Traitor

Day 1 (11:11 p.m.)

Eliza's POV

My eyes widened with panic.

"I wasn't controlling him, I promise!" I cried, looking around frantically for someone who believed me.

"And why should we believe you're not lying?" Aiden pulled Jacob away from me and I struggled to find a way to prove myself.

"It might not be any proof, but it wasn't Eliza's voice in my head." Benjamin said quietly and I let out a breath of relief.

"See? Besides why would I do something like this? I don't have a reason. I don't have a motive." I crossed my arms. "You guys are absolute idiots if you think it's me."

Aiden still stared at me with suspicious eyes. In fact, nobody seemed to be at ease even after what Benjamin said.

"Guys, it's not me!" My hands curled into fists.

"Why won't they believe me?! This could be a problem."

"Guys, please don't start arguing." Sophia stepped forward. "Let's just get back upstairs so that we can help each other heal up, then we can discuss this more.

Kiara nodded. "Maybe I can read minds to check everyone, and Eliza can mind control me just to make sure I tell the truth."

"No!" Sophia shrieked, and we all looked at her curiously. "No reading minds! I like my privacy!"

Aiden turned his suspicious gaze from me to Sophia. "This is a life or death situation and you're worried about privacy? It's like you're asking for us to lose."

Sophia blanched. "W-well wouldn't you hate it if Kiara went digging around your mind?"

Aiden rolled his eyes. "She can only read my thoughts. She can't find any specific things if I'm not thinking about them. Here I'll show you. Kiara, try to find the memory I made on March 17th, 2021."

"Why two years ago?" Sophia asked.

Aiden didn't respond but instead made direct eye contact with Kiara.

Kiara shook her head. "I can only hear him thinking about his different plans to kill each and every one of us if it becomes necessary... or if we piss him off."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Wait, really?" Jacob shuffled slightly away from Aiden on his one foot and Aiden rolled his eyes.

Aiden pulled Jacob close to him again. "Well, yeah. That's what we quiet kids do in our free time."

Silent again.

"Anyways, we only need to read Eliza as of right now." Kiara decided, placing a hand on Sophia's shoulder. "I won't force you to share your thoughts if you don't want to."

Sophia didn't look at Kiara as she nodded. "Thank you."

I crossed my arms with a huff. "Fine. Let's just get out of here."

"Wait!" Aiden cried, making all of us jump.

"Jeez, dude you scared me. What?" Jacob snapped.

Aiden glared up at him. "I will trip you and I won't help you up."

"What is it, Aiden?" I asked.

"We should each grab weapons that we know we can use. You know so that if the kidnapper does come out to get the job done, we can have a chance at survival. In fact we can win." Aiden said and I had to admit that it was a good idea.

"Okay. Take whatever you think you can use the best." I looked around the room and everyone did the same, picking up their phones to get a better look.