“Hey John, wake up! It’s Saturday and you know that haunted house I’ve been talking about lately? Well, Sarah and Samantha said they are down to go with us!” I squint my eyes his voice ringing through my head, 

“Steven, I just woke up, give me some time to gather my thoughts for once. I’ll be over at the house shortly, bye.” I groan and force myself out of bed, getting dressed and following my usual daily routine. Once I am done getting myself together, I head out and make my way to the infamous haunted house of our very quiet neighborhood. When I arrive I see Steven and the two wonderful girls; Samantha and Sarah who are waving at me and I blush. 

“Hey Sam and Sarah, how are you guys doing?” I ask, patting Steven on the back.

“We’re fine, looking forward to exploring this creepy place.” She sarcastically states, pointing at the run-down single-family home before us. The dark house looks old and as if it has survived a war, atomic bomb, and tsunami all at once. 

We head onto the porch, Steven taking the lead with the two girls side by side in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye through the cracked window, I see a figure. A pale face wearing some sort of cloak but before I can really examine it I see nothing. I shake it off believing that it is just my imagination but soon find out it was definitely real. “John you can see if the back door is open, take Sarah with you. Sam and I will see if any of the windows can be opened.” 

“Don’t call me Sam!” Samantha retorts rolling her eyes.

As I nod I catch a glimpse of Steven’s wink, and I roll my eyes heading to the back of the house with Sarah. Sure enough, the back door was locked and we go back to the front of the house only to find out Steven and Samantha are not there. After looking around, I see an opened window with shattered glass scattered around the porch and inside the house.

“It seems like they went in, ladies first.” I take a short bow, letting Sarah climb through the window and I follow her through. 

The place is dusty and dark the only light is from the sun shining through the broken window and cracks in between the wooden planks. 

“Steven? Samantha? You guys playing a prank or what?” Sarah shouts, walking around hesitantly the wood floor creaking with every step. I look up the stairs and see a passing figure followed by the creaking of the wood floor,

“Steven I just saw you, what a dumb prank!” I state, heading up the stairs looking down the hall. There are weird paintings and the walls are torn and scratched up. 

“Sarah, you saw him too right?” I ask but no reply. I turn around only to find out Sarah is not there. I go back down the stairs, looking around the fear getting to me. 

“This is not funny anymore you guys!” I shout a mixture of fear and anger filling my mind. I hear a creak in the room next to me and slam the door open running inside. The room was empty, and the only thing that caught my attention was the door in front of me. As I walk to the middle of the room, the door behind me slams shut. I turned around running to the door trying to open it, but my effort was futile. The room is pitch black and I sit with my back facing the door, scared out of my mind. Then I hear the creaking as if a door was opening. The room remains pitch black but the creaking continues for a short period before reaching a halt. I feel something grab my ankle and I am dragged away from the outside world, into an abyss of nothingness. I don’t know if my friends met a similar fate, but I know that my time living a normal life has come to its end.

I was tired of my life and I didn't have the courage to take it yet, And he was just curious about the outlook of how someone else lives their life. On that night the blood moon rose and lightning struck and our deal to observe each other’s lives for the day was sealed. 

The next morning we woke up and our day started, I was him and he was me. We spent the day seeing through each other's eyes, hearing each other’s thoughts, and feeling each other’s emotions that we felt on a normal basis, Everything seemed fine but once it turned night that's when everything went wrong.

He was walking back home when all of a sudden he just stopped moving, he stood in front of an alleyway just prying into the darkness.  I had no clue what was happening and started to panic but he just stood there completely calm as if this happened every day. He only started to worry once he heard the sound of footsteps creeping up behind him. 

There was a hand wrapped around his neck and sharp pain in the back of his throat, but he still just stayed in the same spot unable to move. It only then clicked in my brain what was happening when all of a sudden we were met with a dark indescribable figure. It squeezed our face and stared into his eyes when it finally had spoken “You have made a deal with an undying entity and so now you shall take its place” It said with the deepest most scratch voice I ’v heard. 

Before I knew it everything went dark and the only sound I could make out was a high-pitched ring in his ears.

After I finished slitting her throat with the knife they gave me, I decided to cower in the corner of the slaughter room. I cried and quivered as I looked at my bloody hands, warm tears ran down my face and dripped onto my hands. The ones I use now to execute my comrades. 

I used to be free until I ended up in this position. A bird in the sky that chose to avoid some circumstance that it didn't like. I was a single woman living alone in a tiny apartment with a 9 to 5 office job. I used to be an actor, but I ended up in a drab workplace that I despised. Politics and government issues are not something I am really interested in. It was simply boring and difficult for me. But it was just one of my many errors of judgement. At the moment, I was unaware of the press and how Congress was passing undemocratic legislation. It was just a few days ago when every woman in my office, as well as the whole city and, most likely, the whole world, was fired due to new laws and policies. I dragged my feet to the exit, putting all of my office things in a brown box and leaving the office sad and disappointed. I was now unemployed and running out of food. Only a few weeks, women-led demonstrations erupted, with the bulk of the demonstrators being jailed and never seen again. Some say they are kidnapped and tortured or killed. I didn't trust those ideas and shied away from them. 

“No, the government can’t do that, besides it's illegal nationwide, or could it be...no I don’t think so.” 

I said to myself. Harsher policies were passed and women were not allowed to be outside without a man or man’s permission. Later single women were thrown out of their houses by the authorities and were taken away to a place called The Garden Of Eden. All of this policy and terrible law-making was making me so indignant as none of this was fair for women. 

We were carried on a bus, and the woman and I on the bus smelled like rotting flesh as we approached the Garden Of Eden's gate. We were going through a gated camp with segregated areas for men and women. The men were dressed in a worn-out blue suit, while the women were dressed in pink. 

“Is this a death camp or something?” One of the women on the bus wondered aloud, "Are we going to die?"

“No, we're going to a mansion,” says the narrator. “Take a look,” a younger lady said, referring to a distant mansion in front of a tree. 

Although every woman on the bus was excited, and some were perplexed, I returned my gaze to the gated camp. As I approached 12 large ditches in the field littered with the bare bodies of what probably had once been the camp's inhabitants, my heart sank 1,000 feet.

“BBBLLLAAARRGG!!!”

“Oh my, are you okay! Did you get car sick?

“I’m fine, plus we’re on a bus,” I said as I wiped the icky vomit from my mouth.

We made it to the Mansion and were given uniforms and shoes to wear. It was a long white dress and flat black shoes.  A woman came out claiming she was our new teacher.

“Here I will teach you to do the work of God and what he wanted for us,” she explained 

“My name is Elizabeth and I am one of the headmasters of The Garden Of Eden,” she said as she slapped a big ruler in her right hand.

Weeks had passed, and each day I became more anxious, knowing that the things they told me made me uncomfortable and worried about how to serve a man, and that we would soon have to raise our own children, and that God produced one man and one woman to be together. I could see that all the other ladies, not just me, were scared about this place. Later 3 well-dressed men came and Elizabeth explained that they are the chosen mighty ones. 

“I have a total of 150 young ladies, and you will be divided into three groups of 50 each, and you will go with one of these men and serve their every need, including bearing their children, housework, and so on,” Elizabeth instructed.

Now it all made sense we were being prepared to serve just powerful men and their families for the rest of our lives. 

“If you do really believe in god then you should know that God fought Lucifer so that we, his children would have the freedom of will, so I will not be serving these devils you call powerful men!” cried out one of the Lady’s. 

The woman was pulled to her knees by a squad of guards who emerged from the doors of the mansion.

“What did you mean, you ungrateful animal, how dare you call them that,” Elizabeth screamed as she slapped the woman, who was now a puddle of tears.

Elizabeth pulled the lady’s hair to make her stand up and look out of the window towards the camp.

“LOOK! THOSE PEOPLE IN THE CAMP ARE NOTHING BUT ANIMALS DIRTY HOMOSEXUALS WHO REFUSED GOD IN THEIR LIFE”

“YOU DON'T KNOW THAT, JESUS SAID HE LOVES US NO MATTER WHAT!”

Then the 3 men rushed towards the lady and beat her up.

“You b****!” they screamed at her while spitting at her.

They managed to beat her and hurl insulting slurs at her until she was no longer recognizable, at which point the guards took her away.

The other 49 women and I were relocated to the mansion of the trio's most influential man. Their views about the bible were soon revealed as a fraud because they lacked respect towards humanity, referring to homosexuals as "dirty," and repeatedly beat women. Our master did not provide us with enough nutrition and only served us one meal a day. A cup of soup and some bread are included in the ration. His wife, on the other hand, was pleasant to us when we looked down at her as she spoke. As a result, when she was good to us, she would give us extra food, which the women and I devoured. 

Months elapsed, and I became more depressed with each passing day. It's a hawk, it's a helicopter, but no, it's just my hope taking off. The master and his wife selected some of the women to bear their twins. Until all of the women have been having a secret meeting of escaping the place through the forest. We devised the most effective strategic strategy. One of the women, however, was desperate enough to flee to the bush, but before the guards could apprehend her, she returned with a slight grin and handed me a note before being executed. The note said:

“There’s a wall surrounding this place”

My heart sank to the bottom of the abyss. When I told the other woman what was written, one of them said, "We can do it!" What we have to do now is make rope.”

Despite the fact that it was a false hope, I went along with the scheme, as did the other ladies.

Since we couldn't risk being trapped together, I was the first to get over the massive wall because I had a gymnastics background. 

Once I made it over I cried as I could see water and more water. Over the wall, there was nothing but a body of water. I collapsed to my knees, only to discover that the guards had been trailing me and had caught me red-handed. I was escorted to a room where I was subjected to torture. One by one, my nails fell out.

“Who else are you working with!”

“What are their names!”

“If you don’t tell us we will kill you and if you do tell us we will give you a lighter sentence.”

“3...2...1...zeeroo”

“OKAY OKAY PLEASE DON'T KILL ME IT’S ALL THE WOMAN, WE CAME UP WITH PLANS AND PREPARED TO ESCAPE MONTHS AGO. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I’LL DO ANYTHING!” I screamed.

Which leads us to now. One by one I killed my comrades all because I was a coward. This was my punishment and If I didn’t kill them I would be killed. I was afraid to die. But now I have the strength. I say this to anyone who is reading this. If you're in the same world as me, then RUN, HIDE, BUT JUST RUN! As I stand on the stool and tie rope over my neck I say goodbye. The one thing I regret is being a coward. My comrades would have lasted long enough to be free if it hadn't been for me. Before then, I wish you luck.