[Kokujo]

Scott had made it to the lavatories where he heard a slight noise coming from deep inside. He could also see light coming from deep inside and decided to see who it was. As he approached the light and the noise, he found himself being punched in the face by an unknown person. Scott had been knocked off of his feet by the blow to the face, but almost immediately after, he noticed a hand reaching out to help him up. He looked up and seen Mick standing over him and then grabbed his hand and pulled himself up. “What did you do that for?” Scott growled at Mick. “I didn’t know it was you, I thought it was someone else. I heard a scream coming from somewhere so I got a little paranoid.” Mick defended himself while Scott stared at him with sadness in his eyes. “Mick… both Ed and Victoria are dead… and they both committed suicide.” Mick was in shock due to Scott’s words. “Come on, we need to get back to Ronald and Megan.” Scott started to walk back and Mick followed him.

Meanwhile, Mimi was walking down her hallway and came across what appeared to be a large ballroom. She could see a balcony held up by several stone pillars and a large empty floor. She walked out onto the floor but didn’t spot Rachelle or Martin. She walked over to another door she’d noticed and proceeded through it, only to find herself in another hallway. But she didn’t have to go far to find Rachelle and Martin. This entire hallway had been lit up by candles, and at the end was bother Rachelle and Martin. She called out to them and they both walked towards her. “Rachelle, Martin, we need to leave right now!” Mimi said in a scared tone. “But why Mimi? Why must we rush out so quickly?” Martin asked while puzzled. “B-because Martin… Victoria and Ed committed suicide and Megan and Ronald are hurt…” Mimi barely managed to keep herself from crying again. Both Rachelle and Martin were shocked, but both followed closely behind Mimi as she returned to where she’d come from.

It wasn’t long before both Scott and Mimi met up in the hallway where they separated. The five friends quickly made their way back to Ronald and Megan who were still in the living room and injured. “The van might be charged enough to get us out of here.” Scott said to everyone else. They made it back down the hallway of rooms and finally back to the living room where Ronald and Megan were. However, what they saw when they arrived was horrific. A bloody mess with Megan laying over Ronald’s body and crying, Ronald had slit his own throat with a knife he’d taken from the kitchen. Megan had to watch him do it because she was unable to stop him due to her condition.

Mimi couldn’t take it and broke down in front of everyone. She instantly dropped to her knees with tears pouring down her face. Scott and Mick quickly ran over to Ronald’s body to see if he was still alive, but he had been dead for several minutes. Rachelle couldn’t stomach it and she started to throw up away from where everyone else was, and Martin tried to comfort her. Mick pulled Megan up and away from Ronald’s dead body while Scott ran outside to see if his van was ready to go. Mick and Megan watched Scott head over to his van, and while everyone had their backs turned, Mimi stood herself up and walked over to Ronald’s body. She bent down and picked up the knife Ronald had used off of the ground and started to scream at everyone. “Everyone will die! You are all doomed to die in this castle! Nobody will survive this night!”

Mick, Megan, Rachelle, and Martin all turned around to see Mimi waving the knife around like a maniac just moments before she started slicing her arms open. Mick and Martin quickly ran to her aid, but before they could reach her in time, she stabbed herself in the neck. Blood squirted from her wound as Mick raced to pull the knife from her neck. As soon as the knife left the wound, blood poured from her neck and squirted all over Mick. Mimi fell to her knees as blood continuously poured out, and she fell over on the ground and died from blood loss several seconds later. Mick could only watch in shock as the rest of Mimi’s blood flooded the ground below. Martin was sickened by her bleeding corpse. Scott raced back to the castle just in time to see her dead body lying on the ground. “N-no… Mimi…” Scott was devastated by the death of Mimi and couldn’t take looking at her body, so he ran back out to his van.

Mick, Rachelle, Megan, and Martin all felt cold as they looked at Mimi’s now dead body. Scott was outside and they could tell he was upset and had feelings for the girl. Mick picked Megan up after hearing Scott’s van start up and was about to carry her out to it, but before he even made it out the door; Scott floored the gas pedal and smashed into the side of the castle. Mick and the others freaked out as Scott’s van started to catch on fire. Mick could see Scott looking at him with cold eyes as he began to speak his final words. “The curse is spreading… you can break it if you think about it… put it back…” After speaking those final words, Scott’s van exploded. It killed him instantly, blew a larger hole in the castle, and also caught some of the furniture on fire. Mick wasn’t sure what Scott meant, but as he watched Mimi’s body catch on fire, he then noticed a locket around her neck and raced to grab it before it burned up.

Rachelle, Martin, and Megan all stood back to avoid the fire. Mick soon walked over by them while holding onto the locket. “The van is gone, so is Scott. We have no way to get Megan out of here, but I think we have something much worse to deal with. Everyone who killed themselves didn’t just do it to do it; there must’ve been some force behind it. Scott’s final words have leaded me to believe that some sort of curse has been placed on us. I don’t know what did it or why it happened, but he said to put something back and the only thing that any of us had that we didn’t have before arriving here was this locket.” Mick explained his idea to the others and decided to search around for ideas before letting anyone else fall victim to this curse. Everyone else agreed with him, though, Rachelle was a bit skeptical.

“What if it’s not a curse and we have wasted our time? What if that causes Megan to die from blood loss? What then, Mick?” Mick understood everything Rachelle was worried about, but he had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t matter unless they broke that curse. “I understand, but if this curse is doing what I believe it’s doing, then it won’t matter in the end unless we break it.” Mick explained his point and defended himself. Rachelle decided to go with him anyway and see if they could find a way to break this curse. Martin, Rachelle, Megan, and Mick all proceeded into the bedroom where Mimi had found the locket, unaware that it was the room she found the locket in. Mick didn’t want to leave anything unchecked so he gave the room a thorough inspection and discovered the jewelry box that Mimi had gotten the locket from.

Mick opened it up and could see what appeared to be an imprint of a locket. He could only guess that the locket Mimi had was taken from this box, so he decided to search the box and the dresser for clues. He lifted the jewelry box up and the bottom fell off along with a piece of paper. Mick picked up the paper and looked at it, noticing that it was an unsigned letter. Mick turned around to face the others and showed them the letter. “I don’t know what it means, but it seems to be some type of letter. I’m going to read it.” Mick lit a nearby candle and began reading the letter. “To all of those who are concerned, do not touch the locket lying within this box. It is cursed, and the curse will haunt thee for the rest of your life. It will drive you mad and to do the unthinkable… to yourself. There is no way to stop this “curse”… without blood being spilled. There is only one way to stop it from continuing, and that is to break the chain… sincerely, yours truly.” Mick didn’t understand what the letter meant, but he now knew that one more person at least would have to die in order for the rest to live.

Megan was upset by the content of the letter, she didn’t understand why it was so difficult to simply leave and live normal lives again and why this curse had to take her friends away. She started to cry and couldn’t stop herself. She started grabbing onto her own skin and squeezing tightly, enough so that she started to draw blood with her finger nails. She started crying and screaming uncontrollably while scratching her arms up and running from the room. Mick, Rachelle, and Martin ran after her, but she made her way into the dining area and dropped to her knees. Sadness had overwhelmed her as she started clawing at her chest and neck. Blood was drawn and started to run down her body as she peeled her own skin back and pulled pieces off of her body. Finally, she grabbed a chunk of her neck and pulled it off which caused her to stop breathing. She fell over just as the others arrived and slowly died in their presence.