Chapter 11

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Another actionless week passed. The reason for there been no interesting action at all in the house was because everybody knew that voting time was very close now, and every single person was terrified. The person who was the most convinced that they were going was Margaret. She got it into her head that she was the next to die.

However, for ten minutes, the next task took everybody's mind off the whole voting thing. Molly was the next to face the task - Ruth had now hypothesised that every time somebody fails a task, they would do it the next week, and if they passed, somebody else would do it.

"I'm gonna do this!" cried Molly, running into the door, somewhat confident.

When Molly walked into the room, she saw something that shocked her: nothing. The room was pitch black. The door behind her slammed shut and locked.

"Hello, Molly", said the voice, "welcome to your first task".

"What the Hell is this?" asked Molly, trying to make her eyes adjust to the darkness.

"In this task", continued the voice, "you have nothing to rely on but your hands. Before you, this task room is set up like a cave - there are stalagmites, stalactites, cobwebs, and a few living surprises along the way. Your task is to find all five keys within the given time limit. When you find all five keys, you must unlock the safe, which you must find for yourself. You have eight minutes to complete this task. If you fail, you will be locked in here until voting time, which is in four days. Your time starts now".

The voice ended, and the time began. Molly rushed into the task, feeling around. She tried to see something - anything, but she failed. It was complete and utter darkness, and that was what it was going to be for the whole of the task.

After feeling around for ten seconds, Molly found a hole. She reached in and felt scorpions attacking her fingers. She found the key rather quickly, and put it into her pocket. That was a great start, but there was still a long way to go. After another thirty seconds of walking through cobwebs and walking into super-sized stalactites, Molly found her next key, stuck to a rope which was covered in goo. Molly did not know what it was, and she did not really want to know. Thinking about the food, Molly quickly proceeded to find the next key, which was in a corner on the floor. Still completely blind, she felt a nest on the floor, which she stood on. Putting on a brave face, she placed her fingers inside, where she felt all sorts of insects that were crawling around on her skind, biting into her arms. Molly screamed and screamed. This made the others in the house less confident in her.

"She'll do it", said Paul, trying to keep the spirits up, "she'll be thinking about the food".

"I certainly hope so", replied Lucy, scared that Molly would not complete the task.

Molly continued with the search. She now had two keys to find, with four and a half minutes left. She was doing quite well, so she tried to remain positive. Next, she came to a large puddle of goo. It was quite thick, but Molly inferred that a key was inside there. She put her hands in - the smell was atrocious, and it nearly made her vomit. She eventually found a key, and went on to find the last one.

Coming to another hole, she put her smelly hands in, and felt what seemed to be a giant rat. It was massive, and Molly was scared as it started to move extremely quickly. Molly grabbed the final key and put it into her pocket.

Now came the task of finding the safe, which proved to be very difficult. It took Molly three minutes to find the actual thing, which had been cleverly placed on the floor. Kneeling down, Molly could still feel the insects crawling around her. Wishing it was all over, Molly quickly put the keys into the safe, and managed to open it. With ten seconds left, Molly grabbed the pass, and tried to run around until she saw the door, which was unlocked. She opened it and ran out with three seconds to spare. When she ran out, she heard the applause of her fellow housemates.

However, the joy did not last long. Everybody quickly reminded themselves that it was soon to be voting time, although it was not soon for them - it seemed like a lifetime.

Four days later, it was crunch time. For one of the contestants, it was time to go. Like the time before, everybody was forced into their cages, where their hearts were beating so fast they almost stopped. Then The Leader spoke.

"This is The Leader. For one of you, it is crunch time. Like last month's voting, you must select one photograph, and that photograph will show who your vote is for. Bin the other photographs. If anybody has two photographs when the voting starts, they will automatically be dropped into the saw blades.

"Saw blades?" asked Lucy, looking even more mortified.

The contestants each rapidly chose their pictures. First to vote was Molly.

"My vote is for Margaret", started Molly, "and my reason is that I passed the task on my first go, and you failed your first two. I know that you tried, but I feel like you did not try your best. Sorry".

"It's OK", replied Margaret, with a tear in her eye.

Next to vote was Ray.

"My vote is also for Margaret, and that's because I think that she is more of a hinderance than a help to this house".

"I agree", replied Margaret, "and I want to apologise to everyone now".

Next to vote was Lucy.

"I'm voting for Ray, and the reason is, I feel unsafe around him, like he's going to do something very dangerous. I just feel like he can cause at any time to anyone".

Ruth was next to vote.

"I'm also voting for Ray. Like Lucy, I do not feel safe in your prescence, and I feel like you deserve to die more than anybody else here".

Jack was next.

"My vote is for Margaret. Sorry, but I just think that you have proven to be the most useless, and your failures have proved that. Sorry".

"It's OK", said Margaret.

With four votes left, Margaret had three, and Ray had two. It was beginning to get very tense now. Next to vote was Paul.

"I'm voting for Ray. What you did earlier this month was completely unforgivable. Like Ruth, I think that you deserve to die the most".

Next was Ashton.

"I'm also voting for Ray", he said, "I do not like you, and I think that you've made the least effort to talk to me since we've been here".

Ray was becoming extremely anxious now. With Emma and Margaret still left to vote, he knew that it only took one more vote, and that would be it for him. Would Emma vote for him. Emma was next.

"I'm going to vote for Margaret", said Emma, "and that's because I'm still a little bit angry with the task thing. I know that it may not have totally been your fault, I feel like on the second task, you could have put more effort in".

With Ray and Margaret both on four votes, all eyes were on the final voter: Margaret.

At that point, the atmoshpere could have been sliced open with a knife. She looked at Ray, and shook her head. She slowly lifted up the card, and revealed who was next to die. It was a massive shock to everybody in the room that Margaret had chosen to eliminate herself!

"I'm voting for myself because as the oldest person here, I feel like it would be a waste of life if I were to make it to the final two and walk out of here, because as a seventy-year old woman, I feel like I have lived my life, and over the past few days, I have reminisced my life, and I am proud. Before I go, I just want to say two things: firstly, I would like to ask everybody to forgive me for failing the two tasks, and secondly, cherish your life. I have no immediate family, so I will not be missed that much. Goodbye everyone".

Most of the women, Paul and Ashton were now in tears, as they prepared to say a final goodbye to their dear friend. Ten seconds later, the floor of Margaret's cage dropped, and she went silently.

Pls, do leave a vote and a comment if you were interested\('C')/

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