MURDER GAME

Everything was bright and sunny. The entire place was filled with flowers with different variations, big trees, birds chirping, and a vast land where you can only see in fairy tail movies. I blinked twice… thrice… How did I get here? That's the question that has been haunting me. The last memory of mine was that I was in my bedroom, reading some notes because our exam is happening next week. So… how did I end up here? My name is, Sage Melody Violi. I kept on walking and walking, until I finally saw a structure— it doesn't look very modern… it looks too cyberpunk for me, a big cube with lines that seems like it's the source of some sort of energy, perhaps technology? So it's a big cube? With advanced technology? How amusing. I started walking towards it, hoping to find at least a clue why I got teleported here— because I'm not stupid enough to not realize that this is no dream, perhaps a lucid dream? Hopefully. “Hey!” I heard someone yelling behind me. “You with the hello kitty pajamas!” he yelled. I immediately turned to look at the man’s face, annoyed with the fact that he pointed out my pajama. What's wrong with having your own preference?! They didn't even bother to change me when they teleported me here— or kidnapped? “What?” I answered. He finally catched up and was panting very heavily. “What number are you?” he asked. I raised a brow. “Is English not your first language? You meant, how old am I?” I clarified. I mean, he certainly doesn't look very American to me, he looks more Chinese, with his black hair, milky white skin and the famous Chinese’s eyes where you can hardly look at the bright sky because of their monolid eye type. He shook his head. “No, I meant your number.” “My phone number? Why are you interested in me?” I frowned. He shook his head again, and got enough with me not understanding him. “This!” He pointed at his collarbone, he moved some part of his shirt away so I could see his collarbone. My eyes widened. 007? “... Are you flexing your tattoo?” I asked. “No!” He suddenly grabbed my shirt and made me look at my collarbone. “... So you're 011?” I checked my collarbone. 011?! Fuck! I am inside an Asian household! I can't have tattoos unless I leave my parents place! “Do you know what this means?” I asked the guy. “It means you're the 11th person who got here, and there's a hundred of us here— if they haven't died yet.” All my nerves suddenly gave me a warning— that this is… f*****g dangerous. “... Died?” I clarified if I heard that correctly. “What do you mean by that?” He just nodded nonchalantly. “Yeah, only the first fifty people can enter that cube over there,” he pointed at the cube structure. “And… the other half dieds.” Chills creeped in my body. “Like, dead DEAD?” “Yup!” he smiled. “Then, shouldn't we go inside now?” I asked. He suddenly laughed, “you're funny, I'm Mòguî Wang.” he introduced himself. I gulped. “I'll take that as a compliment, even if it's not. I'm Sage.” I introduced myself too. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and went RUNNING like a freaking cheetah and opened the door of the cube structure. I was yelling at him to stop because my legs were getting weak, but he never listened and only let go of my hand when we were already inside the cube. I checked, there were already a few people inside— and the atmosphere is not very friendly. The inside is pretty plain, black and white, it was just a cube after all with some benches and a huge screen at the front with a list of names. A list of names? I checked, my name was after Mòguî’s. We're number 13 and 14. I checked and observed the other people inside the cube too, they were staring at me like I'm some sort of prey— or a laughingstock because of my pajama choices. “Oh, number four is the same name as me!” Mòguî exclaimed and pointed at the screen, with his loud ass voice— everyone heard it. Number four? I checked the screen. Death. I started and glared at Mòguî. “Death? What are you on about, you're asian!” He laughed like a maniac, still— everyone heard him. “My name means Demon King of Death.” I rolled my eyes. “Cliche.” “I know, but my English name is Death.” He said with a matter-of-fact tone of voice. I rolled my eyes again, this time with an exhausted sigh, “not any better, Mr. Death.” He looked at me, annoyed. “Then what should my name be? Give me a name.” I started thinking of normal names that I can call him. “How about just a nickname, I'll call you Dem?” “Why?” “Because ‘De’ is from death, and ‘M’ is from your Chinese name.” I explained. “Hey, lovebirds!” A woman started to shout, when I looked at her— she's the very least daughter my Asian mother wants. “How about you shut the f**k up? You're ruining everyone else's mood.” She then suddenly pointed a gun at us. WHERE THE f**k DID SHE GET THAT?! “She got that from the trees, there are some boxes in the trees containing foods— or weapons.” Dem explained. Wow, did he read my mind or did my face have a built-in subtitle? The woman’s body has many— too many actually, too many tattoos. Demon's head, skulls, roses, and coffins— all the edgy tattoos you could get for your emo self. It actually looks pretty cool, but not for me. Even her dark violet and blue hair color, and piercings everywhere where it is placable. “Why? Jealous? How about you shut the f**k up instead, since your breath will stink up the room.” Dem fired back. “Or go cry to your daddy, oops! I'm guessing daddy issues?” He laughed. My eyes widened, what the hell is wrong with him? The woman was visibly annoyed by what Dem said, and absolutely ready to swing her hands. “Hah! You're cute little guy, you're Dem right? I'm Klara, maybe we should finish this with bloods and a dead body.” “Woah woah woah!” Some guy with blonde hair and freckles gestures, trying to stop the fight. “C-calm down, guys! You're scaring everyone….,” he started looking for people who were scared, but couldn't find any— until he saw me with my normal shocked face, “see! You're scaring her!” I raised a brow. “Me?” Uhm, I think we're not on the same page— because I'm not scared, I just don't think it's fair since Dem got no guns for him to win. “Shut up, loser. No one is scared or against them fighting, it's their life and it's honestly a blessing for the person who'll get the space of the one dying.” A guy with paper white skin, tall figure, and is wearing a suit said. He looks like someone who got tired of working, and wants some thrill in his life, and a secret psycho. Too bad I don't know their names, I could have checked on the screen what their numbers are. “Hah! Fine.” Said by the blonde haired guy with freckles. Woah! His expression suddenly changed. Another psycho? When the woman was taking out her knife, and putting away her gun she said, “how about a fist fight?" she said, smirking. She doesn't look weak or fragile, I think she works out pretty often because of her great build. “No thanks.” Dem said, and before I could even react— he pulled out a gun from his back and shot the girl five times. The gunshot echoed inside the cube, with each passing one becoming more sinister and sinister. I looked at them, and he was just smiling. He then looked at me and wiped away the bit of blood on my cheek, her blood probably splattered in my direction. The guy with a suit got a few lot more than mine, but he just ‘tsked’ and wiped it with some tissues he had in his pocket. “There's only thirteen of us!” He pointed at the screen. “Should I kill two more so you'll be number eleven, so it'll match your number?” He asked with a creepy smile across his face. Everyone glared at him, except me. How… amusing. Can I use him? “Hey, move away.” Said by a guy behind me. Huh? I was brought back to reality when I heard the guy’s voice, he's a number fourteen here? He just got inside after all. “... Someone died and no one even cared to move the body away from the center?” he said. No one batted an eye so he just moved to the corner and sat down and closed his eyes. What the hell? He just got here and saw a dead body that was obviously killed by one of us, and he just slept and let his guard down? But no one actually tried to harm him— instead, they didn't even look in his direction. His name popped in the screen at the last name list, Zachary 010. Oh, so he's before me? A few more minutes… or hours, there's only one more person left who is allowed to enter the cube. Most of the late comers are equipped with many weapons, they probably searched for weapons before looking for this structure. How come everyone else knows what to do, except me? Did I skip some sort of practice round or did I not read the manuals? “I'm here!” A girl's voice was heard… a familiar one at that. When I looked at her, she's… Rosa! She's my classmate! What the f**k is she doing here?! No, actually— WHAT THE f**k AM I DOING HERE? She didn't see me and suddenly walked to the opposite side of the cube, suddenly… a red light appeared with the sound of a siren. “THE CUBE IS FULL.” I got scared when a demonic voice suddenly appeared. “NOW, LET'S START THE FIRST GAME…” “HIDE AND KILL!” “THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, YOU HIDE IF YOU WANT TO BE SAFE, BUT FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SEEK— YOU CAN KILL THE PERSON YOU FIND… “ “THOSE YOU WAS FOUND, YOU CAN FIGHT BACK WITH THE WEAPON YOU HAVE, OR RUN AWAY.” “THE GAME WILL HAPPEN OUTSIDE, THE MAZE CALLED ROSES AND THORNS.” Suddenly, the front door opened, and we were greeted with a maze— THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE?! “LET THE GAME BEGINS…” People started to walk inside the maze one by one, based on the ranking on the screen. So being the first person who enters the cube actually is a benefit. A guy with a beard who is probably in his 40’s handed me a gun. “Use it little girl, no mercy is the rule here.” He said before walking at the back since he was probably a late comer. Dem looked at me, “I'll wait for you at the right side, let's stick together.” I was skeptical. “Hey, you know I'll protect you, right?” He leaned to look at my eyes. I sigh. “Do you actually like me or something?” He shook his head. “I want to save you for last.” Ha! So he wants me to become his dessert? He wants to kill me last? How annoying! “You're messed up.” I glared at him. Suddenly, someone behind me pointed a gun at Dem’s head. “I'll kill you first before you get to kill her.” I looked behind me and saw Zachary. Right, he is number fourteen in the ranking, but his number is ten. “Why, you like her?” Dem smirked, but didn't move away from the gun pointed at him. Zachary stayed quiet for a few seconds. “I like her enough to let her stay alive, is that an acceptable answer?” I gulped. That just means he wants to be a “good person”. “Well, I like her enough to kill everyone here in this room.” Dem said. Fuck! Can I not be in the middle of two six footers?! Well, my head should be in the game. I looked at the gun given to me by the old man. Ha! How about we get this party f*****g going?