...

I should head to the dining room.

I went to the dining room, everyone glaring at me as I entered. My vision was blurry and I couldn't recognize anyone's faces from where I stood. When I sat down, my vision hadn't cleared.

I must be really tired...

"Everyone excited for today's movie?" Wolf excitedly questioned.

"No." Amelia frowned.

The lights dimmed and I braced myself for what I would see on the screen. The TV screen never turned on and then the lights came back on.

What's going on...?

Chills went to my checks as a wet, pink liquid dripped onto my cheeks. I touched the substance with my finger, pulling it away to see blood.

I glanced upwards, my eyes widening at the unbelievable sight.

How... Fawn...

Fawn's severed head dropped into my lap. Blood splattered all over me, the rest of her body falling onto the table.

"AGHHH!" I screamed louder than I ever had before.

This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't—

I shot up, knocking the bedsheets into the floor. Hyperventilating, I held my hand over my chest to steady my breathing.

"Fawn!" I gasped. My head spun around at a breakneck pace.

The tightness in my chest released, when I saw my sister peacefully sleeping.

I just had a nightmare... Nothing to panic about.

I sharply exhaled, my breathing returning to normal.

"Felix...?" Fawn rubbed her eyes, annoyed. "What is it?"

No! We be late!

I pulled at my sister's arm, rushing the two of us to the dining hall.

"Felix!" She grumbled once we finally arrived. "I'm still in my pajamas..."

"Sorry." I frowned. "The announcement scared me."

"Why?" She confusedly asked.

Before I could answer, more people began bursting through the doors. Behind the frantic crowd was Isaiah sluggishly trailing behind them. To no surprise, he trembled upon stepping into the room again.

"That certainly got everyone going!" Wolf the Cat laughed, jumping out from behind the plant. "You guys almost ran faster than Vanessa."

Vanessa... No...

The memory of Vanessa crying after the trial followed by her execution invaded my mind. I started to cry, so I rapidly wiped my tears.

Nobody paid any attention to me, their eyes anxiously glued to the TV.

"I see you're all excited for today's movie." Wolf commented.

The lights dimmed, reminding me of my nightmare.

Fawn's right here... She's not going to die.

The screen flashed on.

I have nothing to worry about.

I glanced to my side to check for my sister. She was still there.

I turned my attention back to the screen, seeing an older woman on screen. Her coral colored hair was tied back into a tight, high bun. In contrast to her tidy presentation, she wore an orange prison jumpsuit.

"What are you doing with that?!" She demandingly cring out, as the familiar axe came into view.

Splash. Splash. Splash.

I... I can't take this...

The woman's stomach had been axed. She let out a ear piercing scream, causing me to flinch at the sudden loud noise.

Then the axe came down again. The woman tried to block it with her arms, but the axe cut threw her bones like they were paper. As the blade split her skull open, blood covered the screen and the video ended.

I think I'm going to be sick... That... That... I can't.

My stomach rumbled and my throat burned. I gagged a couple times, before swallowing. My head was throbbing and I couldn't seem to focus on the words that anyone was saying, until Ameila abruptly stood up.

The pink haired coroner shook as she stood. Her eyes widened when she made eye contact with everyone at once, so she held her head down. Her messy hair to fall over her eyes, shielding her from having to look at us.

"Ameila?" Minerva looked across the table.

"Ameila, you can cry if you need to." Rory told her, crying themselves.

"Y-Yeah!" Hunter nodded, pulling his hat down over his face. "We wouldn't judge ya one bit!"

"I'm fine." The coroner announced, brushing off everyone's concerns.

A pair of fists slammed on the table and Isaiah stood up. His eyes were obscured by his tear soaked glasses, but they didn't need to be seen to understand the emotions on his face.

"Y-You just watched your mom die!" The blonde man shouted at her. "She was murdered right in front of you!"

"I know that." The pinkette, said agitated. Her head bounced up as she glared at him.

"Why aren't you doing anything about it?!" He yelled.

"Give h-her some time to process things, w-w-would you?" Blane stood up to the pinkette defense.

Isaiah fell silent. He wiped his glasses and then his face, before silent tears rolled down his face.

"I'm sorry, Ameila." He apologized, his voice raspy. "I'm... upset."

"I understand." She nodded, looking back down again.

Isaiah and Blane sat down, while the coroner stood alone before us all. Ameila's face remained unchanged, she was in deep thought. She stood pondering for servel minutes as everyone collected themselves from witnessing another brutal murder.

Finally, she spoke.

"I have a proposal for our group activity today." Ameila announced.

"How can you be thinking of group activities at a time like this?!" Rory blurted out, before covering their mouth. "Sorry..."

"What?" The coroner questioned.

"You don't need to force yourself to do anything right now." Quartz told her with concern. "Especially with the group."

"Please don't waste your time worrying for me." The pinkette requested. "I'm not bothered by the motive."

"Huh?" Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Because of your talent?"

"I suppose my talent has prepared me for the gore aspect, but I was referring to my mother." She clarified.

"Are you cool with your mother being axed?" Tabitha guessed, confused.

Ameila sighed, hopelessly covering her face with her hands. She slowly pulled them down, expressing annoyance.

"Apologies. I'm having a hard time explaining how I feel." The pinkette explained, before sharply exhaling. "I am not sad about my mother dying."

What? Was her mother a bad person?

"You don't care...?" Isaiah's eyes widened.

"I didn't say that." Amelia corrected him, before unsubtly changing topics. "My personal life is irrelevant in our current situation. I want you all to listen to my activity proposal."

"But your mom—" Isaiah started to say.

"We should all gather in the library and search for something that could help us escape." Amelia suggested, cutting off and ignoring the blonde.

"Aren't most of the books fiction?" Gabriel asked. "How does that help us?"

"I suspect that our situation might have been inspired by a mystery or thriller novel." She explains.

"But what if it isn't?" Tabitha asked.

"Then at least everyone will be able to keep an eye on each other for a couple hours." The coroner said.

"That sounds like a great idea and all, but can we go back to your motive?" Nikolas derailed the conversation. "How are you moving past that so quickly?!"

"We saw the same thing yesterday, so I don't know why everyone is so flabbergasted." Ameila answered.

"I think they mean how you moved on from that so quickly." Zenith elaborated for the food tester. "You witnessed the death of your mother."

"We have more important things to discuss." Ameila stated, trying to change the subject.

"Please don't ignore how you feel." Isaiah requested with an emphatic tone.

"I'm not ignoring how I feel." She clarified. "Stop insisting that I am."

"Sorry..." Isaiah apologized to her again.

Nobody said anything else.

As much as I wanted to ask Ameila how she kept her composure during the video, I could tell that she didn't want to talk about it.

"I think searching the library is a good idea." I told her.

"I do too." Ameila replied.

With nothing more to say, the coroner left. Many others followed. In the sea of people leaving the dining hall, a single bluenette entered.

"Where have you been?" Rory interrogated her.

"Sleeping." Nora replied.

"Didn't you hear the morning announcement?" I asked her, before realizing. "Oh."

"I have no motive, unfortunately." She shrugged, with a smug look on her face. "But even if I did they wouldn't pick mine."

"Pick yours?" Nikolas questioned. "I thought they were selected randomly."

"Hahaha! And they are!" The bluenette awkwardly correcting herself.

Has Nora been slipping up more often?

Also are the motives being picked?!

"Bye!" Nora ran out of the dining room.

I glanced around at the remaining people. Rory, Blane, Nikolas, and my sister.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked her.

"Yeah." Fawn nodded. "I don't like this room anymore."

I don't either...

We left the dining room and made our way to my room. However, I couldn't help but stop at the sight of Quartz tearing up while looking at her Petal Pad.

"Quartz?" I quietly spoke her name. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah!" She quickly wiped her tears. Mascara stained her cheeks. "No, that was a lie."

"Is it the motive?" I guessed.

Quartz nodded. She tried to wipe her face of the dried mascara, but it was no use.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her.

"I would, if you're okay with that." She answered.

"Yeah." I agreed. "I'm going to do whatever I can to help you feel better."

"Thank you, Felix." She smiled.

Quartz and I took a seat on the floor. Fawn stayed standing, not paying anything attention to us.

"My motive is a friend of mine." Quartz began. "We're both models, but she has a different specialty. She's also the ."

Quartz knows the Ultimate Model?! That shouldn't surprise me that much, considering she's also a model herself.

"Before we became models, we were close friends." She informed me. "After seeing two people die already, I don't know what I would do if she was killed next."

...

"I feel the same way about my motive." I said.

"What are you doing about yours?" She questioned me, sounding desperate. "How do you stop yourself from thinking about killing someone?"

I don't.

...

I need to think of something to tell her. If I can't give advice, then what can I do?

"Recently, I've been distracting myself." I answered her. "I figured that if I don't let myself think about something, then it can't bother me."

"What do you usually distract yourself with?" Quartz asked me.

"Anything works, but fun things keep your mind more occupied." I explained. "Go have some fun, Quartz."

"I will." She stood up.

After seeing Quartz off, I dropped Fawn off at my room.

"If you need anything, I'm in the laundry room." I told her.

"Yeah, okay." She replied, yawning. "I'm going back to bed."

The best part of the day had finally arrived.

Laundry time!

I took a deep breath, smiling as I turned the laundry room door knob. It took all my strength to push the heavy door open. Then...

Then...

Skyler's corpse plagued my brain. Their lifeless body propped against the back wall, a bloody wound on their abdomen.

"I-I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'll leave you to rest..."

Shakingly, I closed the door. A wet drop splashed on my hand; I was crying.

Why can't I forget? If I could forget about you and Vanessa, I could move on.

"You and Vanessa," I said, sloppily wiping my face. "Are really gone."

I still don't want to believe it.

"People died because of this game." I told the door. "With the motive, more people probably will."

I held out my hand, placing it on the door. I stretched my fingers out as far as I could, pushing my hand on it.

"I wish this was a dream. No." I shook my head. "A nightmare."

Nightmares have endings.

My hand slid an inch or so down the wood of the door.

Death is an ending.

Skyler and Vanessa reached their end.

...

My time as an Ultimate reached its end.

"Everything ends." I told the door. "But it's up to me to decide how soon."

I could end the motive...

I could end the killing game...

...

I should start off small.

Like ending the fear I feel when I open doors.

I reached for the door handle. Gripping it, my hand turned. It was painstakingly slow. Turning and turning, yet the door was not open.

The door flung open and I stumbled when entering the laundry room. When I regained my balance, I started to prepare the clothes.

Gabriel's not here yet. I hope he didn't forget.

"Hey." A flat voice greeted me.

"Hey!" I eagerly spun around. "Are you ready to do some laundry?"

"Yes." Gabriel gave me a tiny smile.

We did laundry for a bit. Gabriel didn't need any instruction or guidance from me anymore. He was a master at putting clothes into a washing machine, pouring into soap, and turning the machine on. Nothing came out stained, smaller or enlarged.

"You've been quieter than usual." Gabriel pointed out. "Are you scared of the motive?"

"Sorry about that." I apologized. "The motive is making me a little paranoid."

"Can we talk about it?" He asked. "I don't know what I should do about mine."

"Yeah." I nodded, patting the floor for him to sit beside me.

Gabriel took a seat beside me on the floor. We both sat against the machines, neither of us knowing what to say.

"My sister. Laura." He blurted. "She's my motive person."

"I know you've said some things about her in the past..." Hesitantly I danced around the topic. "Are you two close?"

"I wouldn't say so." Replied the tennis player. "Even with how much I hated her dragging me along with her friends, she's much better when she wasn't around them. She remembered I existed when it was just the two of us at home."

Right... I remember this conversation.

"But I don't want her to die." He announced, looking up at me. "I think I would kill for her."

"I would kill for Fawn too." I blurted, before covering my mouth in a panic.

"...is she your motive?" Gabriel questioned, eyeing me.

I nodded.

"How is that possible?" He followed up. "She's part of the game."

"I got a special motive." I simply said.

How lucky...

"Felix." Gabriel looked away. "Are you going to kill someone?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I don't want Fawn to die but... I don't want to kill anyone either."

Gabriel didn't say anything.

"I'm not looking forward to the future." I gloomingly told him. "I have no idea what's going to happen and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."

"I can't see into the future." Gabriel said.

"And?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That's it." He said. "I have no idea what's going to happen in the future either."

...

"I have a feeling that you won't kill anyone." The brunette blurted.

"That's sweet of you to have faith in me, but how can you be so sure?" I asked.

"I'm sure everyone is equally worried about the motive." He assumed.

"Yeah." I agreed. "You're right."

As horrible as it is to say, I'd rather somebody die if it ends the motive and save Fawn's life.

Another class trial is inevitable...

I have to discover another friend dead.

I have to watch another friend die.

...

"I know we just talked about this, but I can't shake the fear of Fawn dying." I let out a breath. "And I can't work up the courage to tell her that she's at risk."

"Maybe you should." Gabriel suggested. "If my life was in danger, I'd like to know about it."

"I don't know how to go about it." I explained. "Where would I even start?"

"Fawn, I have you for my motive." The tennis player answered.

"Hehe, you make it look easy." I softly chucked.

"I guess I have an easy time saying what's on my mind." He shrugged.

I hope I can do that one day.

"Wanna get lunch with me?" I offered, changing the topic. "I think everything will be done when we get back."

"Can we have quesadillas?" Gabriel questioned.

"Of course." I nodded.

After lunch, Gabriel and I returned the laundry. We parted ways and I picked up Fawn to go to the library.

"I was sleeping." My sister grumbled, as she trailed behind me. "What are we even doing?"

"We're going to the library to research a way out or something." I answered. "I'm not really sure actually."

"I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone, so can you handle that?" She requested.

"Sure." I complied.

When Fawn and I arrived at the library, the others were chatting.

"What are we doing?" I asked to no one in particular.

"We're going to split up and search the library for books that could help with our situation." Minerva answered.

"Make sure to check the mystery, thriller, and history sections." Amelia demanded. "I suspect those to yield the most information."

Everyone split up. Fawn pulled me off to a lowly populated area to check the books.

"Are you skimming or just reading the summary?" I questioned, holding open a book.

"Neither." Fawn replied. "I'm opening to random parts and seeing if I recognize anything."

"Got anything yet?" I curiously asked.

"No." She sighed. "Just a bunch of boring descriptions."

Reaching the end of the bookshelf, I had found nothing important. Not even a vague clue or similarity between the characters' situations.

Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

"Hey Felix!" A peppy voice greeted me.

"Agh!" I jumped at the voice. "Who's there?!"

"Nora." Fawn replied. "She's on the other side of the bookshelf."

Books slide away from the middle of a row, revealing Nora's grinning face peeking through the empty space.

"What do you want?" I questioned her.

"I just wanted to say hi." Nora smiled.

"Hi Nora." I replied, letting out a frustrated exhale.

"Cya later, Felix." Nora's face disappeared as she pushed the books back in their place.

A green book, with golden text fell from the shelf as Nora's face disappeared. The book was titled Memories.

Fawn picked the book up, examining it.

"I didn't see that on the shelf." I commented.

"It wasn't there before." My sister pointed out, before adding some uncertainty. "I think."

"Let's open it up and see what it's about." I suggested.