The Judgment Chamber

I opened my eyes to a dark, windowless room. Overhead, a voice crackled from the speakers. “Welcome to The Judgment Room. Each player will state the crime they committed. Do not lie. After all six of you speak, you will vote. The one with the most votes will be eliminated. “The game starts now.” In this deadly game, whose sins weighed the least? Chapter 1 It was late at night when a group of hooded figures in black robes burst into my home. They dragged me out of bed and hit me with some kind of drug, then I blacked out. When I came to, I was inside a dim, sealed chamber. My arms and legs were chained down, and my entire head was locked inside an empty glass tank. Before I could react, someone screamed nearby, "Where am I? Let me out!" In the glass tank next to me was Cheryl Stevens, a young woman with big curls and dressed in flashy clothes. She slapped her hands against the glass, the chains on her ankles clattering. And I quickly realized we weren't the only ones trapped. In the third tank was Dwayne Malone, a man in a suit wearing gold-rimmed glasses. "Help! Help! Someone, please get us out!" The fourth tank held Oliver Carlson, a heavyset bald man. The fifth was Helen Dolton, a chubby girl with glasses. The sixth was Rebecca Burke, a pretty pregnant lady. As all six of us woke up, the silent chamber suddenly became noisy. Then, the speakers above us buzzed with static. "Welcome, players, to The Judgment Chamber. There will be five rounds in this game. One player will be eliminated each round. The final surviving player will be the winner. "The rules are simple. Each player will state the crime they committed, no matter how big or small. But remember, do not lie. After all six of you speak, you will vote. The one with the most votes will be eliminated. "The game starts now." As the voice faded, a ten-minute countdown appeared on the wall. Oliver immediately started cursing and slamming his fists against the glass. "Cut the damn act and let me out!" Cheryl's fancy composure vanished. Her bright red lips trembled nonstop. "Help! Somebody, help us!" I pulled at the chains on my legs. They were solid. There was no breaking them with brute force. Then, the empty glass tanks suddenly began to fill with water. "Please follow the game rules." Our already cramped space instantly became life-threatening. Rebecca's face turned sheet-white. She held her stomach and begged desperately. Dwayne, still trying to maintain his polished calm, looked straight into the camera. "Please let us out. There's a pregnant woman here." All we heard in response was the crackle of static. "Please follow the game rules." The moment the words ended, Dwayne convulsed violently, as if shocked by a live wire. He screamed, his entire body spasming uncontrollably. I could almost smell his clothes burning through the glass. "Eight minutes left. Players, please hurry." They were actually serious! Helen, who hadn't spoken once until now, finally whispered, "We should start the game. Otherwise… We're all going to die here." Oliver suddenly snapped at her. "You zit-faced idiot. Did you bring us here? Talk! What do you know about this stupid game?" Helen only shook her head in terror. Six minutes left. The numbers on the wall kept ticking down. The water had already risen to our chins. If this continued, we would all drown. Chapter 2 "Everyone, stop yelling!" Rebecca suddenly shouted while holding her belly. All of us turned toward her. She looked at us with eyes full of pleading. "I'm eight months pregnant. Please… I don't want to die." The noisy room fell silent in an instant. Rebecca's voice trembled as she began. "I'll go first. I've had three abortions. My husband's family only cared about having boys. They said if my first child wasn't a boy, they'd force my husband and me to get a divorce. I went to a private clinic and secretly did ultrasounds. Whenever it was a girl, I aborted it without telling anyone." I looked at her closely and noticed how thin she was, almost gaunt, except for her swollen belly. Helen spoke next. "I… I lied to someone once." At that, Oliver immediately yelled at her. "Are you kidding me, you idiot? That's nothing! You think that counts as a sin? Are you trying to ruin the game?" I couldn't stand it anymore and snapped at Oliver. "Then why don't you tell us what you've done?" Oliver puffed up, proud for no reason. He lifted one brow and said with twisted satisfaction, "Me? I killed someone." "What? You're a murderer? Are you the one who brought us here?" Cheryl screamed first, and everyone stared at Oliver with mixed expressions. Oliver sneered, "Don't pretend you're all saints. None of you is better than me. I know exactly what filth every single one of you has done." He pointed at Cheryl. "You seduced a married man while pretending to be a tutor. Then you pushed him to kill his wife and daughter, ruined their whole family, and pinned the crime on them before running off with a pile of cash." Cheryl's face lost all color. Oliver pointed to Dwayne. "You took huge fees to defend a murderer. Thanks to you, he walked free. And the day he got out, he slaughtered the victim's entire family." Then, his finger swung toward me. "And you." His eyes swept over me from head to toe before he snorted. "You caused someone's death. Indirectly, but you did." The mood in the chamber shifted. Everyone's masks of dignity were torn away, revealing something far uglier underneath. As Oliver finished speaking, the countdown on the wall froze. The speakers crackled. "Congratulations. You have completed the first round. Unfortunately, one of you has lied. To enhance your experience, please identify the liar and vote them out. If not, the game will continue." "Who lied? Which one of you lied?" Dwayne shouted, losing his usual polished composure. His gold-rimmed glasses had fallen somewhere. "Come out and say it! If we don't figure it out, we all die!" "Was it you?" Oliver shouted at Helen. Helen flinched and sobbed uncontrollably, shaking her head. I looked at Oliver. "Why are you targeting her over and over?" "She's the most suspicious." "And how do you figure that? All I see is you bullying her nonstop. Maybe you're trying to cover up your own guilt." Helen shot me a grateful look through her tears. Oliver suddenly panicked and cursed at me. "You pathetic loser. You think you can question me? Stop pretending you're the good guy. You're way filthier than I am. What would an idiot like you know?" His insults were vicious. I pressed my lips together. "Then tell us. How do you know so much about every one of us?" Chapter 3 "Who exactly are you? What's your role here? What else do you know? Are you the one who lied?" I asked relentlessly. The more I pressed Oliver, the more he panicked. He snapped like a cornered dog, lashing out at anyone he could. Every person in the room turned suspicious eyes on him. The overhead speakers crackled again. "Players, please hurry. You have one minute remaining before the voting round begins." I raised my voice. "Let's vote him out first. He's the most suspicious." "It's not me. It's not me! You damn loser, you're trying to kill me. You're trying to kill me!" Oliver yelled. The speakers rang out. "Thirty seconds remaining. Please hurry." As the countdown began, the water tanks that had stopped filling suddenly resumed. Cheryl stared at the wall in terror, tears streaking her cheeks. "We don't have time. Vote him out first, or we're all dead!" At the word "dead", Dwayne lost control. "Yes! We have to vote. Let's vote him out!" Everyone quickly aligned against Oliver. He turned to Rebecca for help, but Rebecca looked down at her belly and whispered, "I'm sorry. I want to live." Oliver collapsed, as if the strength had drained out of him. Every hand pointed toward him. "Time's up. Players, cast your votes." Oliver's eyes went vacant, his whole body limp. "Oliver Carlson is eliminated." As soon as the announcement ended, Oliver suddenly jolted upright and began thrashing wildly. He slammed his palms against the glass over and over while gasping for air. His veins bulged across his neck, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. The air inside his water tank was being sucked out. Oliver flailed like a fish left on dry land, his mouth gaping and his features warping in pain. His nails split and snapped one by one. I turned my head away, refusing to watch. A second later, a loud bang echoed through the chamber. Oliver's head exploded. Pieces of skull and flesh splattered across the glass, sliding downward in thick, nauseating streaks. "Aaaaah!" Cheryl let out a piercing scream. The speakers crackled again. "Unfortunately, players, the game continues." If Oliver hadn't been the liar, then who was? Before I could think, Dwayne kicked me hard. His reddened eyes were terrifying. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who lied!" I shook my head quickly, signaling that I knew nothing. Helen's gaze changed, too. The gratitude she showed earlier disappeared, replaced by fear. In an instant, I became the target of everyone's suspicion. I finally understood Oliver's situation. "It wasn't me," I tried to reason. "It really wasn't…" Cheryl's carefully done makeup had run down her cheeks in thick black streaks, making her look almost monstrous. "It has to be you! You were the one who said Oliver was the killer, so we voted him out. It has to be you. We're voting you out next!" Just when I had nowhere to turn, the broadcast sounded again. "Since all of you seem eager to survive, we will share one more detail. To increase the excitement of the game, we placed an undercover agent among you. The undercover agent's mission is to eliminate you and make you lose. There is one way to survive: find the undercover agent and vote them out." The one who lied earlier was the undercover agent. So who was it? Everyone began looking around, suspicion rising all over again. The undercover agent's task was to kill us and sabotage the game. "It's you. Let's vote you out first!" Dwayne pointed straight at me. Chapter 4 Everyone turned to look at me, their eyes filled with suspicion. "No, it really wasn't me!" I tried my best to defend myself. "I was just trying to…" "Shut up! Stop making excuses!" Before I could finish, Dwayne cut me off sharply. Only his bloodshot eyes remained fixed on me with pure hostility. Dwayne started directing everyone. "Listen to me. We vote him out first. Think about it. Oliver died, but the game didn't end. That means Oliver wasn't the undercover agent. And who pushed us to vote him out? This guy. He pointed all the suspicion toward Oliver. If it weren't for him, none of us would have voted at all. He directed the whole thing!" Cheryl nodded in agreement, and suddenly, my situation became dire. "I noticed something wrong with him from the start. When Oliver suspected Helen, he defended her and provoked Oliver on purpose to shift all suspicion. He's definitely the undercover agent." Cheryl sounded completely convinced, and judging from the logic, I really had become the most likely suspect. "Wait, let me explain. I…." "Shut up!" Dwayne cut me off again. "There's nothing to explain. You're just trying to confuse us. You're the undercover agent!" Rebecca, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke, her voice trembling. "Why won't you let him finish? What you're doing now is trying to force us to turn against him. You're the one confusing everyone." "Shut your mouth, you stupid woman! Do you even know what you're saying?" Dwayne snapped and kicked Rebecca hard. Rebecca grabbed her stomach, her face twisting in pain as she collapsed. "My stomach… It hurts… It really hurts…" "What the hell are you doing?" Helen screamed at Dwayne. "Oliver already said that you took huge fees to defend criminals, just to make money. You're the kind of person who'd do anything for profit. Who knows if you sneaked into this game for money or for some filthy reason? You'd even attack a pregnant woman. Who knows what kind of rotten heart you have?" Cheryl covered her mouth while staring at Dwayne in horror. His face had turned an ugly shade, and in an instant, the balance shifted. His position became far more dangerous than mine. I didn't know whether he was the undercover agent, but I did know one thing: I wanted to survive. "In this game, the last one standing wins. The undercover agent would definitely know all of our identities from the beginning. They'd work as hard as possible to eliminate us in the early rounds. So think carefully. Who's been stirring up alliances and confusion from the start? All of you know the answer," I said. When I finished, the situation became clear. Dwayne was now completely cornered. "You stupid women! Do you even know what you're doing? What kind of poison did that loser feed you? You're a bunch of brainless idiots!" he snarled. Dwayne thrashed wildly, the chains on his body rattling loudly. His neat suit was hanging crooked on him, making him look pathetic. I pushed my glasses up and looked at him calmly. "If I remember correctly, the person you defended back then was the son of the former city commissioner. Do you know what that guy did? He and his friends assaulted a 17-year-old girl, and they murdered her afterward. For your own gain, you forged medical records and claimed he had mental issues. Because of you, that monster walked free!" Chapter 5 Cheryl curled her lip into a mocking smile and looked at Dwayne with disgust. "No wonder. You even had the heart to attack a pregnant woman. Everyone, listen. Whether he's the undercover agent or not, we need to vote him out first. Even if he isn't the agent, he'll still hurt us later just to protect himself. Please vote for him with me!" The speakers crackled again. "You all seem to be enjoying yourselves, but let me remind you not to forget the rules of the game. None of you has stated your sins for this round. Please hurry. One minute remaining." I quickly looked at the timer on the wall. With all the fighting earlier, we had completely forgotten about time. I opened my mouth to speak, but another thought hit me. If I revealed the full truth about my own crime, it could be used against me in the next round. Wasn't that exactly what happened to Dwayne? Suddenly, I understood the true nature of this game. It was called The Judgement Chamber, meaning they were judging us by our sins. If I wanted to survive, I couldn't reveal everything. So, I chose the least heinous sin. "I'll go first. I once killed a kitten out of jealousy." Cheryl hesitated, then spoke. "When I encouraged that husband to kill his wife, she was already pregnant." Rebecca stepped back slightly. "I knew my mother-in-law was allergic to peanuts. I still added a lot of crushed peanuts into her soup and convinced her to drink it. Then, I sent everyone else away. She suffocated to death." Helen bit her lip. "My best friend was pretty, and I hated her for it. I pretended to be close to her, but I talked about her nonstop behind her back. Because of how close we were, everyone else believed the lies I told." Everyone said their crimes lightly, almost calmly. None of them cared about the wrongs they had done in the past. They only cared about surviving the moment. Every person here hid something rotten inside themselves, wrapped neatly under a human mask. Now, that mask was being torn apart, exposing the darkest and ugliest parts within. "You may vote now. You have one minute." The speakers sounded again. Dwayne had stopped struggling. Oliver's corpse lay right next to him, and soon, he would face the same fate. "It's him… It's him. I know it. I just know it! It has to be him!" Dwayne's hair was a mess, and he kept mumbling frantically, "It's him. It has to be him!" Suddenly, a wild, chilling look flashed in his eyes. "I know. I know everything now. It's all…" The broadcast cut him off. "Dwayne Malone is eliminated." The next instant, Dwayne's tank began filling rapidly. Water surged in until the entire tank was full. Dwayne thrashed desperately, cold water flooding into his nose and mouth. He gasped and sputtered, blowing bubbles as he fought for air, his limbs flailing wildly. "Help…help me… Hel…" Everyone turned away again. A person could hold their breath for no more than five minutes, but under terror and violent panic, even two minutes was rarely possible. Those few minutes felt unbearably long. Dwayne died with his eyes wide open, drowned inside the tank. The broadcast sounded once more. "The game continues."