Be preferred Valery's POV My childhood memories were filled with trauma. I never got to experience the simple joys of being a child, the kind of things that other kids took for granted. I was robbed of the chance to play, to have fun, because my world was stripped of those things from a very young age. My mom died when I was five, and I never knew who my father was. I had an aunt, but she never treated me like family. Neither did her husband or their child. She didn't hesitate to abandon me at an orphanage. That's how I ended up with the family I lived with. Now, I was terrified of reliving the trauma I experienced before. I didn't want to go through that again. That's why I was trying to have fun, to make up for the joy I never got to experience as a child. This school didn't allow phones, so I couldn't even call my friends. Ugh. Kairos and Daisy were the only people I knew and considered friends here. I hoped they would always be there for me, especially when I needed them. "Valery, it's Thursday night. We need to prepare for tomorrow night, Saturday," Kairos said, chewing on a burger. This university had a small diner that was only open at night, and that's what Kairos had mentioned earlier. "Saturday night? What's going on?" I asked, frowning. Daisy was also looking at her brother with a puzzled expression. "Well, they have a game every Saturday night," Kairos said, adjusting his glasses and staring intently at us. "A bloody game." "A bloody game? What does that mean?" Daisy asked. "I haven't read any articles about something like that." "Well, I have, but they deleted it right away. And the person who posted it, they killed him. No one is allowed to interfere with the bloody game. It's deadly serious. If you get involved, you're dead." "This game is like hide-and-seek, but with a killing twist. They have five targets, and whoever manages to kill them all gets a high ranking in the school." "So, it's okay for the students here to kill people?" I asked, horrified. "Well, they love to do it. They kill people who are defenseless, those who can't fight back," Kairos said, crossing his arms. "Hmm, then how do they choose their five targets? And how do the targets even know they're targets?" Daisy asked. Right, how do they decide who to target? "Well, you become a target if you do something they don't like. If they're bored and don't have any targets to give a bloody paper to, they'll target the quiet people, the ones who keep to themselves. You'll know you're a target if you find a paper that says 'You're the next target, good luck,' but instead of a ballpoint pen, they use blood. They give these papers out every Thursday to give their next victims enough time to prepare," Kairos explained. "And to win the game, you need to survive until 6 AM. If you survive, you get a high ranking as a reward. And if you get another bloody paper after surviving, you're unlikely to survive again. Here, they can use any weapon to kill you. Before, it was just knives and swords, but now they can use guns and other weapons. They can even rape you before killing you," Kairos said, his voice dropping to a low, chilling tone. This university is terrifying! "We'll find out tomorrow who the five targets are. I hope none of you are chosen," Kairos said, his voice filled with worry. "That's unlikely, Kai. We haven't done anything to provoke anyone," Cindy said, and I agreed. "It's better to be prepared at all times, Cindy. Our lives are at stake here. They're playing a death game, so we need to be careful," Kairos said. We were all silent after that. He was right. They wanted to play a game of death, so we couldn't afford to be complacent. We couldn't just stand by while others were being targeted, their lives being taken without mercy, all for their twisted game.