The Secret Island

CHAPTER 8 - RESULTS!

Five rounds were cleared by our lads now it's time for the results. Everyone was waiting for this very moment. It's been two hours and forty-five minutes since the game ended. participants were discussing their scores, chatters filled the huge hall where they used to eat their food.

"Hey Asha, do you believe in winning the first round?" asked one of her friends.

"Yes! Why not? what made you think so?" Asha questioned her friend.

"Because we have answered only one question in the entire game," said her friend with a despairing face.

"Hey, come on! Let's not always focus on the negatives, even though we've answered one question the others who haven't answered, only be rejected and not us, so stop worrying," her words made her friend feel comfortable... The other two friends in her team joined her in comforting Yamini. The conversation that took place was in the Beauty Queens team, Asha was the one who answered that Math teacher's riddle. It's her friend Yamini who is afraid of losing the game. Yamini had some disease that is unknown to date. She will be as normal as any human being and sometimes she will become silent to be precise, she will become an idol not moving her body and losing her consciousness. She is also as brilliant as Asha, who answered the riddle, as she had already solved a real mystery case. What, you might wonder? Yes, her father is a private detective who has solved some cases he received. However, his main profession was in real estate. He was a real estate broker who made lucrative deals with clients, earning good commissions by facilitating meetings between the landowner (seller) and the buyer (purchasing party). He also tried many doctors to get rid of this disease which his daughter suffers from, but all in vain none have worked out.

"Hey, Victoria, why haven't you answered any other questions, I mean, I thought you would answer many questions but you completely disappointed me" Venkat shared his opinion on her.

"See, the thing is I deliberately haven't answered the questions, because if you see the guidelines, they have mentioned that, the team who answers the question will be given two points and the ones who haven't will be rewarded one point, am I right?"

"Yes, what's in it?" said Venkat with a puzzled face.

"So, if that's the rule, then the team that gives a wrong answer will be disqualified isn't it?"

"Obviously," said Venkat, shrugging his shoulders  "so, what's the point?"

"Hmm... What do you think if a team answers a question correctly and then the same team answers another question wrong? what do you think will happen?"

Venkat was thinking as hard as he could and eventually reached a conclusion "So, they would minus one point am I right?"

"I too thought that Venkat," said Priya and asked Victoria "What's your opinion on this?"

"Hmm, I think the team will also get rejected"

"What?! But why? They answered a question right, so don't they give a chance to them, so that they get a tie, won't they?" said Venkat

"Yes, I do agree with him" accompanied Priya.

Victoria left a deep breath, and continued, "You see, it's purely my opinion, as you have asked for my thoughts for this selection process, I shared mine, it's not the exact approach they are going to come up with"

slowly, everyone's eyes turned towards Mathew, who had been quietly observing their conversation while sipping a cup of tea, as soon as he realized his friends were eager to hear his opinion too, he prepared to share his thoughts.

"I see I too had the same tho," said Mathew meeting Victoria's expectant gazes.

"What? you must be kidding aren't you?"

"Are you just saying the same thing because you don't have any opinion of your own, aside from hers?" Priya asked to make it clear.

"No! I too had the same thought about this selection process"

"Alright," said Priya with her eyes stressed, as if saying I'm keeping an eye on you. But he didn't give it a fleeting glance, not even for the sake of acknowledgment instead he signaled them to have a tea.

"Don't you guys have some tea instead of discussing rubbish stuff"

"What did you say? come again," said Priya, raising her hands above her head, poised to hit Mathew.

In response, Mathew teasingly pretended to pour his tea on her, causing Priya to fall on the floor. Venkat burst into laughter and the other two joined him.

"Attention everyone!" in a commanding tone, a strong voice reverberated throughout the entire hall, demanding the attention of everyone's presence. A tall and gigantic wooden grandfather clock commenced to sing its lullaby. Usually, it would be a magnificent sound to everyone, as it would make everyone get rid of their worries and sorrows, but now it's entirely different. The ringing became a petrifying song that would make, even a grown man feel spooked. The chatters and laughter disappeared abruptly and ghost silence conquered the entire hall, even the breeze outside the windows could be heard by the participants inside the building, their faces mixed with happiness and horror. such an impact will always happen when this man comes to the place. Every participant was eager to know the results.

"so, finally it's time to unwrap the results," said Isabella standing beside the red mask. His hands went into his pocket in search of the selected participants' list. Slowly, he began to unfold the sheet he retrieved and started to read the names. It goes like this.

"1. Beauty queens" As soon as the names were read they started to celebrate their victory, made high fives, and hugged each other, one in their team even got tears from her eyes.

Anyways the list was read by the Red Mask ignoring their celebrations. It seems odd, he usually doesn't like cheers or laughter while he speaks. some noted his action, some didn't.

"2. Vicotria

3. Ballabh & team

4. Lawrance & team

5. Sherlock Holmes team.

6. Ritika & team..." The list went on, meanwhile, our lads were eagerly waiting to hear their names. Venkat was staring at Mathew. Mathew ignored him and focused on the names read by the gigantic man on the stage. It was only when Venkat started noticing that Priya was staring at him. After seeing her, he accompanied Mathew and just started listening to the names read by that man.

"Venkat & team," said the Red mask and finished reading the name list. Yes, it's the end of the list.

Only after hearing that their team had been selected for the next round, made them feel happy, Priya was excited and hugged Venkat. Venkat hesitated to put his hands on her. Victoria noted and accompanied her friend by holding Venkat's hand to make him hug Priya. Mathew too felt happy and went to grab a coffee as a complement, that was near the tea can.

"That's it the list ends, congratulations to all of you, remaining students get ready, as you will be leaving right now, so pack your things as soon as possible, don't worry it's just a game and you guys did it quite well, soon you will receive your participation certificate, keep it safe as it might be useful for your future career." completed the Red mask, as usual not even wasted a minute in the hall, his legs started it's journey towards the exist. Everyone left the place to have their snacks and refreshments. It's 11:00 a.m. The students could eat whenever they wanted to there were no restrictions imposed on that. So, every team selected for the next round would seem to be happy, wouldn't they? The day just come to an end they had their lunch then dinner and were making their beds ready to sleep. The lights were turned off and eventually, all fell asleep.

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"Toohf! Suddenly a sharp sound echoed throughout the entire building, some children heard the sound and some didn't but the sound was huge, it could make someone go deaf, and the time was midnight.