1 Chapter One: Awake
The silence was deafening as seven unconscious people laid on the dirty ground in a closed-off room. A few hours had passed without a sound coming from them, due to someone drugging them.
In the corner of the room, spotted a camera moving left and right, indicating that someone was watching them. Far away, but still in the same building as the people, shown a man observing them from several computer screens.
No one could see the face and body of the Watcher as a dark shadow rested over them. The only thing that anyone could see were hands covered with black gloves, softly running their fingers on the control.
Instead of looking at the people lying on the ground, their gaze rested on the dead body. The dead body laid on top of the table in the middle of the room kept preserved by unforeseen forces.
The dead body was the game's main attraction as everyone in the room knew the person, but they will not remember until they get through the different stages of the game.
Everyone in the room was liars, but one person was the real murderer. And it is up to the people to figure out who that person is while trying to regain their lost memories.
As the Watcher continues to stare at the dead body, they caught a movement from the corner of their eye. When the Watcher turned, they spotted the body of someone small moving; a body of a little boy.
The child was the quickest to wake up than everyone else as the said child rubbed his eyes, sitting up. When he gained a clear focus of his eyes, he looked around at his surroundings. As he spotted the unconscious people, the unfamiliar setting, and the dead body, the boy began to tremble as he moved back into a wall.
The boy picked his legs up, wrapping his arms around them as he dropped his head down. If the boy did not see it, he would believe that this was not real.
Once the boy awakened, two other people near him began to twitch before opening their eyes. They were adults, one man, and one woman.
They both started sitting up, looking around as their dazed eyes began to clear. The man squinted his eyes due to the dull lights in the room, while the woman noticed the other people, the dead body, and the little boy curled on the wall.
Not wanting to create a scene by screaming at the unknown, she swallowed her confusion and fear as she crawled towards the child; her legs and arms felt weak as she made her way over.
The woman touched the boy's shoulder when she made it to him, causing the child to flinch at the touch. He did not pick up his head, but he did hurry away from the lady. But, that did not stop her.
She grabbed the boy this time, wrapping her arms around him like she was trying to comfort him. The child did not move from her embrace, but his body was stiff the whole time. The lady ran her hands through the boy's hair, telling him that everything will be okay.
Finally catching his bearings, the man ignored the two other people awake with him as he entirely took in the room. When he saw the unconscious people and the dead body, he did the opposite of what the woman did; he freaked out.
The man let out a sound of fright and almost fell back down as he crawled backward, hitting a teenage girl near him. He did not care that he was hitting someone as he was too scared to think clearly. The teenage girl woke up when she felt someone hitting her.
Her eyes looked glazed while her body felt sluggish, but she had enough wit to push the man away as she tried to sit up, "Move away!"
Her shout started a domino effect, causing the remaining people, still asleep, to wake up.
The man, the teenage girl pushed away, grabbed his arm, finally calming down. He glared at the girl, "Why did you hit me? Where is your respect for an adult?"
The others, who were finally awake, were picking themselves up as they looked around, trying to get their eyes to clear.
The teenage girl glared back at the man; he hit her first, so why was he acting as she did him wrong? Before she could reply, the woman holding the child answered, "You were hitting her first. Do not yell at a teenage girl for no reason. Where is your maturity?"
Most of the room occupants looked at the woman; the man looked to be fuming as he glanced at the woman. But before the man could open his mouth to argue back, a teenage boy, on the other side of the room, spoke up.
"Where are we?" The teenage boy asked as he was shaking, but not because of the dead body and being somewhere unfamiliar with strangers; he was merely chilly from the coldness of the room.
"The question is not 'where are we' but who are you, people? The area seems to be a weird setting for meeting new people." A man, near the teenage boy, added in.
The teenage girl huffed as she heatedly replied, "Do you think this is some game? I do not have time for stupid jokes. As you can see, we are in a weird, dirty room with a dead body!"
The man, who spoke earlier, sighed, "I was trying to lighten the mood; you know, make the best out of a bad situation? Why don't we introduce ourselves before dealing with the elephant in the room? My name is Elrick."
"Is no one that freaked out by a dead body in the room with us," another teen, who was quiet the whole time, spoke out before adding, "and my name is Taylor."
"My name is Catherine." The teenage girl answered.
"Kevin." said the teenage boy.
"Lilian." The woman, holding the child, added.
"Liam." The angry man grumbled.
The only who did not give a name was the child. The woman tried to get the boy to speak, but he remained stiff and silent, almost like a statue in her arms.
"Now, those introductions are out the way. We should first see if we can leave this room." Elrick stood up, his legs shaking along the way since he hasn't used them in a while.
The others in the room watched as the man walked to the only door present in the room. Elrick grabbed the door, pulling down on the handle; the door did not open. He tried a few times to be sure before turning around with a severe look.
"We are locked in."
Catherine loudly cursed, causing Lilian to cover the little boy's ears. "There must be a way out of here. We have a child with us, and he should not see this." The woman said.
The others turned towards Lilian, holding the little boy as they finally took in that a child was with them; Liam ignored it earlier.
"Whoever did this is sick for putting a child in here with a dead body present." Kevin scrunched his face in disgust. The child let out a small sound, finally reacting after being dormant. He tried to move away from the woman.
"How can you people be so nonchalant about this? There is a dead body with us!" Liam shouted as his fear was choking him at this point. He thought that there is something seriously wrong with these people.
"Make the best out of a bad situation," Elrick repeated before starting again, "plus, I know a lost cause when I see one." The man sat back down on the ground, making himself comfortable.
"And I know when one speaks too much." Catherine chimed in as she glanced at the man. Elrick shrugged, not caring.
Liam stood up, looking at everyone as they lost their minds, "All of you must have a few loose screws! There is a dead body, someone locked us in a room in an unfamiliar place, my memory is hazy on how I got here, and there is a freaking child with us!" At the end of his rant, he was breathing hard while surveying everyone.
No one said anything as they stared at the man. They did not know what to say because they were scared of their memory blanks and being in the room, but they knew it was pointless to freak out. It was better to remain calm, especially in a situation like this.
A few minutes passed as the man realized that no one was going to say anything. He threw his hands in the air as he let out a frustrated scream. Liam sat back down, crossing his arms as he muttered many curses under his breath.
After a few more minutes of silence, Kevin stood up and made his way to the dead body to look at it. His hands were shaking while his stomach felt weird as he looked at the body.
The dead body was that of a woman who looked to be in her late 20s. Her body has not decomposed, but she looked like one of those dolls that doctors would use. The woman looked extremely pale and cold to the touch, but also like someone put makeup on her to conserve her looks.
There were tears in her shirt that showed that someone stabbed her multiple times in the stomach.
Above her head, there was a name that said: Ana.
The teenage boy furrowed his brows as the name sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't remember.
"What are you doing?" Catherine cut into his thoughts, looking at the boy like he was doing something disgusting.
"Do any of you know someone named Ana?" He asked.
Everyone thought for a while, their heads hurting as they did. They felt that the name Ana was familiar to them, but they cannot remember.
"I don't think so," Elrick answered.
"No," Said Catherine.
"I meet people all the time; how the hell would I remember anyone named Ana," Liam grumbled once again.
Lilian shook her head as she could not recall anything. The little boy did not answer as he was still trying to move out of the woman's hold.
"No." Taylor, the quiet teenager, answered. People forgot that she was in the room with how silent she was.
"Hmm, same with me," Kevin replied.
The Watcher smirked as they heard what everyone said; they pushed an intercom that connected to the room, "Oh, but all of you do know Ana, the dead person in the middle of the room."
Everyone jumped at the voice they heard in the room, looking around the area until they stopped at the camera in the place. Liam popped up, stomping his way to the camera, "Are you the one who did this? Let us out, you sick freak!"
The Watcher laughed, causing the others to flinch from how creepy it sounded. "I will let you go once you finish the game I set for you."
"What game?" Elrick asked as he got up, walking towards the camera.
"The Murder Game, my dear players." The Watcher answered.
