Chapter Text
MADISON
“Daphne! She’s waking up!” I heard the frantic cry.
It took me awhile to realize that I was awake. I forced myself to peek through my eyelids, and behold, saw two silhouettes hovering over me. My hand moved to shield my eyes from the glare of the ceiling lights.
What the-?
“Honey? Are you alright?” A gentle feminine voice asked, tone laced with worry.
“Huh?” I managed to force a word from my mouth. My throat screamed with the effort, dry and scratchy.
“Good Lord, she needs water. Fallon, dear, could you?”
A moment passed, then a hand gently pushed me into a seating position and a cup was brought to my lips. Before I knew it, I was gulping down water desperately, eager to diminish the dryness in my throat.
“Slowly, dear. We don’t want you throwing all of that back up like Noah did,” the same woman chuckled.
Someone groaned and everyone else laughed.
As my vision started to focus, I could make out a middle aged woman with long blonde hair cascading down to her waist and a shade of deep maroon lipstick on. She knelt by my side, gently coaxing me to ‘slow down with the water intake’.
A young brunette with sunglasses on her head watched as I swallowed slowly, concern etched on her face. As my eyes landed on the next person, I choked on my water.
“You good buddy?” The brunette asked.
“Avery?” I coughed, shocked.
“Hey, I don’t know why we’re both here. I had nothing to do with this!” She immediately defended herself.
“Where are we?” I pressed.
My question was met with silence.
“I don’t know,” Avery admitted.
“Actually,” a man in a white suit jacket spoke up. “I do. I used to be a regular here. It’s the casino, co-owned by that woman over there.” He pointed to a woman in blue, with light brown highlights in her hair. She sat gloomily in front of a casino machine, staring into blank space. “Her name is Ruby. I’m Callum.”
“And I’m Daphne,” the blonde woman offered.
“Fallon,” the brunette followed suit.
“Oh,” I muttered. “I’m Madison.”
I gave Avery a pointed look. She shrugged.
“There are more people in the rest area,” she said. “You should meet them.”
–
After a rather rushed toilet break, Avery hurried me down a winding corridor.
“Maddy,” she whispered, turning to look back occasionally, almost as if she was worried. “Keep your eyes forward and don’t react to anything you see.”
“What? Why?” I barely managed to ask before she shushed me.
The rest area was a small room with two tables, one with six seats and the other with one. It was occupied but five other people, some wandering around, some sitting. All eyes flew towards us when the door creaked open.
“Hey y’all,” Avery announced. “This is Madison.” She leaned in, hissing in my ear, “Remember, whatever happens, do not react.”
She nudged me forward. A young man with messy, soft taupe brown hair and a cream jacket was slumped over by the wall, most likely unwell. A woman pin-straight black hair had her back to the wall, scanning me up and down cautiously. My eyes danced around the room before finding out exactly what Avery meant.
My heart skipped a beat. A man with pale blonde hair and striking green eyes sat by himself at the smaller table, gaze locked intently on me.
“What is he doing here?” I turned back to Avery and hissed back, but she had disappeared again, most likely back to the bigger room I woke up in.
“Hey,” a lady in a jeweled dress and a feather headpiece called out, catching my attention. She sat next to a man in a white button-up by the larger table, waving me over. I glided over and sat myself across from the two of them, ignoring how Oliver’s eyes tracked my movement.
“Hi,” the man smiled, reaching across the table to shake my hand. “I’m Sean.”
“Melania,” the woman smiled.
“Sean and Melania?” I burst. “As in Bryers and Karts Enterprises?”
Melania nodded. “We do own that company together. It’s a family business that our forefathers built together and has been passed down to us.”
My head spun. Melania Bryers and Sean Karts were sitting across the table from me. I remembered reading the news headline that they now owned the business a few months back, which brought my attention to one more thing.
“Where’s your security? This place should be littered with them.” I pointed out.
They shared a look. “Oh, that,” Sean laughed nervously. “We don’t know too.”
Just on cue, the speakers blared to life, a robotic voice mixed with static and microphone feedback. I tore my gaze from the two and scanned for any visible speakers, but found none.
“All twenty of the players have awoken. The game shall now commence.”