The Opposite of a Miracle.
I'm gonna use it.
Tonight.
Marley sat alone in the dingy corridor contemplating on who she should kill. Her chest made slow, shaky movements in and out as she stared at the blank wall ahead of her, deep in thought. Slowly, she rose to her feet, still staring with an empty look at her surroundings. Marley knew what she had to do, but she didn't know if she had the guts to do it. Before long, she had stridden over to a sleeping figure. It was easy to tell that this person was alive. Obvious signs of breathing and maybe a little snoring too. She knew who it was: someone she had known for a long time; someone she had known the whole time. Thiago. His helpless body was laying against the wall in a similar fashion to most other casualties. Marley held her gun in her shaky hand.
She lifted her arm up, aiming the gun, pointing it directly at Thiago's skull to minimise the possibility that he could every survive the singular bullet loaded in her gun. She didn't know where this gun had come from. It was weird. She just woke up, as everyone else did, with an extra item in her pocket. The gun. Marley bit down on her lip as she squeezed her eyes shut, pulling back the trigger on the gun. She flinched upon the impact.
BANG!
She turned her head to look at her handiwork. Thiago now had a large, bleeding wound in his forehead. Somewhat impressed with her precision, Marley took a step closer. She placed her hand on his chest to make sure he wasn't still breathing. For good measure, she tore the knife out of Omar's corpse across the room and walked back over to Thiago. She soon plunged it into his chest, twisting it also to properly ensure he was dead. Just then, it dawned on her that at any second any person could wake up. The gunshot wasn't particularly loud, but it wasn't particularly quiet either. Enough to wake up the closest person. But no one stirred. She was safe. She didn't feel safe. At any second, she thought, could someone run around the corner to find her. And it wasn't too hard to put the clues together. Marley, awake, a gun in her hand, standing above Thiago's dead body, who, conveniently, had a bullet hole straight through his head.
Marley didn't know what to do. She threw the gun hastily on the floor and ran out the room. Abruptly, she skidded to a halt in her tracks.
A figure stood in the lower level of the building, shadowed by the metal ceiling above them. They took a step out into the light. Long black hair; long white dress; pale skin.
The person reached the bottom of the ladder but took a step backwards as they saw Marley walk towards them. A flash of red shone through the character's hair which was covering their face, dripping wet with acid-like liquid, presumably the one that Liling's corpse had been laid inside. It was completely and undoubtably-
"Liling?"
Marley spoke with a confused and scared tone, frightened that she may be seeing things. She knew ghosts weren't real, but that fact didn't plant an ounce of doubt in her mind.
"Liling...? But you- you're dead! I saw your corpse! I thought you died! No, no, you did die! How are you alive again?" Marley spluttered and stuttered, in pure shock. She lowered herself onto the girl's level.
"Yes, great observational skills there, Marley. It appears that your eyes do indeed work. Anyway, I am assuming that gunshot was you, eh?" speaking with a firm voice, the girl narrowed her gleaming eyes at her. Marley nodded.
"Yeah, that was me. But that doesn't matter right now! I am not letting you change the subject! I wanna know exactly how you're alive!" she mumbled angrily.
"I got revived. Simple as that. You really are as dim as you look. Your eyes really do not match your personality: they are too bright." she chucked at her own joke, "But pray tell, who was the unlucky soul whose flesh met your bullet? And who was the unfortunate victim of yesterday?" the girl talked in a rather poetic-seeming way, as if she were narrating a story. She isn't. Marley sighed and spoke:
"We voted out Alex yesterday, and... Thiago. I killed Thiago."
"Are... you... SERIOUS?!" it sounded like she yelled; her whispers were so loud it didn't even seem like a whisper anymore, "I was planning on using Thiago as an easy target for the others to vote out! Remember how he got Alab voted out, hm? And he was wrong? That would have been such an easy reason to blame him!"
"He was the first person I sa-"
"What kind of an IDIOT kills their fucking teammate's scapegoat? Leave. Go to sleep, wake up in the morning and prepare to be stabbed in the back. Whether that's literal or not is up to whether you can defend yourself or not."
Marley skulked away, scowling and muttering to herself. She walked away, her steps as light as a feather. Liling curled up in a small ball on the ground, allowing herself to rest up for the night.
The next morning, Liling woke up to a loud scream coming from someone with a high-pitched voice, most likely Ally. She narrowed her eyes, wanting to ignore it and go back to sleep but, not even a split second later, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Turning her head to see who it is, Liling yawned whilst politely covering her mouth. Arielle's long skirt and black shoes were directly in her eyeline. Liling moved to get to her feet with some help from Arielle.
"Hey, Liling. Are you okay? Wait, I thought you died! How are you alive again?!" she asked softly. She didn't want to scare Liling especially since she had just woken up. In repose, Liling just shrugged.
"I got revived by someone. But I am all okay, I guess. What about yourself?"
Arielle shuffled her feet a little and shrugged also, "To be completely honest, I'm starving. I haven't had a bite to eat this whole time we've been here. I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned it. But I don't understand-"
"We can ask the rest of the group."
The two walked away, chatting together as they both climbed the ladder and united with the rest of the group. Everyone was crowded around Thiago's dead body. Halona was inspecting it, as if something didn't make sense. A group of heads turned to stare at Liling and Arielle.
"Oh, right. Uhh, hi guys," Liling stammered. She almost forgot that, until a few hours ago, she was dead. Ally's eyes lit up and she came running up to Liling, followed by Colleen.
"It worked! I did it!" Ally cheered. Liling knew that Ally had been the one to revive her since their talk a few nights prior. Colleen came up to her and squeezed her in a tight hug.
"Yeah, good job, Ally," Colleen smiled.
"Get a fucking room. People are dying," said Jonah. They began staring directly into Liling's eyes, "So, Liling. Who killed you, hm? Would be lovely if you could tell us. Halona, come here. There's no point inspecting his corpse. He's dead."
"That's not why I'm inspecting him. It's just, a gun has never been used up until now, it seems a little weird. How can we be sure it was the same person?" Halona rebutted. Jonah ignored them.
After clearing her throat, Liling spoke: "First of all, Jonah. I do not appreciate your tone of voice. Sounds a lot like distrust and doubt, does it not? None of which I like nor deem necessary. Second, I haven't a clue who killed me. No memories of it whatsoever. I just remember me going to sleep and then waking up a few hours ago. Think of it like an abnormally long nap."
It was unclear whether Jonah trusted her. Liling pushed past everyone and grabbed Thiago's journal from his pocket. Thiago's handwriting was quite messy but still legible. She read it out to everyone.
You are the SPY, you are part of the GOOD TEAM, you can 'bug' a player each night which will reveal everyone who visited the person you bugged. Your goal is to eliminate the EVIL TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal.
Alab was visited by:
That probably means nobody.
Alab was visited by:
I didn't mean to do that twice. Oops.
Arielle was visited by: Alex
Caught him, stupid prick.
Marley was visited by: Colleen, Arielle, Halona.
Three? At least I finally caught some people.
Soon after, Jonah turned their head to look at Marley. "Marley, you're awfully quiet. Something the matter?" they asked. With a worried look on her face, Marley twisted her head around and glanced around the room.
"No..." she stuttered nervously. Marley had her arms crossed, keeping them close to her body, her head also aimed at the floor. Her overall body language made her look highly guilty. Colleen took a few steps forward, tapping her red shoes on the metal floor.
"Funny you should mention that, Jonah. I have something to say," she announced, "Marley is evil. I got a clue saying that she's evil." A few people gasped and the room went silent. The only sound heard was the quiet buzzing of lights and the eerie experiments scattered around the facility.
"Oh, come on, you guys don't actually believe her, do you?" Marley asked nervously, "I'm not e-"
"I agree with Colleen," Liling said. Surprised and scared, Marley turned her head to look directly at Liling.
"What?!" she screamed, betrayed, "No, no, they're lying guys! Colleen and Liling aren't making any sense! I-I'm not evil, guys, trust m-!"
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
The girl's face dropped. The timer had begun, and she knew there was no way to change their minds.
"Look Marley, you're the best chance we've got. Otherwise, we have no idea who to vote. Now, I trust Colleen," Jonah said, surprisingly calmly, "I wish there was a way for us all to survive, but there isn't. So many have already died and if we believe we're even close to finding their killer- or killers- we're going to take that chance of voting them out. And that just so happens to be you."
"Thank you so much for your elaborate and highly poetic speech Jonah!" Marley responded sarcastically, crossing her arms, "But you guys aren't serious, are you?" She tries to laugh it off but is met by profoundly serious faces.
"We're not joking, Marley," Arielle tells her. The group continued talking, and Liling grabbed Ally to another room.
"Ally, thank you so much for reviving me. I have no clue how it actually worked, but... yes, thank you. About what's going on out there, what do you think?" Liling whispered. Ally, slightly taken aback, shrugged whilst frowning.
"I'm unsure. I believe Colleen, of course, but... I feel like Marley isn't the murderer. She may still be evil, but I don't know. I also think Thiago was killed by a different person to all the others. I mean, he was killed with a gunshot to the head, right? Nothing like that has happened yet." she responded, slowly pacing around the small room the two were in. Liling nodded.
"Yeah, me too. Strange, though, isn't it? Oh, well, we better get back to the others. They might think we're suspicious otherwise." she turned around and walked out the room, leaving Ally a little lost and confused in the room.
"-No, no, you're joking. You must be. There's no way... no way you actually think I did this, right? I-I mean, where's your proof? That's right, yeah, yeah, there's no proof I'm evil! What if Colleen's lying? How do we know she didn't just scribble something into that stupid little book of hers?" panicked, Marley begun looking around for the slightest indication of someone believing her. Colleen scoffs and replies, "And why would I do that?" Even more scared, Marley's face began dripping with guilty sweat. She would say, "To get the blame on someone else! Uh, you- you are trying to make the blame be pushed away from you, aren't you?"
"No," she responds, "My clue said you're evil." Marley stares at her. She doesn't speak. Feeling herself freeze up, Marley tried to run away from everyone, madly dashing around the area, feeling the cold glare of everyone upon her, looking for some way- anyway- that she could escape. But she couldn't find one. No surprise there. It's not like anyone else could find an escape. What made Marley think she was so special? She's just like everyone else. She always was. Running around like a cat chasing its own tail, she suddenly realised how useless it was to fight it. She came back into the room with a solemn look on her face, her head angled at the floor in defeat. When she walked past Liling, she muttered two words at her under her breath.
"Fuck you."
Liling smiled in a semi-mocking way and walked off, rolling her eyes. Amidst the long, sad silence, Colleen tip-toed over to the voting room, soon to be followed by many others. After presumably voting Marley, the people returned to Liling and Marley- the two who still had yet to vote. Liling strolled over to the voting room, her hands clasped and neatly placed behind her back. Her eyebrows her furrowed and she had a serious look on her face. She hears footsteps behind her, getting louder and louder; suddenly, Marley grabs her wrist and turns her towards her.
"Liling, you bitch! What do you think you're playing at?" Marley whispers angrily, "Why are you doing this, hm? What do you get out of it? Exactly, you lose too!"
"I will never lose."
Liling pulls her arm back and walks to the voting room, a lack of emotion on her face.
"Marley, Marley, Marley."
As she exits the room, Marley pushed past her, crying. She didn't even vote, she just banged her head against the wall and lets her tears fly off her face.
Beep, beep.
Marley, sobbing, ran back to the group.
Beep, beep.
"I KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS-"
Beep, beep.
"IT'S-"
Beep, beep.
A loud splutter leaves Marley as the sound of metal piercing flesh echoes through the now pitch-black room. The lights have been shut off, nobody can see anything, and all they can hear is the shrill shouts and screams of Marley's life being stolen from her. Blood hit other people; the walls; the floor; everything was covered in it. To make it even scarier, it was fully pitch black since the lights were out. Empty darkness and loud, blood-curdling screaming consumed the room. Marley's terrifying screams faded, and the lights flickered back on. All stood in shock, the remaining group stared in horror at Marley's severely wounded body. There were knives impaled in her stomach, chest, arms, and legs. Those who were close to Marley all had her blood splattered on their clothes and skin as if they were the ones who slaughtered her.
"I'm... sorry..." Marley's raspy voice spoke, breathing shakily and unsteadily. She said another word, a name, but nobody could make out what she had said. Her gaze fell to the floor, and she slowly stopped breathing entirely. Everyone continued to just stand where they were, frozen, helpless, and unsure of what to do next.
"Liling," Ally whispered, "Could you read her journal?"
Liling nodded and slowly walked up to Marley's corpse and took a journal out her pocket. She began reading:
You are the ASSASSIN, you are part of the EVIL TEAM, you can kill someone once, but they cannot be saved by the medic. Your goal is to eliminate the GOOD TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal. The murderer is-
"Hey, it doesn't say! It's been scribbled and smudged out! Oh, and if you guys don't believe me, look here." Liling holds the book the other way, showing it to everyone. She continued to read:
Oh my gosh. I must live. I need to see Viola again. and Aria. I can't leave them. I must win. I don't know how though since all I can do is kill a person once and I really don't want to do that. That's... sick! It's horrible! Another thing: I think I recognise the dead girl. I can't see her face properly, but she looks a lot like a girl I met somewhere.
Alab died. I'm not surprised it was Thiago who started the attack on them. I think I cried when we saw them die. I know I wasn't that close with them, but I've known them for too long for it to not hurt.
Thiago's dead too. I killed him.
"Well, there is the confession, I guess," she stated, closing the journal, and throwing it on the floor. Yet another life had been ended in this sick game, leaving the remaining group just as they were when they entered: confused. Suspicions were growing as despair thrived like an unwanted weed polluting a once-beautiful garden. Sadness and anger and heartbreak choked each survivor like a vine swathing around their throats, digging its deep thorns into their skin like knives and swarming their minds like a toxic poison that spreads throughout their bodies. Out the corner of her eye, Liling got a glimpse of Jonah walking away from the group to find someplace that doesn't have a corpse to sleep. She turned her head around and suddenly saw Ally skipping towards her, Colleen casually walking behind her.
"Liling? Can you come with us for a sec? I'd like to talk with the two of you." Ally smiled awkwardly as she walked out the room. Liling reluctantly followed.
"So, um... well, you two are the only people I trust, and I just wanted to discuss what you guys think is happening. In this 'game', I mean. Who do you guys trust?" she continued. Both Liling and Colleen waited for the other to speak first. Finally, Liling began talking:
"I do not trust Arielle. She seems sweet, I think, but I am not sure. She does not really strike me as 'good'." Colleen looked surprised.
"Really? Wow, I always thought that about Halona," she said. Ally frowned sadly.
"Oh... I really liked Halona. I think they're kind. But it's okay to have suspicions!" Ally replied cheerfully, not sounding greatly confident on the second part. Colleen chuckled as she looked at Liling.
"Geez, I never realised you tall you are... you must be, like 5'10 or something!" she smiled. Liling awkwardly looked back.
"I am 6'0..." Liling responded. Colleen laughed again, and said, "Oh my gosh!" before going silent again. The three had a rather meaningless conversation before each going their separate ways for bed. Everyone walked away, and Liling sneakily grabbed a knife stained with her own blood off the floor. Liling then decided to sleep next to one of the acid pools, Ally decided to sleep in a corner of a room, and Colleen was sleeping in a corridor opposite the voting room. Liling didn't know where the others were sleeping though. Curled up on the cold, metal floor, Liling gently swayed herself side to side as she began drifting off to sleep.
The lights began to flicker, and eventually shut off.
Once again, it was night.