The night was drawing in and most of the group were gathered in the common room and gathered around a table for a game of Rummy. Messing with the newbie had been fun and all, but they expected more of a reaction. If she was a fighter, then it would have been interesting to see how she would have tried and most likely failed to throttle Jeff and Toby. Or even if she was more of a flight person, a good scream and scramble for escape might have been an interesting watch.

But no. She froze, whimpered and looked like she was wishing to pass out or get killed so she wouldn't have to live through the fear anymore. Now that had been entertaining, it gave them more of a chance to mess with her. But little reaction had made it turn slow all too soon. So Alice, seeing that her job had been done, led the newbie back to her room and donated a tatted pair of night clothes before leaving and rejoining the others and dealt a number of seven cards between the five of them.

"So place your bets, lady and gents... and Toby;" Ben smirked, taking his turn, "How long do you think newbie's gonna last?"

"A week." Jeff answered instantly.

Alice rolled her eyes, "That's optimistic."

"Well I would say three days but it's going to take her a while to figure out how to move again first." He reasoned, "Damn freezer reflex."

"But it's adorable," Alice cooed mockingly, "Poor little sap."

The game continued victorless for a few minutes, the conversation running dry. Jack rarely taking a chance to keep a card he picked up before quickly returning it. Jeff however was never satisfied and constantly exchanging his set just to alter it again. With Ben observing the others craftily and Alice focussed solely on her own cards; that just left Toby to crack his shoulders every now and again to change his course when and if he felt like it because at the end of the day, it was just a game and didn't need much concentration.

"Why hasn't Slendy told her what we do?" he asked, shifting his deck into order.

Jack shook his head and took his turn, "I wouldn't want to know, she gets some bliss in ignorance."

A quizzical twitch sparked behind the mask, "I'd just get confused."

The spectre peered over the top of his deck, "Sounds about right..."

"Slender's on a job;" Alice explained, picking up another card before discarding another, "I'm not wasting my time doing someone else's dirty work, I do that enough already."

"And the rest of us do fuck all evidently..."

"Speaking of which," Jeff added, "I take it Shad hasn't shown himself yet?"

"Nope." Toby answered, "You don't think he's tried to get loose do you?"

"We can't get loose." Jack sighed, "Can't, shan't and won't."

"Such a happy, bastard..." Ben muttered sardonically, rearranging his cards, "Nah he wouldn't run for it, him and Slendy go way back. And it's not like it's the first time he's vanished like this. And what a treat he'll get when he hears about the newbie."

Alice scanned the back of her opponents cards before playing her turn, "He'll be back tomorrow most likely before Slender gets back in the night to fill her in."

Jeff slyly swapped a card, "Is that what he does to the girl recruits, Alice?"

"You're disgusting."

"I'm a winner." He quipped, laying down his set smugly, "If this was a job, I'd get to live another day; you're loosing your touch."

"On the contrary," she returned, tapping one of the cards he'd set down, "You can't have a heart in a strip of clubs." And to prove her point, she exposed her own cards to reveal a straight set, "You loose again, Jeffy-boy."

Ben quirked an eyebrow, "Does it count as winning if you've memorised each card front and back?"

"Don't gamble with your life if you're not destined to win."

Trixie sat alone in the darkness of the bare bedroom. After those... monsters, had toyed with her she'd been led back here for what she assumed was sleep. But how could she when she was destined to be so close to them? Every shadow was a threat. Every noise, a terror waiting to reach her. Fearing all that she couldn't see, she had pulled the chair from under the desk and placed it in the corner closest to the door, sitting with her knees pulled under her chin and hazel eyes wide. Anything could be lurking under that bed, or one of them could walk in at any second. She didn't dare move. So she figured that staying watch, perfectly still, seemed like the right thing to do.

But she knew that there was some truth in what one of them had told her earlier. The one that looked like a game character, Link she recalled, but could not remember the spectres name. She didn't want to know their names. But the minute they calculated that she froze under pressure, especially when she was scared, he had told her that she'd 'have to get over that'. It was never something she'd considered. Even when Ollie's life was draining before her, it never came to mind, the guilt took up too much room. Now here she was, trapped in the same building as those responsible, and the words sunk in. She did have to get over it. Now.

Eyes fixed on the gloom beneath her bed, Trixie forced herself out of the seat and felt along the wall until she found the door-handle and blinked in surprise at it turned without protest. The harsh lights from the corridor made her wince. Why wasn't the door locked? This was a kidnap, right? Why were they leaving the door unlocked? The unease that this was a trick made her hesitate, but the choice between staying in the dark or possibly getting out pushed her forward. Peering into the hallway, she found it empty. Fear still pulsating through her, Trixie found her limps stiff and heavy, but shakily she wondered aimlessly around corners and down endless paths of isolation. Tears spilled down her cheeks with every thud of her heart. This place was a labyrinth, and anything could be lurking around the next corner. Any door she dare open may contain a nightmare. She was forced to continue wondering. Even outside the confines of the bedroom, she was still trapped.

"You are aware that you've travelled in a circle?"

Trixie clenched the muscles of her throat involuntarily to stop a shriek at the voice. She flinched and pressed herself against the wall, searching for the intruder. Her eyes settled on a figure a safe distance from her; a pale face hooded in a cloak that trailed to the floor, whispy and dark as if made from the shadows themselves. Its face was tinted with amusement at an eyebrow arched.

"No, I suppose you didn't. Did you have a destination in mind? Because I'm afraid I have to tell you that your options are limited." It drifted a little closer, "Are you going to tell me you name or shall you remain as Newbie?"

She didn't answer, continuing to stare anxiously pasted. They took her family, they took her sanity and they took her freedom, not that she had much to start with. But they sure as hell would not take her name.

"As you wish, newbie, but I'll warn you when you're given a title like the Observer or Shadow Lurker, having it reduced to something as demeaning as Shad, it wears thin all too soon."

"Wh-what are you?"

Shad rolled his eyes. It figures that he leaves for the shortest of time before things started going wrong. And what could be more wrong than a newbie? And so he'd returned from his outing, his weekly 'visit' as it were, and gone in watch of the girl. He'd learned from mere observation that toying with the girl gained nothing. And as someone who didn't believe in wasting words for the sake of it, Shad figured that being blunt and expectant was an easier way to go. Frankly he cared nothing for this newbie, what outcome fate had for her was of little value to him. But nevertheless, why waste an opportunity to have some interaction that wasn't based on idiocy?

"I've just told you what and who I am. And you've chosen your namesake, newbie. Now, judging by your manner, you are clueless to the reasoning behind being here. Did you not ask for this?"

Trixie straightened slightly and managed to let out a mutter, "I didn't ask for anything."

"Are you sure about that? Think back, I'm sure you asked for plenty."

She obeyed. That creature, taunting her endlessly, whispering to her. She'd wanted it to end. She'd been more than willing to give up and let the thing kill her. Please, take this away. Make it stop... Trixie thought she was going to be sick, "No, no, I didn't ask for this."

"Few do, but people are never specific enough, as you know."

"So... what exactly is this?" she dared, "If I'm here to die then just get it over with."

"You're not here to die." He replied curtly.

"To kill?" she asked, barely a whisper.

"Possibly; but not yet. Now who went and told you that?"

A chill ran down her spine, "One of... them. The one with the..." She swallowed the bile that rose at her throat and used her fingers to trace a smile on her cheeks.

Shad smirked, "Let me assure you on something when it comes to Jeff. When it comes to most of the others actually; they're idiots. Match them at their games or avoid them completely."

Trixie wrapped her arms around herself and forced herself to look at him directly, "Why are you telling me this?"

A shrug. "Honestly? I'm interested to see what the newbie does the information."

"Is that why I'm here? Entertainment? I'm not a... a killer. I-I'm not like you. Why won't anyone just tell me?"

Anger, Shad concluded, anger and fear, such an interesting mixture. But again, he didn't feel the need to waste words where they're not needed, "You'll find out tomorrow night when Slender returns."

"Slender?" she muttered, not feeling any less fearful upon hearing that name the second time around.

"Tomorrow. Now I'd sleep if I were you." A wry sneer appeared on his illuminated face as he opened a door, proving his previous statement that she had in fact walked a full circle and was back where she started, "There are worse things that wonder these halls than just a few murderers."

Shad watched as the confliction spread over the newbie's face. The desire to run, the fear of disagreeing and the unwillingness to comply. So, newbie, what will you do? Just how willing to give up are you? Slowly her frame loosened, shoulders slumping and a shuddering sigh escaping her.

"Okay..."

Very willing. Very willing indeed.

Slender straightened out the folds of his suit and nodded. It had been a long day, but the job was done. This one had been on the radar a while now. But a crime that involves children does not quite call for death. Instead it requires torment and suffering... being reminded and forced to relive it over and over. So naturally, it had been something that involved some effort. However, now he had returned, and things were still incomplete. There was still the matter of the new arrival. She had yet to be informed. And knowing his charges, they would not have done so.

There was no sense in calling to her, she was not yet branded and wouldn't be able to hear him. He knew this. And from the disruption he could sense in the air, sending someone to fetch her would not be the wisest move. And so, he had no choice but to do what he would with a victim. He enticed her. She would come to him.

Trixie had forced herself into the shower, rubbing away the scabs that remained from the hospital restraints and putting on another set of clothes that Alice had resentfully left for her. She shrugged on a deep purple jacket, the only thing from home the hospital had let her keep, breathing in the smell. Her own smell, of how she used to be...

However she never left her room. Her stomach ached from hunger, mind electric with uncertainty, but she daren't try and leave again. Shad's words had sunk in cruelly, what other horrors lay out there were unknown to her. And she didn't want to find out. Yet it also became clear that it was going to be inevitable to stay clear of the ones she'd already faced. Every time she saw them, all she saw was her family minutes before the noises and the... and the blood.

She looked in the mirror, thoughts colliding behind her eyes. They're not going to kill you, you know that, she told herself; so they're making you live with what they did, you've seen what they can do and they won't do it to you, so don't fear them. No that's impossible, she figured, I'll always fear them. But that doesn't mean I can't hide my fear with something else. I hate them. I hate...

Suddenly, it was as if someone had forced her to black out while remaining perfectly conscious. She could still see everything, but everything including her thoughts was silent. All but a low humming, wrapping around her comfortingly and pleading to her to follow. Numb and confused, she couldn't help but listen. Treading softly across the room and out into the hallway. The noise coiled around her body, pulling her along. An absentminded smile tweaked at her mouth. It was taking her home, it was saving her. Surely she'd be free. Home...

It forced her around a corner, seeping through the woodwork of a door to the left. Trixie touched the door and it seemed to open at will. When she entered, she found that she was once again in the common-room from the previous night. The beautiful melody begging her to pass on through, towards a second exit in the far right. However, the notes were instantly shattered as her eyes settled on what, or rather who, stood in her way. Her back pressed against the wall, her instinct to freeze in fear battling with the inner-scolding to stand strong. They were here...

Toby sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the sofa set centre of the room, back to the door and occupied by Ben and Jeff. Each had a games controller in hand and were furiously challenging one another at what looked like Black-Ops. They game? she wondered, remembering challenging a friend or two in the past and failing She couldn't picture killers and whatever the others were to just sit around and play like average people. It seemed so... normal. Hell apart from their appearances, they could have been mistaken for everyday people on a weekend. Trixie didn't know if this eased her in the knowledge that they did have moments of relatable behaviour, or if it scared her all the more knowing that they could alter between the monstrous and ordinary so easily.

She stood, body pressed against the wall in hopes of not being seen; she listened to their half-started conversation. Jeff, she recalled with dismay, was apparently making fun of the slightly pixellated spectre, not taking his altered eyes off of the screen, "It's a fucking Zelda game Ben; hell it's the same game you haunted for a while, how can you possibly be that shit at it?"

"I didn't haunt the game, I just hacked it up a bit and got caught, give me a break!"

"Did someone have a temper tantrum when they couldn't beat the mask?" Toby asked mockingly.

"Hey that thing is freaky!"

"It looks like a tripped out crab, how is that freaky?" Jeff demanded.

"You try walking around that game and having that jump out at you!" Ben snapped, thumbs stabbing at the buttons, "At least I'm not the one who stabbed the screen because they got jump-scared at the thing in Amnesia!"

"There was a wasp bugging me by the screen and you know it! I've seen things in Kingdom Hearts more fucked up than that!"

"Hey, now that's a scary game to play!" Toby insisted.

The two glanced at him sceptically. Ben scowled in disbelief, "It's Disney and Final Fantasy in one, how is it scary?"

"They've got shadow creatures coming from the walls trying to take a vital organ!"

"You live with guys who do that!" Jeff groaned, "Jack and Shad? Remember them?"

Toby scoffed, "I know but that's real life. Real life isn't scary unless you let it scare you."

Trixie tilted her head a little at that. Real life isn't scary unless you let it scare you? Why was that something she found herself agreeing with? It was nonsense, fear was involuntary! Wasn't it?

Toby nodded matter-of-factly while his company exchanged a disgruntled glance. Jeff was going to make a comment of how much his friends apparent retarded-ness was making him ready to get 'in character', but thought against it as the guy had no pain reflex. So instead, he did the next best thing and made his gaming character toss a hand grenade as its opponent instead, ending the game and yet declaring Ben the winner due to him having the favourable stats.

They were about to re-set the game for a rematch, when Ben caught sight of Trixie's observing form in the reflection of the blank screen. Over the course of her listening in, a half smile of amusement had started to quirk in the corner of her mouth, yet the cautious unease remained in her hazel eyes. Even more so now that she was aware that she'd been sighted. Now she was stone-faced in panic, looking ready to run but fixed in place. Ben gave a wry smirk and elbowed his friend beside him, while nudging the other with his foot.

"It appears we have company, gents!" he announced, leaning backwards to flash her an upside-down sly sneer.

She flinched as the others snapped their heads around (in Toby's case quite literally) to look at her. Jeff beckoned her with a single finger, "It's not polite to eavesdrop you know, newbie."

Trixie stayed put and tried to force some sense of dignity and anger towards them, "I-I wasn't I was just-" She was cut off by something flying towards her, out of instinct she caught it and found it to be a games controller. Giving them a timid look, it was clear to see that they were enjoying making her feel as uncomfortable as possible. She was a new toy. Again.

Ben sniggered at her catch, "Hey look at that, she moves and talks at the same time."

"And does the newbie play?" Jeff mused.

Feeling it wasn't worth her while not to answer, she shrugged, her voice barely above a whisper, and desperate to return to that melody that was calling her. She needed it, it needed her... "I've played."

"Close enough!" Toby grinned from behind his mask, patting the space on the floor next to him and giving an involuntarily violent snap in his wrist.

They noted her hesitation, Ben leaned further backwards and his upside-down, slightly translucent, smirk widened, "We don't bite, newbie. Even we have standards."

She looked at the exit, so close, the noise still calling, "But..."

Jeff glared at her warningly, "That night was a fuck-up, newbie, now you either get over it and quite the guilt-trip you're trying so hard to give or... Actually no, that's you're only choice here."

A fuck-up? Guilt-trip? What the hell was that meant to mean? It wouldn't make a difference, they did what they did and there was no going back, but she had to ask, "Y-you didn't mean to-"

"I'm bored!" Ben moaned, "Play or be played, what're you going to do, newbie?"

Figuring that they weren't going to let this go, and that it was better to please them and obey for now. There was more to this, she knew it, but no one was telling her. And little by little, they were slipping up. She could feel it. And in a sudden surge of rage, she made a decision. Why not humour them for now, wait out the paralysed in panic coat she wore to her advantage and wait for them to give in? She'd get her answers. Maybe even get back at them in some way. She wasn't a killer, she doubted she ever would be. But something needed to be done. She'd match them.

Play or be played; Real life isn't scary unless you let it scare you; Match their games or avoid completely. She'd wait; it wasn't like she had anything to live for now. Dead inside. She'd wait. Answers would come. And with that in mind, Trixie shuffled forward until she was next to Toby and lightly sat down. The feeling of deformed, dead, and shielded eyes staring at you at the same time was not a comforting one. Her chin rested on her knees and her hands clutched so tightly to the controller that it creaked in protest. Choice made, no going back.

"You're with Ticci, he needs all the help he can get..." Jeff informed her, loading up the next game, "Ready newbie?"

She nodded, hating the label but standing by her grounds of not letting them get her real name, "Sure..."

Am I interrupting...?

The boys straightened in their seats at the intense echo inside their heads. They turned, mixtures of confusion and irritation in their eyes. They didn't care to remember that the newbie wouldn't hear this, and let her look at them uneasily. But she soon joined them in their view. Faceless... Tall... Silent... What was that thing?

"So Slendy?" Ben asked casually as he indicated to Trixie, "How much are we getting paid for babysitting?"