shout out to all the redditors who volunteered to be brutally murdered.

Kara, Dev, Deja, and Charred had gathered outside the room they had fallen into. Kara rubbed the back of her neck as she looked down the dark hall.

"See any way out?" Deja called.

"Not yet, looks like we'll have to do a bit of exploring."

Charred, the youngest of the group by a few months, walked up to the two girls and stuck his hands in his pockets. "We should look for the others,
first."

Deja nodded. "Yeah, we still gotta gather up Karl, UFO, Animal, AnnaLife, Jack, and Cupcakes."

"They might be back in class, though." Dev piped up before looking down. "I don't know a lot about your charms, but that could still happen, right?"

Deja rubbed her chin as she pulled out a scrap of paper. "I suppose... I didn't really see what happened to the others."

"We should still scope out the school, so we can gather anyone that came here. Speaking of which..." Charred glanced around in disdain. "Just where are we, anyways?"

"Honestly? I don't have a clue."

Shaking his head, Charred pointed down the hall. "Let's just start by looking over here. Try to stay in the general area." With that, he walked off and stepped into the first room. Deja clutched one of her protection charms and took a deep breathe. Shouldering her way through the door, she glanced around the old room. Desks were knocked over here and there, and it was overall a bland area, except for a small drawing. The proportions were heavily distorted and the colors weren't inside the lines. Leaning closer, it looked like a girl... Eating watermelon?

It honestly looks like a Titan or something...

Deja shrugged and left the room to see how the others were doing. Charred was leaning against the wall and Kara was still in her room. With nothing to do,
she walked in to check on her.

Kara shaking and facing a fallen cabinet. Underneath it was a bleach-white skeleton sprawled out on the floor. Judging by the height and uniform, it appeared to be the remains of a male junior high student. Attached to his blazer, there was a faded name tag that read "Shobu University Middle School Makashi Kawasaki."

It was definitely real. Tiny strings of meat and dried blood still coated what was left of his clothes. Not sure what to do, Deja awkwardly pat Kara's shoulder and sighed. "Ah... How about we just go outside to Charred and Dev. I'm sure they'll know what to do."

When they got outside, Kara had walked off to Charred and started frantically explaining what had happened. Deja groaned and rubbed her head.

Just what did we get ourselves into...?

Seeing that Charred and Kara were getting nowhere, she decided to take a small walk around the school. "Hey, I'm gonna go scope the place out a bit,
just to get a general feel of the area, okay? I promise I wont go far."

Dev stepped up and glanced around. "Here, I'll go with you."

Charred gave a tight nod, and the two were off. Deja swung the pouch full of protection stones and started humming lightly as a song flashed through her head. It was strange, the corpses didn't even bother them that much. Kara and Charred were in near hysterics, and if anything, they were just curious about them. Well, she couldn't really speak for Dev, but he seemed to be in better shape than anybody.

Maybe it's because he didn't see it first hand?

She let these thoughts wander a bit, before she heard Dev's breathe hitch and they both stopped. Someone was sitting and leaning against the wall. There was a sky blue aura around him, and his eyes where glazed over and unseeing. His gaze soon settled on Deja and Dev, but it looked like he was staring at something behind them.

He drew a few shaky breathes before speaking in a low, pained voice. "If you should die here... You'll experience the pain you felt at the moment of your death for all eternity."

The spirit stopped and adjusted its glasses. "Heaven's completely cut off. No paradise. No nirvana. Just eternal pain... nnghh..."

He groaned and clutched a large bloody mark on his stomach. "Why...Did I have to die like that...?" He pulled his knees to his chest, and buried his face in his arms. The light around him swirled for a bit, before dispersing into a few slivers of light that faded away like smoke.

Where the spirit was sitting, was a small rusty key. Deja picked it up and looked it over before stuffing it into her pocket.

"You'll feel the pain of your death for all eternity..." Dev echoed.

"Best not to think about it."

i dont even know what im doing with this story anymore