Jessica’s body fell in front of Katie and Caitlin. The blonde girl was as lifeless as a piece of stone. Her cute pink scissor stuck out of her right eye. Blood and goo were on the ground.

Caitlin turned around and threw up on the floor. Half the class did the same thing while the other half tried to keep themselves from doing the same.

Katie licked her lips. The blood. The injury. The screams. The way the body just laid there. It was gorgeous.

It was art.

What does it feel like to get a scissor stuck into your eye, especially by yourself? She was really curious.

Wait a second, what?

Her friend just got forced to commit suicide, along with three other students, and she was enjoying this? What is wrong with her? Is she going mad?

Her eyes rested on her pen again. She turned around and glanced at Caitlin, who was too busy emptying her stomach on the floor. If she just gave herself a brief poke, her friend wouldn’t notice it. A while ago, Katie realized her scars have a tendency of disappearing, and her wounds heal really quickly. She classified it as her having high metabolism. Whatever the cause, when Caitlin was back, she wouldn’t see the wound on her friend’s hand.

But Katie got a hold of herself. Whether she would be exposed didn't matter. She made a promise. She intended on keeping it.

“Huh. That’s a fun way to die.” Mr. Isaac walked from body to body, admiring them as he moved. “Anyways, let’s get to class, shall we?”

“What are we learning?” Katie wanted to slap herself. Would it kill her to keep her mouth shut?

“It’s very simple, really.” Mr. Isaac explained. He was obviously having fun with this. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Every day, we are going to play a game. After the game is over, you get to do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Everything repeats the next day. By the way, you don’t have to worry about the other classes in your day. I don’t think anyone will even notice you’re gone.”

“Just like they didn't notice you’re dead? How does that even work?”

Caitlin poked Katie gently, politely telling her to STFU.

The brunette finally went silent.

“What’s going to be the game today?” One of the boys asked, doing Katie a favor.

“Great question, Tom.” Mr. Isaac licked his lips. “We’re just getting started and everyone’s new to this, and I’m a nice teacher, so why don’t we start with something easy?”

Katie was a little disappointed.

“This is a democracy, so why doesn’t everyone do a vote?”

“Vote for what?” Katie asked the question everyone was thinking.

“My dear, isn’t it obvious? One of you will be burned alive, and you’ll be voting who that person is.”

---

“We’re not voting. There’s nothing he can do to force us.”

After announcing the prompt of the day, Mr. Isaac left the room for the class. He told everyone to call him back when they’re ready.

As he left, the students grew bolder. One of them, a girl named Lucy, suggested a type of passive resistance.

Katie was kneeling down beside Jessica, marveling the kill. When she heard the words, she got back up and looked at Lucy like she was an idiot.

“Have you seen the bodies? If we don’t vote, there’s a lot of things he can do to us. Best case, he chooses someone randomly and lights him, or her, up. Worst case, he kills us all.”

“Then what do you say we do? Choose someone to die?” Lucy glared at Katie.

“Katie’s just trying to help.” Caitlin stepped in. She looked weak compared to Katie, but she was no fool. This was a contest of popularity, and if the class thinks Katie doesn’t care about them, they might choose her to die.

“I’m not voting.” Kyle said. He was Jessica’s boyfriend. “That son of a bitch killed Jessica. I’m not gonna be played like a puppet. If he wants to kill me, he can do it without any of these so-called games.”

Katie glanced at him. These games, as sickening as they are, are actually really fun. She didn't like it that Kyle wasn’t participating, so she decided to give a push. There’s no fun in doing nothing.

“Actually, if you hate Mr. Isaac, you should play along first so you can buy more time to find out how to take him down. It’s one game per day. If we get this game over with, we can have one more day to work with.”

“We’re not going to kill someone! Does anyone else see how stupid this is?” Lucy couldn’t believe where this is going. She turned to Katie in anger. “You! You have been making snarky comments the entire time! And now you’re trying to get us to kill each other? What are you doing? What do you want?”

Wait a second. Katie frowned. If Lucy keeps on talking, then the other students might think she’s some sort of sadist psychopath. It is probably true, but that would alienate Katie and likely make her the sacrificial lamb to this slaughter.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

Katie quickly worked up a retaliation.

“You know what? What you are doing here is really odd of you. I saw a problem, and I was brave enough to figure out what has to be done to keep most of us alive, and you want to stop me from doing that?”

“I’m not…”

“What do you want us to do? Nothing? Do you think that’s the key to surviving? We’re talking about someone who killed four students just because they were late. Do you think he’ll be stopped if we’re all dead silent? My guess is that he’ll just burn us all.”

“You don’t know that…”

“Are you willing to take the chances?” Katie turned to some students. “When I argued with him for more time, twice, where were you? I saved at least ten of us. What have you done?”

A couple of students nodded. They were the ones saved when Katie stood up to Mr. Isaac the first time and asked for more time. After seeing what happened to Jessica and the three others, these students saw Katie as their savior.

“You’re a liability, and you should be treated accordingly.” Katie gave out a final note.

“No, wait!” Lucy saw where this was going as well. “No one has to die!”

“Katie…” Behind Katie, Caitlin leaned forward. “I get what you’re saying, but we can’t just watch Lucy die. I mean...get burned alive? Can you imagine that?”

I am imagining that, and that’s why I’m trying to stop myself from smiling.

“You’re right.” Katie answered as she pulled out a pen and started flipping it. “But what do you suggest we do? Not vote and take the risk? Or do you suggest we send someone other than Lucy to die?”

Caitlin’s mouth hung open. She was speechless. Katie was right. Everyone knew it was ideal to not lose a single person, but wanting something and accomplishing that is very different.

“I don’t know...I really don’t know…”

After all, Caitlin was just a young girl. Before this day, her biggest dream was to be a fashion designer. She wanted to design clothes that everyone wants to buy. Now, she was talking about the life or death of someone.

“I have no choice. I don’t enjoy this either.” The first part wasn’t a lie. The second was. She didn't want to enjoy this, but, again, wanting something was different from doing something.

Minutes passed, and people started making up their minds. Some of them looked at Lucy apologizing.

Their choice was obvious.

Sending one to die was better than sending all 23 of them to die.

Lucy collapsed back in her seat. She was sweating like crazy. Burned alive. Burned alive! She glanced at the bodies on the ground and she couldn’t imagine what would happen to her.

Her eyes turned to Katie. Suddenly, she charged to her and knelt down.

“Please! Please! I don’t want to die! Please!”

Katie bit her lips. She knew she should feel sorry for almost single-handedly getting the girl into a deadly position, but she wasn’t sorry. In fact, she felt excited about what was going to happen. But as good as it felt, it was against every law of ethic she was taught.

The contradiction was tearing her apart.

“You attacked me first. You tried to get everyone to turn on me.” Perhaps more talking to herself than talking to Lucy, Katie defended her own actions. “I was just protecting myself.”

“Please!” Lucy begged. “I have money! My parents are rich!” She suddenly snapped and turned to the other students in the class. “My parents are rich! If you vote her to die, I can get each of you $1,000 by tomorrow! You can buy whatever you want! Just vote for her!”

She glanced at Katie with raw hatred.

Hearing the change of event, deep down, Katie was laughing her heart out. This was getting more and more interesting!

Some of the class frowned. $1,000 was a lot. The newest brand of iPhone is around the price. It could get them a lot of things that they liked, whether if they are drugs or games or movies or food.

All they had to do was vote.

Katie quietly turned back to Caitlin, who was obviously concerned. She didn't want Lucy to die, but she didn't want Katie to go down either.

“Just so you know, what I’m going to do is self defense.”

“What?”

Without another word, Katie turned back around and jammed her pen into Lucy’s left eye.

“Ahhhh!” The girl screamed as she reached for the wound and tried to pull the pen out, only managing to shake it and make the wound deeper. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You son of a bitch!”

Katie turned back to the class. This time, she could no longer keep a sick smile off her face. She kept on telling herself she had to do this to keep herself alive, but the fact was she really enjoyed that.

“She’s gonna die soon anyways. If you vote for her, you’ll be just giving her a quick end. It’s not really killing. In a sense, it’s mercy.”

“You...you bitch…” Lucy was still on the ground, bleeding out. At this point, she could barely form a full sentence.

Katie shrugged. “You attacked me first.”

At this point, the ending was clear. The class called Mr. Isaac back and did a vote. Lucy has already fainted out of pain. The entire time, as the class voted, Katie was flipping the pen she used to stab Lucy that she just retrieved. The girl’s blood was still on the sharp end.

As the voting continued, Katie scanned student after student in a threatening fashion.

Finally, the results came out.

It was as expected. Lucy got the short end of the stick.

Mr. Isaac snapped his finger again, and Lucy’s body erupted in flames. The girl was woken up by the scorching pain, only to roll around on the floor and scream in extreme agony.

As the entire class watched the burning body, smelled the barbeque scent, and listened to the horrifying screams, a lot of students transformed inside. It was at this moment that they realized their lives were completely changed. From now on, grades and universities don’t matter. The acknowledgment of their parents doesn’t matter. Building up for a successful career doesn’t matter.

The only thing that matters now is survival.

Today, five students died. How many will die tomorrow?

The flames kept on burning, but Lucy still wasn’t dead. Her persistence only prolonged her suffering. Gradually, she started moving toward Katie in an act of absolute hatred. If she’s going to die, then she would do her best to drag Katie to hell with her.

A trail of melted skin and flesh was left on the floor as she crawled.

As the melting body got closer, Katie gave out a small smile before walking up and kicking Lucy in the head. The poor girl collapsed, and never had the chance to get back up.

“Class dismissed.” Mr. Isaac finally said and walked out of the room. At the same time, all five corpses in the room disappeared, and the survivors fled out of the classroom of death.