"You're new here?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Figured as much," he said, eyeing me knowingly. "You know, you only survive here if you follow the rules."
That was new. "What fucking rules? Nobody tells me shit here, and so far, all I've seen is horror after horror."
He just smiled, a humorless smirk. "Well, there aren't any official rules, per se, so I made my own."
I leaned in as he began listing them off.
"One: Act like nothing is weird, no matter what you see."
Great. That was already proving impossible.
"Two: Do whatever you're told because they love tormenting stubborn ones."
"Then why do they still torment Sara?" I cut him off, my voice sharper than I intended. "She does everything they tell her to do."
He tilted his head. "Is she always scared and terrified?"
I nodded.
"Then there's your answer. They also like the scared ones. It's like when you have that one friend who's afraid of everything, so you keep scaring them just for fun."
A chill crept up my spine.
