Cruelest Game of Tag:

Three days later, my phone buzzed on my nightstand. I grumbled as I reached over for it.

“Hello?” I asked. A woman frantically screamed on the other line. I narrowed my eyes.

“What?” I asked. “I’m sorry, I can’t understand what you are saying… Slow down, slow down. Calm down and start again. Take a deep breath. Better? Good, now what are you saying?” It took four words to make me bolt up from bed. “What?! What do you mean?!” I jumped out of bed and raced over to my closet. No! No! I was so careful! How did this happen?! Once I got dressed, I hurried out the door.

The drive to the downtown apartment complex took about two hours. The whole time I kept shaking. She didn’t pick up her phone the two times I tried to call. Come on! Please be alright! I played out every possibility in my head as I made it up to Chika’s apartment. To my dismay, I found the door wide open. Not this again! I raced inside with my phone in my hand. Inside looked organized with nothing out of place. However, I caught onto the first clue as I knelt down to take off my shoes. Her cute little shoes were still here by my feet. She loved this purple flowered pumps and would never leave the house without them. I gritted my teeth. Kaoru, you bastard! You better not have done anything to her!

I jumped when my cell phone rang. Once I calmed down, I flipped it open to my ear.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Setsuna-chan!” I heard a small voice whimpering in pain. I stepped back startled.

“Chika?” I asked. “Where are you?”

“Help… me…”

“Okay, but where are you? Are you alright?”

“I’m scared…”

“Tell me where you are!”

“You have to come and find her!” a familiar male’s voice hissed other the line. I gripped onto the phone as tightly as I could.

“Kaoru!” I shouted. “What the hell did you do to Chika?!”

“Let’s play a little game, shall we?”

“What did you do to her?!”

“You want her back that badly? Come out and find her?”

“Where?!”

“Come out to Ueno Park in two hours.”

“Ueno Park?”

“Tick-tock! Tick-tock!” He hung up before I could speak. I stared at the screen, cursing myself. I refuse to lose another friend to him! I raced out to my car. The drive would be easy, but I didn’t know where in the park he was holding her. I gritted my teeth. I should’ve been more careful. When I pulled up to a stoplight, my phone rang.

“Hello?” I asked. An ear-piercing scream filled the other line. I nearly took my foot off the break. “Chika?!”

“I got a question for you,” Kaoru spoke up. “Which leg did I just break?”

“Kaoru!” I shouted. “You better not—!” He hung up on me once again. I almost missed the light because of him. That was the first time that I wanted to kill him. He’s been putting me through hell because an ex-girlfriend of his strung him along. Kaoru called me every ten minutes, taunting me and torturing Chika over the phone. I swore to myself that I would kill him in any way possible when I found him.

Turns out, getting to the park was the easy part. I stood in the entry, looking around. Clearly he wouldn’t be out here in plain view at high noon. He would have to be keeping Chika somewhere dark. The problem I had was the giant size of the park. Where would I even start? My phone rang just at that thought.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Good, you made it just in time,” Kaoru’s voice filled my ear. I resisted the urge to scream into the phone.

“Where is she?” I asked. “I will kill you if you kill her!

Kaoru laughed over the phone. “You kill me? I would love to see you try!”

“Where is Chika?!”

“Look at the clock tower.” He hung up again before I could speak. By this point, I wanted to tear out my hair. A woman’s scream pierced the air. I followed the crowd as they raced by me. I wished that I hadn’t done that as we ran to the clock tower. I dropped my phone on the ground when I saw Chika’s bloody and beaten body tied down to the clock tower.

When I saw my friend dead on the ground, my plans to kill Kaoru climbed to the top of my mental list. Aki, Kiku, Chika, Mother… I will avenge you all! I clenched my fists at my sides.