"there's only so many options." gordie attempts to comfort the nerves, while i pick at my silver coin necklace—a bad habit i have.
"maybe we're dreaming." allie stares as she pulls at her brown sweater. i spitely spit 'more like having a nightmare.' as she turns to look at me. i see her mind comprehending the situation at hand, and it scares us both.
harry speaks up; "maybe, this is some elaborate fucking game, like someone built an exact replica of our town—and put it in the middle of nowhere. and if we just walk, eventually...we'll just get back to the real world."
"but who would do that to us?" my voice speaks out once again. i can't help but fight the urges to question. i've typically been able to figure out why bad things have happened to me. my parents broken lived mixed to mess up mine, the foster care system failed another child once again, but this...? a whole class of seniors being abandoned? it didn't add up.
"i'm not saying it makes any sense." harry responds, looking me straight in the eye. cassandra's voice speaks slightly behind me. "there was a smell, and then it went away, and it came back, and the buses came for us."
once again, the two butt heads. harry's "you're gonna just work this out cassandra, like some logic problem, i mean—not a flicker of doubt?" echoes our collective thoughts. we all like cassandra, especially me, but we all know her self given obligations to lead. some don't mind, but harry definitely does. "the world doesn't just turn upside down without a reason." cassandra's quotes all make me think.
"okay? clever is not the same thing as true." she once again speaks out. "there is a point to everything, there are answers."
"that's right. god doesn't just play games with people for fun." helena says.
i kinda gave up on the whole 'higher power thing' a long time ago. mostly because i have no idea why some being would punish me with the life i was given. that's why helena's words hurt me most, because i know how easy it is for her to believe in her god. how could she not when the life he granted her was this?
except now, she's mad we're all stuck in a temporary glimpse of hell. i've been in worse.
"okay look," luke starts. "grizz and i will get a group together to go look in the woods, like a search party." his proposition doesn't sound too risky, but i don't know how i feel with grizz going. for all i know, we're stuck in an alternate universe that claws us back to the origin point, but i try to let that one go.
"i think that's a good idea." i say it outloud to try to confirm it in my head–but it's not very convincing. "do you think it's safe?" cassandra questions, in which luke responds, "grizz and i know what we're doing, and if there's people out there we gotta find 'em, right?" luke's confidence numbs my nerves finally.
"i'm leaving, i'm hungry." harry states, completely off topic.
i look around to the others, who seem displeased with harry's selfish statements. allie specifically, saying; "you're leaving?" where harry responds; "yeah, i got a house with a refrigerator inside of it, and i'm gonna go eat it."
i can't entirely blame him. he's already been the most privileged out of this god forsaken town, at least he's self aware. fuck, if i could keep his level of entitlement—i would hoard my house too.
"you can't just leave." the first born pressman sister expresses. irritated, harry asks; "well, what are we supposed to do instead?" "we have to figure out what is happening to us." cassandra says, almost nearing exhaustion in her voice. harry presses his hand on the hood of his car. "you're not student council president anymore." cassandra's eyebrows furrow while she says; "god you really, really need to get over that!" their irrelevant words would have lost me if their arguing wasn't so interesting—and also somewhat dependent on our survival.
