Not Expected

Bella was just a normal 17-year-old high school student, living her life without much excitement. Her days were filled with school assignments, after-school clubs, and the occasional outing with friends. Halloween was always one of her favorite holidays, a time for candy, costumes, and haunted houses. But this year felt different—darker.
On Halloween night, with a light mist hanging in the air, she decided to take a walk around the city, her thoughts light and carefree, enjoying the festive decorations adorning the houses. Children roamed the streets, laughter echoing in the cool night air, and the scent of caramel apples wafted from a nearby stall. Bella savored the moment, momentarily forgetting her mundane worries.
But as she strolled through the dimly lit streets, admiring the flickering jack-o’-lanterns, her world was abruptly turned upside down. A van pulled up beside her, its darkened windows concealing its occupants. Before she could react, a strong arm grabbed her from behind, yanking her into the van. Everything after that became a blur—her muffled screams, the adrenaline coursing through her veins, the darkness swallowing her whole.
She had no recollection of the time between when she was taken and the moment she woke up in a strange mansion. The air was thick with an unsettling silence, broken only by the distant creaking of old wood. Confused and disoriented, Bella blinked against the dim light.
"Where am I?" Bella asked herself, her voice trembling in the eerie silence. "How did I get here?" Panic began to gnaw at her insides, a dark and creeping feeling she couldn’t shake. But before she could fully process her situation, a voice echoed through the mansion’s speakers, cold and detached, instructing everyone to follow a blood-red path on the floor.
“What the hell?” she muttered, her heart racing as confusion swirled in her mind. Glancing around, she saw most of the group—about 15 out of the 20 people—begin to follow the trail, their faces pale and haunted. Fear clutched at her throat, but the instinct to survive pushed her feet forward, and she hesitantly joined them, each step heavier than the last.
The path led them to a dimly lit bedroom on the first floor. The tension was palpable as they crowded inside, an air of desperation hanging over them. Bella’s heart raced, her senses heightened. Everything felt surreal. Suddenly, a scream pierced the silence as one of the others opened a closet, revealing a dead body stuffed inside.
Her stomach churned violently, and panic surged through her veins. She couldn’t take it anymore. Bella bolted from the room, her mind racing as she sought a place to hide, to escape the madness that was enveloping her. The sounds of chaos followed her, muffled and distant, but the sense of danger was everywhere.
As the chaos quieted down, the voice from the speakers returned, calmly explaining the rules of this twisted game they had been thrown into. Bella barely processed the words, but she understood one thing: they were in danger, and someone among them was a murderer.
With her heart pounding in her chest, Bella stumbled into the kitchen, a desperate need for safety overwhelming her. She grabbed a knife—her only means of defense—its cold steel feeling reassuring in her trembling hands. Then she hurried up to a bedroom on the second floor, seeking refuge. Sitting on the bed, her grip tight around the knife’s handle, she waited, trying to block out the dread creeping into her thoughts. Maybe someone would figure out who the culprit was, and they could all go home. She had to believe that.
But her moment of solitude was shattered when two men burst into the room, their faces wild with panic. They had seen the bodies, heard the voice—they assumed she was the culprit. “What do you want?” she shouted, backing away against the wall.
Without warning, they lunged at her in desperation. Bella acted on instinct, swinging the knife in self-defense. The struggle was chaotic and violent. Panic surged through her as she fought for her life, adrenaline fueling her movements. In the midst of the chaos, she felt the blade connect, the reality of her actions crashing over her like a wave. In the blink of an eye, she had killed both of them.
Her hands trembled as she looked at the bloodstains on her clothes and the lifeless bodies sprawled on the floor. “What have I done?” she whispered, the words choking her. She had just killed two people, and the weight of that reality settled heavily in her chest.Frantic thoughts spiraled through her mind, and she knew she couldn’t just leave the bodies there. Bella dragged them, one by one, through the dimly lit house, hiding them in closets to avoid being caught. The house felt like a maze, shadows shifting and looming, amplifying her fear. Her breathing was shallow, her heart still racing, and the knife felt like a burden in her hand. She was scared, and now, she was a killer.After cleaning herself up as best as she could, she returned to the bedroom where she had hidden earlier, trying to calm down and think clearly. Her thoughts raced like wild horses, memories of her life before this horror flickering in her mind. That’s when Aoi entered the room—a fellow captive with sharp, observant eyes. We know what happened next.

°°°

As I sprinted upstairs toward the source of the scream, my heart pounded in my chest. The mansion’s eerie atmosphere seemed to close in around me, each step echoing in the stillness. Upon reaching the scene, I found Naima crouched beside a dead male body sprawled on the floor, another girl standing behind her, frozen with fear.