If You Dare (Monarch Prep Society #1)

Prologue

My stomach twists in knots as I make my way toward the cemetery.

Above me the moon shines, and the cold night air nips at my neck urging me to pull my jacket a little higher.

It’s nothing but eerie shadows and darkness, I shouldn’t have come. I should have waited until morning to say my goodbyes then.

The lights the cemetery provided do little to hide the shadows still lurking, I’ve never been one to follow the rules, my father always told me one day it’d get me in trouble.

But he’s not here anymore, he’s nothing but bones in the ground.

The gate creaks slightly as I push it open enough to fit my small frame through.

It’s deathly quiet, the urge to turn around and flea back to the safety of my room sits heavily on my chest. I brush away my fear, I came here to say goodbye and I will.

“Hey Dad,” I murmur softly into the night, reaching his tombstone. “Mom’s moving us to Monarch, I guess you got your wish after all,” I chuckle before shaking my head.

I brush the tops of my fingers across the granite, It's like it's mocking me, driving home that my father is gone.

I hold back the tears that threaten to fall as it sinks in, that he's truly gone.

Shit.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I wipe the stray tear from my cheek refusing to break down at his grave.

I won't do it.

I won't.

My father always wanted me to attend a prestigious school. It's always been his dream to see me attend Monarch Prep, a school like Monarch holds power, opportunity, a lifetime of success. Everything my father always wanted for me.

I’m just not so sure about attending, Monarch is for the elite of the elite. I’m a nobody who simply got accepted because of who my mother married.

I take a seat in front of his grave, and I cross my legs before I brush my fingers over the stone once more, swallowing hard. I stare down at the words printed on the headstone.

My father was only forty-two, not old enough for his time to end.

Everything is moving too fast, I wish it would all just slow down.

I'm still in shock at how fast my mother could move on, simply forgetting my father.

I thought she loved him?

I can't blame her though, she deserves to be happy.

To smile again, maybe it is time I did too.

I blink back tears and wipe my hand across my face, just as a noise in the distance startles me.

I place my fingers to my lips before I place them on top of my fathers grave. “Bye dad, I'll see you soon.”

Slowly I stand brushing the dirt from my jeans. I hear a blood curdling scream that echoes in the distance, I stop unable to move, snapping my head trying to see where the noise came from.

My heart beats faster waiting to hear another noise but there’s nothing, only silence and the faint sound of insects in the night.

I turn abruptly heading back the way I came. No need to overstay my welcome.

Whatever is happening I want no part of.

My heart races faster as I rush toward the cemetery gate, my breathing accelerates as I make it to the gate only to find the same gate that I just came through minutes earlier has been chained closed.

“Shit,” I breathe.

Grabbing the metal I desperately shake the gate rattling the chains, hoping they’ll open.

Unease fills me when it doesn’t budge, taking a deep breath I turn back around and look around the darkened cemetery, the only light comes from the moon and the barely workable lights with it I hear more sounds, different from what I heard before but these are closer and seem to be closing in on me.

Abandoning my plan of walking out the gate I begin to run through the cemetery knowing there’s a back entrance.

The insects grow louder like they can sense my fear, I pull my phone out, using the flashlight trying to see more clearly.

Suddenly a loud howl stops me in my tracks, the rhythm of my heart pounds in my chest, the undeniable fear running through my veins.

I spin looking around trying to figure out the direction it came from.

is that an animal? No animal I know sounds like that.

I hear the growl again this time louder, closer. I spin on my heels and I run. I've got to get out of here .

I’m sprinting as fast as I can but in my haste I don’t see something ahead of me on the ground just before it trips me and I land on my face with a slight thud.

I’ve hit my head pretty hard and I’m bleeding or at least I think I am. Blood covers my hand but I can’t seem to feel a cut on my face.

Where is the blood coming from?

I turn my head to see what has tripped me.

A gut wrenching scream leaves me when I see a dead body, their eyes are glued shut, with tape over their mouth and their entire chest has been carved out. There’s blood everywhere, I shriek as loud as I can as tears fill my eyes. I try my best to wipe the blood off my hands but there is so much.

I’m breaking down when another howl startles me and I look up. I see a shadow standing between two trees watching me.

Except it’s not an animal, it's a man he’s wearing all black, the outfit of choice not hiding what appears to be blood splatters across his chest, he’s wearing a backwards hat and tattoos peek from under the material.

A huge cross necklace sits against his chest, his face is mostly covered with a mask but there is something about his eyes, they almost seem black and are fixated on me.

I knew that mask, it’s the Ghost one from Call of Duty all the boys at school are obsessed with.

Ghost mask watches me for a few moments, a playful smirk grows across his face and his eyes light up.

“Are you lost Little Bunny?” His voice is deep and thick, and somehow has the ability to steal mine. I try to say something but nothing more than a squeak escapes me.

I move backward using my hands as best I can, The grass and dirt under me crunch beneath my fingers as I move.

Lighting a cigarette, he eyes me cautiously like he’s done this before and he’s waiting for me to make my next move. I would run if my legs worked but currently fear has me frozen in place .

Voices grow louder behind him and suddenly three more shadows appear from the woods.

“What do we have here?” a guy with blonde hair says as he points over at me.

The lower half of his face is covered by a skull bandana, but I don’t miss the way his eyes light up upon seeing me, his long blond hair falls completely down covering one side of his face, before he lifts his hand running his fingers through it, sleeking it back.

“We have a witness, that's what,” Ghost mask grunts, glaring at his friend.

A third guy steps forward moving between them, he’s also wearing a mask. This one is a neon green stitch one. I can’t see his face but I can feel his deathly glare burning through me and without saying a word I can tell he wants to silence me.

I try to say something like, “I won’t say anything,” but no words can escape my lips. I stumble back catching myself on my elbows as they watch me.

“Should I dig a grave?” Blonde guy asks.

“Nah, she won’t talk. Will you, princess?” Replies the guy in green.

He looks at the others; their silent conversation is more frightening than their words.

The final guy moves forward and like the others his face is covered with a mask, it’s the one from Scream. Ghostface.

He doesn’t say a word but stares directly at me, he sees right through me and then a flicker of amusement settles in his posture.

He watches me tilting his head from side to side, running his gaze up and down my body like he would devour me if the other guys were not present.

A shudder runs through me and I still can't move. I'm paralyzed by my fear. Besides, even if I tried to run there’s no way I'd make it before one of them caught me.

“I like her.” Scream mask exclaims, the mask is covering his face but I can tell he’s smiling.

“Of course you fucking do,” neon green snickers.

“No, she’s a problem,” Ghost mask adds.

“A problem we will deal with,” The blonde remarks.

These guys are so calm, like they have done this many times. What the fuck have I stumbled upon?

My stomach sinks like a rock, when the blonde pulls out a knife from his jacket pocket. The moonlight reflects harshly off the cold steel.

His eyes light with mischief, and I can tell he wears a sinister smile, “Wrong place, wrong time, Bambi.”

“P-please,” I stammer the first words I’d spoken since the start of this, tears began to flow down my cheeks.

“Ooh I like it when they beg,” the blonde guy chuckles.

Ghost mask chuckles, “ I like it more when their mouths are full.”

Fuck, what does he mean by that?

Oh god, I know what he means.

“I haven’t seen your faces, please let me go? What do you want from me? I'll do anything,” I plead.

“Your complete submission Princess,” neon green says. He slides the side of his hand across his chin, adjusting himself with the other. Is he? Oh, god.

“P-please just let me go?” I plead with them again hoping for some mercy.

“You’ve seen our mess now we have to clean it up,” Ghost mask says.

Blonde guy steps forward waving his knife at me. Scream mask stops him with a hand to his chest. “No, don’t hurt her,”

“I’ll make you a deal.” neon green reasons.

“A deal?” I reply with a glimmer of hope.

“Truth or dare?” He smirks.

What? Is he serious? A game.

“T-Truth,” I swallow, waiting for them to pounce on me.

“Wrong, there are only dares,” neon green replies with a grunt.

“Dare,” I reply as if I have a choice .

“Run Princess.” He smiles.

A shocked. “What?” escapes me.

“I said run,” he forcefully replies.

The adrenaline takes over me and I run faster than I ever have before, my legs ache and my lungs are on fire but I don’t stop, I keep running.

I don’t even look over my shoulder to see if they are following, I just keep running and don’t stop until I reach the back gate of the cemetery.

It's there when I finally look back to see if they are behind me.

I expect the worst as my head turns but there is nothing, they haven’t followed me, I have no idea who they were, what they were doing or why they let me go but I don’t stay there to think about it as I take off running towards home.