Mind Games (FIRST DRAFT)
Chapter 3

Mike had won Hot Potato.

Mother walked Mason, Lily, Luca, and Mei down a hallway (which Mei hadn’t noticed before) and led each of them to a separate room, saving Mei for last.

As Mother and Mei got closer and closer to the dark ebony door at the end of the hall, Mei got more and more nervous. Her hands began to sweat and her heart rate increased. They reached the end, and Mei felt as though her lungs collapsed in her chest. Mother turned the silver knob and revealed a somewhat large room, with dark-wood floors and black and red velvet walls. A single, rusted conventional oven stood in the far corner, with smokey blue flames flicking their tongues at Mei. Mei cringed back some, though Mother beckoned her in.

Mother beckoned her closer and closer to the oven until Mei was a half inch away from the fire. Mother held out her hand, and motioned for Mei to give Mother her’s. Mei complied half-heartedly, and as soon as Mother had a firm grasp on Mei’s left hand, Mother slammed her hand along with Mei’s on the flames. Shocked by the brute force of the slam and the sudden burn of the fire, Mei gasped and teared up, and tried to pull her hand away. However, Mother was much. much stronger than Mei and was able to resist Mei without much effort. Mei screamed in pain, tears leaking down her red cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for Mother to release her, sobbing quietly. When Mother let her go after what felt like forever, she cradled her burnt forearm. Mother, still smiling sweetly, suddenly began to put a cooling cream on Mei’s hand gently. Mei hadn’t the energy to fight back, and allowed Mother to wrap her hand.

“I’ll be back later dear,” Mother reassured Mei, “I just have to help the others.”

…

Soon, the rest of the teens (besides Ray) gathered in a room with many pillows and blankets strewn about the floor. Mason lounged back on the pillows, while Lily and Mike played a game of Candy Land™. Luca was curled in a corner, sleeping most likely.

“Welcome back Mei.” Mike nodded toward her, moving his red gingerbread man to Chocolate Falls. Lily waved to Mei, then picked up a card and moved her yellow piece to a purple spot near Lollipop Lane.

“Hm.” Mei plopped herself by Mike, and leaned on his shoulder. “Do you guys get burnt to?”

Mason brought his head up and explained, “Nah, it’s different for everyone. I gotta stay in a room with this nasty mixture of ammonia and bleach. Lily there,” Lily shrank at the sound of her name, “she has to take a spoonful of ammonia. Mike got this dog chain punishment thing, and Luca over there, he got this thing where he’s almost frozen.”

“Oh,” was all Mei had to say. She had never heard anything more horrific. After a few minutes of only the noise of moving plastic game pieces, Mei asked, “What about Ray..?”

“We don’t talk about Ray.” Mike interjected. “They left us to go work for that bitch.” Lily put her hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Ray was so sick and tired of getting his limbs cut off, and after 6 amputations, they decided they’d be better off without us and left us to suf- speak of the Devil.” he whispered as Ray opened the door.

“You.. you guys should be a little quieter- Mother just went to sleep, and it’d be best to keep her that way.” Ray whispered.

“Oh, shut up,” Mason half-whispered, half-yelled. “Go back to ass-kissing.” Mei was shocked at this sudden hatred coming off of Mason, who seemed like such a sweet person.

Ray then had this sweet, sad smile from on their face, which also shocked Mei. Ray was normally so smug. They shut the door slowly, then was heard rolling away in their wheelchair. “Asshat,” she heard one of her new-found friends say.

After waiting a minute or two, Mei asked, “What do you guys remember from before her?” She curious to see if anyone else could remember. She sure as hell couldn’t.

Mike responded, “I know I had a mom and 2 dads, one was a step dad-, and a sister who was born a boy.” Mason nodded, and added on, “I had a friend who was a boy and girl, and only a mom.”

Lily piped in, speaking with her tiny voice, “Me and Luca are siblings, and we didn’t have a mom or dad. B-but-! We did know a girl who said that some days she was a girl, somedays was a boy, somedays was neither, and somedays were both.”

At that moment, the lights began to dim, and the rest of the participants (as Lily called them) went to their own corners. Mei chose a spot behind the door and cuddled in to her new blankets. This was going to take a bit to get used to.. but it would be alright. She began to think of Mike, his sister and parents; she imagined what they looked like- and she thought of his tanned skin and pretty eyes- maybe being here wouldn’t be so bad if he was here to. Mei cradled her burnt hand and fell asleep, thinking of Micheal.

End of Chapter Three.

Word Count: 912

Character Count: 7?