"I'm already a killer that's why killing again would not change my name as a murderer"
LOCATION: Mansion TIME: Afternoon
Level 2 stage 2 is over. Four have died—Rochedan, Karson, Nadine, and Myriana. Rochedan and Myriana were killed by Zekiah. Karson fell on a cliff accidentally because of the fight. And Nadine… she was killed by… I never thought this would happen. What a tragic turn of events. When Nadine died, Author appeared and the bodies of the four disappeared then Author announced that the health level was over. It was all so sudden that it left me dazed. I lost a best friend, Myriana, and three close friends. When is this all going to end? The agony is excruciating that I'm having a nightmare at daylight.
"Are we really going to live here?" Trake asked us as he looked up at the whole mansion.
"That's what Author said. It's better than nothing," Brenille replied, Third, while wiping his eyeglasses.
"I checked the kitchen and there was food. On the 2nd floor, there are three rooms for girls. On the 3rd floor, there are four bedrooms for boys. The bedroom door has been named just like in castle," news to us by Trake after searching the said mansion.
We are now in a mansion that has just emerged from where our little tent used to be. After the last game, Author ordered us to live here. This one is smaller because there were only six of us—the survivors from the actual fighting game. I always remember the metal castle. It was way bigger and we're more complete, in contrast to what we are today.
We have supplies of food and water even though the equipment inside the mansion is not that grand. There is not much equipment, so it is spacious. We first investigated the mansion before entering our respective bedrooms. Everything is normal as you see in an ordinary house or mansion. Everyone wonders why there is one extra room on the 3rd floor. On the 2nd floor, my room can be seen first next to Rochevel's and last is Zekiah's. On the third floor, L's first comes first, the next room is for Brenille, followed by a vacant room with no name on the door, and the last room for Trake. We thought that the room was by number names again like in the castle. But what is the boy's third room for? After the investigation, we first went to our rooms. I turned the doorknob, and it was nothing special. When I enter, there is a small bed and cabinet. I opened the cabinet and I had two pairs of replacement uniforms. We no longer have our own comfort room so everyone will share the common comfort room on the ground floor where the living room and kitchen are also located.
I took a shower and threw away the long black sleeves and jeans I was wearing after the fight, the others did the same. Gradually, our wounds from the battleground were healing but I can still feel a bit of its pain. I went straight to my bedroom and dried my hair before going to bed.
I remember my journal when we were still in the castle. I wrote everything that happened to us inside the castle. I also miss my sketch pad. If I could just retrieve that, I would have a memento of my friends. I miss them so much. I want to see their faces but only my memory can serve as their pictures. Even though we became enemies and betrayed each other, we still had a lot in common. And no matter when I will never forget them.
When my hair was dry, I went to sleep. Hoping that I could fall asleep.
***
"Let's eat," Rochevel said briskly as the food was prepared on the table.
I'm glad because she's smiling even though her twin brother is gone. She's grieving but she's showing us how resilient she can be despite her emotions. I watched the others, and they seem to want to forget all that had happened. Rochevel told me that it was Zekiah who killed Rochedan. It didn't shock me when I found it out because of what Zekiah also did to Myriana. She killed the two in just one game. How vicious can she be? Who would've thought of a quiet girl to have something up on her sleeve? She didn't apologize to me and Rochevel because we're Myriana's best friends. Rochevel cried in front of Zekiah and begged for an apology for killing her brother and friend, but this is the response we got from her, "I am not sorry. This is the mechanics of the game, so I have nothing to be remorseful for. I just did what I had to." I couldn't help but be dismayed by what she said. She didn't even have the conscience to even be sorry for what she did. Brenille also has something to do with Rochedan's death and Zekiah finished Rochedan off. Our leader whom we trusted the most, also has the drive to kill someone. Trake and L are silent. I don't know if they still have something since the fight that they had. Sometimes, I catch them glaring at each other. I won't ask L because we haven't talked to me since the end of the game. He also avoids looking at me. I am wondering about Trake. Earlier during the fight, we fought but when I was blown up, he helped me then L came and punched him. Maybe Trake was just being nice, so he did that.
After the preparation, we ate together. There was a number name engraved on the dining chairs, so we sat down according to our ordinal number names. I noticed that there were seven chairs in the dining area... why is that? There is one vacant room on the third floor and now one chair.
***
The dinner also ended, and the others took a bath. I've taken a shower earlier, so I'll just rest a little and go to sleep. I felt the wound that Nadine has caused on my back. It hurts but it can't match the pain I felt when I saw her lying unconscious, the same thing happened to my friend Myriana. I remained silent in my room for a while and prayed for their souls to be at peace. Wherever they may be, I am sure they are in a beautiful place with no misery.
*tok**tok**tok*
Someone is knocking on my door. I stood up and opened the door. I averted my eyes when I saw him.
"May I?"
"Mm" I nodded. I tapped the left side of the bed to offer him a seat. We are side by side now sitting on my bed, staring into space.
"Are you mad?" he asked without looking at me.
I shook my head saying no.
"You are"
"No way"
"I'm sorry," I nodded at what he said. Because he said that, it came back to me how Nadine died in my arms.
"It's okay. It already happened."
I saw in my peripheral vision that he was staring at me, so I looked at him as well. In his eyes, I can tell he is apologizing full of sincerity.
"But other than you want to protect me, do you have any other reason why you did that?" I asked.
"Actually... yes..." he answered hesitantly.
"What's that?" He must have a reason. When he killed Nadine, his eyes went blank. There was no trace of annoyance, anger, hatred, regret— which further developed the questions in me.
"I know you can't kill anyone. You won't kill anyone. I already killed Sectwen. I'm already a killer that's why killing again would not change my name as a murderer." His words cut deep into me.
"I don't want you to feel tormented by the fact that you killed someone... so I killed her."
I got devastated by what he said. He doesn't want to hurt me because I've hurt others? Is that how he feels now?
"No, I don't feel tormented. At first, maybe, but when I did something forbidden and immoral, if the reason is to protect you, I won't be anguished."
What is he saying? Why doesn't he even feel guilty because he killed someone? Is it okay for him to kill as long as he protects me? All because of me?!
I punched him on his chest. He wasn't even surprised or angry about what I did. Looks like he was already expecting that I would be mad at him.
"Let it out. I'm here," He put his arm around me and hugged me. And because he did that, I can't stop myself from crying. I cried until his uniform is wet.
I am crying because of the mixed emotions I was feeling. It hurts so much. What a heartache to see someone die in front of you and the sad thing is, you didn't do anything because you couldn't do anything. Are they going to kill you, or will you kill them? I also can't blame First, so I have no right to hate him and accept his sorry because he is not at fault. He just wanted to live, he just wanted to let me live, so he did that. The only thing I could do was cry.
"S-Sorry... I'm sorry," I sobbed.
He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Silly you. You can always cry on me."
I smiled at what he said. It made me look embarrassed, so I covered my face. He grabbed my hands that were blocking my face and he removed them from covering my face.
"It's okay. Now that I've seen your soft side, you can show me your crying face." I don't know if he's teasing me. I'm ashamed of my puffy eyes and red nose.
But I am happy even though a lot has happened today because tonight, First and I were able to apologize and talk to each other. I'm happy that we're back to the way we used to be. I'm glad that he is my partner. He is a good person who humbles himself and communicates with me which strengthened our relationship. I am truly grateful to him.
"Good night," he said goodbye to me and got up from sitting.
"Good night," I replied.
I heard the door closing.
***
I woke up in the middle of the night to drink water. I got thirsty in the middle of my sleep. I am having a nightmare, so I need to enliven myself up. It was a bad dream about my fallen friends. I would be taking some time to recover from all this emotional and psychological damage. I looked at the wall clock and it was exactly 1:00 am. I got up and put on slippers. I was about to open the door when something caught my eye in the window. I saw a big shadow in the window. The curtain is white, so it is noticeable. I would have just ignored what I saw when I saw a large figure again.
"Ah!"
It didn't just pass by the window but stopped right outside my window. I sat up and was nervous. It was about ten seconds before that shadow disappeared. I sighed of relief when it was gone but was now confused about what it was. It's like... it's like I saw that figure before. It was also at night when it happened. I thought deeply about where I had seen that figure before and I finally remembered. A figure is similar to Neinuko's.
I shrugged it off in a few days but now it's all bothering us. Because of this Brenille has already given a conclusion. "Then I think we must conclude that it was just a tree or an animal wandering outside the mansion."
Maybe we were just imagining things. We might be paranoid because of the tri-games.
"We can put it like that but why does it exactly show up at 1:00 am?" Trake's recollection of what had happened.
"I don't know. Maybe it just happened to be in there in an exact time." Brenille answered.
"Because of what Cy said, I haven't slept all night to find out what kind of shadow I saw. I opened the window but there was nothing." Trake yawned. I notice that he calls me by my second name.
"Me too, I saw it. Ever since Heavien and Trake mentioned it, I can't sleep anymore. It was last night at 1:00 am," Rochevel said nervously.
We've been here for 4 days in the mansion. It's been three times in three nights already that someone saw that shadow. I mean, what we see must be real because Trake, Rochevel, and I have witnessed it. We all sat on the sofa in the living room and talked carefully about this matter.
"Why don't we reinvestigate?" Brenille initiated. He still acts as our leader, and we have no issue about it. "At 1:00 am, no one will sleep, and they will guard their respective rooms so we can find out whose window the shadow will show. We will know if it's only one, if it is beyond scientific explanation or if it's all just a fantasy," Brenille suggested.
We couldn't get out of this mansion to see what that mysterious shadow was because all exit doors were locked, and the windows have grilles. We've been trapped again.
***
It's 12:55 am and I'm here in my room now. Five minutes to go and we need to be alert.
12:59 am. I stood by the bed and was ready to see that shadow. I also held a broom to open the window and hit the suspect with it. Only thirty seconds left... 1:00 am!
N-Nothing? I saw no shadow at all. I waited another ten minutes but nothing. I went down to meet others. It was discussed to report immediately when we saw a shadow in the living room. Others have come down as well and gathered.
"Negative." - First
"Nothing in my room," - Trake
"Not in my room either." - Rochevel
Zekiah nodded saying nothing too.
"Me too" – Brenille
Everyone has the same answer. Why is that? We all pondered but no answer came to our mind.
***
It's afternoon. We spend our time in the living room talking about our lives now that we remember who we are. First doesn't shine his life on us. He just talks to me but not about his life.
"You really looked amazing when we played the virtual game." We sat on the sofa. I'm currently having a chat with First.
"Why?" I asked him.
"There's a hologram screen and hologram buttons when I played but the image of you and the background is 3D."
So, everything looks 3D. I must look like a game character then. Just like in a video game, the characters and settings are animated.
"Wow, that's cool"
"No, it's not"
"Why?"
"I want to see the real you, not the animated one."
Why? Am I ugly when I'm animated? And we talked a lot more. If I ask him what his real name is, he will always answer 'call me First'. I shrugged it off because I want him to tell me willingly.
***
The long morning and afternoon ended. We are now preparing dinner cooked by Trake. He volunteered to do so.
"Do you know how to cook?" I asked him while prepping the dishes.
"Hehe, not really. That's the only dish I know," he replied shyly while wiping the table.
Our viand today is a beef stew. At first glance and sniffing, my stomach is already growling. He really outdid himself with his dish.
"Uhm, by the way, Trake..." I paused washing the used kitchen utensils after he cooked.
"Hm?" he just kept wiping.
"Why did you approach me when I was blown up? We're enemies then, so why?" This has been bugging me since it happened, so I asked him this time.
I noticed he stopped wiping, so I looked at him while holding the dirty dishes.
"Is that bad?" he smiled in response to my question which he also followed up with a question.
"It's not like that. I'm just really curious... If you don't want to answer, it's okay-"
"No, I'll answer your question"
"O-Okay," At least I didn't force him.
"Because I want to. I wanted to help you."
I thought for a moment. "Hmm, thank you!" then I smiled at him. As I thought, Trake can be a clown at times but he's a good friend. I believe that he can be trusted. "One more thing, I still have a question," I said. He looked at me and waited for me to ask. "Did you and First have an argument or some sort of misunderstanding during that game?"
I couldn't be bothered with that incident either. I was curious about what they were talking about while fighting and why they seemed to be angry. I've known First as someone who's not quarrelsome.
"Yes"
My eyes widened at what I heard. So, they did have something. What is that and why?
"What are you arguing about?"
"Not what, but who," So, they were in a dispute because of a certain someone. Who could it be?
"Huh? Who?"
"You"
"Huh?!" I frowned. Why me? Did I do something bad at them?
"No, no, we were on bad terms because I'm your enemy in that game, right? hehe!"
"What?"
"I mean, it's only natural that we're going to fight because we're in a fight, isn't it?" then he scratched his neck.
Of course. I'm not on Trake's side so I was also against him in that game but no, there was something wrong with their fight. The way they look at each other doesn't seem to be just because they were opponents in the game. Their glares have a different meaning.
"I don't mean to intervene but there's something else about you two-"
He smiled at me and squeezed my right cheek. "You're really curious, aren't you? You know, there's a limit to being a detective, okay? Someday you'll find out too."
I could no longer speak when he brought his face close to mine. "Why?"
He touched my nose with his index finger. "Your nose, look!"
I immediately wipe my nose. There's a soap foam from the dishwashing soap that I've been using to wash the dishes. Trake left the kitchen with the viand and rice. He started calling out our friends to start our dinner. I just continued washing as well. I sighed. I got no definite answer from him.
***
It's 12:55 am. I'm still curious about the shadow so I went to sleep earlier and woke up tonight. It's good that I slept already for me not to fall asleep while on a patrol. If I don't see anything now, I will give up. Not long after and it's t's 1:00! I was not too surprised but I admit that I am nervous. I stared at what I'm seeing right now. I used to think that maybe one of the six of us was just pretending and pranking but we weren't. We couldn't see if there was a rope hanging above the outside of the window because it had grilles. All I know now is that the shadow that strikes every morning at 1:00 am is real because... i-it's in front of me now! I immediately opened the window and even with grilles, I used a broom and slammed it out the window if I hit anything— and there it is! I can feel that I hit like cloth and soft-like material. I hit it again.
"Whaaa!"
I got startled that something had fallen out from above. As it was falling, I saw right in front of me that it was a stuffed toy. I can't clearly see it because the main source of light that I have is only moonlight. It would render no big problem if it was only a simple stuffed toy but it's not an ordinary stuffed toy or teddy bear or whatever. It's a stuffed toy that looks like Neinuko! The half dog and half cat monster that we have encountered in the forest and near the river. Same color and same looking but smaller than the real Neinuko because it was just a stuffed toy. Even if I only saw that for a quick moment, I'm sure. I closed the window frantically. I still wondered about what happened. Why is there a stuffed toy Neinuko there? I sat on my bed for a moment to ponder the mysteries going on inside and outside the mansion.
First, there is one more boy's room. Second, an extra seat in the dining area. Third, there is a shadow at the window. Fourth, that shadow appears exactly at one o'clock in the morning only.
I kept thinking until I realized something. If my answer is correct, I need to see it one more time and ask why it is provoking and why it doesn't even want to expose itself. If it turned out to be right, it's outside the mansion and can't get in so through the shadows it's hinting. I mustered my courage. I opened the window again and shouted. "Hey! Show yourself. I know you're the one who did the mysterious shadow!"
Nothing happened so I shouted again. "Oy, show yourself up! I'm not afraid of you!"
"Shhh! Shhh! Don't be loud!" he is shushing me, so I calmed down.
"W-Why are you f-floating?!" I questioned pointing at him standing in front of me outside my window.
"Floating? Hahaha! Of course, I have a harness, here it is." And he actually showed me the harness he was referring.
"What are you doing?" He took a cement or steel drill from his pocket.
"I'm headin' into your room," he said eagerly, and the engine started to make noise.
"What?!"
"I should've made this case a long time ago. I waited for one of you to find out that I was the one who did the spooky shadow, hihi," he said as he continued to smash the grilles of my window.
He broke my window grilles with proper width and length where a person will fit when entering it. He threw the grilles broke on my window behind him and stepped on my bed to enter my room.
"Why are you here?" I asked. I am a little nervous about this boy. What is he planning? And why is he here?
He shook himself first and arranged his school uniform. Yes, he is also in school uniform like us, but I've never seen one like this among us. I wasn't too surprised that he was also in uniform like us. Even though I know that he is the one who makes the shadow, I still can't believe what I'm witnessing right now. I don't know how he was able to convince us that he was gone and what was his reason why is he here in front of me in my room. He stood up straight and tapped the remaining debris that he had on his pants.
"I'm here to play level 3 of tri-games." He gave me an arrogant smirk.