At the Brink of Insanity

Chapter 4: First real death

Dante got up from the couch and walked towards the wall. He touched the wall with his right hand, tracing the letters with his fingers as if the wall would crumble if he pressed them harder on the brick surface. He looked at his fingertips and found fresh blood on them. There was no doubt the letters were written not so while ago, maybe even a few seconds ago.

With his back towards his friends, a grin played on his lips. He wasn't happy, he was delighted. While many would find their situation tragic, he found it amusing. Out of the group, he was interested the most about the mystery that played in front of their eyes. He wanted to know the answer to it, wanted to know the truth behind it.

William got him out of his reverie with a tap on the shoulder. "Are you grinning?" Dante's smile quickly fell. He denied the answer and turned towards his friends, who were glaring at their leader.

"The blood's fresh. Since it barely started coagulating, I'd say it was written few minutes ago." said Dante, calm as always, as if nothing happened.

"Is this another game to you?!" Shouted Sam, furious. "Is this another fucking game to you, Dante?!"

"No." Said the leader. He wasn't up for an argument, because if he starts expressing his opinions, most of his classmates will gang up on him with their arguments, which would result in separation in two or more groups. Or to put it simply, stakes of deaths would increase tremendously.

"Chill, Sam, you know he's always like that, death situation or not." defended William. 

He is Dante's best friend and he's quite aware of the fact that his friend's a bit psychotic. William didn't know if he should blame it on depression from which Dante suffered, his disease or just Dante's different view on everything. The only thing he hated about it was the fact Dante's psychosis would show its true colors at the worst time.

"If you guys start fighting now, there is more chance someone will die." reasoned Kim. She knew fighting would amount to nothing, and the worst thing they could do now is separate from each other.

As a class they never fought, but now, when their lives are at stakes, the balance they acquired through these three years is shifting. Everyone's starting to be more cautious, ready to act if they have to. Maybe they haven't realized it yet, but soon enough, they'll be more than willing to kill their classmates, if it meant their own survival.

"Let's see what we do know about this death situation we found ourselves in." said Greg, his calm and common sense slowly returning, even though barely.

"One person will die every day." spoke Sam, deciding that analyzing their situation is the best way to keep them occupied from the argument at the moment.

"For the last fifteen years, every student was murdered." added Laura, while taking notes on a piece of paper.

"Exorcism and stuff like that, don't work." contributed David.

"There were no survivors." said Natalia. "Which makes our chances really slim."

That was mostly it. That was all they really knew about their class. They would hear only stories how someone died from other students in the school, not some facts which could help them. If they don't come up with something, they're at the dead end. Literally.

There was no way to know who dies first and who dies last. There was never an alphabetical order in which other "D" class students died. They don't know why their class is cursed. They don't know if there's someone, some mythical higher being controlling their deaths, playing with their lives as if they were pieces of some board game. In actuality, there was never really a chance for them, not in the slightest. And yet, they're still trying to figure things out.