*CHAPTER 24 - THE END OF AHMET*

*CHAPTER 24 - THE END OF AHMET*
One hour before now.
The basement door creaked open.
It smelled like mold and wet concrete.
Gizem was in front. Her hand wasn't shaking, but her knuckles were white. The tip of the kitchen knife she held wasn't against Ahmet's neck. It was one centimeter above his artery. As if one sneeze would cut it.
Buğra was behind. He had tied Ahmet's arms behind his back and was almost dragging him. Ahmet's feet barely touched the ground. His eyes were closed.
The basement was pitch black. It swallowed the light.
"Ready?" Beyza whispered.
Six phones lit up at once. Six white lights.
And right in front of them, it was standing.
It looked like Ahmet. But it wasn't him. Its arms stretched down to its knees, its joints bent backwards. It had no face. Just smooth skin.
The class froze. One second. Two seconds. No one could scream. Sometimes fear is silent.
_Now._ Ahmet thought.
Gizem suddenly turned. She didn't stab the creature. She stabbed Ahmet. Right into his eyes.
A wet sound. _Crack._
"DAMN IT, GİZEM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
Ahmet collapsed to his knees. It wasn't blood coming from his eyes. It was a dark, pitch-black liquid. His hands were tied, he couldn't wipe it.
And at that moment, the long-armed creature in front of them... dissolved like smoke. Gone.
Gizem was breathing heavily: "Did you think I wouldn't understand?"
Ahmet raised his head, looking at Gizem with his bleeding eye sockets: "Understand what? What are you talking about?"
Gizem gripped the knife tighter: "Don't treat me like a fool. What we saw was an illusion. It's you. Come on. Turn into your real form. Come on!"
Ahmet... laughed. His teeth were bloody.
"Fine. You asked for it."
The concrete floor of the basement cracked.
A sound came from Ahmet's back. A crack. His arms started to stretch. One meter. Two meters. The ceiling was low, his hands scraped against it, scratching the concrete. The stab wounds in his eyes closed, but there were no eyes underneath anymore. Just two bottomless pits.
The class screamed. Beyza pressed herself against the wall.
Ahmet spoke. It was no longer Ahmet's voice. It came from the walls of the basement.
"Do you... really not remember me?"
Buğra stammered: "Who... who are you?"
"Then let me remind you."
The lights flickered. And Ahmet's memory was projected onto the walls of the basement, like a movie.
> Left. Every break, Ahmet sat on the bench in the farthest corner of the schoolyard. It was like a therapy center for him. For 10 minutes he could escape from all his troubles and the stares. Maybe there were a lot of people in the yard during break, but all Ahmet saw was a huge loneliness. It was like Ahmet was all alone in the whole world.
Silence.
Ahmet whispered: "Now do you remember me? Beyza? Buğra?"
Buğra suddenly shouted with anger, to hide his fear: "Is this because Beyza chose me? Did you turn into a monster just out of jealousy?"
Ahmet's giant hand grabbed Buğra by the throat and pinned him to the wall.
"If you think I did all this just because I was jealous of you, you're a complete idiot, Buğra."
"I wasn't jealous of you. Your hypocrisy, your selfishness, your arrogance created me. Leaving me alone on that bench every single break... Your laughter... You wanted to bring me down, but... you elevated me."
Ahmet let go of Buğra. He fell to the ground.
Then he looked at everyone. There was no anger in his voice anymore. Just exhaustion.
"Even if you kill me, you will never escape this game."
"Your selfishness... your greed... it will keep it going."
"I will die. But others will come. And others. And others..."
Two seconds of silence. Only the sound of dripping water.
Then... a dark laughter.
"Hah... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!"
Ahmet spread his arms wide. As if saying, shoot me.
"Come on, Gizem."
"What are you waiting for?"
"Kill me. And move on to the next game."
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