The end game《Yizhan version》

《Chapter 23》

24-12-2021

"I want to protect you with the rest of my life, just like those stars that illuminate your path . . .

Never extinguishing, not even in the darkest of the nights . . ."

***

Xiao Zhan's POV

"Where is Jiyang?" I looked at everyone, and they all shrugged, so I nervously took a bite of my bread.

I noticed that everyone had dark circled beneath their eyes except Lily, who either really had a way of sleeping or was good at concealing it, and I believed it was a bit of both.

"He's probably still asleep; I think we're all tired of this madness here," Lily said, and Li Bowen and Lulu both nodded.

"But Jiyang never has skipped breakfast before, though," Xuan Lu mumbled, sipping her orange juice.

"For everything is a first time," Lily said, continuing to stuff her mouth full with food.

"Aren't you going to eat, Xiao Zhan?" Li Bowen looked at me as I picked up my bread, nibbling it.

A silence fell.

"Perhaps we could look at the room after breakfast?" I looked at Xuan Lu's way, my hand instinctively going up to the key that didn't hang around my neck anymore.

My heart missed a beat when I remembered it was inside my pocket, and I quickly fished it out, placing it on the table.

"But we do have to wake up, Jiyang." The others nodded in agreement to my words as we continued eating, and in the reflection of the window, I saw Yibo.

He was leaning against the wall of the kitchen, staring right back at me through the reflection, and I couldn't help but feel all my blood rush towards my cheeks.

When everyone finished their breakfast, we headed upstairs towards Jiyang's room.

I was the one who knocked, but there came no reaction, so I knocked a second time, a little louder, yet again was I met with silence.

I frowned, turning around to look at the others, and Lily was the one stepping forwards without hesitation, grabbing the door handle, pushing it down, revealing that the door hadn't gotten locked.

The room was dark.

We all stepped inside, and a scream got again heard.

But this time, I wasn't shocked by it; I got used to these fearful screams as I stared at the lifeless body of Jiyang lying on the ground, in the middle of his own room.

The curtains were closed, and there was no visible fight in the room, nor any bloodstains.

Xuan Lu rushed out of the room, her shoulder bumping against mine as I heard a sigh next to me, seeing Lily staring down at Jiyang.

I don't know what happened, but my legs felt weak as if made from jelly, and I fell to the ground, close to Jiyang.

Carefully, almost as if I was afraid that he would break, I took his hand into mine, placing my fingers against his wrist.

There was no pulse.

I refused to believe it, placing my fingers beneath his nose, and neither did I feel any breath there.

As a resort of last hope, I placed my hand on his heart, but nothing either.

The realization hit hard, like a brick, that the cheerful cute boy I had met the first day was now dead.

And I felt my blood run cold at that moment.

"Zhan," Li Bowen whispered, desperation seeping through his voice as he pulled me up, and I gave in, unable to say or do anything else.

My mind was blank.

The cheerful boy was now gone.

"I'll head off to my room," Lily said, and her words cut like a knife through my heart because they were emotionless.

As if nothing of this scene did her anything.

But she was wrong.

Jiyang wasn't the murderer.

He fell a victim.

And if only I-

I could feel the sadness spreading through my chest, the amount of dead I had seen-

Shaking the thought away, I tried to reassure myself, breathing in and out steadily as pain burnt inside my chest like wildfire.

"Can the two of you please leave the room?" I turned around, facing Yibo as I finally connected to his feelings for the first time since I arrived here.

The amount of death he had seen left him cold at this point, and it started to happen to me as well; slowly, I felt a wall of ice build around my heart, closing me in, and all I was able to do was stare out of the ice, feeling nothing.

I looked at Li Bowen, who held his head low, waiting for me as I looked back at Jiyang's lifeless body.

His necklace was visible, the one he received from his sister, Song Daiyu.

Once again, I crouched down, getting closer to Jiyang's neck as I made the necklace loose and took it off, clenching it in my hands.

When I stood up, I looked at Yibo, who averted my eyes, and I looked back at Jiyang one last time before turning to Li Bowen; he gave me a tiny nod, leaving the room.

And I walked towards the door too, but couldn't help but glance one last time at Jiyang before walking out of the room, my shoulder brushing Yibo's.

While I was walking through the corridor, every step felt heavy and tiresome, and the hallways felt endless as the fact wouldn't leave me that I suspected Jiyang, who now was dead.

The guilt ate me from the inside out.

Now, only the four of us were left.

Lily, Xuan Lu, Li Bowen, and I.

I opened my door.

We arrived with eight, and only four were left by now.

I slammed the door close behind me.

One among us was the killer.

I locked my door.

Someone was going to be the next victim.

I placed the necklace down on my bedside table, staring at it before I threw off my shoes, flopping down on my bed as I used my hand to grab the huge plushie bunny that had been sitting on the chair next to my bed, cuddling it.

"Who were I before the world told me who to be, bunny?" I felt the need to cry, the tears were burning on the edge of the back of my eyes, but they didn't flow; somehow, they got stuck somewhere.

And I hugged the plushie tightly, burying my face into it, hiding my tears that now flowed like a river.

Word count: 1090 words