Marie blinked. She looked back at the bodies.

Hell, a fitting name.

She then shook and promptly hurled onto the grass. Her vision blurred as warm tears streamed down her face.

Why?

Why was she here?

Please, let this be a nightmare, please.

Marie looked up to see the man looking at her with pitying eyes.

"I told you. This place is hell." He looked up. "We're stuck here." He looked back down and held out a handkerchief. "Here, wipe your mouth. We will need to go soon."

Marie nodded. She wiped her mouth and stood up.

"Hey everyone! Gather up. I have some interesting information."

Marie looked back. She saw a woman in a plain grey blazer. Looking around, she followed the others and gathered around the woman.

The woman looked up. "First of all, I like to introduce myself. I'm Sera and what we just witnessed now is a Stampede Incident. We have a time limit to escape. That is the objective of the game, but we can't."

"Why?"

Sera stopped. She frowned. "I-I will disclose this information later. Once the group is complete."

Marie frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sera looked at Marie. She smiled. "A new person, are you?"

Marie nodded. "I'm Marie."

Sera grinned. "Nice to meet you, Marie. Now back to what I was saying, a complete group is a hundred-and-fifty people."

"What does that mean?"

Sera smiled grimly. "That means that whoever died was meant to die. At least until the group is complete."

...

Lauris gritted her teeth. It was that eye again! What did that have to do with everything? How was this all connected? The woman squinted and saw lays of something beneath the illusion of the eye.

"Easy there now. Don't go peeking into things you don't comprehend."

Lauris turned around. She blinked. A man in a dark overcoat stood still behind her. He had a top hat that obscured his face, and swirls of grey mid surrounded his body.

This man was not human.

"What are you? Why are you here."

The man tilted his head. "I'm here because I want to. As for what I am, I guess you could think of me as a friendly observer, but only to those who can see."

Lauris blinked. "Right."

The man shook his head. "I'm not joking. I was the one that warned Nora of the wall. Even to those who can see, the wall is invisible, falsely benign." He sighed. "You don't need to worry about her and. It's still there. It's just not."

Lauris raised a brow.

The man shook his head dramatically. "Such narrow mindedness. Humans are the most idiotic of the lot. It's both entertaining and exasperating."

Lauris narrowed her eyes.

The man took off his top hat and bowed. "I will bid you farewell. Oh, what was I about to say?" He turned around. "Oh yes, I remember. Those eyes are an opportunity for escape." With that, he disappeared in a puff of grey mist.

Lauris couldn't stop shaking. The man had no face; it was just darkness, impenetrable darkness.

It was a void, and somehow, that scared her more than anything.

Lauris looked back at those eyes. A chance of escape. The woman thought back to the earlier incidents. That eye, did it serve as a gateway of sorts? She frowned. It sounded promising, but she wanted to check.

Mysterious entities were not the most trustworthy source of information.

Walking back down the steps, she received more suspicious stares. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. Maybe proclaiming her find was not a good idea. She needed to take a more subtle approach.

Walking towards a sobbing woman, Lauris attempted to comfort her. She sat there next to the woman and waited. It worked with her friend before when she found out about her husband's infidelity.

Sometimes, people just want someone to listen.

Lauris waited for the sobs to subside.

"What do you want?"

Lauris shook her head. "Nothing."

The woman stared at her suspiciously with reddened eyes. "They say you're mad."

Lauris shrugged.

Silence.

"You know, I don't want to die. I have kids and a husband waiting for me."

Lauris just blinked.

The woman looked down. "It was like a normal day. One moment, I was working, and the next, I was here. I can't believe that-that I'm going to die here. I'll never see my son's smile." She covered her mouth. "Oh god. I forgot. I-I I yelled at him the day before. His last memory of me is me yelling at him. He's going to grow up thinking that his mother abandoned him. He-he's going to hate me."

The rest of the woman's words came out in an obscure sob. She stopped at cried at the ceiling. "I'm such a bad mother."

Lauris looked down. It technically wasn't manipulation, or at least she didn't think so. However, she felt tightness in her chest as she gathered herself to ask a simple question. The woman took a deep breath and sighed. "Before you came here, did-did you see a statue of an eye by any chance?"

The woman looked up. "Why? Do you know anything?"

Lauris shrugged. "I don't know."

The woman frowned. Her lips wobbled as she stifled another sob. "I-I think so?"

Lauris nodded.

"W-Why?"

Lauris looked down. "It-it might be a chance to escape. I need to check, though."

The woman looked at her with desperate eyes. "Please. I'll do anything."

Lauris raised her hands. "Please, don't get your hopes up. I haven't checked."

The woman stared before pursing her lips and nodding curtly. "Right. Sorry. I just-"

Lauris shook her head. "It's fine. We all need someone willing to listen." She stood up.

"Th-Thank you."

Lauris looked down. "No worries." She walked off and frowned.

Why?

Why did it seem like she would quickly regret her decision to reveal information about the eye?

...

The Being chucked as it saw the spectacle through the various fabrics of perception. It knew that humans were foolish, but not that foolish. Who knew that little girl would blab that information out? Well, it looked like she sealed her fate. What an unfortunate outcome.

"̴E̵n̶j̵o̸y̶i̵n̴g̵ ̷t̶h̵e̷ ̸s̶h̴o̸w̶?̷"̵

The Being glanced at the Nebulous Wanderer of The Between. "̵͓̀"̶W̶h̸y̷ ̷y̸o̴u̸ ̵k̴e̴e̷p̷ ̸o̷n̶ ̷d̵o̸i̵n̵g̵ ̵t̸h̸e̵s̵e̷ ̸t̸h̴i̵n̶g̴s̶ ̴i̵s̷ ̶b̷e̷y̵o̴n̸d̷ ̷m̵e̷.̴"̷

The Nebulous Wanderer slithered around. "̵Y̸o̷u̵ ̷h̸a̴v̸e̴ ̶t̸o̶ ̴a̷d̶m̶i̴t̴ ̸t̸h̴a̸t̵ ̶y̶o̵u̷ ̶a̴r̴e̵ ̵h̶a̷v̶i̶n̸g̷ ̵f̴u̸n̵.̶"̵

The Being nodded. "̷F̵i̸n̴e̵.̶ ̶O̵h̵,̶ ̸b̵y̷ ̴t̸h̷e̵ ̶w̵a̸y̴,̷ ̵d̷i̵d̵ ̷y̸o̸u̸ ̴d̵i̴s̸c̶i̴p̸l̸i̵n̵e̸ ̵y̴o̷u̴r̸ ̸g̴a̷t̵e̵k̶e̶e̷p̷e̵r̶?̴"̵ ̶

The Nebulous Wanderer coalesced. "̶Y̵e̵s̶"̸

The Being pointed to the mass of people. "̵W̶h̴a̶t̷ ̸n̴o̵w̷?̶"̷

The Nebulous Wander dispersed.

The being shook its head, but it did catch the last words. It stared at the abstract, shifting landscape with those words echoing in its mind.

Ţ̴̛͕͈̤͓̜̦̬̈́̀̉̃͌̾͐̄͠͠h̶̛̦͇͖̝͇͆͐̅̈́̚͝͝͝e̴̛͎̗̍̓͗͆͗̀̑̓͋͘͘ ̶̝̳͇̌̇̾́̒̀͒̈̔̈́̃͗͝F̶͙̜͚̼͖̺͒̍̑̄̃͐͑̽̄̓̚i̵̡̪̫̥͙̘͈͓̎̐͂͜n̵̢̬̬̱͇͇̮̬̲̮̦͔͔̗͕̉͌a̴̺̣͔̦͉͙͐̅̍̓̈̇̾̿͘͜͝͠͝͝͝͝l̷̛͉̣̻̣͇̱̺̖̖̜͒̃̈̈́͋͛̎͜͝͝ ̷̻̺̗̤̦̑͒̔̊̾͒̇̀̕͠͝͠Å̵͉̺̲͔̻͕͖̻͆͂̀͜͠c̷͇͉̬̬̻̯̤̠̬̀̃̀̎̈́̉͝ṫ̸̢̛̻̹̫̰̙͇̖̣̻̮̱̲̣̻̍͐̋̈́̀͂̿͗͝͝

******

Well I think things are getting very interesting. The end is nigh.

Oh, and by the way, just to alleviate worries, the strange font at the end is deliberate. There is distortion in the words due to...the nature of The Between.