Chapter 9 THE ILLUSION CHAMBER

A few hours after they had gathered together to make plans on how to help the last three people

who had not participated in any challenge, the door opened, and Mr. Blackwood walked in, and

following behind him, holding the dreaded box was one of the Silent Enigmas who was armed with a gun strapped behind his back. They all rushed to their feet at the sight of the box. Victor had to hold himself from lunging at them

while the rest of them scuttled back in fear of what was coming next. "It's time for the next challenge, dear guests." Mr. Blackwood announced smiling. "What if we refuse?" Lucky asked, trying to summon a bit of courage. "I'm sure you're not in a hurry to test your luck. Mr Leo." Mr. Blackwood replied, hinting at a drastic

consequence if any of them were to refuse. "Miss Olivia, you wouldn't mind picking the name. Would you?" Mr. Blackwood asked politely, although leaving no room for disagreement. Liv looked at Evelyn in fear, Evelyn nodded for her to go. She took a step forward and glanced at Victor, who gave her a solemn nod. She approached the box and dipped her hand into the hole where she felt several pieces of paper folded inside. She picked one and brought it out, her hands trembling in fear as she tried to open it to reveal the name."Hurry up. Miss Olivia." Mr. Blackwood urged, startling her. She flinched back. All her adventurous spirit had dissipated into thin air ever since she witnessed the death of Samuel. She slowly flipped open the paper, and selfish relief rushed through her when she

found out it wasn't her name written on the paper. "Isabella Chen." She read out. Izzy brought her hand to her mouth, stifling a cry as soon as she heard her name. "No, I don't want to

go. Please don't make me go." Izzy pleaded, looking at Victor. "You'll be fine. Just remember all we've gone through." Victor tried to reassure her. "Come on, Miss Isabella." Mr. Blackwood prodded while keeping an eye on Victor. Izzy is led into a room where the walls are covered with shifting, shadowy images. At the end of the room plastered to the wall like a door stands a mirror that reflects not their physical appearance but rather their innermost fears and anxieties. Instructions etched into the floor read, "Face your deepest fear, or it will consume you."

Izzy gazed into the mirror, and suddenly, it shimmered, and everything went dark. When the light came on again, she was back in high school. Izzy had always been a loner in school, she always kept to herself and was often bullied a lot, she got into a lot of trouble violating the school dress code, but since there was no parent she could be reported to, she was often just given detention and some other punishment. On this day, she had just finished serving time in detention and was happy to make her way back to the orphanage, and she couldn't wait to meet her favourite caretaker, Mr Charles. Just as she was leaving the school premises, she was accosted by the so-called school Queen Bee and her minions who had made it their life mission to frustrate Izzy. Izzy had just expected them to make fun of her and her body and bully her into doing something for

them, but they decided to take it to another level. Along with the help of some male, they carried her against her will and locked her in a shed in an abandoned warehouse next to the school.Izzy screamed for help and pounded the door, looking for ways to escape. She had resigned to her fate when a poisonous spider crawled up her leg and bit her. Izzy collapsed on the floor as her leg gave out on her. She became lightheaded and started vomiting. Her body was soaked with sweat, and she had a tingling feeling at her extremities. Luckily for her, Mr Charles had been looking for her and somehow managed to trace her to the shed by tracking her phone. He arrived on time and rushed her to the hospital where she was later treated and was finally okay, but ever since that day, she had an intense fear of spiders and closed places. Everything went dark after she re-witnessed the scene and she was back in the room staring at the mirror. Izzy wondered if that was just her challenge and was almost feeling relieved. Then the mirror swung open revealing another room. All her senses screamed at her not to enter but

she was being deterred the guns pointing at her.

"Go on, Miss Isabella. That is your challenge." Mr Blackwood coaxed. Izzy entered the room designated for the challenge. The air was heavy with an unsettling ambiance, and the walls seemed to shift and ripple with strange patterns. She took a deep breath and read the

instructions etched onto the wall: "Trust not your eyes, for illusion is reality." As she ventured deeper into the room, the surroundings began to distort. The floor felt uneven, and the walls seemed to close in on her. Anxiety gnawed at her as she tried to maintain her composure. Then, she saw them. Spiders. Hundreds of them, crawling across the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Izzy's heart raced, and she felt a wave of nausea. But she knew this was the illusion challenge. She needed to stay calm and remember the instructions. "It's not real," she whispered to herself. The room seemed to come alive with arachnids. Spiders of all sizes moved with eerie precision, creating a nightmarish tableau. Izzy could hear the skittering of their legs, feel the phantom sensation of silk brushing against her skin. She closed her eyes, trying to remind herself that it was all an illusion. When she opened them, the

spiders were still there, undeterred by her disbelief. Panic surged through her veins. In a desperate attempt to escape the illusion, Izzy tried to walk through the wall of spiders. As she

reached out, her hand passed right through them. The illusion intensified, making it seem as if the spiders were crawling all over her. Overwhelmed by fear and unable to distinguish illusion from reality, Izzy screamed. She swatted at the imaginary spiders, her movements growing frantic. But the more she fought, the more the illusion tightened its grip on her mind.

The room seemed to spin as Izzy's screams grew louder and more desperate. She stumbled, her vision clouded with illusionary arachnids. In her mind, the spiders were real, and their venomous bites felt excruciating. With a final, desperate cry, Izzy collapsed to the ground, her body convulsing as her mind succumbed to the overwhelming terror of the illusionary spiders. It was a gruesome, nightmarish end, as her

consciousness slipped away into a realm of illusion and darkness. "Another one bites the dust." Mr. Blackwood commented, smiling.