Axel

“Is everyone ready?” I ask when Noah walks through the door. He ended up putting on a purple sweatshirt with black sweatpants, Leon on the other hand put on, what I presume, Noah’s shirt which is dark purple and what looks like 4 sizes too small. He then put on some yellow sweatpants with two different shoes, it seems he was in a rush. “Leon, what the fuck are you wearing?”

“Ah, ummm, I don’t know, I grabbed whatever was on the floor.”

“Go get different shoes on and I will find you a different shirt.” Before replying he runs out the door and I go into Matthew’s closet to find a shirt. I grab a black T-shirt and then check on him and when I get out Leon is running back in. “Here. And god can you tie your shoes?” He looks down as he rips Noah’s shirt off. Noah then bends down and ties his shoe for him.

“Thank you” I hear him whisper to Noah.

“K let’s go now.” Ryan says.

Five minutes later

“This place is like a fucking maze, where even are we?” We are so lost now, I don’t even recognize this part of the building.

“I have no idea. God, umm” Ryan says.

“Guys just follow me, I know where it is.” Leon says, which surprises me because I had never even seen him Andrew say one word to each other but it seems he did know because after another minute or so we arrive in his hallway.

“Ummm, why are there paramedics and cops here?” Ryan asks, there must be about 5 paramedics and 7 cops.

As we come closer a cop comes up to us, “Hello, were you friends with Andrew um, *He reads something off of his clipboard* Ekker?”

“K-” before I can finish I am interrupted.

“Yes” Leon says with a completely smooth voice and face which is completely out of character for him. “What happened?”

“Well, I’m sorry but it seems last night he committed suicide. Can you tell me your names?” What, he committed suicide? Why?

“Yes, my name is Leon Mannix, the one standing right behind me is Noah Hartman, he is Ryan Frost and the one with the facial hair is Axel Cutler.” She writes down all of the names and looks up at us as she seems to make a revelation.

“Oh, you guys are the exact people I am looking for. He left five suicide letters, the biggest one says Maria Alarie, do you know where she is?”

“Yes, I have been to her apartment before, I could take you there after we get finished here if you would like?” Leon says, wait, when has he been there before. He is being surprisingly calm, I mean considering who we are we are all acting normal, but he seems to know everything she is going to ask and knows how to answer everything perfectly.

“That would be great,” she is now leading us into the room, “Don’t worry, the body has already been taken care of” As we entered the room Leon grabbed onto Noah’s hand. In the room there is a painting that had fallen off of the wall and shattered, there are tiny glass shards all over the room. Next to the broken frame there is a spot where there is bloody glass and some of it was powdered as if someone had stepped on it. She leads us over to the kitchen island where there are five envelopes. “Here, uhh, Axel Cutler, anddd, Leon Mannix, here Ryan Frost, and finally Noah Hartman.”

“Thank you sir, is there anything else you need?” Leon asks

“Um, nope I don’t think so except for you showing me where Maria lives. And I am very sorry for your loss.” “Oh, I almost forgot, there is a note here with your names on it that says, 

‘All four of you have something you are hiding. There are many reasons you have kept them, protecting the person you are in love with, your reputation, or even trying to keep out of prison. Now there are three starting rules, Rule 1. There will be a location on each of your envelopes, that is the only place you can open your letter, Rule 2. You may not share any of the locations with someone else. Rule 3. Once you get inside the envelope it will tell you the rest of the rules, some of them may be different for each person. If you do not follow any one of these rules you will be kicked out and your forfeit told to everyone. And don’t try sneaking we will always catch you. You also do not have a choice in playing, each of you gave up your forfeit long ago. Love you guys, I will see you guys on the other side, and as always, don’t have fun, and make sure to watch out for the knives, it turns out they were boomerangs. -Andrew’ 

Well I don’t know what that means but make sure to be safe anyways! I am very sorry for your loss!” He then leaves us alone in the dorm.

“What the fuck is this?”