found Marcus's body not too far from the entrance that they had come through, his limbs were torn of, strewn out in the hallway, and his torso lying lifeless on the floor as a pool of dried blood stained the floor. More police were brought in as the order was given to search the hotel top to bottom, and room by room.

When the second floor was reached, they searched through every room until they eventually found Lewis's body. The sight of his stomach lying on the ground, and a trail of blood leading out of his mouth, caused a lot of the officers to throw up at the grisly sight.

Another team was sent to search the basement. The basement unit found a red paste on the floor, along with some jewelry mixed in with it, and what looked like crushed bone. They weren't sure, but some of the police were suspecting that red paste remains might belong to one of the two girls still unaccounted for. A forensics analysis would later confirm to the police that the red paste matched Astrid's DNA.

That only left one of the four still missing, Margo, aka Maggie. They found her cellphone not too far from the red paste that turned out to be Astrid. Once the initial sweep of the building was done, they began to run a full search of the building using specialized equipment along with dogs to try and sniff out Maggie's whereabouts. It was strange, when given Maggie's sent, the dogs would circle a section of the basement. They wouldn't go anywhere else except that spot no matter how much their handlers urged them to go elsewhere. Ground penetrating radar was brought in, on a hunch, to check and see if there was anything down below. And to their shock, there was. A box shaped object with a noticeable figure of a human body in it.

Dozens of construction crew members were brought in immediately as a massive digging operation had taken place in an effort to save the girl down below. Although, she was buried ten feet down, so, realistically, many of them knew that they were just digging to exhume a body at this point. It took five days of constant 'round the clock digging efforts, but eventually they were able to find the crate.

They found Maggie in a wooden box. Unfortunately, the ginger teen had long since been dead. At first it was determined to be asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen, but after examining her, they changed it to death by cardiac arrest. They determined that the girl had suffered a stress induced heart attack. Information was later found out that Maggie had an intense fear of being buried alive. So, the fact that her heart gave out due to intense fear made perfect sense.

What didn't make sense was what Maggie did in her last few moments of being alive. There were scratch marks all over the inside of the crate, which was consistent with the damage to her fingernails. But along with the scratches, there were words carved sloppily into the wood. Words such as, "Boonchuy" and "Kill". The police interviewed Anne, Sasha, and Marcy, and found out that Maggie had occasionally bullied and harassed Anne and Marcy, with Sasha acting as their guardian to keep the ginger teen from escalating the bullying.

Anne had also given statements about what she experienced in there, and how she narrowly escaped some supernatural force that had killed the others. And just as she thought, they bought her story. Considering the way Maggie, Lewis, Marcus, and Astrid were killed, there was no way they would suspect Anne of being capable of doing that.

The police were hard pressed to come up with an explanation as to what killed the four teens in such brutal and unconventional ways, without leaving a single trace of physical evidence. Rumors and stories began to spread about the infamous Blood Red Hotel claiming more victims, that the demonic spirits that inhabited the hotel were the ones that killed those kids. Unfortunately, the police couldn't put down the culprit as a "demonic spirit", so, to the dissatisfaction of the parents of all four of those teens, they investigation was categorized as "ongoing", but in addition, extra police patrol was assigned to the Red Rose Hotel, both as a deterrent for anyone else to go inside, and – in the case of law enforcement – as a last ditch effort to find someone who could've killed those kids, or at the least someone they could pin it on.

Sasha became extra protective after that, same as Anne's parents. Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy drove Anne to school, after Anne's insistence that she go back, and two weeks was long enough to be out of school. Her parents were very wary of doing this, but they relented to Anne's request, believing she wanted to return to some kind of normalcy.

When she arrived at school Sasha and Marcy were waiting for her. After bidding her parents goodbye, the trio began their walk inside. Of course, there was no shortage of kids whispering, talking about Maggie's final words she carved into her impromptu coffin before she died. Memorial services were going to be held sometime next weekend, and there were already some alters set up in the school for the students to pay their respects to their dead classmates.

When they did, it was only out of obligation to do so. Because if you asked any of the students in the school, they weren't exactly sorry that they were dead. Astrid had garnered more than her fair share of enemies in the school, using her influence to cyber bully or physically bully other girls in the school. Lewis's actions were well known. Marcus also had a sordid record of being an absolute jerk to everyone, using his status as a football player to get what he wanted, and had a record for dating girls who he perceived as being capable of "putting out" or were "easy", and then getting violent when they refused him. Maggie, well, everyone knew Maggie had a thing for tormenting people. Anne just got the worst of it.

So, really, if you asked everyone their honest opinion, not a single one of them were sad that those four were dead. They kidnapped Anne, took her into a place that was infamous for killing people, and ended up getting killed in the most gruesome ways possible. And the fact that Anne was able to get out of that alive was nothing short of a miracle.

The trio passed by one of the said alters set up for the four dead bullies, causing Sasha to sneer at their pictures.

"I am not shedding one tear for that bitch. Seriously, her last act before dying was writing your name and wishing you dead? How petty can you be," said Sasha with rancor in her voice.

"I don't want to speak ill of the dead…but, you do have a point," Marcy agreed. "I just can't believe she hated Anne that much to the point that she used her last breath to write those words. That's, like, beyond mere hatred."

Marcy shuddered.

"I'm so glad, you're alright, Anna-Banana."

Anne smiled at her friend.

"Hey, I'm tougher than I look. 'Sides…" Anne hooked her arm around Sasha's right, surprising the blonde teen. "I gotta be if I want be girlfriends with the most badass girl in Saint James."

Before Sasha could say anything, Anne gave Sasha a quick kiss on the lips. Marcy gave a long, audible gasp as her eyes widened. Her gasping steadily shifted into a wide mouthed smile and then into a squeal of joy at what she saw. Of course, the students witnessed this, and were equally surprised.

Anne ended the kiss and smiled at her lover.

"A-A-Anne!" Sasha exclaimed. "Y-You kissed me!"

"Yep, I did," Anne confirmed.

"B-But everyone–!"

"Screw 'em." Anne unhooked her arm and boldly wrapped it around Sasha's waist, bring their hips close together, and causing the blonde teen to blush harder. "Life's too short to be afraid of little things like this. If they can't handle it, or don't like it, who cares? I'm not going to be afraid anymore, Sash. I love that you want to protect me, but I think we should protect each other. That's what it means to be girlfriends, right?"

Anne could sense her friend's fear. Ever since the incident, she kept the ring on her finger at all times, passing it off as something she found in the hotel on the way out. And that she wanted to keep it as a memento of her new outlook on life. And now, armed with the yellow power ring, Anne could tell that Sasha was afraid, mostly because Anne had just outed Sasha as being queer.

"Sasha, no matter what happens, I'll stand by you, as your friend, and as your girlfriend," said Anne.

Marcy, feeling emboldened, stood by Anne's side, and said, "I'm with Anne! I mean, I don't have a crush on you, but I support this ship one hundred percent! Let the Sashanne flag fly!"

Anne now felt a change, Sasha's fear was diminishing, to the point that it was miniscule at best due to the confidence shown by her best friends.

"Yeah…YEAH!" Sasha stood proudly before her peers and declared, "Alright, Saint James Middle School, listen up! My name is Sasha Elizabeth Waybright! And my girlfriend is Anne Savisa Boonchuy! If you have a problem with that, then you can go eff yourselves!"

There was silence in the hallway for a long minute, but surprisingly, after that minute was up, the entire hallway erupted into cheers of congratulations.

"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"

Now the girls were confused, they weren't expecting such a positive reception.

"It's about freakin' time!"

"Dammit! I had money bet on her going out with Wu!"

"Ha! Pay up, never bet against Sashanne ship!"

"I'm still holding out for Sashannarcy!"

"The Breakup Queen is no more!"

All three girls glanced at each other, stunned at the fact that apparently their classmates, if not most of the student body, were betting on which of Sasha's two friends she would go out with.

"Well…I guess this is better than them hating on you for being bi," said Anne.

"It is…and yet…at the same time…I feel slightly annoyed," Sasha confessed.

"Huh, and apparently they were betting on a longshot odd of a polyamory scenario…" Marcy slowly turned her head to look at Anne and Sasha, blushed, and then turned her head away.

After that little event, and many congratulations along the way. Anne reached her locker, chuckling when she saw the essay paper still there.

"What's so funny?" Sasha asked.

"This." Anne showed her friends the paper. "Remember the K-Pop dance party? Principal Murphy assigned me an essay, she wanted me to write down what I wanted to be, what my goals are in life because she was worried about me."

Sasha rubbed the back of her head as she said, "Anne…I'm sorry. I didn't know she did that. I…I shouldn't have done that whole dance party thing, it was stupid."

"Hey, it's okay," Anne assured.

"No, it's not!" Sasha retorted. "There was also that time we threw a dance party on the roof of the school, and you took the fall for that when it was clearly my fault."

Anne did remember that.

Marcy rubbed her arm, she did get in trouble as well, but it wasn't as severe as what Anne got.

"No more," said Sasha with a sigh. "Girls, I want you to call me out on my bullshit or tell me if something is a bad idea."

"But, Sasha, we're all okay. I mean, you never really did anything that would get us hurt," said Marcy.

"No, but neither do I want to see you guys get in trouble because of me."

Anne smirked as she leaned in close to Sasha and looked at her with a half-lidded gaze, causing the blonde teen to gulp.

"Huh, okay, if that's what you want, Sashy. Since we're GFs now, I guess I gotta lay down the law here and there, or else…"

Sasha gulped.

"Or else…?"

"Or else you're not going to get any Boonchuy kisses, or anything else, if you catch my drift."

Sasha and Marcy's jaws dropped at that innuendo. Anne closed her locker, and then walked between her friend and girlfriend before draping her arms over their shoulders.

"C'mon, we'll be late for class."

"Boonchuy…I think I might like this new you."

"Ditto," Marcy agreed.

"Good, 'cause I do too."


(2 Days Later…)

Anne stayed awake that night, waiting for her parents to go to sleep. It didn't help that they would constantly check up on her, and she doubted they would stop any time soon. But once midnight rolled around, and no more visits were made, Anne decided to get to work. The Thai teen threw off her blankets, showing that she was still wearing the yellow ring even while she slept. She had taken it off for her showers, but afterwards, found out from the ring that it was waterproof. Still, it was probably a good idea to take it off when she bathed, lest her parents start to question why she wore the ring twenty-four-seven.

"One last loose end to tie up," said Anne.

She hadn't been able to get enough alone time, and as such, she couldn't get the chance to go and take care of this "Billy" guy who Maggie had tailing Marcy on that day. Thankfully, whoever this "Billy" was, he hadn't said anything to the cops, nor had he made any attempts to go after her or Marcy. But thanks to her ring, she had the phone number for this guy, and decided to hunt him down tonight.

Anne glanced at the essay paper that she had brought home. Before everything happened, she was going to leave it in her locker and pretend it didn't exist. But now, she had a different opinion about it. A different outlook on her life. There were worse people than Maggie out there, criminals, killers, terrible people who acted without impunity, who believed that they would never get caught, or that they were so high above everyone else that they didn't have to fear the law or anything.

On the essay, Anne had written out that she wanted to become a police officer, someone who could protect the community, and put away criminals. But her real goal now was to become her world's dispenser of justice. The Yellow Light of Fear was powerful, and with it, she could do so much more good. Becoming a police officer would just be a means to grant her better access to the people who needed to be punished. For with the power of the ring, Anne could dispense her own justice, dolling out punishment where the courts and police failed to do so. It was a noble task, and a messy one, but who better to do this than her? Definitely better than some psychopath.

Just then, her cellphone went off. The only one she expected to be getting a text from this late at night was Sasha, considering that they were now officially a couple, things like this were bound to occur.

Hmm, she wouldn't be crazy enough to send me nudes…would she?

Anne shook her head.

Get your head out of the gutter Boonchuy.

Anne opened her phone screen and saw that the message was not from Sasha, but from Marcy. Curious, Anne read it.

[Marcy: Hey, Anna-Banana…Um, look, there's something I need to talk to you and Sashy about. Something…important. I know it's late, and it's a school night, but…it's been on my mind these last couple of weeks, and with everything that's happened, I didn't want to lay this all on you so soon. Ugh, what am I saying, you've only been back to school for two days! I'm sorry…but I mean it, I really, really want to talk to you two.]

Anne grew a little worried and texted Marcy back in their group chat.

[Anne: Hey, I got your text. What did you want to talk about?]

[Sasha: Yeah, Mar-Mar, what's up?]

Anne waited for a reply, and it came quickly.

[Marcy: Actually…I know this is a big ask and it's selfish, but can you two meet me at the park? The one where we first met each other? I want to do this face-to-face, not through text or video chat.]

Anne was even more curious about what this could be about, and at the same time worried since Marcy never asked for a late night meet up like this.

[Anne: Sure, give me about twenty minutes. Just to make sure my folks aren't going to come and check on me.]

[Sasha: I'll head out to your place, and pick you up, Anne.]

[Anne: No, you go to the park and wait for Mar-Mar, I'll be there.]

[Sasha: Anne…]

[Marcy: Maybe you should wait for Sashy?]

[Anne: I know you're both still scared considering what happened to me, but I'll be fine, I promise. I'll even call you when I'm on my way and keep you on the line the whole time, cool?]

Anne waited, and Sasha replied.

[Sasha:…Fine, but you better do that.]

[Anne: Okay, hun. XP]

[Marcy: lol, that's so sweet, just like a lovey-dovey couple XD]

[Sasha: Knock it off! Just be careful…]

Anne sent a "thumbs up" emoji and put her phone down. Once she had, Anne's ring flashed a bright yellow color, and in an instant, she was back in the uniform of her Yellow Lantern form. Anne opened the pocket dimension where and placed her cellphone inside for safe keeping. Afterwards, Anne used her ring to phase through the walls of her room, and shifted into an invisible state as she flew into the air. Using the ring's advanced technology, she managed to run a trace on the phone number associated with this "Billy" guy and managed to track down his location. Unfortunately, the trace brought her outside of Marcy's home.

Anne watched Billy, who appeared to be a man in his early to mid-twenties. He was dressed in all black and stuck to the shadows, making it hard for anyone to notice him. Well, anyone that wasn't Anne.

The young teen smirked as she dropped down next to him and said, "Stalking a thirteen-year-old girl, not a good look, dude."

Billy stifled his gasp as he jumped to his left, tripped, and fell onto his back. Anne dropped out of her invisible mode, and floated towards the man, grinning at him menacingly the entire time.

"Y-You! You're the girl Mags was after!" Billy exclaimed.

Anne shot a beam at his mouth, creating a construct patch of duct tape that stopped him from talking.

"Sure am, and now, I'm going to make sure you don't ever mess with my friend, or anyone else," Anne threatened.

Billy scrambled to his feet to run away, but Anne created construct chains that wrapped around his legs, tripping him again and making him fall. She then had the chains wrap around his body as she and Billy ascended higher and higher into the air, away from prying eyes. Once they were high enough in the air, Anne looked down upon the city of Los Angeles, her city. It would be the start of her new life as a defender of the weak, and as the nightmare of evil.

"In Blackest Day, in Brightest Night,

Beware your fears made into light!"

A grotesque, construct monster head formed just above Billy. The man thrashed against his restraints, forgetting that he was hundreds of feet in the air, and that escape meant falling to his certain death. But given that he was about to be eaten by a monster, that was probably a less gruesome fate. Anne chuckled at his futile efforts but continued to recite her modified oath.

To bring you terror, this is my right.

I am your FEAR, now behold my might!"

Anne removed the tape that was on his mouth, allowing Billy the chance to scream before the monster head brought its jaws down around him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

Then there was silence. The monster head thoroughly ate Billy alive, chewing him up until there was nothing left. The construct monster head let out a blech, and Anne petted it on the head before dismissing it.

"Okay, now that that's settled. Time to find out what Mar-Mar's so worried about."

While Anne was doing this, Marcy snuck out of her house, she stumbled and accidentally dropped an item she was holding. A music box with three gemstones embedded in it. She quickly reclaimed the music box into her hands, mounted her bike, and made her way to the park, where she would tell her friends the news, but, also, maybe change things for the better?