The Girl with the Gun

Chapter Eight

"Right guys, here comes a box with folded paper, and each one holds a question you must read out and answer to the group" Elle tells us, placing the wooden engraved box on the tables end, with Adrienne being the first victim.

She pulls a thin slip of paper out between her freshly manicured red fingernails and unfolds it slowly, taking her time to look at the camera and put on a show. Adrienne was someone who flirted with fame and loved any attention whether it was positive or not.

Mila and Robert glanced at Adrienne nervously, and Amber looked to Kit "this feels like a Pandora's box scenario" she whispered.

"I think it could be quite revealing" Kit mused.

Adrienne read the question out "What is your favourite memory from the lane"

Everyone seemed to smile, like they were considering their own answer. Amber frowned, her favourite memory was leaving, although if you had asked her weeks before the end she would have said almost certainly, meeting Mila.

"Ooh my favourite memory" Adrienne sung, she was in her element, with everyone's eyes focused on her. "Oh it has to be the week we spent on the 'lane vacation' where they sent us to Cabo... it was so fun to let loose and be out of the house after five months. We got wild didn't we" she admitted, as everyone cheered at the memories that it stirred.

"Cabo was wild" Kit agreed, smiling at Amber and taking a sip from her wine.

"Cabo was the beginning of the end" Amber remembered, taking a slow sip and eyeing the room, finding Milas on her. Amber lowered the glass and looked away. She felt anxiety in her stomach and she clenched the material at her waist in her hand.

"Mila, your turn" Adrienne sung, handing the box over.

Amber returned her attention as everyone else did, to Mila, and her fingers, as they slipped into the box and mixed up the papers, removing one quickly with bright eyes and opening it instantly. Mila's gaze was drawn down to the words, and as she read them, the smile slipped from her lips.

"What does it say" Robert asks jovially.

Mila collects herself "it says" she reads with a pause "it says... which cast member do you think about the most when you remember your time on the lane" And she takes a deep breath, one that is visible from afar. She pulls her plumped pink lips into her mouth as if she is considering her answer carefully.

"Well we all know it's me" Adrienne suggests with a laugh.

Mila is almost relieved that she has filled the silence. "Of course Adrienne, you have always been the loudest and most out there family member on the lane. So of course she is an obvious choice... when I think of the lane she is always up there with the people I most remember, including Robert here" she says, leaning into him affectionately.

"The question was" Elle interjects, coming into view of the table as production intervene"which cast member do you think about the most, not plural, which one"

The table all felt the air change as the question was put to her again, more forcefully this time, because they all knew what production wanted her to say, but whether she would was another thing entirely. Amber forced herself back into herself and held the wine glass to her lips, focusing on the table cloth and desperately hoping the answer Mila gave next was not the one they wanted her to say.

"Be honest" Elle asked, moving back behind the camera, as the camera rolled on. "Now read it out again Mila"

Mila gulped "the question is... which cast member do you think about the most... when you remember your time on the lane"