Scene 3: Melodies of the Heart

“Now that I mentioned singing, do you sing?”

“Not a professional, but I do sing for fun like you.” //suddenly remembered something “Oh, what about karaoke? Do you want to sing with me?” //excited

“Sure, yeah! Let’s do it. We can do virtual karaoke.”

“Yes, wait up. Let me use this app.”

(Tap on her phone to open the karaoke app)

“Create an account here, then I’ll invite you to the karaoke room I created here in the app.”

“Alright,”//he agrees, “There, done.”

“Okay, select a song you want to sing. You can scroll through here on the right side or search the song directly in the search bar.”

“Copy that. Got my song.”

“Go on”

(He clears his throat)

//SE: background music playing Silhouette by KANA-BOON

//He sings Silhouette by KANA-BOON

//she claps her hands

//proud

“Amazing!”

//flustered

“Not really. You’re next!”

“I’ll sing this song. Here I go.”

//he claps his hands

//cheer

“Let’s go. Yeah!”

//SE: background music playing Kataomoi by Aimer

//She sings Kataomoi by Aimer

(She’s done singing)

“I’m done.”

//stutters

“O-Oh, yeah.” //claps his hands “Spectacular! You didn’t tell me you have a full of emotions singing voice, like you were giving me a warm embrace.”

//bashful

“You don’t have to mention it.” //giggles. “Besides, it’s not that I’m a professional singer. Your singing voice is good, too.”

“I hope I was your darling, haha!”

“…Geez. You really love joking around.”

“No, but that was half meant.”

“Okay…”//silence “So what song next?”

“We can choose a song and sing it together.”

“That’s a good idea.”

(He scrolls down to the songs in the karaoke app)

“Which song do you want here?”

“This one. Do you know that song?”

“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know the tune of it.”

“Okay, how about this?”

“Sorry, not that too…. Here, I know this singer.”

“Me too. Maybe you’re familiar with this song?”

“Yes. Let’s sing this one since it needs a boy and a girl singing together.”//he agrees “I’ll record this.”

//SE: background music playing Uchiagehanabi by DAOKO and Kenshi Yonezu

//she sings solo first

(They sing together)

//he sings solo

//they sing together

“La, la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la, la-la-la” //singing ended

(He ended the karaoke song and singing voice recording)

“That was awesome! We sounded like a real singing duet.” //happy

“I had so much fun.” //warm soft tone

“Same with me. Are you still up for more?”

(She checks her clock in her bedroom)

“It’s already late. We still have work tomorrow. I’m going to sleep now. How about you?”

“Likewise. Let’s meet again tomorrow or anytime you’re available. Good night.”

“Good night, too.”

“And sweet dreams” //whisper

“Mm” //closed-mouth nod

(She taps her disconnect the call button)

//SE: She put her smartphone on her bedside table

//SE: She put her blanket and pillow on her

//sigh

“May your dreams be sweet, too.” //mumble

***

//she yawns

//SE: dating app notification popped

//She taps the notification

(Read her dating app inbox)

(Tap the voice message the boy sent)

//enthusiastic

“Good morning, good morning, good morning to you! Sending good vibes for your day.”

//she smiles

(Tap the voice record button to start)

“Happy morning! I wish you a blessed day ahead. You can call me again tonight.”

(Tap the voice record button to end recording)

***

//boy’s voice message

“Good evening. Do you have any plans tonight? Could we play games? Can I call you?”

//girl’s voice message

“I’m free tonight. Please call me.”

//SE: Voice call ring tone

//SE: Tap answer button

“Hi. Which game were you referring to?”

“It’s a horror game with 8 players. Three of them are zombies disguised as regular people, and the other five are actual humans. If you’re a human, you have to accomplish some missions and survive. But if you’re a zombie, your job is to kill all the humans.”

“Sounds interesting to me.”

“You have your laptop with you, right?”

“Yes”

“Great. Download this game. I sent you the link.”

(He sent the game link)

(She downloaded the game)

“Okay, done.”

“Create an account, tell me your username, and then we’re good to go.”

(She created an account on that game)

(She sent her username to the boy)

“Alright, I added you. We’re all set. Now, I’ll select a lobby that we will play with the other 6 random people playing the game right now.”

“So, the zombies pretend as humans?”

“Yes, not until the lights are off. When there’s a designated time for killing, that’s the only time zombies can kill.”

“What are the missions aside from surviving?”

“We should finish tasks like, putting emergency lights ready before the lights go off so we can escape the first stage. Also, ready your weapons, and communicate with your fellow humans.”

“How would I know who the other zombies or humans are?” //curious

//he smirks

“That’s the tricky part. This is a game of deception. We need to figure it out by ourselves because some of us might be lying. But don’t worry, I’m here with you.” //silence for a moment “Here we go.”

//SE: Horror video game background music

“I’m a human. And you?” //he’s curious

“Same. How do I move myself?” //nervous

“Oh, click these buttons you can see on your screen. Then follow me to complete our mission.”

“Okay”

“Here. Take these weapons and tools with you.”

//SE: Gathering pistols, shield, flashlight in the game

//SE: Light off

“Ah!” //she screams

“It’s okay,” //calming her “I’m beside you. It’s now lights off. Prepare your tools with you, and let’s run discreetly towards the escape route.”

//SE: Eerie horror background music

//SE: A zombie disguised as a human behind them transforms from human to a zombie

“Whaaa!” //she shrieks

//SE: A zombie growls and chases them

“Let’s run!” //he shouted

//SE: 4 gunshots

(He shot the zombie four times)

“Where are you?!” //she panics

//SE: The zombie grunts and screams in pain

“Here, I’m running towards you. Behind you with the flashlight.”

//SE: 1 gunshot

(She shot the zombie once)

“Nice shot. Come on, let’s escape this place.”

“What about the zombie?”

“Don’t worry, you killed it.”

//SE: They both escaped the first stage successfully.

//thrilled

“You did it! Your gunshot killed the zombie.”

“But you shot it first.”

“Yes, but you helped me. Good job!” //praising her

“T-Thank you” //shy

//SE: Eerie horror background music

“Everyone, we killed the first zombie. This guy is the other zombie. He was about to attack us in the last stage, but we managed to escape first.” //the boy reports to his human teammates.

(The accused man opened his microphone for voice chat)

“What are you talking about? Do you have proof of it?!” //mad

“You were with us a while ago. And clearly, we’re both innocents. I almost died and she helped me to escape the last stage.”

“Aren’t you two more suspicious? Teaming up against me to set up a false statement? Guys, these two are liars. They are the two remaining zombies!” //the accused man declares

“No, we’re not” //defensive

“Hurry up, everyone! Let’s vote and kick them out of this game. They’re spoiling the fun out of this.” //rude

(The heroine opened her microphone for voice chat)

“He’s telling the truth. We’re both humans. I shot the first zombie a while ago. My partner was holding a flashlight at that time when I killed the zombie. Then we saw you in a zombie form running towards us, but we jumped to the escape chute. We witnessed you transforming back to being a human. You were the same man we saw with blonde hair. And the only blonde man here is you.”

“What?... No, that’s another lie!” //angry

(Others opened their microphone to speak too)

“That settles it. Let’s vote for the blonde guy”

“You’re out, man”

//the accused man is pissed off

“Don’t vote me! If you vote for me, you’ll regret it”

//SE: The accused man was eliminated in the game background music

“We did it.” //she’s happy

“And I’m proud of you.” //proud