Until We Lose Ourselves

10

"Here, take this to him." Millie handed Chase a tray.

"Why don't you make anything for me?" Chase pouted.

"Because you aren't tormented." Millie gave him a pointed look, and he nodded. He took the tray upstairs and Eden watched.

"I'm also going to my room." Eden announced.

"Wait, hey! You spend most of your time huddled up in there. Stay out here with us." Emilia told Eden.

"I'm not in the mood." Eden replied, and left.

She got to Jonah's floor and saw the door open. Chase was inside and the two were talking. She didn't want to eavesdrop, and so she kept up her pace and went to her floor. The top one.

.

"But you won't leave, right? You've built a life for yourself." Chase watched Jonah run a hand through his hair.

"I don't know if I want to continue."

"You are sad right now, I understand. But, don't take such a decision yet. You love your career. When you are not caught up in your feelings, you will think properly."

"Caught up in my feelings?" Jonah raised an eyebrow.

"As in, you are going through several emotions right now. Emotional decisions are no good. Think over it when you aren't thinking about anything else. You might regret it if you act impulsively." Chase watched his friend stand up and head to the window.

"You are right." He said, looking away.

"I know I am."

"I'm not taking any decisions right now, but I'm not going to begin working again either. I'm keeping up with the online schooling shit, but that's all."

"It's alright, Jonah. You can take a long break, if it helps."

"Thank you, Chase."

"No need, bro."

.

Eden searched her drawers for the contract. She came across a bottle and picked it up. Turning it sideways, she realised those were her old sleeping pills. They were expired, so she left them as they were.

She eventually realised that it wasn't in her room. She remembered stocking some documents inside the small cabin beside the house, inside the boundary wall. She made her way back out of her room and hurried down the stairs. Her housemates saw her leave the house in a hurry and head for the cabin.

Eden placed a long piece of wood, solely there for this purpose, between the door and the frame, to prevent it from closing. The door to this shed couldn't be opened from the inside. She rummaged through boxes filled with papers. It was surprisingly not long before she found her contract.

She removed the wood and took the papers with her, folded, inside the house, and hurried up to her room.

Her eyes skimmed over the paper, and landed on the date, 06/06/17. It was when her contract would end.

Two weeks. That was it. It wasn't an option to leave, but there was the option to edit the next contract, given they even provided her one. It was her only shot.

She placed the documents in her drawers and heard her door open. She turned to see Millie at the door. "You seemed panicked, I thought you might want to talk?"

Eden opened her window and turned back around to see Millie sitting on her bed. "You don't need to worry about it."

"You can let me into your life a little, Eden. We were friends before anyone else came along."

Eden walked over to her dressing table slowly, just a little further from the window. "I don't want to both-" there was a weird sound from outside the window. Eden turned and Millie raised herself onto her knees on the bed to get a better look.

It was then that a bullet was shot right at Millie, and then a hooded figure jumped inside. The bullet got into Millie's leg and she fell backwards off the bed with a scream.

Eden gathered her senses and jumped at the man, making him tumble over and fall. The gun left his hand and went a little under the bed. Millie had seemingly hit her head on something because of her fall, for there had been a thud, and laid unconscious on the floor.

The scream had sounded throughout the house, reaching the ears of all the house members, that then jumped from their positions and took off running to the top story. Jonah too came out of his room and realised that the sound had come from Eden's room. He too began to hurry upstairs.

Meanwhile, the man had pushed Eden away, as he reached out for his knife. Eden pushed herself off the ground and her eyes didn't fall on the weapon, instead staring at his eyes above the mask he wore. He came at her and she tried to push him and turn to get away, but he placed the knife to be at her neck. However, she grabbed it by her hands and didn't let it touch her throat. He pulled and the knife pushed into her hands, but she didn't feel the pain immediately, but she was hopeful when she heard the members of the house started beating at the door. She screamed but then gasped as he pulled the knife in more harshly.

They seemed to push the door together. Eden suddenly kicked behind herself, luckily making him loose his grip as he fell, but before he could stick the knife into her legs, she pulled away, and he dove back at the window, pushing himself out as the door fell open and Eden fell to the ground. He was swift, and his figure being thin, he slipped out and disappeared.

Almost everyone had seen the man leave, but they turned their attention to Eden, seeing her bloodied hands. "Millie!" She yelled.

Everyone turned to see an unconscious Millie lying on the ground. Some of them went over to her and picked her up. Someone picked up the phone, leaving the room and calling the police, while Eden stood up by their help and was led outside after a minute, as Chase carried Millie along and they rushed out of the house.

.

Millie went through bullet removal surgery and had to be set to recover from her minor concussion. Eden had her hands cleaned and checked for damage, before being wrapped in a cast. The knife had cut through half her hand, but there was no unrepairable damage. There was minimum damage to the bones, that had held strong against the knife, and nothing that couldn't be treated by just resting her hands.

The police arrived but Eden was too shaken up to answer anything right then. The others dealt with them and they agreed to come afterwards when she would be able to talk.