Jin Qiang's lungs burned, and his legs screamed. The cold night air sliced through his sweat-soaked hoodie, chilling him to the bone.
He didn't stop running until his legs gave out beneath him, stumbling past a rusted climbing dome and collapsing against a cracked concrete pillar near the broken monkey bars, and for a second, he just stayed there, hunched over, hands on his knees, trying not to puke from the adrenaline pounding through his veins.
Gasping for breath, he muttered between pants,
"I'm not—haa—built for this," he wheezed. "I've been running—heugh—since the start… ugh…"
A dry, humorless, and strained laugh then escaped him,
"Ha.ha… Why is it so haa – damn hard to find haa – one doll? It's like finding a needle in a—" he paused, spitting on the ground. "No… Worse… A haunted, blood-soaked haystack where the hay bites back."
The breeze picked up, whistling through broken swing chains. Jin's sweaty bangs clung to his forehead.
He forced himself upright and patted down his jacket.
That's when he remembered…. The scroll.
The one from the shed that he never got to read.
With trembling fingers, Jin pulled it out from his black jacket and unfolded it carefully. His eyes then locked onto the words scrawled in jagged, childish handwriting with black ink, which smeared in places, but the message was clear.
"She's not like the others. She was scared but also brave...
So now... she waits... at the final stop. Where no one wants to stay.
The place where it all started, where it ended, and where the endings begin again."
The chat buzzed instantly:
[Alive – Live Chat]
[📹WTF_WasThat: Is that like… a grave??? Or like... the exit?]
[🥤HotPotHorrorFan: So… a morgue? A burn pit? Someone hold me.]
[💀SkepticSteve: Obviously scripted. No one runs like that and lives.]
[🧃TangYuanFan: Someone get this man a treadmill and an inhaler😂]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[💉click_clack_crack: Need a piggyback, streamer? You're almost out of time.]
[🫀404_soul_not_found: He doesn't know what waits at the stop.]
[🕯️PaleOneWatching:You won't find her like this. You'll just make us laugh harder.]
[🎠PeachyGhosties99: Tick-tock-tick-tock. Not much longer now.]
Time Limit: 00:30:56
✦ Sanity: 63% - Functionally Frightened
Jin let out a slow breath, fog curling in the cold night air. "Okay, 30 minutes left… I have all three clues. One, she's alone… Two, she can't remember her name… and three, she's where endings begin."
His gaze swept across the cursed playground, empty swings, shattered slides, rusting memories.
Then, his gaze landed on the entrance of the playground.
(Could it be there? Is that the final stop?)
He jogged towards it, his heart pounding.
Maybe that was it. The place where people came and left, or maybe "the final stop" meant the start, where the forgotten were left behind.
Jin approached the rusted archway entrance, the "Welcome" sign hanging crooked, one side long rusted off.
But… nothing. No doll, no shadow, no clue.
The area was empty, devoid of any signs of life or unlife.
Just the rusted gates hanging ajar, moaning softly in the wind like they'd been doing for years.
He groaned. "So much for that idea…"
He wandered again, trying to think. "Where's the damn end supposed to be...?
Desperate for guidance, as time was ticking down… He decided to ask the live chats, hoping the dead live chat might offer some insight.
"He–Hey guys… Any ideas? Let me survive this one, ok? I can be more entertaining ha.ha..."
The live chats blipped erratically, some messages flickering in and out, as if fighting through interference.
[Alive – Live Chat]
[🌙NightWatcher: Still no doll?? Check the tunnels again?]
[💡BrightIdea: Maybe she meant something symbolic?]
[🍕PizzaLover: Bro I barely passed English class, don't ask me.]
[🌟Lost_Traveler: Wait. Didn't he get an envelope from that creepy tea lady??]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[👁️GrimGaze: The entrance is just a place for the lost to wander. There's no "end" waiting for you there.]
[🔪TornFlesh: You thought it'd be there? Adorable. The entrance has nothing left to give.]
[🪦AshesToDust: He's so lost…. Maybe the envelope given by the Lady will help. Maybe.]
[🕳️FadingLight: The question isn't where you're going. It's when you'll stop running.]
The envelope…. Right… He had almost forgotten.
The one from Lady Victoria, given to him during the eerie tea session at the pavilion, where he'd gotten the second clue.
Lady Victoria's words echoed in his head. "Open it when your heart is ready."
He carefully pulled out the sealed envelope. The wax emblem glinted in the dim light like a drop of blood.
He didn't feel ready. Not really. But then again, had he felt ready for anything since this nightmare started?
His hands trembled again, this time not from exhaustion.
Jin took a deep breath. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Then, carefully peeled the wax seal open.
And inside was a letter folded neatly in thirds.
The paper seemed to have yellowed, and the faint scent of lavender drifted as Jin unfolded the paper, the ink on the page smeared in places, almost as if it was written in haste. The handwriting is elegant but hurried, a stark contrast to the unsettling tone of the message.
"To my dear guest who dares seek answers,
I am not the first to wear the mantle of the forgotten, nor will I be the last.
The Forgotten Doll you seek is special. She likes to play and make new friends.
But she holds the truth, locked away in her silence, and she protects us from it.
She was the last one, and she still is.
This Forgotten Doll is lost and is not held in porcelain or cloth.
She is memory, voice, sorrow, and song.
She is the Last Forgotten One.
So, give an offering, call her true name, and the game ends.
P.S. My dear guest, I told you to open this letter when your heart is ready.
And I do hope it is…
So be wary, when silence takes over… because it will come for you.
I wish you the best of luck."
Jin stared at the paper, his mouth slightly agape.
The words didn't register at first. So he reread them again and again
"What the f*ck does this mean? " he whispered.
"Not held in porcelain or cloth? So not a doll?? Also, what the hell does 'It' mean?!" He groaned.
He then looked at the stream's mission time display.
Time Limit: 00:23:43
"Shit..."
Jin began pacing back and forth, rubbing his temples.
The words were bouncing in his head like ping-pong balls in a hurricane. He was thinking too hard, leading him to not think at all. His footsteps crunched over gravel, broken glass, soft dirt... and without realizing it, he'd ended up near the old merry-go-round again.
That slow-turning, rusted death wheel that had been spinning since the moment he arrived.
Creak... creak... creak...
Slow, rhythmic, as if following a tune only the dead could hear.
His eyes narrowed.
Something about it caught his attention.
There, half-hidden under years of grime and flaking paint, were faded letters, barely legible, etched into the center pole.
"The End."
He froze.
"Where endings begin..." he whispered.
Crunch. Crunch.
His footsteps on the gravel sounded louder in the eerie silence. As he approached the merry-go-round, he felt it.
The weight of memory. The first time he'd seen her… Wasn't it here?
She'd appeared, chased him...
But now he thought back, she had chased him, yes… but never tried to actually catch him.
She always pushed him toward a new place, a new clue. Like she was herding him.
Was she... guiding him?
She'd always vanished when he entered the clue zones. Like she wanted him to find them.
Then, another memory flickered, Xiao Hei's warning.
"Oh Right!~ Just don't say her real name. She becomes sensitive if you do."
"I DON'T KNOW HER REAL NAME!!"
"Right! Hahaha… I don't either~ hahaha~ Okay, have fun then Qiang-ge~"
That was it. That was the final piece.
"That means…. she doesn't know it either... Right?" Jin muttered.
"She's the forgotten one..." he realized, eyes widening. "The forgotten doll is not a doll..."
"She's the Forgotten One! She's the doll!" He shouted as excitement surged through him.
He pulled off his backpack, breath hitching, and dug through it until his fingers found the familiar shape, his childhood action figure, Captain Brave-X! Defender of Dreams, the one he'd brought as an offering.
He held it out in front of him.
"Hey... I brought this for you…" he said gently. "You like making friends, right? I... I hope this counts…."
Silence.
The merry-go-round creaked softly.
He glanced around. "What good are you…" He said bitterly to the worn-out action figure, "If I can't even call the one I'm supposed to give you to?" he said, gripping it tight.
"I need her real name to free her... but I don't know it and Xiao Hei doesn't either." He muttered.
The wind then shifted…
But Jin didn't notice…..
The temperature dropped.
Far colder than before.
And a thin fog slithered across the ground, curling around his ankles, spreading outward like the breath of something sleeping beneath the earth.
[Alive – Live Chat]
[🥶SipAndScream: WAIT IT'S COLDER WHY IS IT COLDER??]
[📍TrailOff: Dude, it's creeping up. What is happening?]
[🍣SushiHunter: Bro that fog is circling his legs. He's surrounded. GET OUT.]
[🧸CuddleUp: He's too focused on the doll, he's not noticing the fog.]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[🩸Smile_Splicer: YESS!! THE FOG'S THICKENING.IT'S READY TO PLAY!]
[⛓️WhispersInWiFi: Ooohhh. It's coming. You can feel it now.]
[🌫AshDrinker: he's really out here trying to make friends with a doll while it is just waiting for him. hahaha.]
[🕳Sink_Slower: i'm betting he won't realize until it is right in front of him. 100 coins says he's that slow.]
The chat went crazy…
But Jin didn't see the chats
He was too deep in thought, debating whether he should return to one of the other dolls that gave him clues and ask if they knew her real name…. But the idea of retracing his steps felt like swallowing broken glass.
Then, there was another option...
"…Should I ask Xiao Hei?"
But before he could open his mouth to call….
An unsettling silence broke his concentration.
The world had gone silent.
No more swing chains clinking.
No more thumping seesaw.
And the merry-go-round, the slow, ever-turning wheel he'd heard all night, had stopped.
Dead still.
And it was just right behind him.
A few meters away.
A sense of dread washed over him. His skin crawled, as every hair on his body stood upright.
And something primal screamed at him not to turn around.
But he did.
He turned slowly... as every nerve screamed don't look, don't look, don't look…
And then, he saw it…
His blood ran cold, and his heart nearly stopped.
There, at the center of the merry-go-round, seated at one of the rusted horse seats was a clown.
A CLOWN….
Dressed in faded polka dots, frilly collar stained dark. The makeup on its face was smudged and cracked. Red paint smeared like dried blood on its lips, stretched by a grin that split far too wide, and its eyes were wide and unblinking black pits that stared directly at him, gleaming with a soulless hunger.
✦ Sanity: 63% –> 53% - Disturbed, but keeping it together
Jin's body went rigid, and his thoughts slammed into a single horrified sentence.
(Oh great… A killer clown…. Now I'm really fucked.)
The clown then tilted its head slowly from left to right, like a wind-up toy whose gears were one twitch away from snapping.
Jin's breath hitched, and he didn't move. Not because he was being brave, but because every part of him had entered a committee meeting and unanimously voted on paralysis.
Then it laughed.
A low, gurgling, wet sound that echoed across the fog-filled playground.
He wanted to run badly, but fear rooted him in place.
The clown just stayed seated… Watching him.
Jin's knees locked, his throat dry, sweat freezing on his skin.
But he still didn't move.
He couldn't.
(If I moved, would it chase? Would it scream? Would it…?)
His mind had a lot of thoughts, and it screamed for someone, anyone.
The clown didn't blink.
And neither did Jin.
"…Xiao Hei…" he whispered, barely audible.
Still locked in an eye war with the clown.
Jin slowly lifted his cursed phone, with shaky hands and without looking away from the clown, moving like someone trying not to spook a wild animal.
His eyes darted rapidly.
Clown. Screen. Clown. Screen.
A system notification blinked to life.
[Haunt Index: Orange - EXTREMELY DANGEROUS]
His brain froze.
"It was yellow before," he whispered. "Y-Yellow…"
He looked back.
The clown was gone.
And the only thought echoing in his mind…
(I'm really fucked.)
Time Limit: 00:15:11
✦ Sanity: 53% –> 51% - Disturbed, but keeping it together