Caen's Lair

You all seem to come to the same decision pretty instantaneously, and everyone grabs their phone and heads downstairs. You find Red crouched over Tump on the floor, presumably unconscious. Their back is turned, but they look up at you as you’re coming down the stairs with a blank expression.

"He slipped..." they intone. You call for help and they cart him off without much fanfare; this probably doesn't happen that infrequently.

You go through with your sleep over plans, but everyone is a little more subdued than previously. In the haste you forgot to replenish the snacks, too.
Red has an easy time picking you off one by one once everyone falls asleep.

Abruptly, Cin stands, yelling. Red startles, and as does Mess. As Cin advances down the stairs, ever so slowly Red puts down the knife block, and while they're arguing, Mess sneaks back to the room and calls the authorities.

You hurry out of the room and find Red in the kitchen, just having buried the dorm's entire supply of knives into a quite lifeless looking Tump and Caen on the floor. Their hand is still wrapped around a handle as they look up, and they grin and yank it back out with a wet sound as they catch sight of you.

Cin grabs Mess' wrist and pulls it along as she dashes back down the hall. The stairs between Red and you give you enough time to lock yourself in and start pushing furniture against the door. As Mess is on the phone with the police, Cin hears them scrabbling at the other side of the door. She thinks they're trying to ram the kitchen knife through it, which is such an absurd thought it almost makes her laugh. All of this, really, is very bizarre.

"Come ooon guys!!" croons the killer of a third of their friend group through the door, and suddenly Cin can hardly find it in her to be very scared at all anymore.

"What the hell is wrong with you Red!"

"It's fun, you should try it!"

This does in fact make her laugh, and Mess looks at her like she's crazy too. They don't have to wait much longer until there are the sounds of commotion outside. The entire kitchen has to be remodeled.

She comes to a decision quickly, sneaks to the door behind it and peers through the lit up hallway. It's just taking their first step down the stairs when the yelling starts - Cin is surprised to recognize the second voice as Red. When Mess is out of sight she creeps forward until she can look down into the kitchen from the landing, where Red and Mess are arguing in what is likely to soon turn into a physical altercation. From up here she can also see Tump and Caen, who look like grotesque pin cushions. Red has always had a thing for knives, and now the kitchen tile is red with blood.

Cin presses herself against the wall, trying to calm her breathing, and pats down her pockets. Shit, her phone is still in the room. She hurries back, the sounds of her friends fighting downstairs ringing in her ears, and dials 911 as fast as the touchscreen will physically let her.

Through the closed door she hears Mess scream out.

Now alone in the room, she pulls her knees up to her chest on the chair and just... sits. She feels a little unreal, a little like she might shatter if touched. None of this feels like it should be happening, and she knows the moment she opens her eyes again she'll start crying, so she listens to her breathing instead of the footfalls coming down the hallway towards her.

"Stupid question," says Mess, grabbing its phone from the table. The two sit in silence as they wait for the call to connect, and while Mess explains the situation to an operator, Cin hunches over to tug at the fabric of the dirty carpeting.

You only have to wait a good ten minutes before the commotion downstairs starts. You shut off the tv and sit still until someone comes to get you.

They are visibly dizzy with pain, and it's easy for Mess to gather their wrists behind their back and hold them down, slowly soaking their shirt with blood. Cin sprints up the stairs to call for help.

Cin kicks the legs out from under them, and lands another hit as they go down that leaves them incapacitated. She stands over Red who is groaning on the floor and covered in blood while Mess slips away to retrieve a phone.

Cin's gaze falls on the knife block, discarded on the floor next to Caen. She does not look at the knife stuck in her friend's chest as she inches over to it, not drawing any attention. Her steps are confident as she approaches Mess and Red from behind.

Red doesn't notice - or at least they don't until the knife block impacts with the side of their head with a very unpleasant sound.

Mess and Cin stare at each other over their body, breathing heavily.

You all seem to come to the same decision pretty instantaneously, and everyone grabs their phone and heads downstairs. You find Red hunched over a kitchen counter, somewhere between sobbing and dry heaving. Beside them Tump is sprawled out on the floor, definitely unconscious. You rush down to the pair, Caen and Mess crouching down next to Tump, while Cin tries to calm down Red. They tell you he slipped - they tried to catch him but failed, and at the sight of the blood they lost it a bit.

"Headwounds bleed a lot," says Caen, staring at his head with her brows drawn together, as Mess is calling an ambulance. They cart him off without much fanfare; you figure things like this probably don't happen that infrequently. Since they assure you he will likely be ok, you go through with your sleep over plans. After all, none of you really know what you should do in this scenario. The mood is noticeably more grim than previously, and Red especially is quiet.

Caen and Red go down again to get the rest of the snacks later on, this time turning on all the lights as they go. "He didn't really fall, did he," says Caen as they're rooting through the kitchen cabinets. Red shuts the cabinet door and meets her eyes, silent, their face blank.

They find you all a few days later, the blood has already dried and the flies have descended. The entire building is torn down and rebuilt only a year later, because students refuse to live there anymore.