In the middle of the night, I received a strange phone call. "I'm Shen Han! I come from a week later, listen! There's someone in the villa who wants to kill you! You will die tonight, you mustn't..." Before the sentence was finished, the call was cut off. No matter how much I tried to call back, it showed that the number was not in service! Later, I found my roommate's head under the bed.
After entering the room, something strange caught our attention-Mira George was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the air was thick with the heavy smell of blood.
A wave of unease surged through me, tightening my chest.
Alice Sinclair walked ahead, while I stayed back to switch on the light.
We searched the entire room, combing through every corner, but found nothing. Yet, the smell of blood grew stronger, almost suffocating.
"What should we do?" Alice asked, her voice trembling as she looked at me with fear in her eyes.
"Should we check downstairs?" she suggested, already heading toward the door.
"Wait!" I stopped her abruptly. "There's one more place."
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I bent down and lifted the bedsheet, peering underneath the bed.
The next second-
The stench of blood hit me like a wave, and there it was-Mira was staring straight at me.
Her face was ashen-pale, her eyes wide-open, filled with terror.
And there was only her head!
Where was the rest of her body?!
The overwhelming smell made my stomach churn. I covered my mouth, feeling nauseous.
I stumbled backward in shock, only to hit my head on the edge of the bed frame.
Wincing in pain, I plopped down on the floor. I reached for the nearby trash bin and began retching violently.
Alice, seeing my reaction, came over and lifted the bedsheet herself.
But her response was far from what I expected. Instead of recoiling in horror, she remained eerily calm.
Confused, I asked, "Aren't you scared? Her head's been cut off!"
Alice helped me to my feet, and only then did a flicker of fear cross her face.
"Of course I'm scared," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "But I've played so many gory games online-every kind of death you can imagine. I guess I've become desensitized to things like this."
"But this is a real person," I reminded her, my voice rising. "This isn't a game!"
"We need to find Alana and get out of here to call the police."
I nodded.
Alice was right.
Just as we were about to leave, every light in the villa suddenly turned on, filling the place with brightness.
Alice and I froze, too scared to make a move. We had no choice but to hide in Mira's room for the time being.
We crouched behind the door, straining to hear any sounds from outside.
Suddenly, the sharp sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway, growing louder as they approached. The footsteps stopped right outside our door.
I held my breath, my hand holding the baseball bat trembled slightly.
A shadow appeared under the door-a pair of feet blocking the light.
Then came the knocking. It started soft but quickly grew frantic.
"Is anyone there? Mira? Open the door!"
It was Alana's voice. Relief washed over me as Alice and I rushed to open the door.
"What are you two doing here? Where's Mira?"
Alana asked, her voice trembling as I pulled her inside and shut the door behind her.
"What are you doing up here? Weren't you on the first floor?"
I asked, noticing how she was shaking all over.
"I... my boyfriend is dead!"Alana blurted out, her voice breaking.
Alice interrupted her, frowning. "What are you talking about? There are only four of us here. When did your boyfriend even get here?"
Alana spoke through tears and a runny nose.
"I don't know! I fell asleep around three or four in the afternoon and slept like a log. When I woke up, it was 11:50. I got up to get a glass of water, but I tripped over something at the door." She paused, her voice breaking.
"When I turned on the light, I saw my boyfriend lying on the floor. His neck was all bruised and purple, like he'd been strangled..."
I pulled out my phone to check the time, but something else caught my attention-a message from an unknown sender.
"Trust no one. The killer is in the villa."
My heart skipped a beat. My phone still had no signal. How did this message get sent?
This was beyond bizarre.
Trust no one? Did that include my roommates?
I looked up at Alice and Alana, only to find that Alana had stopped crying. Both of them were staring behind me in horror, no longer looking at me.