Page 48 of Drop His Mask

It was all absent now, and a full body shiver rolled through me as I tried to realign with thehere and now.

“Hello?” I called out. The word echoed a hundred times, but nothing else did.

I was lying face down on a hard, scratchy surface. Repositioning my hands, I pushed myself up a bit, and as I did, they shifted, moving further out. Suddenly I was falling.

A ball of terror hit my stomach when my hands went to empty space and I landed flat on my face, the harsh ground digging into my cheek painfully.

What is this now?

Keeping my torso as still as possible, I carefully used my limbs to outline what I was on. My fingers skirted the edge of concrete. It appeared to be a platform, just large enough to hold my body, but with very minimal space to move.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I discerned it was best not to do anything. I needed to just wait and see what was next.

I waited. And waited. And waited. Endlessly, the dark crept in and tendrils of anxiety wrapped around me as I lay on that platform.

What is happening? Is Jayce okay? What about Levi? Have we been separated again?

Apprehension tugged at my psyche as I attempted to calm my breathing, tried to contain a shiver as it wracked through my body. I was both too hot and ice cold. Clammy and sticky. My mind fought against itself as the time continued to pass.

Just as I decided to try to figure out whatever this was, I heard rustling and assumed the other players were beginning to wake.

“Now that you are all conscious, good evening. Currently there are eight teams and twenty-three players that remain. It is time for your next round to begin.” The words crashed all around me but I could still tell that thevoice wasoff. It wasn’t our Host speaking, but rather a computerized voice without any inflection.

In some ways it was more terrifying.

Where is The Host? What happened to him?

He was always a pivotal part of the games. But maybe that was another way this year was different.

“There is only one rule to remember. Get the other player off.”

What does that even mean?

I was tired,exhausted. My body ached from my time spent here. I was battered, bruised,scarred. But I knew we were nearing the end. It was all I could hold onto. That we would survive this and then we would escape.

We would enactchange.

I hadn’t figured out thehowyet, but I would. Determination replaced the fear that had settled in my gut, and I allowed it to warm me.

My vision returned as my mask’s eye slits slid up. Sitting up carefully, I realized I was in fact on a platform of some type, near where my feet had been there was a podium.

Swiveling my head on a pivot, I took in my surroundings.

We were all situated in a circle hundreds of feet above the ground in a large glass dome. Sconces eerily lined the glass behind us illuminating all the players in an eerie glow. There were contestants to my left and right, positioned on platforms several feet away. Over forty feet across from me on the other side stood Ivan. He caught my attention and bared his teeth in my direction.

I didn’t want to think about him right now. I would need to deal with him, but notyet.

I had to push him as far into the recesses of my mind as I could or I would lose the last remaining tidbits of my sanity.

My eyes wandered outside the glass dome. It was pitch black outside of it…except there were stars.

Stars?

Mesmerized by the sight, I faltered. The realization that I hadn’t been outside or seen the stars in well over a month pierced through me.

For several minutes, I allowed myself to take in the sky. I tried to see anything else outside, but it was too dark, the moon hidden from view.

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