Scarper House

4•10 - Goodbye

10 - Goodbye

"Wow, this batch is really really fast, huh? It's been only four hours since the first kill, do you know? It's not even midnight yet."

The voice kept on blabbing about the time but all that stuck in my mind is that we saw six deaths in the last four hours. I delayed my punishment for 12 years and the consequence was losing five friends within just 240 minutes.

"And here we already are... at the final round."

Saint, Wren, Chad, and I looked at each other upon hearing that. What does final round mean? Do we lose another person and the rest goes home? Do we all go home if we complete some task? Or do we all just die?

"Players, go back inside the house."

We didn't hesitate anymore. I mean, what for? It's not like we have a choice in this place. Whether we follow the rules or break them, we'll die either way.

"You see, what Justin didn't know is that I actually let the two winning players to come out of my house alive," kuwento pa ng boses habang naglalakad kami papasok sa parehong hallway na nilabasan namin. "He really thought you're all gonna die. He even went out first."

That answered our previous questions and made us look at each other again. The new question is which two?

Hindi na ako makikipagtalo. Isa ako sa dalawang mamamatay. Kung puwede ngang isa lang, ako na lang. Pero kanina pa madaya ang laro at alam naming lahat na kapag sinabing dalawa ang mamamatay, dalawa ang mamamatay. Tanggap ko nang ako ang isa.

Ako dapat ang isa.

We finally reached the end of the hallway but it didn't take us back to the room with the popcorn machine. It was another room, with two doors in front of us.

"Alright, I need two teams."

Two teams. Teams. The winning team must be the two persons who get out. So the person who would be in a team with me... dies with me.

I looked at Saint but he wasn't looking at me. I wanted to call his name but it seemed like my lips were frozen. I'm not even sure if I want him to be in my team. I don't want him to die. But then it's obvious that Chad and Wren would go together. And I don't want either of them to die too.

"Tol." Nagulat pa ako nang magsalita si Saint. Hindi pa rin siya sa 'kin nakatingin, kung hindi sa best friend niya.

"Oks," simpleng sabi naman ni Chad. Tinignan ko si Wren at halatang nalilito rin siya.

"B-Bakit? Anong oks?" tanong ni Wren.

"Mahal, kami na lang muna ni Santo ang magka-team."

"Huh?"

I quickly turned to Saint and, that time, he's looking at me.

"Kailangan n'yong manalo," sabi niya at naintindihan ko agad ang gusto nilang mangyari ni Chad.

"No!" Umiling ako. "If there's someone here who deserves to die, that's me. I don't care what the voice says but this time, three people are coming out of this house. You're all going to exit this house and continue your life."

Umiiyak nanaman ako matapos kong sabihin 'yon—siguro, dahil alam kong hindi naman n'on mababago ang isip nila. Lumapit sa 'kin si Saint at pinahiran ang mga luha ko gamit ang mga daliri niya. Nagtaka pa ako nang mapatitig siya sa pisngi ko, muntik ko nang makalimutan na may malalim na hiwa ako ro'n.