╳ S I X T E E N ╳
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The next round looked simple, but it never really was with this game.
Her temples throbbed, but she didn't look away from the game. Her eyes burned, but she didn't shut them. Her pulse still mocked her, whispering the same word to her over and over. She wanted to rip her heart out to shut it up.
The girls had chosen a mental round to play this time around, and as such they were a very different setting. It seemed that Terrarabella had the upper hand, a confused Rocket sitting opposite her. It was much like the way that her second round with Alexander had been; the walls had floral wallpaper and the chairs had restraints.
She wondered if anyone had ever escaped in a round like this. They were probably taken down before they got far. Blinking, she thrust away those thoughts. They didn't matter; she would never end up there. She wouldn't lose and see herself set in those chairs, forced into those games in that way. She would remain the person behind the controls. She would be safe in some form.
Lana tucked hair behind her ear just as the instructions for the round popped up. Match the notes! There was nothing on the table by the girls, but it was then that the wall beside them shifted. It slid away in time for a piano to come forward, then shifted behind it again. The keys tapped themselves, like a ghost at play, and Terrarabella bucked in her seat.
Her face was still a mess, a mosaic of violence and rage. Only one eye remained open, but even that was blocked by her swollen cheeks. Her face was not something to look at easily. So Lana stopped looking at it all together. Instead, she looked down at the small keyboards that melded into the tabletop in front of both girls. Their straps were released around their arms and their chairs moved closer on what had to be some sort of automated conveyor belt.
Both girls looked shocked and displeased. The camera shifted to focus only on the keyboards and Lana suspected that they'd zoom back out again. There had to be some sort of risk happening, otherwise there would be no fun for the creators. Her attention turned over to Brie and Olivia, regarding them carefully. They had returned to that focused state of theirs; eyes narrowed and lips parted slightly in their concentration.
All the people that had said video games were bad for kids weren't wrong, not really. It was a mind-numbing, yet stimulating thing. This game, for example, was just that. You had to let go of the perception of reality you had and focus only on the fact that you could be next to die. But that, of course, was only if you knew the consequences of losing. Lana wondered how many people had played with Alexander or Olivia without knowing that crucial fact.
Just inviting anyone over for a round of games sounded innocent enough. How many friends had they tricked, how many strangers? It was a dangerous thing to think about, she knew, but her mind wandered there no less. It was easier to do than watching the countdown clock to start the round. It ticked away, carefree and oblivious to what it led to.
The piano notes drifted through the room like a soothing melody, a nauseating distraction from the reality of the situation. Sheet music rolled on screen for both players before the music paused and the keyboard reappeared. It was their turn to match the notes. She watched the sure concentration on Olivia's face break for a moment before her fingers slid over the controls with an ease that could almost be graceful. But she wouldn't admit that it was; not at this time.
Brie struggled for a moment longer, gaze flitting up to the timer. Her movements were unsure, but she went through carefully choosing her options. The timer dinged and the notes were matched with the sheet music. Olivia had managed to get them all right; Brie had not been so lucky.
The punishment for incorrect answers wasn't quite as severe as Lana had suspected. A blade swung down, just brushing over Terrarabella's fingers. It was close enough to kiss the skin there as metal clamps rose up from the table and held her wrists in place. Rocket, her player having been correct, wasn't rewarded. Another timer appeared and the music started again.
This melody was familiar, something everyone had to have known. It was Bach, or something like that. The piano lessons Lana's mother had tried to make her go to came to mind. She'd only been in two classes before she was pulled from it, her parents not satisfied with it as something to talk about. It had been clear that she was no prodigy then, and that she wouldn't be. Her jaw clenched as this connection was made, an unwelcomed reminder of a past she couldn't return to even if she wanted it.
She thought about closing her eyes again, but she knew what would welcome her if she did. Instead, she pulled the hood of her hoodie over her eyes. The artificial darkness was nice, calming. But it didn't shut out the music. It penetrated the would-be barrier and she wrenched her eyes shut involuntarily. She wanted to hum, to drown it out, but she couldn't do that. It'd distract Olivia and Brie and they needed to concentrate on this game. Brie's life could be hanging in the balance in this moment. In a sense, her death would be on her hands if Lana disrupted them.
She tried to conjure up the image of something else, a memory maybe. But she grasped at nothing solid, nothing noteworthy. She'd have gone through her life with a series of disappointment if she tried to find something she actually enjoyed. Her thoughts are cut through by a shriek.
Lana risked looking up. The blade that had hung over Terrarabella's fingers had lowered. It was less than inch, but it was low enough to cut into flesh with each swing. As if she were in the girl's place, she could feel the metal scraping through her skin and a crimson river washing over her digits. She wanted to howl herself at the explosion of pain that laced through her, but when she looked down at her hands there was nothing. She was much too into this game, too connected. She needed to disconnect.
It was then that Lana noted that another blade hung over Rocket's fingers. She didn't look frightened, as Terrarabella had been. She was merely indifferent. As if it wouldn't affect the fact that she would go on to ruin the lives of more people. Like it wouldn't stop her from killing someone else. She couldn't tell if it as just a ruse to keep Terrarabella in a corner of despair, but it was working. The girl wailed, leaning back in her chair as she strained to move her hands. But that only seemed to make it worse, the blade finding unbitten flesh to slide through eagerly.
Lana dropped her gaze, pressing a fist against her lips. A spasm rose up in her legs, calling for her to move. But she couldn't. She was rooted in place and mesmerizing by the girl's pain. She tried to think of it as what it was: a game. This was merely a game, right? She had only to believe it was and it would be true. She'd be able to watch without any problems.
That option was off the table. She'd never be able to look at it the same way, knowing what she knew. It would no longer be something facetious. Thinking about it displeased her, and so she thought of something just as bad. She thought of the wistful days before all of this had come about, about the times she'd spent with the twins.
The twins were lost to her now. At least, that was what she thought. It was likely that they would have fought back against their captors. Tara would have tried to maul them with her nails or teeth. Talia might have pulled some kind of stunt just to get away or distract them from her twin. She liked to think of them as having fought their hardest. There was no way they would have just allowed themselves to be taken. But she couldn't look upon them too fondly, not anymore. Just like her perception of the game, her idea of them had been changed.
Circumstances had ruined any possibility of them being friends again, even if they had survived that first round.
The ding of the game timer went off again, signaling the end of the round. Lana had been successful in drowning out the game with her fantasies of fallen friends. She wasn't sure if she should be proud of herself or terrified that something like that could pull her away from the horror of the game. Maybe she was getting better at this coping thing. Maybe she was getting deeper in a pit that she'd never be able to climb out of.
The loading screen for the results popped up, and they didn't look too good. Terrarabella was missing her fingers, for one. Her wonderfully smashed face worsened, tears mixing with the blood and spit already drying on her swelling flesh. Rocket looked better off, minus the loss of a few of her own fingers. Lana turned her attention to the results, naming Olivia as the victor. Which meant that Brie was likely to die if she lost the next round.
Something in her stirred and she remembered what it was like to be close to death. Not the kind where an elderly relative passed on, but the visceral, terrible feeling of watching the last hope in someone's eyes fade away with their life. She blinked, and for a moment, she was no longer in her own home. The foyer of Alexander's home loomed over her instead, warping with her memory and panic.
Her breath came out in short rasps, throat closing up. Her knees weakened and it was only then that she realized that she'd been standing. Or was she laying down? The ceiling felt like it was closing in on her, threatening to swallow her up. She turned her head to look away, only to stare right into Alexander's eyes. The press of his body, dead weight now, held her place. Unable to move, she merely squirmed before opening her mouth to shriek.
"Lana!"
The voice tore through her momentary hallucination, and she found herself back on her living room floor. Her breath caught in her throat and for a second she thought she was going to cry again. How incredibly weak was that? Her laughter stuck behind her teeth, never leaving her lips as she looked to the screen again. In the time it took for her to relive the worst moment of her life they'd played a full round.
Her gaze flitted up to the girls, mouths slightly agape. There was pity in their eyes, not strong enough to make her gut twist but enough for her to grit her teeth. She didn't want their pity. But there was also a calm on Brie's face that didn't match the situation. The last she'd seen of the game, Olivia had been winning. Her gaze flitted over to the screen once more to check the results. The tension in her body loosened as she looked upon the scores. Brie had won.
When she looked over to Olivia, a smugness sat in her chest. The girl's face had contorted with displeasure, lips curled back like a dog's and eyes widened. It was like she'd intended to win from the start. She likely had no plans of sparing the girl beside her from the very beginning and something within Lana had known this. Maybe she'd just tried to ignore it.
But it dawned on her that she'd been having an episode while they were playing the round. Neither of them had bothered to pause the game, making the piteous light in Brie's eyes all the more unwelcome. This was how it was meant to be, of course. Everyone for themselves. Even in daily life, it had always been that way. On planes, they told you to help yourself before you helped another person. It made sense; what could the other person do about saving you if they couldn't even save themselves? So this would mean she had no reason to be upset with either of the girls. It didn't mean she wouldn't be, though.
She didn't voice any of her thoughts. She was content knowing that no one had been sentenced to death within the walls of her home. It would not turn into another version of Alexander's home, as she had so adamantly wished against. But Olivia's reaction brought back other memories she had wished to push down.
Not-Richard was not a welcome person into Lana's psyche. She'd have rid herself of the man if she could, but sadly couldn't. Not when his words rang true in her head and loomed over her like a dark cloud. Since her meeting him, she had been doomed to remembrance from the first words he'd said. Because she'd always regret letting him into her home and filling her head with his poison. But was it really poison?
He had made a point of talking about Alexander, but why not Olivia? Why not the girl that had been involved in this whole mess from the start. The only difference between them was that Olivia was not smart, not in the way Alexander had been. She was still devoted to the game, knowing all that it did and all it could do. A shiver rippled down Lana's spine at this thought, the concept that Olivia might very well worship the thing like a celestial entity. It was a thought that left her bones trembling and her frame vibration with fear.
Olivia had potential, was potential. She was the desperation that came with attention just before it left. The last legs of relevance were all she had to stand on. Playing this game would make her a scarlet-covered celebrity and that was what she wanted. If she died, there would be no point. She wouldn't be remembered for all time, and she knew it. That was why she had to win at all costs, why she thought she was worth more perhaps.
Lana fell back as the silence held the three girls in the room. None spoke, regarding the others with either disdain or disbelief or a mix thereof. Because what more could they do? Lana didn't want to play, Olivia didn't seem satisfied, and Brie...she didn't know what Brie was. But there was something in the way that she sat, rooted so firmly in the chair, that spoke volumes. That said she didn't want to go home.
"Let's watch a movie."
// and safe! looks like no one is dying yet. yet. i kind of struggled with this chapter for some reason. probably been writing too much, if that's possible. anywho, this is the first update since the start of my classes! kinda odd, since i started later than everyone. but! please remember to vote and comment to support the story! cheers, rem.
QUESTION TIME: How are classes going thus far? Clearly, Lana hasn't been going to school, but I imagine she would be feeling the same thing y'all are if she did go.