"AHHHHHHH!"

"Jeez, jeez! Peppa, calm down...     I'm glad you're awake."

"Wh- What- What's happening-"

"Wendy said you fell asleep for most of the day. Funny. It's usually me who falls asleep during the day..."

I squinted my eyes, sitting with my back arched as I started to get used to the scene. Wendy, Suzy, George and Pedro were by my side, relieved looks in their faces. The surroundings were the same as before I passed out - We were in the library, by the area with the children's books.

"F-Fell asleep...?"

"Yeah! It's now the evening!" Pedro smiled, nodding his head eagerly. "Edmond's already got the tables ready and all...!"

...Oh yeah. Edmond did mention that we were going to hang out tonight.

"So...     The poker game's starting soon?"

"Sure is." Suzy replied. "Do you need a bit more rest...?"

"Nah. I feel better."

"Ok...     Let's get going. Edmond might be getting a bit impatient." Suzy stood up, heading upstairs, Pedro and Wendy following. I turned to face my brother, nervousness in his eyes.

"...Are you ok George?"

"Uh- Yeah. I'm fine."

...Something tells me that not the truth. But I'm not gonna try and accuse him of anything right now. I'm too tired.

I shakily stood up, my legs shivering slightly as I took a couple steps forward, testing wether I could move on them. After they strengthened, I continued onward, reaching the staircase and climbing up it quickly. 

Despite the odd pain in my hand.

The horrors of the...    Dream I had stuck tougher than superglue in my head, causing me a difficulty as I hopped up the steps, soon reaching the second floor.

"Ah, Peppa! Nice to see you, are you feeling alright?" Edmond called out my name as I neared him. 

"Yeah...     I'm alright." I smiled softly, looking at the new arrangement on the floor.

The two trapezium-shaped tables on the enlarged balcony had been draped with a silky, emerald green cloth, conjoining with each other to form an irregular hexagon. A single deck laid at one end of the table, a bit of glam clearly noticeable in its design. 

"It's not necessarily the greatest setup...    But it's the best we can do for our own sanity. All the poker tables that we found in the storage room had been vandalised by a certain potato..." The elephant grimaced, before looking back at me. "Do you have any knowledge of poker?"

"Sadly not. I only really know the stuff like- Flush, 3 of a kind, full house...     That kind of thing?"

"Aha, ok. Maybe you'd like a bit of a...    Revision on them?"

"That might be helpful." I sighed. I was getting quite a few flashbacks from the backgammon game with Rebecca, which didn't help in the slightest.

"Very well then. I'll show you." Edmond pulled out a sketchbook and pencil from...         I'm guessing from behind his back. He opened the sketchbook, flipped to a clean page and gripped the dark wooden pencil in his hand.

After a while, he had shown to me the different card formations by sketching them individually, the suit and all. I was refreshed on the topic, and also quite surprised. 

"Heh, you understand a bit more now?"

"...Yeah."

"Glad to hear I could teach you a bit. Now then, let's play some poker!"

____________________

I took a short breath in, followed by a long one out as the first cards were dealt to everyone. George had been chosen to be the dealer, which was kind of a shame for me. He had offered to help me during the game, however Edmond had selected him to be the dealer. 

He agreed to take the role, but I did hear one thing before he took his spot.

"Oh well, can't be everything you want to be in life..."

...I was confused when he dropped those words.

I'm not gonna focus on that though.

"Ok...    First bet everyone. Or maybe not...     What kind of poker is this? Texas holdem...?"

"I mean..." Edmond sighed a bit, "It can be Texas hold'em."

"Fair enough. Everyone bet once."

All of us handed a single chip to the middle. George then laid the first three cards.

Jack of spades. 4 of spades. 9 of hearts.

I looked at my own cards. They were both jacks.

"Next bet. Starting with you, Candy."

The tabby cat tossed one chip to the middle.

"Rebecca."

The rabbit also added a chip to the pile.

"Emily."

The older of the two elephants knocked on the table - The sign for giving up the bet.

"Delphine."

The donkey placed three chips in the middle, all of the same worth of 1. Like the other chips in the pile.

"Hm...     Minimum bet is now 3." 

The next three players - Danny, Kylie and Richard - all added three chips. The next two - Gerald and Zoë - knocked on the table.

"Heh, worried much?" Pedro giggled at the zebra, who rolled her eyes.

"Oh quiet you baka."

"R-Right. S'cuse me."

Now it was me.

I reached for one of the higher valued chips - The one worth 5, to be exact, - And added it to the pile. A few shocked faces reacted to my daring move.

Delphine's didn't change though. It stayed tighter than steel.

"Dam! Minimum bet is now 5!" George chuckled a bit.

Edmond, Wendy and Pedro added 5 to the pile. Freddy and Suzy knocked. Candy, Delphine, Danny, Kylie and Richard added the remaining chips to equal their amount betted to 5. Rebecca knocked.

"Ok...     Now the turn." George called out, laying down another card: A 4 of diamonds.

My confidence shook a bit as Candy knocked. Delphine persisted though - Adding two chips.

Danny and Richard added two more, while Kylie knocked.

I sighed, adding in the two chips. I took a swift glance at Delphine afterwards, who simply giggled at me before returning to check her cards.

Edmond and Pedro added on.  Wendy knocked.

"Last card: The river."

The card laid down. It was a 7 of spades.

Danny's eyes widened as Delphine added a chip. A short silence sounded out. Eventually, the brown-furred mutt knocked. Richard knocked immediately after that. I added. Edmond knocked. Pedro added.

"Ok...     Show your cards!"

All of us flipped our cards, revealing the signs on them.

"Three of a kind!" I laughed.

"Quinte." Delphine smiled, stretching her arms.

"...Huh?"

"I win."

The smile slowly fell off my face as I looked at Delphine's cards. They were both spades. Connecting her cards with the three spades that were laid...          Made a flush.

And a flush was higher than a three of a kind.

"Dammit." I sighed, "What have you got Pedro?"

"Uh..." The pony shivered a bit, "Two pairs."

"Wow!" George giggled, "Delphine wins this round!"

The donkey smiled, taking the chips that laid in the middle of the table and adding them to her own. "Not bad playing Peppa. Good round." She nodded at me.

"...Thanks." I replied, a bit stumped. "You know, Delphine...     I have a question."

"Quelle?"

"How are you so good at poker? I don't remember you playing it anytime I saw you..."

"...It's interesting. Me and my family were really into travelling. We would usually take a train from Paris to Nice every summer for a short holiday. It was a 6 hours ride, I think. And during the train ride to and from Nice, me and my family would usually play poker with each other. Even Didier played with us sometimes. We also played sometimes while we were in Nice. It was a really nice time we all had together..."

...

"...Wow."

"Time for the next round!"

____________________

It was way later on in the game. I'd ran out of chips, and so had quite a lot of the other players. 

Only 4 remained playing: Edmond, Richard, Delphine and Pedro.

"Dam...       It's surprising that Pedro's still in this!" Zoë said, shock in her eyes as we watched from the sidelines.

"I'm more amazed at the fact that Richard's still playing." Gerald nodded.

"Sorry Richard, you've gone bust." Edmond smirked, as the elephant took the remaining amount of chips in the centre, while the rabbit in the navy blue leather jacket simply shrugged.

"Ah well. It was a great game." Richard smiled, handing his cards to George and getting up from his seat, joining us as we watched the remaining three.

"...Nevermind." The giraffe lowered his head a bit.

"Uhm...     Guys?" George asked, rubbing his neck a bit.

"Hm?"

"Oui?"

"Yea?"

"It's getting rather late...   It's nearly 8. Maybe we should wrap this up soon...?"

"Agreed." Edmond lowered his head. "Why don't we go all in for this last round?"

"Sure. I'm still amazed that I got this far anyway." Pedro noted, pushing his remaining chips to the centre. The other two also did so. George dealt the two cards to the final three, followed by the 5 cards in the centre.

After all was revealed...      Pedro had won. With a straight.

"...Oh. My god." The pony's eyes were kept wide open, absolutely shaken by the fact that he had won the final round. He rested his head in his hands, still amazed at himself.

"I-I- How- How did I even-"

*Ding dong bong bing...*

"It is officially 8 pm, participants. Certain rooms will now be locked off. Good night everyone!"

"Well, that's that." Edmond smiled, "Did everyone have a good time?"

We all nodded, with our smiling faces and determined eyes. From this one agreement, I could feel a small aura of hope amongst all of us.

"Glad to hear that. Congratulations Pedro for winning! You can all go to bed now...    I'll tidy up."

"By yourself?" Suzy asked, cocking her wooly head to the side.

"...Yes?"

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, Edmond. Even for you." The sheep clenched her teeth, "Do you mind if I help you?"

"...Sure." Edmond nodded, grabbing the rogue cards off the table as Suzy hopped over to him.

"Goodnight everyone. See you tomorrow!" Suzy beamed at all of us as we headed back down the library staircase.

"...Goodnight Suzy..." I waved slowly as I headed down the stairs, soon exiting through the library's magnificent doors and turning left, heading to my dorm.

I hope Suzy will be ok...

*CRASH*

*BANG*

"Ughhh..." I clenched my head as my eyes tiredly opened, welcoming me back to the world. I leaned my body out of bed, heading to the bathroom to get myself sorted.

During my time in the bathroom, a loud voice sounded out.

"Goooooooood morning participants! It is officially morning. Rise and shine!"

"Morning announcement..." I mumbled to myself while brushing my teeth.

After the whole getting dressed and all of that stuff, I pushed open the door to my room, handbook in hand, and closed it behind me, an audible click being heard. Turning my head to the larger hallway that the dorm hallway grew off of, I noticed a beige figure not that far from my door.

"...Pedro? What are you doing?"

"Oh- Uh- Hey Peppa." The young horse turned to face me, surprise in his face. "I just woke up early. Quite a shock, honestly. I wanted to go back to sleep, but something in me didn't let me..."

"...Oh. I woke up a bit before the morning announcement."

"Cool. I was thinking about heading to the library for a while. Just to read a couple books before breakfast started. You wanna come with...?"

"Sure. I haven't got any better to do." I agreed, walking alongside Pedro as we started our course back to the library.

"How are you feeling after your big win last night?"

"Pretty hyped! I'm still extremely shocked that I won, ya know! Yeah, cowboys play poker, but I haven't played it for a-"

Pedro suddenly stopped walking, right outside the doors of the library. His eyes widened as sputtered noises escaped his mouth.

"...Pedro?"

"...O-Oh- G-God-       ...I-It can't b-be-"

"Pedro, what's going on?"

The pony only held up a shaking hoof to the left of the library staircase. I glanced to where he was looking...

I regretted it immediately.

https://youtu.be/iaJDOvbvkqw

Delphine Donkey, the Ultimate French Teacher, laid dead, bleeding from her head and leg.

*Ding dong bong bing...*

"A body has been discoverrrrrrrrred! Please may all participants meet in the library. There I will further explain how the Playgroup Trial and investigation works. Cheerioooooo!"

____________________

(Chapter 1: Life's A Dangerous Game - Daily Life Finish)

DEADLY LIFE - BEGIN

____________________

(Our first death has taken place! Who do you think is our blackened?

~Oak-44)