Emma Tompson:
We kept running, and the hole slowly turned into a hallway of a mansion, or maybe a theater. A smoke began to envelop the area, making it increasingly difficult to see and breathe. We tried to keep going, but suddenly we were all on the ground, unconscious.
When we woke up again, all of us were trapped in cages. Looking around, I noticed other survivors, some from other groups, and even some teachers. I counted the cages and realized there were at least twenty of us there. The environment, however, was quite different from what we had seen before.
Of course, it still had its strangeness, but overall, it looked more like a stage. All the cages had microphones and speakers around them, and dramatic lighting highlighted each one. The smoke still lingered in the air, but now it seemed more like a special effect.
I looked at the other prisoners. Some were disoriented, others were in panic. I tried to find my group and saw that everyone was analyzing and trying to understand what this new situation was. Suddenly, the lights went out, and a thunderous sound echoed through the place. The speakers started playing dramatic music, full of musical instruments. Then, a spotlight highlighted a small figure in the center of the stage. It looked like a ventriloquist's doll, with makeup and purple clothes with blue details. Her hair was black and short, with a cute little fringe, to be honest.
The doll seemed to move energetically, swaying and gesturing with an enthusiasm that contrasted with the tension in the room. The background music became more intense, and the doll started speaking in a high-pitched, melodramatic voice that seemed straight out of a horror theater.
"Welcome, my darlings, my sweethearts! What a lovely audience we have here! How exciting, how joyful!" she said with almost contagious enthusiasm, despite the absurd situation. "I am Mari, your host, and now we're starting another episode of 'MariMari Show!' Are you excited?" she said with almost manic excitement, her puppet hands waving in the air.
"Today, we'll have challenges, surprises, and of course, lots of emotions!" Mari announced, making a theatrical bow. "But don't worry, my loves, it's all just a game. What matters is not being split in half!" she laughed with a shrill giggle.
Everyone was trying to figure out what was happening. Was this supposed to be some kind of macabre TV show? It had all the elements: a doll as the host, a caged audience, and the only "relaxing" thing about the place was the background music, which contrasted with the entire situation.
"In this show, you'll go through a total of twenty challenges! Increasing in difficulty with each stage, of course. And for those who can't overcome the challenges... consider yourself invited to say goodbye to life!" Mari completed with a smile.
The cages started to move, and one by one, they spun around until they faced a large screen that lit up at the back of the stage. The screen displayed a countdown in red numbers, slowly ticking down.
"So, let's start with the first challenge!" Mari exclaimed with disturbing excitement. "I'd like two volunteers from the audience! Any takers?" Immediately, several looks of panic and uncertainty turned to me and the others. The silence was palpable, interrupted only by the sound of the countdown and the hum of the speakers.
"I'll go!" I heard a loud, determined voice. It was Professor Lucas, the Chemistry teacher, who said it with determination. Then, a young girl next to him also timidly raised her hand, but with a look of courage. I don't remember her name, but she seemed as scared as we were, yet somehow even more courageous.
"Very well, a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen!" said Mari enthusiastically. Then, the speakers began playing exaggerated applause, as if there was a real lively audience there. The two cages were moved to the center of the stage, and then a small window was opened, not large enough for them to escape.
The spotlight focused on the two volunteers and Mari, and with excitement in her eyes, she continued:
"Let's begin! As I said, our first challenge is quite simple! You'll have to gather toys in a box according to what appears on the screen! But there's a catch: If you mix in a toy that doesn't belong, consider yourself dismissed!" Mari paused dramatically, and the screen showed an image of a box full of various toys: dolls, cars, building blocks, and toys that... well, killers would play with. "You have two minutes! Starting now!"
The countdown restarted, the red numbers flashing frantically on the screen. Professor Lucas and the young girl cautiously approached the small openings of their cages, where the toys had been pushed in. Their hands trembled as they began selecting items, trying to match the screen's image of the correct toys.
We were all tense, hoping the two could pass the challenge. The silence was almost unbearable, broken only by the sound of toys being nervously handled inside the cages. Time seemed to fly by faster than usual, and the tension grew with each passing second.
Professor Lucas, with his experience in handling high-pressure situations, seemed to be doing well, placing the toys correctly in the box according to the screen's image. The young girl, though visibly nervous, was also trying her best, but her hand shook, and in a moment of hesitation, she grabbed the wrong toy—a doll's head with hollow eyes—and placed it in the box.
The moment the toy entered the box, the lights above the girl flickered, and a deafening alarm echoed through the stage. Mari, with a malicious smile, raised her arms in the air and shouted: "Time's up! Our little dolly made a mistake! And what a mistake it was..." Mari said with exaggerated lamentation, "It's a shame, it's a shame! But... rules are rules, aren't they?" she said with a wicked smile before the girl's cage began to descend slowly through the stage. The lights started flashing red, and the dramatic music intensified. The girl let out a scream of panic, thrashing in the cage, trying to escape. But it was too late.
Her cage was lowered to a point beneath the stage where it disappeared into darkness, leaving all of us in a state of shock. We didn't know what had happened to the young girl, but the terror in her eyes before she vanished said enough. Mari then turned to Professor Lucas, who was still holding the last toy. "Congratulations, my dear flesh-and-blood friend! You were exemplary! A true master in the art of toy selection. Now, go back to your place and get ready for the next challenges!" Mari exclaimed, clapping excitedly as Professor Lucas's cage was moved back to its original position.
He seemed shaken, his eyes wide and his face pale. At that moment, I felt the weight on his conscience that he must have felt, the feeling that, I don't know, it should have been him. The dramatic music had softened, returning to a '70s or '80s style. The stage was now lit more gently, but the atmosphere was still suffocating.
"Now that we've warmed up, let's move on to the next challenge!" she exclaimed, her voice sounding both excited and perverse at the same time. The screen behind her flickered again, showing a new countdown. "This time, I'll need two pairs! Any volunteers?" I looked around at the people near me, trying to find courage in their eyes. No one seemed willing to volunteer, and who could blame them? What had just happened to the girl was a brutal reminder that the smallest mistake could be fatal.
"Well, alright then, I'll pick myself!" she said before closing her eyes and randomly moving the cages around the stage. She hummed as she made the cages spin and move. "Let me see... let me see who I'm going to choose! Oh, what a dilemma, what a dilemma!" she said in a playful tone, but with a clear malevolence in her voice. Finally, after a few seconds, she pulled four cages aside with a theatrical gesture, forming the two pairs. One of the cages had Amber and another boy, whose name I think was Ivor or something like that. In the other, there were Logan and Kenny.
I moved a little closer to get a clearer view of the situation. Amber and Ivor seemed nervous, just like Logan and Kenny. Mari was as excited as ever, with a malicious glint in her eyes as she prepared for the next challenge.
"Wonderful, wonderful! Now, let's move on to our second challenge!" Mari announced, waving her arms dramatically. "In this game, both pairs will receive a puzzle and will have to put it together as quickly as possible. However, all the pieces are in a box, mixed with other puzzle pieces that don't belong to the game. If you pick the wrong piece, let's just say the puzzle will LITERALLY break your head! Seven minutes counting down on the big screen now!" Mari exclaimed enthusiastically, and the countdown started flashing frantically in red.
The cages were positioned around two tables, each carrying a box full of puzzle pieces. Amber and Ivor approached their table with apprehension, while Logan and Kenny did the same at the table next to them. I noticed the dynamics of the two pairs were quite different; while Amber and Ivor were frantically searching for pieces, Logan and Kenny divided the tasks—Logan was responsible for assembling the pieces while Kenny laid out the pieces on the table, trying to identify the right ones.
Amber's desperation was visible; her hands trembled as she tried to find the correct pieces. Ivor seemed to be trying to stay calm, but it was clear he was also on edge. On the other side, Logan and Kenny were more organized, visibly hurried but still careful with what they chose. It was as if they were trying to ignore the panic around them, and they seemed to have a better connection, which might make the difference.
As time passed, the screen continued to display the countdown, flashing faster and faster. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and I could feel my heart beating to the frantic rhythm of the music. Every part of me wanted to scream at them to be faster, to be more careful, to not make mistakes. Amber finally found a piece that seemed to fit, but in her desperation to place it quickly, she didn't realize it didn't belong to their puzzle. And then, the alarm went off again.
"Look at that, look at that!" Mari said, laughing, reveling in the despair that had taken hold of everyone. "Who would have thought our dear would fulfill the dumb blonde stereotype! You know what happens now!" she laughed again before Amber and Ivor's cage began to descend slowly. I remember screaming for them, trying to break the cage and doing everything I could to help, but it was useless. Terror dominated the stage. The music grew louder, the lights almost turned into a strobe, flashing and showing only glimpses of despair and fear on the survivors' faces. Amber screamed, pulling at the bars of the cage with all her strength, while Ivor just stared at the ground, perhaps accepting their fate.
Their cage was taken out of our sight, swallowed by the darkness below the stage, just like the girl before. A heavy silence fell over the stage, and I felt my heart in my throat, feeling the weight of that silence. Then, I collapsed to my knees and looked around; my eyes were filled with tears that were already streaming down my face without me realizing it. Shock and sadness enveloped me, I... couldn't believe what had happened. The longer time passed, the worse the situation seemed to get. I looked at the others trapped around me, all with faces of terror and helplessness. There were no words to describe what we were feeling.
Mari saw that I was drowning in tears and approached my cage. However, her smile faded when she saw me. She stared at me for a moment with curiosity, analyzing me from head to toe before turning her back and returning to host the "show." I didn't understand what had happened: She was definitely going to say something, but... she just turned and left. As if my presence had put her on alert.
"Don't cry, my darlings," Mari said back at the center of the stage, smiling ironically as the light over her flickered dramatically. "There's still much more to come. We're just getting warmed up!" she laughed with a bizarre grin, looking in my direction as if she wanted to convey something to me.
The games continued. More and more people were taken off the stage, and with each new challenge, the terror and anguish increased. Each challenge was more perverse and deadly than the last, the music was now completely distorted, a mix of unsettling sounds with a desperate melody. There came a moment when we discovered what had happened to those who were taken off the stage, at least with the girls. My shock was great when I saw them all being dragged by chains attached to their hands and feet back onto the stage, controlled like puppets to be forced to dance and perform strange movements.
Blood dripped from all of them, pooling on the floor, and in just a few seconds, the nearly clean floor was completely covered in blood. Each movement of the girls was marked by muffled moans and screams, and the environment seemed to be increasingly turning into a macabre theater play, an endless horror scene. The sight was so horrifying that I turned my gaze to the people around me and saw that I wasn't the only one feeling repulsed.
After long hours, Mari had chosen me for the next challenge. My cage was moved to the center of the stage, and I felt my heart race a little. There was so much blood on the floor that the smell of metal was almost unbearable. I knew that at any moment anything could happen, and the fear was consuming me. Mari approached my cage with a satisfied smile, looking me up and down again with curiosity before turning away.
"Now, we're going to the final round, my dears! The round that will decide who will stay and who will go. And this... poor little thing here..." she said with a disdainful expression as she leaned against my cage, "is going to choose who stays and who goes..." For the first time, her tone was cold and serious, and she glanced at me sideways with malice, as if she had something against me. "So, let's go, darling. Choose four. Not three, not five, not two. Choose FOUR flesh friends to save. Choose carefully, huh! If you lose the challenge, they'll all die!" she laughed diabolically, then stared at me with her lifeless doll eyes.
I stared back at her for a while before she shouted at me, demanding to know who I was going to choose. I looked around, searching for the people still in the audience. There were less than ten people on stage, everyone else had either been taken off or remained as puppets. I found Logan and Kenny with my eyes, and saw that both were pale and exhausted. I also looked back and saw Amber, who despite being hung up and with her blood dripping all over her body, was still trying to resist. I asked if I could choose one of the dancers, and Mari, with a sarcastic smile, told me "You can, but it would be like winning a goldfish as a prize at the amusement park: It won't live very long..." Her response was a mix of irony and contempt.
I looked at Amber for a long time and felt my heart ache when I realized there weren't many options for her. I turned my gaze forward and searched for two more people to go with us. "Hurry up!" Mari shouted, and I realized I needed to act quickly. I took a deep breath and pointed to Logan and Kenny's cages, then to two other cages—one with a young woman named Isabela and the other with a guy who was visibly desperate. His name was Quentin.
I looked back again and saw Amber's gaze. It was a look of pain, but it wasn't physical pain. It was the pain of knowing there wasn't much that could be done to help. The anguish in her eyes was what hurt me the most at that moment.
"Excellent choice, miss," Mari began, using a tone of cruel irony. "Remember: If you fail, they die!" She said, laughing as if she were sure I would fail.
The chosen cages were moved to the center of the stage as Mari prepared the next challenge. Finally, she stood in front of a large panel covered by a black veil. With a dramatic gesture, she pulled the veil, revealing a screen divided into several sections, each containing different objects and scenarios.
"For you, sweetie, I'll make a quiz. Questions and answers to decide who will stay and who will go. Each correct answer will save one of your chosen ones. If you get it wrong, a body part of each one will be amputated." Her voice returned to its coldness. Mari raised a finger, and the screen displayed the first question. If I remember correctly, it was about the most famous public execution method of the French Revolution.
I searched my memory for all the history classes and conversations with my classmates before exams, trying to remember the correct answer. It didn't take long. I quickly answered that it was the guillotine, and then the screen flashed green, and the display changed to the next question.
The second question appeared: "What is the name of the famous Shakespeare play set in Denmark?" My heart raced, and the answer came instantly. "Hamlet!" I shouted, trying to sound confident. The screen flashed green again, and a wave of relief washed over me.
The third question appeared on the screen, and I felt a chill run down my spine. The question was about the amount of sulfuric acid needed to disintegrate a human body, a question that was clearly not about general knowledge. Fear paralyzed me for a moment, and I focused on trying to remember anything that could help me answer. Mari seemed to notice this and smiled maliciously as she watched my despair.
I guessed something above five liters, but the screen flashed red, and a piercing alarm sounded. Then, a saw appeared inside Kenny's cage and chopped off his hand. Kenny screamed in pain, and everyone around looked in shock at the horrifying scene before them. The saw stopped, and blood spread across the floor, mixing with what was already there. Kenny collapsed on the floor of his cage, writhing in agony.
Mari seemed delighted by the chaos. Her smile widened even more as she saw my expression of horror. "Next question now on the screen!" she said with cruel satisfaction, as if she had learned something from this. "Only seven more questions and you save everyone, girl!" I felt the weight of responsibility crushing my shoulders. The next questions kept coming, all of them morbid and with an excessive cruelty. They were always related to death or torture, and it was clear that this theme was deliberately chosen for me to fail.
The fourth question appeared, and it was about medieval torture methods. "Which instrument was known for slowly crushing the bones of the fingers?" I closed my eyes for a second, trying to remember any documentary or book that mentioned this. "Is it... the finger crusher?" I answered hesitantly. The screen flashed green, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Kenny was still in agony, but at least I managed to temporarily save his life. Mari, however, didn't give me any time to relax. She immediately moved on to the next question: "What is the average weight of a human head?"
I was getting more and more desperate. These questions were so specific, so cruel. I tried to remember something, but it seemed impossible. I guessed again, something around ten pounds, but the screen flashed red. The saw came down again, this time in Isabela's cage. She screamed as the blade cut into her leg, and blood spurted violently everywhere. My body trembled with fear watching the scene. I looked at Mari, the doll laughing maniacally at my mistakes, clapping her hands as the next question appeared on the screen.
"THIS IS TELEVISION, FOLKS!" Mari exclaimed with an excitement that bordered on insanity. I was in shock, but I couldn't let the terror consume me. I needed to focus, even though the situation was desperate. I looked at the screen and forced myself to focus on the next question. It was a question about the impact of heat on the human body.
"What is the minimum temperature to cause third-degree burns?" I felt the pressure mounting. My mind was spinning, searching desperately for any information I might have learned in science classes or from some reading. Mari noticed my internal struggle and seemed even more pleased with my suffering. "Take your time, girl! Their lives are LITERALLY in your hands!" she taunted, her voice echoing with a mocking tone.
I pushed myself even harder until I finally remembered something. "Seventy degrees Celsius!" I shouted angrily. The screen flashed green, and I felt a temporary relief as the screen changed to the next question. The sixth, seventh, and eighth questions were difficult and specific, involving even more macabre and obscure data. Each correct answer was a thread of hope, while each mistake caused more suffering and chaos on stage.
When the ninth question appeared, my heart was about to leap out of my chest. It was a question about the lethal dose of cyanide. I took a deep breath, trying to maintain mental clarity amidst the panic. "Five grams!" I answered, my voice trembling, and the screen flashed green again. The relief came like a brief pause in an endless nightmare.
Finally, the last question appeared. Mari approached the screen, and I could see that her smile was a mix of satisfaction and cruelty. The last question was the most feared: "What is the most efficient way to prevent a fatal hemorrhage after a deep cut?"
I stopped to think again, but then something unexpected happened. The saw descended into Quentin's cage, and when I turned to Mari, she was staring at me with her lifeless eyes but with a devilish smile. The saw activated inside the cage, but it didn't move toward Quentin, it just stayed on, ready to cut.
I couldn't guess, but I also couldn't take too long. I looked at Mari, who seemed to be enjoying my agony. That damn doll knew I was on the verge of a breakdown. I took a deep breath and tried to remember anything that could help me. The answer came to mind: "Direct pressure!" I shouted with a trembling voice, feeling like I was doing the right thing.
But, despite my answer, the screen didn't flash. Neither green nor red, it just went dark. Mari looked at me, her sadistic smile widening even more. "Your mommy must be soooo proud of you..." she said with cruel irony, "But it's like they say, sometimes all the effort isn't enough." I felt a chill down my spine. Then, the saw sliced Quentin's throat. The cut was so deep that he died instantly. The screen suddenly began flashing again, this time with a chaotic pattern. The screen that previously displayed questions now showed horrific images and disturbing sounds.
All the cages were opened, and chaos took over the stage. We gathered together, Kenny had stopped the bleeding from his hand with his own shirt, while Isabela was trying to control the bleeding from her leg with a torn piece of clothing. However, we had to carry her off the stage, which only increased the chaos and disorder around us. The lights began flashing frantically, and the sound of screams and moans mixed with the music, so distorted that it no longer made any sense.
Mari was no longer there. She had disappeared in the middle of the confusion, probably watching everything with sadistic pleasure from somewhere offstage. The "puppets" were still dancing, all of them already dead from blood loss. There was no one left to save, so we had to deal with the situation on our own. We found an exit from the show. It was another narrow and dark corridor, but the feeling that we needed to escape that horrible place gave us a new burst of energy. Despite caring for Isabela and Kenny, Logan and I rushed through the corridor, trying to find a way out.