EIGHT HOURS ━ STRAY KIDS

HOUR THREE.

A bang. Clanking metal. A shout.

Chan felt his soul leave his body. He knew who it was. When the lights flickered back on, he wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Jisung had a knife shoved into his stomach, piercing him into the wall behind him. His eyes were wide with shock and his veins bulged around his neck, almost like the murderer nearly let him go. But they didn't, and now Jisung was gone.

A bloody four was carved into his forehead.

Chan's fingers twitched. He turned to Changbin, eyes wide. A single tear ran down Changbin's cheek, but he wiped it away and swallowed.

"We need to leave. Now." Chan spoke. "We can't lose anyone else."

Hyunjin stood, approaching Jisung's body. He placed his hand on Jisung's cheek, swallowing a regretful sob. He pulled away and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "You're right. Let's go."

——

The four boys made their way down the hallway tensely.

Chan reached over to lace his fingers with Changbin, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. Chan knew how close Changbin and Jisung had been; he could only imagine how he felt.

Changbin gave him a teary smile.

"Guys, let's stop for a minute," Hyunjin spoke up. "We should talk about this."

They all nodded, choosing a random door and pushing it open. They stood in a circle.

"So..." Changbin began. "What do we know?"

"We know that there are or there will be eight bodies in this house by the end of the night," Hyunjin responded. "And we know we have something to do with them."

"You're quite knowledgeable about this situation, aren't you?" Minho spat. "What do you know?"

"You know, you're quick to accuse for someone who's been so quiet this whole time." Hyunjin snarkily responded. "Why were you staring at Jisung right before he died?"

Minho opened his mouth to respond, but Changbin interrupted him before he could. "Accusing each other isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's focus on getting out of here."

"What if it is one of us, though?" Hyunjin questioned.

"Why are you so convinced it's one of us, Hyunjin?" Minho snarkily asked. "You aren't exactly past questioning either."

"Seungmin was my best friend, Minho. Why would I kill him?" Hyunjin asked. "That makes no sense."

"We're all best friends, Hyunjin. Why would any of us kill each other?"

"We wouldn't." Chan interceded. "So let's get back to the topic at hand, okay? What do we do?"

"We could try and figure out who's going to get killed next." Changbin offered.

"Or we could leave and forget about all of this." Minho spat, staring at his shoes. 

"Do you think that'll save us? From a murderer?" Hyunjin rolled his eyes. "We need to prevent the death to make it out of here."

"And how do you propose doing that?"

"We're dying according to age, Minho. It really isn't that hard to figure out."

"Well excuse me-"

"Guys!" Changbin interrupted again. "I know we're all tense-"

"Understatement of the century," Hyunjin muttered. 

"-But arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. Do you want to die?"

Hyunjin and Minho remained silent. 

Changbin clicked his tongue. "That's what I thought."