The Midnight Game, page 7
Toni trailed behind, peeking into the rooms. The last one seemed to be an art or maybe design tech room. There was never anything like that when she was in elementary school; if you were lucky, you got to do some gluing at your table and that was about it. If you were even more lucky, you’d have time to paint your hand with the paste and let it dry before trying to peel it off in one huge sheet. God, that had been satisfying. From what she could see in here, there were drying racks for paintings, a line of pegs on the wall hung with clay-smeared aprons, and several storage towers filled with blue plastic drawers. These were labeled with their contents, laminated paper printed in Comic Sans declaring junior hacksaws or paper straws.
“So, when we get to here, do you know where you are?” Toni snapped back to the present, following Callum’s voice through a set of double glass doors. She walked through the one that Callum had propped open, stopped, and glanced around. They appeared to be back in the main hall, only the staircase here was leading down, not up.
“Oh, yeah. Nice one, that was easy,” Reece said. He was rummaging in a pocket of his huge tracksuit bottoms with one hand, obviously struggling to do that and hold his candle.
“What on earth are you looking for?” Mei asked, pushing her glasses up with her free hand.
“Ahhhh!” Reece called in triumph, retrieving a crinkling cellophane bag. “I need a sugar boost. Anyone want some candy?”
“Er, no thanks.” Toni looked at the bag in disgust. “I’m not really in the mood for warm-crotch gummies. Thanks, though.”
“Your loss, sweetheart,” he crowed, holding the bag between his knees while he used his free hand to find the little notch in the seal and tear it open. A couple of tiny gelatin bears made a leap for freedom, their colors catching in the candlelight as they fell, but Reece saved the rest of the bag. Despite her snide comment, Toni’s mouth started to water.
“Are they the vegan kind?” Callum asked, eyeing the mixture of gummy hearts and rings.
“Not a clue.” Reece shrugged. “Here.” He grabbed a fistful and passed the bag to Callum, who held his candle up to the ingredients.
“Yessss, you legend,” he hissed, taking a handful. “Anyone else?”
“Maybe.” Ellie had dropped her bag to the floor and was currently crouching down, her candle arm held away from her as the other hand felt around inside it. Toni watched her curiously. What did she have in there? “I need to check my blood sugar.” She said it apologetically. “My phone normally lets me know if my blood sugar is high or low, but I don’t have it with me. I’m getting a bit of a headache and it’s been a while since I’ve eaten, so…ah, here.” She pulled out a slim black wallet and put the bag back on her shoulder. “It won’t take me long to check my levels, but I will need to stay still for a few minutes. You guys carry on the tour, though, I can catch up.”
“No!” Mei’s voice was strained as Toni turned to look at her. “No,” she repeated, more firmly this time. “We need to stick together. It’s not even one o’clock yet; we have hours to go.”
“She’s right,” Toni drawled, earning herself surprised looks. “What? I might not be shaking in my Docs, but I don’t want to be on my own in this creepy-ass place. There’s a box labeled junior hacksaws in that room.”
“Oh, I hated those,” Mei groaned. “I was so bad at maneuvering them, the handle was so awkward, and the blade seemed to have all these teeth. I always worried I’d slip and hack a finger off.” She shuddered and Toni hid a smirk.
“Tell you what.” Callum turned to face a pair of large wooden doors that had been partially hidden by the darkness. “That’s the assembly hall. It’s where the trials used to be held in the olden days. We’ll go in there so Ellie can check her blood-sugar level.”
Toni rolled her eyes, but Callum stood up straight and leveled her with a stare. “We will go in there so Ellie can check her blood, because the last thing we need in the next few hours is a medical emergency. Right?” He stared her directly in the eye, waiting for an answer. Brave kid.
“Whatever,” she shrugged. “No skin off my nose.”
“Good. It’s big in there and usually empty. We can keep moving but keep an eye on Ellie too.”
“We could put some salt around her to keep her safe,” Hugo suggested, making puppy-dog eyes at the pretty blond.
“No, don’t waste it,” Ellie replied. “I can do this with one hand and still hold the candle. I’ll be fine.”
“Come on, then.” Callum pulled a huge door open, the effort showing on his face. It was clearly heavier than the classroom doors. Hugo grabbed the other, his muscles straining beneath his polo shirt, and the group filtered into the large hall. Ellie immediately plonked herself down on the floor, unzipping her diabetes bag and removing a finger pricker. The others shuffled around the room until Toni decided to break the silence.
“So,” she began, “we know Mei is scared of slicing a finger off. What about the rest of you?”
“What do you mean?” Hugo asked through a mouthful of gummies.
“I mean,” Toni said, her eyes twinkling like dying stars, “what’s everyone’s greatest fear?”
07/01/2022 17:25
HotDog45: Your greatest fear?
FrenchBanana: Yeah. Pretty horrible, right?
HotDog45: But how does the Midnight Man do that? Like, say I hate sharks. Is he going to turn into a shark? What if there’s no water? Will he chase me around with a fake fin strapped to his back?
User3678: Well, that would be a sight…
FrenchBanana: No, don’t be ridiculous. It’s much more subtle than that. He gets inside your head, makes you hallucinate…
CreepyTeepee: I read he makes you feel like you’re living in your worst nightmare. Tries to scare you to death.
YeahBoi_121: But what if your greatest fear is something more abstract?
HotDog45: ???
FrenchBanana: You mean something intangible? Like, a feeling?
User3678: *Googles intangible*
FrenchBanana: Means it’s real but you can’t touch it. Like pride, or sadness. Something like that.
Donttalktome12: You mean like failure? Some people are scared to fail. How would the Midnight Man make you hallucinate that?
FrenchBanana: I really don’t know.
CreepyTeepee: Oh God, what about a never-ending exam. Like those dreams when you take a test and you don’t know anything on the paper, or your pencil keeps snapping. You just keep failing it over and over again.
YeahBoi_121: That sounds pretty horrendous to me.
HotDog45: I hate real exams, so…yeah. That’s grim.
FrenchBanana: *shudders*
HotDog45: Right, hear me out then. What happens if you have a harmless secret, followed by a lame—or at least survivable—worst fear? Is that it? Game over?
YeahBoi_121: Maybe? You burn your paper and then you must win, right?
17:30
YeahBoi_121: Is that how you win?
17:32
FrenchBanana: Nooooo. Not quite.
CreepyTeepee: No. It’s pretty bad.
HotDog45: What’s pretty bad? How do you not win if you’ve done all that?
FrenchBanana: Well, for all of this to happen, your candle has blown out and you’ve left your salt circle. So, unless you can get back to your circle, back to your protection…
YeahBoi_121: WHAT?!
User3678: He slices you open and rips your organs out.
17:35
User3678: While you’re still alive.
Sunday, July 3, 12:38 a.m.
HUGO
Hugo didn’t really know what his greatest fears were. Getting caught sneaking Daddy’s expensive Scotch, maybe? Or even worse, the keys to his Jag. Or what about that time he and the boys got stuck on Teddy’s sailboat and ran out of beer? Or, if it was specific to tonight, getting stuck in a room with the scary one, Toni?
That was what he told himself, anyway.
“Come onnnn,” Toni drawled. Hugo watched her pace slowly. She exaggerated each movement, planting one foot forward and dragging the toe of her other boot across the floor to catch up. When her feet met, she repeated the whole process, heaving herself around the hall like a shuffling zombie. The sound it made scratched at his ears each time the steel toecap bumped across the ridged carpet.
“I’ll tell you mine if you stop doing”—Reece waved a handful of candy in her direction—“whatever that is. It’s freaky enough in here without you going all Night of the Living Dead on us.”
“OK.” She stopped and stood up straight, tilting her head to listen to him. Hugo’s eyes flicked to Ellie, who was still on the floor, waving a little card strip in the air. She was managing to keep hold of the lit candle, just like she’d said. Good. He went back to watching Reece, who was chewing thoughtfully.
“Don’t laugh, right?” Reece warned. They had fallen into a circle, pacing one behind the other in order to keep moving, Ellie at the center of them all. She had been oblivious to everyone watching as she pricked her finger and smeared the resulting blood onto a card that she slotted into a small machine. She must be so used to doing it, but to Hugo it resembled the blood sacrifice they’d made earlier far too closely.
“We won’t, promise,” Mei chirped, crossing her heart with her free hand. The small girl had perked up since she’d had some of Reece’s sugary candy, and she seemed less nervous than before.
“Fine.” Reece sighed and dropped a couple more gummies into his mouth. Hugo focused his eyes on the candle flame in his hand, watching it flicker and burn as his feet fell into a rhythm with everyone else. “I don’t like cats.”
“Cats?” Ellie’s head popped up as she squealed from the middle. “How can you be scared of cats? They’re so cute!” She was holding a tiny can of Coke, and Hugo watched, mesmerized, as she knelt forward, put it between her knees, and popped the tab one-handed.
“Yeah, we have two Ragdolls, and they have the most gorgeous, smooshiest faces.” Mei laughed, shaking her head. “Cats aren’t scary.”
“Yes, they are,” Reece insisted, frowning at his crowd. “They’re shady little creatures with stupid names like Ragdolls. They hide in your bedroom just to jump on you at four a.m. and give you heart failure. Then they have the balls to sit on your chest and lick their own butthole as if nothing has happened. Seriously, they’re terrifying. Absolutely ruthless. Plus their tails have a mind of their own. When I was a kid, I woke up with one practically down my esophagus. My mom lost the plot.”
“You…can’t…be serious.” Toni had slowed right down and was taking deep, sucking breaths in between bouts of laughter. She could barely get the words out, and Hugo felt a laugh bubble up in his own throat. Before he knew it, they were all howling, Reece included.
“Dude,” Callum wheezed, trying to straighten up, “I take it you’re definitely a dog person, then?”
“I think I’m more of a goldfish person,” Reece choked through gulps of air.
Hugo smiled down at Ellie as his laughter subsided. She was still laughing so hard, the cola can shook and dark liquid spilled down her forearm. As Hugo watched, she looked him in the eye and slowly licked it off, letting her tongue linger on her lips for a second before shooting him a filthy smile and winking slowly at him.
What the hell? He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and looked around the room. Everyone was pacing again; the moment of wild laughter had faded, and the faces showed him that they’d remembered why they were here. No one seemed to notice that Ellie had just turned full sex kitten. When Hugo glanced back at her, she was on her feet, putting her trash back in her bag. She stepped into line behind him.
“All good,” she said. “No hypo, but my levels were dipping a bit. That should last me an hour or so before I have to check again.” She smiled at him, an open, innocent smile this time, and he tried to return it, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. “What is it?” She ran her tongue across her teeth, as if checking for something stuck there.
“Nothing,” Hugo whispered, avoiding eye contact. Had he imagined it? Was he reading her signals all wrong and his brain was filling in the blanks, like last time?
“What about you, Tinker Hell?” Reece fired at Toni, dragging Hugo back to the present. She shrugged, nonchalant as she strode around the circle.
“Mine’s a bit basic bitch, I hate to say,” she said. Hugo eyed her curiously. He didn’t for a second think that she’d share her real fear. “Heights. I hate them. My legs go all shaky and my head swims. Get me up something high enough and I think I’d just fall right over.”
“They are scary.” Ellie’s voice was quiet behind Hugo. “Mine’s kind of similar to that. Claustrophobia. Clichéd, right? But the thought of being buried alive…just, no thank you. It’s my ultimate nightmare.”
“How are you even worried about that?” Callum asked. “Is it a common fear?”
“I don’t know, but I once listened to this podcast and they told a story about how many people were accidentally buried alive in the olden days, before embalming, you know?” Nobody responded. There was only the sound of their footsteps, in sync again now but muffled by the carpet. Ellie carried on explaining and Hugo had to force himself to concentrate. “There was this one woman and someone in her family had a dream that she was still alive, that by burying her they’d made this terrible mistake. They wouldn’t shut up about this dream and eventually everyone just had enough. So, they marched down to the graveyard, a big old bunch of them, carrying shovels and picks.”
“And was she alive?” Hugo couldn’t stop the question from crossing his lips.
“No. She was dead.”
“Oh, thank G—”
“But when they looked at her hands, her fingers were torn, bloody stumps and her fingernails had been ripped from their beds. Do you know where they found them?”
“Where?” Mei squeaked. All six of them had drawn closer unconsciously and now everyone was within touching distance. Hugo even thought he could smell a mixture of whisky and strawberry jellies as Mei whispered her question.
“On the inside of the coffin lid. They were embedded there in long, bloody gouge marks.”
“But that means—” Hugo started, but Ellie cut him off, focusing her attention on the smaller girl.
“She had been buried alive after all,” Ellie said. Mei’s hand shook, and Hugo couldn’t tear his eyes away from her candle. Ellie continued, oblivious, as Mei let out a gasp.
“No,” she whispered.
“Yes. She had been buried alive and tried to claw her way out.”
“No,” Mei croaked, her voice thick with tears. “I didn’t mean that. My candle has gone out.”
07/01/2022 17:36
HotDog45: Well, that gory little fact proves the game is all fake, doesn’t it?
FrenchBanana: What do you mean?
Donttalktome12: They mean when is the last time you saw a news report about a bunch of people who had their organs ripped out and thrown around?
User3678: Eviscerated, I think the term is.
FrenchBanana: Ew. Anyway, no one said anything about them being thrown around, did they?
CreepyTeepee: So where do they go? If the Midnight Man eviscerates people, where do their insides go?
YeahBoi_121: Maybe he eats them.
FrenchBanana: JESUS CHRIST @YeahBoi_121.
User3678: Ugh, I feel sick.
HotDog45: Duuuuuuuuuude, ha! That is dark!
YeahBoi_121: Sorry.
17:40
YeahBoi_121: He is, like, a demon, though, isn’t he? Don’t demons do that kind of thing?
17:42
FrenchBanana: I guess so…
CreepyTeepee: Annnnnnyway. So, we’re really going to do this?
Donttalktome12: Do what?
User3678: Play this stupid game.
Donttalktome12: Oh, you mean break-and-enter a private property, deface a door with human blood, become a massive fire risk, and try to avoid an ancient pagan demon who wants to eat our organs?
HotDog45: That’s the one.
Donttalktome12: Coolio. Here’s a pin. See you there tomorrow night. 11:30 p.m. at the latest.
17:44 @Donttalktome12 dropped a location pin.
St. Martin’s Roman Catholic Elementary School
User3678: A Catholic school? Are you serious?
Donttalktome12: Yeah. It’s all we’ve got, unless you have a better idea?
17:46
Donttalktome12: That’s what I thought.
FrenchBanana: See you all tomorrow, then! And remember to bring extra candles.
HotDog45: Why?
FrenchBanana: Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned today, it’s that we do not want our candles to go out.
Sunday, July 3, 12:46 a.m.
REECE
“You have to relight it. Quickly.” Reece hung back as Callum broke the circle, calmly speaking to Mei as he tried to keep his own candle aflame. The boy seemed to have taken her under his wing—perfect, helpless little duckling that she was.
“I…I don’t think I can!” The words left her in sharp, gasping breaths, and Reece could almost feel the tears prick at his own eyes. Dammit.
“Here.” He joined them, pulling a box of matches from his tracksuit pocket. “Calm down, OK?” He handed the packet to Callum and plucked the hurricane glass off before taking the candleholder from Mei’s hand. Someone had started up that god-awful countdown behind him again. “We’ll be done in no time,” he promised, trying his best to sound soothing.
