The Golden Hotel

Dead or Alive

The time read at eight in the evening.

Inside Room 24,457, everybody gathered around the living room to discuss about what had happened at the casino. Never had they been so furious and frightened in their entire life. Trusting the killer's words from now on would be a difficult choice to make considering the fact about how he or she had lied to them in the previous game. True, they found a red box on top of a poker table, but only two room keys were inside. How did they get caught up in such a bloody mess?

On the floor, Kacey was sitting near the coffee table with a box of tissue on top; a mountain of crumpled sheets were scattered around. Her eyes were red from shedding endless tears after she had woken up. Judy's death remained hard to sink in but she did her best to put herself together. Although she was exempted from participating in their discussion due to her emotional state, she wanted to try and help them get the bottom of it. She pulled another sheet of tissue and played with it, tearing it into small strips like a confetti.

Meg was sitting on a couch beside Daren, drinking a hot cup of coffee with her legs pulled up against her chest. Her distant gaze and sunken eyes proved how she had gone through an emotional breakdown along with Kacey. She only agreed to stay in this five-star hotel so that she could have a relaxing vacation, not to stay just to be slaughtered and meet her death bed sooner than expected. With all this suddenly happening, it was too much to bear and it frustrated her. In spite of their stressing circumstance, the coffee seemed to be very effective at keeping her at bay.

At the corner, Yves had his back pressed against the wall with his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed hard. His jaw was clenched very tightly that his gums could start bleeding from the amount of pressure applied. This grumpy behavior was due to his battle of thoughts and younger brother's scolding. He had been told off to learn to control his temper and that his anger management issues should have been completely resolved. They were already adults, after all. If he showed that kind of behavior in the next days, it might become a huge problem for them and the odds of trusting him could go lower. Klein had a good point.

"So what do we do now? Wait here until we all . . . you know." Jared broke the gloomy silence. Looking at their downcast faces made his heart heavier. He wanted to escape as much as they did, but they were trapped with no means of communication.

"There has got to be something that we could do." Daren weaved his fingers through his hair and released a sharp sigh. "Solve a puzzle or . . . anything! Take it from the twins and Meg. They saw an image of a dead woman on a slot machine. It matched Judy's cause of death."

"The killer loves to play games and leave clues." Maxine rubbed her chin before swishing a finger. "Maybe we just need to . . . recall the first game? We might be able to come up with a possible clue."

"That's a bright idea! Hang on, I'll go and fetch us a notepad so we can write it down." Faith quickly made her way to the kitchenette's counter. She grabbed a lengthwise notepad and a pen before returning to her seat, just beside Theo. "Okay! Gimme your ideas."

"I've been thinking of the time when we were separated in the first game," Meg pitched in, and they all focused on her. "Surely there is something weird about our floor numbers."

"Oh, throw me your digits!" Faith tucked her hair behind her ears before clicking the pen's button. "I'll do the math."

"34th floor." Jared briefly raised his hand and pointed at Yves, implying he was with him.

"29th floor, Meg," Theo said.

"24th floor, Kacey," Klein followed.

"14th floor." Olwen deeply sighed. "Judy . . ."

"26th floor, Maxine," Daren said.

"37th floor. I was with Faith," Hans told the group, and the brainstorming began.

Faith rearranged the floor numbers from lowest to highest. Then she tried adding the numbers and checking the gap between floors. She spent a few minutes trying to see anything important with the numbers until an idea came to her mind. She inhaled a sharp gasp. "Bingo! We might be on to something."

Theo closely looked at Faith's cursive penmanship. His brain instantly felt like self-destructing at the sight of her math skills. "Wow. That is one hell of a calculation, but you may be right. Say what you have to say."

Clearing her throat, Faith eyed them and her gaze turned serious. Something about her character changed. The glint in her eyes reflected a whole new level of intimidation and her straight posture backed it up. The once sweet and innocent girl became like a cold woman whose intelligence and standards in life were beyond anyone's reach.

"14th, 24th and 34th floors. They all end in four while the 24th, 29th and 34th floors are four floors apart. The killer also mentioned about playing the games every four days." She paused for a while, gathering the next words to say. "Number 4. My instinct is telling me that this number plays an important role. Whatever the reason may be, we have to find it out."

Some of them gawked and fell into a deep thought.

"Can you pass me your notepad?" Daren motioned his hands, imitating a basketball player who was ready to receive the ball. Faith tossed it over to him and he perfectly caught it in the air. After reading the numbers, another idea came to mind. "How about the number four is actually an unlucky number? Like 13." He fixed his gaze on them before tossing the notepad back to her. "Other countries have unlucky numbers. It's possible, right?"

They nodded in agreement.

"How about our room numbers?" Hans pitched in this time. "But do any of you remember yours—"

"Room 24,736." Kacey stopped tearing the sheet of tissue into strips and stared at them with a blank face, just void of emotions.

"Geez . . . You remember the exact numbers." Klein leaned forward with his butt almost falling off the couch. Bending down, he lightly nudged her arm and gave her a genuine smile. "It must be cool to have a sharp memory like you. Teach me, aight? So you gotta wipe that long face of yours and bicker with me. I want the diva girl back."

"How will I teach a dumb person with a poor memory like you?"

Finally, Kacey curled a smile even though it was small. His efforts in trying to lift up her spirits somehow worked and she truly appreciated it. He might have annoyed the hell out of her during their first game, but now, that emotion had completely disappeared. Everyone felt relieved that she was back to normal.

"So . . . what else can we figure out besides that?" Olwen resumed the brainstorming. "I don't think our room numbers has got anything to do with the clues. What are the chances that we could remember it? Any more ideas?"

While they were trying to recall the previous events in the hotel, Faith quickly lifted her pen up. "I have another one. But it is about their room number." She pointed the pen towards Kacey and Klein.

"Shoot." Olwen shifted her weight on the couch while the rest lent their ears.

"This might sound crazy but I did some math and . . . the result is kinda freaky." Faith sheepishly laughed.

"Let's hear it, brainiac!" Maxine prompted her with a smile. "Math might actually save our asses this time."

Clearing her throat, Faith dropped her gaze on her notepad and began reading the numbers aloud:

"2 plus 4 is equal to 6. Adding 7 makes it 13. Add 3, it becomes 16. Then 16 plus 6 is equal to 22. Add the two numbers by separating 22 and that sums up to . . . Four."

Her simple method for adding the numbers together caught them off guard—except for her friends. She was known to be the Queen of Math back in their university days. Judging by the unexpected answer, it seemed like logical brains were needed in this game, not only their memory and analytical skills.

Seeing their baffled looks, Theo rubbed his temple and tore his eyes away from them. He knew Faith more than anyone and it was just the beginning of her detective act. He couldn't blame her at all for being hyped up about this. Playing along about not knowing the secret behind her family would be best.

"F-Four?" Klein began trembling at the gruesome thought of splattered blood on the floor with some human guts scattered around. "What if one of us dies in the fourth game?" He threw the question to Kacey.

"Shut up, Klein!" Kacey smacked his cheek, and he threw back his head with a yelp. "How could you say that to us? I just came from an emotional breakdown and you go talking about our early death? Be sensitive!"

"I'm sorry!" Klein frowned while soothing his stinging cheek. "It's just that . . . you always say that word—"

"I'll wring your neck." She darted him an icy glare.

"Shutting my mouth . . ." He pressed his lips together and looked away.

"Guys, how about the food at the buffet table?" Maxine brought up another idea. "Have you seen your favorite food?"

"Oh!" Faith clicked her pen twice. "I saw our gang's favorite food but I'm not so sure if you guys have seen every dish. There were steaks, salmons, buffalo wings, seafood pastas, pizzas, mashed potatoes . . . but I didn't see Judy's." She wrote it all down on her notepad.

You will be the death of me . . .

"Dang! I didn't see mine," Jared snapped his fingers before pointing his thumb towards the grumpy guy, "and including him."

"Don't point at me, man. I am very, very upset right now. You don't want me exploding." Yves restlessly sighed and tapped his foot. Bringing up about that little detail made his heart race even faster than before. What if he or Jared was next in line?

"Just calm down, Yves." Hans turned to him. "You won't die. At least, not yet."

"Thank you for that, Hans." Yves' voice was filled with sarcasm.

Faith let out a deep sigh. "Anyway, we're not yet sure if the clues we have thought of would mean anything, but if we're talking about the killer," she studied everyone, taking a chance if she could identify the killer based on his or her demeanor and flow of aura, "he or she could be one of us."

Everyone exchanged puzzled looks.

Why would the killer be one of them? They had known each other for years and it was quite impossible to view each other as a murderer. Sure, they might have fought and argued over little things and big things, their friendship through the years remained strong. However, nobody knew each other's life behind closed doors. That reason alone could strengthen Faith's conclusion.

"But Judy was killed in front of us. How could it be one of us?" Hans creased his forehead.

"Why to the point . . . kill us?" Daren gestured his hand around. "One by one? What's the reason?"

"And how?" Theo stared long and hard at Faith, trying not to sound so used to this kind of scenario. "If he or she is killing for fun, then we're dealing with a psychotic killer who sees killing people as a hobby and an entertainment."

"That is one messed up individual . . ." Klein shuddered, shaking his head in disappointment.

Yves clicked his tongue once. He couldn't bear to listen to their discussion any longer. They were running around in circles and missing the obvious clue. Clearing his throat, he turned to them and raised his voice in order to cut them all off. "Are you f*****g kidding me? Go for the latest clue! You guys should be asking Olwen about the playing card that killed Judy. The card's suit might symbolize something."

"Y-You have a point." Olwen let out a short sigh while they remained silent. Recollecting her thoughts, a film of pictures played inside her head. It was from the time when she had noticed the strange noise coming from the dealing machine to the time when she had cradled Judy's dead body. There, on the blood-soaked carpet, the card's suit was visibly seen.

She snapped back to reality.

"Four of Spades." Olwen eyed them, her gaze turning serious. "There's no doubt about it. I saw it in my very own eyes."

"Four." Meg wrinkled her nose. "One thing's for sure, that number does play an important role. But is that it?"

"Good news! Spades is considered as the highest suit. But the bad news is," Kacey grunted, closed her eyes and lowered her voice into a sarcastic tone, "it symbolizes the medieval weapons. They call it the pike or halberd."

"How so?" Olwen raised an eyebrow.

"The drawing looks like a weapon." Kacey frowned. "And I'm sorry, guys. I want to help more by giving all the facts but I can't remember the whole information about the suit. Just something about the English name being adapted from the word sword."

"You did your best." Klein patted her shoulder, and she briefly smiled.

"Well, isn't that a clear message about our deaths in the future?" Maxine deeply sighed. "It's either we're dead or alive."

While they were still discussing, Faith had been mentally talking to herself. She was looking deeper into the meaning of the sword.

A sword, huh? It symbolizes courage, power, authority, strength and protection. She cupped her chin and thought more deeply. I know what the killer is trying to tell us but . . . the message isn't clear enough. Shifting her weight on the couch, she squeezed her brain more to come up with a better meaning behind it. After a while, a small gasp escaped past her lips. She suspected someone in the group. Could it be? No . . . There is a high probability that the killer could be pinning the blame on—

"Faith?" Theo's voice severed her concentration, and a look of confusion crossed her face. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? W-Why would you say that?"

"You just . . . gasped. Did you think of something new?"

You are making me curious . . .

Faith rolled her tongue back. She averted her gaze towards them and they were staring straight at her as if she had committed a crime. Would she risk sharing her speculation to everyone? The killer could easily schedule her early death if she was right, claiming her as a nuisance to his or her killing fetish.