"Ms. Terrer, are you ready?"
I sat still for a moment, staring at the agent clad in black. I had no idea what this was for, or how they even knew what they claimed to know. Why would anyone confess to wanting to kill anyone?
"Ms. Terrer?"
My shock subsided only to the agent's voice.
"Will I be safe?" My voice quivered towards the end, doubt settling in.
The agent didn't say a word, but nodded curtly and reached a hand out to me. I took it out of appreciation, but also because I wasn't quite sure I'd be stable enough to walk on my own.
We walked down a dark corridor, lit only by overhead lamps that weren't doing their job. The agent didn't seem affected, though, so I didn't say a word.
When we stopped the agent placed a hand on a metal door knob, waited for me to nod, and opened to door. I stepped inside fearfully. Who was I supposed to expect in here?
The first thing I saw was the rusted, green, metal walls. It wasn't very reassuring. The floor was concrete but smooth and polished. There were no stains. And there were three people inside, just as promised. But this wasn't what I was expecting.
Erin, Sam, and Benji were staring at me from three metal chairs in the middle of the room. They all looked confused, even a little scared. I turned to look back at the door, but it was already closed.
Erin was my childhood best friend. He always humored me, even when he knew it would wind up getting him in trouble. We've had every class together since first grade; he was a year younger but smart enough to skip kindergarten.
Sam had been my best friend since middle school. Erin wasn't always around — his family was notorious for spontaneous vacations — and Sam and I met on a day that Erin wasn't present. It wasn't anything spectacular, really. Sam was a transfer student from another county and was brave enough to ask me if they could eat lunch with me. It was hard to say no when they were wearing a hilarious graphic tee: "The Gender Spectrum is as Real as Your Sex Is." I'm pretty sure they got in trouble for that one, too.
Benji was an outlier. She wasn't a friend, not really, since she was easily two years older than me. She certainly didn't know Erin or Sam. I wasn't even sure how well she knew me. I'd always simply watched her from a distance, admiring her smile, her laugh, her hair flips. Sam used to tell me I was weird for crushing so hard on a girl I had never even talked to, but Erin was always quick to shoot a protective Dad look in Sam's direction and shut them down.
Of all three people, how could it be these three?
I stiffly approached a fourth metal chair left facing the other three. The three before me were very tense, not that I blamed them, and didn't say anything.
"Uh. Hi, guys." I began, staring at the floor as I sat. I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with them, knowing that one of these people wanted to kill me.
Erin and Sam glanced at each other, then at Benji, and then at me. No one said a word. Not for a while.
"Okay. I'm sorry to break whatever ritual silence is going on, but I'd really like to know what the hell is going on here." Benji's voice broke the silence like throwing a hammer at thin glass. It was so abrupt I jumped, and Erin looked at me with a sort of pity.
"Well," I began, unsure of how to explain the situation, "all I know is... two of you would do anything to save my life." I hesitated, the next phrase burning my lungs, "And the third — for whatever reason — wants... they want to kill me."
Another exchange of glances passed through the room, but the curtain of silence fell over us again.
Sam suddenly burst out in a laugh, "What? Are you kidding me?" They sighed, holding an arm over their ribs. "You mean to tell me that somebody in this room is a wanna-be-murderer?" Another ridiculous laugh escaped their throat, "Who would wanna kill you anyways, Hannah?"
Erin shot an angry glare in Sam's direction but it appeared Benji agreed with them.
"Hannah, honey, who told you that?" Erin asked in the same comforting Dad voice he used whenever I was anxious.
I pointed at the door behind us, "The agent. That's what they said. That two of you would do—"
"Yeah, yeah! Anything to save your life and the third wants to kill you!" Benji burst out again, "So what? This could all just be a prank someone's playing on all of us, you know? Why are we taking this so seriously?"
"A prank? In a disgusting, rusty, old building in some unknown location?" Erin placed a hand on his chin with a deep sigh. "It's highly unlikely, as much as I hate to say it."
Benji slumped in her chair in defeat and aggravation. Sam looked at the three of us incredulously.
"Wait, is this serious?" Sam asked, "Is this for real? I thought this was a joke."
No one replied. A violent hush fell over the room once again.
"Okay so how do we get out of this, then? If we're playing the rational side of this. Did the agent say anything about how we get out of this situation?" Sam paused, "Hannah, are you even safe in here?"
Erin jumped up so quickly his chair fell backwards and exclaimed, "Of course she's safe! No one in this room is going to touch her... right?"
"Didn't you just say this wasn't a prank!" Sam yelled, throwing their arms in exasperation, "Hannah isn't safe in here! Someone in this room wants to kill her and there's no one here to stop them!"
An unexpected sob ripped through my lungs. I hurriedly placed a hand over my mouth to silence myself, but the three had already heard. Surprisingly, Benji threw herself out of her chair and to my side, wrapping her arms around me. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do other than continue to cry.
"Okay, all of us need to calm down." Benji began, "Someone needs to come clean and they need to come clean now. It doesn't matter if you would actually kill her, but if there has ever even been an inkling of desire to kill Hannah then you'd better speak up now."
Another silence rolled over the room.
"Why are you suddenly being so comforting towards Hannah, Benji?" Erin demanded, tone cold and solid.
Benji looked down at me and then at Erin in disbelief, "What do you mean? You two were freaking her out with all your screaming. Someone had to shut up and comfort her! I wasn't about to wait for you two to get over yourselves in order to help her. I'm not totally useless."
"Yeah, but doesn't that sound awfully suspicious?" Sam inquired. "One second you're all 'this is just a prank' and then you're all buddy buddy with the victim? Sounds fishy to me."
"Oh, Sam, really?" Erin sighed.
Benji stepped away from me carefully. "You're accusing me of wanting to kill Hannah?" She scoffed, "I know nothing about you two! For all I know, one of you is the murderer! Actually, let me take a step back — one of you is the 'wanna-be-murderer'!"
"If you know nothing about us then how do you expect us to believe you know anything about Hannah?" Erin interjected.
"Because Hannah and I used to be best friends! Long before either one of you were around, thank you very much!" Benji's exclamation left her out of breath. She relaxed after a moment and put her hands on her hips. "We used to be very, very close."
Sam raised an eyebrow with an interested hum. "Oh yeah? If that's true then you should be able to tell me when Hannah's birthday is."
"May 5, she's a Taurus. Her favorite color is burgundy because it reminds her of her childhood cabin. Her favorite animal is a starfish because, inspirationally, they can regrow appendages after being injured. Her favorite academic subject is science, although she dislikes chemistry and physical science. Her favorite-"
"Alright, alright," Erin interrupted, "that's more than enough oddly correct information."
Once again, an unsettling silence fell over us.
"How do you know so much about me?" I asked gingerly, wiping fearful tears from my face.
Benji looked at me sadly and shook her head. "That's a little more complicated than I'd like to endure explaining."
"I'm sorry, but we're all at a bit of an inconvenience right now so we're gonna have to politely ask you to suck it up and get on with explaining." Sam fixed their chair and sat back down in what appeared to be a somewhat comfortable position.
Benji looked from Sam to Erin and lastly to me, all while biting her lip. She looked a little scared. "We don't have time for this. All I can say is I have never had the desire to kill Hannah." She threw her hands in the air and sat back down.
Erin and Sam looked at one another and then at me, but neither of them said anything.
"Hannah," Erin spoke again in his Dad tone, "who do you believe wants to kill you?"
I looked at Erin, his familiar face a comfort to me. My eyes then fell on Sam, his spunky personality always adding spice to my life. Then I looked at Benji, the girl I had admired for years.
Not one of them looked like they could ever even think to kill me.
"I have to guess," I looked at Benji with regret, "you, Benji. I'm sorry I just don't know you enough-"
Benji shook her head, "It's alright, Hannah. I understand."
A mechanical voice rang into the room with a squeak, "WRONG" and disappeared again.
The word echoed around the room for a while. No one said a word.
"Wait! Since when has this been a guessing game!?" Sam stood abruptly, hands balled into tight fists.
Erin and Benji jumped back with a fearful look. I was suddenly on the edge of my chair, as if I were waiting for them to pounce on me.
"Sam! It's Sam," Benji cried as Sam turned to her with a murderous glare, "Say it, Hannah! Say his name!"
I glanced ferociously between Benji and Sam before finally crying out, "Sam! Tell me if it was Sam!"
All sound in the room stopped. I could only hear the rush of blood in my ears for a matter of seconds that felt like eons.
"RIGHT," the mechanical voice squeaked before disappearing again.
My heart fell from my chest to my stomach. The whole world began to spin as Sam began clicking their tongue.
"First things first, Benji," Sam spat, "I go by they/them pronouns. So if you could respect that, I'd greatly appreciate it." There was a small pause as Erin and Benji slowly made their way to my side.
"What? 'No one wild actually touch her... right?' Isn't that what you said, Erin?" Sam took a simple step forward, "If that's true then why do you two seem so... tense?"
Benji reached my chair and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Because you don't seem like you're in the mood for a confession without action."
"Oh my, oh my! The guards of the princess! Honestly, if the poor brat weren't so naive she'd've caught in by now. I mean, seriously! Erin you've been so far stuck up the poor girl's butt it's no wonder she never found the guts to ask Benji out?" Sam gasped and placed a hand over their mouth, "Ah! Sorry, Hannah-boo! Guess it just... slipped!"
A maniacal laughter ripped out of Sam's chest and echoed eerily around the room. "I was just doing my job, you guys! Just like you. Just. Doing. My. Job."
A flood of black suits stormed into the room and disappeared just as quickly. When they were gone, Sam was completely out of sight. Not nearly as out of mind.
Erin appeared over my shoulder, "Hannah, are you alright?
I sat quietly for a moment as my stature drooped liked a wilted flower.
"I don't want answers," I whispered, "I just want to go home."