🔪  Chapter 1. Nicholas

February 10, 2022. The present

Nicholas was a sixteen-year old teenager living with his parents in a small village of his hometown, where he studied at Lyceum №7 and was now standing at its front door. Very soon the bell for the first lesson was to ring. The student arrived, took off his clothes, and walked into his classroom. After saying hello to his friends, he sat down at his seat and told them how his day was going. Ten minutes later, math began.

— Hello, everyone, — the teacher greeted. — Today we continue studying trigonometry. Before we move on to the next topic, I suggest solving a few problems to check how much you have memorized the material. Would anyone like to volunteer to come to the blackboard?

No one raised their hand.

— All right, I'll pick someone.

The teacher looked at the journal:

— I see Nicholas has very few grades. Come to the board, I'll tell you an equation that you can solve.

— Can I not do it? — he objected with displeasure.

— No, you can't! Come here right now!

— All right... — leaving any further attempts, he obeyed and reluctantly walked forward.

The classroom where the class was held was special. Unlike all the others, there was not a chalk board, but an electronic board. You have to write on it with a special magnetic marker, which was included in the kit and could be attached to a special lower stand.

Nicholas picked it up from the stand and touched the device. To his surprise, the marker glowed red. Normally this did not happen.

When the teacher read out the condition of the problem, he prepared to write, but at that moment, with his side vision, he noticed something white on the same stand. Something he hadn't paid attention to the first time.

A note in very small print:

«The marker you're writing with has a sensor attached to it. It lights up red. If you let go of the marker, you will get an electric shock so strong that you will pass out. Play by my rules and nothing will happen to you. You have to last exactly 5 minutes.»

— What are you standing there for? — the teacher asked, and Nicholas flinched. — Why aren't you writing?

— I missed it for a while. Can you repeat?

— How could you miss what I just told you?

— I don't know...

— Well, I repeat, — she slowly restated the condition of the problem.

Nicholas should have started writing, but couldn't, because then he would have to let the marker go off the board, making the sensor trigger.

Finishing speaking, the woman looked up at the student and got angry.

— Look at him... I've told the same thing twice and he's still standing there. All right, sit down, — she took a red pen. — I'll give you a D.

— No, no, I know how to solve it! It's just that I...

Thinking that Nicholas's ignorance of the solution was the reason, she got even angrier. He had to hold on for three more minutes with a pen at the blackboard.

— Okay, all right, sit down, — the teacher opened the journal and drew the lowest grade. — Dmitry comes to the board.

In despair, Nicholas exclaimed.

— I'm sorry, but I can't get away from the blackboard!

Everyone in the class, including the teacher, looked at Nicholas in surprise.

— How can't you?

There are two minutes left. He racked his brain to come up with a decent excuse.

— My arm won't move. I can't move it, — he pretended to try unsuccessfully to pull his hand back.

Dmitry, who had been called in earlier by the teacher, didn't believe him. He came out and asked to return the marker. Nicholas refused. Then he forcefully tried to seize it, but Nicholas fought back.

— What are you doing? Give me the marker!

— What did I say? My hand is numb! I can't get it off the board!

— What do you mean you can't, you idiot?

He strode over to Nicholas and knocked the marker out of his hand, instantly activating the sensor. At the last second, an electric current ran through Nicholas's finger, and further into his entire body. The discharge threw him aside. He fell to the floor right at the threshold of the front door.

— Enough! I'm sick of this! I'm calling the class counselor!

The teacher took out her cell phone and made a call that lasted a few seconds. Then turned to Nicholas.

— Stop lying on the floor! Or your punishment won't be limited to a D!

He was in a lot of pain. Not only couldn't get up, he couldn't move. But no one thought to help him. His classmates just laughed at him, thinking it was just another prank.

Nicholas noticed that in the fall his left foot had fallen on some thread and got wrapped up. He thought it was there by accident and didn't pay much attention to it. Until he felt it move.

The student wanted to take it off, but a sharp pain prevented him from getting up. At the same time, inexplicably, the thread tightened and began to rise. Nicholas hung upside down in the air near the door.

Everyone looked at him and laughed. Nicholas tried to do something, but nothing worked — he lost orientation. He tried pulling on the top of the thread, but that made it continue moving. This time horizontally, moving Nicholas right into the center of the classroom.

That's when the class counselor came in.

— So, what's going on here? — she asked.

The teacher prepared to recount what had happened, but realized that this was not the end.

The thread on which Nicholas was hanging came into motion, began to accelerate, and flew in the direction of the door where the woman was standing. At breakneck speed, their heads collided. Drops of blood splattered in all directions. The class counselor, who also had no support, fell with her back into the corridor and lost consciousness.

The teacher screamed.

At that moment, the thread on Nicholas's leg detached from the ceiling. He did not have time to put his hands in front of him and crashed face first into the floor.

...

When Nicholas woke up, he found himself sitting at a desk in the headmistress's office. On the other side sat the headmistress herself, and next to her was the injured class counselor.

— What, you're awake? Now tell me why you hit your class counselor, — the headmistress asked her question.

Nicholas became animated.

— Look how everything happened! I went to the blackboard and saw a note on the stand, which said that if I let go of the marker from the blackboard, I would be electrocuted. It was knocked out of my hands, so I got tased and fell down. A thread wrapped around my leg and lifted me up. When the class counselor came in, the thread started moving, accelerated, and we crashed.

After listening to him, the headmistress sarcastically replied:

— Sure. We believed you. You got electrocuted and flew into the class counselor on a thread.

— Wait... So you don't believe me? — Nicholas was surprised.

— What did you think? That you'll tell us a fairy tale and we'll let you go? I'm calling your father. When he arrives, we'll discuss your act.

— What? No! — Nicholas shouted, but it was impossible to dissuade them.

While the headmistress was talking to his father, Nicholas took out his own phone, but in the pocket, saw a note:

«Hi, I enjoyed playing with you. Let's play a new game. If you follow the rules, you'll be fine.»

He was about to show the note to the headmistress, but suddenly the ink began to blur, and soon there was nothing left on the paper.

Fifteen minutes later Nicholas was standing near the exit from the lyceum.

The conversation with the headmistress was extremely thrilling for him. For the time being they decided not to expel him. Waiting for his father near the turnstiles, the student felt a vibration in his pocket. A message had arrived on his phone. Nicholas marked it read in the notification bar, but didn't actually read. He didn't have time for that now.

Nicholas's father showed up and was let inside. From the look on his face, it was clear he was angry.

— Hello. What's he done?

— Hello, come into the office and we'll talk about it.

The conversation turned out to be just as tense. Nicholas was going to be put on the register or expelled altogether. But the testimony of his classmates and math teacher saved him. They confirmed that Nicholas did not hit the class counselor himself, but «some rope» did, dragging him to the class counselor.

When the headmistress herself, along with everyone else, went to check for the thread, it was lying on the floor.

— It was definitely tied to the ceiling. Someone must have unhooked it.

— Yes, — the teacher agreed. — Later it detached from the ceiling and fell down.

When they returned to the office, the headmistress made a decision:

— Well, let's just assume it was a ridiculous accident. Maybe someone wanted to make a machine for some event, and Nicholas stumbled upon it by accident. There's almost no evidence, so we can't blame it on him alone.

The man thanked the headmistress and left. Nicholas sat on a bench and waited for the start of a new lesson, thinking only about one thing: his game. And felt a vibration again.

A new message.

«Every 2 minutes one A in math will be put on your electronic journal account. After 30 minutes, the teacher will notice the unfair grades and complain to the headmistress. Of course, you can stop the process. To do this, you have to take the button in the student's briefcase at the 2nd desk of the 2nd row in classroom #300 and press it. The button is right at the bottom of that student's briefcase. The game has begun!»

Suddenly, five seconds after Nicholas read the message, it was automatically deleted. Now he had no proof of his innocence in grading. Nicholas sweated with excitement. He realized that if he didn't play by the villain's rules, he would only get worse. Doubting, went up to the third floor.

Opening the door of classroom №300, saw no one inside. «How lucky I am», — he thought, because would have no problem taking the button. He walked over to the second desk of the second row and saw a briefcase.

Making sure no one could see him, Nicholas opened it. Running his palm over the notebooks and textbooks, he found a small square object and pulled it out. It turned out to be a microchip with a small button. He was ready to press it when at the last moment he heard someone's voice behind his back.

— Who are you? Why are you going through my things? — asked the owner.

— What? I didn't touch your briefcase! You imagined it!

— You wanted to steal something from me!

— I didn't steal anything, you can check.

The student thought for a moment and finally nodded.

— My phone was there. Let's see if it's still in place.

Except for the button, Nicholas really hadn't taken anything. He was sure that now the student would check his briefcase, see that the phone was in place, and let him go.

But soon realized that he was seriously mistaken.

— Why can't I see my phone? It was inside, I remember exactly!

— I don't know, look again! I did not take any phone! — Nicholas assured.

The stranger searched in his briefcase again, but in vain.

— Where is my phone? You stole it!

— Tell me then why would I need your damn phone!

Nicholas could swear that he didn't see the phone in the briefcase, and certainly didn't take it. But the student wasn't going to believe him. In rage he swung for a blow, but at the last second, stopped. Something fell out of Nicholas's jacket. They both looked down.

The very same phone.

— And you said you didn't steal anything? Then what's this? — the student picked up the item from the floor. Nicholas, in turn, stood still, having no idea how this phone had gotten into his jacket. — Now, listen to me carefully! If you ever try to steal someone's phone again, I will complain to the director! Do you understand me?

Before he could answer, the stranger pushed him forcefully. Not expecting it, Nicholas lost his balance and flew out of the classroom, hitting the wall. After getting up and running away, he pressed the button that canceled the grading. The game was over.

While Nicholas stood in the corridor and thought about what had happened, another student, from a parallel class, approached him.

— Hi. Did you like my game?

«What game? Did he really set it up?»

Enraged, he lunged the man and broke his nose with a fist smashing it bloody. Holding his bleeding nose, the stunned student stepped away from Nicholas, staring at him in horror.

— Are you alright? What have I done to you?

— Are you an idiot? — Nicholas punched the stranger again, in the stomach, causing him to wince in pain. — You admitted that you organized this game, which almost got me expelled, and you think I won't break anything to you? I'd kill you!

— I don't understand anything! — he wheezed. — Why should you be expelled? I was just asking about the game!

— «About the game»! You just admitted it! You're the one who made a game where you get electrocuted when you let go of the marker!

— What marker? What current? An hour ago, I sent you a text telling you about an interesting game! A mobile game called Wolvesville! You read it!

A memory rushed into Nicholas's eyes.

Indeed, about an hour ago, he had received a message on his phone, which he had only marked as read, but never recognized its content. Nicholas got out his phone and opened «Instagram». When he saw the sender, he was stunned.

The message was from the student he had just beaten.

«Listen, I found a cool 16 player online game for the phone. You know Mafia? Well, this game is just like Mafia, only with villagers and werewolves theme. And there's a lot more roles. Anyway, long story short. Go to the link below and check it out.»

When the student asked Nicholas if he liked the game, he was only referring to the Wolvesville mobile game that the message mentioned. Nicholas didn't read it, so he thought it was about his marker game, and beat him up. Beat up an innocent man.

The teachers showed up in the hallway. They saw Nicholas and the student lying in front of him covered in blood. Frightened, Nicholas ran to the exit, but unluckily tripped over a broken tile on the floor and fell.

Unable to control falling, hit his head and lost consciousness.

...

He woke up in a completely empty lyceum. There was not a soul in sight. Despite a severe headache, he stood up and saw the unconscious teachers lying in front of him, who had seen everything he had done. Nicholas tried to take a step but stumbled into something large and hard. Looking down, he realized that underneath him, also unconscious, lay a student, the same one he had beaten.

Nicholas felt something on his right hand, looked at it, and was horrified: a long bloody knife was attached to it under his jacket.

«What happened here...»

He tried to take his phone from the pocket, but besides, fumbled for another object he hadn't had before. It was an audio player. Nicholas turned it on and heard a distorted voice.

«Underneath you is a box with two buttons.

If you press the first one, all the teachers lying around you will forget everything you did, the knife will detach from your hand, and you can leave, but all your classmates will get bad grades in all important subjects, and a post will be published from your Instagram account confessing to hacking into the electronic journal.

If you press the second button, teachers will wake up and see you with a bloody knife over a wounded student. You won't be able to unhook the knife, but no grades will be assigned, and you won't be accused of hacking.

If you don't press anything within 5 minutes, the student will die. The clock is ticking.»

Panic-stricken Nicholas tried to pull the knife out, but the fastening consisted of an iron corset with a lock wrapping around his entire arm. He tried to remove his jacket, but could not because the corset encompassed his outer clothing as well.

Nicholas leaned over to the injured student. Intending to wake up, began to shake him, but it was useless, because he was under the influence of a sedative. Beside him lay this very box. On one of the buttons was drawn the number «1», on the other — «2».

He was lost in thought.

«To escape, I must unhook the knife, — he plotted. — Once I've done that, I'll press the second button. Then the teachers will wake up, the student will survive, and I'll escape.»

There were three minutes left to implement.

«I need something heavy.»

Running to the gymnasium, he found a twenty-five-pound kettlebell in storage. Two blows were enough to break the corset. The knife fell out of the jacket.

Nicholas deceived the game maker and freed himself. Following the plan, he returned to the box, pressed the second button, took the knife just in case, and ran to the exit. He needed to escape before the teachers saw him.

Using the same knife, picked the lock from the front door, then dashed to the fence and climbed over it. He was free.

He won.

Rejoicing, Nicholas ran toward the road, but tripped over a thin thread that had tied itself to his legs and prevented his escape.

— Again this dumb thread! — he wailed.

The student turned to the thread and tried to cut it with a knife, but realized it was not a thread, but a wire. But it was too late. The moment it was touched, it conducted a high-voltage electrical charge. Nicholas fell down without strength.

And yet out of the corner of his eye managed to see an inscription drawn on the asphalt in red chalk:

«GAME OVER.»

Having lost consciousness, Nicholkas had no time to see the police and ambulance cars, heading straight for him.