A Story of A Mysterious Game and The Murdering Story - by Astrid

Chapter 1

A Story of A Mysterious Game and The Murdering Story

 “ 24 students from the First Middle School were lost during the last month,” the news reporter said. I was shocked. “The lost students all used an app called Model 2 according to their parents. Their lost may be related to this new app. Experts consider it a chain murder.” I turned off the TV. There wasn’t anything in my head for a few minutes. Minutes later, I was scared.

I was the user of this new app too. I have received a message last month that said I can own a special ability if I download this app. I was curious and downloaded it. I chose the ability of being able to hear what other people think. But I have to call them in order to hear. I called my desk mate and heard him thinking I was annoying. I tried to call other people and heard their thoughts too. In the following month, I tried this ability out on different people. Nothing weird seemed to happen. But when I heard the news, I realized something was wrong with this app. Maybe the murder used its special ability to kill people.

Next morning, when I went to school, there was a few students in the classroom. I reached in my pocket and got my phone. I looked around the classroom and saw four students. They were all using their phone. They are all Model 2 players. Athena had the ability of using other people’s voice to speak. But she had to record them before using. Brian could see what other people was doing if he took a photo of someone. Emma could predict the future according to the lyrics that appear on her phone. Alan could have the same power as his enemy had when he faced dangers. They were all my friends. But suddenly, we all heard noises from our phones. I took a look and it said : “ The hide-and-seek game will start in five minutes. Please find a place to hide. Please prepare to get lost.” I saw my friends frowning, looking frightened and confused. We stared at each other for a long time. “Ding! The game starts, now,” our phones called. Emma opened the cupboard’s doors and crawled in. Brian tried to break the window to get out of this place and get rid of this game, but he couldn’t break it. I tried to open the door, but, they were locked. Athena stayed behind Alan looking helpless and Alan was busy dragging this app into the bin to end this game but failed.

Then I heard footsteps coming toward the classroom. It unlocked the door. It was our class monitor, Helena, who was also a player and had the ability of photographing. She could use her phone to take pictures of people and control their action. She walked toward us looking calm and said : “ Are you in the game? I’m in it too.” We nodded confusedly. She continued : “ Do you know what does it mean? Well, when you are in a game, there are one hider and several finders. The hider has to find somewhere to hide and not be found. The finders have to find a hider. The hider will be lost if it is found. If the hider isn’t found, all the finders will be lost. So, from now on, we can be either enemies or friends.” With her eyes wide open, Athena asked : “ How do you know that? Have you attend this game for times? So if you have, you must have win those games.” Helena nodded. She then added : “ Don’t try to hide. If you try to hide, you are more likely to lose because a lot of people are players in our school and many of them have arrived, the game covers all the people, so there is only a few percent chance to be a hider. You had better think that you are a finder.”

I walked out of the classroom but was dragged in by Brian. He said : “ Watch out! There is a shadow on the floor of the corridor, it may be the murder who try to kill people.” I know he wasn’t kidding so I closed the door quietly. But the shadow crashed in and we heard a loud noise : “ I am very interested in you, you will die right now!”

Astrid

Chapter 2

A Strange Boy and The Story Behind This Game

(Following the first episode)

The door was opened, and a person appeared. We heard a loud laughing voice : “Ah, you are silly. Do you think you can still be safe if I am in the game?” I looked up and saw it was a boy from our neighbor class. He was Helena’s best friend. They knew each other when they were still pupils. I didn’t know his name, but I am sure he was Helena’s friend. I thought if he was Helena’s friend, why would he say things like this, was he our enemy? I heard Helena gaped. “ Hi, I am Ray,” the boy said, “ don’t worry, I’m not your enemy, well for most of you.” He pushed me to the side and walk into the classroom. He walked toward Helena, who was standing in the middle of the classroom at that moment. “ Hi,” he said. Helena frowned. Ray smiled and continued, “ You are the hider, my dear Helena.” He took out his phone and showed it to all of us. I saw there was everything about Helena on his screen, from birth date to hobby. It even shows what she did in the past with an accurate time. Ray took back his phone and move the screen upward. He then showed a detail to us. Yesterday, 15:08:45, Helena answered a call from a stranger. 15:10:02, Helena finished the call. 19:30:00, Helena went to the Xuan Wu Park. 19:34:56, Helena met the stranger who called her in the afternoon. The stranger wore a big mask. Here are their conversation :

Hi, Helena.

Hi... Who are you?

I am the inventor of this game.

Oh.

Is your new power great?

Yeah... You are not here to just talk about my new power, right?

You are smart. You can guess my option. OK,I need you to kill five students in your class.

Why?

Don’t ask me why. I won’t tell you. And you can’t own your power anymore if you don’t do what I say.

Alright. Who are they?

Here are their personal information.

How did you get these?

I’ve told you I am the inventor. I can do everything.

Athena, Alan, Astrid, Brian, Emma. Why...them? Why do I have to kill them?

Don’t ask me why. If you want to know, then I’ll tell you I want to kill them because I want to.

Oh. But how can I do this?

You know about the new game called Hide-and-Seek very well, aren’t you?

Yes.

Listen, tomorrow morning, you’re gonna send a message to other classmates except them to tell them they can go to school later. And you should come to school earlier and meet those five students. Then, send me a message to tell me if you are ready, I’ll start the game. In the game, you will be the hider. You should make sure that you will not be found. And the finders including those five students will vanish. Get it?

Oh, emmm, get it... Can I see your face?

No. No, you can’t. See you later

“Uhhh!” we all gasped. Emma asked : “ But how did you know this?” “ My power is to know everything a person I know does.” Ray smiled. He turned back to Helena raised his hand and slapped on her face. He barked : “ Now, everyone know your true face. Huh, you are my friend. I want you to be safe. But if you don’t vanish, all of us will disappear. And, you betrayed your friends. People like you should all disappear from this world.” Ray stepped forward, looking about to cry. He hugged Helena tightly. Helena showed a shock look and then cried. I heard her saying “sorry” quietly. I can’t see Ray’s face because his back faced us, but I heard him choking, “Goodbye, forever, my best friend.” Emma and Athena hold me tightly and cried. Brian put his arm around Alan’s shoulder. I touched my friends heads and stared at Helena and Ray. Ray finally dried his eyes and pushed Helena back. Helena nodded. Ray said quietly: “I’ve found you.” I saw Helena collapsed into feathers and flew into the air. I was shocked. Ray caught one feather and murmured: “Bless you,” and released it back to the air and watched it flew away. Ray turned back with his legs shaking. He tried to smile but it looked like he grinned. I let out my arms to grab him but I saw sorrow and refuse in his eyes. So I stepped forward to pick up Helena’s phone and handed it to Ray. I turned back, take my shocked friends and walked out. I said stopped at the door and said thank you. My friends followed.

That night, I was sitting on my sofa, watching TV. The news reporter said there was another student missed in our school. I sighed, reached my hand for my phone.

( To be continued )

Astrid

Chapter 3

A Call to Helena

I decide to use my power and phoned Ray.

Hi.

Hi.

Sad?

No. ( Ray )

I’m sad. ( Ray’s heart )

What are you doing?

Watching TV ( Ray )

Thinking about today’s game, strange. How did Helena disappear? What’s the game for? ( Ray’s heart )

Oh.

Hello? Astrid? As? Hello? ( Ray )

God! Where did Astrid go? I can’t hear anything. Is she in dangerous? I have to use my phone power to see what happened to her. ( Ray’s heart )

Oh, she is still in her room. And there seems to be nothing to worry about. 20:30:53, talking on the phone. So she is still on the phone. But why doesn’t she talk? ( Ray’s heart )

I heard what Ray was thinking and found that he didn’t notice that I was using my power to monitor him. Then, I heard Ray’s phone rang. He didn’t finish my call and answered the other call.

Hi.

Hi. Are you, Helena?

Yes. Yes, I am.

What!? Really? I, I think you vanished this morning!

Yes I did!

So, where are you now? Are you all right? I have to find you.

Shush! Don’t shout! Listen, I am in a laboratory. I am alright.

In a laboratory? Will they do experiments on you?

No. No, they won’t. I am with some other girls. We are safe right now.

OK. Take care. Remember to drink more water. It is a flu season right now. Oh, my mother is coming back. I have to go now. Bye!

Oh. Bye!

I thought about Helena’s words. She said she was in a laboratory. Her voice was shaking when she told Ray she was alright. I thought maybe she was lying. I decided to phone Helena and use my power to know what’s happening.

Hi, Helena.

Hi. Are you As? ( Helena )

What? As? How does she know I am still alive? Did Ray tell her?

Yes.

Wow.

Oh. That’s As. That’s really As.

Want to say something?

Emmm. Sorry. I betrayed you. ( Helena )

I did all those things because I am forced to do. I didn’t want to lose my power. If you let me choose for another time, I will still choose to kill you. ( Helena’s heart )

That’s OK. Where are you? In a laboratory, right?

How do you know? ( Helena )

Yeah, Ray told her. That’s for sure. But why did he tell her?

Guess. But first tell me, how’s your life now?

Good. ( Helena )

Ah, how can it be good? The scientist are going to do several experiments on us during the following week. This afternoon, when I was walking in the hall, I heard some scientists said that they are going to turn us into special weapons with more than one extra power. That’s terrible. And now we are tested and marked with colors like Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue. Red means the person is seriously dangerous. Orange means it is intelligent, brave and dangerous. Yellow means it is not so dangerous but can threaten others sometimes. Green means it is intelligent and nice. Blue is just nice and useless. I am a Yellow. All those Reds and Oranges and Yellows wear gloves and masks and we can’t go to everywhere. Life here is crazy.

Oh, alright. Then, Bye!

Bye.

I recorded what I heard and take down notes. It was so messy. I found some important and unbelievable clues. I turned off the TV, stand up and headed for my desk. But suddenly the phone rang. It was Brian. I didn’t use my power this time because I believe him.

Hey, As!

Hi, Brian.

I thought about this game and I want to share it with you.

Are you serious?

Yes. I think, those people who vanished weren’t dead. They are gathered together at somewhere. Maybe they work for the inventor of the game after being caught.

Uh, stop, I’ll tell you what happened. I phoned Helena just now and I turned on my special ability. I heard her thinking that she is in a laboratory at the moment and was treated badly. Those scientists planned to do experiments on her and turn her into a special weapon. They put different kinds of people into different groups and she was put into a dangerous one.

Wow! Hey! As, you remind me, I can find her photo and turn on my power. I can see from her side what she is doing and what is happening!

Go on Brian. You can tell us what happened next morning.

OK, see you As!

Bye!

I switched off my phone and layed down on my bed. I didn’t want to do my homework because they are not as important as the game. I couldn’t sleep, but I still didn’t want to do my homework. I kept thinking about the game. But I was too bored so I reached my phone. I switched on it and saw one message sent by Brian : As! It’s terrible! Help her, As!

Chapter 4

A Terrible Video

I was terrified but I still sent out a message to ask about Helena’s situation. Brian repeated with a video. The video was taken by Brian from his sight when he was monitoring Helena. In the video, I saw her wearing a white uniform and a pair of yellow gloves. On her back, there was a yellow mark. She stayed with other girls wearing the same clothes with the same marks on their backs. They were in a narrow corridor with glass walls. She was led to a glass door by a person dressing up like a soldier. The person pushed her into the room. In the room, there was a large screen and some robots. There were large physical equipment at the back of this room. A person wearing a long white coat and a mask that covered half of her face.

Sit down, my dear.

......

Don’t be afraid, Helena. By the way, I am Dr. Susi, nice to meet you!

......

Now please look at the screen, I’ll show you a video in a minute.

Then, the screen played a video about different powers we got from the app. The video sorted them into different kinds.

I heard a weak and shaking voice : “ That’s all?”

Yeah. Do you want to know more about your special power?

......

Yes, of course you do. Accept all the experiments and trainings you should have, then you will be a successful app user.

OK.

That’s a good girl.

Then a door in the back wall opened. The woman put a bracelet around Helena’s wrist and told her to go through the door. My sight moved forward as she moved into the room. There was nothing in the second room. The door shut behind her but the woman didn’t follow. Suddenly, a ray of light appeared form her bracelet. It then became a screen. The woman talked to Helena through the screen.

Through your former test, I can see that you are yellow. That means you are not useless, at least. My duty is to teach you how to fight. You should use your power to fight against your enemies. Your power is Photographing. This means you can take a photo of your enemy and you can control them. But there is a time limit. The more people you control, the less time you can control them. You can also take a photo of someplace and you can go back to that place at anytime anywhere. Now, use your power to fight with another child. You should kill him if you win. If you lose, you will be killed. OK?

The door at the end of this room was opened. A boy walked in. He looked frightened and stopped in front of the door. He looked like he wanted to escape, but the door at his side shut. There was a voice that shouted : “ Start, now!” The two person stared at each other for a second, but the Helena’s bracelet shouted : “ Go! Kill him!” She then dashed forward toward the boy. She reached out her fists to attack the boy. But the boy reached out his right leg and kicked her away. She flew across the room, showing an shocked expression. He looked shocked too. The boy stopped for a while but went toward Helena. He hit her hard on her head from the left, and she was knocked down. She raised her hands and held his left leg. She pulled hard and he slipped. Helena got up and stepped on the boy’s stomach. The boy looked hurt and grab her arms and throw her onto the floor. He crawled on the floor but stood up a minute later. He walked to her and slapped on her face. He then stepped on her stomach and hit her head hard. He continued to hit her. Helena lied on the floor but couldn’t do anything. Then, the bracelet shouted : “ Use your power! Quick!” Helena reached out for her phone, and took a photo of the boy just when he reached out his fist to hit her head. She stood up, with her legs shaking. She reached her arms and grab his neck. Her arms were shaking, but she kept pinching his neck. After about a minute, the boy fell down. Helena fell over, too. I saw the woman came in with some men. The men put the boy into a large black sack and dragged him out of the room. The woman helped Helena get up.

Congratulations! You win! You can go back to your room and rest now. Don’t be surprised if you find half of the girls in your group disappear. Tomorrow 7:00 a.m., there will be a lesson about fighting at close quarters. Do come. And tomorrow this time, you will have another fight. Next time will be much harder.

Oh. Ma’am, what should I do for the rest of today.

Well, just rest. Tomorrow, the lesson will end at 11:00 and our training will begin at 13:00 and end at 15:00. From 15:00 to 17:00 is the game time. You can practice fighting with your groupmates. But make sure there will be no injury. From 19:00 to 21:00 there will be a lesson that teach you about your power. You will have lessons with girls who have similar power to you. Here is your time table.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
7:00~ 11:00	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson
11:00~ 13:00	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
13:00~ 15:00	Test	Test	Test	Test	Test	Test	Test
15:00~ 17:00	Game	Game	Game	Game	Game	Game	Game
17:00~ 19:00	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
19:00~ 21:00	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson	Lesson
21:00~	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free

Uh, thank you Ma’am.

Any questions?

No.

OK, Bye!

Bye.

The video was over. I felt terrible. It was so hard for students like Helena to get used to those terrible classes, trainings and games. I wanted to puke after I saw how they fought. I sent a message to Brian.

/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~

(*ﾟДﾟ*) 

Terrible! I’m about to puke!

Uh, As, R U OK?

Yeah.......Can I send it to Athena, Alan and Emma?

Sure. Go on.

Hope they won’t feel like to puke!

彡(-_-;)彡

I sent them to my friends immediately. I couldn’t sleep anymore, so I got up. It was only 20:00 and the night was not dark at all with a full moon. I reached my phone, got dressed and went out.

( to be continued )

Astrid

Chapter 5

The First Battle

That night had a bright and golden full moon and rays of silver light slipped from the sky on to the road. I lived in the city center. Along the road, there are plenty grocery stores and supermarkets. The road was still staffed with people and cars even though it was 20:10 at night. Athena’s home was about one kilometer away from mine and we lived on the same street. I entered her housing estate and called her. She came down and led me to her house.

Hi, As!

Hi!

What’s up?

Close the doors, windows and curtains.

Eh, OK.

Turn on the lights.

So what’s happening?

Athena, fetch your phone. I sent you a video by QQ just now.

Athena opened the video and watched. She said nothing but I saw terror in her eyes. She finished watching the video and fell onto my leaps. I patted her slowly but then I heard our phones ringing. She got up and we checked. It was a message form the app. The message was from a person who called himself the inventor. It said: “I know you are monitoring my whole plan. And I want to mention, your Brian is caught. Go to the Central Park if you don’t want to lose him.”

I saw Athena frowning. Tears was rolling in her eyes. Her body was shaking. I hugged her and told her to calm down. I thought it may be the person’s chick. Maybe Brian was alright. I phoned Brian. No one answered the call. I could only hear the sound “Doo”. I heard Athena burst out crying. I sighed and phoned Alan and Emma. They told me that they received the message from the person too, and were about to call me and Athena. I told them to come to the cafe near the park and wait for us. I turned back to Athena and told her to get dressed. Two minutes later, we were on our way to the café. We didn’t talked on our way. Athena just walked in front of me. I couldn’t see her face, but a can know that it was pale.

We went into the café fifteen minutes later. Alan and Emma were already there. We sat down to discuss the message. But our phone ranged at the same time. It was another message form the person. “Come here before 20:30, or your Brian will be killed.” I sweated. It was 20:20, there was a few time left. We even didn’t have the time to discuss our plan. We received another message from him. It was a map. It told where they were. I stood up and said: “Let’s go.” “But,” “Shut up Emma! We have to go! Brian himself and his power are both important to us. We have to save him.” They followed. We hurried to the park and found Brian. He was tied on a broken street lamp in a dark and wet corner of two old buildings. Athena ran to untie him, but was pulled away by me. Then we heard two hands clapping. A man wearing a black jumper and a black mask appeared from the dark.

“Welcome.” The man said.

Alan shouted : “Stand back!”

“Al! Shut up!” Emma whispered.

“I know that your power aren’t useful when fighting with another person. Except for that little boy. Your name is Alan. You can own the same power and weapon as your enemy does when you are in danger, right? You can be a great threat to me. How about killing you first?”

The man reached out a gun and pointed at Alan. Alan used his power and got a gun. He pointed it to the men. The man smiled but quickly turned to Emma and shot. “Emma!” I shouted and pushed her away. Then my wrist hurt a little. I looked down and saw a tiny needle stuck into my skin instead of a bullet.

“As!”

“It is the medical that can make you weak.” The men laughed. “You’ll feel dizzy and weak in three minutes.”

“What a...” Alan burst out shouting.

I felt uncomfortable in a few seconds. I clutched my fists tightly to keep my head clear. I walked closer to the man. Alan followed with the gun in his hands. Emma stood closer too. Alan shot at the man from the right. The man tried to hide but I dashed from his back and hit him with my whole strength on his back. He fell down facing the ground. I stepped on his back and made him stay there. He grinned and reached his hand in his pocket to fetch his phone. Alan spied his action and shot onto his arm. The man dropped his phone accidently. I hit on his back for another few times and Alan picked up his phone and went to untie Brian. The man grinned again and something shiny and sharp flew from his left hand. “Watch out, As!” Emma shouted and quickly picked up a red block and threw at the me. I stood backward and saw the red block dropped onto the man’s back. On the block was a silver knife. I picked up the block and got the knife out. I dig it into the man’s shoulder. Blood splashed from the cut and flew onto my face. “Unacceptable!” I growled, “Who sent you here?” “Ha,” “Tell me!” I took out the knife and more blood splashed onto my face. The man howled and said : “There is no way to let you know this!” I was about to cut the knife into his another shoulder when suddenly my head was hit by something and I fell down. “Ray!” I heard Alan, Emma and Athena shouting. “Surprise!” “What are you doing here?” “It’s simple. They told me if I help them to kill all of you, then Helena can be sent back to my side. I got Brian out and that man tied him up and sent messages to you.” “Idiot!” I heard Athena shouting. “Don’t move! Athena!” Alan shouted. But Athena ran forward quickly toward Ray but was knocked down easily. Alan shouted : “Emma! Athena! Get Brian and go! Now!” I saw Athena got up and ran to untie Brian together with Brian. Ray shot at Emma and Athena from the back and they fell down. “What are you doing to them?” I heard Alan cried. “Don’t worry, they will just be quiet for an hour.” Then I saw Alan running and they began fighting with each other.

I tried to get up but that man got up earlier and picked up the knife on the ground and raised it high. He seemed like he was about to kill me. I quickly kicked the part between his two legs. The man dropped the knife and lied on the ground with pain. I cut into his heart immediately. Then I felt painful on my right arm. It was a bullet. A real one. “NOOOO!!!!!!!! As!!!” “I didn’t want to kill you before. I just want them to handle you. But since you killed that man, then, you are done for. Without him, I can’t get Helena back.” “Boom!” I heard the sound of a gun. “Oh, no. I hope it was not Alan, dead.” I got up holding my arm. I found a hand in front of me. “Are you OK?” I found it was Alan. “Thanks goodness! You are still alive!” I grabbed his hand and stood up. “Sorry, As. I didn’t protect you.” “That’s OK.” We saw the man and Ray, already dead. A second later, there remains vanished. “Shall we call the police?” “No. The police are nuts. They can do nothing.” “Yeah, anyway, I’ll call the ambulance. At least the doctors are a little wiser than us at curing patients!”

Alan called the ambulance. They arrived five minutes later and took us to the nearest hospital. The doctors said we are alright. Brian, Athena and Emma just need to rest for three days before going back to school. They say I am very lucky. The bullet only hurt a little part of my muscle. They did a small operation on me that night and told me to come back to the hospital after a week.

( To be continued )

Astrid