He was sure they could see the same fear in his face too. They knew they were all in grave danger and there was absolutely no denying it.
Adrian left the group and climbed up the stairs to look for his room. It was on the right side, in between Richard’s and Tharonby’s. Adrian grimaced at the thought of having a room right next to the American. Opposite to his room, across the balcony, was Eun-Kyung’s room.
Inside of the room was fairly plain. There was a bed next to the wall on the left side, a small table with a lamp next to it, a chair and a table on the right side and a door leading to the bathroom between them. The table opposite the bed had a copy and a pen on it. Besides the lamp, the only source of light was a bulb on the ceiling.
The bathroom was tiled and had a toilet, a shower cubicle and a basin. No windows anywhere. The only windows he had seen were on the wall next to the staircases. And, as the anonymous voice had said, they had been locked pretty tight; he had checked it himself.
Leaving his room, he bumped into Tharonby who had just left her own room.
“I am very sorry,” she said.
“Oh, it’s quite alright,” Adrian answered. “Looks like we’ll be seeing each other often since your room is right next to mine.”
“I guess we could look out for each other,” Tharonby said with a smile. “Unless you’re the host.”
“I could say the same about you. In fact, we can say the same about everyone,” Adrian said.
“What do you think of our host?” It was Raven Bertelsen who had exited her room. “He says he is going to kill us one by one yet goes to such effort to ensure our comfort.”
“Well, I'd say he most certainly is a psychopath,” Tharonby said. She paused to reconsider what she'd just said. “Of course, it could be a ‘she’. By the way, you said you're from Sweden yes? But your surname, it’s Norwegian.”
“Ah, you noticed. You too are originally from Norway, aren't you? My great grandfather was Norwegian. He emigrated to Sweden. That’s why I have that surname. What about you? I've never heard a surname like yours before.”
“Like I said before, blame my parents,” Tharonby replied, rolling her eyes. “My dad was a Felland and my mum was a Hille. You know where I’m getting at.”
Raven nodded as did Adrian. Tharonby continued, “My surname was originally spelled H-I-F-E-L-L. I later had it legally changed to H-U-I-F-E-Y-L. Thought, since I already had a strange surname, might as well make it unique.”
“Well, it most certainly is,” said Hunter who had just joined the group of three. “As opposed to mine. Half the people in the world are named John. And Hunter. I must say, I really like the three of you. We could form our own little team. Team right side. Adrian, Tharonby, Raven, me, Richard and Hwang.”
“I don’t think Richard would agree to it,” Adrian said.
“Yeah, he does seem a little uptight. I’m sure he’ll soften up. Unless he’s the host.”
“I can assure you I am not the host. And no, I am not uptight,” said Richard. He was leaving his room.
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize you were in there,” Hunter said.
Richard scowled at Hunter and walked downstairs.
“Let’s go downstairs and into the kitchen. See what delicacies our host has in store for us. I sure hope they’re not poisoned,” Hunter said.
“I’m sure they aren’t. We would all be dead together if that were the case,” Adrian said. “And as far as I can tell, our host doesn’t want that.”
“I know, I’m just joking. Well then, let’s go to the kitchen.”
As they were walking down the stairs, Tharonby paused to look outside one of the window. “What time do you think it is?”
“Since it is autumn and the sun sets at about six in the evening, I’d say it’s about five o’clock given the sun’s position,” Hunter said looking outside the window.
“Five o’clock … that leaves us with seven hours before the twisted game of our host officially begins,” Tharonby said.
“How do you suppose our host is going to kill us?” Adrian asked. He could not ask direct questions and give himself away.
“The better question would be how will our host choose? Who will die first?” Raven asked.
“Well, I sure hope it isn’t me,” Hunter said.
The kitchen was a standard fare. It had a rather huge refrigerator, ones you usually see in offices and not private homes and an electrical stove with a built in grilling system. The kitchen counter was several feet long and on it were placed knives, a chopping board, blender, coffee machine and a sink at the end. Hunter walked up to the counter and opened the cabinets below it revealing many small bottles full of different spices. As for the refrigerator, it was stuffed with various food items. Hunter let out a whistle upon seeing it.
“Our host wants to fatten us up before killing us it seems,” he commented.
Adrian left the three and walked through a door that led to the dining room. There was a long plain table in the middle of it, five chairs on each side with two on either end. There was a chandelier identical to the one in the hall hanging from the ceiling. Their host was certainly a rich person, Adrian thought. The wall opposite the door had one long window stretching from one end to another. He walked up to it and tried to force one section open. As he had expected, the window refused to budge. Smashing the glass was also useless; the window was also completely barred and, unless they could somehow cut through the metal grills, an escape was impossible.
If there were windows in the library or the pool room, Adrian was sure they were secured in the same way. Coupled with the other locked windows and the heavily secured door in the hall, they were completely trapped in the mansion. They were like rats in a cage, ready for a twisted experiment by their captor.
The host was impressed. The targets had been kidnapped by a mysterious person and told they’d die one by one and yet they were calm. Well, it wouldn’t last long. The host would see to it that their calmness would soon be replaced by utter fear and mistrust. How many lives would be lost before the detective solves the case, the host wondered. As many as possible - the host was counting on it. It wouldn’t be a fun game otherwise.
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