Dinner was silent. No one wanted to initiate conversation after what had happened. Not even Keon, who was our self-appointed leader. All he did was stare blankly at the table, looking to be deep in thought. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere. Then Carmen broke the silence.
“We should come up with a new plan. Levi obviously saw how well we were all working together and how effective our plans were, so he wanted to put a wrench in that to bring down our morale,” she said.
“She’s right. We have to swing the momentum back to our side,” Conrad said.
“If we are truly as cooperative as you claim, then there’s one solution which would make Levi’s ploy meaningless,” Cyrus said with a grin plastered on his face.
“And what might that be?” Keon asked.
Hearing Cyrus add to the conversation must’ve snapped him out of his trance.
“We just need to be honest and tell each other what we took and why we took it.” Cyrus was obviously mocking us. No one said anything. “What? I thought we all trusted each other? Was that all a lie?” The awkward silence continued. “Look…I know you guys think I’m a dick, but I really just want you all to start seeing things from a perspective that makes much more sense than all this buddy-buddy nonsense.”
“So, you’d prefer distrust? Making everyone feel like they need to look over their shoulder at every second? That doesn’t seem much better,” Carmen said.
“Yes!” Cyrus yelled. “There’s no point in lying and saying that we trust each other wholeheartedly after just one fucking day! Everyone should be distrustful. If we start trusting each other, someone will die.”
“Distrust is a strange thing to be so passionate about Cyrus,” Keon remarked.
“I-I do think that there is some truth to what he’s saying though…” Miles said in a nervous tone.
“C’mon, Miles. Don’t let him get to you. He just wants to tear us apart for some unknown, but probably bullshit reason,” Conrad said, glaring at Miles.
“I agree with short stack too!” Maya said loudly. “I can’t trust any of you freaking weirdos except my sister. It’s bad enough she has to share a room with a stupid perv like Miles.”
“Hey, I was the first one to agree!” Miles protested.
“Anyone else want to spend their days living in fear?!” Keon barked.
“Well, if we’re picking sides, then I’m not gonna stick around with the dipshit who didn’t even want us to have pillows.” Sienna said while walking over to where Cyrus was sitting. “This place will become Alcatraz if we leave him as the leader.”
“Is it not already?! Look where we are! He’s just doing what’s best for us!” Amber yelled.
“Exactly! What’s the point in making life worse than it already is?!” Sienna yelled back.
In the commotion, we had now been divided into two groups with very different ideologies; one of strict rules to enforce safety, led by Keon, and one focused on one’s own individual survival, led by Cyrus. On Keon’s side of the table was me, Marin, Conrad, Sabrina, Carmen, Emma, and Amber. On Cyrus’ side there was Atticus, Sienna, Miles, Mia, Maya, Robbie, and Louis. It was an even split, for better or for worse. The air was more tense than ever and working together to find a way out of this hellhole was about to become even more difficult. Whether or not some of them were actually taking sides is still up for debate though. Sabrina never says what she’s thinking, and Louis doesn’t seem like he’s paying attention to what’s going on right now at all.
“I’m glad some of you are finally seeing things in the right light. It’s human nature to distrust, and to betray, so I’d prefer we all just be honest about those facts,” Cyrus said.
“How is a group of people who only believe in distrust and self-preservation going to last more than a day?” Carmen remarked.
“Better than yours, I assure you,” Cyrus answered. “Now there are some things that Keon instated that I would like us all to cooperate with. First of all, having guards is a worthwhile benefit to us all so I can allow our members to help when it is their turn to be guards. Also, I am for the nightly and morning wellness checks on everyone. If someone is missing or dead, that is something I have to know. So, we will not be skipping out on these events.” The members of his group that were paying attention all agreed and they went on their way, leaving the rest of us in the cafeteria.
“So…” Marin broke the silence. “What’s the plan now, Keon? We’re all behind you.”
“It’s going to be a lot more difficult to keep everyone safe, but at least that weasel isn’t going to skip out on the headcounts. I appreciate you all sticking around. Being labeled as a master negotiator by others is now starting to feel like a joke. This whole experience has been very humbling.”
He looked very defeated. First having to deal with Levi, and now with Cyrus and his group, it’s easy to see why.
“For now, it’s about time for the first guards to take their posts for the day…Conrad, Emma, please get your things in order and proceed to the cafeteria entrance. Then, when it hits 10pm we’ll do the final headcount and rest. I’m sure we all could use some after today. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow morning.” Everyone nodded and we split up.
Marin and I walked back towards our dorm. I couldn’t help but start to feel very sick. This whole situation was finally starting to hit me. The hope I had before was dwindling and the thought of there being an easy way out of this situation was starting to seem like an unattainable dream. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go! I was supposed to deal with the struggle of meeting new people and tolerate it, so that I could be set for life, and now I’m doing that just so I can survive the night! This is so fucked up. I feel like I’m starting to crack. Marin must’ve noticed my mood change because she started speaking in a warm tone.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Are you feeling okay, Ryder? That weirdo Alex didn’t put anything strange in your food, did he?”
“O-oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired.”
“Well, now you’re just lying to me,” she said, crossing her arms.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no way anyone can be ‘fine’ in this crazy place, and you’re pale as a sheet.”
“Yeah, I think everything is starting to sink in, so I’m just feeling a little sick. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
“If you say so…” She gave me a weak smile. “We are roommates, at least for the time being, so feel free to tell me if something is bothering you. I think it would be good for us to lean on each other a bit.”
“I’ll make sure to do that. Thank you, Marin.”
“Good.” She gave me a real smile this time. “Now there’s something that’s been on my mind that’s been bothering me.”
“And what’s that?”
“We have guards posted outside during the hours that the cafeteria is not serving food but is still open, so what if someone just grabs a murder weapon when the cafeteria is serving food? Especially since everyone knows when and where the guards are going to be, it almost seems pointless.”
“I see what you’re saying. The way I thought about it was that it was our way to try and combat a murder opportunity that they blatantly set up for us. It’s almost like a declaration that we weren’t going to take the bait. I could be wrong though. That’s just my opinion.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Marin said. “That time gap was obviously an opportunity for a killer. So, you think it’s just a ploy to show resistance against the psychos who locked us in here?”
“I’d say that’s at least one of the main reasons. I imagine Keon is thinking multiple steps ahead when he decides things like this.”
“That does sound like him. Based on what we know about him so far at least.”
It was silent for a moment. I’m not very good at keeping conversations going when they come to a standstill. I remember one Thanksgiving my grandma had died and it caused my dad to have to leave the dinner early to go help his dad (my grandpa) with the situation at the hospital. We had my grandparents on my mother’s side over for Thanksgiving that year and it made everything weird for the entire dinner, but it was worse when my dad came back and needed my mom to come with him to help pick up my grandpa’s car which was left at his house. So, I was left alone with my little brother and my grandparents and basically had to play host for the rest of Thanksgiving. It was painful. I’m no good at leading conversations and usually just make things incredibly awkward because of how obviously nervous I am. People always say to fake confidence and no one will know that you’re nervous, but I physically cannot do that. I believe that it’s most difficult to have conversations with people that you know relatively well but not well enough where they actually know the real you. People who were in your friend groups in middle school, family members you don’t see a lot, coworkers you don’t spend a lot of time with, etc. It just always feels like there is some responsibility put on me to help contribute some thoughtful dialogue with them because I know them. I should have no problem talking with them, but it’s not as easy as it seems, at least for me. Maybe I’m just crazy though. While I was deep in thought, Marin broke the silence again.
“Hey! Y’know what we should do?”
“What’s that?” I said.
“Let’s go try to convince our ‘honorable’ guards to let us use the kitchen so I can cook some confections, and you can try them! That’ll help get our minds off of things! I haven’t gone a day without making something in a while… I’ve got a title to uphold, y’know?”
“Yeah, I get ya. Are you sure we can convince them to let us in though? I feel like everyone is on edge right now.”
“It’s worth a shot. It’s Conrad and Emma after all and they’re still friendly with us, so I think they trust us at least a little bit. I think it’ll be good for us to try and take our minds off this situation for a little while. I’ll even let you help me bake!”
“Alright, I’m down. Let’s see what they say.” I was definitely nervous on how this was going to go.
Marin was a tough person to figure out. I’ve never been good at figuring people out anyway though, so maybe I’m just incapable. The fact that she could think about baking at a time like this was just so strange to me. I would prefer to sit in my new bed and just think about all my options at the moment and what my own next move is going to be. If you’ve ever been an anxious person, you can probably relate. Problem solving is one of the things we’re best at because of all the times we have to think of ways to get out of situations. Marin seems like a very “live in the moment” type of person though, which is very unlike me. People are a lot more complicated than we all think though, so she’s probably got her own ways of coping and problem solving in a situation such as this that I just don’t understand because I’m not her. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
We walked towards Conrad and Emma who seemed to be talking to each other while standing on either side of the door. They saw us approaching and seemed slightly wary about what we were about to do. Conrad spoke first.
“What are you two doing out this late? I wasn’t expecting us to actually have to do our job out here ever since the contraband duties were handed off to that creepy maid.”
“Well, we were hoping you’d permit us to use the kitchen. I want to try and get some baking in before the day is over since I’m the ultimate baker and all,” Marin said in a sweet and soft tone.
“Jeez. This means I’m going to have to pat you down when you leave, you know that right? Might have to be quite an in-depth search,” Emma said, folding her arms.
“I won’t have anything to hide except for some hopefully delicious treats! Search all you want!” Marin said while giving a thumbs up. Emma’s expression didn’t change.
“I like you, Marin, but I don’t know if we can make an exception even if it’s for you-”
“Hold on…” Conrad interrupted her. “What kind of treats will you be making?” He couldn’t hide the fact that he was obviously interested. Marin picked up on his weakness immediately.
“Why don’t you tell me?” She batted her eyelashes at him and gave him a big grin. Emma looked at Conrad with a slightly annoyed face.
“Br-brownies…” Conrad said, looking away from her looking slightly embarrassed.
“Brownies it is.” Marin then looked at me with the eyes of a con-man who just closed a big sale. “And I swear I’ll let you be as in-depth as you need to be in your search, Emma.”
“Ugh. Fine. But you better give me my payment too. I’m not going to be the only non-bribed guard,” Emma said, turning her head away from us all.
“We won’t forget about you!” Marin said, flashing a pretty smile at her. “Let’s go, Ryder.”
I followed behind her into the cafeteria.