The Death's Game

21. Game of Smoke

"I grabbed that from the wall next to the door," Ryder said, handing Percy a small piece of paper. "That'd explain where we are."

The Basement

1. Do not walk or talk loudly, IT can hear you. Do not try to understand what IT is. IT has been here longer than it can remember.

2. Do not let your fear control you. IT feels your fright. If you fall into its trap you will stop being yourself and become one of IT forever.

3. Exit this room with courage and self-confidence. You will not see IT, but IT will be watching you.

4. If the things around you are not real, and you believe they don't exist, they cannot exist.

5. If you come from the theater, the black will help you. If you come from another place, do not trust anything black.

"And how does it exactly explain where we are?" Percy asked doubtfully. "Because, honestly, maybe I'm too stupid for that riddle, but I don't understand anything that's written here. IT? What is IT, exactly? 'Cause I surely hope that it's not a fucking clown."

Ryder snorted with laughter, which caught Percy by surprise. She hadn't heard anything make him laugh like that before. In fact, she hadn't heard him laugh before. However, he quickly reverted to his mask of an arrogant, unafraid, emotionless macho who all the girls probably chase.

"Honestly, horrors suck."

With these words, a kind of understanding formed between them. Percy loved watching horror movies, and they used to even scare her - except the ones about zombies, of course - but over time she realized that they were just silly tales that had nothing to do with reality.

"Yeah, they do, yet they're still fun to watch."

Ryder shrugged. "I mean, come on, bloodthirsty clown? A killer with a chainsaw? A monster killing you in your sleep? Something that follows you until it kills you? More serial killers? And ugh, that horrible and untrue depiction of Satan, who strangely enough has plenty of time to just happen to meddle in human affairs and try to kill his prey? First of all, Satan surely wouldn't have time for it unless it was something really personal. Second of all, humans can't create real monsters because neither of them, living ones, has ever seen what a real monster could look like."

Percy smiled. She totally agreed but couldn't resist saying, "what are you studying, horror cinematographic?"

They were walking through yet another long corridor that seemed to be endless. There were some paintings on the walls, some looking like written in blood, others carved in the wall. The slight red light was flowing on the floor, illuminating the path they were walking. Percy tried not to look down, as unpleasant smoke rose around her feet, all along the corridor. She had the impression that with each step the smoke rose higher and higher, that they went deeper into it. She tried to keep her fear inside, but she didn't like the fact that she couldn't exactly notice her feet. Covering them with smoke meant she couldn't see what else might have been on the floor. All she could see was that red light, which made the smoke even creepier, giving it a bloody color. It felt really like walking into the unknown.

Somehow, this unknown felt safer with Ryder by her side.

"Studying horror," Ryder smirked bitterly. "Try living it." But Percy had no idea what he was talking about. "You know, people tend to create more evil, more scary, more horrible monsters, over and over again, trying to scare the shit out of viewers, but the truth is, not even the most horrific, worst looking, biggest monster can compare itself to a human being."