Chapter 2 – You Cut My Throat, I Cut Yours
It’s been a couple of hours after Pace was executed. Claire doesn’t feel any better, which is surprising. She wanted to sulk near Ian’s body, but Kat took it and threw it into the acidic tank to get rid of the evidence. Now she’s sitting down in silence with Oda who is trying to comfort her. Nita is making lunch while Tage checks the food for poisoning in case Pace left us a parting gift. Me? I’m just sitting at a table away from everyone trying not to think about suicide. Rita is after me and David is still under her control. Kat has a new mechanical buddy to keep tabs on us. I don’t see a way I can survive this.
“Ella.”
?
“What is it, Tage?”
“You should tell us everything that you remember about last summer.”
“I told you everything that was important.”
“Then tell us more! There has to be more to this that we aren’t seeing.”
“What’s the point? Rita is probably going to win. With David at her side, she’s guaranteed to win.”
“What makes him so special?”
“He was the one who figured out the truth for the most part. If he was on our side, then I’m sure we’d win, but that’s not the case.”
“Who knows? That guy always seemed to be around you when he wasn’t around Rita during the school year.”
“Maybe it was to make up for what he’s doing. I don’t know him anymore even though he tried to act like he still liked me.”
“Then maybe we should get in contact with him somehow. Hey! Siv!”
Siv slithers out of the vents and says, “Yesssss. You called?”
“Can we talk to David in any way?”
“You can try. Parts of the school have opened up for you to explore. Many of the rooms contain dangerous weapons that you could use to survive. Others might contain something more. That’s all I’ll say…for now.”
Siv slithers back into the vents.
“You heard him, girls. We have to go explore the rest of the school,” Tage says.
“What if it’s a trap?” I ask.
“We don’t have many choices right now. It’s either we do that or wait for Rita and David to force us to kill each other. Does anyone have a problem with this?”
We all stay quiet.
“Then let’s go.”
I’m genuinely curious about what Siv says. Something about it makes me feel like David and Siv have a hidden agenda because he mentioned that some of the rooms contained something more. But then again, it could just be a trick. Rita and Kat should’ve heard what he said to us. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see since we’re here.
The religion and philosophy section of the school are open along with the science and math section.
“We should split up to search the area more quickly,” Tage says.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nita says as she points at the retracted gates separating the two sections. “They could just separate us again.”
“True, but they could also force us to separate from each other if you wanted to.”
“Ah, screw it,” Claire says as she walks into the science/math section.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Oda says before running to join Claire.
“I guess I’ll be with them. You two stay safe.”
“You too.”
As soon as Tage and I separate from Nita, the gates come down to separate us.
“Ha! I was right! Now you owe me!” Nita says as she bangs on the gates.
Tage rolls his eyes then says, “Sure I will. I’ll treat you to a nice dinner date if we can get out of this.”
Treat her to a dinner date?
“What about me?”
“Maybe I’ll take you on a separate date.”
Why a separate date? Maybe Pace’s suspicions about Tage and Nita were correct. He always used to talk about it, but I didn’t care to believe them until now.
“Should we separate again?” I ask Tage.
“I don’t think there are any more gates to separate us, so I think it would be best since we have a large area to cover. I doubt Rita and David will separate us again because we wouldn’t be able to kill each other then.”
“Sounds rig-”
The announcement system comes on. Kat announces, “Isn’t this a treat boy and girls? You are all separated into different sections with dangerous weapons to kill each other with. Now there’s a greater chance for you to kill your friend without the others knowing in whatever method you see fit. Good luck!”
“What a bitch,” I say.
“You got that right,” Tage confirms.
“I guess we might as well start searching. For ways to get out of here, not things to kill each other with. I’ll take the religion section.”
“That leaves the philosophy section for me then. I hope you find something interesting.”
“Same.”
I wonder if Rita will send Kat to kill me then blame it on Tage. The others wouldn’t be able to prove Tage’s innocence and it would be a fast and efficient way to kill all of us. But then again, she’s a sadistic bitch. She might she starve us out here. I wonder if my parents are wondering about me. Maybe they’re emailing them lies since they can fool the school staff as well. They should have access to our addresses and emails if they’re able to manipulate the systems in the school.
Dang it. I can’t stop thinking about things that won’t help. There’s nothing in these rooms I could use. I might as well go through these books in the library to remind myself of a better afterlife. Huh. This one book is a little out compared to the rest. Woah. After I pull it, it opens like one of those secret passages I read in fiction. I wonder what’s down here.
Okay, now it looks like I’m in some sort of secret room. There’s a glass panel that separates me from the exit to this room. There is a door in this glass panel, but it’s locked. Someone’s coming through the door on the opposite side now…David…He isn’t wearing that weird mask thing and he appears to be cautious.
“David…”
“I’m sorry for everything I’m doing, Ella, but this is the only way to give Rita she deserves.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have to fake being in love with her and doing this game with her to execute my plan. I can only talk for so long.”
“Did you know I would find the hidden passage?”
“I hoped someone would, and I’m glad it was you. I told Rita I set up this glass panel here so we could make fun of people and tease an exit for them.”
“What’s her goal for this game?”
“To kill you. Tie up loose ends from the last summer.”
“I knew it. What are you planning?”
“It’ll take too long to explain everything, so you’ll just have to trust me. Rita thinks I’m teasing you through this glass window right now.”
“Why should I trust you after everything that you’ve done?”
David opens the glass panel with a key.
“Because of this.”
“Because of wh-”
He-he’s kissing me…My mind goes numb and I go with it because I held out hope that he still loved me. Now I know it’s true.
“Because I still love you, Ella.”
“I love you too.”
“I’m relieved that you still do. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. It’s been torturing my mind ever since I started this ruse with Rita.”
“Oh. Is Siv on our side?”
“I programmed him to be, but Rita doesn’t know that. He’s capable of killing Kat especially since I tinkered her to be destroyed from the inside.”
“That’s great!”
“Yeah, but all of my plans could go south if Rita and Kat catch even a hint of what I’m actually doing. I have to be extremely careful of every action I do. You’re still in danger so stay safe. I have to go now.”
I try to give David another kiss before he goes, but I miss my chance as David closes the glass door behind him.
“Don’t talk about this to anyone. If you do, whisper it at night. Rita and Kat believe I completely love her, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be suspicious.”
“Got it. I love you!”
I see him smile as he walks out the door. Thank you, David, for restoring my hope in you. Now I have to survive to be with you. I exit the secret room and go back into the library. After noticing the library camera, I bring my middle fingers up to show it.
“Screw you, Rita! I’ll survive this game just so I can give David and you what you deserve.”
I can hear Kat laughing in the vents, so my acting is convicting. Since there’s nothing else to do, I take a theology book and start reading. It’s always good to read stories like the Book of Job in situations like this to remind myself that things will turn out good in the end if I keep my head straight.
Tage walks into the library and says to me, “Why are you just reading?”
“Because there’s nothing else to do. I couldn’t find anything that we can use to escape. Want to read with me?”
“I might as well. What are you reading?”
“Just different theology books. Take a look at this.”
When Tage gets closer, I point at words in the book and whisper to him, “We have to be quiet about this.”
Tage quiets his voice. “Quiet about what?”
“I met David.”
“How?”
“There’s a secret passage here in the library.”
“I know about that. The library did have this bookcase here before that leads upstairs. They needed space for more books, so they thought it would be cool to make it a secret passage.”
“How do you know about it?”
“Ian told me about it from an old teacher who knows about it. I was going to check it out.”
“There’s a glass panel at the end of the hallway that’s blocking us from going through the door at the end.”
“Damn it! But you said you met David still? What did he say?”
“He’s on our side and we have to trust him to get us out of this.”
“Trust him? What makes you think we can?”
I start blushing as I say, “He-he kissed me.”
“He’s on your side then.”
“He’s on your side too. Do you want him to kiss you too to prove that?”
“No! But I guess I don’t have a choice. What should we do now?”
“Just act normal. We go through the secret passage to try to break the glass panel to sell the idea to Rita.”
“Got it.”
Tage and I search our section for various tools to break down the glass panel. The only things we find that are useful are chairs and hammers. We try these on the glass panel, but they’re completely useless. They don’t even dent the thing. It’s like the glass is made of metal.
“Ha! You can’t break the glass no matter what you do! It would be better if you used those weapons on yourselves if you really wanted to get out of here. Hahaha!” Kat says as she surprises us from behind.
“Maybe I should just use it on you instead,” I say with my hammer ready to hit her.
“You already know how that would turn out or do you need more scars on your body?”
“Shut up!”
“Are there new scars on your body? It looks like there are. Did David really break your heart that bad?”
“I said shut up!”
Because I can’t hit her, I walk past her and back into the library. That killer cat gets on my nerves, and her mocking me while I’m walking away doesn’t help.
“I guess there’s nothing we can do to break that glass panel,” Tage says.
“Nope, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to kill each other for Rita and David’s entertainment.”
“You got that right. I’d rather starve myself to death than kill a friend.”
Kat again approaches us from behind and says, “You know the rules of the game, Ella. If you don’t kill each other by the end of the day, everyone dies.”
“I didn’t know that,” Tage says with a surprised look on his face.
“We were going to tell you at the beginning of today to give you an incentive, but Pace was one step ahead of everyone as always. We didn’t even expect him to be. That’s your friend for you.”
“You forced his hand!”
“We didn’t do nuffin. Why would you accuse a poor cute little kitty cat like me of something like that?”
“Fricken little shit,” Tage says as he goes to kick Kat, but she runs away laughing.
“Don’t let them bother you, Tage. Let’s just relax for now. I’m going to keep reading.”
“I might as well too. There’s nothing better to do.”
Tage and I read some of the books in the library until we get tired. The only place to sleep in this section are the couches in the library, so we lay on a separate couch.
“You aren’t going to kill me while I sleep, are you?” Tage asks.
“No. You aren’t thinking about killing me while I sleep, are you?”
“Not at all.”
“Even though you could survive, and escape will five million dollars?”
“I just got done reading a bunch of short theology books. Taking a life for that kind of gain isn’t worth the price I’ll have to pay later. I’ll trust in your plan.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Good night.”
“Night.”
David…I’m so glad you’re still sane. I hope this game ends soon so we can be together. Maybe I’ll be dreaming about you tonight…and I did. It was uh…a bit of a wet dream. When I wake up, the first thing that comes to my mind is the other three on the other side. Tage isn’t here though. I wonder where he went. Oh, here he comes.
“Where did you go?” I ask him.
“I tried checking this section for food and it doesn’t have any.”
“That’s right. This situation has taken up so much of my mind that I forgot to eat.”
“They’re going to starve us out to make us kill each other.”
“Remember what you said yesterday about wanting to rather starve to death?”
“I talk stupid sometimes.”
“This is going to be a problem especially since we barely ate anything yesterday. I hate to think about how the others are doing.”
“Me too. Maybe there’s food in the science/math section.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they could use food and water for their experiments.”
“I don’t remember that in my science courses. I know they have preserved dead animals and insects in some of the room, but I doubt any of the girls will get that desperate.”
“Me too. Still-”
Kat says through the announcement system, “Another murder has been discovered! Class is in session in laboratory number two. Get over asap!”
“Oh no…”
We rush over to the science/math section-
“Oda?!”
We come across Oda who has bandages on her hands with bloodstains on them.
“It’s not how it looks!” Oda says with her hands up.
“Then how is it?” I ask her.
“I accidentally broke some glass and it cut up my hands. I’m just put these bandages on my hand to cover my cuts.”
“Why were you holding that glass?” Tage asks her.
“Because I was just looking around for something to eat! There’s nothing here and I’m starving!”
“Get to lab two or you’ll all be sent to detention in the afterlife!” Kat screams through the announcement system.
We hurry to lab two to find both Claire and Nita cut up. They both have sharp weapons in their hands. Their throats are cut as well as most of their chest, arms, and legs. It almost looks like they fought each other, which ended in a draw.
“Another murder scene has been discovered! You will have ten minutes to go over the evidence placed in front of you. You guys are lucky. We thought you would need more time, but you get the simplest cases to work with. Good luck!” Kat says as she appears then disappears.
Tage begins to look over the bodies while I ask Oda, “If your story is true, then what were Nita and Claire doing when you left them?”
“They were fighting with each other, but things didn’t get violent until I left. Nita was defending Pace’s actions while Claire was screaming about Ian. We were walking together this section to look for food. Claire tried to get me to join her side, but Nita kept me out of it. The only thing that gave their fight pause was me accidentally hurting myself.”
“Do you know who hit who first?”
“Claire.”
“Makes sense. How does it look, Tage?”
“It seems to be like Oda how describes it. There’s blood around this area, blood on their hands, blood everywhere really, but I can’t tell who’s it is nor can I test it out in the time we have. I’m going to have to trust Oda here, but after what happened with Pace, I don’t know.”
“What are you talking about, Tage?! I couldn’t have killed these two by myself!”
“No, but you could’ve finished them off after they did.”
“That does make sense.”
“You two can’t be serious! I would never do that!”
“None of us would if we weren’t in this situation.”
“Please trust me!”
Kat and Siv come into the room and stands at the teacher’s desk. “Time’s up! Now with all of your evidence together, it is time for our TRIAL! Who is responsible for this murder? Who is responsible for this betrayal? Who would do such a thing? You have your answers. Let’s see if they’re correct. It’s time for DECEPTION AND DESPAIR!”
“Do you really need the intro every time we do this?” Tage asks.
“Yes! It’s a stylistic thing that a man like you could never understand.”
“I don’t even want to attempt it.”
“Then how about you attempt to tell us who you think murdered your friends, Mr. Investigator Man?”
“I can’t say for certain.”
“Give it a guess. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“We all get killed.”
“That was supposed to be rhetorical. Give your guess!”
“I think Claire and Nita killed each other. The way they’re together suggests that they fought each other until both of them died. I think Claire started the fight because Nita was defending Pace’s actions.”
“So you believe me?”
“Mostly, but I can’t get rid of the possibility that you killed the last one standing or laying rather.”
“You have to believe me! I stepped out of the room as they were fighting and got back to them when you did.”
“I want to believe that.”
“Ella!”
“I believe her. Oda’s never been one to start a fight or finish one for that matter.”
“What about Pace? This game completely changed him to the point where he killed his best friend before the game even started. It’s always the innocent ones that you least expect to be the killers. Didn’t you say not to trust anyone close to us? They would use our bond to betray us?”
“That’s true.”
“Come on guys!”
“I need definitive proof of your innocence. Can I see the bottom of your shoes?”
“Why?”
“Because if your shoes are clean then we can determine that you didn’t step in their blood to finish them off.”
“Oh, that’s right!”
“Wait!”
Oda instinctively touches her shoes with her bloody hands.
“Damn it!”
“No, no! Look! They’re still mostly clean!”
“She was about to take off her shoes and show them to you, Pace.”
“But she forgot that her hands are bloody? It’s too convenient for her to use as an excuse.”
“Look at her shoes.”
“They’re mostly clean, but then again, she could’ve stepped carefully around the blood splatters.”
“She could’ve also climbed on the desks to finish them off from a spot where they’re laying down so that she wouldn’t get her shoes dirty.”
“That could be true.”
“Whose side are you on, Ella?!”
“I’m just trying to show him that we’re just spitballing here. I think the simplest solution is the correct one here.”
“I’d like to believe that too, but we have to come to a singular solution. How about a coin toss then?”
“Let’s do it. What do you think, Oda?”
“I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Heads she’s innocent. Tails she’s guilty.”
Tage flips the coin into the air and my heart begins to rapidly beat. I can feel sweat beginning to form on my head as it lands back in his hand. He lifts his hand from the coin to reveal...
“…Heads. Is that correct, Kat?”
“THAT IS drum roll please.”
Siv does a drum roll to mess with us. So much for being on our side.
“Right!” Kat says much to our relief. “These two killed each other in a bloody fight with the dissection equipment and sharp glass. They died for the boys they had a crush on. Oh! The tragedy!”
“It’s not funny!” Tage screams.
“Don’t be so touchy. Nita liked Pace just as much as you. She was playing you both to see which man turned out to be the better choice. At least you’ll never live to see her break your heart. Maybe she’s in Hell with Pace right now.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Kat runs out of the room with the two bodies. Her laughter echoes throughout the halls.
“Damn it!” Tage slams his hand on the desk then leaves the room. “I’m going to see if they lifted the gates. I’m starving.”
Oda and I quietly join him to find the gates open. We go down to the cafeteria and eat together in silence. There’s only three of us left. One person could kill both people and possibly get out of the game without having to go through a trial. Tensions are at their highest. David, I hope your plan is in action now. I need you now more than ever.
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