No Longer Beautiful.
The lights began to flicker, and eventually shut off.
Once again, it was night.
Liling woke up to the soft voice of a young girl talking loudly into her ear. She opened her eyes and looked up at her.
"Hello? Liling are you awake?" the girl in front of her asked. This girl had long brown hair, red headphones that were around her neck, and a red fluffy two-piece outfit. Colleen. In return, Liling nodded.
"Yeah, I'm awake..." she yawned quietly into her hand and continued speaking, "What do you want? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Colleen shook her head.
"No, I needed to talk with you. It's about Ally," Colleen told Liling, dragging her up by the wrist. Colleen led her to the corridor that she had been sleeping in that night. A sudden pain aches in Liling's head as she becomes dizzy, almost collapsing into the wall next to her.
"Are you okay...?" Colleen asked sincerely. Liling nodded silently and continued walking. "I didn't know who else to talk to," she continued, "I'm really worried about Ally, she- she's been acting, well, off... I don't know what it is, but..." her voice trailed off before picking back up again, "Well, she's just as energetic as usual, but it seems like she's hiding something. I'm not saying she's evil! I'm not, I promise! I, well, I'm the psychic, and I read her on the first night and she is definitely good but I don't think she's coping very well, with all these deaths I mean, which is completely understandable..." Colleen's voice trailed off again as she looked down at the floor, lost in thought, her brown hair shielding her face from Liling. Soon, Liling would hear quiet sobs coming from Colleen.
"I'm... just... so worried about her! I-I don't want her to die, and I'm so scared that she's going to get herself injured or voted and killed!" she looks up and grabs both of Liling's wrists, looking at her with a pleading look in her tear-flooded eyes.
"Colleen, what's wrong?" Liling asked, her tone of voice sounding less flat than usual, as if she actually cared about Colleen. Colleen sobbed even harder, looking down at the floor again.
"Help me... help me keep her safe, please... She trusts you, so I do to, so please..." wailed Colleen. She let go of Liling's wrists and grabbed her into a tight hug, squeezing her tightly while crying loudly into her shoulder.
Stab.
Liling had taken out the knife from her pocket and stabbed Colleen in the back.
"Shhh, shhh... It's okay, Colleen... It'll all be over soon," Liling whispered into Colleen's ear mockingly.
"What the- what... the fuck?" Colleen trembled, a sharp pain coursing through her body. Liling withdrew the knife and Colleen let out a horrendous screech. Placing her hand across Colleen's mouth, Liling started to drive the knife in and out of Colleen's body. Colleen collapsed onto the ground, her screams muffled, and Liling took the blade and gently glided it over her face before stabbing her once again. Colleen coughed and spluttered, blood spewing from her mouth as she cried and screamed in excruciating pain.
"STOP!" she begged, her pleas becoming increasingly loud and increasingly desperate. Tears dripped down Colleen's cheeks as Liling crouched down in front of her and grabbed a hold of her head.
Crack.
With a loud bang, Liling smashed Colleen's head into the wall behind her mercilessly and continued doing so. Horrible, spine-chilling sounds of Colleen's skull cracking as it hit the hard, cold metal filled the room. Pieces of bone were becoming more visible, jutting out of Colleen's torn skin. There was blood everywhere: on the walls, the floor, Colleen herself, and even a few speckles of blood on Liling's face. Eyebrows furrowed, she carried on with her work, grabbing the knife in her hand and carving large slits across Colleen's limbs. Her soiled flesh bled onto the floor, her arms laying limply against her bloody torso. Liling, with heavy breaths, plunged the knife into her chest, once again releasing a load of blood onto the surfaces near her. Finally done, Liling left her mangled body alone, wiping the blood off her face, and licking the blood of the tip of the blade. Colleen's body had been left in such a state where she didn't even look human anymore. She was nothing more than a pile of twisted, mutilated, bloody limbs. Liling looked down at her hands which had her elegant white gloves on. Her gloves had been stained with Colleen's blood. Shit. She climbed down the ladder and placed her gloves and knife in the acid. They didn't melt away, but they weren't visible anymore.
Liling took a little while to regain her energy, placing her hand on her head and walking away. Her breaths became heavy when she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her head that caused her to sink to the floor against the wall.
"Oww... ouch..." she mumbled as she crept back to her sleeping corner, still against the wall. She didn't know what was wrong with her but her mind kept flashing with violent thoughts. Thoughts of people dying. These people, they weren't anyone in Area Eight. They were somewhere else. An abandoned, shabby-looking house, all one story, and covered in blood. Bright red blood filling every inch of the horrible yellow walls. Liling grabbed her head with her hands, wincing in pain. She caught a glimpse of someone dressed in yellow and drenched in red liquid before the headache stopped.
Confused and concerned, Liling's breaths got heavier and heavier, staring emptily into the walls opposite her. A cold chill ran down her spine and a small tear ran down her cheek. What... was that? Her face ran pale and dripped with beads of sweat. Liling didn't know how to explain what had happened and so she ruled it down to her lack of sleep the past few nights. It was true, she hadn't exactly had the best sleep routine since her arrival in this place, but she couldn't help thinking it was something more than that.
The next morning, Liling awoke to Halona's voice.
"Hey! Liling, wake up!" she said in a sing-songy voice while violently shaking her.
"I'm up! Stop shaking me, I'm awake!" Liling yelled. Her voice sounded much less posh and fancy as she yelled at her.
"Geez, okay! Sorry," Halona replied, laughing to themselves. To Liling's surprise, Halona's hair wasn't put into its usual two buns yet. Clearly Halona had noticed Liling staring at their hair and smiled. "Had no time to put it up. I just woke up. But if you don't mind, I'll just-" she took a mirror out her pocket and placed it against a part of the metal railing. Liling got up and walked away, not very eager to see Halona doing their hair. Purposefully ignoring Colleen's corpse in the other room, Liling slowly strode into the main meet-up room. Arielle and Ally were talking peacefully, and Jonah was leaning against the wall with their arms crossed. As Liling walked in, Ally shot her a look of both happiness and concern.
"Oh, Liling, you're awake," Ally didn't sound very energetic and happy as usual. After Liling had entered, Halona soon followed with their hair now neatly in two buns. Ally went pale. Her eyes were wide with fear. Arielle was the first to notice.
"Ally, if you're worried about Colleen, we'll see her soon. She'll be okay, okay?" she assured her. Like she was on autopilot, Ally silently walked out the room. Arielle and Halona followed quickly after, leaving Liling and Jonah staring at one another. Begrudgingly, they followed the others.
"Colleen...?" Ally called out, her voice trembling and her breaths heavy, "Colleen? Where- where are... you?" she turned the corner and froze. Laying bludgeoned on the floor with blood all around her, was Colleen. Ally took a sharp breath in and quickly began to tear up. Colleen's beautiful porcelain face had been beaten and disfigured into someone hideous, unrecognisable, and horrific. One of her eyes had been gouged out and bone was jutting out of her head. She had many small cuts scattered around her face, all bleeding and merging into one red river of blood that slowly dripped down to her chest, where even more stab wounds lay. Her chestnut brown hair had been infected with the oozing crimson liquid that happened to be everywhere else on her. Her limbs were snapped into unnatural positions that a limb never should, and one of her fingers had been severed, leaving a trail of blood. There was a massive diagonal gash from her forehead to her chin and one going from the left of her neck to the right. Her skin had gone a grey-ish white, and her body was completely stiff.
"COLLEEN!?" Ally screeched, dashing towards the corpse. Colleen has many bruises all over her body as well as fresh slits all over her arms and legs. The knife wounds weren't even small either: each one was at least a few inches deep into her flesh, and some cuts in her arm went all the way through. "Why... Who- why would you be so... What did she ever do? I-I... I don't want- I can't..." Ally's muttering became even more incoherent as she hyperventilated loudly, taking in a deep breath and sobbing on the way out. Everyone else stood behind her, not saying a word, and not sure what to say.
"Why... WHY? WHAT DID COLLEEN EVER DO TO ANYONE? SHE WAS THE NICEST PERSON HERE AND- AND ONE OF YOU KILLED HER!" Ally howled, sobbing in between every word she uttered. She sunk to the ground, comforted by Halona, and placed her head in her hands, wailing. Even Liling was slightly shocked from the state of the body, having basically forgotten it overnight. She couldn't even look at the body when she killed her that night, let alone anyone else now that her remains has been left for a little while. Arielle and Jonah were both silent, unsure of what to even say. They just stood there and watched. Halona kept speaking to Ally and tried to place a hand on her shoulder.
"Get OFF ME!" shrieked Ally, pushing Halona away and beginning to sob again, "How can you say that about all this? How do I know that you didn't kill her, hm? It could be anyone here! I don't trust anyone, and neither should you! Liling, come here... Read out her journal." Liling hesitantly walked over with fake, forced tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "Oh, you're not wearing your gloves anymore Liling," Ally said. Nervously, Liling nodded. "Yeesh, I didn't know you had a scar on your hand. I guess that makes sense why you wear gloves then. What's that from? Did you get stabbed in the hand or something?"
"Maybe when I died, I got stabbed in the hand," Liling said, clearly lying. Ally bought the lie. Gosh, she's gullible... Liling crouched down and picked up the journal, getting a little bit of Colleen's still-fresh blood on her sleeve as she did so. She tried her best to read Colleen's handwriting, but it was all scruffy.
You are the PSYCHIC, you are part of the GOOD TEAM, you can read a player's team each night. Your goal is to eliminate the EVIL TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal.
At least I'm good. I would hate to be evil.
Ally is Good.
Thank fuck.
Omar is Good.
Alex is Evil.
Oh? Yeah, he's gone. I'm sorry.
Marley is Evil.
Twice in a row? Wow.
Jonah is Good.
I think I knew that from the start.
I'm going to ask someone to talk with me tonight. It's pretty important. Ally, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I can no longer protect you. Please don't give up. Try and win this for me.
Ally suddenly burst out sobbing again. Nobody tried to comfort her this time except Liling. Ally hugged Liling tightly which caught Liling very off-guard. Liling awkwardly patted her shoulder, unsure of what to do.
"It's okay, Ally... We can find whoever killed her together..." she said bluntly. Ally sniffled and nodded slowly. Liling gently pushed her off her. The other three survivors began talking about who to vote. The only people who hadn't been proved good were Liling, Arielle, and Halona. Jonah seemed to not trust a single person and Liling admired this. She didn't really care about who was on her team, though. In her mind, she was on a separate team to everyone else and she was only trying to win for herself; she had no intention of actually helping her teammates. She wasn't sure about Arielle and Halona. She assumed they were evil too since only two evil people had died at that point. However, Liling knew where Ally stood. Ally had made it obvious that she trusted Liling, even going as far as reviving her. And based on her reaction to Halona comforting her, Liling could tell that Ally was not as trusting of them and Arielle too.
"It's Halona or Arielle," Ally solemnly stated. She got up to her feet and glared at the others. Halona, Arielle, and Jonah all looked at each other.
"Ally, are you serious?" Halona asked, shocked, "You seriously don't trust me?"
"No!" Ally yelled back, "Why should I?" To that, Halona didn't respond. Instead, Liling cut in.
"Ally, calm down," she placed her hands on Ally's wrists the same way Colleen had to her that night, "I know it's way easier said than done, but there's no point getting angry at any of us. It's completely normal to feel that way, and I-" she paused,"-I could never truly understand how painful of a loss this is to you. Y'know... you remind me of a friend I once had... How is it you're just like them?"
Liling didn't elaborate. Surprisingly, Ally didn't cry but her face was rather solemn. She then said something to Liling.
"I know who you're talking about."
Liling's face went a little pale but then Ally smiled at her.
"You mean Nozomi, right? She was your best friend, wasn't she?" Ally continued. She didn't really seem to think that this may have been a sore subject for Liling.
"What? I mean, yeah, yeah... Nozomi." Liling calmed down a little bit, as did Ally and the rest.
"Ally... don't you think it'd be better for you to move away from the body?" Jonah asked sincerely. At first, Ally nodded in agreement but then she shook her head.
"I... I don't want to leave her side."
Suddenly, a loud voice yelled out, "Oh, come OFF it, Ally! She's fucking dead! Her corpse is right there! Get over it! You already wasted your goddamn revive on that stupid bitch, Liling, who has been NO help whatsoever to any of us!" This voice belonged to Halona. Liling unexpectedly stayed completely calm. She just narrowed her eyes and glared at Halona so unsettlingly that she looked like she was about to turn them to stone. Ally, however, slapped Halona so hard that they fell on the ground in front of her.
"What the FUCK did you just say to me, Halona?" Ally screeched. She had begun to tear up. Halona got up and rolled their eyes, walking away.
"It's all futile anyway! Don't tell me you really think you can win this game? There are no winners! There are survivors, sure, but if you honestly think anyone can win this game, you're just as deluded and demented as the sick fuck who orchestrated this entire thing!" They stormed off to go sit on the metal railing in the other room. Nobody followed them. It was fair to say that everyone in the room was surprised by Halona's sudden outburst. Considering how nice they were before, Halona seemed like the least likely person to lash out like that at someone, especially at Ally. Also, Ally seemed least likely to slap someone. Of course, with Thiago and Alab, it was expected, but Ally on the other hand appeared too kind to everyone.
The tension between everyone was high. Until Arielle's soft voice broke the deafening silence, not a sound was heard.
"Are we going to vote Halona?" she asked quietly. Liling knew something was wrong with Arielle, but she wasn't too sure of what it was. Ally nodded confidently but Jonah and Liling stayed hushed.
"Yeah. At this point, I don't care if she's evil. I just want her gone." Her tone of voice was determined, and her fists were clenched. With that, Ally left the room. On her way to the voting room, she gave Halona a stern glare again and continued walking like she was on a mission. A gentle breeze gracefully danced around the rooms, coming from the only source of somewhat-fresh air: a vent. It was really the only sound to be heard. As it always seemed to turn out, everyone had become silent, until-
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
It was painfully clear that Ally would be voting for Halona, however she was taking an awfully long time to do so. Liling spent this time weighing up the possibilities of who she could vote. She wasn't sure whether she thought Halona was evil or not and was even less sure if she should vote them. Her eyes darted around the scene: analysing Jonah and Arielle's bland facial expressions; trying to figure out what they're thinking of; looking around at the corpse-covered floors; occasionally looking out the doorway to check up on Halona. Soon, Ally returned. She had yelled Halona's name thrice before meeting back up with Arielle, Jonah and Liling, a frown upon her face.
"Wow, I wonder who you voted, Ally," Jonah muttered sarcastically. Ally rolled her eyes and strolled over to Liling and Arielle, moving straight past Jonah. Her eyes were red and swollen slightly. She must've walked past Colleen's corpse... Quiet footsteps could be heard that could only be Halona going to vote. Liling wasn't sure who Halona was going to vote. Had they given up? Would they vote themselves? Halona took strong, sulky strides out the voting room, each step as loud as thunder in a storm, back towards the metal railing. They, too, had red, swollen eyes. Jonah awkwardly looked over at Liling, tilting their head to the side as they left to go and vote for someone. Arielle, Ally, and Liling were left uncomfortably staring at one another.
"Ally, I'm so sorry-"
"Don't be," Ally interrupted Arielle, "I don't think you're the one who killed her. And even then, a sorry would do shit. She's dead now."
"Guys!" yelled a voice, "Guys, come check this out!" The voice belonged to a surprisingly excited Jonah. The three left in the room all came over to Jonah, who was stood right next to Colleen's corpse. This was the third time Ally had seen the body and she still reacted like she had just found it. This time, however, she ran off to the tiny bathroom where she made a loud retching sound. She stayed in the bathroom for a little while whilst Jonah continued talking to Arielle and Liling, as well as an eavesdropping Halona.
"You see the speakers, right?" asked Jonah. Arielle nodded slowly, "Yeah, I see 'em. What's so special about them? They're just speakers."
Jonah laughed, "Just speakers? Well, that's where you're wrong! Look, they have a little flashing red light- Oh, hi Ally... Are you feeling a bit better?" Ally, with a hand on her pale forehead, shook her head, "Oh... Well, I was just showing these two that there's cameras on the speakers! We're being watched!" Jonah continued. They sounded oddly enthusiastic about the discovery of the cameras.
"Oh... that's creepy," Arielle whispered, "I wonder who's watching us," her voice trailed off uncertainly. Jonah shrugged it off. Liling looked a little angry, her eyebrows furrowed, and her lips contorted into a scowl.
"Whatever. I'm going to vote," she told the others, turning around and walking into the voting room. She incoherently whispered a name three times so nobody could hear her vote. Liling was only in the room for around thirty seconds, but when she came out, the other three had left. And Halona was stood in their place.
"Did you vote for me?" they asked shakily. Liling would shake her head and try to walk away, but Halona would grab her wrist.
"Hey-!" Liling yelled, surprised. Halona's gaze shot directly into Liling's heart eerily.
"Did you vote for me?" Halona asked again, sterner, and more serious this time.
"Halona! I didn't fucking vote for you so let me go!" shouted Liling angrily. Halona looked down to the floor. He shook his head and looked up again, tears streaming down their face.
"Liling... I don't wanna die... Please, I'm not ready to die, Liling... I'm only eighteen, I can't die this young..." Halona cried. Their entire body was shaking, and they grabbed Liling into a hug while crying. Why does this always happen to me? Halona continued weeping on about how they didn't want to die whilst Liling cumbersomely trudged into the other room. She kept on pleading with seemingly nobody when suddenly-
Everything went dark. Halona's deafening, petrifying screams and screeches swamped the space, spewing out of the speakers in each corner of each room. Few words could be made out from their echoing cries and agonised wails, screaming for the pain to end, or asking for help, which everyone- including Halona- knew was unavailing. The horrible noise of a knife tearing flesh apart burst from the speakers, creating a cacophony of grisly sounds, together with the still-going shouts from Halona. After a minute or so of Halona's torture, it finally stopped. The lights turned back on. Halona's body had been pinned to the wall with several knives just like the others. His head was tilted downwards, their bangs covering their face. There were noticeable tears dribbling down her cheeks. Their blood coated the walls around them and drenched their clothes. Halona had died before the lights had even turned back on. Liling knew it was wrong, voting them out. As was everyone else, Halona was innocent, evil or not. Nobody had really deserved the fate they got. It had never really crossed her mind whether they had deserved it or not. Adanna, Vinny, Alab, Omar, Mateo, Alex, Thiago, Marley, Colleen, and now Halona. Now wasn't the time to contemplate her actions. Besides, it wasn't her that killed Alex or Thiago, she wasn't even there.
Ally, Arielle, and Jonah all stood in silence with Liling. They were looking expectantly at her. She sighed and slowly walked over to Halona's freshly killed body, taking a journal out of his pocket. She read it aloud.
You are the WITCH, you are part of the EVIL TEAM, you can block a player each night which will prevent them from using their abilities. Your goal is to eliminate the EVIL TEAM. Write down whatever you discover in this journal.
"They didn't write anything else," Liling announced to an expressionless audience. The light from everyone's eyes had faded a long time ago, to no surprise. A shattered, broken look was displayed across Ally's face.
"I was so right..." she mumbled to herself, "They were evil! Only someone evil would say something like that about Colleen- wait... they were a Witch? S-so, there's still a murderer?" her voice became shaky and untrusting, "The person who killed her is still alive?!" Ally's voice had become a fierce yell, "And it's one of you! It's one of you three!" Before anyone else could speak, Ally ran off.
The three remaining awkwardly looked at each other for a little while, unsure of what they should say or if they should say anything at all. In the end, they spoke for a little while, before Arielle decided she was tired and wanted to sleep. Instead of finding a decent place to sleep, the three of them all just laid down where they were.
Soon, the lights flickered down once again.
Night had arrived as quickly as a flicker of light.