NurseSheGirl

An ode to my favorite online game.

The campfire died behind me when the darkness pulled me in,
Another Trial, another night, another game to win.
Four strangers dropped beneath the trees, no weapon in our hands,
Just broken hooks and rusted steel and blood across these lands.

I found a gen beneath the moon and worked beneath its glow,
Then heard that heartbeat in my chest – the Killer wasn’t slow.
A scream tore through the heavy fog, a body hit the ground,
And somewhere in the distance came that awful hooking sound.

I wanted badly to go back, to pull them from that chain,
But footsteps crushed the leaves nearby – I couldn’t risk the pain.
I crouched behind a splintered wall and begged my heart, Be still,
While something stalked the other side with every wish to kill.

The hook went quiet.
One was gone.
Three beating hearts remained.
Three frightened souls still running through this nightmare, trapped and chained.

We scattered like the frightened birds that flee before a storm,
While somewhere in the darkness moved that slow approaching form.

Another scream.

Another chase.

Another body fell.
I heard the hook accept its prize beneath the tolling bell.
I ran to help – I swear I tried – I made it halfway there,
But then their scream dissolved to smoke and vanished in the air.

I found the last one bleeding underneath a dying tree,
I knelt beside them, patched their wounds – they did the same for me.
For half a breath I felt some hope, a tiny spark of light,
Two survivors standing stubbornly against this night.

We split apart.
A heartbeat came.
Then suddenly – a cry.
I watched their silhouette collapse beneath the moonlit sky.

I watched the Killer lift them up; I watched the hook descend,
And somewhere deep inside I knew I’d lost my final friend.

Then silence.
Oh, the silence.
Not peaceful. Not serene.
The kind that makes you realize you’re the only thing unseen.
No footsteps from a teammate and no hands to pull me through,
No one coming if I’m caught.
There was only me to do.

I wanted to surrender.
I wanted to just fall.
To let the darkness take me too and finally end it all.
What good was one survivor when the other three were dead?
Why keep running through this hell with terror in my head?

But somewhere underneath the fear, beneath my shaking skin,
A stubborn little voice replied,
You’re breathing. You can win.

So I ran across the cornfield, beneath the bloody moon,
Knowing if the Killer saw me, death would follow soon.
My lungs were fire, my legs were weak, my heartbeat filled my ears,
But every step became a fight against surrendering to fear.

Then…what’s that…right there…
A doorway in the earth.
The hatch. My final chance,
To escape and be rebirthed.

The Killer’s heartbeat thundered close; I saw them start to chase,
I heard their footsteps closing in, could almost feel their pace.
I didn’t turn. I didn’t stop. I didn’t dare look back.
I threw myself toward freedom as they followed down my track.

One desperate leap.
One final breath.
One moment suspended there
Then darkness swallowed everything.
And suddenly…Fresh air.

I lay there shaking, bruised and cut, beneath another sky,
Still hearing all the voices of the ones I had watched die.
I hadn’t saved them. Couldn’t save them. Couldn’t make things right,
But somehow I had carried them beyond that endless night.

The Entity had taken three.
It nearly took me too.
But somewhere in that hopeless dark, I found the strength to move.
Not fearless, not unbroken – just too stubborn not to try.
Four survivors entered.
One escaped alive.