| Chapter 2: �It�s me.� Teru said, trying to cover Keriko�s mouth. Keriko sighed in relief at the sound of Teru�s voice. Suddenly, something caught her attention. Keriko�s eyes widened, seeing the dark blood reflecting on his hand in the moonlight. �Blood...� Keriko said softly, gazing intently at his hand. Teru looked down at his hands, suddenly realizing what everything looked like. �No...� He said. �It�s Mina�s blood!� Keriko yelled. �Oh my gosh! What did you do to Mina?! Saria!� �Nothing!� Teru shouted, his voice rising in alarm. �Help! Saria!� Keriko started hysterically screaming, starting to run off onto the street. Teru chased after her and grabbed her roughly by the arm. He hastily covered her mouth. �Shut up!� Teru yelled with a scared tone in his voice. �You�re going to get me in trouble. I didn�t do anything wrong. Just let me explain.� Keriko quieted down and stared at Teru with big, frightened eyes. She trembled as she uncertainly put her arms down. �Ok.� Teru said, relieved. �Like I was saying. I didn�t do anything. You know how you told me that you were having the party at your house, right? Well I wasn�t doing anything and I thought that I�d just stop by and see how you were.� �Huh?� Keriko said in confusion. �Why? You live in Wahiawa. It�s so out of the way! That doesn�t make sense. Why did you have to come today? I�m going to see you on Monday in school.� �I don�t know!� Teru protested. �I just felt like I had to come! I had this bad feeling about something.� �Whatever,� Keriko said. �But I still think that that�s a load of bull shit. It doesn�t add up.� �Yeah, well...� Teru continued. �When I got there, I saw this dark figure leaning against the front door. It had it�s ear pressed against the door, as if listening to something moving in the house. It had something in it�s hand. When I pulled into the driveway, it looked up, as if it just noticed me. It ran off too fast for me to catch. I grabbed the doorknob ad noticed that it was covered in warm blood. Then, I heard someone from inside the house. Not knowing that it was you, I grabbed your arm to defend myself. Plus I found this sign.� He handed her the sign. It was written in blood, saying Welcome to the Game. �What the hell is this?� Keriko asked, pointing wildly at the crude lettering. �I don�t know...� Teru said. �The person threw it on the floor before it ran off.� Keriko stared suspiciously at Teru. Something didn�t seem right. It was like something was missing. �Wait a minute...� Keriko said. �Who could have been that figure? And where are Saria and Mina?� Just at that, Saria came outside with a bewildered expression on her face. �Why are you guys outside?� Saria asked, smoothing down her hair. �I�m all dirty now. I was crawling around all over the place...� �Saria!� Keriko exclaimed. �Mina�s missing!� �Huh?� Saria said. Suddenly, she noticed the blood on Keriko and Teru�s hands and on Keriko�s arms and face. �What�s going on?� she asked suspiciously. �Mina is missing.� Keriko attempted to say calmly. �Call the police now.� The police arrived half an hour later. They turned up nothing and took Teru in at the station for more questioning. The next day, Keriko told everyone what happened to Mina. Everyone was in shock. �I can�t believe this happened.� Saria said, sobbing. Johen put his arm around her and comforted her. �It�s ok...� he said. �Wow, Keriko, you were really lucky. What if Teru didn�t show at that precise time? What if that psycho killed you too?� �Thank you Teru...� Keriko said, still embarrassed for fighting with him the other night. �Well I think that we should try to pretend that nothing happened.� Teru said. �Teru has a point.� Keriko agreed. �We have to stay positive. We don�t know for sure that she�s dead. They didn�t find her body.� Arstalisa started crying again. Requin offered her a tissue. �Poor Arstalisa.� Requin said. �I�m sorry. This all happened so soon after your brother�s death.� Arstalisa hugged Requin and started sobbing on his shoulder. Requin uncomfortably patted her on the back. �That�s it!� Keriko said, with exasperation in her voice. �I�ve had it! We have to face this head-on. We�re all going to the UH frat party and that�s that. My brother�s a Tri Cappa Delta member and can get us in.� �Ok!� Teru exclaimed, brushing a hand through his poufy, black hair. �Let�s go for it!� Everyone tried to smile weakly.. At the party, Keriko and Teru couldn�t find anyone. �Where are they?� Keriko asked, standing on her toes, trying to look for everyone over the other people�s heads. The loud booming music was starting to give her a splitting headache. She felt a dull, throbbing sensation near her temple. �Ugh...� Keriko said. �Teru, I don�t feel too well.� Keriko swayed dizzily. �Whoa...� Teru said, catching her before she fell. �I think someone spiked the punch. Geez...you only had one glass. Now we know that you can�t drink alcohol.� Teru set Keriko on the sofa and left to get a wet towel for Keriko�s forehead. After a few minutes of rest, Keriko began to feel better. �Do you want to dance?� Teru asked. �Uh...no...that�s ok. I think I�ll rest more.� Keriko replied. �I don�t really want to faint on the dance floor.� �Well...I saw some of my friends from Aiea go into the pool room...� Teru began to say. �Go ahead.� Keriko said. �Have fun.� Teru smiled shyly and went into the other room. Meanwhile, in another room, Arstalisa was looking for her friends. She too, had a couple of drinks. Her body felt weak. Arstalisa sat down on the couch and surveyed the recreation room. She didn�t recognize anyone. Suddenly, someone sat next to her on the couch. �Oh, Hi Requin.� Arstalisa said. �What�s with the black clothes? Going for the gothic look?� Requin didn�t say anything. �Uh, Requin...� Arstalisa nervously said. �I�ve been wanting to tell you something.� He turned around to look at her in wonder. �Well...I like you...a lot.� Arstalisa said, closing her eyes. Suddenly, he grabbed her by the shoulders and started kissing her. �Whoa...� Arstalisa said in alarm. He pressed forward. Arstalisa gave in and forgot about everything. A few hours later, Teru was just about finished with rounding everyone up. He had found Saria, Johen, and Requin but he couldn�t find Arstalisa. �Did any of you guys see her?� Teru asked, getting frustrated. �I mean...this is stupid! We were supposed to stick together but no...You guys didn�t wait for us. You guys all went out and partied till you were drunk? What the hell is that crap? Where is Arstalisa?� �Calm down, Teru.� Keriko said in a worried voice. Everyone looked around at each other silently. �Oh great...so now we�re mimes. We�re not talking now, huh?!� Teru asked angrily. �Dammit Teru!� Saria yelled angrily. �Why are you so pissed? It�s like you know that something happened. Maybe you did something and you�re trying to cover it up.� �That is bull shit!� Teru yelled. �Don�t go putting the blame on me! Where were you on Saturday? Frolicking around outside with a knife?� �Maybe you were!� Saria shot back. �You guys...� Johen started. �Yeah...� Where were you and Requin too?� Teru asked. �Why aren�t you accusing Keriko?� Requin spat angrily. �She�s sick, you dumbass!� Teru yelled. �She�s been lying here helpless the whole time!� �So?� Johen asked. �Ahh!� Keriko yelled. �Will you guys all shut up? We�re friends! We know that we would never do this kind of stuff to each other. Don�t worry. You guys were my first real friends. I trust you guys.� Teru silently averted his eyes, remembering how Keriko had actually thought that he was trying to hurt her. He wondered to himself how much trust Keriko invested in him. �Now we have to stop blaming each other.� Keriko explained. �We have to work together to find out what happened to Arstalisa. Maybe she�s in trouble, and we�re here in the middle of the frat house living room, yelling at the tops of our lungs and making asses out of all of us!� Everyone was silent. Suddenly, they heard a scream. It came from outside by the swimming pool. They ran outside. �Shit.� Teru, Requin, and Johen said when they saw what was floating in the pool. Keriko quickly looked away and Saria ran back inside. Right in the middle of the pool, floating face-down with red color secreting out into the water was Arstalisa�s body. Taped to the back of her shirt, was a sign written in some sort of red lipstick. It said: Lose a turn. Care to roll again? The next day, Keriko woke up with a splitting headache. She stayed up well past midnight, answering the police�s questions. She didn�t even want to think about going to another student council meeting. She hauled herself out of bed. She promised Requin that she would meet him in the gym. While walking to the field, Teru spotted Keriko heading for the gym. �Hey, Keriko!� Teru yelled, running over to her. He leaned forward to hug her, but Keriko backed away. �What�s wrong?� Teru asked. �I�m sorry, Teru, but too much has happened. I just don�t know who I can trust anymore.� Keriko said, already walking away. �What? Where are you going?� Teru asked. �I have to talk to Requin.� Keriko replied. �I thought you said that you weren�t trusting anybody!� Teru yelled. �Requin�s like my best friend! I trust him!� Keriko exclaimed. �And what about me?� Teru called back to her. �I don�t know anymore.� Keriko said, going into gym. When Keriko got to the bleachers, she saw Requin sitting on the bottom row, fingering a small. blunt object. �Hey Requin.� Keriko said. �What�s that?� As Keriko got closer, she noticed that it looked like a small tube of red lipstick. Requin looked up at Keriko and set down the tube. �Keriko, I have a confession to make.� Requin said, walking over to her. End of Chapter 2 Next Chapter |