Death Game: Isolated

University of Abra/December 18, 2020/4:00 PM "All students, please gather in the school gymn." The voice of the school president was heard through speakers placed in each school building. All students wore their backpacks and headed to the gymn. Some are walking in groups while some decided to go alone. As a university that is almost as big as a town, the distance from the classrooms to tge gymnasium is quite far. "We're already having our Christmas break, are they going to give us another homework again?" A girl in her 20's ran to catch up to Ace who is already hundreds of meters away from their classroom, his walking speed is really fast like he's going to be late on something. Upon hearing the girl's voice, his distorted expression became gentle. "I don't know." Ace replied to the girl as he offered his hand to her. The girl removed her backpack and gave it to him, a gentleman indeed. "Why do you always bring your laptop?" He asked. "Duh? Because I need it everyday." The girl rolled her eyes. "You need it everyday because you're always watching drama series." Ace shook his head, the girl's backpack is really heavy. A charger for her laptop, the laptop itself, a power bank, notebooks, books, and pen. These are the things inside the backpack of the girl. Compared to him who only has a piece of paper and a pen inside his backpack, Sofia's backpack seems like a bookstore. "Hey, Ace..." "What?" "Hehe! Let's go to church tonight, okay?" The girl asked. Ace furrowed his brows upon hearing her words. "Will your parents let you go? I thought they don't like you going around with boys, I sometimes thought to just become a gay." He replied as he pinch his chin. "Hahaha! You really know how to joke. Well, the couple will also go." "Jiel and Darell?" He asked. In the circle of the students Ace knew, there's only one couple he could think of when the word couple was told. From senior high school up to now when they're already at 2nd year college, the two are still in a relationship with each other. "Yes, Jiel doesn't want to comeo at first but I told him that Darell will also come." After a few minutes of walking, the two already arrived in the gymn. Inside were students sitting and on the stage, a middle-aged man is standing while holding a microphone. Ace scanned the students sitting to find someone and when he spotted him, he immediately handed the backpack back to Sofia who's standing behind him. "Wha- Hey! It's heavy!" Sofia shouted. *** Ace sat together with a group of boys, judging by their uniforms, they are from different courses but still, the bonds they created during their high school years are always strong. "Hmm, what is it again this time?" The one sitting beside Ace grumbled, his eyes were focused on his phone. The entire gymn calmed down and the middle-aged man on the stage started talking. "Good afternoon, students. The semester will resume on January 5 so enjoy your short vacation." The identity of the man is the president of the university. "I want to sleep early tonight..." Ace mumbled and leaned his back against the chair. "Me too." Jiel replied and yawned afterwards. His eyes were looking outside, who knew what is running inside his mind at this moment? "Can't you just persuade Darell to attend the mass next time?" Ace asked to Jiel. "Even if I want to, I can't. Maybe I should start going to church more often, I already have too many sins." Jiel said in a helpless tone. His friends around him shook their head with his words, is he really serious? They felt like he was pertaining to them when he said the word sin. Although they can say Jiel has a good guy card, they find it hard to believe his words. "That's a good idea." Aris said as he started unbuttoning his uniform. The president had spoken many words but it seems nothing was heard by anyone in the group, it is only normal because each of them has their own world. "It's like we're being boiled in here. Should we just go home first? We don't even understand what the old man is saying." Aris said. No one can really refute his words because they are all true, the reason why Ace and his friends are in the gymn is because they were told to. They have many chances earlier to go home sneakily but because of their curiosity on what is the president going to say, they decided to go to the gymn and now that they don't even want to continue listening to the president's words, they wished they could just disappear here. "Just endure it, it's already a quarter to 5. Are you that eager to play games again? Do you miss your fans sending hearts and kisses during your livestream?" Jiel snorted followed by a suppressed laugh, of course they don't dare to laugh out loud. "Shut up! Didn't you always say that I should shout out your name evey time I go live?" Aris asked. "That's only normal because we are friends. If you're famous, isn't it only needed for you to make your friends also famous?" Ace asked as he placed his phone in front of Aris's face. "See? Because of you, my memes are having so many reacts, hahaha!" Ace showed an edited picture of Aris he posted on the internet a while ago. "Hahahaha-" The one who's busy tapping on his phone suddenly let out a hearty laugh but is suddenly cut off because Ace immediately put a rolled towel inside his mouth. Edrian's face become red as tomato as he tried to stop laughing. "S-s**t! I didn't know you could make such a funny face..." Edrian covered his face with his backpack. The photoshopped picture of Aris, his snot flowing from his nose while sleeping. But if one were to look closely, it is not a snot. "Delete that!" Aris tried snatching the phone away from Ace but he failed. Ace immediately stood up from his seat and was about to go beside Sofia but was stopped. "You there! GET OUT!" The president pointed his finger to Ace's group as his angry voice reverberated inside the gymn. "Youths this time are too rude, do you want me to call your parents for your indecent behaviors!? This is your last warning and I'm going to send letters to your parents." Not only Ace but even Aris and Jiel glared at Edrian who's face is still burried on his backpack seemingly unaware of the eyes focused on their group. "What are you laughing at!? Is there anything funny!?" The president asked. He is really angry but Edrian is still laughing. "If you still did not get out at the count of 3, you will do a school service until this school year ends!" *Clatter Ace was the one who stood first and also the one who first ran outside the gymn without even looking at his back, afraid that he will meet someone's eyes. The same goes to Edrian and Aris, the only one remaining is Jiel who looks like he's rooted on the spot. Their group gathered the attention of the students in the gymnasium, they thought that he is just shy to stand and walk in front of hundreds of students. The girl sitting in the foremost front seat is looking at Jiel while he on the other hand, didn't know what to do. 'Damn, I don't want to do a school service! I will be deprived of my sleeping time if that happens.' He thought to himself and then he felt his phone vibrate. -What are you still doing??- The text message was mixed with angry emoji. It waa a question but not a question that needed to be answered, for him, it is an order saying "get the hell out of here!". "Excuse me..." Jiel stood from his seat and walked followed the three who just left. When he arrived outside, the wind blew over his face and gave him a refreshing feeling. "I'll go first, see you next time." "Be a good man next time the president is doing his speech." Edrian patted Jiel's shoulder and left afterwards. Jiel and Ace were the only ones left, except for the other students who are also outside. At this moment, a young boy, seemingly in his highschool year approached them. "Senior, c-can I get your game ID?" He asked. No one knew to whom he's asking. "Me?" Ace asked. "If it's okay, I want both, heheh!" The boy scratched his head and handed his phone to Ace. Ace then opened his phone and logged into the game, clicked on his profile and typed the ID below his avatar to the boy'a phone. It was also the same for Jiel. "Thank you!" The boy then left after adding the two as his friends in the game. The University of Abra is an agricultural school that's why the school is surrounded by hectares of agricultural lands. Rice fields, mango plantation, herbal gardens, vegetable farms, and fishponds. Although it is an agricultural school, it also offers different courses like IT, education, accountancy and business management, social sciences, and criminal justice. The agriculture course is the most populated, Jiel is also in agriculture while Ace is in accountancy and business management, Edrian and Aris are both in IT that's why the latter is also so engrossed in video games and live streaming. Jiel sat on a bench under a mango tree and opened his backpack, brought out a glass bottle and removed the lid. "NPK? What's that?" Ace asked after seeing something written on the lid, below the three letters are 160-90-60. "Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. These three are the nutrients in a fertilizer, 160-90-60 are the volume of N-P-K." The 160-90-60 is not the volume of nutrients contained in the fertilizer inside the glass bottle, it is the volume of the nutrients in a sack of fertilizer where he got it before putting some in the glass bottle. "Oh, okay." Jiel touched the fertilizer inside the glass bottle which became as hard as ice then put back the lid again before placing it inside his backpack. The two waited for a while and when students started pouring out from the gymn, they approached and stood on the entrance and waited until the two girls they are waiting stepped out. "Carry my bag." Sofia gave her backpack to Ace and left the place, meanwhile, Jiel had his ears twisted as he screamed in agony. "Stupid! Hmp!" "Why are you angry? It was not me who laughed! It was them." Jiel pointed his middle finger to Ace who furrowed his brows. "It doesn't matter. It was already enough that you told our professor last time that she's a retard." Darell is a breadwinner of their family. Among the five children of her parents, she's the oldest and this carry a heavy burden on her shoulders. An honor student from elementary and a valedictorian in high school, expectations from people around her are pouring like a rain. Although she's always pampering her boyfriend, she can't tolerate him if she's with his friends making trouble just like earlier even if he was just implicated. *** Ace's house is the nearest from the school with only 10 minutes of walk, after escorting Sofia to her ride, he walked alone on his way home. "Sigh... It's going to be so boring again." Ace mumbled. After walking for 10 minutes, he already arrived in front of a house, their house to be precise. He entered the door and saw the television is on but no one is watching, there's only his mother busy while looking at the monitor in front of her. "Can you take your brother home? He's already playing outside the entire day." Ace shrugged his shoulders with her mother's word. He washed himself and changed clothes before going out to look for his brother again. If there is a time, his mother always lets his younger brother to play outside like it's his last day stepping on land. In the neighborhood, a group of children are running and shouting around the playground. Ace's attention was caught by a boy who's running like a wild horse while being chased by three boys wearing masks. "Rawr!" The three chasing made a sound and ran even faster when they suddenly bumped into someone. "Ouch!" "Hey! We're playing here!" One of the boys shouted at Ace who is standing in front of them. His towering figure is blocking their way. "Pssst! Let's go!" He called his brother's attention, the little boy is helpless as he made his way towards his elder brother who's still blocking the three boys chasing him. He wanted to pick the masks when he felt a stinging sensation on his palm. "All of you also go home, it's getting dark." "But... My mask, I will use it tomorrow." "Then get it tomorrow." Ace replied and pulled his brother. He didn't forget to throw a glance to the three little boys behind. "Hmp! What are you looking at!?" "Just you wait, I will beat you when I grow up!" "Yes, just wait!" The three boys started yelling at him. Ace smirked and decided to make fun with them first. While the siblings are walking side by side, the little brother realized his brother stopped and looked behind them. "Yo I'm scared!" He said and covered his face with his palms. The three boys smiled in satisfaction. Seeing their reactions, Ace had the urge of cursing them because of their stupidity but he refrain, how can he compare his state of mind to those young ones? "I'm scared your not even circumcised! Hahaha!" He added and approached the one boy with a brown hair. Acw stretched his hand and grabbed the little boy's crotch, the latter was stupefied and belatedly stepped back. "Are you gay!? I will tell my sister about what you did!" The brown haired boy left with teary eyes. Ace then shifted his attention to the two who suddenly covered their crotch. "Go home and remember to get circumcised first before acting all mighty." He flicked their foreheads before going back to his brother who is staring at him wide-eyed. Ace noticed his brother's gaze and... *Grab "You still want to play, huh?" He asked while holding his brother's balls and bird from outside his pants. His brother shook his head left and right as a reply. "Good..." He removed his hand and pulled his brother away. "Did you let mom do the chores all alone again? She's so busy with her work so you should help her a bit." Ace added while holding his brother's hand. "I washed the dishes, I also fed the dogs and the cat." The boy answered. He really smells bad as his body is so wet in sweat and covered in dirt. Their mother is a lawyer while their father is a soldier. Luckily, Ace is already an adult and can take care of his younger brother all alone despite their parents not always at home. The two arrived in the house and Ace urged his brother to wash himself as he went to his own room and laid down on his bed. *Titing! His phone notified him as he was laying, he opened it and read the text message, it was from Jiel. -Later, 7:00 pm.- *** Ace, together with his mother and brother sat around a table eating dinner. Although the parents are often away, they make sure to have time to eat together with their children whenever they are home. "Ace, we're going to celebrate Christmas in your grandmother's place, do you want to come with us?" His mother asked. He continued chewing on his food while thinking if he should go or not. "I'll stay here, mom. When will you leave? Will dad also go?" "Tomorrow morning..." "If I change my mind soon, I will go. Mom, I will attend the mass later on." "You're alone?" "No, Sofia invited me." "Hmm... Go home immediately after the mass, okay? Don't go anywhere else, it's dangerous this days. Haven't you read the news that college students started to go missing?" His mother asked him. "I know about it." "That's good to hear. Just put the plates on the sink after you eat." His mother finished eating first and went back to her room to continue what she's doing earlier. "I'll let Junjun wash them." Junjun was his little brother who is 13 years younger than him. Ace watched his younger brother finish his food, it seems like he didn't even hear about the conversation with his mother. He is really enjoying the food. He looked at his phone and the time is 30 minutes before 7:00. After washing the dishes and feeding the dogs and the cat, he washed himself and put on clothes. It was a white polo, his pants and shoes are also white. He didn't start the bike when he was still in the garage because his mother might come out instantly and stop him from using it. When he was outside the gate which is a few meters away from the road, he startes the engine of the bike and left. It was already too late when his mother heard the sound of the leaving bike. *** 10 minutes before the start of the mass, he arrived at the church which is just 20 minutes walking distance away from home. He parked his bike just beside a familiar black bike in the parking lot, it was Jiel's. There were already many people inside the church and the entrance waa crowded but he still managed to find a way and went to sit beside a lady wearing a red loose polo and brown fitted jeans. "Is your underwear also white?" Jiel asked him but he didn't answer because of Darell. Now that the question is serious, it was only a joke. *** "I'll need to go to the restroom..." He whispered to Sofia and got up from his seat. He made his way to the restroom. Before entering one of the cubicles, he looked himself in the mirror and fixed his hair. The closed door of the restroom opened again and a man wearing formal clothes entered. Ace's eyes followed the man until he entered a cubicle. 'Sheesh... Overtime work.' He thought. After a few minutes, Ace left the restroom but on his way back, someone from behind him called his name. "Ace Santos?" "Yes?" It was the man in the restroom earlier. "Ah, I thought you look familiar. I am from the CBC Entertainment." He showed his ID to Ace. CBC Entertainment is literally for entertainment but a different kind of entertainment. They have a branch in Province of Abra and this man might be someone from this branch. "Why?" Ace asked. "We would like to invite you as a guest on January 1 as someone who participated during the Summer Camp." The Summer Camp is a competition held once every year, every summer between April to August. The competition has different types like sports, esports, and arts. The participants are from hundreds of universities in the country, the scale of this competition is enough to tell the popularity that the championship runners will get especially the winners in different fields. Ace didn't participate in arts and sports because Aris was the one who wrote his name in the esports category along with Jiel and Edrian. Although they participated half-heartedly, they played the game seriously. The now famous battle royale games in the country, Player Unknown's Battleground Mobile (PUBGM) and Call of Duty Mobile (CODM) were one of the games present in esports category. Ace and the other 3 participated in both PUBGM and CODM, they got the 3rd place in the former and champion in the latter. Win or lose, it's only acceptable, but for Aris, it is entirely different. Ace still remembers the words Aris spoke after they only reached 3rd place in PUBGM. " If we didn't win in CODM, I already contacted the doctors in the nearest hospital." He was also kissing his phone while saying thosw words. This man from CBC Entertainment didn't need to explain what they want to do by inviting him, it is clearly an interview. "You will not come alone, you can also bring your team which I think would be better." "I understand, thank you." Ace said his thanks and watched the back of the leaving man. He didn't even read the content of the black envelope. *Sigh He knew Aris would love to go, he would gain more fans this way. The mass is about to end that's why he only waited outside. *** After a while... "Have a good night!" Sofia waved her hand to Darell. "The same goes for you." "I'll give you a ride back, I hope your parents will not get mad." Ace said and drove his bike. While driving, he heard Sofia's voice behind his ear. "Why didn't you come back? Did you really go to the restroom?" She already had a doubt when he said he's going to the restroom but when he didn't return until the mass ended, she was really certain that he didn't go. "Someone from CBC gave me an invitation and had a short chat with me, that's why." He answered without removing his gaze on the road. *** "See you next time!" Sofia waved her hand as she entered the house. Her mother is standing on the doorway with her eyes on Ace. "Good evening, aunt." Ace smiled as sweet as he can to Sofia's mother. "Drive safely." She replied and closed the door once Sofia was inside. Ace immediately left the place and head back home. After a few minutes, he reached their house and parked his bike. The lights in front of the house were on that's why he noticed the cut papers and plastic bottles on the floor. It's already night time but his brother still managed to make a mess outside. When he entered the house, his brother was asleep on the couch but the TV is off. His mother is packing the things they needed before leaving tomorrow. "Mom, you should sleep. I'll do it." Although her mother was on a short Christmas vacation, she is still working, specially for paperworks that seem endless. She's always thinking about work. "Your dad will arrive early tomorrow." "And don't forget about your brother's toys..." His mother tapped his shoulder. Ace carried his brother and put him on his mother's bed before continuing what his mother is doing. "They will probably stay there for 2 weeks, more than one week if they will go back before new year." When he finished packing, he went to his room, laid down to bed, and kicked the door to close. He brought out the envelope from his pocket, the invitation letter is placed in a black envelope and sealed by a red ribbon. *Sniff "What place did it come from?" After opening the envelope, an odor entered his nose. At first, he is not sure where did the smell come from but after putting his nose near the envelope, he noticed that the paper inside is the source of the odor. He was about to pull the paper out from the envelope when he suddenly felt his head spinning. He shook his head but his vision was spinning like a wheel until he can't even find a strength to stand. "Wha- What's... Happening..." He hit his forehead with his palm but it only made his head hurt more. After struggling for a moment, his eyelids became heavy and he finally closed his eyes. Darkness enveloped his vision.