same pov
"The first name drawn will assume the roll of the first exorcist, and the next name drawn will be the second exorcist." Oli continued.
"So two are leaving today, basically," is what Lele has to say about it.
"I watch a lot of scary movies." Matt says.
"I'll do an exorcism." He looks as though expecting cries of "Matt, no!" and so forth. Instead, what he gets is an "all right" from Tim, shrugs from Joey and Sierra, an "okay then" from Eva, and (of course) cheers from Lele, he gets a sad smile form me. Oli, especially, seems nonplussed.
"Thanks for that, Matt. Anyone else wanna volunteer? Or are we doing a vote?"
We are doing a vote.
Arthur and Sarah stand next to the hat. Lele, Sierra, Eva, and Oli huddle together on the couch. And as Matt joins Joey and Tim, and I in the corner.
"Okay, you know what?" Tim shrugs looking at me directly.
"We'll just all vote a different girl." he finishes, i go wide-eyed, shaking my head. Matt nods.
"Okay. I'm down with that. They've been trying to get rid of the men this entire time." i look at all of them mouth agape. The are conversing as though i'm not there.
"Just that last time," mutters Joey, shifting uncomfortably in his shoes. So that's that, then. There's three girls, and three boys willing to vote for them, Oli's apparently sided with the girls for some reason, and he would probably vote me, Matt's going to go for Lele, because of course he is, so that leaves Eva and Sierra to choose from, Oli doesn't know me well, it would be easier for him, but he isn't here so, im safe for now, unless his group is throwing my name around.
Matt's already in, the group isn't gonna let him back down. He sacrificed himself. I have to admit, I didn't expect that kind of selflessness from Matt Haag of all people, but whatever. Unless Matt tries to back out.
"Let's do it."
----
Voting time.
Arthur turns to Matt and says
"Matt, you volunteered yourself," but Matt stutters his way through a half-assed apology.
"Uh, I did, but...I feel like...I wasn't thinking clearly..."
"You can't do that!" Eva shouts, anger and disbelief piercing her voice.
"You can't just do that!" Lele shakes her head.
"I told you guys. He's so bipolar it's—"
I grab Matt's hand, holding it between my small hands.
"Matt." Arthur's the only one in the room who isn't glaring at him right now.
"Would you like to volunteer the first name?" Ignoring his friends' scowls, Matt approaches the hat and takes the pencil from Arthur, dropping my hand in the process.
Joey's turn, then Eva votes, and then it's Lele's turn.
She's voting for Matt. She's not gonna rest until Matt is dead. But this time around, she stays quiet, scribbling out his name without her usual "Matt!" proclamation, maybe she didn't but i doubt it.
"Come on. Tell us" Joey's got a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes. Why should she? Matt, being the moron he is, takes it the wrong way.
"Oh, a little bit of changing it up?" he sneers putting his arm around me as Lele returns to her seat.
"This is a nice change of pace."
"Stop talking to me. What the hell?" Lele says holding out her hand. Sierra's turn. Then mine, i go up there and put in Oli's name, i just don't know him that well and he's a big guy he can handle it. Oli goes up too. Finally, once the last person (Tim) has voted, Arthur picks up the hat. It's time. I lean into Matt.
Not me not me not me...
"Give them a good ol' stir around this time," Oli requests.
Arthur does so.
"May God be with you all."
"If I get chosen," Joey remarks as Arthur draws the first name,
"you're taking my place, Matt. You volunteered." I squeeze my eyes tight. Arthur reads the name aloud.
"Sierra." my eyes shoot open and look at her. Her face turns to fear.
"What the heck," she murmurs, her voice a flattened shell of what it once was.
"You guys. Are you serious?"
"You guys are sick," snaps Lele.
And then,Sierra dissolves into a puddle, tears flooding her cheeks, her head against her chest.
"Why would you do that to me?" I don't blame her. It awful.
The second name is drawn.
"Better not be a girl," Lele snarls, her hand on Sierra's trembling shoulder.
"Better not be a girl."
"Second name is Matt." Arthur says.
"Well, you got your wish," says Joey with a smile. That's quite rude, i know Matt acts like an asshole but we've all been there, me with GloZell. Matt sighs.
"I would really love to know who actually voted for me," he says calmly, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. But i hear it.
"I voted for you." Oli? oh shit.
"The drama," Joey chortles. I snarl in his direction and he winces. Arthur checks his watch.
"It is time to do the exorcism. Please—"
"No," moans Sierra, who's still a curled-up mess on the couch.
"Guys, this is so creepy, why would you put me through this?"
"It's time!" Arthur insists. Oli approaches a still-shocked Matt.
"You're gonna need that." He hands him the rosary. "And you're gonna need that." He hands him the Bible.
"And that was for dunking me." I look at him, slightly scared, i lean into Matt's arm around me, Oli notices the action i did and frowns. Sierra gets up. Her hands are still shaking. She can't bring herself to look at anyone else. Tim hands her the holy water, pats her on the back, and mutters "good luck" under his breath. I hug Matt and Sierra goodbye.
Once the exorcists' footsteps have faded into the distance, Tim throws up his hands.
"All right. Fess up. Who voted for Sierra?"
Joey gulps. "I voted for Sierra," he admits, trying his best to avoid the Mobster's glare,
"because her and Matt are the only ones who haven't done it, and they need to start contributing."
Eva's voice is a quiet murmur. "I voted for Sierra."
"Did you?" I ask.
"What?" Lele says.
"Matt was going in there no matter what I did," she explains,
"so there was no point in voting for him. Lele, Oli, y/n, I love you guys too much to vote for you, and I didn't vote for Joey because I don't want to die." She's looking right at Joey as she says it, and he squirms under her glare like a bug under a microscope. GloZell. Of course. He killed GloZell, and no one's going to let him forget it. Especially not Eva.
"What about me?" Tim demands to know. Eva shrugs.
"You just got dunked," she says matter-of-factly.
"I figured I'd give you a break this time around."
"Aw, thanks." he says smiling.
"You're welcome." Time passes, we sit in silence. Oli hesitantly sits next to me. I glance at him, and look down.
"Hi..." he says. I give him a look.
"Hi"
"I'm sorry"
"for?"
"Voting your boyfriend in." I choke on air.
"He's not my boyfriend." he looks slightly shocked, but we hera footsteps before he could answer.
Matt enters, clutching a crucifix, looking like he just got back from hell.
"I killed her." he says, tears in his eyes.
"You killed her?" Tim asks.
He killed her?
"It was an accident," Matt insists.
Eva reads the note, then i do. It's pretty straightforward. Make a choice, whoever you pick dies, that kind of thing. I don't understand how Matt could've screwed this one up. Joey breaks the silence.
"So you didn't read the whole note?"
"I didn't..." Matt's in panic mode.
"It was on a time constraint. I was trying to go as fast as I could."
"That doesn't sound right," mutters Eva. I see both sides.
"Part of me is like, I understand," Joey explains, "but the other part..." He shakes his head.
"It just makes you look so sketchy right now."
"Sketchy" isn't quite the word I'd use, to be honest...They don't believe him.
"We don't know what went on!" Lele shouts, her voice throbbing with anger.
"We don't—"
"I knew how it was gonna look when I walked up here!" That's true, why tell us, he could've lied and said the demon killed her, but he's being honest, but then again....
At first, Tim doesn't react. He stares at the ground, pensive, uncharacteristically silent, while everyone else debates Matt's innocence. And when the time comes to return the crucifix to the priest, he walks to the basement without complaint. But then Tim sees Andrea, and all bets are off. He doubles over, feeling like he's just been punched in the stomach. Andrea. Sierra. One was his closest friend, and the other cried on his shoulder less than an hour ago. They're both gone now. Eva goes to comfort him, his tears going noticed by the group. We enter the priest's room. Father Whatshisname turns around, and his eyes light up like goddamn Christmas trees.
"The cross." He takes his cross from Joey. "Thank you. Thank you. I'm free." He looks at me, and smiles.
You're welcome.
The priest turns to Eva, handing her a plain brown notebook.
"I kept a journal with my observations of the other owners. It will help you find them."
He makes the sign of the cross over us all, as if he's trying to protect us from what's ahead. He walks up to me, and hugs me, i stand there shocked. And then, before anyone has the chance to say anything, he walks up the stairs and vanishes into the night. The group stares at me shocked, ok.....
Once upstairs, we put the artifacts back on the mantlepiece.
"At least we know what we have to do," says Joey.
"Four more owners."Joey goes to open the book. Matt laughs bitterly.
"Don't even read the book! It doesn't matter. We killed off all of our friends just to get the four artifacts, and then we find out we need to do more, just so we can kill off even more people to hopefully get out of the house!"
"Matt..." he grabs my hand and pulls me on the couch with him.
"This is never going to end, and we are all going to die." he whispers hugging me, seeking comfort. Oh no.