slowly fluttered my eyes open, only to see a black sky. I was lying in the middle of a old road. It's freezing. But why was I even lying down. The last thing I could remember was meeting someone who was giving me a letter then I had a headache. And now I'm on the ground? I slowly sat back up, barely feeling my toes and hands. I scratched the back of my head before noticing I was still holding the letter the stranger gave me. Bringing the letter up to read it, I was surprised when it said 'Wake up'. What does that mean. Am I suppose to be dreaming or something? Because this does not feel like a dream at all. It feels...to real. I put my attention back to the letter:

"Greeting, Akane. First off let me say it was a pleasure to finally meet you. The others prefer to just call you 'Contestant Nine', however I'll just refer you to your first name. I apoligize for not speaking to you since we just met. It was incredibly rude of me to do that. But the rules have to be followed you know. Now, you might be woundering what is happening to you. That, my friend, is up to you to figure it out. You must be shocked since this is coming out of nowhere but don't worry, I'll give you helpful tips every now and then. But don't expect me to help you out all the time. I'm not suppose to tell you much about your current situation, but I will say this, you aren't alone. Others are scattered around. But be on your toes when dealing with them. Some have been here for years and their minds became...unstable. Another note, you may not remember anything before any of this. None of you should. But the more you stay, the more you'll understand. That is all I'll say for now. Be carefull and try not to die to early. -Sincerly, T3."

I stared at the paper for some time, reading it again and again. What the hell is this? I crumbled up the paper and tossed it aside before standing back up. I hugged myself again to attempt to keep whats left of my body heat. I may have no idea what may be happening but I can't just sit here and freeze to this 'T3' person is, they are the ones who probably brought me here. So they could get me out. And how will I make them do that? I have no clue. But I need to think of something sooner or later. But for now, I need to get out of this cold. Heating in the building probably doesn't work at all. Pretty much a full guarentee due to the current state of this place. But maybe I could at least find something useful. A light, gloves, jackets, anything that will help me keep warm.

I decided to head towards the gas station. There was some cars parked around it. But with all of them having flat tires, most of it was rusted with the glass broken, it would be a useless effot to attempt to do anything with them.

When I entered the gas station, the first thing I noticed was the vines. They were even growing on the inside. Hanging onto the empty shelves and counters. This place looks like its been raided. Dried up muddy foot prints was on the tiles that isn't covered in vines or weeds. Maybe there are people some where around here. But if the letter was telling the truth, I need to be careful.

After spending some time looking around, the only thing I found was one thin black glove. It wasn't much but it would at least help me keep one of my hands warm. After a further inspection. I found A door that was nearly fully covered by the vines. I struggled a bit to open the door but managed to open it. It was a small storage room that had various objects scattered on the floor. Chairs, empty cans of food, but mostly had papers thrown on the floor. The only thing that seemed neat was a small desk with a stack of papers on it. I walked while closing the door out of habit. I slowly made my way to the desk. The papers were old with some stains on it and was sloppily written on. It was hard to read it. It seemed like whoever wrote this was in a rush. It was written by some guy named Jayson.

"...do I head south or north? They say to head north. But I can't trust them. No. Trust no one. He took my can. My food. He was suppose to help me. But he took even though I say not to. He just wants to live. Yes. He would kill me if he had to with no hesitation. Right? Right. Needed to die. Kill or be killed. Law of survival. A quick slash in his neck as he slept. Now I was safe. Oh but if more came? Trouble. Need to move. Can't stay for to long. Bad to stay, good to leave. They can't find me if I keep moving right? Right. Need to find the doorway. Doorway, doorway, doorway. Safe the man told me. The people in the masks told me. They spoke to me. Wanting me to survive. But needed to pass tests. I will live to see my life. And win my prize. Find doorway. Safe. But where. Search. Travel. Can't waist the little time I have. Now...To the south. Yes. Less people. Leave now..."

That was only a little paragraph this man wrote. The rest I can't make out. Doorway? What is that. Is that what I'm suppose to find. But can I exactly trust something that was written by someone who was obviously becoming mad?

I grabbed my forehead as a headache came. "Damn it..." I muttered out as I grabbed one of the chairs tossed to the floor and sat it back up to sit in it. I feel exhausted. Maybe a little nap would do me some good...

---

"Wake up!" I heard Hisoka's voice yell at me, I straightened up my back quickly in a little shock. I saw both Gina and Masami trying their bests to hold in their gigles but was failing at it. Koji was there as well but was sitting down with his legs crossed.

"What are you two laughing about?" I asked them as I rubbed my eyes.

"Oh nothing..." Gina said, still having that smile on her face. What did she do!?

"You know its not best to sleep around people with markers right?" Masami said.

"You have to be kidding me...what is it?"

"The classic mustache." Hisoka said. "Just be lucky that she didn't draw anything else." That's true. I remember when Hisoka fell asleep once around her and Gina tattooed his entire face with...unwanted designs of somthing.

"You didn't try to stop them or anything?" I asked him.

"You didn't when they did to me. So I say wer'e almost even now." Damn you...

"Should've went to bed early, Akane." Masami said as she saw me walk over to the small pawn to rinse my face.

"Its nice to see you too, Masami..." I splashed the water on my face and rubbed it, trying to wash away the ink as best as I can. "And, Gina, don't you think writing on people's faces is getting old?" I said as I turned to see her big dark green eyes stare back at me. She has slight pail skin along with dark red hair that reachs to her shoulders and is about five-foot-four.

"Not at all." She said as she kept a small smile on her face.

I let out a small sigh as I splashed my face with the water again. "So, what have you two been up to during summer?"

"Oh, nothing much." Gina said. "Just was extremely busy with things so I couldn't come over to your house to play a game or two." Lucky for me.

"I on the other hand, I was on a vacation out of town with the family." Masami said. Masami had light brown eyes with fair skin and chestnut brown hair she keeps in a ponytail that reaches halway down her back. She was about five-foot-six and is usally seen with the sweet innocent smile of hers.

"Really, huh?" I said. So far it seems that I'm the only one who stayed home. But I'm sure that Koji did the same thing as well. "What about you, Koji?" I asked him, as I turned my head in his direction. It seemed as if he didn't move a muscle since he sat down. He had slightly tan skin, grey eyes, and thick black hair that is almost wavy.

He shrugged his shoulders a bit, saying that he just stayed home the whole time. Looks like I was right. Koji is a rather predictable person even if you don't know him that much.

"Had a good dream?" Masami asked me. "It seemed like you were having an interesting one since your eyes kept moving under those eyelids of your and kept shifting around."

"First off, how long have you guys been watching me?"

"Not long." Gina answered.

"Creeps. Anyways I don't remember. But must have been something if I was doing all of that. Akio was telling me I was doing it a lot recently. And what's worse is that I feel like a haven't slept at all. Having some type of sleep problem maybe."

"Have you told your parents about it?" Hisoka asked.

"Nah. It's not much of a big problem for the moment. Besides, I don't feel like going to the doctors with all of that stuff. But until it becomes a pain, I'll just act as if nothing is happening. It will probably stop eventually."

"If you say so." he said with a slight shrug. "Just don't let it become an issue, alright. As funny as it would be to see Gina draw over your face, it would become a bit boring with you passed out."

"Whatever." I rubbed my face again before faceing them. "Is it gone yet?" I asked, refering to the mustache Gina drew.

"Almost." he said. "But it's not that noticeable unless you really focus on it. You should be fine."

"Really? Or are you messing with me?"

"No. That's Gina and Masami's job to mess with the group."

I was going to say something but the bell interupted me from doing so. "Lunch is already over? How long was I asleep? And where were all of you?"

"We had some things to take care of. Even if its the new s hool year, we still have a few things to do. Not to mention it was hard trying to find everyone, especially Koji. We only got here a like ten minutes ago only to find you sleeping. You can guess what happened next."

"Yeah, I have a small idea what happened..." I said as I turned to face Gina. "Anyways, we should go to our next class. We'll see each other again tomorrow. Alright?" They shook their heads in agreement. "Alright, see ya."

---

The first day of school ended and I found myself walking back home alone since Akio wanted to hand out with his friends. I don't really mind if I have to walk back by myself. Also means I'll be at the house alone for some time. My mom doesn't get off untill in a hour and a half while my step dad gets home in two hours from now.

I opened the door to walk in and shut the door before taking off my shoes. Because I slept through most of lunch, I've been starving all day. I don't really eat much and I get full pretty easily. So I just reheated the left overs from last nights dinner.

Hours passed by as I did my homework and hearing the usual greeting of my family and hearing about how their day went while eating dinner. It's always the same thing really. Like my life is a broken record. Repeating over and over. But with most people dealing with a broken record, they find it irritable. However I don't mind. Both literally and figuratively. After the day ends and I have done everything I was suppose to do, I went to bed feeling exhausted. I let out a heavy yawn as I pulled the blanket over me.