Mansion in the Forest

She should have already terminated

The next morning, Jazen woke up first since she could hear footsteps walking down the hall, pacing back and forth. She looked up to check outside and sunlight streams golden through the window in a well mannered announcement of the risen sun, the rays making rainbow diamonds that dance upon the canvas that is the wall. As Earth turns they stretch and fade to the silent applause of eyes and she groggily sat up, rubbed her eyes and yawned with her arms stretching above her head, but her yawn was interrupted by a murmured voice behind the door.

"Quick! They should not see us here." A man's voice said. Jazen quickly shrugged Lexi's shoulder to wake her up.

"Wake up babe, there are people outside." She whispered.

Lexi sprung up when she heard the voices and the footsteps. "Guys, wake up! They're here!" She yelled which startled her friends and they all ran to the door to remove everything they used to block it.

But by the time they cleared the way and Lexi swung the door open, the people outside were no longer there but they saw lots of tools that were left behind because they were in a rush to flee from the scene.

"Let's go! they definitely haven't gone far yet!" Lexi said and they all ran outside and started searching for the people they heard earlier.

"Let's split up." Iris suggested and so they split up by two and searched separately around the mansion.

Iris and Siena went to the left wing of the mansion, Denver and Lei chose the right wing, Chantelle and Jisu ran downstairs but they are making sure that they will never take risk to go though the path they went last night, while Jazen, Lexi and Trevor ran upstairs and started running as fast as they could.

"Here!" Trevor shouted while pointing at the hallway where he saw a person run to it. Lexi and Jazen picked up their pace and ran towards Trevor.

"Wait." Lexi said as she stopped and grabbed Jazen's hand. "I don't remember this hallway before." She furrowed her forehead.

"It doesn't matter! We have to catch one of them!" Jazen groaned as she took back her hand from Lexi and scurried down to the hallway but she was surprised to see a dead end. A bricked wall greeted her and two doors on her left and right. "Damn it!" She growled and kicked the brick wall.

"Where are they?" Trevor asked as they caught up with Jazen.

"It's a dead end, are you sure there is someone who runs in here?" Jazen asked irritably.

"Yes! I saw a silhouette." Trevor replied.

Jazen then turned to the door on the right and kicked it open, but there was nothing inside but an empty room, but unlike rooms in this mansion, this one is clean and more like in modern style. They walked in and scanned the room but there was really nothing to scan but four corners of walls.

Lexi stepped out and she kicked the door on the right but unlike the other room, this one is filled with several beds that are well made of, as if whoever is still in the room just got woken up and made their bed before leaving. The three started to search around, from the beds, drawers that had clean clothes inside and some other things. There was also a bathroom but no trace that it was used.

"They're not here." Trevor said as he left the room and walked back to the wall. Lexi and Jazen followed him and watched how Trevor scanned the wall. "I know that there's someone run in here so maybe this wall is a door." He said when he felt the gazes behind him.

"Right, just like what I said, I can't remember this hallway." Lexi walked closer to the wall and helped Trevor to search for something unusual to the wall just to make sure if it's a secret door or not. But after scanning every brick and every corner, they didn't see anything. Jazen sighs in defeat and turns her heels to go back from where they came from.

"Let's go, Lex." Trevor called when Lexi stayed close to the wall and seemed staring at it intensely. "Lexi." He called again but when Lexi still didn't look back at him, he decided to approach her. "What's wrong—." He stopped when he saw what Lexi was staring at.

It was a small hole but they are not sure what it really was because maybe it was just a simple c***k at the brick or a keyhole.

"We should let Chantelle check this one." Lexi said. She remembered that Chantelle is best at lock pickering so they might have a chance to see what's behind the wall. So they leave it for the meantime and go back to where everyone is.

As they got in the living room, there were a lot of new CCTVs in the center table and everyone sitting on the couch. Lexi looked for Jazen but Jisu told her that she's in the kitchen making breakfast for them.

"They installed new CCTVs around the mansion." Lei tells them the obvious as Lexi and Trevor could see the broken surveillance cameras on the table.

"Did you catch one?" Trevor asked.

"No, they are good at running. No wonder they could sabotage us even if it's already dark and monsters are scattered around." Denver chuckled.

"Running after those people is really funny because we have reached the end of this mansion and saw a brick wall that seems to have just got built a few weeks ago since it was still fresh and new." Iris said. Lexi and Trevor exchanged glances before looking back to Iris.

"We did see one too, there was a brick wall at the end of this mansion and it was newly built too." Lei said.

"Okay, so it's not a coincidence that those walls are built at the same time, there was also one upstairs and we believe that those are secret doors." Trevor turned to Chantelle who's sitting silently on the single couch while biting her nails. "Do you think you can check if that hole we saw is a keyhole?"

"Yes I can, but I don't really have energy to move right now. I haven't eaten anything yet since yesterday and I'm starving." Chantelle replied.

"So is that the reason why you're eating your own nails?" Siena asked and they all laughed.

"I was just fixing my nails, dumbass!" Chantelle growled.

"Breakfast is ready, let's eat real food Chantelle." Jazen popped out her head from the kitchen door to call everyone and they laughed again. Sometimes, it's really nice to have some good laugh in the middle of their predicament.

Chantelle let out a guttural groan before she stood up and almost ran to the kitchen. It really shows how hungry she is which Jisu finds so cute in her. It might be so cliché but she thinks she has a crush on the tall, blonde and gorgeous woman but she knows that she still has feelings for Lexi.

They started to eat without talking and just focused on their food. They were so busy filling their empty stomachs that they didn't notice a guy sneak up behind them and grabbed a knife. He walked silently towards Lexi's back and he swung his arm in the air.

"Look out!" Denver shouted. Trevor dropped his coffee on the table as he used his shoulder to knock off Lexi and he caught the knife on his back. Jazen was about to pull the trigger of her gun but Jisu spun around and kicked Blake on his left jaw, knocking him off on the floor, then Denver and Lei both held him tight to restrain him from moving again.

"Damn it!" Lexi groaned as she pushed herself to stand up and approached Trevor. "Are you f*****g crazy?!" She shouted but Trevor could feel the worry in her voice.

Siena stood up from her seat after she recovered from the shock and ran to get the first aid kit they have in the cupboard. Iris and Lexi helped Trevor to sit back on his chair while Chantelle went behind him.

"I need warm water and a clean towel." She said which Siena obliged immediately. She grabbed the cleanest towel she saw and poured some leftover hot water in a basin before adding tap water into it and carefully bringing it on the table. "Thank you." Chantelle held the handle of the kitchen knife while her other hand laid behind Trevor's back for support. "I'm going to pull it out, it'll be painful but just bare with it." She said.

Trevor nodded his head while looking at Lexi, as if he's taking some courage from his best friend or if it's necessary to say, from the love of his life that was never his. Then Lexi offered her hand and Trevor held onto it like his life depended on it.

"Ready?" Chantelle asked.

"Ready." Trevor replied and so Chantelle started pulling out the knife slowly and carefully while Siena waited on the side with a clean towel in her hands. "Ugrh." Trevor grunts but he felt a relief when Chantelle successfully pulled out the metal from his back. Siena used the towel to stop the bleeding and put a bit of pressure in it.

"We don't have enough tools in here so I'm just going to use these bandages to cover the wound." Chantelle said while preparing the bandages she was going to use in Trevor's wound. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible, I don't know how long you're gonna make it till then." She said after she applied first aid to Trevor's deep wound.

"You'll be fine, buddy." Lexi assured him and squeezed his hand. Trevor smiled at him weakly in return.

"How is this guy still alive?" Jazen asked while her gun still pointed at Blake.

"Let's talk about luck." Blake chuckled bitterly while glaring at Lexi. "Do you really think that you have already gotten rid of me?"

"Nobody even thinks about you at all." Jisu says mockingly.

"How about getting rid of you right now?" Jazen asked sarcastically and she digs the tip of the gun in Blake's head.

"Do it then, you'll get disqualified."

"Who gives s**t about being disqualified?!" Lexi shouted and she grabbed Blake's shirt. "You think you're being smart to use those f*****g rules in this situation?!"

"We signed a contract and one of their rules is never kill one of the participants." Blake shrugged his shoulders and never showed fear even if there's a gun pointed in his head and he's surrounded with angry people.

"Oh really? Aren't you the one who accused Lexi of killing your best friend?" Chantelle chuckled.

"That's why I'm wondering why she is still here. She should have already terminated. They've been trying to kill her so many times." Blake said which made everyone start to get confused.

"How did you know that?" Iris asked.

"I overheard them talking two days ago and so I thought that she's already dead and was surprised to see her here. That's why I did what they couldn't do but luck is with her." Blake laughed but he stopped when Lexi threw a solid punch in his face. He was about to stand up but Lei and Denver held him again so he couldn't fight back. "Why are you so upset?" He asked after he spit out blood on the floor.

"Just shut the f**k up!" Lexi growled and she turned her heels to walk back to Trevor but she halted her steps when Blake spoke again.

"Oh, so you're scared to let them know about your secret?"

"If it's about her past childhood about this mansion, then you're wrong. We already know about it." Siena said.

"Oh that one? Nah that's not it." Blake shook his head and smirked at Lexi. "I'm talking about her relationship with the person behind all of this."

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