The first collision between the wall and my head makes me grunt, but it only goes downhill from there. My back collapses against the slide and I can feel myself moving downward, headfirst, away from the light and away from the door. A guttural scream escapes my lungs as I glide faster, my body scraping against the rough walls the further I go. I'm falling fast. Too fast. I let out another yell and scratch at the walls only to be thrown into the air, and my stomach does a flip before I feel myself connecting with something solid once again.

It takes me a few moments to realize that I've rolled across the ground, and that I'm now staring at... wait, what am I staring at? Is this a ceiling? It's too dark in here, I can't tell. There are only a few lightbulbs, and they're not helping. Where's my phone? I sit up, groaning and pressing a hand to my head. Shoot. I must've cut it on the wall or something. What was that anyway? And who pushed me? I take my hand away from my forehead, and my heart stops when I see what's on it. Blood.

I carefully lift my finger back to where my head hurts, but sure enough I can feel it. There's blood. It's dripping from my cut.

Muttering a few choice words to myself I stand up, surveying the dark room. At least I made it downstairs. But I don't know what I was really expecting to find here. This place looks like all the other ancient rooms I've seen in this place, just, bigger. And darker. There are a few chairs here and there along with a large table and a mirror to my side, and then there's a bunch of paintings hanging on all the walls. They're portraits of people, all of them sitting in a rigid posture. All of them... seemingly staring at me.

I shudder and tug at my hair, walking toward the wall closest to me. There's an open door in the middle of the wall that reveals the slide I came from, but I don't go near it. Someone, or something, pushed me down those stairs. There had been no one behind me, but I know what I felt. I guess it could've been one of the others, if they were somehow silent and fast enough, but I don't care if it was them or... something else. I'm not gonna go back.

"Coral..." I whirl around, throwing out my hands at the same time the door slams. Wait. I nearly crack my neck when I rotate back around, stumbling backward when I see that the door has closed. The door has closed. What-

"Coral..." I steady myself on the chair closest to me, slowly sitting down on it. I know this voice. "... why didn't you come?"

"What?" I stand up again, pushing away from the chair and moving to the center of the room.

"Why didn't you come for me?" I cover my hand with my mouth, swiveling to focus on the large mirror that takes up the wall to my side. Why can I hear... Tyler? I tilt my head when I notice that the mirror isn't right, and without thinking I take a few steps towards it. I can see myself, and I can see the rest of the room, but something is different. I'm different.

I find myself lifting a hand to my face once again when I feel a tear slipping down my cheek, but I ignore it as I study my features. My hair is supposed to be colored a bright pink, but in this mirror all I can see is a dull gray. It makes me look like nothing more than a shell of a person, the light in my eyes gone and the expression on my face unmoving. Seeing myself like this... it suddenly makes me feel very cold. Or have I always felt this way? Ever since, well, ever since...

I watch as more tears stream down my face, but I can't do anything about it. I feel as if I'm frozen, as if my limbs are too heavy and I'm too weak to move myself. Why am I here? Why am I... still alive? I shouldn't be. I'm not good enough. I don't deserve to be good enough, to be loved ever again. Not when, not when Tyler and Deja are gone. The two people I loved the most in the world. They're gone. And... it really might be my fault. There was the driver. My "friends." But I was involved too. I didn't show up. I didn't keep my promise. And now I'm here.

My hand moves to my throat when I hear myself choking, sobs escaping my lips as I continue to stare at myself in the rusted and cracked mirror. Useless. Worthless. Pathetic. These words... they've been inside of me for a long time. Ever since those messages were sent. No, ever since I read them. I move even closer to the mirror in front of me, the tears continuing to flow. This strange numbness has been inside of me for awhile, a raging fire of guilt and anger, but more than anything, a heavy blanket of sadness that I can't seem to get rid of. Why can't I get rid of it?

My eyes are suddenly drawn to a sharp piece of glass on the table nearby, the shine of the blade reflected in the mirror and in my eyes. My hand instinctively reaches towards it as if it's a lifeline, and then the blade is at my neck and I'm choking again, soft whimpers leaving my lips. I want to escape. I want to leave this place, to be with the people I love again. The people who really care about me. I-

"Hey." Through my sniffles and tears I realize a second too late that I've become disconnected from reality. "Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." Something clicks inside of me when I feel a hand on my arm, and I can feel myself being moved as the glass drops from my hand.

"Jamie? What are you doing here?" I look up at him but then wince, a sharp pain manifesting itself in both my forehead and my neck. What? I cut myself? Wait. My legs nearly buckle when I realize what just occurred. What I tried to do. Why did I do that? I... didn't mean to. I've gotten rid of those thoughts, but that voice. I reach out for Jamie's arm, holding onto him tightly to steady myself. He looks at me with a concerned look on his face, but he helps me to stand.

"What am I doing here? Well, the others wanted to get out, but I thought we should find you firs-"

"We need to get out of here." Jamie hears my whisper and stops talking. He pauses for a second, eventually escaping my grasp to place his hands on both my shoulders to study me.

"Are you... alright?" I stare back at him with a straight face, shaking my head.

"We need to leave. Something isn't right."

"I can see that. Just what exactly were you doing?" He reaches for me again but I slap away his hand, grabbing my arm and taking a step back.

"Please, don't. If I told you why, you wouldn't believe me. And it's not like it matters to you anyway."

"What-"

"Stop. Just drop the act." I clench my teeth, turning away from him.

"Coral, what act?" At first I was thinking of trying to escape him but the plea in Jamie's voice makes me pause, and for the first time in a while I actually take the time to study him. Strange. He made it sound like he cares. He's always wearing some sort of combination between a sweater and track pants, and even though the light in this room amounts to almost none, I can see his green eyes perfectly. Why does he have to stare at me like that? Hold up. What if...? My heart thuds in my chest when a certain thought comes to mind, and I manage to lift my head to meet Jamie's gaze. This could change everything.

"Jamie. Listen to me. Do you even know what happened that day...? When-" I'm cut off by screams and a loud crash behind me, and my eyes widen when I see both Erika and Bianca rolling on the floor, their bodies and clothes tangling together. My eyes drift to the door in the wall, the door that reveals the "staircase" I had fallen down. They must have come from there.

"Are you guys okay?" Jamie strides over to both of them, helping them up off the ground.

"No, actually. Before you disappeared on us you said you found some stairs, not a slide," Bianca remarks, brushing herself off and studying the room until she lays her eyes on me. "Oh. You." I nod at her, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah. Me. Where's Austin?"

"Austin?" Erika squints her eyes in the dark, and I find the red tips of her hair are the most visible thing to me in the room. "He was right behind us, wasn't he?" She glances at the door and I do too, waiting for Austin to appear. There's something about this situation, but I can't seem to... my eyes narrow as I continue to stare at the door. The door. I remember now.

"We need to get out!" My chest tightens with my yell and I make a run for the door, but it shuts even before I can get anywhere close. The sound echoes around the room, and I can't seem to take my eyes away from it. This is what happened. I heard a voice. Then the door closed. All by itself.

"Guys..." Before Bianca can finish speaking a resounding pop fills the room as the light bulbs go out, and the next sound that follows is glass falling onto the floor. This isn't good. I can't move. I need to move. Static fills my ears as my breathing becomes labored, and soon I can't think straight as a thick darkness surrounds every part of me. We're trapped.