Scarper House

4•4 - The Magical Parade

"Kailangan na nating umalis dito." Halos buhatin ako ni Saint patayo dahil sa pagmamadali.

"B-Babe, si Jus—"

He wasn't listening to me. "Sean, kunin mo si Isla."

"Babe—"

"Kurt, hahanapin natin si Krista."

"Saint."

Saint only looked at me when I called him by his name. "'Wag kang bibitaw sa 'kin. Baka mawala ka."

He always says that line but that time it felt like it had a deeper meaning.

"What's happening?" I almost whispered to him as he pulled me to the entrance. I wanted to repeat that question when we got out and saw no one.

It's the same carnival. But without customers. Just us.

"A-Anong—" Chad's question was cut off by a loud blaring noise. Napabitaw ako sa kamay ni Saint para matakpan ang magkabilang tainga ko.

"Hello, players!" An unfamiliar masculine voice spoke through the speakers attached on poles around the carnival. "Liking my house's theme today? I had fun turning it into a carnival."

House? Are these all Scarper House?

"We usually have ten players but Justin wanted Trevor Alejandro to be the first to die, so we only sent out nine tickets."

Nagkatinginan kami ni Saint. We're both remembering my dad's letter and the brochure that came with it.

"S-Setup 'to?" tanong ni Chad.

"Bingo!" The voice sounded so jolly that it scared me. "I was also surprised to see that our client himself took a ticket. Our 8th boy really did want things to go smoothly."

Lahat na kami nagkatinginan. All this time, we thought Justin's talking about some cheesy surprise for Isla. We just assumed he's preparing for their first Valentine's date.

"Well, this has been 12 years in the making," sabi pa ng boses na nakapagpapikit sa 'kin.

"Justin... was never our friend?" mabagal na tanong ni Wren. "B-But..."

If this really is 12 years in the making, then these people are just here because they became close to me.

I bit my lower lip. I thought everything ended 12 years ago. All this time, I had no idea that I'm still luring people to their doom.

"So watch out for everything we have prepared."

I felt someone holding my hand. I know it's Saint.

"Scarper House says good luck."

I opened my eyes when I heard a festive music that seemed to be coming from a distance. The sound became louder and louder and we all just froze where we're standing, waiting for whatever it is to come get us.

It was a parade. A magical parade with people in costumes, dancing to the beat of the drums. Some were standing on top of colorful floats. There were mascots too.

If this is a normal night, I'd be enchanted.

But as this is not a normal night, I was scared. Then terrified when everyone in the parade pulled out weapons—spears, knives, bows and arrows, swords. And they aimed on us.

"Takbo!"

We ran as fast as we could—in zigzag, trying not to get shot by the arrows.

"Putangina talaga! Sana nakalabas si Krista," rinig ko pang sabi ni Kurt habang tumatakbo kami.

"Dito!" sigaw ni Sean saka hinila kami sa ilalim ng maliit na bridge. Doon kami nagtago habang rinig na rinig pa rin namin ang tugtog ng parade.

"Okay lang kayo—" Si Wren na mismo ang pumutol sa tanong niya nang mapansing nawala bigla ang tunog ng mga drums. "B-Bakit—"

"Sshhh!" Mahinang saway ni Saint. Siya ang nasa pinakadulo kaya sumenyas siya na siya ang sisilip. Tumango lang kami.

We all held our breaths as Saint stepped closer to the end of the wall. He was about to take a look when a huge bear head suddenly appeared from there, peaking on us. And yes, the giant bear had a weapon too. It had a gun.

"Shit!"

We ran again. But it didn't take that long when one gunshot echoed below that bridge.

For the second time that day, Isla poked my back. It's just that, this time, she was actually trying to get a hold of me. She was trying to reach for help. But the bullet was faster.

"Isla!" Nasalo ko siya bago siya tuluyang bumagsak sa lupa.

She was still gasping for her dear life when the loud noise blared again. It seemed like a cue for all parade participants to go away, leaving us confused. Isla seemed to be in a lot of pain so, instead of covering my ears, I covered hers. Then I felt Saint covering mine.

"That was... too fast?" We heard the man's voice again when the noise faded out. He sounded so disappointed, it's infuriating. "Oh, well. Let's move on to the next round."

We could only look at each other.

"Come on, Isla Ferreira's dead anyway. Let's go."

It's really annoying how he could sound so casual, like we were just playing. But, wait, what did he say?

I slowly looked down to the beautiful lady on my arms. She looked like she was just sleeping.

But she's not breathing.

;