Flicker: The Game Of Chance

Chapter 18 (A) | Killing Games Remedied

After packing the things we may need and getting ourselves temporarily aided from injuries, we slowly made our way down to the main entrance where the barricades had now been removed. 

Almost as if they were never there to begin with, the metal boarding on all the windows had been unscrewed and had fallen to the ground. Of course, no possible human could've achieved such a feat within such a short amount of time, so I guessed that the metal boardings were actually powered mechanically.

The horns of the ship had gotten closer than ever before, and as the three of us stepped out of the house and onto nature for the first time in about 3 weeks, the first thing which greeted us were the gentle breeze of dawn and the warm rays of the sun. The warm rays of the sun, which again rested on our cheeks and hairs, and caressed our body in a way which had made me feel more relaxed than ever before.

Colleen stretched out her arms and her torso, leading to the event of joints being cracked around. Seeing that, Mateo let out a fairly boisterous yawn, seemingly in the relief that all of this insanity was now over and we could finally return home.

Home...? Return...? Return... where? I don't have a home to return to... No, that's not it, either... I still have something I need to do...

"Hey, Veronica." The voice came from Mateo, which I responded to by glancing over at the source. He was standing right infront of me along with Colleen, and then suddenly the two of them pulled all of us into a giant hug.

"Thank goodness! We actually did it!" Mateo shouted out loud in glee before starting to laugh and smile in solace and cheeriness. "I know, right?! You madlad, Mateo! You were so awesome back there! Austin went all bzzzzzz and grrrrrrr!" Colleen replied with the same amount of solace and cheeriness in her voice.

"I think it may have been a little more extreme than bzz and grr..." I'd riposted playfully.

"Oh! Veronica's cracking jokes now! What a development." Mateo had replied back playfully, and laughed out loud again with no difference in the solace and cheeriness within. "You were so cool too, Veronica! Did you see his face when you went BANG, BANG?! HAHA! It was a sight worth seeing, alright!"

"Whatever! I'm just glad we all made it out safe," Mateo replied warmly, tightening the hug and prompting the rest of us to do the same. 

It didn't take long after that for the ship to finally dock at the island and anchor itself to prevent drifting away. The ship had the words 'Princess Laurier' engraved onto it, so I'd assumed that it was the name of the ship. After a bit more conversation along with laughter, the first one to watch the ship door open and walk inside was Mateo. He stood infront of the doorway, waiting for myself and Colleen to also go in -- Colleen then started to walk on, and halfway through, when she'd noticed that I hadn't made a move yet, she held out her hand, waiting for me to hold it and smiled warmly.

"C'mon, Veronica. Let's get out of here."

...

"Colleen... I'm..." It took me a moment before I could roll out the words I'd wanted to say. "I'm not coming now."

"What...?" Colleen's eyes widened in shock, and so did Mateo's. Colleen's face had a look of desperation and worry, whilst Mateo's had a look of confusion and despair. "What are you talking about? You must be joking?" Mateo's voice sounded high-pitched due to how confused and astounded he'd felt.

"No jokes... I'm staying here on this island."

"Everything we did so far was to get out! What are you talking about?!" Mateo shrieked, tears forming in his eyes and trying to convince me to go with them; however, despite his tireless efforts, the broad reply he'd gotten was "Mateo... I can't go." Colleen clasped her hands to her mouth in shock, and she'd looked so full of despair that she was unable to utter even a word. 

"I want to go back with you guys, but I can't..." I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as I uttered those words, and I fought back the tears in my eyes to maintain my stoic facade. Mateo had a terrified look on his face, and Colleen too. They were both stunned and completely left speechless, so I knew that they wouldn't be able to speak until I had said something. "I need to find Grandmother Ally..."

"Why?! Why can't you come back with us?!" Mateo shouted out again, trying his utmost best to convince me to go with them. "Losing your eye... losing everyone who was here with us! Losing Carlos, losing Amani... everything that happened was our fuel, our power to leave this place... what the hell do you think you're gonna achieve by staying here?!"

"I'm sorry, you two..." I turned my back towards them, unable to hide my tears anymore but unwilling to let them see it. "I hope you two... find happiness." I started to walk away from the ship and back towards the house -- I wanted to go back, it was all that I'd ever wished for. But I couldn't. The whole reason I'd survived this whole game was to learn the truth... and I couldn't let that opportunity go to waste.

I could hear the rapid approaching of Mateo's footsteps as he probably aimed to bring me towards the ship and away from the house, but the footsteps suddenly stopped in their tracks. I wasn't really certain of it, but of the corner of my eye, I could see Colleen holding him back, and whispering something to him before she shouted out to me.

"Veronica!"

Without turning back, I waited there and waited for Colleen to tell me what she wanted.

"...We'll meet again, okay?"

That was it. That was all I could hold back, the tears started to flow down my cheeks and my body started to shake uncontrollably, yet all I could do was hold it back and pretend that I was alright. I felt my eyes turning bloodshot and my mind slowly growing more and more insane. There were many things I wanted to tell them; I wanted to thank Colleen for being my first friend, the first one to love me and accept me as 'Veronica'... and I wanted to thank Mateo for being my second friend, for helping me so much to defeat Austin and the clan, for being with me even when I was a stubborn and stuck-up little bitch.

Yet, all I had done was nod to myself, before heading inside of the house once more and having one last objective I'd wanted to achieve: Find Ally and have her tell me everything.
However, I didn't have to walk for long as she was standing right infront of the entrance to the main living room, with her body leaning towards a wall.

"I'd been expecting you. Please, have a seat."