Song: Friends by Chase Atlantic 

5 years ago continued...

He slowly attempted to open his lids but couldn't because they were sewed shut. The man let out a cry for help and he couldn't because his lips were also sewed shut. He was tied to a table made of steel and its icy surface was biting into the skin of the man's back. Electrodes were scattered all over his muscular chest and he sensed his forefinger hooked to a pulse-ox machine.

Tears slipped down the contusions of the man's face. He was going to die and he hasn't even done everything he has wanted to do in his life. He heard a small scuffle to his left, and then footsteps. A gloved hand touched his forehead gingerly. "Thank you, for your sacrifice. You are truly saving a child's life." It sounded like a woman's voice but he wouldn't be sure.

The man screamed at the stranger next to him in confusion. What child? Whose life was he saving? He has saved many from his career as a doctor. What did he do to deserve this torture? He wished he could speak out his confusion and his pain, but his sewed lips prevented him.

He felt a soft pinch on his left arm and before he knew it, the last thing he heard was the melancholy tone of a flatline.

Present Day

"My blood type is AB negative with an Rh factor." Danny finished his story. "Less than 0.1 % of people in the United States have my blood type. The doctor that treated me conveniently had this rare blood type and he unwillingly donated his heart to me."

Danny took off his shirt to display the 10-inch surgery scar down his chest. "Not a day goes by that I don't feel remorseful for what my parents have done. I promised myself that with my new lease in life, I will do something meaningful to honor my donor's sacrifice."

Danny's third artifice was his heart. How ironic that Aurelio would choose an object that could kill its players. We only have less than 48 hours to hand over Danny's heart, but that would also mean his death. I couldn't think of a way we could deploy a plan to keep Danny alive.

Brittany has been oddly silent during Danny's tale. I wouldn't blame her, she was mentally and physically exhausted. Her silky hair was a rat's nest, which was far from its original form of perfection. Dark circles ringed the bottom of her eyes and she looked gaunt and pale.

My cousin looked almost the same if not worse. Ethan took off his gauges and set them on the coffee table beside him.

"I got off the phone with some old members. They'll be here in an hour to stage Ted's death as a suicide," he said.

"Danny's object is his heart," Brittany informed him. Ethan tilted his head in confusion. "Could anyone catch me up on what happened while I was on the phone?" he asked.

Danny spoke up. "I had a grave heart condition and I couldn't find a matching donor with my blood type so my parents went to the black market for organs and they found someone to donate their heart unwillingly to me."

Ethan nodded while typing something on his phone. "So which knife would you prefer to carve your heart out with, Danny?" he asked unperturbed.

I glared at my cousin because now is not the time to be making jokes. He felt the intense heat of my stare and raised both hands up, with one hand still clutching his phone. "Chill, cousin! I was only joking."

A deafening knock to the door interrupted the words that were going to leave my lips. I looked at my cousin unsure of what to do next.

"It must be them," he said to me. I nodded in understanding and watched him walk towards the door to open it. Instead of the old Medio Terrae members, Ethan spoke of, there were four policemen standing outside the doorstep of Ted's mansion.

Two of the policemen were African American, one policeman of Caucasian descent, and one policeman of Korean descent. Their expressions were frightening and the aura they gave made it already seem that it was us they were looking for.

We were wrong.

A tall white burly cop with a buzzcut and tattoo sleeve stepped to the front. "I have a warrant here for the arrest of Theodore Langston. Does he happen to be home?"

My friends and I froze as if we saw a ghost. We didn't know what to do or say. It was Ethan who managed to gather enough guts to shut the door to the policemen's faces.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I swear it wasn't me that called the cops!." Ethan whispered vehemently.

"Shut up! The cops outside can basically hear you whispering!" Brittany scolded Ethan. The cops were yelling at us from outside, "OPEN THE DOOR OR YOU WILL BE ARRESTED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE."

We were all huddled in the corner of Ted's living room. "Why would you shut the door to their faces?! Now they're going to think we're suspects!"

Ethan glared at Brittany, "Why don't you open the door then? Unless you have plans to hide some of Ted's remains?"

Ethan and Brittany didn't have time to argue any further because the rich mahogany door broke off its hinges. It fell like a dead corpse on the pristine floors, now marred with scuff from the officer's shoes.

A policeman grabbed my arms harshly and secured handcuffs on my wrists. 

An update twice this week?! I know I know, I've been late with the update schedule so I figured I could post a chapter today to make up for it:3 I apologize for the super short chapter but here it is guys!