"Ow!" I cried out for the millionth time I burned myself.
I shook my hand and shot daggers at the egg that was frying in the skillet. I had the stove set to medium, so the egg could cook faster and it only resulted in a burnt finger. My finger was more cooked than the egg itself.
"Here, I'll take care of the eggs," Nia said taking the skillet away from me. "Grab the wood and sticks by the door, and help Angel build a fire."
"Thanks," I said patting her shoulder.
Angel picked up half of the pile of wood, sticks, and twigs while I grabbed the rest. We dropped the stuff in front of the couch and went near the fireplace. It looked like it hadn't been touched in a while. Angel kneeled and started to try to make a fire, while I snuck over to the front door to check the knob. The top lock had a key slot that was there to unlock the door. It was locked unless we could find a key.
Darn it! I walked back to Angel in defeat and kneeled beside her.
"The front door's locked," I said lowering my voice.
Angel made a noise and kept her focus on trying to start a fire. I leaned forward a bit towards the fireplace and blew on it softly. After a couple of failed attempts, I was starting to feel light-headed. A tiny spark flew and I blew a little harder. Smoke started to rise and we lifted our hands in victory.
"Yes!" I shouted while laughing and crawling as fast as I could to throw some of the wood into the fire we started.
It was easy to navigate around the living room since it only had two couches arranged in an L-shape in the corner behind us and the fireplace with a small, black flatscreen tv on top of it.
The room was dimly lit and it had no windows in sight. The fire that was beginning to grow shed little light in the room. It only illuminated our faces for now.
After a couple of minutes of feeding the fire until the fire was a big enough to cook something over it, Angel placed her pan on the rack above the fire and her three eggs in the pan.
I tried to hide the incredious look that was creeping on my face. I couldn't believe she caught three eggs without being attacked. My head still ached from the attack. Thankfully, I had enough hair to cover the bald spots. I gazed into the fire instead into the back of Angel's head, then stood up.
"I'll be right back," I said looking around the room.
I didn't wait for her reply as I went to explore the house. The dining room was straight across from the kitchen. It only held a round table and four chairs. I continued straight past the stairs and stopped in the middle of the hall. There were three doors two on the right and one on the left. I didn't know which one to enter, so I turned around.
I walked up the stairs quietly letting my hand glide up the railing. There was another hall that led to the front of the house that I didn't notice before. My jaw fell to the floor at what I witnessed.
The entire room was barren like it was a new unfurnished house being sold. It was perfectly pristine and clean as could be that I smelt a faint scent of bleach. I was too shocked at the sight that I was too afraid to walk on such a clean floor of a clean room. I was too afraid to see what was behind the two doors on my left because I was terrified that I would dirty this purified room. My unpurified feet stayed planted where they were and I stood there still gazing at the room like an idiot.
I turned on my heels and quickly raced down the stairs. What was the purpose of that room? Why was it empty? Did he use that area to murder the other player? No. He couldn't have. Tiny beads of sweat started to slide down my face as my hands began to shake. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't real, this is not possible.
I tried to hydrate my all of a sudden dry throat by swallowing down whatever amount of saliva I had in my mouth. It didn't help, nor did it help that the room started to spin on it's own. I didn't ask to be on this merry go round and I wanted off as soon as possible.
Nia walked out of the kitchen holding two plates and placed them on the dining room table before she saw me.
"Oh my gosh," She said rushing towards me and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "What happened? Are you okay?"
She helped me walk upstairs and we entered our room. She helped me into bed while I slid my own heels off. She tucked me in then disappeared into the bathroom for a while. She came back with a damp towel and placed it on my forehead.
"I'll go get your eggs and I'll try to find some medicine for you," She said before she left the room.
I sighed and squeezed the sheet close to me. My heart was somewhere on the floor again but I didn't have the energy to get up and search for it. I felt like poop and I was a confused piece of poop because I didn't know what I was going to do. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch the person who brought us here, and I wanted to punch the bird who attacked me. I wanted to sleep, for I was exhausted from this morning.
I wanted to escape this nightmare and let out all these rivers of feelings that I was holding. I would feel so much better although nothing would be done. I would still be forced to stay here and play his sick game.
I tried getting up, but all of a sudden it felt like I was molded into the sheets. The sheets were tightening around my legs and closing in tightly on my sides. I started to cough as I was trying to breathe in some sweet, free oxygen. It felt like there were hands squeezing my neck and I couldn't move.
I opened my eyes and it was all over. Everything was silent and still that my breathing could be heard. I sat up looking around for the others. I waited until my breathing returned to it's steady rhytm before untangling myself from the sheet.
I set my feet carefully on the floor and held onto the edge of the bed until the room stopped spinning. My belly started to protest and I placed my hand over it to mute the sounds.
"Shh!" I said.
I remembered I had some berries and nuts in my pockets, but it was more like smushed berries and hard nuts that I ate. After that, my belly seemed satisfied with what I had given it.
The house was eerily quiet that my footsteps could be heard as I walked down the stairs. When I walked into the living room, I already noticed Nia's brown hair before I entered the room. She was sitting on the couch absently staring into the fire. It looked more blazing than it did before and higher.
"Um, hi," I said walking over and sitting on the other couch.
She looked up at me and smiled. "I'm glad to see you're up. How are you feeling?"
I shrugged. "I'm fine. Thank you for taking care of me."
"No problem." She resumed her stare off with the fire.
"Where's Angel?" I said.
"Out," She hesitated. "W-with Durst."
My eyes snapped open. "What?"
She sighed. "A couple minutes after I tucked you in, I was walking down to get your food. I was about to walk back up the stairs when I heard yelling. I hid in the dining room, but I was still able to hear."
She frowned and looked at me before continuing. "He wanted her to go somewhere with him as 'part of the game,' but she was putting up a fight that he practically had to drag her out the door."
"I hope everything will be okay," I said after I found my voice.
"I'm sure we will," Nia sighed as she rubbed her face.
It was a moment of silence for a while neither of us knowing what to say. Both thinking of the same person and the same thing. Would he make us go on "dates" with him alone? Poor Angel.
"I heard you and Angel talking last night," Nia said all of a sudden.
"Yeah?"
She nodded. "I'm not sure if my story would help though."
"Well anything is better than nothing," I said scooting to the arm rest of the couch. "I'm all ears."
"My boyfriend," She frowned then corrected herself. "My ex and I got into a huge fight that resulted in our break up. He kicked me out the house and locked me out. I had no where to go and I was just a huge mess."
She chuckled at herself. "I don't know how long I stood there before I started to walk and look for a ride home. I hitched a ride and told them my address, but I barely gave the driver a look. I didn't care too much because I just went through a rough break up, you know?"
I nodded. "Break ups can be nasty."
"After a couple of minutes, I noticed we've been going the wrong way. Instead of towards the city lights of Austin, we were going to the hills and woods side of it. I started to say something, but this towel was pressed against my mouth covering my nose with a strong scent. The strong scent made me pass out and I ended up here."
"Well, it's good to know that at least we're still in Austin," I said.
"But how can you know?" She said her tone becoming harsh. "We could be anywhere in the world right now, miles and miles away from our family. How will they find us and where would they search if we're not even in the same city we started out in?"
I stayed silent. I didn't want to add to the rage of fire that was blazing in her now. I didn't want to create any more fire nor get in the crossfire of it.
"What if they don't dig too far into the investigation? What if they're not even looking at all?" She stood up and started to pace. "What are we going to do? How are we going to escape? What if he kills us?"
"Shut up!" I said standing up and letting my voice level soar high through the air. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
She stared at me intensly and sat down slowly.
"You're driving me insane with all this stupid, quitters talk," I said waving my hands furiously. "We're going to do what he expects us to do which is to obey. Any chance of escape that we see, we're not going to take it the first chance we get. We're-"
"What if we don't get that chance again?" She fired back staring me straight in the eye.
"Then there'll be more opportunities in the future. We'll plan our escape when he least expects it, so we can be free."
"That all makes sense," She clapped her hands and laughed. "Round of applause to your 'master mind' but what if he is watching us? What if he records us in this house all day and night or implanted a tracking device into our bodies?"
I shook my head sadly. "You know what? You can sit around here and stare off into that fire all you want. You can think hopeless thoughts and be sad for all I care, but you're not going to defeat me. You're not going to dim my hope. My hope that I have for us to get out of here alive. My hope that we'll see all of our loved ones again and you know what? My hope that you will get on my level and see the rainbow after the rain. The sun after cloudy days. We can overcome this, but it takes what we have in here, our minds, our hearts, and our souls, to actually do it."
I took a deep breath to make up for all of the oxygen I used during that dramatic speech before storming out. I wasn't going to be around Ms. Doubtville any longer than I had to be. I stopped in the kitchen and yanked open the icebox. There wasn't much in this lonely white refridgerator, but an orange, a small container of apples slices, and a carton of juice. I grabbed the orange and a couple of apple slices before I marched upstairs to our room. I slammed the door shut behind me and flopped down onto my bed.
I peeled the orange letting my anger tear open it piece by piece until it was naked and free from any unnoticed orange peels. I sank my teeth into it's fruity juiceness and spit out a couple seeds before chewing the chunk of orange slowly.
I reached down and grabbed the sheet off the floor before I laid down on my side. I didn't know I was crying until my pillow became drenched in my tears. I sat up sniffing hating myself for crying. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my beat up face. My eyes didn't redden thankfully, but my brown eyes looked more glossier than ever.
I fanned myself with two hands until my heart relaxed itself. I hated feeling weak and powerless. I hated anyone even more who made me feel this way. Durst's face emerged in my head and I tried blinking his stupid, good looking face away. He bothered me all the way down to the depths of my soul. He was like an annoying child that looked at you whenever you had something they wanted, but didn't want to ask you.
I turned away from the mirror and placed my hands against the door to keep me from creating a hole in the mirror. I turned the water off and dragged myself out of the bathroom. I didn't know how long Angel and Durst been gone, but I exhausted myself so much that I fell on my bed and fell asleep.