The owls didn't seem to be howling as the loud music coming out of the building made their voice disappear in the middle of the forest. The full moon shined at its peak, disco lights finding their way out through the windows moving in a rhythm
The Knight was already positioned on his throne while the Spy and Giant stood at each side.
Lethal got his steps towards them finishing his Dance of knives "I didn't interrupt your dance today," Knight said as he glimpsed at Lethal "Yeah, except that you came early and sucked all the fucking attention in the air, you fairly didn't interrupt" he said rolling his eyes at him
"It's not my fault attention naturally finds its way to me" He winked "Can relate" hmHe winked back making a click from his tough. Knight moved his head left to right in disagreement "If the two of you are done bragging then can we talk about the most important of important things?" Giant sounded, a leg of Spy trembled over his words, and without anyone noticing he fixed it back
"Fuck yes! I couldn't wait to announce Cursed Abyss" Knight said making their masked face excited "Of course the hell we can't!" Lethal yelled "I'm so excited for it" Spy joined, his eager scream betraying his eyes. Giant agrees with a moment of his head
"My edged babies are pleading to me" Lethal held one of his knives from the curved corner of the blade, he didn't mind the sweet kiss his knife just gave to him at the tip of his finger "To let them cut through legs" Knight took the blade out of his hand "You don't need to worry, there isn't even a week left now," He said to the knife with an evil smirk
Not only them four but the entire floor seemed to be excited from the moment they heard about Cursed Abyss. Knight elevated himself from the throne
"My dear people," he said, getting everyone's concentration in a fraction of one second. "I'm drowned deep in this enormous feeling of thrill to make the biggest declaration of the entire year. I know how every one of you is impatient for this event. And finally, we have reached the time of year. I am delighted to declare that we will be hosting Cursed Abyss, this coming Saturday night"
The moment Knight finished the announcement, the entire Hall roared from thunderous applause
The party never stopped. And his words boosted the aura of excitement. Almost every single one of them seemed to be either a university student or a minor, drenched in drugs.
The air around them turned thick by the smoke swirling in zigzag patterns, and the illusion of euphoria covered the entirety of the hall, head popping, body shaking with the beats of music.
Soft whispers from their smoke-laced mouths accompany the feelings of hallucination vanishing the boundary between reality and fiction created by their own minds
🧊🧊🧊
The reason why Isabell had to torture herself by listening to the recording of Emily was because she had forgotten many things about it already.
Last year Isabell packed every picture, every document and recording she had, in a box and threw it in a cabin and her eyes refused to even look at that corner of the room for the entire year. Over time the guilt grew inside her heart, she kept telling herself that,
I'll start it all over again as my Legal Case Study in the final year, but the thing she never enlightened herself with was how hard was it going to be for her.
She couldn't listen to the recording without shedding tears and that was why she gave herself a break of two days, making herself ready to walk back to it.
Without letting her mind think about it and begging for some more time she already pressed the play button
Isabell: 'How many times have you been there?'
Emily: 'For the first two weeks I went there every single day until I became a member of a club. And then I got everything necessary for entrance. I did the same for the next two weeks as well. Total of a month but the- then I realized ho- how I was deceiving everyone closer to me.
This emotion of feeling pathetic for my own self was miserable. I have always known it was wrong but it took me an entire month to finally get myself together. And then- I started to subtract two days every week, I had enough Fentanyl for those two days but I thought keeping my distance from them could be my first step to leave this addiction. If I don't have that I won't take them.'
Isabell: 'You told me that your friend was punished for breaking the rule so was there any rule about showing up every day? Like, Did they notice your absence?'
Emily: 'To be honest it was surprising to me too.
They divide the members into three: one from twilight to nightfall, the second from nightfall to late night, and the third before dawn.
I was in the Twilight Club and there were one hundred people in it, the same as the other two. I thought no one would notice my absence but I was wrong. When I went to the club after skipping the second day.
Giant: the key person to keep the attendance in order, approached me at the gate. He asked for the reason and I him I had some assignments to work on and he seemed to believe my lie'
Isabell: 'So Did they tell you this rule from the beginning?'
Emily: 'No, in the beginning, everything was so smooth it was normal, they treated me so well and I never complained even about the service but soon everything changed. The second week was fine too. I don't know why but it felt like someone was covering for me'
Isabell: 'What? Someone- Someone from the club?'
Emily: 'Yeah, a regular member or key member'
Isabell: 'Do you know who'
Emily: 'I can guess however I'm not sure but it never mattered because after that week every nice thing vanished finding its way to nullity. Their good behavior, their belief, and everything
No matter what I tell them they won't accept my reasons and then it all began.
They started to give me a punishment
Isabell: 'A punishment?'
Emily: 'Yes a punishment. Every key person takes turns for it. Spy is the first one to decide the punishment after him it's the turn of Giant and if you manage to stay alive then you will meet Lethal'
Isabell: 'You are making it sound like we are talking about hide and seek not murders and things'
Emily: 'Haha, It's like hide and seek but the only rule altered here is that it's never your turn to catch another, coz you won't really be living living to catch'
Isabell: 'yeah… Emily, did you- did you get punished too?'
Emily: 'Oh, yes.. yeah. Actually, It all started small and I was okay until it was Spy, just an increased dose of morphine which made me dizzy and sometimes left me unconscious too but after some hours I got back to normal and honestly it wasn't really a punishment until it got to Giant.
That man is built of rock, Bella… You know that man is so big, probably the biggest like the biggest, biggest person I've seen in my life.
My face is half of the size of his hand, One punch and he left a guy dead in front of my eyes
Isabell: 'N- no no, Emily. You are no- not saying that he- beat you?'
Emily: 'He did. He did. He beat the living hell out of me. There are a total of ten scars only on my face. I'm lucky to live in the hostel so I don't need to worry about my brother seeing them'
Isabell: 'This… this is not- no tell me you're lying tell me this is not what he did, right?'
Emily: 'Wrong! He did it. I don't really know why I am laughing when I should be crying. Maybe because it doesn't hurt now
Isabell: 'I- don't even know what to say. I don't even know how to say anything'
Emily: 'Haha, you don't need to say anything. It's my interview so I'll just continue. So it was the next week and as decided I skipped three days from it and it was the first time I saw Lethal clearly, not swaying his knives in the air and making everyone go crazy but his knives slicing my thighs. You see these big scars on my thighs?
Hey
Where are you?
Why are you so silent, Bella?
Hey?'
Isabell: 'No! No, Emily, I don't know. I'm sorry for all this, I'm so so sorry, Emily'
Emily: 'Hey it's okay, it's not your fault'
Isabell: 'Do you want me to stop the interview, Emily?'
Emily: 'No, Bella. I can do it.'
Isabell: 'You sure"
Emily: 'Yeah I am'
Isabell: 'Emily, you are not okay. You have been crying for the last ten minutes and you want me to believe that you are fine doing this?'
Emily: 'We don't have time, Bella. Maybe we won't get a second chance
Isabell: 'What do you mean by that?"
Emily: 'In the coming week there is a festival in the club, Cursed Abyss'
Isabell: 'Cursed Abyss?"
Emily: 'Yeah that's what they call it. All three groups that I told you about, will combine and a total of three hundred people will be there that day.
They're gonna reduce prices and the sales will reach the top. The club will receive huge orders, gambling will be at its peak, and yeah- for some runaways and traitors- like- like me they might murder people too'
Isabell: 'What do you mean by murdering people?'
The interview was stopped by the sound of the opening of the main gate of the apartment. While Isabell stayed frozen to her feet.
Her mother could not know about this because she would never let Isabell be involved in something this dangerous and Xavier finding out about it would be a disaster. He would make fun of Isabell and tease her until she set everything on fire. This was the reason her evidence board existed on the back of the K2 and everything about it always stayed a secret to Isabell
----
The morning rose and Isabell was up earlier than her usual
"Have you packed the coat?" Lowren came to Isabell's room holding a box of sandwiches "Yes, Mom" She replied closing the zipper of her suitcase
"And Toothbrush? Towel? Your woolen scarf? And—"
"Mom, Mom, I've packed everything like every single thing and it's just a two-day trip. Why are you getting so worried?" She said cupping her hands around her mother's arms
"I know but I can't help but be concerned and I don't understand why you decided to go on the tour when you never do," She said taking a seat on the bed along with her suitcase "I'm going to be fine, Mom" Isabell took the box from her mother's hands "You have to be, Bella," She said in a low voice and Isabell replied with a nod
"Remember" Lowren got on her feet "No matter how cool it makes you look, Bella, you can not go on the ski lift or you are going to have panic attacks" Her tune seemed to get hardened
"I know, I know my fears of heights quite well" Lowren didn't seem to be satisfied with her answer "Yeah and your mother knows that you never care about it until there is nothing left but tears and fear in you" Her eyes narrowed, brows clenched "I'm going to be okay, Mom" She couldn't do anything but to smile looking at her face "You better be, Bella" Lowren knotted Isabell into a hug "Take care of yourself, Mom" She hugged her back tighter "You too, my baby" Both of them nodded, after giving a second and a third hug to her mother, Isabell grabbed her suitcase.
On the way out Isabell stopped in front of Xavier's room who was already standing at the door waiting for her "I got something for you" He said stepping towards Isabell "What?" The word was unusually soft
"Here" Xavier passed a pack filled with boxes of cranberry juice to her
"Oh," She held it as a smile lightened her face "Thank you, I guess" Giving each other their favorite snacks and speaking nicely was the way these twins apologized to each other. Isabell nodded a couple of times to the juice and then walked towards the door "Let me" Xavier said stopping Isabell's steps "Let me drive you to the university" Xavier said curving his lips into an anxious pout "O-okay" she replied, the awkwardness was still flying in the air
----
Xavier dropped Isabell near the buses, everyone was already there except someone Isabell didn't realize she was looking for but for an anonymous reason Isabell had been staring in the direction of the teacher's parking since she stepped out of the car
"Hey, guys" Ashley greeted, moving Isabell's eyes to her.
Her hair was tied into a ponytail. Ashley was wearing a gray floral sundress, matching Isabell's and the plan gray shirt of Steve
"Let me introduce you to them," She said to a girl standing with her "Arine, this is the eternally panicked, forever zoned out, and troublemaker top student of law Isabell" Ashley introduced, making Isabell's eyes to roll
"And this is Steve AKA the guy with big plans" There wasn't a chance of Ashley letting Steve live in peace, and he had the same reaction as Isabell "And guys this is Arine, a friend of mine from the faculty of biology," She said pointing at the girl. Isabell's eyes looked at her, she had flowing auburn hair with small green eyes that held warmth in them as she smiled prettily but her dilated pupils and lightly yellowish skin were announcing something else to Isabell
"It's nice to meet you," Arine said, Isabell zoned out the moment she laid an eye on Arine
She looks exactly like Emily
Isabell said to herself, losing in the moments she had with her. Emily and Isabell spent a little more than a month together but they made a strong bond in this short time. She considered Emily as her younger sister, and it was almost a year since the last time Isabell saw her and after these many days it was like looking at her younger sister all over again
"Izzy!"
Isabell's body jerked as Ashley called her "Are you okay?" Ashley placed her hand on Isabell's shoulder and Isabell zoned in "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay" She looked at Arine who was still staring at her
"Hey, hi, Arine. It's ni- nice to meet you too" Arine nodded, her eyes shined "Looking forward to enjoying with you guys," She said in a soft voice "Same goes for us, Arine" Isabell smiled
Because of the distraction created in her thoughts, Isabell failed to unwillingly stare at the teacher's parking lot and she didn't realize when Sebastian was already near them.
This was the first time Isabell had seen Sebastian without a suit, but the color stayed the same
Sebastian was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt along with a fleece jacket of the same color, dark jeans, and long boots to complete his shadowy outfit
Perfect
Sebastian was talking to Wilson but he wasn't smiling like Ashley told her. But he was staring in the direction where they were standing
As Isabell followed his gaze it ended up at Arine.
Why would he stare at a girl? She asked herself.
Maybe he had noticed the dilated eyes too and knew she was druor because she was naturally so pretty
Isabell was frowning but there was no chance she was getting jealous because why would she get jealous of a guy she hate so much, Isabell never found an answer herself.
Everyone was ready to go but Sebastian never stopped staring even when he disappeared through the gate of the bus in front of Isabell's eyes. He always had a strange expression on his face but Isabell knew that this was stranger than those strange expressions and had the strangest feeling about it too
An unknown feeling to her.