The creature was very close and, although Emily was shaking so much that her teeth were chattering, it didn't make her the slightest scratch. Emily had her eyes closed and was squatting with her ears covered. She couldn't stop thinking about all the corpses surrounding her. All ripped apart and brutally murdered.

She had entered that kind of vision as a challenge that she had to overcome, but she couldn't think of anything else. She just wanted it to end. “Enough, enough, enough! Please! Stop this! Please!

Finally, the creature touched her. Startled, Emily began to scream repeatedly. "Please! Please! ..."

Emily crawled until she ran into the nearest hallway wall. When she saw it so close, she realized that the creature was a red-haired girl with green eyes, staring at her inquisitively. Her body was remarkably similar to the one she saw every morning in the mirror after showering, but stronger. Her eyes opened wide as she realized. "Oh shit! ... Is it me?"

The creature that looked just like her, bent down, and with a hoarse and sad voice whispered to her as it began to cry. "They've already paid for all the harm they've done to me. Now, it's your turn"

Emily couldn't take it anymore. She kept begging with all her heart for this test to end. But the creature did not vanish, nor did all the blood that covered her. Nor did she stop hearing its growls as it spoke. "You are just as guilty as they are for making me suffer for so long. Why do you run away from me? Why don't you stand up to me instead of letting them humiliate me? Over and over, every damn day of every damn year of this filthy existence."

After a pause that didn't come to be, the creature screamed deafeningly. "Why?!!"

The creature stood up and began to gesticulate nervously, splattering blood all over. Blood that seemed to be born from it. There was more and more." It was your fault that mom took us to that place. A place where mom allowed those priests to convince us that we were the devil. You let them bury me deep inside. So deep, that they almost forgot about me".

The creature was crying it heart out. "I hate you so much! I hate you! I hate you all! Mom too, for doing all this to me, thinking she was helping me to be her perfect daughter, when she just turned me into her perfect puppet. I hate..." Something caught the attention of the brutalized version of Emily, interrupting it.

Without realizing it, Emily stopped covering her ears, but she could barely hear. The deafening ringing in her ears and the overwhelming pounding of her heart made it challenging enough.

The creature pointed down the hall where a short silhouette could be seen. "I hate you too, you filthy old woman! You cheated me! You fooled us all! How could you? We were just kids!"

Emily finally understood why the old woman's face looked familiar. "The old woman from the park?". The creature looked at Emily angrily, "See? She doesn't even remember that." The creature clenched its fist as if to strike her, while Emily stood petrified.

The brutish being, punched the wall right next to Emily's face. "This is all your fault! You better fix it. Or I'll find a way to do to you what you've done to me multiplied by a thousand. Come out, you coward…" Suddenly, something pushed the creature, throwing it several meters through the air till hit the back wall.

Emily watched in astonishment as a new figure appeared in the middle of both. It was much darker than that rabid version of herself. It was covered in hideous spines forming a strange living armor, crawling across her body. When it turned around, Emily could see that they had the same face. A dark face that conveyed tenderness and sadness. "Get up and get out of here! I'll stop her."

Emily watched stupefied as the other creature recovered from the tremendous blow, spitting blood from its mouth. "Are you serious? You don't know anything. I'm not talking to you, idiots."

Emily felt that there were many more versions of herself, coming from all sides. Each one different. The brutalized beast was crying and screaming in anger. "Don't you realize I'm not the enemy? Are you blind? Or is it just me you're looking for? If that is what you want, so be it! You'll never be able to beat me! Then, she looked at Emily and shouted. "If it were up to them, you would never follow the old woman. You'd go home and get on that damn bus tomorrow."

The version of herself in the spiked armor shouted. "No one is getting on any buses here. No one is going to fall down any ravine. No one is going to suffer or scream in despair as they let their life slip away in pain and despair. No one here is your enemy. Stop attacking us! Stop seeing enemies everywhere."

Emily closed her eyes again as the most violent creature shouted deafeningly. "Liar! Liar! There is one, and it's right here!"

Emily tried to shield herself from the horrible feeling that death was looming over her, but suddenly, everything quieted down. She heard the sound of the cars again, driving back and forth. She opened her eyes and saw with delight that, the old woman was looking at her with a poker face. Emily grabbed her head. "Ouch! My head is killing me!"

Emily lowered her aching head, feeling defeated. With a tension that made her hands and legs tremble. But now, she was relieved. Even though she knew she had behaved like a coward, it was over.

She waited for the old woman taunts, but nothing like that ever happened. The old woman saw her understanding something that wasn't so obvious to Emily. Still, Emily begged her. "I know I haven't shown what you expected but ... I want you to know that..." Emily raised her head, trying to hold back her tears. "Shit! You know what I mean. You constantly read my thoughts, right?"

The old woman cleared her throat and stared at her. "Over the years, I've created lots of illusions in many people. Appealing to their will to live. Many. But I’ve never come across a case like yours. I created a challenge in your mind where you would put your worst enemy. But you actually have a battle going on in there."

Emily looked at her without understanding what she was referring to. "You didn’t create that vision?".

The old woman swung her cane as if to gently tap Emily's head. But it never touched her. "Something is wrong inside you, child. Something you should have fixed years ago. You may never get to fixing it, or you may. I don't know. But, where I hope you go, it’s going to be one more of the many problems that you’re going to have to face. And... I'm already anticipating that you’re going to have to deal with many.”

The old woman finally put away the filthy handkerchief in her hand and with the other, pointed to the door of a huge old stone building that now, looked somewhat abandoned. The door was ajar and through a thin crack a dim light was visible. “Go in there and do me a favor. Don't shout when you enter.”

Emily had a bad omen and stepped back. The old woman, very serious, added. "Okay! So, I'll meet you tomorrow in the afternoon? One hundred and twenty-five kilometers from home. On a curve too sharp and with a driver who isn't feeling well. I guess the salad at the last bar wasn't a good idea".

Emily stopped and mumbled. "Impossible!" Then, she thought. "The high school is only fifteen kilometers from home”. At that instant, she remembered that she had a school trip. Tomorrow. Her legs trembled hopelessly again.

Emily looked down at the ground again and lost herself in a sea of sensations. She was recreating herself inside a bus as it spun around while falling down a ravine. She was bruised and with a broken arm. Maybe, also with a mangled leg, trapped somewhere. Maybe a seat.

The old woman removed her from that bloody scene by pointing to the door again. "I see you are determined to waste my precious time. Get in there, dammit!"

Emily, frightened and trembling, looked toward the door, which was still ajar. The building had coats of arms of surnames carved in stone that she couldn't recognize. They were too deteriorated, even for a connoisseur. It was quite old and the door looked rather heavy. The mold hadn't made too much of a dent in the stone even though the air was always damp there.

Suddenly, Emily saw the old woman crossing the street. A shiver ran through her body as she saw the cars just about to hit her. Although her first impulse was to scream, she didn’t. She just closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, just right after the braking. But the horrible succession of sounds never came.

She opened her eyes again, slowly. To her surprise, there was no accident. Stunned, she saw the cars driving from one side to another, passing through the old woman. It looked like a good quality hologram. The most disconcerting thing was that the drivers didn't seem to see her, there, standing in the middle of the street.

The old woman turned in the middle of the lane as another car passed through and said. "You better take the crosswalk. We don't want you to die before your time, right? Ha ha ha!"

Emily kept thinking. "Who am I talking to, if no one else sees her? People must think I'm crazy. Am I really talking to the Grim Reaper? The old woman in the park who talked to me when I was little, was the Grim Reaper?"

The old woman added without looking back. "They can't see me, child. Only those who are going to die can. Are you coming or not?"

Emily understood. "Yes. It's obvious she reads my thoughts! Is that why she knows so much about me or is it that she's been following me all my life?" She felt ridiculous at the last idea. "I'm not important enough to be followed by the Grim Reaper." Emily headed for the crosswalk like an automaton, lost in those thoughts and many more. Dazed by that headache that was beginning to subside. Then, she looked at both sides of the street and when she could, she crossed with some difficulty.

The old woman didn't open the door of the building. She just walked through it. At that moment, Emily wasn't even surprised. She simply approached the door and tried to see inside through the tiny crack through which she could now see a lot of light. Resigned, she decided to push the door. She didn't have to use as much force as she had hoped, nor was it as quiet as she would like.

The door creaked loudly enough that everyone inside knew she was entering without asking permission first. Without crossing the threshold, she looked in, but no one was there. Just old furniture in a huge and very old lobby. Just in case there was someone besides than that gloomy old woman in the adjoining rooms, she asked. "Hello?" Then, she whispered almost inaudibly. "Better late than never, Mom would say calling me rude."

The old woman's voice answered within a few seconds. "Who do you think is going to answer you? Satan?"

Emily's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she stepped back. "Is here?

The old woman answered quickly and annoyed. "Come in, idiot!" Emily took so long to get in through that huge door, that the old woman came out from wherever she was to check if she had left. Angry, she reminded her. "I won’t tell you again that I'm a busy person.” She ended up almost shouting. “Very busy" The old woman started walking toward a huge hallway on the opposite side of the front door. A tremendously large and dark hallway. With a finger pointing behind Emily’s back, she indicated. "If you want to live follow me. Otherwise, get the hell out of here."

Spurred on by her last words, Emily followed her, without asking whether or not she should close the door. Just as she had left it behind, and was about to ask, the door slammed shut with a loud bang. After that, darkness followed. Emily, with her eyes closed, screamed in panic for at least three interminable seconds.

By the time she realized it, she could hear the laughter of the other students in her class. Mostly from the obnoxious Beth and her group of jackals. When she opened her eyes, saw that she was surrounded by some students from her class, and some from other classes as well. She disliked most of them. Emily lowered her head with a completely flushed face, courtesy of her inseparable friend, Shame.

The old woman still standing next to her, whispered."I warned you not to scream, didn't I?"

Emily was terribly uncomfortable, though she breathed with some relief at not seeing the floor covered with naked pictures of herself. "What are they all doing here?" Then, trying to put things together, she understood. "Are we all going to die on the bus? Wait a minute! I don't see our usual driver!".

Beth whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "She's pathetic! Did you see how she was screaming?!"

The old woman looked at Beth with narrowed eyes and asked. "Beth, my dear! Would you like to illustrate to all of us how you almost shit stained your panties when the door slammed shut and everything went dark?"

There was a faint chuckle that lingered for a few seconds. But it disappeared as soon as Beth found its source. Her hateful face was such, that it seemed like she could kill anyone she looked at. Even the old woman.

With a quick glance, Emily tried to see all the present and the room itself. It seemed that the place had no walls. Only the floor was visible. An immense floor without limits and a darkness that covered everything the farther away. She understood that everyone arrived as she had done. Spontaneously. "It's amazing how everyone got here, most of them live miles away from this street."

She noticed that Richard was looking at her and blushed deeply. "OMG! There he is! Looking at me! I hope he wasn't embarrassed of my scream”. She also saw Ian. That made her feel a little safer. "I don't think this place exists as such. I think I'm dreaming or something like the visions from before. There's no way we're all here if each of us went home on our own way."

Beth looked at her and whispered with Rebecca. Emily got nervous and walked until she was very close to Ian. Seeing her so close to him, Beth shut up so fast it was as if someone had turned her off. But her hatred seemed to grow by every second. Emily loved the "I'm safe from all harm" effect Ian was causing on everyone. But Ian didn't turn or look at her. She really didn't like that, but she knew it was her punishment for simply never talking to him.

For a long time a murmur could be heard among the groups that had formed. The typical high school ones. Beth, tired of putting up with it, began to show off her particular arrogance and addressed the old woman. "What's this deal you're going to offer us, old woman?" The strange woman didn't even give her a glance. That only infuriated Beth more. She looked like she was going to levitate with so much pent up rage.

The old woman addressed everyone. "As you already know, tomorrow you’re going to die." A murmur arose, angering the old woman. "Shut the fuck up! Have I told you something new?" She was curt. So much so, that nothing else was heard. "Many more than those present here are going to die. But, either they weren't worth it, didn't meet my requirements or just didn't care about me. That doesn't matter. What matters is what you are going to do from now on."

The old woman walked confidently, as if she was selling some big product. "You all know fantasy worlds from books, comics, manga, movies or video games, right?".

Someone answered without understanding that it was a rhetorical question and Beth laughed whispering to her friends. “He's as silly as RedCow".

Laughter was heard. Beth seemed to relax teasing others, but she noticed that she wasn't going to get away with it so easily when she heard the old woman clearing her throat. "Beth?"

Beth replied while still laughing. "Yes?"

Old woman's voice gradually changed to one from beyond the grave. “You’re going to find out soon enough, that there's nothing that makes you the special being you think you are. You’re going to find out with much despair and, you are going to cry a lot, my dear." Many were terrified, but Beth paled.

The old woman continued for at least a few seconds in that tone, looking exclusively at Beth and her pack."I thought we’d made clear who you were talking to, but I see some of you just fell out from the cradle at birth and stayed that way, dumb as hell." The old woman made a long pause and continued where she had left off. "As I was saying. You all know about those adventures where you appear in another world. That’s what I offer you. You decided not to die tomorrow in this world to live in another world where you will go very soon.

Nina, one of Beth's friends, displayed her also distinctive arrogance, without worrying that it clearly displeased the old woman. "But if we get out of here and don't go on tomorrow's excursion, we'll live. Checkmate, old woman!".

Nina laughed to herself for a few seconds while the old woman mumbled. "How can she be so stupid without being made fun of by the whole high school?". Finally the old woman smiled. "No, you knucklehead! No one escapes their fate. If you managed to get out from here, which is highly unlikely. You wouldn't remember anything that happened today afternoon since I stood in front of you in the street. As I said, if you manage to get out from here. But…"

She began to slowly transform into a Grim Reaper again, this time without flickering lights. Only some kind of black mist that seemed to be emerging from her. Gradually, she grew quite bigger and her face darkened as the flesh fell off in chunks, as if it was rapidly rotting. Within seconds, was just a fleshless skull. Almost everyone backed away in terror and some even screamed.

She resumed her eerily creepy voice and added. "You took the deal as soon as the front door closed. Remember? I offered you to leave and, the fact is, some of you did." She paused ominously. "None of you, except one, asked me about the fine print of this irrevocable agreement. I was pleasantly surprised that even knowing it, still accepted without hesitation."The old woman finished as she burst out laughing without looking at anyone in particular. Curiously, some of those who weren't completely terrified looked at whoever was next to them to see if anyone would take credit for it. But no one did.