30 Welcome Back, Rogues

Adrien placed the plates on the table in the dining hall and took his time to set it up neatly around the table. He even turned the flower in the centre piece so that it looked more presentable. 

He looked back at me chatting with Ethan casually. Ethan let out a giggle and looked up at me while cutting the cucumbers. Adrien just watched as I lifted my hands up animatedly and tried to describe to him what a bullet train was.

Ethan cocked his head in confusion, "So it's a plane, but on the ground. So a pilot can ride a bullet train too!"

"No! You dummy!" I sighed exasperatedly. I had been trying to explain it to him for five whole minutes. Ethan snorted at my pout and I found it weird, Then I started laughing too. And then it turned into uncontrollable buckets of laughter for no reason at all.

A sigh escaped Adrien's lips involuntarily and he slouched his way to pick up the glasses. 

That's when his crystal green eyes flitted up in surprise. Ethan's laughter had stopped. Adrien stood still for a second and caught the tightening movement of Ethan's hand around the kitchen knife before he flicked it forward.

Adrien glanced at me who had still not registered what was happening. 'Ashe, move!' his head screamed but obviously, I didn't hear. Adrien jolted forward and stretched his hands to block the knife from hurting me.

But Ethan was too fast. The knife only barely grazed Adrien's skin, lines of blood dripping. He watched in awe as the knife flew forward towards me, nothing in between to stop it. 

"Ashe…" he whimpered as he witnessed what was supposed to be a horrifying sight. 

The knife lodged itself in my neck. I gasped and expected excruciating pain. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I found myself holding the thin handle of the knife at my neck, my eyes wide in shock. But no pain came. 

The other boys watched as the knife in my hands glitched and disintegrated into the air in dust before reappearing a few centimeters on top of the floor and clattering on it. 

Our jaws dropped at the sight. Not even a single drop of blood escaped from my skin. Did the knife…just…glitch?! But this is real life.

'Or is it?' my hedgehog mind reappeared. 

Ethan's hands trembled as he regained his composure and he stared at the girl in front of him, then at the knife on the floor. 'Wh-what did I just do?' he asked himself. Sweat trickled on his forehead in nervousness.

He let out a whimper as two hands curled around his throat and shook him. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Adrien screamed at him, his nose flaring in anger. 

"I-I'm sorry…" Ethan's eyes teared up in fear. 

Adrien only shook him harder and threw him against the wash counter, "Why did you try to kill her? Are you crazy!"

"I-I didn't know what to came over m-"

Adrien pulled him forward and punched his face, "Tell me why you did it, you bastard." 

Ethan stared off at the floor, trying to find his breath again. He shut his eyes close and his brain instantly rewound to some faint, invisible memory.

Night city.

Lots of people.

He remembered being angry…blood spurted out of his mouth as a boy hit him. He remembered looking back at the boy…Adrien. But they both were dressed in black and Ethan remembered wanting to kill a girl.

Ethan clutched his head and groaned as he knelt down on the kitchen floor. Memories rushed back one by one like cards flipping its faces up. Ethan let out a blood curdling scream. 

Saye stepped out of the washroom to hear this guttural scream and raised her eyebrows. She frowned and looked at the direction of the kitchen. 'What's going on…' she wondered and threw her bath towel on the bed before strutting towards the kitchen and seeing the boy on the floor clutching his head and screaming. 

She looked up at the others who were staring at him in confusion. Adrien was fuming, his hands rolled up into fists and I was frozen too, not knowing what to do. Saye spotted a knife at her feet too. 

'Why are they all simply standing?' Saye wondered, not knowing what had previously happened.

She slowly knelt down in front of Ethan and touched his hands with her cold ones. "Calm down, Ethan, calm down," she tried to quieten him. 

But he seemed to be in extreme pain. He clutched his head tighter. Saye looked up at me for answers. But I was blank. My mind was reeling instead.

I had switched off survival mode that night! And still…and still Ethan attempted to kill me. So all the 'being nice' was just an act for me to get closer to them? They were secretly plotting behind my back. How did I not see it? 

"Ashe!" Saye yelled at me above Ethan's scream and I whipped my head backwards. 

Too late. Luca had caught my wrists and tied it behind my back with a rope. Kang Jae-suk's big frame hobbled forward and pulled Saye back. She flailed her legs trying to free herself but his grip was too strong. "Leave me alone! You!" 

Ethan's scream died down into a low whimper. His hands fell to both his sides and panted. All the memories were back now and he turned to look at me with newfound hate. "Did we not finish her already?" he muttered.

I looked at Kai who walked up to me and stood so that we were at eye level. I'm pretty sure hurt flashed through my eyes as I saw Kai sneer. 

"You actually fell for it, didn't you?" he laughed and bent down to pick up the knife. "I trusted you…I thought we were friends…" I sobbed as I watched him test the sharpness on his knife.

"Friends are an illusion," he said, not taking his eyes off from the kitchen knife, "They are machines you use to get what you want. Now," he looked up at me and lifted the knife in front of my eyes, "Seems like we confirmed that we can't kill you directly. I thought it was a mistake the first time. Sad. But no worries!" he beamed and walked over to Saye who watched everything with distaste. Kai grabbed her palm and forced the knife into Saye's hands, "We have her this time. You brought everything to us, Ashe. You've made this simpler."

I cry harder and saw Saye hold the knife reluctantly. She glanced at me in fear, "I…I can't kill her…"

Kai laughed, "Sure you can. Just poke her anywhere with it. Poke deep. It'll only take a second."

"Please don't do this, Kai," I begged, not having any other choice. We were really trapped know. And here was stupid me who thought it was disabling survival mode that made them nice. Turns out, all this had simply been an act. 

I was so naïve. 

Kai narrowed his eyes, "Your father," he pointed to me, "he trapped us in that horrifying game for ten years! Ten years. He ripped us away from our family, our school, our normal life and put us in that prison for something we didn't do," he sneered before saying, "Killing you is a beautiful mercy." 

As I heard these words, I came to a terrifying decision that scared me to the bone. This was my story. It's going to be over. This is the last chapter.

The chapter where I die.

Was there really no one to save me? 

Kai pushed Saye forward, the knife shaking in her hand. My eyes flitted over to each of the boys I had grown to like, at least a little.

Adrien was there too, among them. If their survival mode was on, wasn't Adrien supposed to be nice to me? Why was he staring at me like that then?

I frowned at him unknowingly, to look into those green eyes one last time before Saye stabbed me to death. Then…

He winked.