Hide and Seek with Death

Chapter 2: They All Come Together

October 2, 20XX

If you are one of the participants in this game, the adviser will surely tell you that you must come to the thirteenth room in the Old Building.

It matters not to them at what time you will arrive and I am sure that they did not say anything else apart from it is an event where you will play hide and seek under the instructions of the WIC Company.

Here you are at this place. All of them will also be there. You should not hesitate to enter. You must take a step or all of this will not start.

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Room Number 13.

Mint finds it refreshing that there is a room in this dilapidated place that is more intact than the other rooms. The classroom is completely neat than he expected it to be. The walls and floors are intact and the black board at the front seems like good as new. The chairs and desks looks as fresh as if it was just released from the warehouse as all of it are still covered in plastic. It is a good sign that nobody else had used it yet it gives him goosebumps just seeing how fresh everything in this room was. He takes a walk around as no one else is still around, even if there is one, they will surely ignore him if they see him if anything.

He don't know why but he feels curious about the whole room itself. It is like there is something he forgot but cannot remember what is it that he forgotten.

It is weird.

After exhausting his brain in contemplating too much, he then sits at the farthest seat from the board, near the right corner of the room.

Nobody will get mad at him for sleeping, right? It is what he thought. Without anyone telling him otherwise, he sleeps in his arms as he awaits for the other participants to come.

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A brunette with black eyes enters the room. She has a fashionable bag in her right shoulder and a careful look at it is enough to tell that it is fake. The brand name states it is Gucci but it is labeled as Guchi which clearly tells that the bag is just an imitation. That matter aside, the girl does not mind that a person is sleeping at the lower right of the classroom. She just sits in the nearest chair to the door and immediately opens her phone to chat with her friends to spend the time.

Marissa Santiago. Student Number 103333.

She is one of the most sophisticated in this school which is exclusive for the poor. She is a proud woman who finds leisure in making herself look better than others by equipping herself with cheap versions of the luxury items that rich people are commonly using. Frankly enough, it is also her way of promoting her imitation products which is a business of theirs at home but it does not go well for some reasons. She joins this game in hopes of being a real rich person rather than being a poor imitation of them.

Several minutes after Marissa's arrival, Arianne and Eva enters the room. The both of them are surprised that there is only two people inside the room yet.

"It seems there is only a four of us here as of the moment." Eva stuffs her hand in the pocket of her hoddie as she proceeds inside. For some reason, she also feels uneasy being in this place. She does not know why but her instincts are clearly telling her that this place reeks of danger. She tries to hide this fear by hiding her shaking hands as a last resort while still smiling.

Arianne, on the other hand, seems oblivious to it as she casually comes to where Mint is and sat at the seat in front of him in the most natural way. Eva did not notice it and go to where they are as she thought that by being with more people will make her feel better.

If only she can sing a song at this moment to alleviate her fears as they wait.

Several minutes later, a group of seven people enters. The noisy atmosphere around them speaks of how close they are to each other. They must be friends and it just so happens that all of them are lucky enough to participate in this special event.

There is no one to organize the event upon coming inside the room so maybe the time for the game to start is nowhere near yet.

Marianne Leto. Student Number 100101

Arvis Neil Mackinson. Student Number 120114

Leticia Mae Johnsons. Student Number 121007

Kael Castro Michaelis Don Wayne Dela Cruz. Student Number 101775

Gael Moore. Student Number 101115

Michelle Moore. Student Number 101118

Andres Flores. Student Number 105571

They are the group who brightens up the quiet atmosphere within the room. They talk the mile away as if there is nobody else aside from them in the room. They occupy all of the available seats on the left which is the nearest to the blackboard. It seems that all the seats on the front is already filled. The silent Marissa also joins their talk as she shares her own stories as a way to past some time.

At this point, Eva feels like changing seats at the moment as the two people near her are actually strangers to her. She just met Arianne today and that is almost all that she knows about her. On the other hand, she seems preoccupied in trying to wake the other person by poking him with her index finger.

Sing a song

Make it simple to last your whole life long.

Right. Let's make it simple. Eva decided to stay in place as she waits for the game to start.

In the seat across her left, she notice a soft glint from the eyeglasses of a student who just arrive. She came with her friend who also wear the same circular eyeglasses as they sit with forms on their hand. They do not have their bags with them so it most probably that they are thinking that the game will be over soon and will be returning to class immediately.

Eva admires that thinking but she did not think of it that way. She also like their braided tie that suits the two of them. Now that she thinks about it, she actually know the two of them.

Lunettes Brille. Student number 101991

Linét Occhiali. Student Number 110019

She wanted to approach them but she can only watch them from afar as she don't actually know them personally. They may be classmates of the same grade but they are practically strangers as far as she can tell. It is not because she is being treated badly or ignored, but she is still scarred of playing an official game with them where she lose badly to them. She cannot find it in herself to go talk or see them for this reason.

Time continues to go by until all 30 participants finally assembles in the room. It took approximately three hours for all of them to arrive but it is a good thing that all of them are here and no one seems to be missing.

The moment a bald man wearing a brown suit and tie enters the room, Mint has finally awoken from his sleep. He is aware at that moment that the instructions for the game will finally be given.

Mr. Brown or so what the students call him collects all the form of the students within the room.

He has a certain aura to him that tells you to not mess with this man. All of the students have no room of complaining with the formality of having their forms taken to check if the ones within the room are indeed the first 30 to register. They are already used to it after participating in many official games within the school as a student.

I will tell you this for the first time but all students in Evergame Academy are required to play a game three times a month. This is the reason why there are always a lot of people in the Bulletin board because it is a requirement that students must play games such as gamble, tests of wits and strengths and many other of its kind in order to remain in this school. For the school, the student's participation in the games are their compensation for all the free education they receive. After all, they spend not a single penny in this school, even for their books and many other more like materials for their assignments. It is not a bad thing though as it also serves a source of extra money for all the students.

That being said, Mr. Brown is finally done in collecting the forms. He silently arranges it in a neat file without looking at anyone in the room. Even the brawny man in the middle who looks the most intimidating in this room does not scare him at all that not a glance was spared on him.

Mr. Brown then left the room like nothing ever happened. He did not even explain anything to them that it cause confusion among the participants.

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What happens next is a disaster.

The students who are bewildered to being left behind after waiting for a long time starts to throw a fit as they spout all sorts of nonsense.

"How long are they going to make us wait here?"

"This is nonsense!"

"Hey! Is the game going to start or what? Are these WIC guys are so lame in organizing events like this."

"What the heck."

Students starts to stand up from their seats and taking their bags with them. As soon as they try to touch the doorknob, the door vanishes before their very eyes. It is weird but it looks like the way outside is gone for goof in an instant.

What will you feel about this situation?

Does confusion starts to fill your mind that you no longer know what to think about? Is it because the way out was suddenly gone and you feel like your safety is compromised at this very moment?

All of the 30 students inside the room are bewildered of what had happened. In truth, their minds are all in chaos as they no longer know what is happening. Some faints while the others shouts in frustrations. They kick everything they see and all the plastic covered chairs and desks goes in every way as students tries to find a way out.

The eyeglasses girls notice that the windows are already gone too.

What do we do? They all thought of this at the same time.

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In the middle of all this confusion, a bright light suddenly envelops everything. It swallows everything in the room. All of the students gathered in this room are absorbed by the white light that covers everything.

Inside Mint and Eva's minds, they intuitively understand that this is the start of the game that they entered into. The reason why this game is called hide and seek. The catch behind the five million dollars prize that feels too good to be true and everything else.

The game is truly about to start. In a place that is not in this world.

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Basic facts:

Room Number 13 is a special room within the Evergame Academy that is not supposed to exist. It is rumoured that anyone who enters this room suddenly disappears without a trace.

Another thing is that it always appears suddenly and everytime it do so, it exists as if it was originally there in the first place. It is a phenomenon so bizarre that the rumors circulating about it stops as if it never existed at all.

If you are given the chance to enter this room, while you try to step your feet in it or not?