I step into the room, the walls are crimson and the lights red. Rose petals are strewn on the perfectly fitted bed. And there, on the fluffed pillows, lay a woman with blood trickling down her face.

I checked her pulse but she was already lifeless.

A few specks of blood stained her lovely white dress and her black hair that was carefully pulled back into a bun was now messy and loose. She was very pretty… and she was dead!

_No, no, no, no, no! She’s dead, she can’t be dead! I need to get help!_

I stumbled back out the room and ran to the dining room. I was scared, what had happened, was it deliberate. All eyes fell on me as push in screaming: “She’s dead! She’s dead!”

Everyone started yelling at me.

“Who’s dead!?”

“What do you mean!?”

“What are you talking about!?”

There were too many people talking at once for me to answer.

Lord Deira stood and signalled for the noise to stop.

“She’s dead!” I screamed again.

“Who’s dead?” Lord Deira asked.

“Lady Deira!”

“Oh, we know.” He said calmly.

“What… what do you mean?” I stutter.

“I mean, we already know she’s dead.”

“How can you already know she’s dead?” I thought I already knew the answer.

“Because it was me.” Lord Deira snapped his fingers and everyone else disappeared.

I looked around, somehow expecting everyone else to jump out behind me but they were all just… gone.

“What… how did… where…?” I stammer.

“Oh, don’t worry, they were never real.” His voice is still as calm as it was at the beginning of the night.

“Never real?” I ask confused.

“Doesn’t matter.” He said with a sense of finality.

“You… killed her!?” I went back to that topic because I wasn’t sure what to say about everyone vanishing.

“Yes.” I was surprised at how calm he was. “And now I must kill you.”