A Lack of Sympathy.
"I'll make you pay, whoever the real murderer is."
Those words rang through Liling's ears as she gently drifted off to sleep. She wasn't scared; not that much anyway. Adanna always seemed like a nice girl. Sweet, energetic, caring, and much more. Wow... Shame she died, I guess. Liling battled her horrible thoughts as her mind went clear. It wasn't long until she finally fell truly asleep.
A few hours later, she woke up. No one around who woke her up, no noise, no movement, no nothing. She woke up on her own. Liling had no watch to tell what time it was, but she stood up. After deciding to walk around, Liling strode over to where Minji's corpse was. She stared at the scene. There was a knife next to the body, but it was behind a locked door. Liling walked away from the door and ran into it, trying to break it open. She didn't realise how much noise she was making, but nobody woke up. I guess everyone here is a deep sleeper. It took a few attempts to open the door but it finally broke. It was a loud sound and Liling swore she could hear someone say, "What was that?" but she was unsure. She stepped forwards and grabbed the blood-soaked knife on the ground.
Tiptoeing silently, Liling walked over to the nearest person she could find. It was Vinny. She was sleeping next to the room Colleen and Alex were found in, the room at the end of the large space. There were many people sleeping in that area, but Liling was worried if she killed someone there it would wake up the surrounding people. She held the knife in her trembling hand. Crouching down in front of her, she hoped to get as little blood on her as possible. Suddenly, her eyes opened slightly.
"Is someone there? Shoo, I'm trying to sleep here!" she announced. Liling covered Vinny's mouth with her hand and soon after muffled words struggled their way through Liling's fingers. Furrowing her eyebrows, she viciously plunged the knife into Vinny's chest. It didn't take long for her to start screaming, even though it was useless. Liling kept stabbing her in the chest until she lifted the knife to her throat. She glided the knife through her flesh, scraping away until it left a deep red gash, leaking and swelling with blood. Vinny was shaking and trembling as her life faded from her being. She had gruesome cuts all over her body. Her shirt was torn and stained with her own blood, but Liling -for the most part- had managed to keep her dress clean. She just happened to have blood on her hands and face. However, had decided she wasn't done. She rolled up her dress sleeves and aimed the knife directly at Vinny's heart.
Slash.
After Liling's handiwork was finished, she walked up back to her bed. She decided that keeping the knife on her would be risky, so she had left the knife protruding out of Vinny's corpse. Her footsteps were quiet, she was trying to make as little sound on the hard metal floors as possible. Area Eight was silent as Liling took a deep breath and sunk to the floor, ready to sleep.
She woke up the next morning. Liling woke up to the sound of two people arguing from another room.
"Alab, I don't care what your excuse is! You're evil! I know you are. I don't care if you claim you're this 'doctor' thing-"
"For the last time, Thiago, I'm the fucking medic! Do you really wanna vote me out before I get the chance to save one of your necks?"
"Oh, piss off Alab. Don't try and fool me, dumbass! I'm not as stupid as you are, now be quiet before you land yourself another red mark across your cheek!"
Do they ever stop arguing? Liling was annoyed by the fact her rest was disturbed by two very loud people bickering. Soon after Thiago spoke that sentence, Alab swung at him with their palm. Thiago winced and Alab jabbed their knee into him, then, for good measure, punched him in the face again.
"Now, shut the fuck up, Thiago," Alab uttered sternly as they glared at Thiago and walked off. Thiago, now staring Alab down, scoffed.
"I-I let them do that!" he announced. He didn't expect Alab to get so violent. Omar was now making sure Thiago was okay. Soon after, Liling had gotten up and walked into the room where everyone else was stood.
"Gosh, Liling, you sure do sleep in sometimes!" Ally chuckled, "Ignore Alab and Thiago. They've been arguing all morning."
"I know," responded Liling. She slowly stepped past Thiago, Omar, Marley, Jonah, Halona, and Colleen until she paused. She looked at Colleen, up and down, before continuing to walk a few steps further, stopping next to Ally. Beside her was Mateo and Arielle. Glancing around the room, she noticed that- somehow- nobody had noticed Vinny was dead.
"Wow, Vinny never sleeps this late, does she?" Marley asked Jonah. Jonah shrugged.
"Why would I know? I barely even like her," they said, crossing their arms.
"I'm sure she's fine," Marley continued, ignoring Jonah and brushing it off and turning to face Liling, "Oh, Liling, by the way we decided not to wake people up anymore. We figured it was putting people in bad moods, especially cause someone liked to kick people to wake them up," she coughed and said under her breath, "That's you, Liling."
Liling narrowed her eyes, "Sorry." She folded her arms.
"Actually, Marley," said Halona softly, "I kinda wanna make sure everyone's okay- just in case!" They spoke with a quiet voice, unlike the day prior. It was only the second day and it already seemed to affect everyone. Halona left silently, walking past Liling, Arielle, and Mateo. Almost instantly, she let out a terrifying scream. Halona quickly covered her mouth as everyone else ran over.
Vinny's corpse was laying upright against the wall. Her heart had been torn out of her chest, blood everywhere, and was now hanging limply on the outside of her body. Vinny had had her entire shirt ripped to pieces with cuts from the knife and was coated in a red fluid, along with the rest of her pale, waxy body. Her glasses had been shattered and the glass shards had been jammed inside her skin, making small tears into her flesh. On either side of her, her arms lay limp and covered in bruises and slits. Vinny's lower half seemed to be okay aside from all the blood on her shorts and shoes. The wall behind her had suffered too, with blood splatters and what seemed to be knife scratches.
They looked at Vinny's corpse as if they were expecting Vinny to just come back to life then and there. A few people had tears in their eyes, but not because of Vinny, just because of the sight of her mangled corpse. Liling cleared her path by pushing people out the way and grabbed Vinny's journal out of her pocket.
You are the DETECTIVE, you are part of the GOOD TEAM, you will receive clues each night about who is Evil or Good. Your goal is to eliminate the EVIL TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal.
"She was the detective," Liling repeated.
The whole environment was tense. It was the first time someone had actually-
Someone had actually died by the hands of another person.
Adanna's death was a group vote, and she had died by many knives seemingly shooting out of nowhere. Vinny had been murdered by someone actually there amongst the group.
It was crazy, how someone can easily take someone else's life away from them.
Even Liling was somewhat surprised with what she had done that night prior.
Beep, Beep.
Beep, Beep.
It was time to vote.
POINT OF VIEW: ALAB DIVINAGRACIA.
"Well," Thiago began, clapping his hands for everyone's attention, "I personally believe that it's Alab-"
"Here we go..." I said to him. I rolled my eyes.
"Do you want to know why? Well, Alab here has been suspicious to me the entire night, they have been quiet and seem highly guilty. Look, if I ask them a question, Alab seems to get very pissed off very quickly!" he announced. Everyone looked at me as if I was mad.
I'm not.
"Thiago, maybe that's because you and Alab used to bully each other," Marley stated. Of course, she remembers that. For fuck's sake, she was in all our classes! Gosh, why did Marley even need to bring that up? Now people will believe that I'm a killer or whatever!
"What? That's not true, I was the victim of Alab's harsh and horrific bullying when we were in high school! And that proves my point about how Alab is the perfect type of person to become a killer! Horrible, rude, ugly, you name it!" He sounds fucking proud of himself. I think he's way more likely to be a killer than I am.
"I'm not ugly, Thiago. Talking about ugly, maybe you should check up on those hideous pink streaks of hair you got there! Gosh, as if that mullet wasn't bad enough..." I retaliated. I pointed my middle finger at Thiago.
"Hey, don't flip me off! You do that again, and- and I'll slap you! Again!" Thiago snarled. I didn't care about his threats. He was probably just trying to scare me. Unsurprisingly, I did point my middle finger up to Thiago once again. Thiago instantly flung himself at me and we began fighting. His punches hurt.
Ow
My head.
My head hurts.
Why does he have to aim for my fucking head? My glasses are broken.
Holy shit. No fucking way. I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I look down and I see that-
My arm's bleeding. That fucking animal made me bleed. Did he just-
No way he
he BIT me?!
I clutch my arm with my other hand. No way he just did that. I can't believe my eyes. Slowly, I stepped away from that psychopath and accidentally bump into Liling.
"Oh- I'm sorry, Alab," she mutters. I get a good glimpse of her eyes. They're scary. They're both a rather bright shade of red. That's weird. I've never seen anyone else with red eyes before. Obviously, it's not impossible. Clearly. Because she has red eyes. There's just something so eerily off-putting about them. Like they lack a soul. They probably don't, I mean Liling's just a normal girl so-
My mind snaps right back to Thiago. I hate him. I've always fucking hated him. He's definitely boasting about beating me now. But I can't hear him. I can't hear anything anymore. I'm shaking, my ears are ringing. I don't
I don't know what's
happening.
He's probably convincing everyone that I'm guilty. I've never even been near Vinny or the other dead girl, like, at all! I don't know why he's still after me, determined to ruin my life. Quickly, I walk back up to Thiago. I tell him, plain and simple, "I am not the fucking killer, Thiago."
Of course, he doesn't listen. Thiago keeps blabbing on about how I'm so evil and how I'm heartless because I killed Vinny. And the black-haired one. But I didn't. I know I didn't. I can see Mateo talking to Omar about me. Surely they don't believe Thiago? They're literally police officers!
"Thiago, are you sure?" Halona asked. I don't know why they're questioning him; it seems everyone else just went along with it, "I mean like, what's your evidence?" Wow. I'm happy someone knows that Thiago is lying. Even if Halona doesn't know for sure, it's nice that she's questioning it. My heart is beating heavily. My head still hurts, and I don't feel like that's gonna change for a while.
"Of course, I'm sure. Uhm- evidence-wise... I-"
"You don't have any," Arielle finished. Weird for her to barge into a conversation like that, but once again, I didn't mind. Nice to know some people are defending me, "Clearly, you just like blaming Alab for everything. Weird how apparently this has been going on since high school. Might be time to grow up." I laugh. I laugh so loudly. Thiago looks mad. I don't care that he looks mad. I just continue laughing. It's funny. It's funny how confident he is. And how when he's questioned, he just
can't answer anything. He's out to get me, but this time it's failing. Every other time-
Every time. Every time that Thiago tries to beat me, he wins. I lose. No. Not today. I won't be voted. I'll win. I'm going to win the game. Even if it's the last thing I do, I will win. Wait. I listen back into the conversation. I've stopped laughing now. Instead, I find myself scared as I listen to his words.
"You guys have to believe me. Look- Look, Alab has blood on their shirt!"
What.
What?
How can I- no, I don't. He's lying. I look at where he's pointing. I see blood. Why is there- why is there blood on me. That's dried-up blood, not the blood from my wound on my arm. How is that- No, I don't understand. You don't just mysteriously get blood on you. I can't
I can't breathe
There's no way I can prove that I didn't kill Vinny, not with all this blood on me.
I don't want to die.
I don't want to-
I'm going to die.
They're all going to vote me.
Because of some blood.
It makes sense but... I-I never did kill anyone, did I?
I see Thiago walk away from me. Everyone is now staring at me. They're not talking. They're just looking at me as if... as if I killed someone.
But they think I did. I hear Thiago say my name three times. Fuck. No, of course he did. He probably did that on the first night, even though Adanna was the prime suspect. I just don't get it. Why does he have to ruin my life? I-
Omar follows him. Of course he fucking does. His little boyfriend, how cute. Gosh, I hate them both. I hate them all. He says my name. I'm not surprised. But I haven't said anything to defend myself. I need to defend myself. Or I'll die.
I don't want to die.
I began speaking, "Guys, as cliché as it sounds, it's not what it looks like! I never killed anyone. Don't you think, if I had killed him, I would be covered in a LOT more blood? I-I didn't do- Well, maybe, this blood on my shirt is from the wound Thiago gave me, like two minutes ago!? I started bleeding, the blood's gonna go everywhere! I'm innocent! I swear, you'll all FUCKING be sorry!"
Liling walks up to me as everyone else goes off to vote for me.
She stares at me. She's scary. She conspicuously looks down a few times. At her hands. She's holding a tiny bit of paper. She's giving me a note! I take the note, open it, and read it in my head.
"I know you're not evil."
That's what the note said. Wow... Someone actually knows. After about five people return from voting, Liling goes up next. Her long black hair is so mesmerising. It's like a deep dark waterfall. She's elegant but in a rather unnerving way. It doesn't make sense.
Wait.
No no no no no no no no no no.
No.
No way she-
I heard Liling
say my name three times.
She voted for me.
No no no no no-
I'm gonna die, aren't I? I'm too young to die... I can't die this young! I-I still want to achieve my dreams! My dreams are-
ruined.
Ruined by Thiago. I hate him so much. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. My mind races with thoughts of me being butchered up by multiple knives. I can't. I can't die. I won't die. One by one, everyone else votes. Fuck. I can't. I can't do this. I won't.
I will.
I am going to die.
That's how it'll end.
Why should I even try to fight it? There's no point, is there?
Fuck.
Everyone else has gone to vote now. I'm the last one. I've spent so much time overthinking this all, biting my fingernails off, trying to think of a way to make everyone believe me. One fucking drop of blood. That's what caused this. I didn't even kill Vinny. Why was there blood on me? Why did Liling vote for me? She said she knew I was good. I hate her. I hate Thiago. I hate everyone here. Gosh. Why am I-
Beep, Beep.
No.
Beep, Beep.
NO!
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
...
Alab screamed. The lights turned off. They didn't even vote, but the timer ended. That meant someone was going to die. And that someone was Alab.
The awful sound of them being stabbed and pinned to the wall with many knives spread throughout the whole facility. Liling smiled at the sound. She could only really hear Alab's shrill screams as they got tortured by the pain of being sliced. They were loud, guttural shrieks that send shivers down many people's spines. Coarse, glass-shattering sounds that Alab made flooded the rooms. Suddenly, the lights, as always, turned back on. Alab's now-dead body was stood up against the wall, held by knives that were sticking out of their arms, neck, chest, and legs. Blood poured from their wounds. It dribbled down their skin, leaking onto the grey metal walls. Liling looked around. Everyone was shocked, even Thiago.
"Well, um... Liling, do that thing that you do... Y'know- Read their journal!" he spluttered. Liling nodded and walked towards Alab. They opened their eyes. Liling jumped, terrified.
"I- I... hate- All of-" Alab coughed and murmured, but their voice couldn't be heard through the choking on their own blood. Alab's head drooped down to the floor. They were- well and truly- dead. Liling took the opportunity to snatch their journal out of their pocket.
You are the MEDIC, you are part of the GOOD TEAM, you can heal a target each night so if the murderer attacks them, they will survive, however this is ineffective against assassin and clown. Your goal is to eliminate the EVIL TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal.
I see, so I get to heal people.
I fucking hate Thiago. He's so annoying and just- ugh. I healed someone tonight, but I don't know if it worked. Nobody died, so I guess I did something.
I healed Vinny tonight.
WHAT. He's dead? Even though... I healed him. Did I get blocked or something?
"Oh," Thiago murmured, "They weren't lying."
"Thiago... You FUCKING IMBICILE! YOU WERE SO SURE ABOUT ALAB, AND IT TURNS OUT THEY WERE GOOD?" Marley screamed at Thiago. She lunged towards him, but Thiago pushed her away, "Gosh, some things never change! You may get older, but NOTHING will change how PATHETIC you are!"
After many, many arguments, the group eventually settled down. Alex was the first to leave the area. He was soon followed by Colleen, Mateo, Omar, and Halona. Inconspicuously, Ally beckoned Liling into another room.
"Liling," she began, "I need to tell you something."
Liling frowned, confused. The two were sat on the railing above the below-level floor.
"I can revive someone. I just thought, since you and I seem to be friends, that I should bring you back if anything happens to you!" Ally smiled at Liling. Liling, however, was taken aback.
"What about Colleen?" asks Liling, "Wouldn't you want to revive her instead?"
Ally laughs, "I don't plan on letting her die anytime soon, silly!" Liling nods, unsure what to say.
"That's honestly so kind of you, Ally. Look, you don't have to do that!"
"I would feel horrible not to," responds she.
She walks off, leaving Liling on the silver railing. Liling walked away, too, in the other direction. She laughs but no one else could hear. Finding a place to rest up for the night, she would decide to sleep in the same place as every night. As she sat down, she thought about Ally's decision to revive her. Liling had Ally wrapped around her finger. Liling looked around. She could see someone in the corridor opposite her.
A black and red haired girl with a green striped shirt sat at the end of a corridor. She was holding something in her hand. A gun. She had a gun in her hands.
"Some day..."
"Some day, I'll have to use this."
The lights shut off.
Darkness spread across the facility; night was starting.