His sleep was long and restful for the most part and he now found himself in a pre-waking lucid state, the world not fully real, yet not quite a dream. That changed in an instant.

"Ryleigh! Ryliegh." A brief pause ensued, in which time Evan was startled into consciousness before the tense whisper continued "He's here. At the....at the back door."

Immediately a sense of concern and confrontation washed over him, if she was right they could end this now by rushing the fool, this could be an opportunity. It wasn't long before the rational part of his brain started to nag him though. 'This doesn't make any sense, he wouldn't be so reckless. Would he?' From what they had seen their captor was a meticulous and careful strategist, but he was also an unknown quantity, and probably smart enough to keep them guessing rather than fall into predictable behaviour patterns.

Something about the arrival of this man was off, but missing any kind of chance was foolish, this time however he wouldn't act on his own, to much antagonism had been built up the previous day from his efforts and despite being successful he had no intention of rubbing peoples faces in it. Despite her having addressed Ryleigh, Evan felt it prudent to interject.

"Are you sure, I mean you couldn't have been mistaken at all? It just seems like a strange thing to make himself that vulnerable, without my shocker I could chase him easily...unless he doesn't know I've removed it?" The idea was an important one but it would remain up to the others to decide how much they were willing to bet on it. "We should find some things to use as weapons and go back to check, at least that's my suggestion, its up to you two girls."

Now that he wasn't directly under threat, Evan was loathe to do just about anything that might screw things up for the rest of them and although he knew the indecisive nature of the group would probably cripple them, there was no other choice from his perspective.

"So, what do we do now?"

Daniel took in a deep breath as he started to come awake. His eyes were still lightly closed and reaching out to pull his blanket back over him, he realized there was no blanket, and that he was laying on a hard floor. Sitting up slowly, he leaned his back against the wall and opened his eyes. There was a strange room surrounding him with a strange girl sleeping against the wall near him, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. Where.. he started the question in his head, and then it all came rushing back to him. The stressful day before, the fighting, and falling asleep on Marissa. He looked over at her and smiled softly to see that she had gotten herself to sleep too. Well, if there's nothing I can do about it, might as well just enjoy the ride... he thought to himself, though he was still very annoyed. He could hear stirring down the stairs, and after staring at the soft sunlight that shone through the windows stood and started out of the room. He took the stairs two at a time and started toward the kitchen where Ryleigh, Kaya, and Evan were standing tensed and looking scared. I wonder what's going on.. his eyes flicked between the three of them and then regained their characteristic hardness as he opened his mouth slowly "What's happening.." he coughed out of his dry throat.

The day before had been so full of things he never thought would happen that who knew what this one would hold. All he knew, is that they should probably wake everyone else up, regardless of what was going on, because they had a right to help in anything important that might happen on this roller coaster ride from hell.

[[Sorry it's such a fail post \= I'm really not very inspired right now... I apologize..]]

Marissa blinked as she awoke, and looked around the room. Her sleep had been dreamless; timeless... How long had she been asleep? With a start, she spun around and looked at the window. The sun was rising; it was morning. With a sigh, she sunk back into her spot and closed her eyes. The thoughts racing around her head were slowly calmed, and before she knew it, she heard Daniel shifting around and standing up. There were the sounds of wake downstairs as well; obviously, most of them were up and around.

Deciding it was time to get up before she missed anything, she pushed herself off the floor and made her way out the still open door, then down the stairs. Her foot steps were practically silent, and she seemed to reach the living room unnoticed. Taking in her surroundings, Marissa bit her lip. There were whispered and confused words coming from the kitchen; but she didn't want to get into that yet- something else had caught her eye. On the table in the middle of the room, was the phone. He was here... she thought, taking in a sharp breath as she noticed that the phone had been moved. Even more disturbing was what was underneath it. A plain white envelope; she almost laughed at herself- she had never been more frightened by anything as simple as a piece of paper. Open me was all it said.

Biting her lip, Marissa slid her finger through the top of the envelope, and peered inside. After taking an extra deep breath, she reached in and began pulling the second envelope out. Before she had time to read it, though, her brain seemed to start working and she realized what had been said in the kitchen.



Rolling her eyes, Marissa folded up the envelopes and pushed them into the side of her bra, hidden from the rest of the world. Shaking her head slightly, she sighed and walked into the kitchen. "You don't remember? Really?" she said, her voice a bit scratchy and broken. After clearing her throat and looking around at everyone, she continued with her eyes on Evan. "He knows you have your anklet off. If you take so much as a step out of this house, the rest of us die." looking to the floor, she crossed her arms and chewed on the inside of her lips. "I don't understand how that's something you could forget...." she said, thought her words were just barely audible, and she doubted anyone else heard them.

Everyone trickled into the kitchen and Kaya was still trying to calm herself. Sure, everyone else was just as terrified as her but she had seen him; it was mortifying. Kaya looked to Daniel who asked what had happened, "He was here or....or," she sucked in a shaking breath, "One of them was here. I don't know!" She ran her hands through her hair in frustration and fear.

Kaya's eyes wandered throughout the kitchen and she landed them on fridge. She was hungry, but now wasn't the time to eat. She laid a hand on her stomach and turned to everyone else. Ryliegh had stayed quiet, but Marissa had not.

[b"He knows you have your anklet off. If you take so much as a step out of this house, the rest of us die." [/b]

Kaya bit her lip lightly, and stared at everyone else. Marissa was right, they couldn't risk that. She wanted to cry, scream, and then roll into a ball and disappear. Kaya remained as silent as stars and she looked at the others. She was at a loss for words; she waited for everyone else to fabricate a plan.

Ryleigh was a little lost for words as she stood there. She wanted to defend Evan and stick by his side but didn't know how. Surely he remembered her telling him about the phone call and what happens if he steps foot out of the door.

"I think he knows, Evan." Ryleigh started carefully. "He must have some sort of system that tells him when they stop working for him to know. Like he knows when to shock us if we don't play by the rules. We know he's watching us just from that, so he must have something that's telling him when the anklets are being messed with or if they get damaged." She rambled, nervously, not sure where she was taking her point.

She was trying to think of something that would help stick by Evan. She certainly wasn't going to join the others side. After how Marissa had shouted at her and what she'd said she wouldn't join their side until it really was a case of life or death. She went over and stood by Evan. "He never said anything about killing us if one of us tried to leave. Maybe we can leave and try to stop him leaving to get some answers. Worse that could happen is we get some shocks, right?"

'Did that happen? I can't remember, but if two of them are saying it and one of them is Ryleigh, I guess it must be true.' He stood for a moment in contemplation, so much of the previous night eluded him, not all that surprising after a feast of electric shocks, but he knew what he was going to do now. "I guess I don't remember, a few thousand volts and a blackout don't serve the memory well, it seems." With that he gave a shrug and sat back down.

At first he had been relatively fired up, they had an opportunity and yet again had fallen into the same routine of apathy and inaction, the difference now was that Evan had already exempt himself from direct reprisal and had that much less to fear than the rest of them. 'Such a strange group of people,' he considered, 'They're at once looking for someone to lead them and yet when anyone tries they get shot down in flames for their trouble, it's like they're rebelling against survival.' It mattered little now, he had learnt his lesson from the previous day and would no longer try to assist them. They could sort out their own problems like grown ups.

Despite this he knew he was still willing to help, but in this case only when asked for it and was given a course of action for him to try, for now he was going to sit it out and watch how the new day played out. Why would he risk input, it was clear no-one wanted it. He had just a few things left to say for now.

"Okay then, I'm clearly not reliable here, if you ask me, I'll help out, otherwise you're on your own guys. You don't want me to say anything or do anything, I'm good with that." Leaning back in his seat he closed his eyes again and smiled slightly, feeling a little more relaxed than he had been since he arrived the previous morning.

"Oh and just one last thing, you do remember that there might be someone standing at the back door don't you? I only mention it because I wasn't sure whether your plan was to hope he decays into dust before we do and we finally escape that way."

Daniel listened to the input from everyone and closed his eyes lightly. Kaya was scared out of her mind, that much he knew. Slowly, he took a protective step toward and opened his eyes. Memories from the day before were flooding his head, and all he knew is that Evan was pretty much useless to them now, other than having what seemed to be a great brain -even if he was rash at times. As the thought was going through Daniel's head, Evan sat down and began to speak.



Daniel nodded slightly at that, though also rolling his eyes. The man that had been the day before so gung-ho about escaping was now the one leaving it up to them to solve everything Well, I guess he really can't do much.. Daniel thought to himself again as the next string of words was escaping Evan's lips.



Slowly turning his head, Daniel glared at him and sighed softly So sarcastic.. the voice in his head sounded as he walked slowly toward the hallway where they could see the back door. The man was will standing out there. Still as a statue. Raising an eyebrow, Daniel stood and stared. Maybe it's not even a real person... he mused to himself. He could have been looking at a scare crow for all he knew. There were no definite human features that he could make out, and the face was completely masked in darkness. He stood there, glaring back at whoever, or whatever was standing outside the door, biting his lip and just hoping that it or they wouldn't move.

When Jen awoke the next day it took her a while to remember where she was. She looked around, not immediately recognizing her surroundings. Suddenly it all flashed back across her mind; the abductions, 5 others in the house, the metal shockers, and all the rules. It took a few more moments further, before she tuned in on the others. She heard someone, Kaya maybe? saying something about him being at the back door. Jen wasn't completely sure though, and she sure as hell wasn't going to go alone to find out. Instead she headed off in search of the others to see if she could figure exactly what was going on. At the moment, it seemed like she had been the last to rise in the morning. This seemed odd, having a kid of her own, Jen was usually up startlingly early.

It didn't take Jen long to find the others, all in discussion. "Hey, sorry I haven't been around. Any new brilliant ideas for today?" Jen said it a little sarcastically. As it looked right now, they had better chances of digging a hole to china.

Marissa rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for purposefully electrocuting yourself half to death..." she mumbled, sure that no one else except maybe Kaya would have been able to hear her words. She shifted uncomfortably, the folded envelope was digging into her chest. Folding her arms, she sighed, and turned away from the others. She was still stuck on figuring out how they all got here, and why; plus, how they were being watched. It seemed obvious that there was at least one person watching them from right out side every once in a while, but as far as she had seen or heard, he wasn't even close to always there.



Marissa shook her head and rolled her eyes. It was true that he wasn't very useful, but she had known that most of the time they'd been there; just because he was finally realizing it didn't mean he had to be a butt hurt bitch about it. Looking back at Evan, she tilted her head and put on a obviously forced fake smile, "Didn't you just say you weren't going to say anything?" With that, she glared at him for a moment and turned, making her way to the back door behind Daniel.
Staring back at the figure outside the door, she wondered who it could be, and why they were there. She couldn't make out any features, and he or she wasn't moving.

After only a few seconds, she got jumpy and anxious, and restless. She was tired of waiting for the figure to do something; it felt like it had been forever, even though she knew it hadn't. Giving Daniel a somewhat frustrated look, she huffed, her brow furrowed, and she practically shook with the want for action. Less than a second later, she let out a quick breath and marched out the door, right towards the figure, hoping for some answers.

Ryleigh looked at Evan and then away, not sure what to say or do as she'd gone against what Evan had said, but only because she was worried this time that she would be killed along with everyone else. She was going to stick by Evan though, he was doing more than anyone was and they had all easily turned against her and so she had no reason to help them. She just hoped that Evan was still willing to help her despite his words.

"I'm not going to help you guys either. You don't want our help then I'm not helping. Evan and I can figure things out." She told them, moving to Evan's side. "But you don't have to be a bitch about things." Her last comment at Marissa.

She didn't look at Marissa, knowing that she'd probably have a screaming match from the girl for not listening to her still, but Ryleigh was sure that Evan and her had being the only productive people in the house and she believed that despite the threat from whoever was doing this, Evan would come up with something to get them out. She didn't think that he'd just let himself rot here and Ryleigh didn't want to sit and rot in this place either.

Despite the comeback from Marissa, Evan held his tongue and just kept smiling to himself, what could she say that would bother him, if everything went to hell he'd be the only one in any position to get away from it. Or the only one who could help. The familiar voice of Ryleigh cut in at that point, a lone source of support in an otherwise hostile group, her words following Marissa out the door.

"Don't waste your breath. After all her complaining I've achieved something and she hasn't, I figure she isn't the type that takes well to being proven wrong." Guessing that after his last speech she might get the wrong idea, he decided to let her know he could still be trusted. "As far as I can see, the only option is still to get the anklets off, question is how do we do that. I'm starting to think the best way is just to damage the outer casing and sticking it in water, short the whole thing in one go, it would take less effort and shocks than trying to break the thing off like I did initially. It's a hell of a risk I know, but the choice is yours, what do you reckon?"

Once he'd finished he sat back waiting for a response, knowing it might sound like a crazy idea, but then under the circumstances crazy might be the only way to go. While he waited he heard the back door creak open, someone must have gone out to check on the stranger, sparking a thought in Evan's mind, 'Wow one of them grew a spine and did something, next thing you know they'll actually try and escape." He chuckled to himself at this, 'Who am I kidding, they'd rather die than save themselves.'

More bickering came from the kitchen as Daniel stood, still staring at the stark still figure. At this point, he was about sure that it was not a real person... Unless they had great will power. But just think about how still you have been his inner commentary broke the silence and he sighed softly. It was dangerous to go out there, but someone had to do it.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a very angry Marissa rushed past him and out the door, as if reading his mind. He began to take a step after her and ground his teeth together. Someone did need to go out there, but in her obviously emotional state all it was going to do was put her -and the others- in danger. He stood there hoping that the 'person' was not an actual living breathing person.

As she walked toward the figure, his anxiety grew. He couldn't just stand there and let her go toward a psychopath alone, could he? Protect her, Daniel! he urged at himself, starting to take steps forward and toward the door. In just a few strides, he was to the door and turning the knob. He was biting his lip, fear for her and the others greatly trumping the fear for himself. After the door was open, in just another stride he was next to her and close to the shadowed figure. "Marissa.." he whispered, mostly to himself, his fists curled and he stared ahead of him. Something was going to happen in the next few seconds, he didn't know what.. But whatever it was, he would be ready for it.

Marissa stormed out to the figure, but stopped short, noticing how still it was. You have got to be joking me... this is way too creepy.. how could anyone stay that still for so long... she said, biting her lip. It was really starting to give her the creeps and she took a deep breath, taking another step forward. Then another... then another. She stopped, a few inches away from the figure. Tilting her head to seeunder the hood more, her brow furrowed. Even from that close and from that angle, she couldn't make out a single recognizable human feature on it's face. What the fuck..?! she though, then jumped at the sound of her own name. She had been so engrosed in figuring out who it was and what was going on that she hadn't heard Daniel walking up behind her. God damn it, get control of yourself. Be more careful! she mentally scolded herself, turning her head to face Daniel as she rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the goosebumps. "God," she breathed, "you scared me more than stiffy over here.." she jerked her head towards the figure and rolled her eyes. It couldn't be real. Why hasn't he said something?

As she reached her hand out towards the figure, she knew something was going to happen that she wasn't ready for, and she just hoped Daniel was. As her hand got closer and closer, she expected the figure to either suddenly snap out and break her wrist or turn and run, even say something... but nothing happened. She couldn't even feel the warm breath of a human being on her hand. Her brow furrowed deeper, and she started to get annoyed and a little angry. "What the fuck? You have got to be kidding me." she said simply, and thrust her hand out, whipping the hood off the figure.

She stood in silence, eyes wide for a few seconds before she could react. She was in shock, and didn't know whether to laugh or scream. There in front of her was not a man, woman, or creature; it was a featureless, faceless mannequin. There was a ragged gash cutting halfway through it's fake throat, and instead of eyes there were two, big letters: HA.
She had forgotten to breath. When she caught up to life finally, the sight of the mannequin was burned into her brain, chills were running up and down her skin all over, and she took in one, deep, quick breath before turning around and sprinting back inside, down the hall, and back to the kitchen. She stared at the others with slightly widened eyes. When she tried to say something, nothing came out; so, she just stood there for a few seconds, staring at them, trying her best to remember how to breath.

Clutching her throat, she blinked rapidly, and her voice was barely audible. "It's.. not a person." she took a deep breath and collapsed in a corner next to the door, right on the floor. Finally, she came back to her senses, and the world seemed real again. Her face twisted in disgust and anger. "That sick bastard is fucking with us." She closed her eyes, but the image that she had just seen burned into her eyelids and she quickly opened them, her eyes obviously unfocused as she wrapped herself up in a ball. "It's hideous." was all she said before she laid her face on her knees and tried to clear her mind enough to think. The folded envelope stabbed into her breast and she bit her lip, wondering what it said and when she would be able to get alone and read it without raising anyone's suspicions.

Ryleigh stood there listening to Evan's words. He was right. That was the best way but she heard the warning that she'd been given on the phone. Anyone who messed with the anklets then they'd all be shocked and if Evan left they'd die. Did she want to risk death by messing with the anklet. Ryleigh wasn't so sure. Surely she could think of something that would save her if the time came to it and she needed to make the choice. Was it worth dying to try and get out of the anklet.

Part of her wanted to make Evan promise that he wouldn't let her die. She wanted to know that he'd save her but that was almost impossible to ask. She had to make the choice knowing the risks. The thing was it was either stay and die or die trying to escape. Surely trying to escape and dying was better than doing nothing at all. Ryleigh had made up her mind finally and looked over at Evan.

"How will we do this? You're not allowed to leave the house or everyone dies and I can't see anyone going out there to save me when I've gotten shocked..." Ryleigh started before thinking about something. "Wait, we could use the bath and fill that with water, right?" She asked Evan. If she wanted to escape then this was the only way. Hopefully whoever was watching wouldn't see them crack the anklet and if Ryleigh mentioned going to take a bath, then maybe she could get away with this and come out alive.

Ryleigh stopped talking as Marissa entered the room again. She didn't trust the girl any more no matter how distressed she looked. Ryleigh knew Evan was the only one trying to do something and everyone else seemed to be preventing escape. That's all she needed to know.

"That sick bastard is fucking with us."

"And that's all he's going to continue to do until we go insane and try to kill ourselves or he kills us anyway, which is why we should work together to escape and not be fighting and arguing over things." She commented, not that it mattered anyway. She looked over at Evan, wondering what he was thinking about her previous words and not wanting to discuss things further with Marissa in the room, especially if she would try to stop them from doing it.

"Are you kidding me?" Jen finally spoke up. She had been sitting back, watching the others, trying to come up with something, but still came up blank. "What the hell does he want from us? And what is he getting out of all of this? Did he really have to put a fake fucking mannequin out there?" Jen knew that the questions were pointless and empty, but she had been fighting for so long to keep her cool that she finally just burst. The person behind this was sick! That's the only thing she knew for sure. She placed the mannequin in her mind, trying to unravel everything that had happened. No matter how she put the pieces together, nothing seemed to make any sense. Was the mannequin meant to be a warning? Or a sign for what was to come? Was there any hope at all, or had he all along planned on severing their necks? Jen shuddered.

"Oh, and another wise warning," she continued," Anyone who trys to fuck with the bracelets anymore will likely end up like the mannequin. I am not sure what level he is playing at, but that mannequin sure as hell doesn't look like that by accident. So, be my guest in coming up with something, but I sure as shit am not going out of my way to break the rules." Most of her comment was directed at Ryleigh. By saying it, she wasn't sure if she was speaking to everyone, or herself. She was getting to the point of desperation. She needed to find her cool again, regain focus, and think things through logically. But for now, she stood back, waiting for the next genius idea to roll around.

Daniel heard Marissa's angry words before she reached out and smacked the hood off the figure. He watched her every reaction from the corner of his eyes as he stared at the mannequin. He wondered what kind of message the bastard was trying to send with this. It obviously had knocked another bit of Marissa's sanity. He sighed glaring at the fake person as she turned around and sprinted back into the house. He was not going to allow this to scared him any longer. After standing there for another minute he started shouting. "You sick fuck! You're just a coward. Nothing but a coward! Come face us yourself, or are you too scared?!" He stood there. Waiting for something to happen. The mannequin's ugly and battered form was still standing there haunting him, haunting them all. He heard words and murmuring from inside the house and considered going back in, but he had to stand his ground. If you go back you're a coward too, Daniel.. his mind spoke to him. He bit his lip, staring into the world around him. The sun was beating down on the water making it glimmer, a light breeze was filtering through the trees, a squirrel ran up a tree and yelled, probably angry at one of his tree-mates. All else was still. He couldn't see anyone watching them. He didn't hear any other sounds. Where is he.. He wondered to himself, still standing still as the form in front of him, just staring at the world. I wonder if we make him nervous he thought to himself, a twisted smile finding it's way to his lips. Irritate him. Make him come out, and we can beat him. Daniel's gaze hardened, a challenging look in his eyes, just hoping that whoever was holding them there was watching.

Evan sat in silence as the chaos erupted around him, so many cries of rage and hate directed at an unknown enemy, maybe that was the problem too much stress with no real outlet was driving them to frenzy, which was more than likely a calculated strategy on the part of their mysterious 'benefactor'. He wasn't sure what they had expected though, but a cuddly bunny figure was hardly on the cards where the now discovered to be mannequin was involved.

"I'm sure nobody cares, but I'd just like to say you're all probably reacting exactly as he wants you to right now. Angry, stressed people rarely make well considered decisions. Also, to those of you warning against trying to escape, can I just say this: So far we don't actually know if this guy is willing to kill us, a few scares and some painful electric shocks are a far cry from actual murder. Having said that, the longer we just sit around, the more time he has to work himself up, ramping up the attacks until he finally drives himself to kill. Simply put, the faster we act, the better chance we have, and you know what, if I'm completely wrong, we've been dead from the beginning and nothing we do is gonna change that now."

Having made another speech to the assembled crowd, he rocked forward in his chair. He was trying to help, despite himself but knew better than to believe they would even consider the ideas he gave them.

Switching his focus to Ryleigh, more or less ignoring the hysteria from the others, Evan wanted to discuss the plan she had just presented, but as he went to talk he could sense the hesitation from her, obviously not keen to talk escape in front of the other captives. 'Not surprised at all' he thought to himself.

"Getting kind of loud in here isn't it, Ry, maybe we should leave them to it?"

He leaned back in the chair once more, waiting for a response before acting. Time would tell who of them was right, but hindsight was never going to useful in this scenario.

Ryleigh just stood and listened to what everyone was saying and going on about. She didn't want to add to the conversation and she didn't even want to be in the same room as the rest of them, well except Evan. She didn't mind being in his company, after all he seemed to be the only one with sense. Sighing she shook her head a little and looked over towards the male as he spoke.

"Getting kind of loud in here isn't it, Ry, maybe we should leave them to it?"

"Yea." Ryleigh started, noting the hint. It would mean that her and Evan would get to discuss in more detail the plan and maybe they could escape. Ryleigh was scared about what she was thinking about doing but Evan had survived and so could she. Ryleigh was more scared that whoever was doing this though knew that she was planning to follow in Evan's steps. But it was the only thing that Ry could see doing to escape.

Once she'd left the room with Evan, she still kept her voice low so the others couldn't hear if they came by. "So, what do you think of what I said?" She asked, barely above a whisper.