Number 7

Darkness.

How long was he enveloped in that darkness?

He did not know.

It felt like an eternity, as if the clock continued to tick yet never stopped.

There was no ending. No goal. Nothing.

Just the continuous flow of time.

However this flow of time eventually ended as the crimson sky greeted Gordon.

'Huh?'

Strange.

It was strange.

What had happened?

Looking around, Gordon noticed that the three boys - who had fallen into the dirt before him - were also slowly getting up.

'The sky is red...'

'Nobody is around...'

'Is it already... tomorrow?'

It had been late at night when Gordon fell asleep.

Now the sun was setting, which meant that an entire day must have passed.

'What is going on!? I fell asleep? For an entire day?'

Confusion enveloped Gordon’s mind.

How could he have slept for an entire day?

Would there not have been somebody - anybody - who noticed him?

Even if he was in this back corner of the school, surely there would have been somebody who at some point had noticed.

'Did they... see... and didn't try to help me?'

Closing his eyes, the boy frowned as he came to such a conclusion.

'I suppose... that's about right. After all... why would they help someone like me?'

'It would only mean that they would be the one in my position.'

'But wait.'

Something was wrong.

"What the hell just happened!?"

"Did you do something, snotnose!?"

Why were those three right in front of him as if they had been laying on the ground all the while?

Gordon watched as the three jerked to their feet, confusion filling their expressions.

However, that confusion soon turned to anger.

"What the hell is going on!? I fell asleep? How did that happen?"

"This... this is strange...."

"Hey... something isn't right here."

The two lackeys seemed to be backing away, however as they looked around, both of them were met with a glare.

"Hey. You two. Do you call yourselves men?"

Speaking to them with authority, the prettyboy looked at them with a disgusted glare.

"Ah... of course, Arnold!"

"This is nothing. Sure, something strange may be going on... but it must have been some sort of trick! Like a hallucination or-"

"Then what the hell are you getting cold feet for?"

With a grin, Arnold turned back to face Gordon, approaching the boy who was still tied up.

However as he approached the boy, looking him up and down, he realized something.

'His body...'

'No... not just his body...'

'The building... the sidewalk... the yard... everything around us looks dead.... yet his body alone...'

Thinning his eyes, Arnold grabbed Gordon by the chin.

"Hey. What the hell is going on? Why don't you have any bruises anymore?"

As he was grabbed however, the weakened ropes which tied up Gordon snapped, causing the boy to fall to the dirt.

"Ugh! Cough... cough..."

Spitting out the dirt as he ate it, the boy was met with yet another foot on the back of his head.

"Hey. I was talking to you, snotnose. Why are you just sitting there like a deer in front of headlights? Don't you have an answer for me?"

"I... don't know."

Whispering so weakly that he could barely even hear himself, the boy spoke up in response.

"Hah? Speak the fuck up."

Placing his ear right next to the boy's mouth as he spoke in a mocking tone, Arnold listened with a grin.

"What was that?"

"I... don't know!!"

As he began to cry once again, the boy shouted out in agony.

What was going on, he didn't know.

The entire situation was off.

The very world seemed to have stopped, and everything around him had become strangely... discolored.

"I don't know what the hell is going on!! I'm just as clueless as you are!!"

"Hey."

Grabbing the boy by his throat, Arnold lifted Gordon up once again, prepared to give him another beating.

"Did you just say that I was clueless?"

Glaring directly into the eyes of Gordon with a fierce expression, the boy who was held in the air felt sweat roll down his neck as he looked down on the beast before him.

Yet it was in that moment as Arnold bared his teeth at the boy with rage that a sinister voice spoke up, halting all four of the boys in their tracks as it spoke from behind.

"Well you are, aren't you?"

The chaotic voice of a young girl resounded in the minds of the four.

----

A chill went down the spine of Arnold at that moment.

Completely and utterly... absent.

There was not even a sound, nor any motion in his peripheral vision.

Yet somehow, the voice of a young girl spoke from directly behind him.

Letting go of Gordon, who fell to the ground while grabbing his throat, Arnold snapped around.

There was a young girl.

Standing there.

Right behind him.

Somehow she had snuck up behind him without even making the slightest noise.

However as he looked down on this girl, something stopped him from moving.

She was... beyond strange.

Her skin was a pale blue color, far too pale to be healthy.

Her eyes were filled with emptiness, and the playful smile which painted her expression was... off putting.

She wore a sundress, and she folded her arms behind her back as she spoke quietly - yet without hesitation.

There were bandages wrapped around her stomach, and she looked up to Arnold without taking her eyes off him as she walked around him in a playful manner.

"You're completely and utterly clueless. Isn't that right?"

The way she spoke, the way she casually walked around him, Arnold was completely at a loss.

'What... is this girl?'

She walked up to the boy who was crying on the ground, and she held out her hand to him.

"Hey. You're all dirty. Are you ok, mister?"

The boy looked up to her, wiping his tears.

"Who... are you?"

"Hey. Who the hell do you think you are to interrupt Arnold like that?"

"That's right. This isn't a place for little girls to frolic around. Go back to the elementary school where you belong, or you'll regret coming to this-"

An instant.

A single moment.

Barely even a second.

It was so quick that it almost escaped Arnold's eyes, but after blinking once, he slowly came to realize what he just saw.

The girl had reached to her side.

She had pulled a knife out of somewhere.

No... not just somewhere.

She pulled it out, hidden in between the bandages which wrapped themselves around her stomach.

And in doing so, she had sliced the very bandages which were wrapped around her.

And then, in that second, her hand moved faster than lightning as it sliced straight through the necks of the two.

As if time was moving in slow motion, Arnold watched as the bandages around her waist slowly dropped to the ground alongside the heads of the two boys.

Blood splattered everywhere, and it was then that he realized it.

This girl's dress was... covered. In blood.

And her stomach had three gaping, dripping.. holes in it.

At that moment, Arnold felt his heart stop.

He couldn't move.

He was completely frozen.

And then, her eyes met him.

"Hey... did you know?"

Walking up to the prettyboy, the girl tilted her head as she twiddled with the bloodied knife in her hands, licking her lips in satisfaction.

"When an underaged boy tries to harm an underaged girl... he is tried as a child. Even if he was way older."

Then he felt it.

The cold blade was brought to his neck as the girl looked up to him, madness filling her eyes.

"Those two boys tried to attack me... but that was because they thought I was just a weak little girl. But wouldn't that mean..."

Flicking the knife around, the girl seemed to wrap herself around the prettyboy so that she was now behind him.

"That they were trying to harm someone who couldn't possibly fight back?"

Shivers were sent down his spine.

Everything in his very being told him to get away from this girl.

Girl?

No.

This was no girl.

This thing was a monster.

"Ah... but weren't you doing the same thing to that boy there?"

And then, she laughed.

"Hehehe.... ehehe...."

Her laughter suffocated him, causing Arnold to halt his breathing for a moment as the high pitched laughter iced over his mind.

"Hey, let's play a game! I just thought of one!"

Pulling away from him, the girl danced around playfully as she happily skipped over to a nearby picnic table.

Sitting down, she smiled as she looked at the prettyboy, tapping the seat in front of her.

"Come sit down! I wanna show you this game that I just thought up!"

Looking at the girl, Arnold had no idea what to do.

"I... have no reason to play along-"

"Ah. I see. You don't want to play with me?"

Standing up with dead eyes, the girl walked up to the boy, whose heart began to shrivel up as the sense of danger flared off in his mind.

"Then I suppose-"

"Wait. I'll play."

Breathing heavily, Arnold agreed to the girl's request, at which her playful smile immediately returned.

"You will!? Great! Come on then!"

'Why did I say that?'

'Why did I accept that?'

As he walked over to the table, Arnold wondered these things to himself.

'How could I just go along with this?'

'She's a little girl.'

'Even if she just... even if she...'

Looking over to the headless bodies of his fallen comrades, it finally hit him.

'What would she have done if I didn't say that?'

They were dead.

'Oh my goodness...'

At that moment, he knew.

'I should run.'

'I should leave snotnose... to deal with this girl.'

However even as he thought these things, his body sat down before the girl.

'What am I doing?'

He faced the girl now, sitting across from her as she looked at him with a childish insanity.

'Why... can't I get up?'

Fear.

This was the reason why his body moved, despite his mind telling it to do otherwise.

'Why... am I going along with this?'

"So in this game... we both put our hands forward."

Placing her pale hand on the table, Arnold took a good look at it.

It was almost transparent.

It was a greyish blue, and he could see the veins right through it.

"You too. Come on now."

Slowly, Arnold placed his trembling hand on the table as well.

"I'll let you have the first turn."

Then, with her arm that was not on the table, she handed over the knife.

Looking at the boy with a smile, the girl grinned.

"We're going to cut each other's fingers off. And the first person to cry... loses."

----

Insanity.

Complete and utter insanity.

This was the only explanation for the actions of the girl who handed Arnold this knife.

She had lost her mind.

However as he was overloaded by the situation which rapidly unfolded, Arnold too felt his mind deteriorate.

The girl had holes in her stomach.

Her organs were punctured. Her intestines were on show. Blood covered the girl.

And yet, here she was, sitting in front of him, smiling.

'What... is this?'

"Hey... are you going to take your turn already?"

With an excited smile, the girl looked at Arnold as she held her hand on the table.

"If you're not going to go first... then maybe I should? If you can make me cry... then you'll win, you know."

'If I...'

'Can make her cry?'

Looking at the girl, the eyes of Arnold widened.

Veins drew themselves across his expression, and he looked at the girl with complete shock.

'If I... can make her cry... then this will stop.'

"Hey. You won't dodge, right?"

In an instant, he accepted it.

Not a second of hesitation overcame the boy.

Without a second thought, he decided to attack.

"I won't dodge. After all... that would be CHEATING. Right?"

"You promise... you absolutely won't dodge?"

"Mhm!"

"And if I make you cry... you won't get a turn?"

"Yep! That's how the game works! The first person to cry loses. No matter what. And no matter who goes first."

It was then that a wicked grin wrapped itself around Arnold's face.

"Heh."

"I see."

Then, thinning his eyes in delight, he pulled his hand back.

Then, thrusting the knife forth, he aimed at the girl.

However not at her hand.

But rather, straight at her brain.

"Die then."

Squish!

"WHA!?"

Gordon shouted out as he watched Arnold stab the girl directly into her brain.

"You.... you..."

Looking up, he could barely even bring himself to breathe correctly as he watched yet another murder take place before him.

"You just killed... a little girl.... Arnold..."

Letting go of the knife, Arnold stood up, looking up with a smile.

Arnold giggled, before it turned into a crazed laugh.

“What are you talking about, snotnose!! Look at that thing!! Look at those two who it killed in that instant! No matter what you say - that thing is a monster!"

Arnold began to laugh with a grand smile, justifying his own actions as he too fell into his own madness.

"You're wrong... you're wrong!! You just murdered-"

"Hey. Why did you get up? The game isn't over."

Turning her head, which had a knife sticking out from the spot between her eyes, the girl looked directly at Arnold, who froze in his laughter as his eyes slowly made their way towards the girl.

"I didn't cry, right?"

Taking the blade from her head, which now had a hole in it, the girl smiled as the blood trickled down her face, forming a line that split it in two.

"Then... it's my turn."

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