Chasing Night Novel Chapter 7: Busted

Chapter 7: Busted

I froze; it felt like he poured cold water at , and I couldn’t breathe. I-Is he talking to ? H-How? How did he notice

in this darkness? "Tsk." I heard him clicking his tongue and said nothing else. Did he really think that I’m a mouse?

I didn’t dare turn around. I’m afraid that Night might be looking at , and our eyes might et. When my hand grabbed the sliding door, I slowly opened it and took the chance to get out. However, as soon as I got out, an unpleasant sll greeted , causing

to cover my nose. What is this— I gasped and imdiately covered my mouth before I could let out a scream. There’s this sticky feeling on my feet too.

I think I want to vomit.

I’m stepping on a fresh pool of blood barefooted. It must belong to that person they killed just now. Thinking about it makes

feel shivers down my spine as a lump forms in my throat, making

afraid that I might retch. I need to get away from this place as soon as I—

"Young miss?"

I stopped breathing after hearing a voice on my left. "What are you doing outside of your room?" It’s that young man nad Kenji. Oh god, what should I do? He looked down and noticed that my feet were soaked in blood. "Should I help you clean your feet up?"

"I-I—" I didn’t want to speak as I was afraid Night might hear my voice from his room.

Kenji, he creepily smiled at . "Did the noise scare you?" He whispered those words as if he noticed that I was anxious to be heard. "Here. Use it to wipe your feet." He gave

a wet towel while still smiling at . It’s creeping

out. Is he planning to kill

too? Are they all here to kill ? Why isn’t he saying anything else? Why isn’t he asking

questions he should have asked by now?

"Oh, perhaps did you forget where your room was?" Kenji whispered those words directly to my ear, causing

to flinch. How did he get close without

noticing? "Should I accompany you?" This silence between us scares

more than the chaos before. Even though I didn’t answer, Kenji accompanied

to my room as if he could read what was happening inside my head.

"Please avoid going out this late at night." Kenji reminded

as soon as we reached my room. "It’ll be hard on us if you got injured." W-What? Wait, is he saying they might kill

like that other girl if they saw

outside my room at night? That girl was just trying to help

but died because of .

The next day ca without any of my questions being answered. No one would answer

because I’m their hostage, and it’s too risky to ask Rika.

"Good morning, young miss."

Rika greets

with high tension. Her loud voice rings inside my head, and it hurts. "What ti is it?" I grunt while rubbing my eyes. I didn’t get enough sleep because of the incident last night. Who would be able to sleep after witnessing a murder? Those who can are probably psychopaths!

"It’s already 10 o’clock, young miss."

o’clock?!

"You must be tired because you couldn’t sleep early yesterday." Rika smiles. "Do you want

to get your breakfast now, or would you rather take a bath first?" Her smile is weirding

out, or am I just overthinking everything? No— I should overthink! I’m a hostage here.

"Breakfast, please."

Rika’s smile widens as she gives

a salute. "Yes, young miss! I’ll bring it as quick as I can." She said and hurried out of the room. Why is she so energetic today? It makes

want to overthink what happened yesterday. What if she’s acting cheerful to hide what’s happening inside the house? And the fact that she snitched on ?

It scares

whenever I think about what happened last night. I’m still wondering how they could kill soone without blinking an eye. I should get out of this house as soon as possible. I don’t know if Kenji’s planning sothing to keep

locked here, but I must eat breakfast first. My body won’t function well without food, and my brain won’t be able to think much since I don’t usually think a lot. This is the only way I can reduce the burdens on my parents.

That reminds , what day is it today? "What day is it today?" I asked Rika when she returned to the room with the food tray.

"It’s the 28th of October, young miss," Rika answered. "And it’s Saturday today."

My birthday is on the 31st of October. I already told my friends to celebrate it with my family and , but that seems impossible now. Unless I escape successfully from this place before my birthday. "Oh right, young miss. I will be tending to so housework today because the other servants aren’t around." Rika said. Isn’t that good news for ? It’ll make it easier to sneak out of this room without getting caught. I started stretching out as soon as Rika got out of my room. I better not run while my stomach’s full since it’ll hurt later.

Now how should I plan my escape? Should I stop thinking and just run for it? I’m pretty good when it cos to running away. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been athletic. I’m confident about my skills; those people from yesterday might not be around anyway.

What if Kenji told everyone to be on guard because of what happened last night? He witnessed

outside my room, so it’ll probably raise so suspicions, wouldn’t it?

If I can escape, it’ll be nice, but if I can’t, they might tighten their security, and there’s no other way for

to escape without getting hurt. "Okay," I said after stretching. "I’m going to make a run for it."

So people get surprised when they learn how athletic I am because of my small stature. I’ve been running in marathons since I was a kid, and I even get surprised with how I pass my limits. But that’s past now; I’m not sure if I’ll be able to outrun everyone. No, let’s think positively. They won’t be able to chase after

as soon as I get out of this place.

The only problem is that I don’t know where the exit is. My plan yesterday failed because of the commotion that happened. "It can’t be helped."

One... two... I took a deep breath. "Three!" When I opened the sliding door, I rushed towards my left side, where I sneaked yesterday. It’ll be a risk not knowing where the exit is, but it’s better than staying in that stuffy room alone. It’s the best ti since I learned that Night doesn’t feel great and it stopped raining outside.

As soon as I took a turn to the intersection I saw yesterday, I bumped into another person. "Y-Young miss?" It’s Rika! She fell on her butt because of that. What excellent timing is this, oh god!

"I’m sorry!"

"Young miss? Young miss!" Rika shouted after I continued running away past her. "Where are you going? Young miss!" Everyone must have heard her loud voice, so I hurried towards the massive door at the end of the hallway. I can hear the sa loud footsteps I heard yesterday from the direction where I ca from. They’re fast.

I quickly opened the door, which made

squint my eyes as I got blinded by the bright light from the sun. When I got out, the grass tickled my feet and caused

to look at the ground. Huh? It made

curious, and when I darted my eyes everywhere, I realized that there wasn’t a gate that would lead

outside.

This place is surrounded by walls that are too high to climb. Hmm, but if you’re athletic enough, you can try. And when I say you, I refer to myself. Maybe I can find sothing to use. I road the place, and that’s when I realized that this place looked exactly like that Japanese garden I had visited with my mom. I miss my mom. I can’t wait to get out of this place and see her.

There’s a big pond in the middle with koi fishes swimming and a bridge above it, so big rocks and plants all over the place. I can see huge bonsais near the walls. This place is neat; my mom will love having tea ti here.

"Young miss!"

Wait! This isn’t the ti for

to be distracted. I ran towards the wall, searching for a better part to climb. But before I could reach the wall, I stepped hard on sothing sharp, causing

to scream in pain as I lost my balance and quickly fell on my butt.

"Young miss!" I heard Rika’s faint voice from behind, but I couldn’t hear anything else as my eyes landed on my foot. B-Blood’s coming out of my foot.

My vision gets blurry as I feel dizzy just by the sight of blood. I started gasping for air while I could hear a loud ringing sound in my left ear. I’m not afraid of blood, but why is my body acting like this?

"Young miss— Oh my god! The miss’s foot is bleeding!" Rika panicked, snatching my attention away. "Y-Young miss?" I suddenly feel nothing but numbness. The mory of that traumatizing mont resurfaced inside my head as it almost weakened my resolve to escape.

No. I’ve gotten this far; I can’t give up here.

I got up as if the pain had vanished and tried to climb the wall the best I could. "Young miss! That’s dangerous!"