jk

DAY 3 (I)

DECEMBER 30
1:34 AM

They didn't know how to react. Eyes wide, everyone had thought of the worst of what could happen.

"No," Ruby whispered. "You're joking, right? You need to be joking." While Ruby tries to convince herself, the rest of the group was in denial. They suffered a great amount of grief when they first heard of Naomi's disappearance, but Caleb..? It only adds more and more. None of them we're in the right mind to even call the authorities, too scared that they'll lose each other.

"What-what do you mean he's gone? He can't disappear like that-no he can't." Bella runs out of breath, as her face turns pale and her mind all over the place. She grips the edges of the bed, trying to have a sense of stability.

"I," Dawn almost lost herself, she had ran too fast. Her poor heart was not ready for the sudden change of action. "I tried knocking, but no one answered. I called out his name a few times and there was still no answer. I opened the door and no one was there. The room was clean, as if nothing had happened. I tried looking everywhere for him, I really did!"

Mia was seated near her desk, burying her head in her arms. She didn't make a sound, so no one knew if she was actually crying.

"I'm so... so scared." Mumbled words shakily comes out of each other's mouths, no one knows what to do.

Half of the group was a crying mess, the other half? They couldn't even react, given that they denied the information they just received.

🤡

The rest of the group was silent. No coughing, no comments, just nothing. The sound of the air conditioner was also mute, letting the air be filled with a gloomy atmosphere. It was already past midnight, and became a new day; a miserable day.

The terrible, sinking feeling was even worse.

Worried, Jae reached out to the doorknob, until Vivi calls her name.

"Jae, don't."

Jae's hands hesitates. "But-"

"It's dangerous out there. You never know what could happen. You wanna get killed too?"

On the inside, Jae's mind was screaming with so much thoughts, it starts to cloud her vision. Before she can even try to wipe her tears away, she lets go of the doorknob.

"..."

There was nothing coming out of her mouth, but she still stood there, her head facing the door.

"Vivi, you know we can't do anything else but sit here if you don't let us do something!" Vivi shoots Gwen a glare.

Gwen unconsciously flinched and took a step back, after realizing the daggers that vivi has in her eyes. Vivi saw this, and massages her temple once she knew the outcome of her tone.

"Look, sorry, okay? I'm just... scared of what will happen to us. We can't let anyone else just disappear like Caleb and Naomi did."

"I understand, all we need is to trust each other, and we'll be okay." Gwen pats Vivi in the shoulder, reassuring her of the situation.

"That isn't entirely true."

They look for the owner of the voice.

"And why do you think so, Julissa?" Jae questioned the girl.

"Because what if one of us was the killer?" Julissa still says stood her ground, stepping further away from the group of friends that she grew up with. "Take Gwen for example."

"Huh? Me?"

"She was the one that suggested us to go outside and separate into groups to look for Caleb and Naomi. Maybe, she already has a plan to do something with the people who strayed too far." All eyes were focused on Gwen.

"I would never do such a thing! I only wanted for us to find Naomi and Caleb as soon as possible!" Gwen defended herself. "Look at Axella! She hasn't uttered a single word. Maybe she's the one planning something behind our backs." Everyone looks at Axella. "She's being extremely quiet."

"Yeah. Why am I extremely quiet?" Axella asks herself, staring into space.

Gwen blinks. "Yeah, nevermind. I don't think Axella is the suspect anymore..."

"Come to think of it, Dawn might be behind all this." Jinhan said, earning curiosity from the rest. "She was the one who told us about Naomi, she was the one that realizes her disappearance first."

"That's only because she's right next to me! It's only natural that I tell you guys what the situation is." Dawn was taken aback at the sudden blame. "How about Caleb? I wasn't the cause of that one either!"

"But you were the one that went to his room the last.You even told us he was gone!"

"That was because he is gone! I didn't do anything to him!" Dawn raises the tone of her voice, but quickly stayed silent afterwards.

"That's it. I'm calling the police." Kor whips out her phone and dials a number. To their surprise, the signal wasn't working. "What the hell..? It was working a few minutes ago... "

"This is outrageous." Chereen sighed. The group was out of breath, and out of strength. They stood quiet and rested, but the suspense of suspecting each other didn't end.

Until, a ring was heard.

j.k: ᏔᎬ ᎻᎪᏙᎬ Ꭺ ᏩᏆFᎢ FᎾᎡ YᎾᏌ!

Stephanie holds her phone in horror, shaking.

"Stephanie, what happened?"

j.k: ᏩᎾ ᏟᎻᎬᏟK ᎢᎻᎬ ᏚᏔᏆᎷᎷᏆNᏩ ᏢᎾᎾᏞ.