E I G H T E E N
Truth or Death

I WOKE UP with a pounding headache, my eyes still closed shut as I groaned out loud. From the peace and quiet of my dreams, I slowly slipped back into reality bit by bit. Steadily, the carnival music all around me started to stream into my ears, waking me up more and more as my eyes shot open. However, even though my eyes were open, I was still left in the dark. A blindfold was presumably put on me, leaving me clueless as of to what could possibly happen.

Panic flooded my veins as I started to struggle, hands escaping from behind my back to tear the blindfold from my eyes. When I took it off, my sight was blinded by a stroke of brilliant white light. Stunned by this, I backed away in my seat, only to wobble slightly as I was thrown off balance. Instinctively, my hands reached out to grab something. Instead of holding on to a table or even coming in contact with the ground, my palms touched cool glass panels that were just close enough for me to balance into place again.

"You're awake!" Death's familiar voice mocked, a happy grin on his face as if he was pleased with himself.

Carefully, I began to withdraw my hands at a snail's pace, pushing myself securely back onto the seat. When my vision cleared, I was transported to a new part of a carnival; right in the center of attention once more.

Death had placed me in an enclosed dunk tank with just a single stool to prop me up from a tub of water that filled up the bottom half of the tank. A crowd made up of adults and children dressed in those same creepy mascots and clown suits stood gathered, watching me. Death was there too, standing just right beside the dunk tank with his classic signature evil grin.

Like most dunk tanks, not even the tip of my shoes was touching the surface of the water. I glanced down, careful not to tip myself over. Wanting to see why was it that Death had lifted so far above the tank of water, I studied the liquid. It was nothing out of the ordinary. The water was crystal clear and looked to be the cleanest pool of water I had ever seen. There was nothing inside, no piranhas, and no electric eels. So what could be so harmful in regards to that liquid that needed me suspended away from the water until Death wanted me to touch it?

"Careful not to fall in, doll. I imagine a vat of concentrated acid would not do well for your pretty little features and such a shame that would be. Heaven's Falls is not as innocent as it sounds. The waters are deadly to mortals." Death commented with a hint of a ruthless smile to his voice, making me jolt back when I realized that he had just declared the liquid as a pool of acid in which I was currently hovering over.

"What?" I asked in shock, disbelief masking my face as the crowd chortled at my reaction. "I won the maze fair and square. What happened to my thirty-minute immunity?"

"The immunity is against the personifications of our powers, Andy. Also known as those ghouls that you must have noticed around the boathouse and in the maze, as I recall you nicknaming them." The corners of Death's lips lifted into a cruel grin. "But do you see any ghouls here other than my lovely subjects?"

It was as if on command, the crowd began to roar with laughter again. I swallowed the bile in my throat in a failed attempt to calm my racing heart.

"That's cheating!" I yelled, carefully not to tip myself over the seat as I shot my best glare towards Death.

"Who said that I would ever play fair?" Death shrugged. "I kept up to my promise of immunity against those demons. I never said that the immunity was against me. And even if it was, I am not touching you right now, Addison. The only thing that can save you from getting dunked into a vat of acid and eventually dying is your honesty. But then again, alas, honesty isn't something that the majority of the human population own these days, am I right?"

Death waved his pale hand, a flash of silver glinting under the moonlight from his fingers as my eyes darted around in an attempt to find an escape. He must have noticed my reaction to this because he smiled his sinister little grin before placing a hand against the glass of the tank.

"Don't even bother looking for a way out, Addison. The top is sealed with magic and I promise I will let you out and go back to your friends if you answer some of my questions honestly. So, are you ready for round two or not?"

"It's not like you are giving me a choice." I scowled with disdain.

"How bright you are. It is true, I am not giving you one." Death leaned in a little towards the tank, as much as it was possible for him before he whispered words that made me fume. "It is just to hype the crowd, between you and me." He winked.

"You are despicable." I spat the words out with as much venom as I possibly could. However, this created no reaction for Death other than his usual jaw-dropping grin.

"You'll learn to live with it." He winked at me before turning back towards the crowd. "Now, ladies and gentlemen. It is time to start the second round of the main event at this carnival. Truth or Death."

Death beamed brightly as the crowd hollered adoringly, cheering and whooping as if it was a king that was speaking to them. Even the young children were exposed to this madness, jumping up and down as their hands clutched a bunch of helium balloons tightly.

"First question."

The music died down to a soft buzz, everyone immediately keeping to their silence as they waited for whatever question Death wanted to ask.

Sure, I had my secrets and there are plenty of things in which I did not want to say out to the world. However, the thing is, I am not with the people I know now. I am in this foreign magical and bewitching land that held all the nightmares in which normal children could ever dream of and fear. If they were a bunch of strangers, where was the harm in divulging in a little bit of information?

So I sat straighter, back and posture perfected like my mother had taught me. I awaited Death's question without fear or anxiety because there simply was nothing to be afraid of. There was nothing in which Death could ask me to answer while being worried about the recipient's reaction. That was because I did not even give a rat's ass to what Death and his little cronies could possibly think of me. I just wanted to get out of here alive and intact.

"In your childhood, much of your games centered on an adorable teddy bear that you called a noble and a frog princess that was stitched together so poorly, it looked like it came straight out of a dump truck. I personally did not really understand why you always matched the two together but I guess that there is some kind of forbidden-love vibe to it." Death smirked a little.

Immediately, my mind fluttered towards my fondest memories of the two different soft toys. I never played one without the other, back in the days. When I began to grow up and lose interest in small handheld soft toys, both the bear and the frog was tossed into my back cupboard, never again to see the light of day. However, the question was, how did Death know about them?

"You also talked about this great castle that they lived in after every single one of their happily ever afters. Describe it."

"What?" I asked dumbly, pure confusion written across my features.

"Describe the castle and its settings. What did you picture it to look like?"

"Is this a trick question?" I snorted. "There is no possible way that you would ask me something so simple and easy."

"If you want a harder and more secretive question, you'll just have to tell me and I'll gladly give you one."

"No!" I nearly shouted, shaking a little in my seat due to my sudden reaction. "I will answer it."

"We're waiting," Death taunted.

I took in a deep breath, my mind filtering through all my memories until one in my childhood in which I could still see the blurry details of. Since I saw no harm that could be done with sharing a piece of my childhood games, I began to describe the details, eyes lighting up with the memories I thought I had long forgotten. Though the circumstances were not the best, there was still a sort of wonder present when recalling back to fond childhood memories. Trips down the memory lane seemed so magical to me that I soon found myself immersed in the world of my kiddy imagination once more after such a long time.

"It was a structure so magnificent like no other. It stood upon a towering cliff that overlooked a sandy white beach. The castle was made of marble and had turrets that kissed the clouds in the sky. The water below is always a glistening sky blue, rushing against the beach in continuous waves that never seemed to die down. Every sunset, the view was the best at the north tower for the sun would always bless that tower with hues of pink and blue. And when nightfall came, every constellation and every star would be visible due to the lack of light pollution. The roofs were gilded in gold and the marble was white with streaks of gray. The castle overlooked the entire kingdom and it would withstand every single trouble thrown at them."

I sighed wistfully, mind still painfully emerged into such a blissful memory. The castle of my childhood dreams was something in which had helped me deal with the loneliness of my younger years. Before I had met Minnie, Bella, Porsha, and Lucius, my life had been a rather dull and isolated world. They had brought many colors into my life but nothing could replace the original love I had for my little world of childish fantasy.

Yet, the question was still too easy to be true.

Death began to slowly clap, a sly smile twisting his handsome features as I snapped out of my daydream. He circled the tank in which I was trapped in, slowly folding his arms across his chest as he beamed sadistically at me.

"Well done. You answered truthfully and without resistance. I'm proud of you, Addison. You learn quickly. And might I just add that you phrased your words so poetically that I might have thought that the castle wasn't part of an imaginary world at all." He humored, nodding with approval. "But now I have a second question. Tell me honestly what you think of me. Who do you think I am, what do you think I am capable of and things like that. I want to know if I had lived up to my reputation or not."

The crowd once again cheered, whooping with delight as laughter rang like a thousand bells. I scowled, shifting in my seat with disdain clear on my face.

"Come on, Addison. Don't worry, I won't punish you for being truthful." Death smirked with a hint of a hidden meaning held beneath his words. I resisted a gag. "Just share your deepest darkest thoughts and burning hatred. I'm honestly curious."

"Fine," I spat out. "I think that you are a vile person, creature, spirit, being, whatever and you don't deserve to even exist. Some people claim that death is benevolent and that death is an escape but I disagree. I think you are an abomination and you are exactly what your powers are. Ghastly, disgusting, and a freak. I wonder who you will meet when you finally die yourself."

Silence enveloped the crowd as Death's face struggled not to darken. A flash of hurt ran through his irises that contained an entire storm. Yet, I held the last note, staring at him intensely, waiting for him to crack. He never did. Within seconds, his calm façade was back on, displaying the same playful boyish smile in which he had probably mastered over the course of thousands of years.

"No need to get upset, folks." He turned to the crowd, arms wide as he reassuringly made a patting motion to signify that everything was fine. "I did ask for her honest opinion. And to answer your question, I'm not allowed the luxury of dying. Immortality is a curse placed on me long ago before humans even came into existence."

Death seemed way too calm, his silver eyes melting gloriously into the color of the shimmering, glittering aluminum. He seemed kind, almost. I thanked the stars that he hadn't gotten mad at my answer and I was still safe from getting dunked into acid.

"Last question."

I held my breath in anticipation, hoping and praying that he would ask something merciful like the first question. Of course, however, there was no way in which miracles could happen every single day. Such fortunate circumstances had its limits and unfortunately, I am all out of luck.

"If you had to choose, who would be your best friend? Minnie Hoover or Bella Jones?"

It may seem like a simple question if it had been anyone else that was asking it. However, I knew that Death did not just want to know the answer out of simple human curiosity. There just had to be an underlying diabolical motive beneath the surface of it all. By the way in which Death's lips stretched into a smile, I knew that if I answered the question, the person in which I name will undoubtedly be in immense trouble.

"You bastard." I squirmed in my seat, anger fuming. "I will not let you harm my friends. You cannot trick me into answering."

Death's smile remained ever so bright like a kid in a candy store. Calmly, he strolled over to the side of the tank where a big red button hovered. If he slammed his hand against it, I knew for a fact that I would be dunked into the tank in a matter of seconds. If that happened, I was a goner before the forty-hours was even up.

"I am giving you another chance to reconsider, Addison. Just answer the question and you will go back to your friends like this section never happened before. You'll be back in the boathouse without this sick little mini-game. But if you don't answer..." He trailed off, his hand just barely touching the button. "Bye-bye, angel. I'll see you in Hell once more. I just need a name, an initial. Just one person."

"You'll kill them. I know it."

"I promise, no harm will come to the person you name. Not by my hands, at least not until the time is ripe and old and she is seated in a rocking chair with a head of gray hair." Death promised, his face serious for once as I debated over the advantages and the drawbacks.

The chances of him going back on his word were high. I did not want to betray my friends by naming them for a demon like Death to torture. Yet, I knew that this was a game of life and death. If I did not answer, we would probably all die.

"Minnie," I said softly in reluctance, hoping and just praying that Death would not hear the name in which I had uttered. "She's my best friend. She had always been there for me in my darkest times."

Death's smile returned.

"That's all I wanted to hear, sweet cheeks. See you back in the boathouse."

With that, he slammed onto the button as I fell from my seat and into the tank. The second my head went under the water, the world turned an inky black.

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