Stay toasty my friends

The answering message played once again, the familiar sentence repeated inside his skull like a record. He could taste the words, taste the rejection and the denial. Tossing his phone across the room, he watched lazily at it sailed into the darkness. He didn't remember how many days had passed like this. Surrounded by darkness, the sounds of answering machine grating on his hearing time and time again.  But the worst part was, he couldn't even remember who called which home. 

Days had passed since it had happened. First it was a tickling wind by his ear, raising the hairs on the back of his neck as he wandered through his home. A whispered greeting as he fell asleep. But soon things escalated. Faces in the mirror, stronger voices attempting to converse with him. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was when the face became his own. A bit darker, the eyes as white as snow, the skin almost translucent, yet as grey as ashes. And soon he couldn't even tell the difference between the other voice and his own.

And then came the blackouts. Seconds, minutes, even hours would pass within a heartbeat, with no memory of the passing moments. Sometimes nothing would happen, other times it was as if a monster had ripped through his home. Destroying dishes and tearing clothes, leaving a mess that he no longer cared to clean up. But then the unthinkable was brought to his attention by the very thing that possessed him.

It was as if it was mocking him, taunting him with the fact he could do nothing to fight the demon inside him. It was left scrawled upon a spare sheet of paper, just barely eligible, even wearing his glasses. As his gaze passed over each sentence, his stomach dropped, and he felt the earth fall from beneath his feet. This possession was one thing, but what the creature was going to do was outrageous. The fact i even had the audacity to even conceive the idea sent paralyzing fear rushing down his spine.

'Dear Mark, you may have been wondering for days who I am. What I am. What I want, and I shall tell you. I am you. I am the evil you kept locked away, 'Dark' Mark, if you wish to name me, now free to play. But.. Whats the fun of playing by ourselves? That's why I am going to get some of 'our' friends. Then we shall play games, many many games...'

Mark wanted to fight the demon, but just like before,it was in vain. Suddenly, he began to laugh, a horridly twisted and distorted cackle, and he  immediately knew that it was not himself laughing, but him.

"About time you read that... Some things I left off though.. Like the fact that you're going to watch as I slowly kill all of your friends... But you won't be able to do a thing.. You see, during those blackouts, I found the perfect place to play our games.... Cops will only come to put out the blaze afterwards... Now come on, we don't want to be late for our flight..."

~~~~One week later~~~

"Come on in guys, so great to see you all again! I have lots of games set up for us to play this week!"

'Mark' greeted his guests with open arms and a large smile. But what none of them knew was that it wasn't the real Mark ushering them through that front door. Rather, it was the very demon that had taken over him weeks ago. But at this point, unless the demon purposely revealed itself, distinguishing between the two would be near impossible. 

"Awesome place man!"

Ryan commented, setting his bag next to Daniel's as he walked around, taking in the details. 

"Thanks! It was a steal, considering how large it is. Say Wade, where's Molly? I thought she was coming as well."

"Family thing. Her parents asked her to stay, and she felt obligated to help them out."

"Ah, I see. Oh well, we'll still be able to have lots of fun, right guys?"

"Totally!"

Bob responded from the washroom, and the others agreed happily. They then proceeded to prepare to film a little video, announcing to their fans that the gang was all there. Through many laughing fits and multiple retakes, the short skit was created, and with a few hours of editing, it was ready to be posted. 

"Say, I got the best place for our next video! It's this neat little place in the forest, we could totally do another spooky skit there."

"Sounds awesome, but can we do it tomorrow? I'm kinda beat man."

"Whatever works best for you guys. But if we're not going there tonight, shall we check out one of my favorite  restaurants? The food is to die for!"

~~~~~~~The next evening~~~~~~~

"Whoa... This place is straight from a horror film..."

Daniel gasped in awe, and the others were too engrossed with the scenery to speak. Dark grinned widely, guiding his friends into the large abandoned building, making sure the door closed behind them securely. As they walked deeper and deeper into the building, the real Mark was in distress; he knew exactly what, and who, was awaiting his unsuspecting friends at the end of the hall. Yet he could do nothing to fight the demon controlling him, coming to that conclusion after hours of struggling against its influencing power, to no avail.

The demon could feel Mark's dread, feeding off of the youtuber's fear as he guided the group further and further into the building, keeping his ears perked for any telling noises from the room he was taking them to. He didn't want to ruin the surprise before they had reached the back rooms.

"Say, which room are we going to? We've passed a lot of good ones already. And this large room would be wicked for wide shots!"

Bob questioned, and Mark simply grinned maniacally as he pointed to the door just ahead of them, which gave off an ominous aura as he approached it slowly. 

"I think this room would work best, because it's got everything we need in it. I made sure when I first came here."

Deciding that 'Mark' knew what he was doing, the group followed him into the darkened room, the door closing automatically behind them. As they walked cautiously into the room, Ryan pulled a couple of flashlights from his bag, keeping one for himself and handing the other on to Wade. But as they turned them on, they saw that 'Mark' was nowhere to be found.

"Hey! Where did ya go buddy?"

Wade called, leading the group as they wandered into the room, careful not to trip on any trash and debris. As they looked around, they noticed with a sinking feeling that the place wasn't as abandoned as they had been led to believe. There was a lot of covered furniture, but what alerted them to the fact that there may be someone else there was the couch. It was sitting in the middle of the room, facing a rather large screen and a coffee table, where multiple gaming systems were already set. 

"Mark....?"

Bob called worriedly, and a timid whimper was heard in response. Aiming their flashlights at the direction it came from, the group collectively gasped in shock at the sight that greeted them. There were four people tied to chairs, and the one facing them was instantly recognizable because of the hat upon his head. Since the rest of the group seemed frozen to their spots, Wade cautiously walked up to them on trembling limbs, seeing who else was bound to the chairs. 

Upon inspection, Wade saw that Yami, Sparklez, and even Jack were the other victims, yet how hey all got there baffled him immensely. He knew that Ken could have been driven to the building, as well as Jordon, but both Jack and Yami lived in different countries... Removing the tape from Ken's mouth, Wade knelt before him, hoping to get an answer from the man, who was now waking from his induced slumber. The bound man opened his eyes slowly, sorrow and defeat clouding them as he gazed at the group before him, not even bothering to attempt to escape. 

"Run.... He brought you here..... To join us...... Run...."

"Mark did this to you?"

"That's not... Mark.... Something's... wrong with... him...."

"Aw, that's not a very nice thing to say about your gracious host Ken!"

Dark's voice rang out from the darkness, but Ken was right. Something was definitely wrong with him, it was as if something sinister had taken over their friend. As Wade stood up once again, a sudden burst of light that appeared around the couch temporarily blinded him, making it impossible to pinpoint ark's location.

"I'm so glad to have all of my friends here. We're gonna have so much fun, playing games, just me and you guys, my best friends."

"W-who are you? What have you done with the real Mark?!"

Bob cried, backing up to Wade and the others, Ryan and Daniel following suit. Dark chuckled once again, suddenly dropping down from the ceiling as he approached his friends, who were now trying not to shake in fear of the man they thought was their friend.

"What are you talking about? I am Mark, how can you not you recognize me, my friends."

"You're not the real Mark. The real Mark wouldn't have done this."

Wade gestured over at the bound men, and Dark simply raised his hands in mock defeat as he chuckled wickedly, an evil smirk plastered on his face.

"Alright, alright, you caught me. I'm technically not the Mark you all remember, but I will be the Mark you will know from now on. That Mark you knew? Well, let's just say I've got him locked up somewhere he'll never be able to escape, so that I can continue to have his body, his life, everything."

"You... You monster!"

"Eh, demon's the more correct term, but that doesn't matter. What does matter though, is the games we're gonna play, and all of the fun we're gonna have!"

"Why would we play with you? You sick bastard!"

Ryan spat, backing up as Mark approached him. Wrapping a hand around the taller man's throat, Mark lifted him off his feet, but just a little, staring deep into the man's petrified eyes.

"You see those guys tied in the chairs? Notice how two of them aren't from America? I fucking flew all the way out to England to get this British fellow, and I decided to get the Irish man as well because the country was just  hop, skip, and a jump away. Seemed like an interesting addition to the gang. I've kept  them here all week, waiting for you all to come to me. If I can smuggle two men into America, what makes you think that I can't beat you into submission, friend?"

Dark then released his grip on Ryan's neck, allowing him to fall to the ground as he gasped for air. Daniel ran over to his buddy, holding him close as Dark smiled mischievously at them all, his eyes glowing unnaturally suddenly as the air became thick with dread.

"Oh, and if you think you can run, I set up enough gas and explosives to turn this entire place to ashes.  So, which game shall we play first, my friends? How about a little hide and seek? I'll be the seeker, you have 30 seconds to hide. Just don't try to leave the room, or else things will definitely heat up..."

Releasing the four men from their restraints, Dark then turned and went to the couch, sitting down as he began to count out loud, his voice grimly sarcastic as he began to slow his speech, making himself sound immature. Though half of the group was weakened, they still managed to run away from the demon, splitting up as the darkness swallowed them whole. Dark chuckled grimly as he whispered the last number, rising to his feet as he strutted confidently around the room. Unbeknownst to his friends, he had excellent night vision, and was able to spot them all immediately. 

Meanwhile, as Dark hunted them down slowly, the real Mark was still fighting the demon's influence, desperate to save his friends from himself. The youtuber knew that the demon would never release them, seeing how twisted his mind was, so he knew that the only way for them to have a chance at survival was to take back control over his body. Even if the demon consumed him again, at least his friends would be safe. Or so he hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for the demon to catch each man, the weakened group being much easier to collect than the others.  But still each fell into Mark's grasp, much to their dismay. Both  Ryan and Daniel had hid behind some boxes, which obviously wasn't a good spot to begin with. Bob didn't have enough time to find a spot, but he had tried to hide in the shadows. Wade had accidentally hid with Ken, taking refuge behind the screen, but neither realized that Dark was able to see their feet. It took an extra couple of minutes to find the last three, but the sound of smashing glass alerted him to their whereabouts. Both Jordon and Jack were trying to lift Yami out of one of the windows, but Dark swiftly intervened, sending them all tumbling to the ground.