Eliana

Eliana wearily opened her eyes. She could not remember where she was before nor did know where she was now. The room she was in was small, with fluorescent lights on the ceiling and small pipes leading across the walls. There was a bathtub in one corner while near it was two sinks with a large mirror above them. Curiously, there was also a television set in the middle of the floor, with wires that led into the far wall. There was also a single door in the room.

Staggering to her bare feet, Eliana went to go look at herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was short and ragged and she sported a white tank top with black shorts. Most noticeable, however, was her face. She had an inexplicable black eye, as well as dried blood under her nose. Eliana tried turning on the sink faucet to wash her face but there was no water running through the pipes. Turning away from the sinks she tried to open the door, but it there was no handle or knob of any sort. She tried calling out to someone.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" she said while banging on the door. There was no answer. "Hello! There's somebody in here!" Again no answer.

Suddenly a loud static noise filled the room. Startled, Eliana quickly turned around to see that the television had turned on. As she approached to inspect it, the television then displayed a rather bizarre image. Someone was holding up a dried starfish on a stick in front of the camera. The starfish itself had googly eyes glued onto it, making the image rather comical. Just then, a voice came from the video. It was slightly distorted, sounding like a deep whisper.

"Hello Eliana. You may not know me but I certainly know you. I know you and your wretched kind all too well and that is why I want to play a game." The voice said, with the starfish wiggling at each word. Eliana was clearly perplexed by this, while the voice continued to speak.

"Inside this building, you must face a series of puzzles I have constructed. The nature of these puzzles will test your sanity, as well your want to live. I must warn you, the entire building is being pumped with a deadly nerve gas that will kill you within the hour."

Eliana's eyes widened upon hearing this and looked around, noticing several vent shafts on the walls. Suddenly, the door began sliding open, revealing a long hallway. Without hesitation, she ran out of the room with the starfish manipulator uttering a final message.

"Let the games begin."

The hallway eventually led to another small room, similar to the first. Eliana noticed another television but this one also had what appeared to be a game console hooked up to it, with a single controller. On top of the television was a game cartridge with the words "PLAY ME" written in marker. Doing as it said, she placed the game into the console and switched it on. Once again the starfish appeared.

"A strong fascination with video games can be an interesting hobby. Especially when the game is out to get you."

The screen then switched to what seemed to be a Crash Bandicoot game. Eliana wasn't exactly sure what she was suppose to do, but decided playing the game was all she could do at that point. Using the controller, she made the titular character run through the level, though this all that she could really do. There were no obstacles or enemies in the level, with running down the path being the only thing she could do. Then, Crash suddenly stopped moving and turned to face the viewer. Eliana tried pressing all the buttons on the controller, but Crash kept staring at her. Just then, all the lights and the television shut off, leaving the room pitch black. Shuffling could be heard in the darkness as Eliana started to panic. The lights came back on and Eliana saw what was equal parts ridiculous and terrifying.

There was a person wearing an old promotional Crash Bandicoot mascot costume with blood stains on it, wielding a machete. Eliana screamed as the person lunged at her with the weapon. She managed to duck a fatal blow as she scrambled back towards the hallway, with the murderous mascot following behind. As she reached the first room, the mascot tripped over the wires connecting the first television, dropping the machete. Thinking quickly, Eliana picked up the machete and started hacking away at the downed Crash. Blood started leaking out of the slashed costume with each sickening whack. Finally Eliana dropped the blood soaked machete and fell to her knees. Tears rolled down her face as she tried to gather herself.

Finally coming back to her senses, Eliana picked up the machete for safe keeping and went back to the room with the game console. When she entered the room, another door had opened leading out to another hallway. Still shaking a bit, she headed towards the door.

At the end of the end of the hallway was the entrance to yet another room. This one was a bit larger. When Eliana stepped in, a sharp pain shot through her feet. Looking down, she saw that broken glass covered the floor and her feet started to bleed. Suddenly the door shut behind her, startling her while also causing the pain to worsen. Eliana took a careful look around while picking the glass out of her heel. On the wall was a bunch of lettering the stretched all around the room. On the other side of the room was a door with a monitor with a keypad. Once again the starfish appeared on the screen.

"It's not only those who have no need for new ideas. It also applies to those take the joke too far. On these walls is a message that you must decipher. I want you to feel the pain others go through when they try to decipher something so putrid and trite."

Making her way to the monitor, it now displayed a bar in which to enter the message using the keypad. Realizing now what she must do to escape, Eliana gritted her teeth and carefully made her way to the letters on the wall. Her feet were being torn apart by the glass as she managed to get to the first wall. The letters read:

"GHUIZE EAI SHURR WHUNT"

Eliana continued, wincing in pain at every step to the next wall.

"SHOM PHAT UNYUNS FIR DAH ASHOOL"

Finally, trying not to pass out from the amount of pain she had endured, she finally made it to the last wall.

"AHND DENN UH SHCELLETINZ PAWPPED OWT"

Making her way back to the monitor, Eliana leaned on the keyboard and screamed, trying to dull out the pain that was shooting up her legs. After giving it a bit of thought, she managed to type in the message but at the cost of severe pain as well as damage to her sanity. Once the correct message was typed in, the door opened and Eliana stumbled into the next room, wanting desperately to get off her shredded feet.

Tearing a bit of her shirt, Eliana made wrappings around her feet, which provided little relief from the pain. Knowing well that time was running out, she looked around the room and noticed it was another hallway only this one was much darker, with flickering lights. Slowly getting to her feet, Eliana shuffled her way down the hall. At the end, she noticed that the path forks down two other hallways. A tape recorder was also hanging from the ceiling via a piece of string. Grabbing the recorder, she pressed the play button and the same voice as the starfish came through.

"Within the many halls of this maze roam a number of troubled youth, under the delusion that they have special superhuman abilities, when merely they have taken hallucinogens. They set out to make their own names and unique appearances when in actuality, they are all the same. They'll try to fulfill that delusion by murdering the innocent. What will you chose? Carve your own name into the equation, or try to escape with what little you have left?"

Steadying the machete, slowly made her way down the left hall. As she traveled, the flickering lights and seemingly distant sound of machinery made every step tense up. Eliana started sidling against the wall as the hallway had a turn coming up. Creeping close to the edge, Eliana peeked around then suddenly withdrew her head back, her breathing becoming erratic. She had seen a person in a grey pullover, facing the other way brandishing a meat cleaver. Eliana could hear the person mumbling to himself, about "bullies" and "being one with the trees." Slowly making her way back down the way she came, Eliana was going to try to make it to the other hallway when she heard something behind her.

"Have a good night..."

Turning around, she saw the person standing in plain view. His face was mutilated, with his cheeks missing large chunks of flesh, as if he used the meat cleaver he wielded on himself at one point. Ignoring the pain her feet, Eliana started sprinting away, not wanting to get into another confrontation. When she felt she ran a good distance she looked behind her and saw that he was gone. She stopped to look around and realized she had ran much farther into the halls, effectively losing the meat cleaver guy but also getting herself lost. Eliana sat against the wall to catch her breath when she heard a high voice pipe up near her.

"Lots of juicy human meat..."

Eliana looked up and saw a young girl, the flickering light enhancing her menacing grin. Scrambling to her feet, she held the machete at her and slowly started backing away. With another flicker of the dim lighting, the young girl vanished. Frantically looking around, Eliana felt a sharp pain and clutched her stomach. She began to vomit onto the floor, with blood mixing in with her own bile. 

"The nerve gas...." she uttered, knowing now that she needed to escape soon less she die. Wiping her mouth, Eliana started to walk faster down the halls, not knowing or even caring, which paths she takes at this point. After taking many winding twists and turns, as well as encountering ineffectual drugged up teenageers, she finally made it to a door with an exit sign above it. Eliana rushed to the door and pushed it open being engulfed in a bright light.

"CONGRATULATIONS ELIANA, YOU"VE WON!"

When Eliana's eyes adjusted, she stood there dumbfounded. The door she took led to the stage of  what appeared to be some sort of game show. As she looked around, confetti was raining down upon her as a studio audience cheered her on with applause. On the other side of the stage was a man in a suit behind a booth. He was gesturing her to stand closer to him. As she walked over, still in shock, the man began to speak.

"How about it folks? What she something or what?" The crowd roared in agreement. "Eliana here managed to get past all of the challenges without dying a horrible or stupid death! This is quite a rare spectacle for this show and for that she gets to spin..." At this moment the man in the suit held his ear up to the audience as if waiting for the answer.

"WHEEL OF RELIEF!"

Just then, a large decorated wheel rose up from the stage floor, with many prizes displayed. A lever was near the wheel that was also similarly decorated.

"Just spin the wheel Eliana and take home a prize for putting on such a magnificent display!" the man in the suit said. Still unsure of what was going on, Eliana pulled the lever and the large wheel starting spinning. After awhile, the wheel stopped on the prize that read, "Sticky Starfish!" The crowd suddenly made a collective sound of distraught,

"Aww, tough luck kid. You're only going home with a replica of Sticky the Starfish! Better luck next time." The man in the suit then handed Eliana the starfish with googly eyes that led her through the trials she just faced. She looked at the starfish, then at the host and then at the machete. 

A long pause was held, as Eliana kept alternating gazes between the three, until she let out a yell and buried the machete into the man's head. Blood spilled out as the audience screamed and scrambled to get out of the studio. Eliana kept whacking away at the corpse of the man, until the stage ran red with his blood. Eliana stood up and wiped off some of the blood that got on her face. The studio was now empty, with Eliana being the only one left. Looking around, she saw the starfish on the ground, partially stained with the blood of her brutal kill.

Eliana bent down to pick it up, looking it over with newfound interest. She then walked out of the studio, machete in one hand and a googly-eyed starfish in the other.

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