CHAPTER FIVE

TWENTY-FIRST

I have five seconds to run, I have five seconds to hide. I placed my palm on my mouth and kept my eyes shut. All I could hear is my breathing, and I am afraid that they might hear it. I'm inside a closet, it was dark, musty, and smelled like something is rotting, but it didn't bother me, the thing that bothers me is Aidan. Why is he doing this? Is that the reason why Rossi warned me to stay away from him? I should have listened; I shouldn't have admitted that I am the new girl—that I am the thirty-first.

My fist clenched when I heard the room's door open. It made a creaking sound that made me shiver. What if it's Aidan? But the worst what if it's Papa? I opened my eyes at a slow pace, I noticed a small hole in the closet's door. I look through it and saw a girl who is probably aged seventeen or sixteen, I could tell she is older than me. My eyes landed on the sharp thing on her left hand, it was an ice pick, a sharp one.

"She's not here." She said then two boys that are around her age walked in and sighed in annoyance.

"She's the thirty-first, she needs to be killed or else Dianne will get killed." The boy with blond hair said as he looks around the room. "We have to kill her."

Dianne... who is Dianne? And why does it sound like her life depends on me? If I die, she'll live, and if I live, she'll die. Is that what they meant?

"Let's take another patrol." The girl said, her voice having determination—determination to find and kill me. "Fred, check the second floor." She told. The boy that has thick eyeglasses nodded and immediately left. "I'll be checking the fifth floor, and you check this area." She told to the man who has blond hair and left seconds after.

I got a little relief when they went all out of the room, but I still do not let my guard down since there was still one boy left in the room who keeps on wandering his eyes around, I'm still looking at the small hole, it was too small and he just disappeared on my vision. But then I got stilled when he knocked on the door of the closet. He keeps on knocking it—it is just soft knocks but it still startled my soul.

The knocking just stopped when the door opened again and Aidan entered, he gave a confused look to the boy. "What are you doing?"

"I think she's in there." He responded.

I'm starting to bite the edges of my nails because of the anxiety starting to kick in. What if he opened the door? Although it has a lock, it could be still get opened. If they found me, they'll kill me, so the person—Dianne will not get killed. I'm not selfish, but I also have a will to live on, to fight on, and to leave this place.

"She's not there, I already checked it. You gotta check the basement before Papa come back." Aidan said, for a second his eyes went in my direction—to the closet, I know he won't be able to see me but I have a feeling that he has an idea that I'm inside the closet, hiding in fear.

"And why would I—"

"Berlin told me to tell you, blame her not me."

I heard the door creaked open and closed. I took a deep breath to calm myself. The closet has a small space full of clothes that has an unpleasant smell and are stained with dark red—things.

"Come out, they are gone." It was Aidan.

No, I should not trust him. The kids warned me about him, so no. Maybe he's just tricking me, wanting me to take his bait and kill me to save Dianne. **** them—they are being unreasonable. Aside from killing the thirty-first I know there is another way, that's what my dad said, there are always ways, we—people are just so much blind to see it and we always tend to take the easiest way to solve the shits. So, for me, they are being blind, and unreasonable.

"I know you saw it too." He started on talking. "That dream is meant to warn you to not be ungrateful to Papa. Everyone who got sent under his roof experienced the same thing you experienced before you woke up. You might get confused, so I'll clear it up for you. It's a warning because Papa hates those who are ungrateful."

Papa... I know he does. In that nightmare, he called me ungrateful and disgusting, even though he is the disgusting one.

"I've been here for three years, and if you're planning to escape, I'll tell you not to, because he can hear your mind and it's not going to work out—"

I opened the door of the closet, and I saw him—Aidan leaning on the wall looking straight in my direction. I do not have the plan to get out but I am already losing air, if I stayed inside of it for more minutes it would be the cause of my death. My eyes went to his hand, he's no longer holding a knife but a book—a thick old book.

"Who..." I am gasping for air making for them to have a hard time breathing and speaking. "Who is Dianne?"

"The thirty first." His response made me confused. I thought I was the thirty-first. "But you came in, and you became automatically the thirty-first. They wanted to kill you so Dianne won't be banished. As you can see they are attached to that girl, it sucks 'cause they have killed five children just for Dianne."

My lips parted. So this—this killing has been happening for a long time and if ever, I'll be the sixth kid who got killed because of their desire to save Dianne...

"And what about you?" My voice isn't shaky even though my hands were trembling and my brain is clouded with thousands of questions and what-ifs.

He shrugged. "Remember when I mentioned that they have killed five children just for that girl?" the tone of his voice has a mixture of bitterness and I could tell behind the bitterness has anger. His eyes landed on my chest—on the left side, where my nametag was attached. I quickly covered it with my long curly brown hair. "You might not feel nice about meeting me, but I am." A small smile curved on his lips. "My name's Aidan Lacson, the twenty-first."

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