3 Chapter 2

Chapter 2

First thing you would want as a teenaged girl from a normal family with a normal social life and a normal group of friends is a normal boyfriend. Obviously, since no one is ever 'normal' enough, there's always a problem with relationships. But it was worse for Rey than anyone else. With her violent family background and her weird obsession with murders and suicide, no boy actually approached her to get her number, even though by teenage-boy standards she was considered quite pretty. Or maybe they did think of it, but Rey tended to distrust people she just met, so it was actually quite hard to even engage in a conversation with her, much less get her number and ask her out on a date(apart from Evan because she was too stunned to do anything. And also because he really did look quite good). Most of Rey's friends have been with her since before Jeanette died, which was when she had trust issues, so she was fine with them. She knew she could count on them. After Jeanette's death, she stopped trying to make friends. Any person who came up to her and asked to be her friend(they were mostly shallow idiots who just wanted to be her friend because she was pretty) would be faced with what Rey's friends called the Freeze-Out. Her face would be totally blank, her eyes hard and her lips set in a thin line. That usually got people frightened. Of course, there were exceptions, to which she would start babbling about the serial killers in the world and the most memorable murders of Singapore in history. That was the one that made people think she was a psycho and leave her. After that, her friends would discuss the reactions on the person's face and have a good laugh.

In conclusion, never ask Rey for her number.

But the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes were brown eyes. The person leaned back. It was then she realised it was Evan. Shocked that they'd crossed paths again, she couldn't do anything but lie down wherever she was and keep quiet. After a painfully long moment of silence, Rey finally cleared her throat and looked at Evan. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "I don't know. I don't care. There's definitely one more person," he muttered. Rey couldn't make any sense out of his words. Just as she opened her mouth to say so, Evan cut her off with "We need to wait for the last Killer in the Killer Game."

The Killer Game.

The Panic Room.

She'd heard it before.

And then it hit Rey. It was mentioned in one of her parents' fights.

"My salary is still higher than yours!" Dyana screamed. "Like I give a damn! All you do is hang out with those murderous idiots from the Killer Game! Don't you know its nickname? The Panic Room! Do you want to die?" Eric fired back. Dyana let out a huff of exasperation and threw the spatula she was holding onto the ground. She turned to Eric. "Will you just shut up? It's not like you don't go around looking at every freaking girl wherever you go. And those people aren't murderous idiots! They aren't even from the goddamn Killer Game! Hell, there isn't even a Killer Game! It's all a myth!" she yelled. Eric glared at her. "Do you have proof they aren't from the Killer Game?" he asked, ignoring her earlier comment. "Well, do you have proof the Killer Game is real?" Dyana shot back. Just then, the front door opened and Rey came in. She'd heard everything. But she decided not to show it. Dyana picked up the spatula and Eric put on a smile, but underneath the smiling faces was a couple that needed space.

Other than that, Rey had no recollection of anything called the Killer Game, or the Panic Room. She never heard her parents mention that ever again, although their fights got more extreme.

"Earth to Rey!" Evan yelled. Rey jolted back to reality, looking at Evan's eyes. "So what? We're Killers? And then?" she snapped. "I don't know. I ended up here, with you beside me--don't even ask me how you got there--and then I went to the library, found some books. Explained the rules of the Killer Game and shit like that, then after that there was this voice that kept telling me I was a Killer. So I went to search up more about Killers and realise that their eyes are either brown or black. And yours is brown. Well, brownish-black. So, I guess you're a Killer too. And according to the rules, there's one more Killer. The rest of the Players would be hidden away from us. I don't actually know. Like I said, I just learnt all these, and honestly, it's a lot to take in…" he trailed off when he saw Rey looking at a book on her bedside table. "Oh, that," he said. "That's a guide to being a Killer."

Rey rolled her eyes. "How to be a Killer. Thanks, Mr. Obvious," she said.

There was a flash of white, and Rey was pushed towards Evan.

All her memories danced around her, and slowly, although unknown to Rey, they were wiped away from her. Taken away. Stolen.

***

And all this while, Dow stood in between life and death, watching as everything unfold before his eyes. His lips quirked up, and as he saw the memories Rey had--the one on her parents fighting where her father had mentioned the Killer Game, he stopped smiling. That woman--Rey's mother...he knew her. Dyana. The woman who conceived his child.