Game Over

“Fuck… I forgot for a second about that! It’s a ghost room!” I thought as I darted around to see if anything had changed, worried that something could fall onto me or Atsuko without my noticing.

But nothing had changed. The plain walls were still empty, the same for the floor and the ceiling. Nothing was there, and nothing happened.

I sighed in relief but at the same time released my grip on Hayate, who seized the opportunity to push me hard enough to extricate himself from beneath me. Before I could react, he was already behind Atsuko, his hands on her head, holding it firmly.

She swallowed and tried to scream before Hayate placed one of his hands over her mouth to prevent her from doing so.

“What… are you doing, Hayate?!” I said, still on my knees on the floor.

“If you don’t do as I say, I’m going to break her neck,” he said, trying to catch his breath, “and without her curse to save her… so follow my orders.”

“Are you trying to buy more time with threats? What exactly are you planning?”

“The doll should have told me. It should have told me more about you. I thought I knew your secrets, but I was wrong. My initial plan to kill you fell through, but it's okay, I always have backup plans. Fuck this doll. It always does everything in its own interest. Nothing’s ever right with it,” he said as he spat on the ground in anger.

I hesitated for a few second, but seeing Atsuko’s terrified face made me realize I didn’t have time. Think fast. Act fast. That’s what I had to do.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked as I stared straight in his eyes with resolve, making sure he didn’t notice that I was picking up the screwdriver from the floor and slipping it into my pocket.

“Good, good! Obeying is the best thing you can do right now. Now, stand up.” I obeyed. “And now, break your own curse so I can kill you…”

“Are you serious? That’s all you want?” I replied, concerned.

“Oh, it’s not the only thing. If you do it, I can certainly consider releasing Atsuko and removing her curse,” he proposed as he tightened his grip around her head.

“I can’t do that, Hayate,” I said desperately.

“Oh, so you want this?” He began to twist Atsuko’s head slowly while muffling her screams.

“Wait!” I shouted, making him stop with a satisfied look on his face. “I can’t do it, not only because I have no power over this curse, but because I can no longer trust you at all. I'm sure that as soon as Atsuko is free from the curse, you'll kill her once and for all. And with everything you've done, you're no longer my friend… I can't forgive you for getting your hands so dirty and for killing the person I care about most.”

“Like I’d care. Just do as I said and shut the fuck up. Atsuko’s neck is fragile. A single and sharp twist and she’s dead. It’s not like her curse is difficult to break either. Everything’s a matter of seconds, and you can’t fight against time you don’t have to prevent all this from happening!”

I looked at the ground and put my hand in my pocket, feeling the screwdriver’s handle with my fingertips, hesitating. Yes or no. To do it or not to do it. What was the right choice?

“Let me ask you something first, Hayate. You want time, so be it. I’ll give you the time you want by answering my question. Do you regret even a little what you did?” I asked, stabbing him with my determined gaze.

“Absolutely not! Do you really think I would regret after how far I’ve gone? I wouldn’t even have started anything if I regretted even a bit,” he laughed.

“I therefore conclude that this ultimatum won’t work and that you’ll remain entrenched in your position... Very well, if that's what you want.”

I gripped the handle of the screwdriver and readied it in my hand, careful still for Hayate not to suspect a thing. I had a knot in my stomach, a lump in my throat. Doubt was overtaking me.

“But kill again… I don’t really like it… For Leo, I had no problem—he was a hideous person… but right now… Hayate… am I really able to do it?”

“Well, it’s finally ready. Let’s see if this can kill you, if I can’t do it by my own strength and will,” he shouted as he grabbed a small remote control with a single button that seemed to be hanging behind the back of the chair to which Atsuko was strapped.

“What is that supposed—”

He pressed the button before I could even finish. Small sections of the walls retracted, and pipes began to appear, releasing a white gas into the room—one that couldn’t be vented elsewhere.

I began coughing from the gas, and I knew something was wrong with it. I pulled the screwdriver out of my pocket and looked at Atsuko. I didn’t know what to do. I expected her to panic and cry for my help, but she didn’t. She looked at me, calmer than before, and her eyes spoke for her. I had no determination to kill and put an end to Hayate’s life, but I knew I had to do it, that it was the only way to free us from all of this.

Her gaze was confident and told me more than my brain could explain—my body felt it all. She was giving me the courage to act, telling me I could do it. Everything would be okay. We would bear the weight of this act together, and no one else would know. I could act. I had to act, here and now. The most important thing was not to cling to the image of someone who was no longer the person I knew. We both nodded, as if we had silently reached an agreement.

I coughed more and more, and so did Atsuko. Whatever that gas was, it was attacking me from the inside, if I stayed in that room a few more minutes, the damage would be irreversible. It didn’t really hurt yet, but I knew the pain would come—something in the way that gas felt as I breathed told me so.

Hayate coughed too, but he couldn’t stop laughing at the sight of my face contorting under the violence of my coughing.

“So you want to kill yourself at the same time?!”

“Dying?” he laughed. “You’ll be dead before I breathe my last. It won't kill me.”

I sealed my mouth shut and held my breath to avoid inhaling the gas. I restrained my coughing as much as I could to steady my body. If I moved too slowly, Hayate would see me coming and break Atsuko’s neck. I had to kill him faster than that.

I grabbed the metal part of the screwdriver and readied my arm to throw it in his direction. I took a second to aim, then threw it straight at his face. He didn’t have time to dodge, nor did he see it coming.

“No regrets, Hayate.”

The screwdriver pierced his eye in a horrible explosion of blood, cutting his laughter short. Hayate released Atsuko’s head and tried to grab the weapon to pull it out, but the blood loss, the wound, and the strange gas made him lose his balance. He fell forward against the back of the chair, the impact driving the screwdriver even deeper into his head before he collapsed onto the floor, a large pool of blood spreading from his body.

He wasn’t moving anymore. He was dead. And even if he wasn’t, it was only a matter of time—either from blood loss or the gas.

But I had no time to think about it. My lungs felt like they were being crushed inside my chest. I rushed to Atsuko and, using my teeth and what strength I had left, freed her from her bindings as quickly as I could.

She still had enough strength to stand, so I showed her the door and handed her my backpack, which I had picked up from the floor. I sent her outside while I quickly checked Hayate’s body. From his pants pocket, I pulled out a notebook, which I kept in my hand as I rushed to the door that Atsuko had opened before closing it behind me.

Our first instinct was to breathe. We inhaled deeply, filling our lungs with the air of the medical center—air free of the gas—as if trying to cleanse ourselves.

“I feel much better now… This gas must have needed more time to fully affect our bodies. I’m glad we got out in time and won’t have to deal with it again,” I said, taking another deep breath.

“Oh, Ryota… thank you… I never thought we could get out of here…” Atsuko said softly.

We turned to each other, and as we did, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. The door had disappeared.

“No sign. No proof. Just… the end of this…” I whispered.

We both laughed at this, as it was just too absurd and insignificant compared to what we had just lived. The adrenaline was going down. We were releasing it all through our laughter.

Atsuko threw herself into my arms and hugged me tightly—so tightly that I knew she didn’t want to leave my side ever again, nor did I. I responded with the same intensity, and we both looked at each other tenderly.

Still, we couldn’t restrain our tears anymore, and we let them flow. We let the other receive our sadness, and we bore the weight together.

“You’ll have to tell me everything, okay Ryota?” she asked gently.

“No more lies, I promise. I’ll have to go through this… no—we’ll go through this together. We’ll have something else to do too, but I have high hopes for that notebook to be our savior,” I said while showing the notebook I had recovered from Hayate's body.

I suddenly hear noise coming not so far away, from the same corridor we were in.

“Oh, I forgot about the staff! Quick, we have to hide!” I whispered as we both hid in one of the large clothes bin near us.

We laughed quietly, clinging to each other, trying to change our minds, trying to reassure each other that it was now over, that we could finally breathe without fear. It was our way to cope after all that.

I wouldn’t have exchanged this contact with her for anything in this world. This feeling where we were finally together for good, without anything left to make us suffer, felt like home.

“I love you, Atsuko…” I said as I kissed her forehead.

“I love you too, Ryota…” she said tenderly, leaning her head against my shoulder.

“Let’s get out of here as soon as we can. It’s time to live again!”