I stayed quiet. No way I am going to bring up last night again. I walked past Omar and headed toward the door. The house felt different. Too bright. Too calm. Like it was pretending nothing had ever gone wrong.
Omar came out of the storeroom with an empty look on his face. He stared at his left hand again, turning it slowly, like he expected something to appear there.
"You lost something?" I asked.
He didn't answer at first. The sunlight hit his face, making him squint. "I don't know," he said finally. "It feels like I had something… but I can't remember what."
Outside, the air was warm and still. No clouds. No shadows. Just a perfect morning that felt wrong in a way I couldn't explain.
I stepped outside anyway.
Sometimes, the scariest days start looking the most normal.
I walked back to the place where I had first spawned. The empty field was still there, wide and quiet, just like before. The grass moved slightly with the wind. Nothing felt wrong… and that somehow made it feel more wrong. I couldn't stand there any longer because of what happened.
I searched the sky for the frozen plane.
There was nothing but a blue sky.
I went back inside.
"The plane is gone," I said quietly.
Omar looked up from the table. "What plane?"
"The one in the sky that was frozen"
He frowned. "I didn't see anything like that" (Alzheimer guy. Skill issue)
I noticed what he was doing then. He was sliding knives into the back pockets of his jacket.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Getting ready," he said. "Next game won't be easy."
He reached into a box and handed me a torch and a baseball bat.
"For safety" he said.
I shook my head. "There's no point. The system will delete them. It did that before. The rules said weapons might disappear."
Omar looked at me for a long second.
"Rules change," he said. "Or maybe they don't. But I'm not waiting to find out."
I held the bat in my hands. It felt heavier than it should have.
"I don't like this," I said.
"Neither do I," Omar replied. "But I like being unprepared even less."
We stood there in silence.
No plane in the sky.
Weapon in hand.
And a game that felt closer than ever.
All of a sudden, we heard someone shouting.
"Get back," Omar said.
I stepped back with him, and we shut the door behind us. The screaming didn't stop. It got louder and closer. My heart started beating fast.
Then, right outside, we saw two boys. They looked almost our age. One of them was shouting.
"Is anyone here? Hello?"
Omar stood up.
"Don't go," I said softly.
He didn't hear me. He opened the door and went outside.
I watched from inside. The two boys smiled when they saw him. One of them started talking to Omar, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The other boy just stood there. He didn't speak. He only watched.
Omar turned and waved at me.
I didn't want to go, but I stood up anyway. My legs felt weak. I opened the door and stepped outside.
"They're trapped here too," Omar said. "Just like us"
"Oh!" I replied.
They looked very similar.
"Are you brothers?" I asked.
They nodded.
The quiet one stayed silent. Omar said he couldn't speak.
(The one with me has Alzheimer and the one with him has a speech condition. What a nice Pair)
I was about to ask their names but then I felt it.
Something was wrong.
The sky started to change. The blue color faded. It turned brown. The light became darker, like a storm was coming.
Then I saw it.
The plane with a big screen.
It was back.
This time, it was frozen in the sky above a gas station.
No one spoke.
We all looked up.
We knew… the game was starting again.
The screen turned on, the only light in the room. It said:
"The next game is starting soon. We have chosen the gas station to be the Arena. You got 4 minutes until the game starts. Start your journey to the arena. This time, the rules are the same… but not the players."
The screen then began to display the names—one by one.
1st~Omar Faruk-16 years old-Male-From Delhi, India-Asian
2nd~Mahmood Billah-14 years old-Male-From Dhaka, Bangladesh-Asian
3rd~Zhou Jun-15 years old-Male-From Beijing, China-Asian
4th~Zhou Kai-15 years old-Male-From Beijing, China-Asian
5th~Malisa Chan-15 years old-Female-From Vientiane, Laos-Asian
Omar looked at me and nodded. I nodded back. No words were needed.
We weren't just players anymore. We were part of something bigger. Something dangerous. Something that didn't care if we survived.
This wasn't just another game. It was a new start. A new challenge. And somehow… we were ready to face it, TOGETHER.