Chapter 1 : Death Ring
On a normal day down the streets, I reached into my pocket for my keys, but my fingers brushed against something cold, metallic, and definitely not mine. I haven’t worn these pants for a while, but I’m pretty sure this item is not mine. Should I take it out? I pulled it out to find a small, square box with Morse code carved into it.
“Is it in the right hand?” was a whisper I heard next to my shoulder. I turned fast to see who, but I found no one. I looked back at the metallic tiny box with its strong flowery scent and decided to translate the Morse code. After a small amount of research, I realized it was an English sentence mixed with a lot of foreign languages.
I couldn’t hold onto it anymore. I dropped it; my fingers were bright red. That was like holding onto a cold ice cube. The sentence translated to: “No sudden moves. Eyes are watching.” Okay, no thanks. I am not into horror movies. First of all the whisper, then this Morse code sentence. I looked around me, checking if eyes were actually watching. I found a woman far away holding onto something similar, and she dropped it too. My sight moved toward a teenager with the same box in another color. No one in the street seemed weird, but I decided to walk to them.
They noticed me and both came up to me. The woman spoke to say, “I just woke up from a nightmare, please tell me this is a bad dream.” I laughed and asked if they heard voices. They started describing weird, horrific screams and sentences they heard—some were meaningful, some were extremely horrible.
My feet froze. I looked back at my metallic box, playing with it out of fear and anxiety. Suddenly, it cracked open. I found a ring—a black ring with a strong smell of blood. It was foul, and the design was... I’ll describe it as Death, honestly.
I asked the woman, whose name was Angel, to open hers right away, same with the teenager. They found accessories with unbearable smells.
A black van appeared from nowhere. Large men in suits started following us, screaming they just wanted the accessories and claiming they were not here to hurt us. They were insisting on the ring I was holding.
I ran. This is no joke. I don’t care if the ring is theirs or not, but I won’t trust them with my safety. The woman ran just like me, but the teenager froze in shock. They grabbed him by his face, shocked him until he fainted, and shoved him in the van.
Oh Dear Lord. I knew it—can’t trust men in black suits.
We ran into an underground train station, hoping their van wouldn’t show up in here. I hid in the bathroom with the lady, Angel. I looked back at the dusty box, and oh God, the Morse code had changed. Now it said: “It’s time to hide.” I heard the men’s voices in the hallway. We had to move fast. I opened the vent, jumped, and grabbed the woman inside. I was shaking; my heart was beating so hard, I’m pretty sure the lady heard it.They opened the door, and phew—they found no one.“Should we crawl through the vents or leave?” Angel said. My answer was fast. “Gurl, where do you want to leave to? Are you serious? The vents are unexpected, and that’s probably the safest choice. You’re literally the type of girl who dies first in horror movies, aren’t you?”
She said with a smirk, “Nope. The teenager was taken first.”
I laughed and realized the guy is in danger. We should save him...
