“What happened?” Joriz asks. “Where is Johnrey? What happened to Aeron?”

    Kriz can’t utter a word. Other players except Jeric crowd around her, asking similar questions. Then, streams of tears flow down her face, and she wails like no other. Joriz checks his watch and sees the name of his friends on the screen.

    “What happened to them?” Joriz yells, his eyes full of anger. “TELL ME!”

    Kriz can’t answer and just wails even more. The others check their watches and shudder at the sight of the two names added to the list.

    “Just tell me what happened!”

    “Hey, stop!” Ryan blocks Joriz. “Can’t you see? She’s traumatized! Just give her time, okay?”

    “I just want to know what happened!”

    “I SAID GIVE HER TIME!”

    “DAMN!” Joriz slumps to the ground and bursts into tears. His blue Spanish eyes are now red with bitterness.

    “I’m sorry,” Shaira tells Kriz, hugging her tight. “We tried to wake you up but we couldn’t. Believe me we didn’t want to leave you there. I didn’t know what happened but we just couldn’t wake you up. The three of you.”

    “I’m so sorry,” Mabel cries. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

    After several minutes, Kriz manages to speak up. She tells the group that Johnrey turned into a block of ice for being the last in rank. She adds that she and Aeron were both hit by arrows, and that she managed to escape unlike Aeron.

    “Aeron was killed just like that?” Joriz asks, still teary-eyed.

    “We didn’t know where the arrows were coming from,” Kriz answers. “I’m sorry.”

    “But why are you okay? How did you survive?”

    “Her body heals fast,” Shaira answers. She realizes that Joriz is not yet familiar with Kriz’s power. “She’s not just a healer.”

    “Why are you naked, by the way?” Kriz asks Shaira.

    “Oh. My power is designed to embarrass me.”

    “Speaking of healing, Ryan is hurt,” Mabel cuts in.

    Without a second thought, Kriz heals Ryan’s injuries. Then, Shaira tells her the whole story starting on what happened at around two-thirty.

   

    Vincent wants to gamble. He concludes that Cristina cannot petrify just a part of a human body. He thinks that Cristina has had many chances to do so, but she has targeted only his clothes. He wants to take off his boxer shorts and run buck naked, thinking that Cristina is not brave enough to turn him into stone and lose her life for killing him. Then, he thinks again. Fear and courage grapple in his mind, and neither of them wants to surrender. He wants the whole thing to be over. He wants to get some rest. Tension and fatigue are driving him crazy, and the thought of him ending someone’s life aggravates his distress. Then, he tells himself that it will not be his fault. It will be Victor’s fault.

    Then, he remembers his mother. His always-busy mother. Businesses here and there. Always pushing hard to accomplish lots of things just to give him everything he needs. Everything he wants. Except time. Quality time he yearns in silence. Vincent asks himself series of questions….

    Does my mom know I’m lost? Does she really love me? What does my father look like? What does my sister look like? The one my father took away when he left Mom? Does my mom miss me when I’m away? Is she even proud of me? Is she proud that I’m an excellent basketball player in school? Is she proud that I’m known for my three-point shots? What will happen to Joshua if I die? Will he survive and see his family again? And why did Shaira kiss me?

    Then, something snaps within Vincent’s brain. He silently changes the mass of his jersey to one gram. Then, he changes the mass of his petrified basketball shorts to one kilogram and hurls it directly at Cristina. Though surprised, Cristina manages to dodge and stand up to defend herself from further attacks. The slab of rock slams against the glass wall and falls onto the ground. Cristina is safe, but Vincent’s trick effectively cuts her lethal stare.

Vincent’s right hand claws several blades of grass while his left hand grips his marker. Vincent awkwardly rushes toward Cristina, his upper body still being wrapped in his rock jersey. Rattled, Cristina picks up the rock and hurls it back at Vincent. She misses badly. She starts to run to the other corner but Vincent plays his last card.

“One kilogram!” Vincent changes the mass of the blades of grass in his hand and casts them to Cristina’s direction.

And one hits Cristina’s head.

Cristina has no time to beg for her life. Vincent gets her straight away. Seconds later, all the pain she feels goes away. She blacks out like a television set in a thunderstorm.

Victor finally ends the game. As soon as the glass enclosure disappears, Vincent’s rock jersey also disappears. At once, Jeric rushes toward Cristina’s lifeless body, lifts her head, places it in his arms, and screams like a madman. His tears quickly drench Cristina’s neck as he trembles and repeatedly begs for forgiveness, saying that everything is his fault. He begs Cristina to forgive his selfishness. His arrogance. His carelessness…. He checks his watch and grieves even more when he sees Cristina’s name on the screen. He tries to wake her up, hoping for a miracle. He tries so hard he looks ridiculous. But Cristina remains lifeless, cold as ice.

He then remembers his mother Christy. Her mother who looked like Cristina. He clearly remembers the look in her eyes when the police busted into their house to arrest him. They told her he had murdered his boss. They told her about the gun in the crime scene and about his fingerprints on the gun. He knew that he had touched a gun a couple of days earlier. A real one. One of his co-workers had showed it to him. He knew he had been innocent and that the police were pinning the wrong guy. But his mother had a bad heart. Like a withered rose, she collapsed at the kitchen sink, gasping for her life….

    “MOOOOOOM!” Jeric screams repeatedly, his face and shirt drenched in sweat and tears.

   

    Jeric confuses everyone else. The other players stand several meters behind him, teary-eyed and deeply sorry. But they are confused at the same time, wondering if it’s true that Cristina is Jeric’s mom. They just can’t believe it. Shaira thinks that Jeric has gone crazy. She’s happy that Vincent survived, standing almost naked beside her. But she can’t even smile about it. Next thing she knows, streams of tears are running down her face.

    A minute later, Jeric shouts several curses. He then creates a handgun, turns around, and shoots Vincent in the chest. Right through his heart. Vincent falls like a log, and the world quickly disappears in front of him. It collapses into a thin white line and crackles away to nothing.