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DAY 3 (II)

DECEMBER 30
2:30AM

"The swimming pool…?"

Confusion hits the room. Why would they all need to go to the swimming pool?

"How do they know we have a swimming pool, Stephanie?" Kor asks, not suspicious of Stephanie, but the texter themself.

C.E silently stares at Stephanie.

"Why are you asking me!?" Stephanie barks back, stressed from everything that was happening. She realizes how harsh she sounded, and soon apologized.

"Sorry… I.. don't know the answer myself. Maybe Caleb and Julissa was right, maybe there is a killer among us."

It's too quiet to even describe. There was zero whispering, just silent thoughts. Were they really right? After all, their numerous proof does make sense. But why would they do that? And why did they choose them?

No one dares to reply but Jae.

"That's dumb. You know how close we are, and you know how we all got each other's back, you know-"

"But… what if they're all faking it?" A voice cuts in.

"-You know that we all know each other, and-"

"We know each other? WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER!?" The words echoed, spat out with pure bitterness. "How is there a WE when you guys don't even know that there is ME!"

"What… are you saying…?"

"You don't even remember me… don't you?" 

Her words shot their hearts like bullets. Bitter, bitter truth. The girl stayed shaking, her voice about to break. But she managed to speak up. She managed to reveal herself. "You guys once called me Elo."

C.e took a while to grasp the situation. The poor girl in front of them was one of their members. Some of them knew, some of them didn't. The whole group thought to themselves. Some people recognized her from the start, when she first spoke from the group chat, but a few of them didn't notice at all. Nevertheless, they all were guilty for mistakenly ignoring Elo.

"It's okay… no one remembers me anyways…" she says, trying to reassure herself. "...but, can't you guys at least notice me for once?"

A small part of C.E's group members felt the same way. Hearts heavy, they felt as if this girl Elo was speaking for them.

"Because I also care about them just as you guys! But you guys never pay attention to ME! You guys never pay attention to my suggestions!"

"It's like I'm not here… I'm not even loved…"

"Elo, you are loved." Gwen says.

"NO! That's what you all say, but look at us! Are we all loved when we're blaming each other?"

"Are we all loved when we're throwing each other away?"

"Elo I…" Gwen was speechless.

"Elo, please listen."

Elo spares Chereen a moment of speech. "You do know that caring and loving someone isn't all about physical affection, right?"

"Elo, you may not know me well, but I do know that you are loved. It may not seem like it cause we're so busy at times, or we are too distracted by other people speaking, but Elo, I assure you that you are loved."

Elo softens for a while, but then bfkdjd "Lies. Fake people only love you if your needed, but I'm not, so prove it."

Bella frowned, disagreeing with Elo's statement. "That's where you're wrong. Everyone here is important and real, okay? If your statement was true, then all the fake people here would love you nevertheless. Because no matter what, you are important to this group. You are a part of us, and you are a member, someone we care for. It's just that, you cant expect everyone to wholeheartedly love you when there's 20+ of us..."