The Ever Maze

(Its my first story and I had no idea what to type so here you go and by the way this is a fictional story and its going to be a spooky story. IT IS NOT COMPLETE YET.)

This story takes place in Tracy in a two story house. The story starts on Friday and on Friday you don`t have any homework. You are a 13 year old author (but only online do you make stories) who gets annoyed easily (thanks to your anxiety) and normally feels despondent and sleeps in their clothes. You have two younger siblings, 11 year-old Kirie (Kir ree) and 5 year-old James. You have a cat, Whinnifred (a.k.a Whinnie). You have a mom and dad. Everyone in the house loves to play video games. There are 4 bedrooms, 1 of them is the computer room for whatever reason. The house has 1 living room and a kitchen. Both are down stairs. The bedrooms are upstairs. It also has 2 bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. This house has a few closets along with a pantry that is near the kitchen.

You sighed as you walked home. Your backpack was growing heavy on your backpack but, lucky for you, your house was just in sight. The cat walked by your leg. She made her usual purrr sound she would make when you came back from school.

"Welcome back home, honey." your mother called from the kitchen as you entered.

You stroked the back of your orange tabby cat that you had just picked up. You didn't reply but instead smiled at your mother.

"How was your day sweetheart?"

You responded

"It was great mom."

and carried Whinnifred to your room upstairs all while carrying your backpack on your back. You set her down on your bunk of the bunk bed (You slept on the bottom because your little 5 year-old brother was scared of the "monsters" in the closet). Your 10 year old sister however, had her own room (that used to belong to you) because your little brother insisted that he wanted you to protect him from the "Eeeeevil closet". Tch! You set your backpack down at the end of the bunk bed near the corner where your study table and the bed meet near the wall on the right side of the ladder. You grabbed your laptop from underneath your bed while Whinnifred snuggled up on your pillow waiting expectantly. It was at this time you noticed your cat was in her loaf of bread form. You could not resist cuddling the fuzzy loaf. You placed your laptop near the end of the lower bunk and gently pressed your face into Whinnifreds fluff. You climbed up on the bottom bunk while still having your face within Whinnie`s fur. Your reeled your face out of her fur and sat by your pillow to pet your cat and play Animal Jam. Your cat started drooling from being petted and kneaded your pillow. She rubbed her face on your hand. You turned your computer on. It took at least 5 to 10 minutes to boot up.

You signed into the computer. It loaded the desktop. It finally loaded the icons on the screen after 3 minutes. took you long enough you thought. Considering the fact that the laptop was given to you since your dad bought a new one for work, you, unfortunately, got the slow one. You clicked on the Animal Jam icon (yes you downloaded the game) and it started its slowly loading again. It loaded after 6 minutes. It popped up with the normal login screen. You signed into Animal Jam and waited for it to load. It loaded after 2 minutes. It loaded your animal. Your animal spawned in Jamaa township. You moved the animal around Jamaa using the arrow keys (and mouse) and started your normal trading with other users. Click Click Click. After a few trades there was one player who continuously made trade requests for the necklace (that you had on trade) and would trade you a... studded collar? Since the necklace was something you could always get, and the player might be trying to troll you anyway, you accepted the trade.

The trade pop up showed with the " are you sure you want to trade your necklace" text. You clicked on yes. You got the studded collar. The person who traded for the necklace sent you a Jam-A-Gram with the text "If you value your family, your pets, your home, or whatever it is that you care for -they sent you another Jam-A-Gram because they hit the limit of the first one- You will not put on that studded collar. Heed my warning for you will reap what you sow.". What on earth? They sent you another Jam-A-Gram with more text "Do not recycle it either, if you do, there is no more turning back.". They sent you one final Jam-A-Gram. "Trade it to someone else or keep it but do not wear it." You where completely confused. ''How bad can a simple virtual item be? Why is this person trying to creep me out? What kind of dumb joke is this? ''You would have shrugged it off but your curiosity got the better of you. You sent Sweetsugarwolf5040 (who was a member at the time) a friend request to get more information about the studded collar but even if it was a joke, it sounded interesting so maybe they would like to help you write a story? You doubted that. She accepted your request and logged out. When she logged out you thought she may never log on again like some online friends of yours.

You hoped she logged in again. You looked at Whinnifred. She looked at you lovingly. you where still petting the american tabby when she rolled over on her back. You rubbed her belly. She was like a little dog. She enjoyed getting her belly rubbed. You left animal jam on and you went to go get Whinnie`s treats in the kitchen. You closed the door behind you as you exited to keep the cat in your room. You made your way down stairs. As you entered the kitchen you saw your little sister at the table with her iPad eating cereal even though it was not even morning.

"No eating cereal with your iPad Kirie." She glared at you "You remember what happend last time you did? You spilled your cereal on it and we had to buy a new one for you because the other one would not turn back on!"

She growled and lifted up her iPad towards you. You took it and put it on the table next to the couch where she usually sat and went back to the kitchen. You opened the cabinet and took the cat treats. You felt Kirie`s glare boring into your back as you walked away with the cat treats. You walked upstairs and entered you and your brothers room. You shook the treats as the cat came out from under the bunk bed. She meowed loudly while looking up at the treats. You gave the cat some treats that you poured into your hand. Your little brother entered the room. He greeted you with a hug.

"Hello James." you said as he watched the cat eat treats from your hand.

He grinned.

"Whinnie is a good kitty." he said petting the purring feline and ignoring your hello.

She was happy. By the time the cat was done eating the treats she was picked up by James and taken up onto the top bunk. You looked outside. Jeez its night time already?

Your mother called, "Alrighty kids time for bed."

"Awww" James responded.

You looked behind you as your mother looked towards James.

"No cats on the top bunk James."

James shook his head in defiance.

"She wont pee on the top bunk again mommy." he whined.

"James, please give mother the cat. Don`t make it difficult." you responded with a tad bit of irritation in your voice.

"Fine.."

he said in annoyance. James handed Whinnifred to mother. She placed the cat on the ground. Whinnie walked in her usual sassy way as she wandered out of you and your brothers room through the open door. James glared you and mother. He huffed in anger and turned around (facing the wall) and laid down on the top bunk. You closed the door, turned off the light, and climbed into bed.

~The next day~

You awoke in a sweaty mess. Tears rolled down your face as you shook. ''It was not real. It was only a nightmare. Nightmares are not real. I am fine. You`re fine. ''You tried calm yourself with these thoughts. ''But it felt so real.. you pushed the dream out of your mind. ''You swiped the tears away and looked around. you sat up and out of the blankets so you could take a shower and change into dry clothes. James came into the room while you where still sitting on the bed.

"Oh! Are you ok? Why are you crying?" he asked, feeling pity for you.

"Ah.. it`s nothing.. it was only a nightmare." you responded in a shaky voice.

Kirie peaked in the door. She was like the devil. She brags and gossips about you and James. However, she only says good things about James even when she is mad at him. She would ridicule and blame you for everything and bragged to her friends about how mean you where to her even though you haven`t even done anything to make her mad at you that day. Most of the time she gets you into trouble just for her enjoyment at home.

"Hahaha! You`re scared of a simple nightmare? Pshhhh! See James that is why I should defend you from the monsters in the closet!" she snapped.

"No! They are older and wiser than you!" James argued back.

She got on your nerves with her boasting. Kirie and James did not get along well. This is might very well be the reason why he was defending you and wanted you to protect him. Kirie glared at James and you.

"Everyone has nightmares Kirie!" he said clearly vexed.

Kirie hissed. You called her a dolt (a.k.a a stupid person) and she gave you the look of confusion. She clearly did not understand what dolt meant. She glared at you as you grinned.

"Tch! Fine! But if they leave you for dead when the monsters come to get you don`t blame me!"

Kirie slammed the door shut. You made your way to the closet and got some of your dry clothing. You wandered to the shower to clean the sweat off of you.

The dream was still vivid in your mind. There where dull grey brick walls that reached into a vast sky which was an endless black. The worn out walls housed the roots of ivy. Moss grew where blood was shed. The ground was a dark brown that looked as though it was drenched in water. However, the ground was firm and promised not to turn into mush. Fear had pricked your back as you noticed you where not alone and you could not move anything below your neck. A blurred group of animals in front of you stared. They made no noticeable movements. You couldn't quite tell what they looked like but you could see that there where five figures standing there. One was a smokey gray and was taller than all the others. The one next to it was a dull white and was small. The third one was a grayish black mixed with a light blue and was taller then the white smudge but short and fat.. it looked like your fox in a way. The second to last was a colorless navy. It was short and thin but had dots of crimson on both sides. The last was an ill dark green but was taller than the three previously mentioned and was shorter than the grey tall thing. It had white mixed into it. You felt hot breath on the top of your head. You looked up to see a blurry face staring down at you. Its doglike hands were on your shoulders. It stood like a human and wore a silky grey and blood stained suit and black tie. Panic rose in your chest as everything around you quickly started to blur around the face of whatever it is that was staring down at you. Then darkness.

You snapped back to the present. You realized that the water was burning hot. You yelped and turned to knob of the shower to make it colder but not too cold. You washed yourself and got into the clean dry clothes that were black. You exited the shower and started back towards you and your brothers room. You left the door open for Whinnifred. You said good morning to the cat as she pushed her way into the room. You got out your laptop from underneath your bed. You sat on the bed with the computer on your knees. You turned it on and logged in to it again. You pulled up Animal Jam and signed in. Sweetsugarwolf5040 was online. You clicked her profile in your buddy list and went to her den. You moved your animal into the door way of the small house.

"OH THANK HEAVENS YOU LISTENED" she answered as you moved your animal in.

Just as you where about to type she answered again.

"Nobody has been following my warnings these days.." her wolf then had a mournful look on its face and tilted its head down.

W''ait.. Animal Jam avatars are not support to do that. What the- ''

She replied again "But I am glad you did."

It typed too fast for it to be a human. This is the kind of stuff that would happen to you if you were in a poorly typed Animal Jam creepypasta. Just then your animal swiveled its eyes twice (as if telling her that you were there). After that its eyes returned to normal

"Ah! Your with your player too? Fantastic!"

Your animal signaled towards you again but with a little more panic in its eyes.

"Oh don`t bother with the rules of our little universe." as she spoke she turned her head, raised her paw up and down in a shooing way, and rolled her eyes.

Your animal did not change its stance but had a look of pure concern written on its face. Your animal continued to play its breathing animation.

"Well come on. Just show them." the wolf leaned forward towards your animal.

Your animal kept its stance and made its face change back to normal.

"Oooh you`re no fun." the wolf whined.

You were completely stunned. In fact, you were so stunned that you didn't notice the cat chilling on your hands that were on the keyboard. The bread loaf was sleeping on your hands. You felt bad for having to wake Whinnifred. You shifted your hands and the cat woke up. She looked up at you then got up and curled up next to your left thigh. You looked up at the screen just as your animal looked away from you. You realized you missed some of the conversation by doing so.

"Anyway, i`m guessing that you did'`t sleep well?"

The wolf shifted its attention to you. You didn't respond.

"Well?.."

She gave you an impatient look and started tapping her paw gently. You gave in.

"Not really.." you typed in and sent.

"Yeah.." the wolf looked at the ground with pain stinging her eyes. She looked up and said

"I`m here if you need me. I don`t friend those that do not have one of those few collars."

You were interested in what the wolf was saying and had an ocean of questions to ask.

''Who are you? What are you? How are you moving in such different ways then what you are programmed to do? What does my nightmare mean? What happens if I put the collar on? What do you mean by "few collars"? Is there anyone else with this collar? Does it do the same thing? What do you mean by "nobody has been following my warnings these days"? What happened to the people that put the collar on?''

A look of frenzied terror was spread clean on the wolf`s face for some reason unknown to you. Her eyes looked as though she was on the verge of crying. The wolf shrank back into the wall of the small house.

"You must leave at once!"

Just as you were going to type "why?" into the chat she locked her den and you were kicked out.

You opened her profile again. She was still on and her profile looked like it normally would. You sighed. These days just keep getting weirder and weirder... I wonder what would happen if I entered her den again. You decided to test the den button. You surprisingly got in even though she locked her den. Must've locked it and unlocked it you thought. as you entered her den you noticed that there was another player here but they left before you could move. Who was that? You clicked near the small den to move your animal. It moved downwards as though it hit an invisible barrier. You clicked past the barrier. A pop-up showed up saying "No. I don`t want to go there." You did it again. The pop-up showed again and you clicked "ok" again. You noticed your animal had a grave expression on its face. Your animal reluctantly moved on its own in the direction of the small house when you clicked a third time.

The wolf was laying there with bite marks and scratches. The wolf was bleeding but breathing. She kept trying to get up but kept falling into her own pool of blood. She got up at last and shook the blood off her side as though it was water.

"Disregard my wounds. I am fine. We just need to get you to a safe place where He won`t find you. Follow me."

''Blood? Animal Jam is a kid friendly game.. it shouldn't have blood. ''Another thought bubbled up in your mind. ''He? Who is "He"?'' you pondered. She disappeared. You clicked her username in the buddy list. It brought up her profile. You were going to click the follow buddy button but it teleported you with her before you could click it.

Your animal was in an endlessly white room. Beside your animal stood the strange wolf. Where ever the wolf walked, drips of blood would follow. The wolf roamed the area for a little bit then said

"I hope this will do. He shouldn't be able to get in.."

"Who is He?" you typed.

"Ah.. I suppose I should've specified who He is. That other "player" you saw in my den is the Ever Maze`s master. Hence the name "Maze Master" It follows his orders. It is used like a toy for him. He will tease you with showing you the exit then throw a wall in front of it till your at the center of the maze where the beast is. Now the beast is a WHOLE ’nother story. It-'

Another person showed up.

"I knew I`d find you here in another one of your many secret areas. : )"

The wolf`s face went pale.

The other player`s foxes face was morbid. It had light pink bloodshot eyes that where bulging out of their sockets. Its mouth hung slack with a line at the corners that curved into a smile of dipping blood. The teeth where yellowed and broken. The tongue was cut in half and the lower jaw dripped the blood from its tongue. Pools of blood poured from the red line in its neck. Its fur was matted with blood and it looked unkempt. It kept the default animal pattern except that the pattern was light black. The secondary color was a dull white. and the main color was a dry orange. The only distinct feature of the fox was the silver suit and jet black tie with both new and old crusted blood.

"Ah yes! You found my new pal! Thank you!"

The wolf mouthed I`m sorry to you. Your animal leapt away from the fox in horror. The foxes character bugged out and appeared again next to your animal. Your account was logged out once your animal was touched by the fox. This didn't scare you but it gave you anxiety. You closed to laptop and slid it under your bed. You sighed. You presumed someone had hacked the game and hopefully not your account. You decided to play Little Big Planet 3 on the PS4. You played that for the rest of the day with your little brother and little sister.

You went to bed that night as James entered the room.

~The next day~

You woke up with another strange nightmare. This time you were in the worn maze again. You couldn't move anything below your neck again. You looked around. Your arm was held in the blurry-thing`s hand. The creature was close enough for you to smell it`s putrid stench. You couldn't see its face but you where sure it was smiling. You felt an annoying pain in your chest and looked down. Your jaw fell. A katana was plunged deep into your heart, which was wielded in the things hand, and was crimson as it had exited through your back. You tasted the blood running into your mouth. You felt your body going limp. In the distance you could see the smudges of color standing in horror behind it. Your eye lids involuntarily fluttered and closed. Again, you drifted off into the darkness.

You snapped back into reality again after day dreaming. You got up and checked animal jam again to make sure nothing was missing. You sighed in relief and checked your buddy list. Sweetsugarwolf5040 was online. You entered their den. It looked normal apart from the splashes of blood. You wanted to follow them but the follow buddy button didn't work. You then realized you forgot about the collar. You thought about what the wolf said. You started to feel rebellious. You opened your inventory and found the collar instantly. You clicked it. Nothing happened. You felt as though you had been trolled. You were annoyed and thought that the wolf was a hacker. The moment you clicked out of your inventory the wolf was next to your animal with a grim expression.

"I told you not to put that on. I should've known you were going to disobey me like the rest. Good luck your going to need it after what you did. You'll wish you had listened."

They unfriended you and locked their den, kicking you out. You tried to search them up again but it came up with "That Jammer couldn't be found!"

You looked in annoyance and thought ''good riddance. ''Your day from then on was eerily normal. Your mother came in and told you it was time for bed. You brushed your teeth and went to your room.

"James did you get ready for bed?" you asked. He didn't reply.

"James.. did you or did you not?"

He grunted.

"Fine.." He left to go brush his teeth. You followed him there to confirm that he did. You both went to bed afterwards

~Monday Night~

You heard something downstairs. You guessed it was dad getting home late again from work. You got up and out of bed to go greet your father. However, there was an eerie coldness in the air. You looked at the top bunk. James was sleeping quietly. He looked so peaceful. Another noise came from below that sounded like foot steps. You got back on track and exited your room but left the door open for the cat. You looked over the railing only to notice that the lights where out. Normally father would turn the lights on. You the guessed it was Kirie. She normally got a snack at night without anyone but you knowing. You walked downstairs and looked into the living room. You paused. Your blood ran cold and anxiety rose in your chest. The creature. It was the fox. It was the Maze Master. It stood on its hind legs and wore the trademark suit. (Note: you might wanna think of caitians from Star Trek online with this character but instead of a cat it is the fox I described.) It had crossed arms and leaned on one of its hind legs. Its body faced the large TV in the living room.

However, its head pointed directly at you. It was staring back at you.

Its jaw opened and closed slowly as if it was breathing. The creature didn't move towards you however. It lifted its hand and slid its index finger across the screen. The TV turned on and did the creature`s bidding. it swiped through the different channels James would watch. The sound on the TV was low and quiet so it didn't wake anybody. You started quietly walking in reverse up the stairs. It`s head followed you up the stairs. Once up the stairs you sneaked over to you and your brothers bedroom door. You tried to open it quietly but it creaked. You heard shuffling downstairs. You rushed into the room and closed the door. You climbed half way up the ladder of the bed and dragged your brother by his ankles over to you. You carried him in your arms like a princess and stepped off the two bars to the top bunk all while rushed quiet steps where coming up the stairs. You have ONE shot at hiding. You decided since it was nearly pitch black in your room and the only light was the pale light of the moon, you would hide in plain sight under the bed. You slid your brother underneath first while you slid in next. You were wearing black clothes but James wasn't so you hid him with your body by pressing him into the wall while tucking your head in so your hair wouldn't give you away. The steps rushed into the room as soon as you where done hiding. Your bothers eyes were open from the start when you grabbed his ankles and he gave you a confused sleepy look. You lifted a finger to your lips and whispered

"Its a dream go back to sleep."

He trusted your words and fell asleep again. You heard the sound of claws on wood. Your heart was racing. You listened as it rummaged around your room, trying to find you most likely, and tried to prevent James from making any noise. You then felt hot breath on your back. You felt the thumping of a hand as it passed back and forth behind you. You tried to stay still. You could hear the drumming of your heart in your ears. James could hear the creature too. You could see the fear in his eyes. He started shaking gently. You held him close to your chest.

"Try to sleep I will protect you. Just don`t make a sound." You whispered to him.

He closed his eyes. You heard a huff of frustration as the creature pulled away.

"Clever child, I will find you even though I cant use my eyes."

You stayed silent.

"I will find you tomorrow night then. Maybe even take another family member too if you don`t come out. I know you`re in here and I know you can hear me."

and with that, a gust of wind blew over your room. Silence. You waited for what felt like an hour. You whispered to James to stay there. You hoped it was safe since you couldn't see behind you. You slid out from under the bed.

Within a flash of movement your throat was snatched like a chicken.

"Gotcha!"

Hysterical laughter echoed behind you and despair filled your chest. This was how you were going to die. You lost. You, however, were not afraid of death but more accepting of it. You were shaking sure, but thinking of death calmed you for some reason.

"I would have left without you had you not come out. I could feel my hot breath as it bounced of your back! Hiding in plain sight is clever! But you can`t out wit a fox. I knew you would come out if you thought it was safe."

The laughter continued and you where lifted from the ground. You struggled to breathe. Then you were hit by an unknown force.

~Waking up~

Your head ached. You surveyed the area. You notice you were in a small room with...

No. Not them.

The fox creature was in the room with you.

"You`re awake."

You gazed back at it`s face. You stared for what felt like hours.

"Staring is impolite you know."

"What do you know about being polite?"

You replied in a surprisingly calm but sharp tone. You couldn't stop yourself from letting the words fall from your mouth. You could tell by the expression on its face that it sensed the edge in your voice. By this time you sat against the wall farthest way from it.

"Well, I have brought you here for a reason. I`m sure the party-crasher described me fairly badly too. Wouldn't surprise me if she had."

You changed the topic.

"Is this about the collar? Ya know, I-I can give it back." It smiled. The bloody edges of it mouth gave it the feel that it was smiling even more than it was.

"Oh no, no, no, darling! I sent those out for collecting contestants. I put trackers in 'em for a reason. While you were out I placed one 'round 'yer neck. I think it looks quite fashionable on you."

You lifted a hand to your neck and all the color faded from your face. You couldn't believe it. You suddenly regret putting the collar on.

"Were going down to the maze anyway. Might as well tell ya about the rules. First and obvious one is no cheating. This means no climbing above the walls etc. Second you have to find water and hunt your own food, like snakes or small rabbits. I don't give you food unless your nearly starved. Can't have constants dying on me, ya know. It is so hard to find one with that little collar hoarder! She rarely even passes one out! Tch!"

"Then why don't you attack her, bring her here, or what ever it is that you do here?!" you asked desperately.

It held a grim expression. "She managed to get out so I have to keep the promise that she will never be brought here again, harmed, or have any members of her family brought here to with or without the collar."

"Why don't you break it?" you questioned. You were intrigued.

"Heh. Wish I could. But I cant. I like keeping the titles given to me by my best friend. I was called 'Promise Keeper'." their face was still grim.

Just as you were about to question them further they continued on happily with the rules.

"Third rule! No random killing! You only kill others for survival purposes. This includes betrayal, sacrifices for food purposes, trying to defend yourself from others, etc. Fourth rule! No weapons! You fight with tooth and claw. Fifth Rule! You can make tools. Like shovels, rope, etc. Sixth rule! You may not use names. We give you a number from 100,000,000 and you use that number to identify yourself. Breaking these rules results in death. Understood?"

"Wait so we are basically barbarians with numbers in a maze with traps?"

"To summarize it quickly, yes. Oh, and your number is 264. It would be higher if we had more contestants."

You felt your heart sink. You were gonna die alone in a maze with nobody but yourself. Nobody but yourself. You have nobody to lean on. You were going alone this time. You felt the aching pain of being lonely. You didn't even get to say goodbye to your family. What will they do when they notice you missing? Will they give up after two weeks and presume you were dead? Thinking about it only made the wound in your heart ache more. It seemed to notice this. For a minute you saw a flash of empathy on its face. It was still doing that breathing thing with its mouth which kinda make you uncomfortable.

It took you a couple minutes to realize this wasn't a room. It was an elevator.