The Mistress’ Wrath

“Hi, Jessica!” My best friend says to me, she comes into the room with a bowl full of snacks we can eat while we’re watching Frozen 2 for the third time already. “Thanks again for letting me spend the night here. I just couldn’t stand her anymore.” I say harshly. “No problem. Why do you hate your mom again? What’d she do?” April asks. “She just gets mad at me for such small things. I hate living with her because anytime I leave my room I get an earful.” I'm so happy I have a friend like April. She’s helping me up when I'm down. “Do you have any other movies, or is it just Frozen 2?” I ask. “Yeah, we can pirate a movie if you want.” “Sounds good.” I wonder what movie she’s gonna pick. Maybe she’ll let me pick. “I saw this cool documentary about The Mistress.” She says. The Mistress, I find it funny I don't know much about the ruler of our world. “Doesn't she torture people who hurt others physically and change people who got hurt?” I ask. “It's called “misfigured” when they change, and yeah.” She says. “It talks about all the popular Misfigured Mistakes and their backstory. It's interesting and it helps you learn more about the world. The documentary is an hour and 26 minutes long but you can trust me, it's worth it.” I think a Misfigured Mistake is someone who was misfigured. They're super creepy. I don't know what I'd do if I met one. Probably scream, yeah that's what I would do. She finds the documentary and plays it. They go over the basic understandings of The Mistress and what she does. It takes a while but around 20 minutes in they get on to Misfigured Mistakes and their stories. April was right, this is pretty interesting. “This creep is Codeson, he and 4 others were put into a puzzle game where if you get a puzzle wrong you die. We don't know how the game was played or what question he exactly lost at but we can only guess it had something to do with codes. It is known that the three others that died during this game have also been misfigured but they have not killed as many like this guy. So far he has killed 2,052 people that have been found, you must know that's not very high for someone so popular but it's not his kill count that makes him know, it's the way he kills. He takes people who have been labeled super smart and puts them in a puzzle game like the one he was killed in. If they fail they die and if they win they get sent back home with no memory of what happened but they can't help but feel like they won something even if they don't know what. We got this information from a victim of his who-” I pause the documentary and listen because I feel like I heard some shuffling. April sees my worried face and listens along with me. I hear nothing and April isn't saying a word. “Did you hear something?” She asks. “I thought I did but I guess I'm just paranoid.” I answer. It freaked me out because her parents should be asleep. I guess it could be her brother be he's in his room. We unpause the documentary and act as if nothing happened. “Remembered little bits of what happened but they don't remember seeing what Codeson looks like.” I check how long we've been watching and I notice it's nearing its end. We’ll probably go to sleep after this and I can forget about the noises I keep hearing. “There has been sighting of a Wrong Person who has either escaped or been released as a new torture method of The Mistress. Nobody knows what the Wrong Person has done to upset The Mistress, how they left if they did escape, or who they were before being taken by The Mistress. All we know currently is that this being has yet to be captured due to its lightning-fast reflexes and speed. Some people claim to have seen it losing skin chunks and re-growing back that skin, others have seen it eating yet it's still as skinny as ever.” I hear more shuffling sounds that seem to be closer than they were before. It sounds like someone is looking for something. “-when people are captured by The Mistress for hurting others without her permission, she is not the first to arrive. People who were next to those taken say they saw a dirt-covered little girl in a white dress with a heart-shaped locket around her neck. The little girl then asks them the following question “Is my locket pretty?” and the Wrong Person would quickly answer with a yes or a no. The Wrong Person then stops dead in their tracks and the only thing their body seems to be doing at that moment is breathing and blinking. The Mistress then appears and takes the Wrong Person with her, then her and the little girl disappear.” Creak… I and April slowly look at the door that just opened to her room with the documentary still playing. When we turn our heads we see someone. A dirt-covered little girl in a white dress with a heart-shaped locket. I couldn't move. April wasn't moving either. The little girl giggled at what I'm assuming were our shocked faces. I started to crawl backwards even though the only exit that leads out of the room was the door she was standing in front of. I know I haven't hurt anybody like that, so why is she here? I turn to April and she seems a lot more scared than me. Wait... Has she hurt someone bad enough that The Mistress wants to take her. The Mistress only takes people that have hurt someone else when they weren't expecting it and or don't want to be hurt. April wouldn't do that right? The little girl then turns her head to stare at April. “Is my locket pretty?” The little girl asks. “Yes.” April replies. Oh no. April doesn't move after that as the documentary says. The Mistress then appears and walks toward April, completely ignoring me. She picks April up and throws her over her shoulder. She then starts to walk back to the little girl until she turns to me. “Right after you get your label come to these coordinates and don't tell anyone the offer I'm giving you now.” She says as she throws down a card. “Prepare yourself to be one who personally works under me like this little girl here.” She says and then disappears along with the little girl. The rest of that night is a blur. I had called the cops to report another Wrong Person taken. Then I packed my stuff and went home. My mom was trying to be nicer to me and even went to therapy so she can work on herself more. Eight years. I have eight years to prepare myself to work under The Mistress. I have no clue what I'll be working as so I might as well continue getting better at what I want to be. An athlete is what I want to be so I guess I should work hard to achieve my goal. All for The Mistress. Over the past eight years, I continue to work hard and become a strong and smart athlete. I turn 21 which is the age you get your label. A label is chosen by yourself and the ones around you to identify what and who you are. After a week of waiting, I get my first official label as a strong and smart athlete. I go to the coordinates and find a latch in the ground. I open it and see a set of stairs leading downwards. I walk down the very long staircase for about 2 minutes. When I reach the end I see a door in front of me. I open it and it looks like an underground mansion. I take about three steps inside and am greeted by a monstrous-looking butler. “Jessica Manford, right this way.” I follow the butler and he leads me to what seems to be the middle of the giant underground building. He opens huge doors to a room that I walk into. I look around and see it's decorated with plants and paintings with some furniture. I look to the end of the room and in the middle of the end, I see The Mistress sitting in a black leather office chair behind a dark brown desk. She is still in her black maid outfit and looks like she hasn't aged a day. Behind her is a giant window going all the way to the ceiling which is also very high. I can see an entire grassy area that seems to be the size of at least 30 miles but I can't see all of it. It looks like mini earth. It even has different ecosystems because I can barely see the tops of trees. The Mistress finally notices me and gestures me over to her. I sit in a chair in front of the desk while she puts her elbows on the desk and her head in her hands. “What is the label they have given you?” She asks me. “Strong and smart athlete,” I replied. “Seems you will fit in as either a bodyguard or in the cleanup crew, maybe something else.” She states. I understand where she's coming from and feel like these jobs are good for me. “Glad you like the jobs I have given you. Before you ask, yes I did read your mind. I will now welcome you to the Underground Mistress Fort.”