“What,” he mouthed, shocked. He glanced behind him. “Sandra!” he yelled. “Sophie’s here!”
He withdrew from the window and they heard the bolt unlatch. The door opened to reveal him standing in checkered pajamas. A woman in exactly the same outfit appeared around the corner a second later, and she hesitated at the sight of them all before rushing forward and embracing her daughter.
“Hey, mom,” Sophie mumbled.
The woman pulled back. “What are you doing here? Who are these people?”
Sophie smiled. “These are my friends. They were kind enough to come out here with me.” She ignored the first question for some reason.
Her parents looked doubtfully at the four students standing behind her. “What’s wrong with him?” her dad asked, pointing at Noah.
Noah blinked and froze in place, licking his lips. He had somehow halved the distance between them without realizing it. He had to swallow a mouthful of saliva as he stepped slowly back into line with his friends.
“Get it together,” Brian whispered harshly into his ear. “These are Sophie’s parents. Not your dinner.”
Noah shook him off and cleared his throat. “Nothing’s wrong with me,” he said indignantly to the dad. “Mind your own business.”
“You’re the one who showed up in my home,” he retorted.
“He’s sick,” Sophie said quickly. She hadn’t seen any signs of dust since they had stopped breathing, so she felt comfortable enough adding, “It’s not contagious. And it’s not the Wager, either.”
“What the heck is it, then?”
“...We’re not sure,” Sophie admitted.
“How’d you even get here?” her mom asked, looking out the window and failing to see a car they might have taken.
“Oh, we walked. The school said some fresh air would do me good, and who am I to argue with such an esteemed establishment?”
“They told you to go for a walk at 11 PM?”
“Yeah, can you believe it? I think they’re trying to skip out on dealing with my body when I get whacked.”
Her parents gaped and seemed to come to the realization that their daughter might very well keel over at any moment, as she was at the final hour of the Wager.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” her mom said.
“Well, I did. I’m not gonna walk all the way back to campus now.”
They looked at each other. Sophie’s face was set stubbornly, while her parents seemed close to panic.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I suppose you might as well sit down,” her dad said finally. He led them into the sitting room, where it quickly became apparent that there would not be enough seats for everyone. Sophie’s mom brought in two more chairs from the kitchen. Noah tried to take a seat beside the dad, but Brian quickly took him by the shoulder and guided him to an empty chair on the opposite side of the room. Sophie shot him a thankful look as they passed her.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” Brian muttered.
Noah sat down obediently and did his best to look like he wasn’t actively thinking about eating anyone. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded, based on Brian’s worried glance.
He knew on a basic level that his thoughts and desires were being influenced by the infection he bore, but that didn’t stop it from being effective. Whether it was a function of the sickness or not, he couldn’t find within himself any shame for his quite drastic shift in appetite. He knew if he attacked Sophie’s parents at this very moment, he would feel no remorse for having consumed a human being. He knew he should, and that he would have been thoroughly repulsed by the idea even a day prior. But he had been physiologically changed by the sickness, and it left him sorely lacking any form of guilt concerning his hunger.
“I’m Travis,” Sophie’s dad introduced himself, breaking Noah out of his self-reflection. “And this is Cassandra.”
His wife offered a strained smile.
“Does anyone want a drink of water or anything?” Travis asked.
“No,” all five students said simultaneously.
“Oh, excuse me,” he muttered.
“Sorry,” May squeaked. “I can take some water if you want me to.”
He smirked at her reply and just shook his head with a long-suffering sigh.
“Should we change?” Cassandra wondered aloud, her words directed towards her husband. “It just doesn’t seem right to host guests in our pajamas.”
“I think wearing pajamas is a good sign that it’s too late for anyone reasonable to be showing up without warning,” Travis said.
“The only reason it was without warning was because you haven’t bothered picking up the phone all day,” Sophie said accusingly.
“We just wanted you to be getting rest,” her mom protested. “You should be saving your energy.”
“For what?” Sophie snapped, her voice rising. “Either the Wager hits or it doesn’t. There’s no in-between. The least you could have done was be available to your daughter on what may be her last day alive.”
“We had faith in you,” Travis said.
“Really? I don’t think that’s true. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be acting like I’ve already died.” She glanced at the time and smiled savagely. “We’ll see soon enough if your faith was justified.”
Noah noticed that she failed to mention anything about her hopes regarding the interaction of the second sickness she carried on the outcome of the Wager. He shrugged to himself. If she wanted to keep her parents in the dark, that was her decision. Even if it made him somewhat uncomfortable that she was making them worry more than they perhaps had to.
Travis and Cassandra were growing more anxious by the minute, and everyone except Sophie shifted uneasily in their seats. Noah began to regret agreeing to accompany her inside. He looked over at the parents sitting obliviously just a few feet away and had to swallow again. It would be so easy…
I should leave, he thought, but he couldn’t make himself stand up.
“So, how’s your day been?” Cassandra asked her daughter in a hesitant voice.
Sophie stared at her in disbelief. “You’re asking me now?”
“Of course, Soph. We care about you.”
Sophie snapped to her feet. “Well, then you should have acted like it. All I wanted…” she drifted off, her expression going blank. A slightly confused look crossed her face.
“What?” Travis asked. “What did you want?”
She stumbled to the side before collapsing across the carpeted floor.