6. A Game.

Nich forced himself to remain calm, panicking was the last thing he would want to do in this situation as the perpetrator himself would want that to happen.

'The person must be in the basement.'

Nich thought.

'The distance between the meter and the starices that lead to the ground floor is about 7 meters, that including the time to get to the ground floor would be 15 seconds.'

Assuming the person is was walking slowly to hide his presence is not plausible.

'The turn off of light already hinted his presence.'

So that makes less than 15 seconds to travel to the ground floor.

Now, a minute has already passed since the turn off of lights, so the person in question could very well be lurking behind the door.

Nich turned towards the door that lead to the hall, which was left slightly ajar.

preparing himself mentally to face the situation, he knew that there was no going back if the criminal caught one of them and used them as an hostage.

The logical choice here was to call the police and get out of the house, but that option was unavailable.

He did not want to take his eyes off the door even for a second, something in his guts told him that if he did there would be dire consequences.

And even if he did call the police, the doors were all locked, and Nich had forgot the key in his bedroom.

And if he asked his sister to call the police, the criminal might attack them so as to save himself, the best care scenario would be that Alice calls police without Nich having to take his attention of the door.

Nich got off the couch, and then grabbed a glass jar for protection.

Alice was also coming terms with the situation, she sent an help message to her friends and thought about calling the police.

She dialed the wrong number many times with trembling hands, and then finally her call went through.

The call went through, and after what felt like an eternity someone picked up.

"H-Hello police."

Alice said, in a trembling voice she was clearly having trouble speaking.

"What's the hurry?"

Suddenly a strange, amused voice came from the door, as Nich turned more vigilant the figure of a figure whose features were undiscernable .

As she did, there was slight sound of door opening, as a figure in black attire steped out of the door.

Alice froze in her place as her phone slipped out of her hands, being burrowed in the couch.

There was a sharp knife in his hands, it seemed the criminal was searching for kitchen for a while.

"To think you kids will call police so soon, i was hoping you would be pacified for a while."

There was a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"How about we play a little game?"

The criminal asked, this time his voice contained little emotions, it was as if he was on monotone.

"Since you kids are so f**king smart, how do you think you will fair against this knife of mine, oh I apologize, it's actually yours."

At that moment, the sudden standstill they all had came to ever since the perpetrator entered the hall, and when he moved his arms, everyone moved.

The perpetrator, made a throwing gesture with his hand, and the sharp end of his blade was pointed towards Nich.

Then the blade suddenly shot forward in Nich's direction, even if it was broad daylight the blade would have been quite hard to even see, much less dodge, and the dim atmosphere of the room only made it worse.

While the criminal threw the knife towards Nich, he was already dashing off in the direction of Alice, with one of his hands in his pocket.

'...'

The world froze for Nich, the speed and of blade seemed to froze, his mind froze his mind and even his breathing stopped for a second.

Only his body moved, at an incredible speed, on instincts the knife was directly aimed at his chest, but he has managed to move enough to almost avoid the attack.

*tear*

The fanbric of his T-shirt was cut, and there was a swallow scratch at his right arm, and the knife stuck to a wall besides him.

Nich did not stop for a second and continued moving at an incredible speed, he was standing at the side of couch, while the perpetrator was approaching from front towards his left, where Alice was.

The perpetrator took out a sharp knife, from his pocket, and now he was heading towards Alice.

He would most likely take her as an hostage to salvage his situation and escape police.

Alice who was still trying to get off the couch saw the knife flying towards Nich and her heart skipped a beat.

While her attention was focused on Nich, the perpetrator's hand has reached within a close proximity to her neck, and the knife in his other hand was also ready to be aimed at her neck.

*shatter*

But before his hand could reach her, he heard a loud bang, and then he realized his trajectory was amiss.

And then he heard another noise, this one softer than before.

*bang*

His stepped slowed, and if it weren't for the momentum, he would he stopped completely.

And his path tilted again, At this rate he would not reach Alice, he might even miss the crouch completely!

The perpetrator also realized something.

He was... In air... He was flying.

Or it would be more appropriate to say he was sent flying.

Before the perpetrator could comprehend the situation, he felt a sharp, stinging pain from his right cheek, and his consciousness faded as he crashed in a wall behind him.

He was in a pathetic state, defeated and utterly broken, there were some blood on his forehead, and he seemed to have lost consciousness.

***

While at the same time, Alice couldn't believe what she saw.

Her attention was fixed on Nich ever since the perpetrator had thrown the knife, and she saw all that happened.

At first it felt like he was frozen, but then he moved at an astonishing speed which was hard to catch in the dim room.

His arm that was holding the glass jar swung and the jar was sent flying at the perpetrator.

His speed only seem to increase, with his fist clenched, and before she could see what happened, Nich disappeared from the place he was standing in and she heard a loud noise towards her left, and then she saw the perpetrator lying and defeated at the ground.

She didn't knew what happened, but she felt like she did.

"Hello? "

At the same time she heard a voice from her phone.

She picked it up in a half-dazed state.

"Is this a prank call? why is there no one on the line?"

"Hello police."

The entirety of the incident happened in less than 5 seconds and political was still on call.

***