"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
-Marcus Aurelius
~~~~~
The scream came from the deeper section of the corridor; as Audrey and I dashed yonder, my eyes reached their figure.
~That beret… It's Jillian.
I began to see more as I got closer: the floor, the blood, and their unpaintable faces.
I seemed to look shocked, but my expression is just the travesty surface of my real emotions. Behind this innocent look was my grinning shadow.
"Lyn, what happened here?" Audrey said worriedly.
Lyn's eyes were burning in loathe. Her body was rock-solid and she appeared to be out of her mind.
Audrey went over to Lyn's side and gently cradled her hand where she was holding the blood-stained sandals.
The warmth from Audrey's palms caused Lyn's wrath to dissipate by a little.
Audrey slowly and carefully disarmed Lyn. She took away the sandals from her grip and Lyn's hand cooperated unconsciously .
"Why are you siding on her?" said the class-A student who was kneeling beside her unconscious friend. "It's unfair! She's the imposter~" she yelled, whimpering.
Lyn impulsively hurled the ball-shaped PE shirt straight into the whimpering girl's face, shouting, "Shut the hell up!"
The PE shirt went like a dodgeball, smacking the girl to silence.
"Try blaming my friend once more and I'll tear off your hair from your scalp." Lyn threatened menacingly.
Audrey wrapped Lyn in her arms to prevent her hostile behaviour from causing further harm.
"That's enough, Lyn, you ought to cool your head." Audrey said.
Thumping footsteps sounded from behind us. It was Ella and her group.
They strode towards us; Stephanie who was carrying a tumbler immediately went over to the unconscious class-A student.
"Ritch, call the crews A-S-A-P." Stephanie ordered.
"Hang in there, I'll be quick." Ritch said, then sprinted down the corridors.
Ella also went over to the unconscious girl and kneeled down. She pressed her neck, feeling her pulse.
"She'll be fine, it's just a minor head injury." Ella uttered.
Ella then unzipped her purple sweater, revealing her enticing figure.
~She's quite a mommy (hot face emoji).
Ella plugged her sweater on the girl's temple, blocking the bleeding.
"Her skull ain't damaged, she just got knocked unconscious." Ella said.
"That's a relief." Stephanie sighed.
They actually handled the situation professionally.
I didn't even participate. I just uselessly stood here like a statue and watched them act. It's as if I were watching a dramatic opera.
Stephanie helped the crying class-A student to stand up and consoled her, "Everything will be fine from here on out, Daniella. Would you mind informing us how and why this happened?"
After Daniella get to her feet with Stephanie's support, she sobbed her tears away and said, "Jillian was trying to frame me…" she handed to Stephanie the PE shirt that Lyn threw at her. "Look, she left this in my room."
Stephanie spread the crumpled shirt and scrutinized it.
"Is that a Heart student's PE uniform?" Ella asked, bewildered.
"It is… but hey now, we have to hear Jillian's side." Stephanie said.
"She's straight up lying!" Lyn shouted, pointing her finger at Daniella. "She can't even prove it."
"I can prove it." Daniella said.
"Oh, yeah? Justify it then." Lyn raised her tone.
More students from other classes arrived at the scene. They stood still and watched the drama, trying to get a gauge of the pandemonium.
"Lyn, please lower your voice." Stephanie kindly asked.
"You need to hit the brakes, Lyn." Audrey added.
"Okay, I'll try to." Lyn said calmly.
Lyn seemed to have calmed down, so Audrey freed her from her clutch.
"Now, Daniella, it's your chance to justify your side." Stephanie said.
"Well, me and Hanna were hanging out at the bar, then when we got back to our rooms, I just saw that uniform lying on my table. I immediately told Hanna about it and she said that it must be Jillian since her room is just next to us." Daniella explained.
"We're with Jillian the whole time, I stood as her alibi and I know for myself that she didn't do it." Lyn said, slowly raising her tone again.
"But you hit Hanna, you could've killed her!"
"Who cares! She deserves it for accusing Jillian!"
Ella were busily pressing her sweater on Hanna's temple when she erupted, "Will you two fuckin' quiet down! You're getting on my nerve."
"Hey, Lyn. Let's not resort to violence." Stephanie said.
"Yes," Audrey said, "Let's sort this out by talking nicely."
~I just now realized that I'm the root of this pandemonium.
Leaving that uniform in Daniella's room caused these ladies to fight.
Does that mean they're fighting because of me?
~I felt somewhat satisfied. Is this how it's like to be a harem protagonist—girls fight over me.
"Jillian, may I hear your side?" Stephanie inquired nicely.
Jillian was covering her eyes above her eye-glasses.
Jillian sobbed perpetually, saying, "I dOn'T KnOw~"
Her tone was woeful that it could move any warm-hearted person to pity.
Feeling sympathetic, Stephanie walked over to Jillian and gently put her arms over to her shoulder.
"It's fine, Jil. We won't blame you." Stephanie consoled Jillian.
Stephanie reached for Jillian's hand and handed her tumbler to Jillian.
"It's orange juice, you can have it." Stephanie said.
Jillian let out a one heavy sniff to cut out her sobbing, and wiped her tears under her eye-glasses.
Jillian spinned the lid of the tumbler and took repeated sips.
"It's… yummy." she mumbled.
Stephanie giggled.
As this drama unfolds, Audrey has been giving me a quick glances every about ten seconds.
~I can't tell whether it's creepy or that's just how infatuation works.
Rumbling wheels sounded from across the hallway.
It's Ritch and two stewards.
One of the stewards was Charles, and he was rolling a wheeled stretcher down the hallway.
They came and took Hanna's unconscious body and regards us her safety.
"She'll be under our care, all of you ought to attend the second meeting." Charles said without even worrying that a student got harmed in the process of this test.
After all, they are in no position to meddle or interfere with the test.
Charles and his other company pushed the wheeled stretcher, bringing Hanna to a room where she will receive first aid and medical treatment.
~~~~~
After the situation cooled down, every student reassembled at cabin 42.
Each of us went back to the same seat as the first meeting.
Jillian isn't crying anymore and she looks fine. She still has Stephanie's tumbler and she's taking a sip bit-by-bit.
Stephanie spearheaded the group to bring the disputes to conclusion.
They discussed the incident and everyone cooperated. The group seemed to be on good terms and the conflict got settled with peace talks.
In everyone's eyes, the PE uniform owner was still unidentified.
Although I am the one to plant that uniform in Daniella's room, I still don't know where it came before it got onto my hands.
Some questions continued to be asked so the group could gather and utilise as much information as possible.
"We still don't know who did it, and we can't just put the blame on anyone." Stephanie said.
"It's Leo," Ella said calmly. "It's been him since the beginning."
~Why's she targeting me? I've never done anything bad for her to hold a grudge against me.
"Come now, Ella, as I already said, let's not put the blame on anyone." Stephanie said. "Anyways, Jil, since you are neighbours where the incident took place, have you seen anyone suspicious around that area?"
"Anyone? Uhm…" Jillian tried to recall.
Then she looked at me, and promptly averted her eyes.
"I-umm…" she hesitated. "...can't remember a thing."
"I see, then if you ever remember anything, please inform me." Stephanie said.
"M-kay."
Jillian then took another sip of juice.
She seemed to be liking the flavor.
"Hey guys, it's out of the topic, but… I just want to share a theory I conceived." A student from class-B remarked.
"Go on, Pauline. Let's hear it." Stephanie said.
"I reread the rule thoroughly earlier, and I just found out something." Pauline said.
"~Mm-hmm."
"It's noticeable that the rules don't give further information on what will happen to the person who will get ejected in the end, but there is also one more thing that the rules don't elaborated. There's no indication that even if we failed to identify the Rat, all the remaining students will lose."
"What are you trying to say?" Stephanie asked.
"To elaborate, it means that as long as we don't get ejected, then we'll win even if the Rat wins too—having multiple winners is possible." Pauline elaborated.
That's a good theory. Frankly, I thought of that as well. However, that simply implies that there's still someone who has to be ejected.
~In short, someone there'll be a sacrificial lamb.
I agree with Pauline's theory. In case we failed to identify the Rat, then we can just throw someone off the bus." Ella said.
"No," Stephanie repulsed. "That's horrible."
"You need to be open-minded Stephanie, in case we have no other choice, we have to resort to this method." Ella said. "Don't worry, though," Ella glanced at me and smirked, "We already have a sacrifice."
~What's up with this bitch? Targeting me all the time like it was some kind of flirtation—if only she's not a hottie, I would've pulverized her.
As the girls were talking, a steward came in cabin 42 to deliver a message.
"Pardon," he said.
He walked over to the center of the oval table, carrying a metallic, hand-sized box.
He placed the unknown box right in the middle of the table.
The upper-side of the box has a hole which glints a uv light.
"The game master dislikes all of your mischief…" The steward said. "Hence, to make this test move onward, I hereby denounce everyone's most hidden secret."
"Wait, but most of us aren't even involved in the incident, you can't punish all of us." Ritch retorted.
"I'm not yet finished speaking." the steward said coldly. "As it was already stated from the beginning, allow me to remind all of you that all of the test participants are like a community—a society. To maintain the balance and fairness of an unresolved crime, everyone must be punished for the other's unruly behaviour, this is what we call 'legal equality'."
We all looked at the steward without dissent.
~The crews of this flight are so persistent in relating this test to society. It's as if they were some kind of cult who were trying to showcase the dark side of society.
"I'll excuse myself." The steward then left the room.
After he exited, the box instantly projected a huge holographic message atop the table.
We all looked upon the bluish message which was displaying a bulletin list of secrets.
Each line was a secret, but the person behind the secrets was referred to as 'someone'. I suppose it's for confidentiality.
The entire society fell silent as they gaze upon the hologram.
I also read the list of secrets through my mind.
~someone's parents are corrupted, someone underwent plastic surgery, someone is actually 20-years-old.
I suppose someone lied about their age.
There are many secrets exposed right in front of my eyes, most of those were just typical illegal deeds and it's uninteresting.
However, there are some secrets that tickled my soul.
It gives me shivers down to my spine.
~Someone killed his/her parents without remorse.
~Someone is currently pregnant.
~Someone had sex with her friend's boyfriend.
Those secrets are the kind of secrets that are meant to be untold.
It's horrible.
At any rate, it's suspicious how the school gathered this information. They must've been spying on their students.
I looked at the others to watch their reaction, and as I expected, all of them were petrified on their seats.
It's as if they were nakedly exposed.
Two students seemed to be relaxed and unashamed of this revelation—it's Audrey and Stephanie.
Perhaps, their secrets weren't something big so they're fine with it.
Meanwhile, Jillian was twitching uncomfortably. Her legs were tied together and she seemed fidgety.
~Is she feeling sick? Or maybe ashamed?
Stephanie has her eyes fixed on Jillian instead of the hologram. She's been looking at Jillian as if her focus was mainly on her.
"Hey, Jil," Stephanie called out to Jillian. "Is something the matter?"
"Um… I… I have to go to…." Jillian paused.
Stephanie instantly noticed Jillian's distress, so she went over to Jillian and talked silently.
"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked softly.
Stephanie put her ear close to Jillian's mouth and Jillian whispered, "I've to wee-wee."
"Okay, I got you." Stephanie whispered back. "Guys," Stephanie gathered everyone's attention. "I'm going to the lavatory with Jillian for a sec, let's discuss about this matter when I get back."
"I'm going too." Ella stood up from her seat.
"Oh, sure, you can go with us, Ella." Stephanie said.
~I'm smelling something fishy.
The three of them were on their way out of the cabin, and without second thoughts, I also stood up from my seat and said, "I have to go too."
They looked at me with confusion on their faces.
"Huh?" Ella groaned. "Do you know what a lavatory is? You perv!"
"Of course." I replied coldly.
"It's fine, Ella," Stephanie said. "There are two lavatories on this plane—one for male and one for female."
"Heh! Fine… But keep your distance with us. I don't want a creep like you close by." Stephanie scoffed.
"I will." I said.
"Enough being mean, Ella." Stephanie giggled. "Anyways, let's go, Leo. We're in a hurry.
It's common knowledge that excessive juice consumption will cause someone to urinate.
~I just have a hunch from the beginning that Stephanie gave that tumbler to Jillian on purpose, not on consolation.
Stephanie acts kind and innocent, but I can see that that's just the surface level. I know that' Stephanie is wearing a mask, and behind that mask lies a deceiving monster.