The Funny One Dies First

- 22 -

― Emma ―

 Kyle's death was... felt by all. He was everyone's longest friend. He was the one who always had our backs. He was the selfless kid who never really asked for much. But most importantly, he was the kid who was always left behind.

His parent's never really cared for him. They always left him alone for some event or some fight, and family never really existed for him. Cousins hated him, aunts and uncles always wanted something from him, his grandparents never even spared him a glance. Everyone he shared blood with had it out for him for nothing.

Kyle never wanted the money but since he had it, he used it to his and others advantages. He always gave his money to friends and charity without saying a word. People only befriended him for his money but he never cared. The use of his money filled a void in his heart that he wished he could fill... But he never could.

Parties, people, charities. They were all ways he could fill the hole in his heart. He was a man who had everything but had nothing at all. His parties were well loved and enjoyed, but most people never knew the real Kyle Mathews. They knew of his name but never knew the person behind the facade. When he gave out money, it wasn't to show his wealth; no, it was to help others in need. But people used him to their advantage, knowing the type of person he was.

He was a real Gatsby.

A man known by all, loved by some.

Kyle never deserved us as his friends. He deserved people who loved him, cherished him for who he was. He deserved to be happy and deserved to have someone love him equally as he loved them. Instead, he had us. He had a group of "friends" who never really cared for him, who once knew and cared for him. He had people who would be around him because they once knew him. He had people who were a shame to be considered his friends.

We weren't his friends. We were just people who tolerated him from time to time. We were the people who helped him out once in a while but made fun of him all around. We were the people he died for. People who never deserved him to die in their place.

That brings me to now. We sat around his tablecloth draped body. We watched the still corpse waiting, wishing it would rise again. We lived to hear his stupid voice, his stupidly, dorky laugh. We waited for him to never rise again.

Tears streamed down our faces. We sat in silence, listening to the sniffles of our friends as we replayed his memories in our heads. We stayed there for some time.

As Jason forced us to continue the games, we played with no energy, no heart. None of us cared if we lived or died. We sat quietly playing the games. Jason began growing tired of the atmosphere and tried to cheer us up. It didn't work.

Frustrated with the way we were acting, he went back to his old ways. He began killing us off one by one. Airen was the first to go in the game. He lost a game of Uno and was happy to join his friends. Seline was dragged away when heading off to our next game, her screams still ringing in my ears. Currently, now, there were three of us left.

Kyle's friend, whose name was forgotten and not cared for at this moment, was the only person left besides Anna and I. I was beginning to notice that Jason had been targeting us one by one. Airen was bad at Uno, he always got dealt the bad hands. Jason had been throwing insults towards Seline before grabbing her. He was targeting everyone else too.

This round required us to solve a crime riddle with the use of technology. Anna was the most likely suspect for his next victim. I fit the category, but I was safe from him. Anna had a love for technology and being apart from her devices turned her into a different person.

When her eyes landed on the computer, she cried. It was the only computer that worked in this house. She raced to it, flipping it on, scanning through the files without a second thought. Sad with emotion, knowing she would die, I watched her in her last moment. She was all I had left, the last person I love here. The next round was going to be an easy kill, they didn't have a chance.

"Hey, um," she paused until we looked up. "Can you run to the living room and get my phone? It's the blue one with the nerdy lock screen."

I glanced back at her as they left. Slowly approaching her, I could feel a bright but sad emotion around her. I wasn't sure how to tell her, I wasn't sure if she knew. I couldn't just flat out say she was next.

"How are you holding up?" I whispered.

She stopped. "I can ask you the same thing." She never looked at me.

Sitting on the desk, I tried again. "What if they are still alive? Like he's just messing with us?"

Laughter. "I doubt it."

"I'm sorry, Anna. I know how much it hurts to lose someone."

"One, that's somewhat bull. Two, spit it out."

"He's been targeting us, all of us. Airen with Uno. Seline with comments. That one girl with her insecurities. You, you and your skill with technology."

"He's also been targeting you, Sherlock. You and your need to be a mom. You and your need to parent everyone. Your need to protect everyone. This whole, this..." she waved her hands at me, "Illusion."

Something inside of me pinged. It felt like air was knocked out of me for a second. I couldn't speak. I kept looking into her eyes but all that I could see was anger. Anger and hate. It was all there.

But it was fake. She loved me, she cared for me. We were best friends. I could understand her anger from time to time but this, this was something else. She was hiding the pain with anger towards me, never feeling it at all. She just wanted Jason to take notice and do something about it. She must have known his tactic and adjusted to it.

"You don't mean it."

She stood. "Oh, I mean it and I freaking ha―"

Loud thuds followed by screams for help stopped us. Looking to the door, a body emerged. They banged on the open air, a thunk thunk sounds audible. From a distance, you couldn't see it but when we got closer, we noticed a clear barrier blocking us and them. In a moment, their movements stopped. They slid down and were dragged into the darkness.

"Emma."

"I know, Anna. I know."

Now there were two.