I wandered up and down the halls, looking for someone to hang out with. There was a lot of time to kill before nighttime, and the best thing I could possibly do in this weird situation is bond with my classmates. I wandered into the cafeteria and came across Terra sitting at a table, having a cup of tea.

"Hey Mike!" she waved to me. I waved back and walked towards her. "Wanna make a snack with me real quick?"

"Sure," I nodded. Terra got up and we walked towards the kitchen. The fully stocked pantry and fridge led to many possible options for a snack, but we decided on baking biscuits using the premade dough, since neither of us had much cooking experience. Terra and I bonded during the experience.

"Hey Terra," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the capsule filled with scrunchies. "I got these from the vending machine earlier today. Do you want them?" Her eyes lit up with joy as she viewed the color-filled capsule.

"Oh-em-gee Mike! These are amazing!" she gushed, stringing the scrunchies onto her wrist. "This reminds me of when I could only afford to make scrunchies with the scraps from my old clothes."

"Oh." I looked down at my shoes. I never realized Terra struggles with money. Her outfits were made by her, a designer brand, and she always seemed so put together in the magazines.

"Yeah. I started selling things I made on e-bay so my family could get by when my mom lost her job." Terra's normally bubbly demeanor slightly fell away as she spoke that sentence, rising back up to her normal happiness in the next words she spoke. "But eventually people started sponsoring me to make stuff for them when they saw my work! And before you know it, I was on the cover of magazines!"

"That's incredible," I said, awed at Terra's talent. She smiled at me, and we both left the cafeteria together and headed towards our rooms. The nighttime announcement would play soon, and I wanted to get a shower in before going to bed.

I slipped my Electro-ID out of my card and unlocked my dorm room. Inside was a simple bed, a desk with a couple drawers, a dresser, and a door to the side that opened up to a toilet bathroom with a sink and a shower.

Stripping down, I stepped inside the shower and let the hot water roll down my back. This was such a strange situation. I was locked in this school with fifteen - no, now fourteen other students, and we were all expected to murder each other?? The absurdity of it all was almost funny, and I pondered the situation as I wrapped myself in a clean towel.

Inside the dresser was two matching pairs of blue flannel pajama pants and two black t-shirts. I slipped on the outfit, taking note of the fact that there were also five identical copies of the outfit I was wearing today hanging there. "Weird," I muttered to myself.

"Ding dong bing bong!" I jumped as the giant monitor above my bed flickered off. Carl sat there, glass in hand as if drinking something. "It is now 10 pm! Nighttime is now in effect! And as promised, a new motive is also in effect! Check your motive tan to see what it is!"

Scrambling out of bed, I jumped over to my dirty clothes as a ping sounded from inside my pants pocket. I fished my Electro-ID out of my pocket and opened it up, sliding it to the motives tab. Inside it was a video, only 2 minutes long. I hesitantly hovered my finger over the play button before hitting it, wondering what could possibly be there that could make us want to kill complete strangers.

My mother and father were both sitting on our couch, waving to me. "We're so proud of you Mike!" my mother said, grinning from ear to ear.

"We know you worked so hard to get into such a prestigious school!" My father was beaming with pride. Static played on the screen as screams came from the speakers, then the video cut out, revealing a ripped couch stained with blood. I gasped, tears forming in my eyes as Carl's voice cut in.

"Want to find out what happened next? The answer is simple - commit murder and get away with it! Ukukukukukukuku!" The video cut to black, leaving me staring at my horrified reflection in the blank screen.

Something terrible could have happened to my parents, something absolutely gruesome, and the only way to find out is to commit murder? I climbed back into bed, my body shaking, as I curled myself into a ball and tried to fall asleep. The gruesome blood-stained couch was ingrained into my mind, and eventually I fell into a restless sleep.

Author's Note: hey guys! I've decided to rewrite this book because my original writing from three years ago is absolutely terrible, and half of it makes no sense! Please enjoy, and vote if you like it! Thank you for reading :)