It is horrible.
She is currently stuck with London, James, and Emilie. While Emilie isn't so bad, London and James are. They are constantly chattering which is driving Amelia crazy. And, based on the look on her face, Emilie.
"Won't they ever just shut up?" Emilie moves to walk next to her.
"We can only hope." Mia says, not taking her eyes off the steps she's climbing.
Awkward silence encompasses them. When they reach the top, they come upon a long hallway, though no one is surprised. Doors line the walls. They walk past every single one of them.
"What are you guys doing?" Mia calls to London and James, who are walking in the front of the group.
"We saw more interesting doors earlier when we were holding the trial!" London starts walking backwards so he can face them.
"The steps are just up ahead!" James adds.
Mia and Emilie look at each other. With a shrug, Mia follows the two.
"You know, it could be a good excuse to ditch these two." Emilie looks at her.
"That's a good point. We can split up and explore two rooms." Mia looks back at her. Emilie will never expect that Mia is way worse than she acts. And, since Felix trusts her, Emilie will too.
Once they reach the third floor, they take a look at the many doors on the walls.
"How about we split up?" Emilie asks innocently. Mia looks over at her and smirks, knowing that even if they don't agree, they'll do it anyway.
"Sounds great! Mia and I can go together while you and James can go together!"
Oh no. Nonononononono.
London had just ruined their plan. Her plan. If she wasn't with Emilie, she couldn't manipulate her! So, Mia came up with a simple solution.
"I think Emilie and I should go together. You know, seeing as you two are such close friends already." She gestures between London and James.
"Actually, he talks way too much." As London says this, James throws his arms in the air, "Besides, wouldn't it be fun to talk with someone else for a while?"
Emilie looks over at Mia and shrugs. Guess she would have to deal with London just this once and put her plan with Emilie on the back burner.
"Let's go, Emilie!" James looks way too excited to be with Emilie, but Mia guesses anyone would get tired of London sooner or later. They start walking towards a plain looking door, leaving her alone with London.
"Why don't we go in this door? Seems interesting enough." He gestures towards a random door that definitely does not look interesting.
"Fine." She says before lowering her voice, "Let's get this over with."
***
Overall, London doesn't talk much unprovoked. He was mostly quiet as they searched the bedroom.
"So, what have you been up to lately?" He says, as if he were asking an old friend.
"Oh, I've just been exploring this awesome mansion with nineteen other people. The twist is, only ten of us will make it out alive. Can you believe how much fun it is?" Mia puts as much sarcasm in her voice as is humanly possible.
"No need to be sarcastic, Mia." London says, never taking his eyes from in front of him.
She freezes. Why'd he call her Mia? Is he already trusting her? He shouldn't, seeing as they haven't talked much. So, the real question is, why is he already comfortable around her?
She is shaken from her thoughts when a hand waves in front of her face.
"Hey, are you alright? You kinda spaced out on me there." London's face appears so close to hers that she could count the freckles on his face, which she realizes isn't many.
"Yeah. Let's just...Let's just keep looking for something." Mia says as she moves away from London. She doesn't know what it is about this guy, but she knows she doesn't like him. She decides she's going to trust her gut. She always trusts her gut. And, based on her many past experiences, it's almost always right.
Instead of taking a hint and moving away, London grabs her upper arm.
"Don't lie. Nothing good comes out of lying. You're obviously not alright. I think I would know if you weren't."
Suddenly, Amelia Taylor is transported to a time that she thought she'd finally forgotten. She looks around the room to see that the solid wall that was once there has been replaced by double windows, and that the bed has been replaced by a long couch.
"Don't lie to me, Mia!" Someone that Mia's mind has tried to make her forget stands in front of her.
"I'm not lying! I promise! Please, just...believe me for once!" Mia can hear her own voice speak, though she doesn't feel her mouth moving.
"Of course you're not! You never lie! Because you're just so perfect!" The figure moves towards her, grabbing her upper arm. Tears start to fall down her face as his grip tightens.
"I–I–I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. It won't happen again. I promise." Ameila trembles, unable to control it.
"Now that's a good girl." He lifts her chin up, wiping the tears off her face, "Don't cry. I'm doing this for your own good." He pulls her into a tight hug and Mia doesn't resist when he puts a hand on the back of her head, pushing it against his chest.
"Just remember, I only want what's best for you. I love you, Me-uh Oh-my-uh."
"Mia...Mia. Hey, Mia. Are you there?" London's face is close to her again, his hands on her shoulders. She stumbles backwards as she tries to get as far away from London as possible.
"Don't touch me," she says, hugging herself.
"Alright." London put his hands up in defense, "I'm going to step towards you now."
When London steps closer to her, Mia fights against her every instinct and doesn't back away. Eventually, he comes close enough that he could see the tears that are starting to accumulate in her eyes.
"Don't cry." He says, pulling her into a hug which she hesitates to reciprocate, "Nothing is going to hurt you now."
Mia lets the tears fall freely. When they start to drench London's shirt, she pulls away.
"Sorry. I don't know what got into me." Mia starts to wipe at her tears.
"Don't be. Nobody's perfect, after all." He puts a hand on her cheek, wiping her tears. Mia leans into his warm touch.
"But shouldn't we try to be?"
"What, perfect?" When Mia nods, London continues, "No, we shouldn't. All we can do is try our best."
"Our best isn't very good then, is it?"
"If we're here in this mansion? I suppose not."
A few moments of silence pass as they stand there together.
"Don't you ever wonder what might have happened if we chose a different path? If we made a different decision?" Mia looks up at London, letting her guard down just this once.
"Sometimes. Though I try not to dwell on the past. I prefer to look towards the bright future." He smiles his stupid charming smile at her, all while never looking away from her eyes.
Mia had never intended it. She hadn't wanted it to happen. But when London leaned in to kiss her, she decided she'd give in just this once. Only, it isn't just that once. He doesn't stop kissing her, and she doesn't stop kissing him. Well, at least not until Emilie walks in with James behind her.
"What are you—" the room goes quiet when Emilie sees the scene before her. London has one hand in Mia's hair and one arm wrapped around her, holding her close. They are standing, though Mia feels as though she is about to faint.
Emilie pushes past James and walks out the room. Remembering her plan, Mia pulls away from London and chases after her.
She finds Emilie in the teaching room, sitting in a corner. Mia sits down next to her.
"It isn't easy for me to say but, I'm sorry. Truly." She turns to face Emilie.
"What do you have to be sorry about? You didn't do anything wrong." Emilie doesn't meet her gaze.
"No, I do have something to be sorry about. I saw how you looked at London. I saw how he looked at you. I—"
"Stop. Just...stop. There was nothing there and—"
"Thanks to me, there never will be." Mia looks down at her hands which are folded in her lap. Silence fills the room.
"Why'd you come after me?" Emilie asks.
"I wanted to apologize."
"No you didn't. There was something else. There is something else. What is it?"
"I don't want to try and make excuses but," Mia pauses for a moment, "London was the one who kissed me. I kissed back, of course, but he did it first."
"That jerk!" For a moment, the silence returns, "I can tell there's something else on your mind."
Mia hesitates before responding.
"Felix...told me something. He told me something about you."
"What did he say? What did he tell you?" Slight panic appears in Emilie's eyes.
"He said that your ex was abusive."
"I am killing Felix when we find him." Emilie says, making Mia smile, "And, yes, my ex was abusive. Why did you want to talk about that?"
Mia is seriously regretting her decision to talk to Emilie. She keeps directing questions back to Mia, never giving information about herself. But something pulls Mia to answer.
"I had an abusive ex, too." This was the first time she'd ever said those words aloud. It was always my ex was controlling or he was a jerk. She never said he was abusive. That is, until now.
"You did? I am so sorry that you went through that. Are you alright now?"
"Truthfully? No, I'm not okay." Mia can't control the sudden flow of words that spill out of her mouth. "Two years of therapy didn't put a dent in the trauma he left me with. Are you alright?"
"Truthfully? No. I may have Felix with me—and he tries his best—but he can't fix it, as much as I'd like him to. He's the older one by two minutes, you know. I think he feels some sort of responsibility over me, though I can't fathom why."
"I think he just loves you. He wants to make sure you never suffer, because he feels you've suffered enough already. Of course, I can't really know."
A moment passes before Emilie breaks out into laughter. When Mia gives a confused look, Emilie answers her unsaid question.
"Here we are, performing a psych exam on my brother!"
"Hey, we have the experience! Once we get out of here, we could become psychologists!"
"Or therapists!"
"Or both!"
Both girls start laughing uncontrollably, causing the room to echo it back. Once their laughter would start to die down, they would look at each other and start laughing all over again.
As the laughter comes to an end, they sit together in comfortable silence.
"Thanks Mia," Emilie says. "I needed that laugh."
"No, thank you. I think I've finally come to terms with what has happened.
Have I?
"And what happened back there was my fault. It shouldn't have happened." Amelia offers Emilie a knowing smile. "He really cares for you. You should give him a chance."
Emilie lights up at this news.
"Really?" She gives Mia a hug, surprising her. Perfect.
If all goes well then London will go bye-bye.
Now time to wait for the right moment for Felix to find out. And in the meantime, Amelia would focus on winning this thing.