The sharp tang of freshly cut planks and the musk of dead grass was what jerked me awake that morning. That was the first sign something was amiss.

Then I felt the scratchy surface of what should have been my soft blankets, and the uncomfortably warm clothing I wore—and then I realised that I was not in my room anymore, but instead in a strange wooden shack, with the fireplace, bed, and dining hall all in one room, cooped up together with only about a meter's distance apart—

I immediately jumped off my bed and attempted to locate the closest bathroom. There was a room tucked away in the corner, so small that I nearly missed it. I flung open the door, and it hit the wall next to the fireplace with a wooden thunk, revealing a perfectly clean toilet.

My mouth was raw after throwing up.

I groggily turned and twisted the metallic tap, grateful to hear the gentle murmur of water roll out and gather in the sink. I leaned into the flow of water, savouring its sweet taste, then closed the tap and popped out the plug with a satisfying fwop. So the voice was true. I was in Salem. If only I listened to it more...

So much for a "medieval period" game. I briefly wondered who had made this house. I had to do anything to keep my mind off the matter at hand. Although the house's roof was made of straw, it actually seemed to be quite adept at holding heat inside—and keeping the cold outside as well. Or maybe that was how straw worked—

The shrill calling of the rooster cut through my thoughts like a cable snapping, making whatever it was holding plummet to the floor with a loud crash. The loud slamming of doors erupted through the circular space. Girls, men, women, boys—all were united in this very moment of fear. I myself quietly slid open my door, then snicked it shut. I looked around and saw greyed, worn-out people, dressed in yellowed clothing and topped with sagging black caps, their movements slow and groggy. When we were all assembled outside, our feet only just touched the inner circle of the town.

No one dared talk. The stagnant air was far too oppressive.

My heart nearly stopped when the loud booming of an overhead voice sliced through the silence.

"Welcome to the Town of Salem! As you know, all fifteen of you were randomly selected from the playerbase of the titular game itself. Don't bother trying to leave the town-At least, don't bother if you value your life.

"Your goal is to secure a faction win for your faction. To do this, you need to kill all opposing faction members, either by lynching or night time abilities. If you complete this, you and your faction teammates, alive or not, will be allowed to go home alive. However, all losing factions will have their souls trapped in Salem-forever. So don't lose, everyone! Cheers-"

The voice cut off abruptly. My mouth was painfully dry, and even swallowing was a difficult task. I wanted to be in my bed-my real bed. I wanted to hold my soft toys and sleep knowing that I would not meet an early death. Wailing sounded from across the gallows, followed by incoherent blubbering. I was about to slip away myself, my own two legs swaying like thin sticks in a typhoon. I stared into the bright blue sky, wishing that the day would be over, hoping that I'd go to sleep and wake up back in my own home.

In the midst of the chatter, a loud bell tolled, gonging loud and obnoxiously. I directed my attention towards the crooked gallows once again, this time setting my sights on a rather plain, brown-haired man with his hand on the bell.

The man slowly let go of the bell and awkwardly waved. "Well, uh. Hello everyone. My name's Wayne."

The town was as silent as grass on a dry day. Wayne cleared his throat.

"I-um. I think we should all share names. It's better than referring to everyone by their numbers."

The blonde girl with the dopey smile popped up her hand. "I'm Elizabeth, it's nice to meet you all!" Her skirts flounced everywhere as she energetically bounced on her toes like a pink balloon. I guess adrenaline can make you stupid like that. I tried to ignore her and raised my hand. The mafia tend to ignore day one talkers and instead prey on the silent ones, so I figured it'd be a nice way to keep myself alive… for a day or two maybe.

"My name's Tabitha." I said monotonously, trying really hard to make myself sound like I had accepted that I would die the next day. Although talking day one was a great way to ensure your safety for a day, I had a sneaking suspicion it made me sound too over confident that I wasn't going to die, hence making me an immune, and therefore an evil.

We went around the circle and swapped names, some others even giving slight tidbits to their personal lives. I recorded all the names down next to their numbers. In ranked gameplay, it was common for players to keep Notepad open to record down claims and cross off the town alignments as they became confirmed or died, and thus identify the evils by checking if their claim fitted against what rolelist would allow. It was really a bland way to play, and it only properly worked if everyone was claiming a role… but in situations like these, I figured I could work with it, somehow. My pencil (given to us to write our last wills with by the game masters) lifted itself off the page with a satisfying flick as I scrolled down the last name.

Penelope

Samuel

Wayne

Violet

Brian

Elizabeth

Tabitha

Gilbert

Edward

Ruby

Harris

Yolanda

James

Michelle

Stephanie

Wayne looked up from his own notebook and clanged the bell again, signalling for silence through the thick fog of murmurs. It didn't take as long this time for the town to completely die down. The brunette put on his best smile as he addressed everyone-anything to lighten the mood again.

"Today, we are friends. For many, this will be our last day of our day-to-day lives. We should treat everyone in the town today with the same respect we treat other people we cross in our everyday lives. Let us not worry about our alignments, but instead focus on the validity of our friendships, and the genuinity of our respect. Today is not a da…"

His speech was turning out to be incredibly long and boring. I bit my bottom lip out of habit and found it was actually quite dry and painful to the touch. Did they sell chapstick in Salem? Wayne's speech about motivation or something became cotton in my ears as I wondered how to cure dry chapped lips in the thirteenth century. Did they use obscure herbs or something? Maybe rubbed coal all over their faces-

The bell clanged, and everyone began to leave the circle, including Wayne. I exhaled myself into a more loose stance. My eyes met the sky. It was still a streak of baby blue on canvas, with clouds clotting out the golden sunbeams. In the game, the day would immediately end after discussion had finished, but here the day was still young. I guessed I looked pretty stupid as I was wondering about my situation, because I heard the faintest laughter from a group several metres away from me. I bit my lip again-ah, so dry, damn-

"Hey! Tabbie!" The familiar bouncy voice of Elizabeth came bounding towards me. Who on earth was Tabbie? I wanted to look around, but I was scared of the laughter coming back, and I already looked weird enough…

"Ta-bbie! Come on, let's go!" I heard a huff and the gentle tug of my hand. My eyes widened as I caught on and willingly I followed the pull through cobble paths and stone houses, until we reached a small well and a wall of lush, tall trees.

I awkwardly retracted my hand from her grip and faced the ground near Elizabeth's feet. I hoped it was good enough to let her know I was addressing her. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"Really, don't sweat it." I felt her contagious grin even as she turned and walked towards the well. "Help me get some water out-I'm totally parched after that dumb long speech."

Elizabeth dropped the wooden bucket into the well, and I could have sworn I had waited at least ten seconds until I heard a loud splosh sound. We each took turns turning the handle and pulling the bucket up, and as we did the sound of metal and wood argued relentlessly, rattling the earth. Finally, after some time, we managed to pull the bucket out with minimal spillage, the bucket still filled to the brim.

We sat down on the grass, and Elizabeth handed the bucket to me. "Here you go," she said with another one of those grins. "You can have the first sip."

I figured it'd be kind of rude to accept without refusing once. "No-I mean, it's ok… you can have the first drink."

Elizabeth stared at me with raised eyebrows, then shrugged and took a huge gulp of water. Maybe I shouldn't have looked so confused-it was self inflicted after all. She passed the bucket to me, and I took my own sip at last.

"So, how long have you been playing Town of Salem?" she asked, staring at me. I awkwardly tried to gulp down my bubble of water fast enough to answer her. I ended up choking and spluttering around like an idiot instead.

"Well, if ranked's been treating you unfairly for the past couple of years then you could have just said so." Elizabeth buried her face in her knees and sighed. "Not that I'd know a thing or two-I only play on the casual game modes."

"Three… months…" I managed to wheeze out between coughs.

She seemed taken aback. "What? Only three months? Jeez-you're gonna get destroyed here, do you need any help? You could tell me your role and I could help you out."

I tried my best to start breathing normally again, bracing my hand on a knobby tree. "I'm… fine…" I was fine with claiming to the whole town, but claiming privately to an unconfirmed-hell, unclaimed town was suicide. "I'll tell you my role at the start of the next day."

Elizabeth stood silently, and for a second I was worried she would yell at me for being overly cautious. But before I could run, she thrust something towards me. A small, plastic tube.

"Here." She grinned widely at me. "I noticed your lips were chapped. I dunno how it got in my pocket, but here you go."