F O U R T E E N
Let's Play A Game

"SO WHAT NOW?" Cassiel asked, eyeing the frozen body of water in front of us.

We were finally out in the freezing open air, with wintry winds blowing at us from every single direction. As the frost nipped at my skin, I automatically curled my sweater closer towards my body, attempting to preserve as much heat as humanly possible.

There were three boats out in the open, two normal fishing boats and a single yacht that was frozen mid-rock from the waves, as if the winter had abruptly attacked the waters, causing such a reaction. Though the two fishing boats were nearer to the dock, the yacht was situated just slightly away, only accessible if we went over the ice. The writing on the side of the yacht placed a scowl on my face as I assessed the damage done to it.

Of course, of all the rich folk in town, of all the yachts that could possibly be stuck on the dock, it just had to be the one that belonged to my family. I cringed a little when I thought about how bloodstained and destroyed the inside of the yacht probably was.

It had taken a great deal for us to reach here. After Death's attack in the corridors, my legs felt weak and without a single ounce of strength. It had taken Cassiel a few minutes before he realized. At that point, he turned back, wordlessly pulling my arm over his shoulders before hoisting me up onto his back so that he could piggyback me towards the docks.

Cassiel walked down the hallways with great ease, even while carrying me on his back. He navigated his way through the many corridors as if he had the entire place memorized in his heart like the back of his hand. I did not know if he was moving on just pure instincts or that he seemed to know the place a little better than I did. All the while, I was examining the white pistol with heightened interest. There was a little indent by the handle, probably damaged when I had dropped to the ground while wrestling one of Death's projections. We eventually reached within a few mere minutes. After that, he dropped me back down to my, thankfully, now-working feet.

"We cross," I grumbled with fierce determination, placing a foot on the ice as I heard it crackle lightly from my weight. "Goodness me, I'm not that heavy, am I?"

"No actually." Cassiel's voice had the hint of a smile, but I had not looked back to confirm that assumption. "You were actually quite light. Easy to carry. Are you sure you're eating properly?"

"It's time to which you ought to learn never to criticize a girl's weight, Cassiel."

Cursing under my breath, I prayed for the best before placing my other foot forward, and when the crack of the ice became visible, I took a deep breath before I muttered a prayer.

My prayers, as usual, were not heard.

The ice started to split from under pressure, collapsing beneath my feet as I let out a yelp, racing across the ice as best as I could without slipping before leaping onto the yacht, landing with a loud thud. The distance was not that big of a deal, probably attainable with a great mighty leap, even. But my little decision to play safe and run on the ice had turned out to be not too safe anymore. With the layer of ice gone, Cassiel was still on deck, his eyes wide with shock as he glanced at me right after eyeing the ice.

"You alright?"

"Bit of a nasty shock but I'm okay. A little bit of ice isn't going to kill me." I nodded.

"Okay. Stand back, then. I'm coming over."

"No!" My eyes widened as I eyed the freezing waters, shaking my head slightly. "It's too dangerous. The deck is slippery and you might slip and hit your head if you were to land improperly. Just stay where you are and just guard the place, keep an eye out for the four horsemen. I'll be out soon, no worries."

With a small but sure nod coming from the brown-haired man, I turned away and began to venture my way into the familiar ship. Through the summer holidays, my family would too often bring me for a nice boating journey. And because of that tradition that happened every year, this yacht had become a second home to me. To think that places such as this were not even safe made my gut flip as fear began to flood my nerves.

I had left the gun with Cassiel, to allow him to fend himself against any possible oncoming danger. That decision left me defenseless if I were to be attacked onboard. How absolutely wonderful. To die in my own property on my own birthday.

Oh, the cinematics.

As I stepped into the luxury yacht, an immediate stink of copper and rusting metal filled my senses as I scrunched my nose in disgust. Someone had died in here, and it wasn't pretty if it were to correspond with what I was smelling.

True enough, further into the yacht, the kitchens and lounge area was bathed in a sea of red. Blood doused the walls like paint, covering every inch of the once prestigious place. Bodies laid everywhere, both men and women as they stared blankly at the ceiling with their eyes glazed over.

I resisted a gag, placing the back of my hand against my lips as I continued on. As I walked past, I noticed that some of the victims had their throats slashed, many different cuts all over their body left to bleed out. Violent red lines that split the blood vessels adorned their skin and allowed blood to quite literally spill out like a stream of red. Others had their entire head sliced clean off, leaving a stump of a neck and quite no other half to complete the body with. The sight was gruesome, and after crossing the estimated amount of twenty bodies, I could barely even glance back before taking a turn up to my usual room in the yacht.

Might as well start somewhere, right?

The stairs that led to the second floor were, too, painted with the blood of multiple victims. Although the number of bodies that were strewn across the ground was not as much as back in the main social rooms, there was still a handful of victims that laid with their eyes glossed over. When I had reached the second floor where the bedrooms were situated, a single body was laid across the couch that was overlooking the frozen body of water.

There was an eerie glow to the moonlight, its rays unforgiving and menacing as it shone through the windows of the yacht. There was a certain cold to the world, the freezing temperatures affecting even my blood as my breath turned to one of mist.

When I was just about to walk past the couches to push the door open, a single cold hand reached out to grab my wrist, eliciting a shocked scream from me as I turned to my attacker. The woman that had been lying on the couch was still alive, her clothes drenched with blood as cuts tattooed nearly every inch of her skin. Her grip on my wrist was tight, hence disabling me from struggling away as I attempted to yank my hand out of her grip.

With a sharp tug, the unnamed woman pulled me towards her face, her lips just inches away from my ears. It was then she whispered a set of words that I did not and would not believe in.

"Death is benevolent," she said before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her hand went limp.

Immediately, as her last breath left her body, her fingers loosened their grip around my wrist as I wriggled free from her grip. Where she had grabbed me, the flesh around it was tinted a sharp contrasting scarlet that was an entire color scheme away from the hue of my skin. Her blood was stamped onto my wrist, the outlines of her palm and fingers could still be seen under the moonlight.

I rubbed the blood off my hands and onto my jeans with a whimper, scurrying away towards the direction of my room as fast as I could. When I had turned back, I could still see the whites of the woman's eyes, gleaming under the ethereal light of the moon.

Raising my hand to push the door to my room open, I noticed that my bracelet's thirteen diamonds were not gleaming as brightly as before. In fact, only eleven of the previous number was still clear and bright. One of them was a blood crimson red, while the other was a pale yellowish green that resembled the color of my skin.

Frowning, I paid no attention to the bracelet, and instead allowed my eyes to travel over and examine the time instead.

4:33

Time was ticking by faster than I had expected, and all of a sudden that 48 hours seemed a little too little for my liking. And yet, in what position was I allowed to complain? If all of this is real, and I don't wake up realizing it was all just actually a horrible gruesome nightmare, it would mean that I brought all of this death to the people here. Death was after me, his main idea is to get to me and I wonder, at times like this, if I hadn't shown up, would he still be on his killing spree?

Maybe he would, and maybe he wouldn't. But whatever the case, the past cannot be changed. A single pebble in the stream of the past, a single curve of the sand could easily alter the course of the present. The alternate reality could always be worse than my current predicament, and I'm not quite sure if I would be willing to give up what I know for an unsure future.

The doors to my room creaked open slowly as I peered in, noticing that the room was bathed in darkness. Frowning, I stepped in, only to have the door slam from behind me, the click of the lock signaling that I had indeed just walked into a trap.

Jerking the handle, I slammed the door with my body weight, but only to elicit a small cry as my shoulder began to bruise. Both panic and pain flooded me as I grew desperate, the darkness of the room quite literally touching the edges of my soul as fear took the place of blood in my veins. I let out an annoyed curse before kicking at the door again, only to receive the same forceful impact on my foot. The door did not even budge. This was not like the rickety old boathouse. I had forgotten that I was in the bedroom of an expensive private yacht instead of a wooden boathouse that was built hundreds of years ago.

"Why are you hurting yourself like this, Andy?"

A single voice froze my movements, my jaw dropping slightly from shock as my eyes were still met with darkness. I could not see who I was trapped with, but the nagging feeling at the back of my mind had a clue and let me just say that the answer was not a pretty and favorable one.

I turned around, eyes scanning through the dark. I could feel my heart beating in incredible speeds, pounding against my ribcage so painfully that it just screamed to be free.

"Who's there?" I asked stupidly into the dark, pressing myself against the door as best as I could. Though I could not see a figure, I still was able to picture the sinister smile of the spirit of death.

"Come on, Addison. Don't hurt my feelings like that. I know that you know who I am. Let's play a mini-game, shall we?"

And with that, the lights violently flickered on as I widened my eyes in shock, taking in a sharp breath of air as my surroundings changed. I wasn't on the yacht anymore, oh no. But instead, the place in which I was standing smack dab in the middle of was a carnival fair.

A fair in which the only ones at the event were creepy animal mascots and killer clowns.

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