Chapter 1: Maisy

A strange noise awakens me. Was it footsteps? I’m not sure. My body tenses as I remembered where I was and what had happened. I hate people and now I’m trapped with nine of them in a ski lodge, all crammed inside of the heating room in the cellar. I haven’t talked to anyone yet. I have just kind of squeezed through and avoided eye contact.

A sudden snore startles me and I have to sit up to calm down. Maisy, it’s only a few hours til you’re out of here, you really shouldn’t panic every second you spend here, I tell myself.
The room’s almost dark but I’m able to make out three other cots. Only three? Where are the others? That doesn’t make sense! Again panic rises inside of me and I can’t help but begin to wheep. Slowly I make my way to the light switch, I have no other option but to wake the others. A groan can be heard from the black man in the corner as I light up the room, tears still rolling down my cheeks. A young girl sits up and rubs her eyes with the baby pink jumper she’s wearing. ,”What’s up? Are you ok?”, she asks, looking at me worringly. “Where’s our stuff?!”, the black guy literally screams and I shriek. ,”Don’t you see she’s crying? Have a little respect!” the pink girl says firmly while making her way to me. “No, he’s right! All our stuff’s gone! Why did they take our things?”, another bloke responds in a calming tone. The other six must have gone out to get help and have decided to leave us four behind. I have fallen asleep in my cot, before that plan was made, before the other people have headed out, so I couldn’t have known about that. They fill me in while the girl’s holding me in her arms, something I absolutely detest, but she has been so nice to me the past 3 minutes that I can’t reject her right now.

One after the other they introduce themselves as Tyrone, Nathan and Zoe and I speak up as well and introduce myself. After I’ve calmed down and freed myself from Zoe’s embrace, we all head upstairs for food. It might be 2 in the morning but there’s no way any of us can go back to sleep now. We still haven’t found out what has happened to our stuff, though we’ve figured the first group might have just wanted some more equippment and left it at that.

While taking out the milk from the fridge, I must have been careless, ’cause right after Tyrone points at my arm and asks ,,What’s that all about?” as if it were any of his business. I quickly pull down the sleeves of my jumper and turn around to leave his question unanswered and catch Zoe’s disapproving look at him.

Over the course of the day I manage to open up a little bit and get to know the others as well. I keep a distance from Tyrone, though I can’t help but see him glancing at Zoe’s behind every now and then. I really want to speak up and tell him off, tell him that she’s way too young and way too out of his league, but I keep my mouth shut and don’t say anything at all.
Nathan has been quiet most of the day, just like me. Is he as much of an introvert as me? He seems smart and whenever he does say something, it’s in this low, calm voice. Zoe’s been bubbling along all day. She’s talking nonstop, like a waterfall. Only five minutes after sitting down by the fireplace she has already told us her whole story. She’s spilt about her parents, her ex-boyfriends, her friends, her hometown, literally everything in five minutes. She’s been trying to get me to talk and tell her about myself, but I’ve been avoiding that. She’s really nice and all, however I can’t handle her sudden bubblyness too well. I feel like the only sane ones in this lodge are Nathan and me.

We all feel gutted when we find out about the blocked doors and windows. There’s no way we can leave the lodge, even if there’s a reason to.  None of the others have returned. Now we’re sitting round the fireplace, eating our dinner and Zoe has finally shut up after Tyrone has told her off. He might like her butt, but her bubblyness is not quite his thing.
I’m the first to fall asleep, wrapped in a cozy blanket by the fireplace. All the stress of today has made us all really tired.

Second chapter: Kathi
Third chapter:  Bastian
Fourth chapter: Matthias

I go through the woods. Trees everywhere, fir cones and pine needles on the ground. To my left there’s a little stream flowing downhill. The path I am following is marked with pebble stones. Oh, a sqirrel just climbed up one of the many pine trees. I wonder what the life of a sqirrel is like. If I were a sqirrel in the forest, I wouldn’t just climb up and down, I’d probably try jumping from tree to tree. I wonder if one of them tried that or do they do that anyway. I don’t know, I don’t care. It must be great to be a sqirrel. I can see my breath because of the cold, moist november air. What am doing out here? I should just go home seriously, it’s freezing and I’ll get a cold.
Ouch, I just tripped over a twig. See, this is a sign for me to just turn around and go home, this path will lead me nowhere. But I just pick up the earthy, dirty stick, throw it behind me and keep on going, ignoring my mind.
While walking, I cuddle myself into the fluffy scarf around my neck, my head down and kicking some stones along the path with my feet. Now, my minds free. I am thinking about nothing else but mother nature and what she created. Isn’t the world wonderful? Too wonderful for some people to see.
Oh, thinking about mother nature, she just put a freaking tree onto the path. No, that wasn’t mother nature. Some stupid lumbermen cut down that tree and didn’t take it with them. Did they realise it was too small to earn them anything only after cutting it down? Stupid ! And unlogical ! Why would they just cut down a single tree here? It seems to be the only one they cut down. Anyway, the tree isn’t big at all so I just climb over it, brush off any dirt from my trousers and keep on walking. I am not going home.
It’s just early in the morning, the sun’s slowly coming out. I can already see some rays of sunshine. They don’t change the temperature though. It’s still freezing. I am still freezing.
I reach a fork. Left or right? Where should I go? Probably home, but I don’t want to. So I just take the left path and carry on walking.
Deer! Are there any deer in there? In the forest I mean. Of course there are! There must be! They’d be scared of me, like spiders. My father always said that spiders are more afraid of me than I am of them,but I never believed him. They never start screaming like I do, so it can’t be.
I hear birds chirping. They are singing good morning songs, saying hello to one another.
Oh, wow, a wall! I mean, I have seen walls before, but this one, it’s huge. The bricks are grey, seem very old to me. The wall could be of a castle. Hold on, this is a castle. Suddenly I start running, overwhelmed with curiosity. I run back to the fork, this time taking the right path. I am all alone, no reason to rush, but I do. Heavily breathing, taking in fresh, cold air, I stand in front of an entrance to the castle. I was right, it is a proper castle. How does nobody know about this. I should tell everyone! Do I really want everyone to know? No, I don’t. I want this place for myself. Though, someone must know. I can’t be the first to find it! I just followed a path, other people have done that. Well, I will come here more often.

Lea was sick and had to stay alone at home. Hmm? Great! she thought, no school for me today. Lea lay in her bunk, sneezing and coughing, when she felt peckish. Her stomach grumbled and she knew she’d have to go downstairs to get herself something to eat, nobody else was in the house to bring her something, or, so she thought. Lazily, Lea got out of bed and went downstairs in her bright pink pyjamas, she loved that colour. In the kitchen she filled herself a cup with hot tea, opened the fridge and took out the apple crumble from the night before. On her way to her room, she passed the living room. Big shelves stocked with books, lots of decoration, a big TV and in the middle of the bright room, a comfortable couch. I’m just gonna cuddle myself up here with the tea and my crumble, watching some TV hasn’t hurt anyone yet has it?. Cozily cuddled into a fluffy blanket, between coughs devouring that apple crumble and watching an episode of Desperate Housewifes, she did not hear a man approaching her in the living room. The middle-aged guy had a knife in his hand, one that he probably took from the kitchen. What the heck? Lea turned around quickly when she heard the screech of the man’s shoes on the floor. The moment Lea turned around the stranger rammed the knife into her chest, Lea couldn’t react. What? Why? It took three stabs for her to be dead, the man added another two before quickly leaving the scene. She should have gone to school that day.