[Kokujo]

Rachelle cried at the sight of her friend’s dead body, she couldn’t take anyone else dying. She started crying into Martin’s arms about the whole situation. “Why? Why did this all have to happen? First Ed, then Victoria, then Ronald, Mimi, Scott, and now Megan, who’s next?” She cried deeply into Martin’s shoulder as Mick started to put things together. “First Ed died… Victoria was next, followed by Ronald. Mimi was after him, and Scott died next. And after Scott died, Megan killed herself. I think I got it figured out… “Break the chain”, does this mean to change the pattern of deaths? It’s not possible to stop this curse unless someone dies out of the order of deaths… and in this case… it goes male then female. Since a female just died, either myself or Martin will die next. But if Rachelle was to die next… both Martin and myself would go free…” Mick turned to face Martin and Rachelle, now with a murderous intent in his eyes.





“Martin, I do believe I have the answer to our problem. It lies within Rachelle, she needs to die in order to interrupt the chain of death and set us both free.” Mick bluntly stated to Martin. Martin could hardly believe what Mick was trying to tell him, and Rachelle started to fear for her life. “Wait, what? Are you saying that Rachelle needs to die in order to end this? I can’t and won’t let that happen.” Martin stubbornly stated. Since Mick wanted to kill Rachelle, then he wouldn’t dare touch Martin. Because that would result in the chain continuing as planned and him needing to kill himself in order to stop the chain. “Rachelle, I want you to get out of here. Run, hide, just get away from him.” Martin tried to get Rachelle away from Mick as quickly as possible. “I will find you Rachelle, and Martin, if you try to get in my way, then after I kill her, I’ll just have to kill you, too.” Mick angrily growled at Martin.

Mick started to walk towards the door Rachelle had exited through, but Martin stopped him with a fist to the face. Mick was barely fazed by it, though, and just threw a punch of his own which knocked Martin off of his feet. Mick then pulled the knife that Ronald had taken from the kitchen out of his back pocket and stabbed Martin in the side. Not in an area that would result in Martin dying, but Martin wouldn’t be able to do anything against him anymore. Mick then ran through the door that Rachelle ran through while Martin laid on the ground writhing in pain. Rachelle had made her way to the lavatory where she hid in the dark behind a wall. She was smart enough to blow out the candle lights so she wouldn’t be easily spotted by Mick. Mick, however, had a flashlight and had also made his way to the lavatory. Rachelle heard him coming, so she quickly ran away from him and made it back down the same hall Scott had went down to find Mick.

She tried to make it back to the living room, but Mick had succeeded in catching up with her and slashed her back open. She fell to the ground as Mick continued to try and stab her. She succeeded in kicking Mick’s leg just right, which caused him to drop the knife and lose his balance, thus making him fall to the ground as well. Mick crawled after the girl, though, and managed to grab her right ankle. He had retrieved his knife and tried to pull her to him so he could finish her off once and for all. But what Mick wasn’t expecting was Martin to have made his way over to where Mick was. Martin kicked Mick in the head which allowed Rachelle to get loose. While Mick was distorted, Martin kicked the knife from his hand and then proceeded to stop on his head. Rachelle had retrieved the knife and dealt the finishing blow to Mick: she stabbed him in the back of the head with the knife.

The couple was now the only ones left alive, but the curse was still in effect. According to the chain, Martin would need to die next in order for Rachelle to go free. The two made their way to the living room and walked past all of their dead friends. Rachelle had grabbed the locket from Mick’s pocket before they left, and she pulled it out to show Martin. “I’m going to make sure this never happens to anyone else!” Rachelle dropped the locket on the ground and crushed it with her foot. Martin could only smile at her, but his smile then turned to tears. “This is… where we part forever. Only one of us or neither of us will make it out alive. You’re next Rachelle, but if I kill myself, you will go free.” Martin sounded as though he’d come to a decision. “You’re not going to do it… are you?” Rachelle asked Martin. “If I want to preserve the most precious thing I have in life, then yes, I have to. That means I am going to.” Martin softly answered Rachelle.

Tears rolled down Rachelle’s eyes as she knew that her life with the man she loved was about to end. “I love you, I always have and I always will. I don’t want you to go…” Martin started to cry as well, knowing that he was about to leave this life. “I know, and I love you, too. But you have a dream, you have a future, you’re going to be a doctor. You can find someone better, you can make it in life, you can be successful. Don’t give everything up because of me, just go on and live.” Martin was deeply upset as he spoke, but he displayed his true love for Rachelle. Rachelle held out the knife which she’d used to end Mick’s life and Martin grabbed it from her hand. “Goodbye.” Martin then took the knife and slit his own throat which caused him to die just moments after. Rachelle cried softly as Martin left her for good.
Rachelle walked out of the castle and made her way to the nearby road where a police officer stopped and picked her up. She was then taken to the Hospital where she was placed in intensive care.

The memories of all of her friends and the horrific night she had to endure, and the memories of her true love dying in front of her haunted her nightmares. She awoke with her heart pounding and her body sweating. She couldn’t take such sadness and not being able to sleep. She reached over to a nearby cart and grabbed a scalpel and slowly carved in her arm “the curse ends with me” and then stabbed herself in the throat. She slowly died as doctors rushed into the room to save her, but found every attempt was futile…