Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Issac Withers was known all over the town of brighthollow as a troublemaker. He’d frequently start fights, steal things, and more. But one evening, he had gone too far. 

“Oh come on, You’ve got to have something on you.” Mat groaned, pushing his foot down harder on the person beneath him. “I– I don’t, I swear! Please, just let me go and–” they begged, but before they could get another word out, they heard the sound of crunching leaves and knew that soon, they’d regret existing. “What’ve we got here? A little freak?” A few seconds went by before someone stepped out from behind a tree, grinning down at the person tearing up on the ground. Issac scoffed, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it with a dark red lighter that he’d most definitely stolen. He lit it and tilted his head back, against the tree behind him. “Please, Issac, just let me go– I– I won’t tell anyone!” The person sobbed, trying to lift the leg that pressed harder on their chest. “Alex, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got things to do after I’m done with you, and I don’t wanna waste my time on scum like you.” he spat, saying the words as if they left a horrid taste in his mouth. “Issac’s always got a reason to hate kids like you, you know what you done.” The slightly shorter red head said. “I didn’t—” Alex started, but was quickly cut off. “Don’t try that shit with me.” Issac snapped, glaring down at the person under him as he pulled out his pocket knife and stuck it into the tree by alex’s head. “Pathetic losers thinking they can–” Someone in the back started, but immediately shut up when they saw Issac glaring back at him. “Sorry, sir.” They muttered, stepping back even further and avoiding Issac’s harsh gaze. “That’s it. Times up, kid. Give me the–” Issac started, leaning closer to the person as he grabbed their shirt, but stopped when he heard a familiar voice. “Issac?” Someone muttered, walking out from behind the few people forming a circle around Issac and the person. Issac’s blood left his face immediately, his eyes widening as he realized the person was his very own boyfriend, who was supposed to be at work for another thirty minutes. “Issac what are you– Oh my god, Alex?” He said, quickly going over to alex, who was shaking with tears in their eyes. “Issac what the hell is this?” He asked, a hint of anger clear in his voice. “Charlie– you’re uh, supposed to be at work I thought?” Issac quavered, laughing nervously. “Don’t fucking change the subject!” Charlie shouted, picking Alex up. “The kid owed me shit, ok?” Issac snapped back, briefly getting upset at the fact Charlie was holding alex. “That doesn’t mean you go and traumatize them!” He argued, pausing for a moment as his expression changed into that of disappointment. “I thought you’d changed, Issac.” Charlie sighed, adjusting Alex so he could hold them better. “I’m taking Alex home. And don’t even think about showing up at my door tonight. We’re over, Issac.” He said, not waiting another moment as he walked off and left the group, including issac, in silence. The others stared at issac, like hounds waiting for their owners instructions. He remained in silence for a while, before his expression turned cold and his eyes dark. “Follow them. Wait until he leaves, and take alex. You know where to go from there.” Issac said, pulling his pocket knife out of the tree and putting it into his pocket. It was that stupid kid. That’s why Charlie had said those things to him. He just had to get rid of the kid, and things would be back to normal, right? He didn’t take time to think about it, instead letting his body take him out of the forest and down the street. But before he could reach charlie’s house, he was knocked out from behind. 

 

Chapter 2 Part One - The Game

 Issac woke in a dimly lit room that smelled of rubbing alcohol and another bitter smell he couldn’t quite place. His vision was blurry and it took him a minute to fully realize what was going on, but when he did he immediately panicked. “What the hell? Where am I?” He screamed, standing but immediately falling back down due to the extreme dizziness he was experiencing. He looked around the room, seeing nothing but a large metal door diagonal from the wall behind him. It was bolted shut, and had several buttons lining the wall all around it. Issac didn’t get a chance to get closer to the door before the lights flickered and he heard something from behind him. He turned around quickly to see that the noise was coming from an old box TV, it was static at first before it faded into a series of different colors, which flashed by rather quickly. Then after a moment a live view of the room appeared on screen. “What the fvck is this?” Issac shouted, looking around the room once more to try and find the hidden camera. “Hello, Issac. I want to play a game. You have hurt many innocent people, and now is your time for redemption.” An unfamiliar voice said from behind him. As he turned around to see who had said that, he realized it was once again coming from the TV. Except this time there was an ugly little puppet on the screen. “In this room there is a door. Lining the walls around this door are buttons. Once this tape ends the game will begin and these buttons will be very important to you. Live or die, Make your choice.” With that the TV turned off and Issac was left with silence other than the low buzzing of the overhead light. The silence didn’t last long before there was a loud click and then the sound of machinery starting to life. Issac looked to the far side of the room to see that the wall was moving. It was moving straight towards him. The panic set in as he realized he was going to be crushed if he didn’t get out of this room now. He would usually yell and scream at whoever was doing this, but now all he could think about was how he desperately needed to get out. He was now backed against the wall opposite of the one speeding towards him– seriously– was it getting faster? He looked over to the buttons on the wall beside him, remembering what the puppet had said moments ago. The buttons varied in colors and numbers, there was green, blue, red, yellow, and purple. As for the numbers, they seemed random. There were about three rows of buttons on the wall, and around 10-15 in each row. Issac remembered seeing colors flash by before the puppet had come on screen, he remembered the first three, but not the last two. Upon paying closer attention to the numbers, he realized he knew what some of them meant. 2004, that was when he and Charlie had first gotten together. 2007, When he got into a lot of trouble with a lot of people. 2008, His first fight since before he got with Charlie. One was another year of when he got into other major trouble, and the last one was this year, when everything went downhill. If he got out of here alive he would change, he wouldn’t fight anymore. He would make things right with Charlie, hell, he’d even apologize to Alex. He was quickly pulled from his thoughts as he realized the wall was getting too close to him, he had to get out now. He quickly pressed the buttons with shaky hands, almost missing the last two as he felt the wall mere inches away from him. As he pressed the last button, he heard another click and immediately pushed the door open and ran out of the room. He watched as the wall reached the door and stopped, slowly retreating back to its original place. He stared silently as the door closed and locked again, as if nothing had ever happened. Issac looked around the new room he was in, wondering why it looked worse than the other one. It didn’t seem too bad at first but that was before He saw the vines lining the walls, the cracks in both the wall and floor, and a few lights that were broken. Issac didn't get much time to process the room before he began feeling extremely tired, and within seconds, he passed out.

Chapter 2 Part Two - The Test

--GORE WARNING--

 

 Issac woke in the exact same room, except now he was tied to a chair and his head felt oddly heavy, as if there was some kind of metal surrounding him. His eyes were heavier, though, and for a moment he even considered just falling back asleep. But then as he closed his eyes, he heard the familiar voice of the puppet from the previous room begin to speak. He opened his eyes to see another box TV, this time with a slightly cracked screen. "Hello again, Issac. You have survived and learned from your mistakes. Now, is the final test to see if you have truly been redeemed. You may have noticed what has been attached to your head while you were asleep. For you to understand what will happen if you fail this test, I will offer you a demonstration." The puppet paused, and the screen cut to a video of a mannequin head that had on the exact same contraption issac had on his head. Issac watched closely as the seconds ticked by, and once it hit a minute the contraption acted exactly like a beartrap, only reversed and attached to someone's jaw. He stared in horror as the mannequin's head was pulled apart, and the thought of that happening to Issac made him sick to his stomach. Within a few more seconds, the screen switched back to the puppet, and it began to speak again. "You will notice that there is a body to the right of you. Inside of this body is the key to your redemption. Live or die, make your choice." With that, the screen turned off and Issac was left in a moment of silence. That was until he heard the ticking begin. Issac screamed and pleaded for someone to help him as he struggled against the rope, unable to free himself. He continued struggling until somehow he was able to get free, it almost seemed as if a part of the rope was cut or not tied tight enough. He threw the rope off of him and desperately tried getting the reverse bear trap off of his head, but it didn't come off. "Fuck!" He screamed, falling to the floor as he began to really panic. He crawled his way over to the lifeless body of a man on the floor, and saw that beside him was a knife and there was a large X on the stomach. He knew what he had to do, and so he picked up the knife and plunged it into the stomach of the body. He stared in horror as the man, who he thought was long dead, sprung to life, his eyes wide, But he didn't move. Issac threw himself back and got sick on the floor, tears threatning to fall from his eyes. The ticking seemed to get louder, and he realized that his time was almost up. He sat back up, and grabbed the knife which he had thrown to the side a moment ago. He raised the knife far above the man, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry." he briefly muttered as he brought the knife down and back into the man's stomach, not waiting another moment as he continued to repeat the action until the man was dead. He frantically threw the knife and began searching through the man's stomach, trying not to get sick again. Once his hand found a solid he immediately yanked it out, and thankfully it was the key. He took it and reached around his head for the place to get this thing off of his head. He heard a small click and immediately threw it off of his head, watching in horror as it did the exact same thing that the demonstration had showed. He may have cut his face a bit, but he was alive. And he felt as if he had been reborn. He was different now, and things would never be the same. He was quickly pulled from his thoughts as he heard a door open, and his first instinct was to grab the knife and prepare to defend himself no matter what. 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 03.02.2023

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This is a WIP book, a lot of things may change.