The fifth game ended—but not the incident. There still lingered many questions about Darius’ motives for killing Elena. No matter how much we pressured him, he responded all the same about how he didn’t remember. Thankfully, a man of his word, Caius provided us video footage of the incident.

Most of the players gathered around the Game Moderator as he played the video on his tablet. It started with Darius walking down the hall towards Elena’s room—knife in hand. He knocked on the door, and she allowed him inside.

The camera switched views into the room, where we witnessed the savage attack that took place. Elena screamed and begged for mercy as Darius swung the knife around like a madman. In the process of attacking Elena, he thrashed the entire room.

I—I didn’t want to see any more after that. The visuals were more than enough. But, the fact that audio played along with the attack made it worse. To hear Elena's desperate cries for mercy—knowing the result—it ached my entire body.

I stepped away from the group. I wanted to get as far away from the range of the audio as I could. Unfortunately, that led me over to Darius. He sat in the corner of the room—he held his knees close to his chest.

Pathetic.

He looked utterly pathetic. I didn’t understand how that kid could act so differently when killing someone. On the video, he seemed cold and emotionless. I never figured that he’d have a side like that to him.

But, at that moment, he was someone else. It was easy to tell that he sincerely regretted what he did, even though he made poor excuses. No one gave him the time of day. How could they?

He murdered Elena.

That was the fact. No changing that.

“Son of a bitch…” Iris stormed off from the group then approached Darius. Once her shadow loomed over him; he slowly raised his head to look at her. The kid looked broken.

At first glance, anyone could tell that he had given up. There was no light in his eyes—no hope.

“Iris…” Darius spoke softly.

“Save it!” Iris raised her foot and kicked the wall inches away from his face. “You’re a murderer! A monster! You killed Elena, and I’ll never forgive you for that! Next time you end up in a game, I hope you fucking die!”

She had lost it. The once ever so sweet girl from before was far gone. With those words of contempt, she left the room. One by one, the other players followed her example.

I returned to my room for the rest of the night.

Falling asleep was a challenge. I dreaded for what the next day had in store. The two-day reprieve expired. The games would resume as usual with no hope of stopping anytime soon.

Elena’s murder case was solved. But, there still lingered a problem—the traitors. They were still out there. I had no idea as to who they could’ve been.

As far as I was concerned, everyone was a suspect. There wasn’t a single person that I could’ve trusted out of the players.

Elena’s death taught me that.

Even if the players stood out in the light, their true selves hid in darkness. It was foolish to believe that things could end smoothly in survival games. Hell, at that point, they couldn’t even be called that.

The games were no longer about survival. It was about killing until the games came to an end. I for one never imagined I’d ever be driven that far. But, I couldn’t dismiss the possibility.

Like Iris, I had a strong desire for Darius to die. He played the nice guy for so long. But, the bastard eventually showed his true colors and murdered someone out of the blue. He was dangerous. It reminded me that I couldn’t let my guard down at all.

The games were no longer the only thing I had to watch out for.

The restless night passed agonizingly slow. I rose hours later—strangely enough, it felt weird having not been awoken by Iris. I managed to sleep a lot longer than I intended to.

I left my room and headed for the mess hall. Wyatt, Nicholas, and Salomon greeted me when I arrived. Breakfast plates lined one of the tables as usual.

“Iris make these?” I asked.

“No. Breakfast this time is courtesy of me,” Salomon revealed. “Can’t have her doing all the cooking every day, you know. Girl needs a break; especially after what happened yesterday.”

“I still can't believe that Darius killed Elena. I want to believe that the footage was faked or something.” Wyatt said.

“I would not see the point in it. I have no idea what goes through the sick mind of Caius. But, I trust that the footage is legitimate.” Nicholas said.

“Unforgivable!” Wyatt balled his hand into a fist. “I swear it, Darius will be punished for his crime!”

“Don’t you think he’s been punished enough?” Salomon asked.

Wyatt sharply turned his head and faced the old man. In a few steps, he stood face to face with him. “What do you mean by, “punished enough”?”

“He’s been outed as the murderer. Inevitably, he’ll become an outcast in the group and suffer throughout the games from here on out. Plus, he only has four points left.” The old man said, not budging an inch from the intense glare Wyatt sent his way. “Unless you plan to kill him yourself, there is not much else you can do to him.”

A sound argument. Wyatt struggled to find the words to give a proper retort. Despite Salomon’s age, his mind and wit were sharp. He sent the Doctor back over to his table, grumbling in defeat.

“I am just unsatisfied with the result. I feel as if no justice has been administrated here.”

“That is true. It is not like Darius will be sent to prison once these games are over,” added Nicholas as he brought his hand to his chin. “In fact, it is almost like he will be rewarded for his actions.”

Wyatt raised his fist above his head. With a show of frustration, he slammed it onto the table.

“That cannot happen,” he declared. “I refuse to stand by and let Darius be rewarded for killing Elena!”

“Stop it. Just…just stop it…” Henrika solemnly entered the room. She just stood there, by the entrance—her head hung low as she avoided making any eye contact with anyone. “For one day, can we just not yell and curse one another? Is that too much to ask?”

“I am sorry. I…I spoke out of turn…” Wyatt immediately apologized.

“Is something wrong?” Nicholas inquired.

“Yes. Iris won’t come out of her room. I’ve rung her doorbell several times. But, she refuses to answer.” Henrika answered.

“Can you blame her? She has been through a tough time recently since Elena’s murder.” Wyatt stated. “Give her some time and space. She will come around eventually.”

“But, I’m anxious about her. I don’t want her to deal with this by herself. She needs to talk to someone.” Henrika suggested. She raised her head then set her sights on Nicholas. “Nicholas, can you talk to her? I think you have the best chance of getting through to her than the rest of us.”

“I will certainly try.” Nicholas nodded.

“No, leave her alone for the time being.” Zoey entered the room. “Iris is a big girl that can handle herself. We have another problem to deal with right now.”

Before anyone asked, Caius instantly popped out from behind the Detective—as if waiting for an entry cue.

“Good morning, players! How is everyone doing this fine morning?” Caius greeted. However, no one acknowledged him. We all went back to our breakfast—hoping he’d leave if we ignored him. “Geez, what have you all so upset today? You all look like someone died or something.”

Those words unsympathetic words lit a match inside my stomach. I stood from the table then approached the Game Moderator. Zoey stepped in between us and spread her arms out. It surprised me to see her defend him. But, I remained resolute.

“Ambrose, do not do something that you are going to regret,” Zoey demanded.

But I paid her no attention. I set my sights on Caius. One way or another, I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

“I assure you that I won’t regret this.” I placed my hand on the woman's shoulder and gently moved her out of the way. Afterward, I stared directly into Caius’ eyes. People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I saw nothing but a void. Not a shred of humanity resided in the man.

“Oh my, Ambrose, if you keep staring at me like that, I may get the wrong idea. You are a handsome man and all, but relationships between player and game moderator are strictly forbidden.” Caius blushed and looked away from me. He placed his hand on his cheeks and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“I’ve had it with you and your demented games, Caius! We’ve all suffered for eight days! It must be nice, standing there watching us all nearly get killed every day!”

“To be fair, you all agreed to participate in the games. Whatever happens to you here is of your own volition. Not mine.”

He was right. Everyone decided to come to Serendipity of their own free will. We understood the risks. Everyone may not have come with the resolve to die, but it didn’t change the fact that the recent death infuriated me.

It didn’t need to happen.

And yet, it did. That one death impacted the players gravely. But, Caius thought nothing of it. He didn’t care for it. Everything was a big game to him.

“Even so, don’t speak so lightly about someone’s death!” I exclaimed.

“You know, I would take you more seriously if you felt this way about Frederick’s death.” Caius dismissively shrugged his shoulders. “How come you did not approach me like this when he died?”

“There was a huge difference between Frederick and Elena’s death! Frederick deserved it for gambling all his points then losing! Elena was attacked and murdered in cold blood!” Wyatt came to my defense.

“Oh? Are their deaths really that different?” The Game Moderator arrogantly tilted his head back and folded his arms across his chest. “From my standpoint, there is no difference. Death by firing squad, death by poisoning, death by crushing, it is all the same. In the end, someone dies.”

There was no excitement or malice in his words. He spoke in a matter of fact tone—as if it were natural.

Once again, he was right.

There indeed was no difference between the deaths of Frederick and Elena. Both were murdered—but only in different circumstances. Perhaps the only reason everyone was so worked up about Elena’s death was that they liked her more.

“Let it go for now, Ambrose,” called Nicholas, “there is nothing we can do about it right now. Let us all continue with the games as usual until we are finally allowed to leave.”

“Speaking of leaving, I came here to announce that the voting round will commence!” Caius cheered as he threw his arms up into the air. No one returned his show of enthusiasm.

“Voting round?” Wyatt asked. “I thought we agreed we would skip those until the traitors were found.”

“There was also the condition that we would vote if a player died.” Salomon reminded.

“But, it is ridiculous. Elena was not a traitor.” Wyatt proclaimed.

“Can we be entirely sure?” Nicholas suddenly questioned. “Darius becoming a murderer was surprising enough, surely. But, can we honestly say for certain that Elena was not a traitor? I do not mean to suspect her. It is just that completely trusting someone is difficult in these games—especially now.”

“So, are we going to go through with this?” Salomon asked.

“Perhaps we should. Just to put our suspicions aside.” Wyatt suggested.

No one else offered any further complaints. Caius announced to the remaining players concerning the voting round. Afterward, we followed the Game Moderator to the voting room.