Photographic Memory

In My Arms

"Please...!" He begged. His hands held the cheeks as he kissed the cold, lifeless lips. "Please! Come back to me!"

He rested his head on the embalmed body's chest. There was no heartbeat, no warmth, no breathing, no nothing.

Aesop was aware of the rules. He knew his coffin only worked with survivors placed on chairs or inside cocoons. But what else was he supposed to do? By the time he would have arrived to prevent death, it would have already happened. The least he could do was try to revert it.

A while passed before he realized it was merely a false expectation. The tears stopped streaming down his face. His arms wrapped around the body. He wouldn't leave until he was dead as well for his mistake.

The sirens sounded at that point, signaling the survivours could open the gates as soon as they wanted to. But Aesop didn't want that. He didn't feel like he deserved to survive this game. Nor life. Death never scared him and now it seemed to be his only way to run away from his sorrow. He failed to save the one he loved. The hug only tightened as his heartbeat warned him of a hunter nearby. At least it's going to be over soon, he thought.

The embalmer moved his face to look behind him without taking his arms off his work. There was no one there. Yet his heart kept telling him otherwise. There should be a hunter near me...

He heard a gasp, a cough, a cry for air. When he turned his head back again, Joseph fell out of the coffin and into his arms, clinging on him like he was his only source of life.

Before the photographer could process what was going on, Aesop yanked him by his wrist and ran towards the exit.

"Where the hell is Joseph?!! What did you do to him?!!" Michiko screamed off her lungs as soon as Yidhra returned to the manor.

"What are you talking about?" The witch looked frightened by the look on the geisha's face.

"Oh, don't you dare play innocent, I was spectating you!!" Michiko's makeup was fading due to her tears.

Luckily, Fan Wujiu was there to prevent another murder attempt. He held Michiko's shoulder to comfort her. "Don't worry. He's at the survivors' manor right now."

"H-how do you know...?"

"I was spectating Aesop."

It took her some time to piece together what she had heard. The woman couldn't avoid the urge to hug her friend. "Thank God..." She broke down in tears.

"That doesn't give me a reason not to kill you right here right now, though." The man stared into Yidhra's eyes.

"What do you mean?! What is happening?!"

"You tried to kill him just because he was in love with a survivor!" He distanced himself from the geisha. "Yet you pretended to be happy for him! You disgust me!"

"I did what?!"

"Listen here, you...!" Just when Black was approaching her, Michiko held his arm.

"Something is wrong here." She said as she cleaned her tears, smudging even more of her makeup.

"Why would I do such a thing?!" Yidhra felt astonished and offended by her colleagues' accusations.

All of them proceded to cool their nerves. After a short break to control themselves, they were back to talking again.

"Look..." The witch composed herself. "Joseph isn't the only one who is in love with a survivor."

Fan froze, looking at her suspiciously. "You mean you...?"

"No! No, no! N-not me!" She stuttered. "I am just saying if I didn't kill him for that, why would I try to kill Joseph?!" She tried to make her point, punching some sense into her teammates' heads. Did they really believe she was that cruel?

"Oh, it's a him?" The Wu Chang brothers switched places, giving Xie Bi'an the chance to talk. "Of course it is." White was way ahead on solving the case.

"Who are we talking about? Joker?" Michiko asked, still breathing unevenly.

"No. I mean, maybe, if he is really in love with the forward."

"Ok, be it!" The geisha ended the conversation. "Do you think the Host made you do this...?"

"Do I think? I am sure! We need to be careful, they're more powerful than what we imagined."

Michiko looked down at the floor, in panic. The person in power of this game was planning to steal her best friend's life and taking advantage of others to do the dirty work. And there was nothing she could do. Her overprotectiveness had caused enough misery, but without it, in a moment like this, she was afraid she would never see Joseph alive again.

She drowned into Yidhra's arms. Her hiccups echoed through the room. "I'm sorry. I should have known it was the Host messing with you..."

"It's alright." She comforted her by caressing her cheeks. "I can't even imagine how traumatizing it was for you, seeing it all happen... How could I lose control over a follower like that?"

"It wasn't your fault... Now I know." Michiko whispered.

Wu Chang stood further away, smiling at the scene.

Xie later looked at them as if they had said the stupidest of things. "Are you dumb? She was talking about Jack."