Recap:

"Since you pulled a very brave move there, I will give you an extra chance to kill Jeff," he muttered.

He shuffled towards you and slid the gun out of your hand. Without a second to spare, he shot the cannibal.

The clown yelled, "I'll fucking kill you if you ki-!"

Bang.

Smiley didn't break eye contact with you the whole time.

Jeff stood in fear.

-+-

"Good luck, (y/n)," Dr. Smiley said as he began to leave the room.

You and Jeff watched him as he slowly climbed up the old wooden steps and went through the creaky door at the top, succumb to the peace of his placebo home.

The basement was filled with death and silence as the air in the room became thicker. Every corner and edge of the torture box could smell and taste like the reaper.

Your blood was boiling in a freezer. Your mind was jumping off a cliff. Your heart was pounding in constraints.

Jeff stared at you.

"I'm so confused," he said. "I don't understand anything that's going on."

You replied, "I was in your exact place because of..."

You decided it would be best to not shame him on the topic. You looked down, afraid that the damage had already been done...

"Because of me," he mumbled.

...and it had.

Involved in a silent conversation, he hugged you. He ran his hand through your hair and tried to comfort you as best as he could.

"We're going to get through this together, right?" he asked.

"Mhm..." you sighed, pulling away from the reluctant embrace.

You felt so much pity for Jeff. You knew exactly what he was feeling and what thoughts were going on in his mind. Though you deemed it perfect payback for his actions, you didn't believe that other people should suffer from their mistakes.

His deepest intentions weren't to hurt you. If that was the case then his pure and natural mind would have already done so.

You still had an idea shoved into the back of your mind. You avoided it because of every reason you could think of. It was not another roulette you wanted to get stuck in. It was part of your trip to Hell, and you didn't want it to be the cause of your permanent reservation.

"I think I know what we need to do," you said.

Jeff smiled and said, "Throw it at me."

You took a deep breath.

You said, "We need to leave this house and wait for Smiley to shift to the defense."

Jeff nodded and asked, "What else?"

"If we can find that Blair girl, maybe we can-"

"Blair?" he questioned.

"Oh..." you sighed. "I forgot you didn't meet her."

"Is she another enemy?" he asked as his eyes lit up.

His pupils showed a fire. The orange flames contrasted with the blue crystal shine on his iris. That fire burned brighter and brighter until you were sure that his entire mind was filled with dark intent; he just didn't know it.

"She's the one that gave Smiley the opportunity to do this to you," you confessed.

"Well," Jeff said, "I can't wait to meet her."

"We can try to get her on our side," you said. "Maybe we can trick her or something. She is pretty young, after all."

Jeff's eyes scanned the room as he was thinking about something. Without any options to choose upon, he nodded slowly.

That was when that hidden, vile, deceitful idea popped back into your head.

Maybe Jeff didn't really lose his memories.

"We need to figure out how we're going to do this," you said, trying to get the topic off your mind. "We need to find out why Smiley is doing this. He wants us dead, yet he's helping us stay alive. Will he just let us leave?"

"Probably not," Jeff muttered. "He's only playing games with us. As long as we do what he says and things go his way, he's happy, but if we try to turn the table..."

He looked into your eyes and finished, "He might end the game early."

You nodded, accepting the fact. You finally understood.

Smiley wanted to play with you and Jeff. Call it childish, but he was bored. He needed amusement. But why was he helping you?

He knew you like a book.

You would be surprised if he didn't ever learn psychology. He had information about the human brain nailed to his forehead. Nothing you could do or say could trick him. He simply knew everything about you and your actions.

"Jeff, I... care about you," you lied.

"And I care about you too. I may not know much, but I promise I'll protect you," he replied.

You smiled and stepped closer to him.

"What... um..." he mumbled, eyeing away from you.

You stopped him by leaning in and connecting your lips to his.

He seemed taken aback by your action, but he gave in, and you felt his hands slowly raise to your back.

You pulled away and gave him another smile.

"We'll make it out alive," he said.

"We need to leave now then," you declared in response.

You quickly led him over to the stairs and ran up them. They made a creak at every step and you were scared that they might break.

Reaching the top, you swung open the door to the hallway.

It was dead.

You heard a ringing in your ear from the lack of matter in the house. Even the lights were stunned.

"Where is he?" Jeff whispered.

"I don't know," you whispered back.

You started to creep forward and look around. The doors on either side of the corridor were shut and locked. Only one was open, and it was so dark in the room it bordered that you refused to even lay your eyes near it.

You looked ahead and saw the living room coming into your range. It was dark as well, but a small, red nightlight was connected to the wall in the corner. It didn't do too much good at improving eyesight.

When you turned the corner into the kitchen, you finally spotted Dr. Smiley sitting at the table in the dark with his back turned to you.

Jeff pulled your arm back and whispered in your ear, "It's our perfect chance to escape."

You nodded as you started to turn around and head towards the front door.

"(y/n)," the doctor called.

You spun back around and quivered.

Smiley slowly turned in the chair like a screw. When his face was unhidden, you took a step away from him. He sat casually and faced you with a glorious smile.

"Before you leave," he smirked, "I want to play a game."

You looked at Jeff. You could tell that he wanted to take off and never come back.

You stepped towards the table and ignored your instincts.

"You'll be joining us too, Jeff. Right?" Smiley asked.

Jeff glared at the man and reluctantly took a step towards you after a moment.

Smiley smiled.

"Let's play some Russian Roulette."