Towards 3 o’clock, Divya woke up perched and decided to quietly slide out of bed for a glass of water. She tip-toed to the third-floor kitchen in the dark corridors, but before she could reach the light switch, she tripped on something and fell to the floor. She felt warm liquid seeping through her pyjamas. She rolled over to get up and looked down at what had caused her fall. She screeched. 
Amora’s sweet dreams were cut short by Divya’s scream. She sat up in her floor bed and threw the covers off her before waking everyone up. They all tumbled towards the screams and cries of their friend, at which their ears led them to the mini kitchen on the third floor. Amora toggled the light switch but no electricity. Upon that Felicia, the only one who had thought of grabbing a flashlight in such hullabaloo lit up the place for them to see.  
Juliane squinted her eyes and walked forward. On the floor, Divya was standing on her knees with red liquid soaked through her pyjamas. Clairese and Amora helped Divya to her feet while Felicia and Juliane were busy inspecting the body lying on the floor. Juliane slightly brushed the hair, closing the pale face, to unveil… 

“Alina?” Felicia stepped back, all the air inside her lungs escaped. The corpse lying on the floor was indeed Alina with a banknote in each one of her palms, scarred with something sharp and smeared with dirt. 
Not even a fly was buzzing around, there was the silence of a graveyard waiting for forever residents. Divya was silently shaking in Clairese’s tight hug, both their eyes shining through tears.  
“Who could have done this?” Felicia turned to her and with a tired voice she said “Anyone.”  
 
“The power is down, and the whole security system relies on electricity.” 
“It can’t be that simple, right? Electricity gone, welcome murderers?” Juliane asked 
“You’re right.” Felicia nodded, she turned to the window and put her hand on the window sill. 
“The security system will connect to a generator which lasts for about 2 hours for the windows on the second, third and fourth floor; 3 hours for anything downstairs.” 
 “How are we gonna figure it out if we don’t know when the electricity went off” 
“We can open the windows from the inside at any time so we can’t check. Our best bet is to go downstairs to the main floor, where the generator is stored. Which we can but the odds of us making it out are low.” 
“So it's either being stuck inside with god knows who or a safe escape.” Juliane said and while getting up “We have to make it out.” But no one was convinced enough, hope of safety wasn’t enough to outweigh the risk. 
The girls finally decided to go upstairs to call the police. Four of them climbed up the stairs leading to the attic, where the phones were. Felicia kept looking out the window, watching the rain pouring outside and the storm. Amaya stayed with Felicia to keep her company. 
Amora threw herself on her bed and was reaching for her phone when the flashlight turned off. “Clairese!” she shrieked and turned to the door, “I’m sorry! the battery is dead.” Clairese replied in her annoyed voice. “Both of you, calm down.” Juliane looked into Amora’s eyes. Amora turned around and kept patting the covers until she was holding her phone. She started entering her password while mumbling to herself: “four, five, six, fourteen, five...” , but as she was, the phone shut down. “No battery.” she felt a cold breeze, in a home with no open windows. 
“Let me check mine.”  Divya looked around for her’s in her bed while Clairese checked the bedside table. “We should’ve charged them after the game, it consumed the battery of each of our phones. “Alina’s is still on.” Clairese looked at the bright screen.  
“It’s on 50%” 
They dialled the emergency number. 
“It’s not connecting.” 
Amaya’s heavy breath was conspicuous, so much so, that everyone could feel her anxiousness. 
“Something wrong?” Juliane shouted from the attic. They heard Amaya’s high-pitched scream. 
“Help!” Felicia yelped, “It’s A…”. The cold hands of the killer pressed against her lips and the grip on her neck kept strangling her until she quit resisting. Tears rolled down Amaya’s eyes. 
“What was that?” Divya asked Juliane leapt towards the door, but Clairese caught her by the hood. 
“Where do you think you’re going?” Clairese asked, her voice was trembling. 
“To save them? They need help!”  
“Sh, quiet down! Look there is a killer downstairs, our best chance of surviving is if we stay here and he doesn’t hear us. Pray to god, he won’t find us before the police arrive.” 
“The Bible says not to kill anyone’ eh Divya? Well, your indifference is killing them right now!” Clairese let go of her hood. 
“That’s what I thought,Clair.” 
… 
Juliane looked around but didn’t see any danger. 
Clairese took the lead, tiptoed out the door, down the stairs and into the corridor, shivering despite the thick cardigan on her shoulders, she unwillingly unsealed her wet eyelashes. 

“FELICIA!” Divya couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. Felicia was lying in a puddle of blood, similar to the condition they had found Alina in. The knife that was supposed to keep her safe had brought her demise. There were bloody footsteps starting from near her, and a blood trail, caused from dragging. 
“It’s getting out of control.” Clairese whispered. She hugged Divya, shaking in fear, as hard as she could.  
“Why? And who? For what manic reason?” Juliane clenched her fist and punched one of the cupboards. The lid crashed onto the floor and made everyone flinch. 
“I know who did this.” everyone looked at Amora 
“My ex-boyfriend.” 
“What do you mean your ex?” 
“You don’t know how cuckoo he is.” 
“Come on Amora. Why would he kill the others if you were the one he was looking for?” 
“Don’t you see a pattern? He took down the house owner, the smart girl and kidnapped Amaya. Why? Because of Mark.” 
“You’re not thinking straight.” 
“He threatened me.” Amora spurted out, she looked broken 
“I think that’s enough arguing Juliane.” Clairese said, and Divya comforted Amora. 
“Last week he told me that he would find me and all my friends and spare no soul.”  
Amora felt alienated from the body that she had all throughout her life. Her soul now was separate from the physical. Juliane on the other hand hadn’t lost her sense of reality. 
“We have to leave.” she broke the nerve racking silence. 
“What do you mean?” Amora asked 
“The footsteps lead downstairs. He is there.” Clairese took a deep breath “Do you want to get us all killed?” 
“What’s the point? He has already heard the screams, he knows we’re here, he knows we’re scared, he knows! “She could hardly control herself. 
“I’m going, I suggest you do the same.” and with that Juliane turned around. 
... 
Juliane gasped and hid inside a room when she saw a shadow slightly move. The footsteps came closer and closer and stopped; Juliane could feel the killer's presence behind that fragile door. The killer laid his fingers on the doorknob with tranquillity; he twisted and took a lazy look around. Juliane could see the moonlight seeping through the narrow gap and hear the shallow breaths. The killer didn’t motion for a short couple of seconds, which felt quite longer from Juliane’s point of view, and then she closed the door and left. Upon the creaky closing of the door, Juliane loosened up her muscles and finally let out the breath she had been holding onto for a while. 
Yet before she could adapt the rhythm of her heart, she heard the shrill cries of the friends she had left behind. She hesitated to leave the room but did in the end. She collectedly tiptoed through the never-ending corridor. 
For the first time in her life, Juliane felt fear, her muscles unresponsive. 

A shadowy figure walked towards her. As it passed by the window, broken shards of glass on the floor, the moonlight illuminated the figure. It was Amora pointing at Juliane with tears welling in her light brown eyes, she was unable to speak. Her throat was slit, and her vocal cords snapped. The gurgling filling the gaps between her whines confirmed, that she was drowning in her own blood. One sentence echoed in Juliane’s head “He loves listening to me singing.” 
At the last moment, Juliane realised that Amora wasn’t pointing at her, she was pointing at what was going down behind her, but Juliane was too late to turn around. After a thump, she saw Clairese lying dead on the floor. Someone had dragged her lifeless body to her feet. Now she was standing between her two dead friends. She heard muffling and struggling sounds before speeding for her life. 
The last thing on that floor Juliane saw was Divya, a little cross constructed to stand on her heart, flooding with blood, from where belief flourishes. 
Juliane tumbled down the stairs and landed face-first but wasn’t in the position to give importance. She grabbed the staircase and pulled herself up but couldn’t balance on her shaky legs.  
For a moment, she halted. She heard a massive sound which made her get back on her feet. She ran towards the door and clung to the door handle, and started swinging it up and down frantically. 
“The battery should have run out by now..” she clicked the light switch, and yet the lights didn’t turn on. Then she saw the blue count down on the wall showing no longer than an hour of battery life left, meaning just until a while ago, every window in the house was locked. 
She muffled her scream in her hands, and tears dropped down her chin. She felt a paralysing wave from her toes to her legs and then to her arms. Soon enough, she heard footsteps climbing down the stairs, patiently, and something being dragged on the wall, something sharp. 
She decided to run for a window, but a knife flew before her eyes and sliced the wall. After glancing at the knife, Juliane started running for the kitchen. Amaya removed the knife from the wall with ease. Pieces of cement crumbled to the floor.  She climbed up the counter, but before she could open the window, a hand grabbed her and shoved her to the ground. 
“Let me soothe your curiosity. Juliane crammed deep into a corner. 
“I was the killer in the game. I am the killer; I killed everyone.” She chuckled manically. 
“You, you didn’t take your meds, did you? Look, take your pills, and then we’ll talk.” 
“Nonsense, everyone had me by my strings, but he liberated me!” She pointed at where he had been standing seconds ago. 
“There is no one there!” 
“It’s not my fault you’re all blind.” 
Juliane tried to shield herself with her hand, but the knife sliced through. 
Juliane felt the icy cold air deep in her flesh. The knife fell to the floor, and warm, sticky blood stained her back through many deep cuts. Her eyes went black, and she slowly lost her sense of pain. Though, her last sense, hearing, remained for a long while. 
“Too bad, I wasn’t planning on harming you, but you’re not on my side, I see. If you were, you wouldn’t be scared of me.” 
A beep sound echoed in the quiet house. The chandelier flickered. Amaya looked at Juliane’s discoloured, purplish, face. The fading mercy in her eyes was completely gone. She gazed outside. The rain had calmed down. 

“You know that’s not true.” the man had reappeared. 
“What do you mean, Mark?” 
“I am the killer, you can’t just claim my work.” 
“I… what?” The sound grew and grew inside her head and Amaya completely detached from reality. 
“Run, or they’ll find you.” 
 
Alina’s parents came home to find the door forced open, the place thrashed, and a window completely shattered; worst of all, their daughter and all her friends were dead, except for one who was missing.

Clairese: Popular

Alina: Noble/rich one 
Felicia: successful/smart 
Divya: divine 
Amora: Lover 
Juliane: Fearless 
Amaya: Night rain