It felt like we’d been here for weeks already with how much had happened, but it was only a few minutes before 6pm. Once I made it to the entrance of the cafeteria, I could see everyone was looking over towards the back of the room. After tracing their vision, I could see Levi was standing with Andrea at his side and they were looking out at us all. Levi then started talking.
“So, how is everyone faring so far? Everyone comfortable with their living situations? Well, I saw that you all started tearing apart your rooms and were throwing stuff all over the place, even after how hard we all worked to make sure you were all stocked up…Not cool.”
“Fuck you!” Carmen snarled. “I wish we could tear you apart too, you psycho!”
“You do not talk to your headmaster that way!” Andrea said while once again pulling up her jacket to show she was armed.
“Now, now, Andrea. It’s fine. Change is hard. Everyone just needs some time adjusting and I’m sure we’ll have a better understanding of one another.”
It was impossible to read Levi’s expressions with the space helmet on his head. He continued.
“I just came to give you all an update on the situation, but I figured I’d start with pleasantries because it is only polite to do so.”
“How long do you plan to keep us here? What’s your endgame?” Keon asked with his arms folded.
“I’ve already told you all that you are free to go the second you get away with killing one of your classmates. It couldn’t be simpler. You can kill to escape, or you can stay and live with your fellow classmates. It is truly in your hands at this point,” Levi said mockingly.
“T-there’s no third option?” Miles asked.
“Nope. Sorry. Any other stupid questions?!” Andrea barked.
Everyone held their tongue.
“Wonderful,” Levi said. “Now, what I came to discuss pertains to the items you left on that table over there. The ones that you all barbarically tore out of your rooms after we stocked them so nicely for you. Long story short, they are not going to be able to stay there.”
“Why do you care what we do with the shit you left for us to use?” Conrad asked.
“The truth of the matter is…it’s kind of an eyesore. Jane has enough of a tough time cleaning up these facilities as it is. We don’t want to make more work for the poor housekeeping staff, do we?”
“An eyesore? It’s not like this is a mansion in Beverly Hills!” Miles said.
“Why don’t you just let it slide, and we promise not to move the items from that spot. We’ll even place them more neatly on the table, isn’t that a fair compromise?” Emma asked.
“I see myself as a man of strong character, and those with such a strong character are also known to be adept at compromise. There are just some points I cannot concede on though. I’ll let you keep these items out of your rooms if you are so unwavering, but I’d like to move the location of where the items are to be held,” Levi said. “Now I know you all had a foolish little plan to try and keep these 'potentially dangerous’ items out of each other’s hands without supervision, but that’s no fun, is it?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Fun?! No one cares about fun here! We only care about keeping each other alive and getting out of here without anyone getting hurt,” Amber said passionately.
“Oh, come on. I don’t believe you all feel that way. There’s nothing like the thrill of not knowing when you might be killed! Think about it! Some people live long lives and die in their sleep! Some die before their tenth birthday in a tragic car crash! Some get crushed by random objects falling out of the sky that they would have never seen coming in a million years! Death is the one absolute, yet it is so unbelievably unpredictable! Will you be lucky enough to live a long life?! Unlucky enough to not even get ten percent of the time on Earth that an average person gets?! No one can ever tell!” Levi’s voice was erratic, and he was breathing quite heavily. “Isn’t that fun?! ISN’T IT!?”
No one said anything. Everyone was stunned. We definitely knew there was something off about Levi, and that was obvious given the situation he put us in, but hearing this true and absolute passion leaving his lips and it being about his obvious fetish of death made my skin crawl.
*Ahem* “I apologize for my outburst, but now you see how these plans of yours cannot stand. I’m not evil though, so let’s compromise! If the items won’t remain in your rooms, then they will remain in the housekeeping quarters where Jane will be looking after them.”
“How can we be sure that she won’t tamper with them?” Keon asked.
“I promised from the beginning, but I will once again reiterate that we will not purposefully harm you unless you are guilty of something that would warrant such a punishment. She will keep the items safe, and I will even let you have a list of what was taken and the time it was taken, but I won’t have her write who took them,” Levi said.
“Goddammit…We need to know who took what! We can’t budge on that condition!” Keon was losing his cool.
“Now, where’s the fun in that? It would be too easy to find who killed who, if we did it your way. I want to give an easier time for those of you who would like to escape here. It’s only fair. After all, that’s what you’ve all been barking about since you arrived here. You see? I’m on all of your sides. Those who’d like to leave should be given an opportunity to do so, and I need to make sure they have those opportunities as headmaster.”
Keon was squeezing his fists so hard his knuckles turned a bright white. He looked utterly defeated.
“Can we at least do inventory to see if anything extra was taken during the night?” Keon pleaded.
“If you so wish, then you may, but I will promise that Jane will not allow anyone to take more than she writes down for them. Jane may seem gentle, but she has a wonderful attention to detail.” Levi gestured his hands as if he were presenting Jane to a class, but she only gave a false smile to us all. She didn’t seem too thrilled.
“We can’t trust any of you, so we will be doing a count during the night regardless,” Keon said.
“As you wish. See? Isn’t compromise wonderful? Now that was all I had to discuss with you all. I’ll have Jane take these items to her work quarters momentarily, so go ahead and eat, then get some well-deserved rest. I will take care of everything here.”
Levi then walked out with Andrea following behind him. She looked back and shot us another deadly glare. Alex had brought food out while we all were talking and it was lukewarm by the time that we all sat down and started eating. Many of us didn’t touch their food. How could we knowing that Levi was going to intervene in all of our plans to try and help make murder possible? I suppose it could’ve been worse though. At least we still were going to have a log of what items were taken and when. It’s better than nothing. Hopefully, we can gain back what we lost through trust in one another.