The first collaborative writing challenge for Thriller! I recommend you start on this challenge on March 1st your timezone so that the words you write can count toward your word goal! <33

Only a few days before—though the events of the last few hours have made it feel like so much longer ago—you received an invitation to the masquerade. For some, invitations were dropped on their doorsteps. For others, they were found in their pockets with no explanation of how they appeared there. For still others, they were slipped into a hand by a mysterious figure in a dark mask. The only correspondence between the invitees was that they showed up, whether because of a love of parties, a longing for adventure, or the inexplicable feeling that this masquerade wasn't what it seemed…

“I got my invitation last week,” Moss told Zai and Inky in a whisper. “I had been in the middle of investigating an important case—all the ice cream in my freezer was missing, definitely not because I had eaten it all—when the doorbell rang.”
“Who was it?” gasped Inky, who would have been teetering on the edge of her seat if she hadn't been standing up.
“I never found out,” Moss continued ominously. “But when I ventured outside to check, a carton of ice cream was right there on my doorstep. I should have noticed its strange lack of coldness when I picked it up, but I must have been too excited to care.
”When I brought the ice cream inside and opened it, eager to see what flavor it was—“
”Was it lasagna flavor?!“
”No, Zaine, it wasn't. In fact, it didn't seem to be any flavor at all—there was nothing inside but a rolled-up sheet of paper. My invitation.“
”How did they do that?“ Inky asked. ”Were they… watching us?“
”I think they were," a camper said, stepping up to the trio and beginning to divulge their story…

Write at least 2000 words about how the Thrillians came to the masquerade! Incorporate these two prompts into your story:
1. The backstory of why you came to the masquerade
2. Your reactions after the lights go out

Kenzie drank some of the un-poisoned juice. She was just chilling in the corner and observing the party. Suddenly, Kenzie heard Moss, Zai, and Inky talking. She listened for minute then walked up to them.
“I think they were.” She spoke. “I was just sitting at my computer writing a story when I heard the doorbell ring! It was only 9 o'clock at night. I ran over to it and found a letter on my doormat. It was an invitation to this place… I have no idea how it showed up. I stepped outside to see if I could see who left it but there was nobody in sight.” Suddenly, another camper walked up to the group.

“Um, what are you guys talking about?” Ayla asked walking over to the group, a little unsure what they were talking about and if it was important. “Oh, your talking about the party!” She said, “i got my invite at… um… ugh, nighttime, i dunno when really, but i was telling myself a story when i reard the doorbell, so i went to check and no one was there! Well, except a piece of paper.” She said. “Witch was my invite” she paused. “And… um…” Ayla said softly, unsure what to say next. Then, another camper came over to them.

“Hi!” Ayid walked over to the increasing group, “Sorry for eavesdropping! I heard you talking about how you got invited and just had to add in my story.” She fumbled with the ends of her shirt as she told her story, “I was expecting a recently released book in the mail and had gone to go pick it up. Unfortunately, I never got my package.” she narrowed her eyes and mumbled out, “Which I'm a bit irritated about.” Realizing she was getting off topic, Ayid said, “Instead I got my invitation.” Ayid reached into a pocket and grabbed out her invitation to show the rest of the group as a fourth camper trotted to the rest of them.

Floris arrived, mask in hand and delicate demeanor quickly following suit. Her typical shy manner had disappeared the moment they entered the room, and he couldn't help but enjoy the scene. Thrillarians, as they were called, were a bit odd, coming from all over the globe to meet in the manor, to come to this particular masquerade. It was certainly an event to attend. When he encountered the other guests, Floris quickly joined in on the chatter.

“Oh, my invite?” She gave a shy laugh, and looked guilty. "I wasn't invited. I came by word of mouth. And such a mouthy group the invitees were! They were so talkative of the event. But… rumor has it, that we were all selected for a purpose. That we were all selected to be winners. Of what, I cannot yet tell, but I do know this. Don't trust the hosts, not yet at least." Floris looked to the others, though they were mainly skeptic. That's alright, though, everyone doubts the prophet, or at least, everyone doubts them until the bitter end.

Floris twirled away from the group as a fifth camper joined, making her way to others who were dancing too. Her elegance, their precise movements were a comfort. As he was about to finish the dance with the others, the lights went out. Chaos broke out, and people's composure was fleeting. All were scrambling for the door, for safety, for something. And yet, with grim determination, Floris danced till the bitter end. The orchestra had long since stopped, but she was dancing to the beat of her heart. She knew already not to trust a single person in this room. She would win on her own.

All hail the duke of delirium, dancing 'till the bitter end

//// word count: 289 words ///

Lizzy let out a small shriek when the lights went out. She was never one to bear well with jump scares. But this didn’t seem like some ordinary jumpscare. Or some silly prank the hosts were playing on the guests. Lizzy had found it a little suspicious that no one knew who the host was. There was no way this was all just some prank, right?

She silently cursed at herself. How did she manage to convince herself to come to this party? The invitation she had received, which she had found randomly lying on her bed, was just screaming creepy. First of all, it wasn’t signed, which should have been a big red flag in the first place. Second of all, it was on her bed. Inside her house. That no one else was supposed to have access to. She probably should have called the police.

As Lizzy would learn many times in the next few weeks, she was not the type to have common sense.

Perhaps it was how fresh and crisp the paper smelled. Or maybe it was how pretty it looked, rolled up with a light blue ribbon tied around it. Lizzy had to admit, the presentation of the invitation was definitely a 10/10. Despite how weird the situation was.

She had thought that perhaps her friends were throwing her a surprise party. Lizzy never had any reason to be super suspicious. There was nothing in her life that was threatening. She had just finished the school year and she had overheard her friends talking about throwing an end-of-the-year party.

And so she went, naivety and all. Lizzy even prepared some fruit to bring to the party. (As it turned out, there was more than enough food already). Looking back on the situation, there were so many times when she could have turned around and headed home. She probably should’ve been a little wary about the fact that she didn’t see any of her friends, but Lizzy had just chalked it up to the fact that everyone was wearing masks.

Lizzy had to admit, the party was really well put together. Everyone was wearing really pretty masquerade masks and the music was beautiful (who knew that a jukebox had such good music). If the lights hadn’t just gone out, creating chaos, she would have thought that this was a great party.

Through the darkness, Lizzy could see dark figures hurrying everywhere. Some just stood there awkwardly, trying to comprehend what was going on. She could also hear the sounds of people tripping and a spew of apologies that followed. Lizzy wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Like a lot of other people, she kind of just stood there awkwardly, hoping that the lights would miraculously return. And they did!

Unfortunately, that was the only good thing that came out of that night.

When the lights finally came back on, everyone seemed to calm down a little. Fortunately, there seemed to be some people taking charge. Unfortunately, the doors were locked.

That was when panic started seeping in.

Before Lizzy could think to do anything, a person tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around.

“Can I help you?”

“Sorry to bother you,” the person said, “but something is definitely up with the hosts right? When I got my invitation, I was really creeped out…”
559 words
1181 words total
819 left

Kenzie hung out with Zai and the others. But soon she started zoning out. Zai literally had to wave his hand in front of her face. She snapped back into reality and Zai asked her, “As I was saying… What do you think of the light going out and us being trapped in this room?”

Kenzie stared at the ceiling as she tried to think. She had been thinking about other things as she normally does.

Finally, Kenzie replied, “I guess that was a little weird. I freaked out when they went out. I think maybe we should figure out who locked us in here I guess?”

Zai responded and started talking with the others some more. It was kind of hard for her to listen to the conversation. She wandered off and to listen to the music. She stood in the corner as she normally would. She was kind of a person that was quiet at first but then we you spark a conversation with them they can start talking a lot.

Kenzie glanced around the room observing everyone else talking and laughing. Suddenly, she noticed another girl standing in the corner. She seemed to be a little deep in thought.

Kenzie walked up to her and tapped the girl on the shoulder.

She spun around and asked, “Can I help you?”

“Sorry to bother you,” Kenzie said, “but something is definitely up with the hosts, right? When I got my invitation, I was really creeped out. I was just sitting at my desk writing a story when suddenly I heard the doorbell ring. My dog ran to it and started barking. I opened the door but there was just a piece of paper with my name on it. In a fancy cursive writing it said that I was invited to a masquerade at Midnight on the 1st of March. I told my mom and she said that I could go. Finally, a few days later it was time to go. I brought a mask that I had bought at the store and a fancy dress. Then a few minutes ago the lights went out and stuff. And well here we are.”

Kenzie brushed her foot against the floor like she was nervous. Finally, Kenzie finished by saying, “I might as well tell you my name. I'm Kenzie! I heard you earlier saying your name was Lizzy. Well it was nice meeting you Lizzy!”

Kenzie ran off to the snack area. She grabbed a plate and filled it with all kinds of food. Finally just as she was walking back to a table she bumped into someone.

“I'm so sorry!” The mystery person said, “I think I've seen you around, you're Kenzie right? I'm…”

356 words left

Bree sat in the corner, clutching her mask to her face, attempting to hide herself.

She had nothing else to do one evening, and decided to crash a party to cure her sickly disease, named boredom. However, the party was like any other. The song blasting in the background, which, Bree tried to block her ears with the mask planted on her face, the laughter, the dancing. Bree regretted coming as soon as the lights flickered, causing Bree a pinch of adrenaline amidst the boredom crashing like ocean waves in her mind. Masks glittered in the darkness, and suddenly Bree figured it was all part of the masquerade. But she heard faint cries and screams, which brought regret rising in her mind, outgrowing the boredom, crashing louder than the boredom ever had. A part of her felt a huge adrenaline rush. Bree shot up and struggled to find the hosts. She didn't know who they were; but after lots of searching, she managed to figure out one thing.

There wasn't one. Defensively, the masks were no help.

Bree was having enough, clearly the party had given slight interest, but all had been lost. She reached for the doors and finally found them, but when she did, they were locked. Many people had attempted to do so as well as her, but to no avail. Regret rised once again, making Bree snap into a mindset of panic. She held onto the handle and pulled like her life depended on it. Bree collapsed on the floor, once again, sitting and slowly trickling into a trance.

Boredom was fatal, and incurable. Because here, amidst the chaos, Bree still felt it.

277 words

Lizzy decided that the best thing to do was to have conversations with people.

She probably looked a little stupid, walking around and asking everyone the same few questions. She was glad she did it though. Everyone was really nice. They seemed equally as confused as she was, and a lot of people shared her suspicions. It brought solace to Lizzy that she wasn't just paranoid or crazy.

Some people were still trying their hand at the doors, believing that maybe if they pulled at them hard enough, the lock would break. Or that the doors were simply really heavy and really jammed into the doorway.

Lizzy was just glad that she had something to do for the past hour. Everyone was too tired or scared to restart the party activities. The people who had phones on them were trying to get a hold of some sort of service, but even hotspot wasn't working. Lizzy could feel the panic levels in the room rising with every passing second. She was just glad that everyone at the party was partially sensible and wasn't going crazy. Everyone seemed to maintain a nice level-headedness, which she was definitely grateful for.

Lizzy wasn't exactly sure how to feel, but she eventually settled on one thing. If she was stupid enough to get herself into this mess, she might be stupid enough to get herself out of it.

233 words